Pure copper is actually not suitable for making weapons. In the history of humanity, what was first used on a large scale was bronze.

And bronze is an alloy of copper.

When Austin was in high school in his previous life, reading chemistry, perhaps they detailed the chemical composition of bronze alloys, but after so many years, Austin has forgotten more than half of this knowledge.

Although he forgot most of it, that doesn't matter. When he read about ancient people smelting bronze, he was very curious about how those ancient humans incorporated those reactive metals into copper and how they smelted those reactive metals.

At that time, Austin went to check it knowingly, and it turned out that in ancient times, when smelting bronze, ancient humans often added some associated minerals from which copper was produced to copper ore. Those associated minerals were the necessary components to form bronze alloys. Furthermore, adding those associated minerals resulted in the bronze alloy having a lower melting point than copper, making it easier to refine.

As for what elements those associated minerals consisted of, Austin has mostly forgotten. Likely, those ancient humans did not specifically study the components of those associated minerals; as long as usable bronze tools could be smelted, who cared what elements they consisted of?

Since he remembered that smelting bronze required associated minerals, Austin naturally began to try and asked the Kobolds present to find other associated minerals in the copper mine.

Since the work of refining copper had started, Austin also found that Kobolds seemed to have a remarkable talent for mining and finding ore. Perhaps in the future, when looking for other ores, a Kobold exploration team could be specially established?

With their prospecting talent, the Kobolds quickly found the associated minerals different from copper ore and sent them to the blast furnace.

During this nearly a month's time, the Dragon Nest beastmen not only developed a specific method for refining copper but also, according to Austin's instructions, made a lot of copper material. Since there was copper material, Austin planned to directly put these refined copper into the fire, then add the associated minerals to the earth blast furnace for re-melting.

With the efforts of the beastmen, after exerting great Kung Fu for more than half a day, they finally manufactured a pale yellow axe.

"Not green? Could it be a matter of the metal elements of these associated minerals?"

Looking at the newly made axe, Austin's mind was full of doubts.

Although it wasn't bronze, from the refining situation, the melting point did indeed drop significantly, so there shouldn't be any mistake.

"Take it and try it."

Even though it wasn't the bronze he imagined, Austin still told a beastman to try it out.

So a strong Kobold took the axe to a nearby tree and started chopping it down rapidly. To Austin's surprise, this axe was sharper than the stone axe and more rigid. In no time, a whole tree was chopped down, yet the blade of the axe showed no signs of wear.

"Your, your highness... we have succeeded!"

The Goblin Gulu, responsible for refining copper, looked at the axe with fanaticism, so excited that he was almost speechless. More than a month of hard work in this Copper Ore Base had previously resulted in copper that was unusable, leading them to believe they had failed.

But now, from this axe, they all saw the hope of success.

Austin didn't speak. He took the axe, weighed it in his hand, and lightly flicked its surface with his claw, feeling it was not much different from the iron axes provided by the Dragon Nest tribe.

Although it wasn't the bronze he imagined, its properties were similar to iron, and in this humid world, copper was better than iron since it didn't require extra effort to prevent rust.

Actually, around the Dragon Nest tribe, all the tribes used weapons like wooden spears, stone hammers, and stone axes. Austin had only seen iron weapons a few times, like the iron axe in the hands of Lizardman Rodney and those seized from the Blood Claw Tribe branch, as well as the mercenaries' weapons. It could be said that within a hundred miles, almost all iron weapons were in Austin's Dragon Nest tribe.

All the beastman tribes living in the Kawa Great Forest were basically primitive civilizations of the Stone Age, with no foundation for metal smelting.

"First, follow the previous proportions and make ten great swords. Don't slack off with the remaining work; it's best to continue experimenting with refining these coppers."

Since these alloyed coppers were no worse than ordinary iron, he decided to forge ten great swords first for the Gale Foot experimental group of beastmen to use for training. However, Austin remembered that the best copper alloy weapons were still bronze, so he instructed the beastmen to continue experimenting.

Over time, the Dragon Nest beastmen around Austin were also influenced by some modern thinking from Austin. The cultivation of non-toxic mushrooms in the mushroom houses, the innovative manufacturing in the workshop, the establishment of the witch doctor treatment system, and even the formation of iron block combat techniques were largely the results of Austin instilling variable experiments, inductive analysis, etc., into the Dragon Nest beastmen.

By continuously experimenting with changing variables and synthesizing the results to find the optimal method, Austin's modern thinking kept expanding within the Dragon Nest tribe. Though these invisible things seemed inconspicuous, the establishment of various systems in the Dragon Nest tribe was based on this kind of thinking.

With this foundation of thought, Austin didn't need to teach them hand-in-hand; as long as the task of improving copper alloys was assigned, the beastmen would naturally experiment and improve continuously.

"It's best if we can produce bronzes. For now, bronze weapons are the most suitable for the tribe's current situation, and when developed to a certain extent, bronze is no less than some steel."

Holding the axe in his hand, Austin thought silently.

However, what Austin didn't know was that bronze was initially not green. Newly smelted bronze was a golden yellow, and it turned green because after being buried in the ground for thousands of years, it constantly rusted and oxidized, forming a layer of verdigris on its surface. It was thus called bronze.

Therefore, it was essentially impossible for him to smelt green copper from the earth blast furnace directly.

Austin spent several days at the Copper Ore Base, and with the collective labor of over a hundred beastmen, they finally forged ten great swords, each successfully completed.

Afterwards, while Austin assigned the task of researching better copper alloys to the beastmen, he also ordered them to produce some copper alloy armors and manufacture some production tools based on previous techniques.

Having issued his orders, Austin returned to the Dragon Nest tribe with these ten great swords.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.