Chapter 24: The Essential Tool for Murder and Silence on Journeys and at Home

The world within the Flask had now advanced from the Bronze Age into the Iron Age, and this rapid progress was largely due to the local environment. More precisely, the land where Luo Zu resided was rich in iron but poor in copper; other precious metals were even rarer, and some metals embedded in the soil defied analysis even with Luo Zu’s current powers of manipulation and creation.

Because of this, the tools of the miniature humans evolved swiftly—barely had they entered the Bronze Age when they were already thrust into the Iron Age. Fortunately, Luo Zu was well prepared, guiding the miniature humans to construct blast furnaces for smelting iron and forging steel.

Yet the leap in productivity was not achieved overnight. Rushing the process meant that many supporting skills and technologies failed to keep pace, resulting in slow steel production. Luckily, Luo Zu’s presence ensured that the land enjoyed years of favorable weather, rarely suffering natural disasters. Harvests were plentiful, the birth rate soared past one hundred thousand new infants each year—a veritable golden era of thirty years for the miniature humans.

With such abundant productivity, the miniature humans even entered a slave society. Luo Zu had no means to prevent it; it was the tide of history. Once their basic needs were met, some sought pleasure, which inevitably led to corruption among the elite.

Luo Zu wished to change this, but decay had already taken root among the miniature humans. To excise this rot would require a thorough cleansing of humanity. Unless their minds were shackled, the vice of complacency would be impossible to eradicate.

As for the slaves of this era, they too were miniature humans. Over centuries, their population swelled to three million. Though only a third of the land had been explored, some regions had become isolated due to unexpected events, and when contact was eventually restored, both sides had developed under different leaders. Conflicts erupted, and the vanquished lost their rights, descending into slavery.

The main reason was that the world within the Flask was still expanding. The miniature humans simply could not match the pace of this growth. Now the world stretched ten miles in diameter, with a quarter of the area as land, the rest covered by water.

That vast sea was something Luo Zu had specially created, transforming mountain springs into seawater through his powers. He did not know the sea’s precise composition, but adding salt sufficed. Guided by this idea, he poured brine from the cave’s salt pools into the water. The result was notably saltier, though no large creatures had yet emerged within, only a few microorganisms surviving in shrunken form.

Returning to the matter of iron and steel production, under Luo Zu’s supervision, annual output now reached three hundred catties—a true three hundred catties. Achieving this required Luo Zu to expend vast amounts of spiritual energy, cycling the land beneath the miniature humans over and over, all while ensuring the terrain remained unchanged, exhausting his strength and spirit. Only through relentless recycling did he finally obtain this one-ton ingot of refined steel.

The term “refined steel” referred to metal repeatedly forged and quenched after smelting. To achieve such a monolithic ingot, Luo Zu gathered immense quantities of iron and steel, personally controlling the fire and hammering it time and again.

Fortunately, Luo Zu was no ordinary man—he was a “caveman” at the level of spirit transformation. Even after day and night of ceaseless forging, he could still carry out his daily affairs.

That was why Luo Zu now sighed, “It is no easy feat.”

Difficult as it was, the work could not be delayed.

The embryo of the magical tool still remained unfinished.

By Luo Zu's plan, the forging of a magical tool required first creating a suitable embryo, then refining it repeatedly, and finally, after meticulous crafting, the artifact would be complete.

The method of refinement lay in qi.

Qi encompassed spiritual energy, spirit, and law; thus, through refining with qi, one could forge a tool best suited to oneself. Day and night of refinement would shape the artifact into its master’s very image.

Thus, it was called refining, but it could also be likened to training—just as Luo Zu tamed the beasts he raised among the tribe.

Yet using such a massive ingot for refinement and later for use would not be a trivial challenge.

But Luo Zu possessed the world within the Flask.

Not only was there the space where the miniature humans lived, but below that land lay another layer—perfect for storing Luo Zu’s giant steel ingot.

In fact, Luo Zu had been hammering the ingot within this very space.

Moreover, the world within the Flask still could not support activity by beings of his own immense size, so Luo Zu created a doppelgänger at the absolute limit that the world could sustain: a giant one foot tall.

Otherwise, a doppelgänger as small as a hair could never hope to forge such a massive ingot before time itself wore thin.

The magical tool's embryo had now taken shape. Luo Zu intended to forge an iron sword, one that could reach six feet in width, ten feet in length, with a spine seven inches thick.

It was, in truth, a massive iron door plank.

Wielding such a sword, one could hardly utter a few shouts without pause.

With every technique, he would have to roar out the sword’s name. Embarrassing, perhaps, yet such a display seemed certain to intimidate the enemy.

In the future, should he ride the sword in flight, this door-sized blade could even carry a few extra passengers.

A practical, indispensable household companion—truly marvelous.

Every hero of the primordial age deserved such a fine sword.

The refinement of the magical tool was a lengthy process. Though time could be hastened within the Flask, a ton of steel was no small thing, and Luo Zu’s doppelgänger stood only three feet tall, with a daily limit to his expenditure of qi. Luo Zu estimated that it would take three months to complete the refinement.

These three months were in the world outside—the Primordial Age—equivalent to over a hundred and twenty years within the Flask.

A long, long time indeed.

As time flowed on, the “cavemen” continued their lives. The hunting parties now had another crucial task beyond hunting: searching for new settlements.

Departing from the cave had become inevitable. If the “cavemen” wished to progress, they had to leave the deep, sunless cavern behind.

Though it had sheltered them through the harshest days and they felt a deep attachment to it, one must not hesitate when it is time to let go.

People should live under blue skies and white clouds, not in perpetual darkness.

And just as Luo Zu was about to complete the refinement of his magical tool, good news arrived.