Only this time, the synthesize button didn't light up.
[Synthesis Prompt: Relevant casting molds and coolant are still required before smelting copper tools.]
Seeing the translucent screen before him, Chuck slapped his forehead.
Molds!
He almost forgot about that.
Smelting metal naturally requires liquefying it. For liquid metal at over a thousand degrees, if molds aren't prepared in advance for shaping, you can't exactly drink it.
Fortunately, this wasn't anything new to Chuck. Molds appeared frequently in the recipes when he first used clay to make pottery bowls and ceramics, including molds for pickaxes, axes, and shovel heads.
However, these items were useless to Chuck at the time, so he quickly forgot about them.
Luckily, synthesizing bricks over the past few days left him with a small amount of clay, more than enough to make a few molds.
Taking out the clay from the storage room, Chuck quickly synthesized molds for a pickaxe, an axe, and a shovel head at the Workshop. Besides these three common tools, he also made molds for a dagger and arrowheads.
He had never considered making a bow and arrows because there was no need for hunting. Now that he had found a flock of goats in the Red Stone Hills, having a bow and arrows would clearly make hunting easier.
Moreover, Chuck believed that since there were wild goats on the island, there might also be wild cattle, rabbits, deer, and so on…
In any case, now that he had copper, it might be time to consider diversifying his weaponry, both melee and ranged.
With the molds in hand, Chuck couldn't wait to put the finished pickaxe mold into the Workshop, and brought over a ceramic pot filled with cool seawater.
This time, the synthesize button finally lit up.
[Workshop contents: Brass Ore (30 kg), Pickaxe Mold, Coolant. A smelting facility with a standard temperature has been detected nearby. Smelting and crafting are possible.]
[Crude Copper Pickaxe Head: Requires Brass Ore (10 kg), crafting time 1 hour.]
It seemed different from synthesizing tools with flint; smelting copper ore in the Forge could only produce the main body of the tool, the head. Attaching the handle afterward would likely require another synthesis step at the Workshop.
The space inside the Forge was huge, more than enough to smelt one block of brass ore at a time. Chuck simply put the axe mold and shovel mold in as well.
[Crude Copper Axe Head: Requires Brass Ore (10 kg), crafting time 1 hour.]
[Crude Copper Shovel Head: Requires Brass Ore (10 kg), crafting time 1 hour.]
The three basic tools each required 10 kg of ore, and one block of brass ore was exactly enough.
How could it be such a coincidence?
Chuck smiled and shook his head, then pressed the synthesize button. Immediately, the three molds turned into three countdown spheres suspended inside the Forge, and the timers started in perfect unison.
Watching this, he tried stepping on the bellows again, but the blast of hot air forced him to take half a step back. He watched the internal temperature of the furnace, visible on the Forge's screen, rise and fall rapidly, and his brow slowly furrowed.
After adding fuel and raising the temperature, Chuck realized that after upgrading from the Kiln to the Forge, while the internal temperature and space increased, the demand for fuel also increased significantly.
To maintain the extremely high temperatures required for smelting metal, the Forge's combustion chamber had to be kept fully fueled, and the bellows needed to be used occasionally to speed up combustion. Undeniably, fuel consumption increased further.
Smelting copper ore took a full hour. Chuck hadn't felt the strain when using the Kiln to burn charcoal or lime, but now that he was officially smelting metal, fuel suddenly seemed to become a huge problem overnight…
For now, Chuck could barely cope by cutting hardwood.
A hardwood trunk, split into firewood, had a dense structure sturdy enough to sustain a long burn. It would be enough to handle the Forge for a while, and the stock of mahogany wood was entirely worry-free.
But when it came time to upgrade the Forge further in the future, requiring mass iron or even steel smelting, he would probably have to find a solution.
Chuck let out a long breath.
"I wonder if I can find a coal mine on this deserted island?"
Coal, an essential raw material for human metallurgical industry, would undoubtedly be the perfect fuel for smelting metal.
But this substance is a non-renewable resource formed by ancient plants undergoing millions of years of subterranean transformation. Large coal mines might only be found on vast continental plates. On this deserted island…
Could it exist?
No, it will exist.
Chuck's eyes gradually brightened.
Just like the coincidence that one block of ore was enough to make three basic tools, honestly, the more he developed his cheat system and explored the map, the more he felt—
This deserted island didn't seem to be a mere tropical island to him. Instead, it was more like an isolated, tropical-island-based…
Game World.
The Workshop system, the Other Shore Flower, the wild beasts that only stayed within a fixed territory and never wandered off, and the incredible Other Shore Trial that only occurred on the full moon night.
If he was destined to need a large amount of fuel for metal smelting to continue developing, then this island would surely provide a suitable solution…
In other words, even if there was no coal mine, there must be a natural energy source on this island that could replace coal!
Thinking this, Chuck's mood relaxed considerably.
This feeling was like knowing the approximate exam scope before a final exam. As long as he reviewed well and was fully prepared, he would definitely pass and move on to the next year without any surprises.
As for who drew the exam scope and how it was drawn?
Chuck didn't know, and he couldn't be bothered to think about it.
All he knew now was that if there truly was such a mysterious and great existence that caused him to be stranded on this game-world-like deserted island after the plane crash and bestowed upon him the Workshop cheat, then the thing he needed to consider wasn't useless questions like why the world exists or why we are born.
He just needed to find a way, using all his strength, to make his and his women's lives better and better, then eat his fill and pound some pussy fiercely.
Living each day well and enjoying the present is the most important thing.
During the Forge's smelting process, as Chuck had anticipated, a large amount of fuel turned to ash in the combustion chamber below the Forge.
He didn't wander off, constantly watching the Forge's temperature. It took almost an entire split log of firewood to finally endure the long hour.
The morning sun finally rose on the horizon. Golden rays of light spread across the stone platform where the furnace smoke was curling. Julia's seductive and alluring figure slowly stepped out of the wooden house, stretching luxuriously into the rising sun.
The three light spheres finally finished their countdown, slowly flying out from inside the Forge and back onto Chuck's Workshop.
Then, following the synthesis prompts, Chuck added flint for grinding and sharpening. He also used the household stock of hardwood branches and cutting tools to make sturdier hardwood handles for the axe, pickaxe, and shovel than those used before. After another brief synthesis on the Workshop…
The three copper metal tools were finally complete!
A copper axe, smooth all over, with an edge ground as bright as a mirror; a copper pickaxe, faintly showing light-colored grain, with a slightly bluish-green luster at the tip; and a copper shovel, smooth and wide on the surface, with a slight curve at the edge and a pattern formed by high-temperature forging in the center.
All three tools were impressive and well-made.
Slowly gripping the smooth hardwood handle and looking at the sharp copper pickaxe in his hand, which felt quite heavy, Chuck couldn't help but feel a little dazed.
This thing… I made it?
Even Chuck, who was accustomed to using his cheat system, felt a sense of unreality upon seeing this achievement, which marked a phase breakthrough.
He remained silent for a long time. Finally, gripping the copper pickaxe, he slowly walked towards the cliff face on the inner side of the stone platform.
Without hesitation, he slowly raised the copper pickaxe over his head and forcefully slammed it down onto the smooth cliff rock before him!
Crack!
The moment the less-than-sharp sound rang out, a burst of euphoria appeared on Chuck's face.
Accompanying the sound, chunks of broken rock fell from the edge of the newly formed gray indentation, stirring up a slow-settling cloud of dust.
It works!
This copper pickaxe, which he had personally smelted, could completely serve as a quarrying tool to break into this rock cliff face!
It wasn't until this moment that Chuck finally raised his hands excitedly and let out a loud cheer.
This sound startled the three women still sleeping in the room and Julia, who was lighting the fire to prepare breakfast.
Julia stood on her tiptoes, casting a glance in Chuck's direction. Upon seeing the metal-gleaming pickaxe in his hand, her blue eyes showed surprise, but then she curved her lips into a seductive smile.
It seemed her man had once again achieved something ordinary people wouldn't even dare to imagine.
Should she reward him with a round?
In the early morning, after getting out of bed, Gu Yitong took just a couple of steps when she suddenly felt an unusual sensation.
She looked down in confusion, her gaze sweeping past her huge breasts, which had swollen again after a night of secretion, down to her slightly bulging lower abdomen.
A look of shyness and bewilderment appeared on her beautiful face.
So, the mature beauty, with her flip-flopped feet, slowly paced around the room.
As she moved, she clearly felt a liquid sloshing sensation coming from the palace deep within her abdomen.
Is this…
A previous conjecture resurfaced in her mind, causing the beautiful, mature woman in her thirties to bite her lower lip and subconsciously begin searching for Chuck.
But then, a small hand unexpectedly reached out from behind and grabbed her arm.
"Mom, my tummy feels weird…"
Hearing this, Gu Yitong quickly turned around, only to see Gu Momo, who had gotten out of bed barefoot, standing there. She was gripping her wrist with one hand and gently stroking her own similarly slightly swollen little abdomen with the other.
She then tried to walk a couple of steps, and sure enough, a clear sloshing sensation followed, making the little girl look worried.
Just then, Julia, carrying a steaming ceramic pot, walked in from outside the wooden cabin. Seeing the mother and daughter covering their bellies in strikingly similar poses, she couldn't help but let out a giggle.
"Hahaha, what are you two doing? Did you eat something bad last night?"
"Sister Julia."
Gu Momo looked at her, pouting her small mouth, and spoke with frustration.
"There's water in my tummy."
"I have a similar feeling too…"
Gu Yitong turned, gently hugged her daughter, stroking the back of her head to comfort her. Then, blushing, she lowered her head and muttered softly.
"I'm afraid I really am pregnant this time…"
"Pregnant?"
Julia put the ceramic pot down on the wooden table. Hearing Gu Yitong's soft murmur, she subconsciously looked down at her own similarly slightly bulging tummy.
Come to think of it, her tummy had also felt mysteriously sloshy since yesterday.
Does that mean I'm pregnant too?
"Oh… Am I going to be a mom?"
Realizing this, Julia blinked her long eyelashes. Suddenly, she clenched her fists, raised both hands, and shouted excitedly.
"Darling!!!"
The foreigner bounced out, found Chuck outside, who was applying palm oil to the tools to prevent rust, and instantly clung to his back like a human backpack flying through the air.
"Whoa—"
Chuck stumbled, nearly dropping his tool. He turned his head irritably.
"What's with the sudden panic?"
"Darling, I have your baby in my tummy!!"
Julia said this while nuzzling her blonde head against his neck, kissing Chuck repeatedly on the cheek.