Chapter 203: New Energy
The Black Vines burned with incredible speed, releasing an immense amount of heat.
Duane and Kaelon’s bodies were both enhanced by Fighting Qi, yet they still couldn’t withstand the sheer force of the heat.
Watching the waves of flame leap more than ten meters high, they had no choice but to retreat once more, exiting the Secret Realm to take shelter outside.
Duane picked up a fragment of the vine he had previously chopped off. It wasn’t as soft as he expected; it felt more like a whip in his hand.
It was black through and through, like a piece of charcoal.
Duane’s eyes widened. ’Charcoal?’ he murmured softly.
He looked at the fragments on the ground. "Kaelon, gather some of these and pile them up. I want to test how well they burn."
The image of the Black Vines burning ferociously in the Secret Realm was still vivid in his mind. The temperature of those indigo flames was far beyond what ordinary firewood could produce.
And the fire from the Black Vines spread with extreme speed.
An area of several hundred square meters had been instantly transformed into a sea of fire.
Based on these observations, Duane concluded that the vines were highly flammable and released an enormous amount of heat.
Soon, Kaelon had gathered seven or eight fragments of the vine and piled them together.
Duane cast his Flame Technique again, easily igniting them.
Even with such a small amount of the vine, the heat released was still immense.
A smile spread across Duane’s face. "This is some quality fuel!"
The Territory currently used coke for smelting iron. If they could gather these Black Vines, they could completely replace the coke. This would also eliminate the need for coke production, saving a tremendous amount of time.
To test his theory, Duane placed his Big Ring Saber in the fire.
In less than five seconds, the blade began to glow red, and Duane could clearly feel the heat on his palm.
After a dozen or so seconds, the part of the blade touching the flames actually began to soften.
Duane was shocked and quickly pulled the Big Ring Saber back.
The softening stopped the instant the blade was removed from the fire, and as the temperature plummeted, the blade hardened again.
However, due to the motion and its own weight, the softened section had drooped slightly, making the blade look a little bent.
Duane was astounded. "In less than twenty seconds, the Black Vine’s flames can soften the blade. Within thirty seconds, it would definitely turn into molten iron!"
He shouldn’t just call it quality fuel; this was *excellent* fuel!
With the Black Vine, they wouldn’t even need to bother building a blast furnace. A small stove would be enough to smelt iron.
He swung the slightly warped Big Ring Saber, then flicked the softened area firmly. He then had Kaelon strike it twice with his Fighting Qi.
"The blade’s strength hasn’t decreased. If anything, it feels a bit stronger."
Duane fell into thought. ’I wonder about the strength of weapons made from iron smelted with this and then cast in a mold?’
’But even if mass-produced weapons don’t turn out great, it would definitely be fine for mass-producing farm tools.’
With that in mind, he gave an order:
"Kaelon, gather all the Black Vine here. We’ll take it back to the Territory later."
"You want to use it as fuel?"
Kaelon asked as he got to work.
He might be simple, but he wasn’t stupid.
After watching his Lord’s experiments, he also knew this stuff was something special.
Unfortunately, the chopped fragments they had collected outside totaled less than a hundred pounds.
Duane was suddenly filled with regret.
If only he’d known how special this stuff was, he never would have used his Flame Technique.
Now, all he could do was pray there were more Black Vines elsewhere in the Secret Realm.
One minute, five minutes, ten minutes...
A full twenty minutes passed before the small pile of Black Vine finally burned to ash.
It burned fiercely and released immense heat, and crucially, it lasted for a decent amount of time.
"What an excellent resource!"
He started walking. "Come on, let’s go back in!"
The two of them passed through the Teleportation Gate and into the Secret Realm once again.
The moment they entered, a wave of heat washed over them.
The ground inside was scorched. Some areas were glowing red, and rocks had melted into flowing magma.
If they hadn’t just been here, they might have mistaken the place for an active volcanic zone.
"A shame. Not a single piece was left."
Duane sighed.
Kaelon offered some comfort. "Gaius never mentioned the Black Vine, so it probably wasn’t here the last time he came. I don’t think you need to worry, Lord. There must be more Black Vine in the Secret Realm."
Duane’s eyes lit up. "That’s good reasoning, Kaelon. I didn’t realize you could be so quick-witted."
Kaelon scratched his head. "Uh, are you complimenting me or making fun of me?"
Duane laughed heartily.
The two of them waited in place for several dozen minutes until the ground temperature finally subsided.
"Where did you drop your Shield? Come on, let’s see if we can still find it."
Only then did Kaelon remember his lost Shield, and he quickly led Duane to the spot where he’d dropped it to search.
The two of them searched for a long time, even sifting through a large patch of ash, but found no trace of it.
Left with no choice, Duane used his Clear Wind Technique to blow the ashes away, revealing a black lump of iron in a small pit.
This must have been what was left after the Shield had melted into a puddle of iron and then cooled.
Kaelon looked crestfallen. That Shield was worth around two Gold Coins; it was a real shame for it to be destroyed like this.
The combustion properties of the Black Vine were once again proven.
At the same time, Duane squatted down and began to dig at the soil with his saber.
When clearing wasteland in the outside world, they were used to using wood ash from burned vegetation as fertilizer to enrich the soil.
’With such a large area of Black Vine burned to cinders, I wonder what the fertility of the underlying soil is like.’
"Remind me when we leave to dig up some of this soil to take back."
It was a shame they hadn’t brought any sacks with them, so they couldn’t take much soil back.
However, if it was just for an experiment, wrapping some in a piece of animal hide should be sufficient.
"Who says a hazardous Secret Realm has no useful resources?"
Duane stood up. "Come on. From now on, our goal is to find more Black Vine."
Kaelon followed, saying with a smile, "I’ve always felt that ever since you came to Black Forest Island, Lord, your luck has been incredibly good."
Duane found that a bit odd. "What do you mean?"
"Well, look. Black Forest Island was considered worthless by the outside world, but as soon as you arrived, we found iron ore, oak trees, and even Hot Spring Mountain Tea and Red Sun Grass..."
"And now, even in a dangerous, supposedly undevelopable Secret Realm like this, you show up and immediately discover a valuable resource!"
The more Kaelon spoke, the more convinced he became of his own judgment. The Lord’s luck was simply extraordinary.
Duane couldn’t help but laugh.
"Hearing you say that, I’m starting to think my luck is pretty good myself!"
The two of them chatted as they walked, and before long, they had ventured several miles deeper.
Unfortunately, they didn’t find any more Black Vine.
However, there were other plants here.
They were mostly shrubs, similar to those in the outside world, with nothing special about them.
Gradually, the light began to fade.
Duane looked up at the sky.
There was no sun here, nor was there a moon.
But even though there was no apparent light source, it still had a cycle of day and night.
Compared to the outside world, however, the daytime here was gloomy, while the night was pitch-black—so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.
The two of them gathered a good number of dry branches and started a bonfire.
They had to be especially careful at night.
Gaius had said that the others who’d come here had basically gone mad after a single night’s sleep.
Because of this, Duane suspected that some kind of indescribable event occurred while one was asleep.
Kaelon asked, "Lord, shall I rest first?"
He wanted to go to sleep first to see if anything amiss would happen.