With Li De's various orders issued, Dawn City began to stir into motion.
The grand and mighty second wave of construction had officially begun.
As the ruler of Dawn, his will was the direction in which this city would move forward.
No matter who it was, they all had to advance under his watchful eyes.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye. December 1st marked the beginning of the frigid winter season.
The dwarves who had previously been scattered across the mines and the Construction Department were all reassigned back to the blacksmith workshop. Valen gathered the full strength of the dwarves to forge the armor Li De required.
The agreed trade with the centaurs called for 500 sets of armor, with another 150 sets intended for exchanging 10,000 elite citizens from Risel City. Li De didn't bother with rounding and simply set the number at a pleasing 800 sets.
Now that they possessed the iron hammers capable of smelting mithril, the dwarves' weapon forging speed had clearly improved.
Sharpening the axe won't delay the cutting of firewood, a good hammer made a tremendous difference to the dwarves.
In the past, mithril was extremely precious within the Brutehammer clan. The few pounds produced each year were often used to forge high-tier equipment, which meant that most of the dwarves only wielded very ordinary hammers.
But now, with the deep-pocketed Li De backing them, every dwarf had been equipped with a hammer alloyed with mithril.
As a strategic metal, mithril was a treasure so valuable it could incite wars between empires. Even the slightest addition of it to a piece of equipment would provide a massive boost in attributes.
With such powerful tools in hand, the already high forging efficiency of the dwarves surged dramatically.
"Lord Kachar, we've completed 801 sets of armor in total. Among them, 600 are Rare ★, 150 are Rare ★★, and 50 are Rare ★★★.
And one set is Perfect ★★ grade."
Valen pointed proudly at the mountain of centaur armor stacked in the warehouse, his face flushed with excitement.
The armor bore the dwarves' signature dark-patterned design. Under the sunlight streaming through the warehouse doors, they gleamed with the unique luster of metal, filling the dim room with a dazzling brilliance.
Li De was slightly surprised. "So many of them turned out to be Rare ★★ and Rare ★★★?"
The materials he had provided were all intended for Rare ★ quality. He hadn't expected so many high grade armors to be forged.
Valen laughed heartily, his expression immensely satisfied.
"My lord, the mithril-forged hammers are incredible. While crafting, the clansmen produced many exceptional pieces, which is why there are so many ★★ and ★★★ armors.
As for that Perfect ★★ armor, I activated the special attribute of the warhammer during forging and boosted it from ★ to ★★."
Following Valen's gaze, Li De saw a particularly striking piece of armor displayed on a wooden stand in the center, unlike the rest which were stacked together. This imposing suit of armor was clearly not designed for a human.
Perfect ★★, tsk, tsk, tsk. If it weren't made specifically for the centaur Patriarch and impossible for humans to wear, he might've found it hard to part with.
Shaking his head, he didn't even bother checking the armor's attributes. He was giving it away anyway, better not to know, or it would only make the parting more painful.
"Today's the day of our trade with the centaur tribe. Valen, have the armor loaded onto the Whispering Bats. I'm going in person."
"At once, my lord."
Valen didn't hesitate for a moment. As soon as he stepped out of the warehouse, he began directing the blacksmiths to get to work.
Due to the centaur armor being so large, it took a full three sun-hours to load all 800 sets onto the Whispering Bats.
"My lord, forging these 800 sets of armor has nearly exhausted our entire stockpile of iron ore. Perhaps you could try negotiating with the centaurs to supply us with more ore during this trade."
Just as Li De was about to leave, Harrison, having received word, hurried over.
As the City Hall Chairman, Harrison currently carried a heavy burden. He was not only responsible for various construction tasks but also had to keep a clear grasp on the status of all resources.
Forging the centaur armor had already drained all the steel Dawn City had stockpiled. He was worried that Li De might take another order for several hundred or even a thousand more armors during the trade.
If that happened, they'd be left with nothing but empty hands.
And with the livestock farms and schools under construction, not to mention the ongoing work on the alchemy factory and weapons factory, all of which required large quantities of steel, Harrison was feeling quite troubled at the moment.
Li De paused slightly at the reminder. He had actually overlooked that point and had originally intended to make another trade with the centaurs.
Currently, Dawn City had only developed the iron mine in Giant Valley. Although it produced a fair amount, it was barely enough to support the city's usage.
It wasn't that the prospecting teams hadn't found other mineral veins recently, it was that even this one large iron mine couldn't yet be fully utilized by Dawn City, let alone additional ones.
He had too few personnel available. Key laborers like the cyclopes numbered only a dozen or so, far from enough.
And humans weren't very efficient at mining, so the issue remained unresolved with no better solution.
"Reassign some of the beastmen from Dwarf Valley to mine the iron ore there. Aren't those two large iron mines in Dwarf Valley still sitting idle?"
Dwarf Valley had rich mineral deposits, but aside from the mithril vein, the others had not been developed at all.
Harrison shook his head with a bitter smile.