The alchemy factory and the weapon factory were the two buildings he had been most invested in lately. The alchemy factory had been progressing more slowly due to the need for safety considerations.
But the weapon factory didn't require as many considerations, so construction had gone much faster.
The concept of the weapon factory had been passed down to Valen, the dwarven Grandmaster Smith, by Li De himself, who had even brought numerous reference materials from Earth.
As for how to construct the factory and how the forging process was designed, that had been entirely handled by the dwarves themselves.
Li De wasn't particularly interested in weapon forging and wasn't familiar with dwarven workflows either, so he just let them build it however they saw fit.
After all, these guys who mined all day probably weren't any worse at construction than they were at forging. They could handle it themselves.
"Let's go take a look," Li De said with excitement.
Every time a new building was completed in Dawn City, it gave him a sense of accomplishment that was hard to describe.
The weapon factory was located on the western side of the Moonlight Plains, near the steel smelting furnace. This entire area had been designated a restricted zone, and outsiders were prohibited from entering.
The region where Dawn City was situated was a canyon. The wind blew through the middle and dispersed to the sides, so the exhaust fumes from steel smelting would be carried up into the sky and wouldn't affect the daily lives of the residents.
This had been taken into account when selecting the site.
When Li De and his group arrived in front of the weapon factory, which had already been leveled and paved with bluestone flooring, Valen, having received word, hurried out to greet them.
"Lord Kachar, our weapon factory is complete!!"
Seeing Li De, the dwarven Grandmaster Smith was practically ecstatic. "The weapons we forged using this method are extremely consistent in quality, and their attributes are not far behind those forged by individual dwarves.
The weapon factory is a stroke of genius!
By the God of Forging, you must be the treasure he bestowed upon us!"
Li De twitched at the corner of his mouth. Damn it, that's not what you said before.
Weren't you the one who claimed the weapon factory didn't conform to dwarven forging traditions and couldn't produce good equipment??
One moment calling it trash, now calling it treasure.
No one changes faces faster than you do.
"You've already started production?"
"That's right, Lord Kachar. In order to adjust the process, we forged a batch of weapons this morning for sampling, but we didn't expect the assembly-line method you suggested to work so incredibly well.
Each person is responsible for just one step of the process. While this method can't produce high grade equipment, it's absolutely divine for crafting anything below Uncommon grade!
You're truly brilliant!! You must've been granted divine wisdom by the Creator!!"
Valen started sucking up again as he spoke.
Looking at the excited Valen, Li De didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Just how shaken was this guy?
"Show me your results."
"Yes, you'll be amazed!" Valen said with a wide smile, leading them into the weapon factory enclosed by high bluestone walls.
Behind him, Harrison and Niko, also full of curiosity, followed Li De into this newly constructed building.
The weapon factory district had no unnecessary decorations. Everything was built from stone, radiating a strong dwarven style.
When Li De arrived at the warehouse and saw the pile of equipment heaped together, due to the lack of weapon racks, he finally understood why Valen had been so excited.
That mound of equipment was mixed with Common, Rare, and Uncommon grade weapons, numbering over four or five hundred pieces.
"This is what you forged in just half a day??" Li De was a bit shocked by the sight. Didn't they just light the furnace this morning? How had they already forged this much by noon?
Valen nodded proudly.
"That's right. And this was only our first trial run.
Once production began, we forged over five hundred pieces in just one morning, and that was with only fifty dwarves working.
Although the attributes of equipment produced this way are a bit average and not as perfect as those forged individually by dwarves...
I'm fully confident that once we improve our techniques, we'll be able to produce gear of excellent quality.
And we can still increase our production speed."
Compared to the factory's assembly-line production, the old method, where a dwarf forged an entire weapon alone, might yield better stats, but the efficiency was just too low.
A production line of fifty dwarves could forge over a thousand weapons in a single day. But if each dwarf forged independently, producing just two or three weapons apiece would already be considered extremely efficient.
Moreover, while the attributes of the weapons forged on the assembly line were slightly lower, they were still well within acceptable margins, no wonder Valen was so pleasantly surprised.
With such a simple operation, dwarven productivity had been magnified fivefold, even tenfold.
And as they became more familiar with their specific forging stages, production efficiency would continue to rise rapidly.
"We can focus on training young blacksmiths. With such high-intensity forging work in the factory, their strength and skills will improve at lightning speed!
The weapon factory is truly a genius idea, Lord Kachar, praise be to you!"
Watching Valen fall into such a frenzy, Li De couldn't help but shake his head in amusement.
"Standardize the production process of the weapon factory as soon as possible.
What I want to see is a situation where you can produce whatever grade of weapon I instruct you to.
Right now, the weapon factory is just getting started, it's still far from the state I envision.
From now on, you'll take full responsibility for overseeing weapon production in Dawn City. City Hall will assist you.
The weapon factory will be responsible for forging low grade weapons, and the Advanced Forging Division will handle the high grade gear that the weapon factory can't produce."
Li De didn't waste words and directly gave this dwarven Grandmaster Smith his orders.
"The weapon factory can be divided into three production workshops. The Common grade workshop will be staffed mainly with low-level blacksmiths, the Rare grade workshop with intermediate blacksmiths, and the Uncommon grade workshop with advanced blacksmiths.
Each time a blacksmith is promoted, they can be reassigned to the next workshop level, with increased compensation until they finally move into the Advanced Forging Division."
Li De had laid out a more detailed division of labor, this way, they could meet specific production targets based on weapon grade requirements.
Stability was a critically important metric for the factory.
"Valen, I'm leaving this to you. Don't disappoint me."
He had high hopes for the weapon factory.
He valued it just as much as the alchemy factory.
Alchemical bombs were indeed powerful, but weapons forged by dwarves were by no means inferior. This was a fantasy world, after all, powerful armor could completely withstand alchemical bombs without taking a scratch.
Besides, Li De wasn't planning on trading alchemical bombs externally anytime soon. That trump card was for his personal use only.
But the weapon factory was different. In Li De's plans, it was meant for export.
Just like the deals with the Centaur Tribe.
One was for internal use, the other for foreign trade to generate revenue, using profits from exports to sustain domestic projects.