His own son...
In an instant, Stone felt as if a flock of crows were cawing overhead.
"I have a son?" Stone looked at Baozi, still in shock. "I gave the artifact to my son?"
“Gaga, that’s right, that’s right! Isn’t the king of the Fallen Empire your son, Master?” Baozi twisted his body, looking completely matter-of-fact.
"But didn't you say I was the heir of some ancient Eastern clan? How come the king of the Fallen Nether Empire is my son?" Stone suddenly felt utterly devastated. She...she actually had a son?! And he was even a king?!
"Gaga, Master married the old king of the Fallen Nether Empire! Then she gave birth to a little prince. When the little prince grew up, the old king died, and Master gave the artifact to the little prince!" This time, Baozi patiently explained to the stone. It was unclear whether it had truly changed its nature or was simply frightened by the stone's curse.
Shi Tou stood there dumbfounded for a long while, barely managing to process what had happened: "Oh my god, then... then is my son still alive?"
Baozi didn't answer immediately, but muttered to itself while its folds trembled. After a while, it finally spoke: "Hehe, it should not be alive anymore! Baozi has been sleeping for hundreds of years. Baozi remembers that before it went to sleep, the little prince was already very old!"
"How old?" Stone felt like he had a son, how absurd! But he couldn't help asking Baozi about him.
"Giggle, I don't know! Stone can't count, but Stone knows that the Little Prince became a king and had many, many children, and his children had many, many children!" Baozi squeezed out all the juice from his bun before giving a more plausible answer.
Stone suddenly felt a deep sense of loss, as if he had finally found a blood relative, only to discover that the person had been dead for hundreds of years. Wait a minute! "Baozi, let me ask you, how long can humans live?" Stone had his reasons for asking this question. Because the dwarves in the Dwarf Kingdom were generally long-lived; for example, Elder Red Stone, despite his rather unappealing name, had just celebrated his 300th birthday.
"Hehe, human lifespan? Um, well, Baozi thinks humans can probably live to be around two hundred years old!" After hesitating for a while, Baozi finally chose a more suitable number. Actually, it didn't know much about humans, but it remembered that its owner's ex-husband died at the age of 197. It vaguely remembered that someone had said that living to that age wasn't a bad thing, so human lifespan is probably, maybe, around two hundred years old?
Stone sighed deeply. Had he been greedy? He had clearly made up his mind. After all, he was free from all ties in his past life, and this life was a free gift. When did he become so anxious and insecure again? Suddenly, Stone gave a self-deprecating laugh. He had really been led astray by Baozi. He wasn't Baozi's owner at all, so what did that so-called owner's son have to do with him?
"Alright Baozi, go to sleep now. We're going to go blacksmithing with Steel Hammer Daddy first thing tomorrow morning!" Having figured everything out, Stone reached out and gently patted Baozi: "Sleep, sleep!"
Baozi obediently transformed into a black diamond and hopped to the side of Shitou's pillow. Under the dim oil lamp, Shitou slowly fell asleep. Unbeknownst to her, Baozi wasn't asleep; instead, she stared blankly at Shitou's sleeping face: "Gaga, Master, Baozi thinks you've really forgotten everything! You've really forgotten everything? Forgot who you are, forgotten who Baozi is, and even forgotten Secamoro, Kashi, Karen..."
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Extra chapter tonight~~~
Chapter 38 She truly is my daughter
"Come on, my sweet Stone! Let's go blacksmithing with Daddy!" Stone was woken up early in the morning by his chubby mother. After getting dressed and having breakfast, Steel Hammer Daddy carried Stone in one arm and held the magical hammer in the other, leading a large group of his children on a grand march toward the smelting furnace.
That's right, a whole bunch of burdens. Stone, perched on Steel Hammer's shoulder, watched speechlessly as his little dwarf brothers trotted along behind. He silently counted them—well, except for Sixth and Seventh Brothers, all the others were there: "Daddy, where are the little brothers?!"
Steel Hammer Daddy knew, of course, that the little brother Stone was talking about was his youngest son, Fire Pliers: "Stone, be good. Fire Pliers and Fire Hammer are too young. Daddy will teach them blacksmithing in a few years."
"Damn it!" Stone couldn't help but curse. What the hell?! If Fire Pliers and Fire Hammer are too young, then what about her? Actually, Stone really misunderstood Steel Hammer's father. Dwarves and humans have different lifespans, so their development at different ages is naturally different. Steel Hammer's father clearly considered his daughter's special background when he provided her with special guidance.
"Stone, we're here!" Steel Hammer Daddy put Stone on the ground, then took her little hand and walked into a house with a very peculiar shape.
Once inside, Stone suddenly realized why this house looked so different from the others! It was a house specifically designed for burning firewood! That's right, that's what Stone saw.
The smelting furnace was enormous, at least a thousand square meters according to Stone's estimation. In the center was a long underground dragon, topped with a glowing red-hot metal mesh, clearly to prevent anyone from accidentally falling in. Stone thought, however, that even if someone did fall into the mesh, they'd be roasted to a crisp. Around the furnace were rows of neat forging tables, most of which were already occupied by dwarves at work.
The temperature inside the furnace was extremely high; in just a short while, the stone was already covered in sweat.
Despite his approachable nature, King Steelhammer was still approached by a dwarf who bowed to him and asked, "Your Highness, are you preparing for forging today? May we observe?"
Steel Hammer Daddy pointed at the stone that was looking around and laughed, "Observing is fine, of course! But today I'm not here to forge, I'm here to teach stone forging!"
Upon hearing Steel Hammer's words, the surrounding dwarves were clearly taken aback: "Stone Princess? Good heavens! Is Your Highness planning to raise a Stone Princess?"
"Wait a minute, isn't Princess Stone only a few years old? Isn't this a bit too early?"
"That's right, I remember my son is a little older than Stone Princess, and he still hasn't learned to walk!"
Listening to the surrounding chatter, Stone was a little confused. What did they mean by "planning to train her"? Did it mean that Steel Hammer Daddy was going to abandon her seven brothers and dedicate himself to teaching her his skills? Also, were the differences between humans and dwarves really that great? He was only three years old; was his identity going to be exposed so soon?
"Alright, alright, everyone get back to work! I didn't come here specifically to teach Stone today. Can't you see all my kids are here? Since I'm going to teach them anyway, wouldn't it be easier to teach them all at once?" Steel Hammer Daddy seemed to realize something was amiss and quickly tried to smooth things over.
After hearing this explanation, the dwarves who had been watching finally dispersed, with only a few dwarves who looked quite young remaining, still watching from a distance, seemingly determined to learn the technique.
Steel Hammer Dad didn't mind others watching. He simply pulled Stone to an empty forging table, pulled out a small chair, and gestured for Stone to sit down.
Stone sat obediently on the little chair, watching with great interest as Steel Hammer Dad instructed his brothers to fetch ore and start a fire.
It seems that Steel Hammer Daddy really intends to teach Stone how to blacksmith. While demonstrating, he patiently explains to Stone, "Stone, you must remember that to blacksmith, you must first learn to distinguish ores. After your brothers graduated from the Wise Man's Academy, they all went to mine in the mines first. The mines are the best place to learn how to distinguish ores, and you will go there in the future too."
Stone was immediately shocked. She was going to go mining too?!
"Then you'll learn how to start a fire. Your eldest and second eldest brothers have been starting fires here for five or six years, and your second eldest brother is especially good at it. Of course, Stone, that's something you'll have to learn too." Steel Hammer Papa explained in detail, while having his second eldest brother demonstrate the technique to Stone using flames.
Stone was dumbfounded, not daring to blink.
“Then comes refining. The ore mined from the mines is all raw stone, and raw stone contains a lot of impurities. Refining is the process of slowly removing these impurities from the raw stone. Refined ore is essentially much better than raw stone. Of course, the more precious the ore, the more difficult it is to refine.” Steel Hammer Daddy said, taking out a piece of ore about the size of a basketball: “This is the most common iron ore. Iron ore has large reserves, a low melting point, and is very cheap. It is widely used by every race.”
Iron ore? Stone nodded silently. In her past life, she had dealt with iron quite a bit, but pure iron products were rare; most were stainless steel and aluminum alloys. And pure iron wasn't exactly cheap. Besides, does iron have a low melting point? Stone, who hadn't done well in physics in her past life, felt a lot of pressure.
"Iron ore is one of the most common ores, so it contains a lot of impurities. A large piece of iron ore like this will become extremely small after refining." With that, Steel Hammer began refining the iron ore right in front of the stone. Just as he said, the iron ore contained a great deal of impurities. About an hour later, the basketball-sized piece of iron ore had shrunk to the size of an adult's fist.
Steel Hammer Daddy picked up the refined iron ore with pliers and placed it in front of Stone: "Stone, do you think the iron ore is refined enough?"
Stone was dozing off when, out of the blue, Steel Hammer Daddy put a piece of extremely hot iron in front of her nose. In an instant, Stone woke up and felt as if all the hairs on her face had been singed!
"No way..." It took Shi Tou a long time to recover before he weakly said.
"Oh?" Steel Hammer Daddy was quite surprised by Stone's answer: "Why did Stone say that?"
Why? How did she know? Stone stared blankly at the still-steaming lump of iron, taking a step back without making a sound: "It seems to have impurities!" Heaven knows what impurities are! Although Stone didn't study physics well, he knew that normal pure iron should be a silvery-white metal, but this lump of iron in front of him was clearly black!
"Stone, you can actually spot the impurities in the iron?" Steel Hammer's father was quite surprised, but he immediately became extremely excited: "Haha, you truly are worthy of being my daughter, Stone! From now on, you'll come to the smelting furnace every day!"
What?!
Chapter 39: Stone Just Wants to Go to School
Stone is truly kneeling before him, coming to the smelting furnace every day! Being roasted alive like human jerky! Steel Hammer, do you really think that just because her name is Stone, she's not afraid of being roasted by fire? Besides, even if she was breaking stones, shouldn't you have seen that the stone in your hand has shrunk by more than half after being roasted? And that's iron!
Just as Stone was weeping, Steel Hammer Papa finally remembered something important: "But I still have to go to the temple to handle official business, so I can't be with Stone every day. What should I do?" He turned to his eldest son, Flame, "Since you have to come here to start the fire every day anyway, you're in charge of looking after your sister, right?"
Stone glared fiercely, "If you dare to agree, this princess will definitely make you turn into fire to start a fire!"
Flame shuddered and weakly voiced his opinion: "But Dad, I sometimes have to go down into the mine to mine too!"
Steel Hammer Dad's gaze suddenly shot to his second son, but before he could speak, Fire Tongue interjected, "I want to go too! Dad, I want to go mining too!"
With a "whoosh," the target this time was the third brother, but Steel Hammer Papa immediately changed his tune: "Stove... never mind, you should just stay in the Wise Man's Academy and study properly! Sigh, tell me, how many years have you been in the academy? Firebeard and Firebeard are graduating this year, how can you be so stupid!"
The stove silently bowed its head. Who could blame it for being so stupid? Who gave birth to him who was so stupid?
Firebeard and Firebeard were both clever. Over the years, they had long known that the one person in the family you absolutely couldn't mess with was their youngest sister. Petty, wasn't she? Holding grudges, wasn't she? A bit of a rogue, wasn't she? Anyway, they were determined that they would never mess with Stone!
"Dad, even after we graduate, we still have to work in the mines for a year!" Huo Xu felt a chill run down his spine. He turned around and, sure enough, Shi Tou's expression was quite unfriendly.
Huo Hu quickly added, "Besides, we don't even know if we'll pass the graduation exam! Dad, look, Third Brother has taken it four times and still hasn't passed!"
Steel Hammer Dad was furious! "Why do these two kids always learn bad things instead of good ones?!" he yelled. "Alright, alright, I know."
Stone looked resentfully as Steel Hammer Daddy finally removed the lump of iron and resumed smelting. "Daddy, Stone should go to school too." Waaah! All seven of her older brothers went to the Wise Man's Academy first, then spent a year mining in the mines before coming to this smelting furnace to learn how to start a fire. Why is it that everything becomes so strange with her?
“Good boy Stone, our Stone is a girl, she doesn’t need to go to school, understand?” While refining iron ore, Steel Hammer Daddy still managed to pat Stone’s forehead: “Our Stone is so smart, she can come directly to the smelting furnace.”
At this moment, Stone was completely impressed by Steel Hammer. Which eye of yours saw that she was smart?! And if the patriarchal mindset in the Dwarf Kingdom is so severe, is it really okay for him to teach Stone his skills?!
"Daddy, Stone wants to go to school! She wants to go to school!" Hmph, she's not stupid. Although going to school is tiring, it's still better than staying in this furnace that can roast people into jerky every day, right?
Steelhammer Papa clearly hadn't expected Stone Princess to burst into tears so suddenly, and with such a tremendous outburst that the dwarves busy at the forging table around them all stopped what they were doing and gathered around: "Your Highness, what's wrong with Princess Stone? Is she injured?"
Stone paused in her sobbing; she didn't want to be stared at like a panda. But when she heard the dwarf's question, she gritted her teeth. She had to cry, she had to cry, and cry loudly, hysterically!
Hmph, does she really think she's stupid? When the dwarf asked if she was injured, his voice was very calm, clearly indicating that getting injured was a common occurrence while working here!
"It's alright, it's alright, my Stone is just hungry, it's nothing!" Steel Hammer Papa quickly stopped his work and explained kindly to the dwarves watching.
puff!
Stone stared at Steel Hammer with a bloodshot face. She wasn't hungry! She wasn't a glutton!
"Sweetie, don't cry anymore. The temperature in the furnace is extremely high. Look, your tears dry right away. If you keep crying, your eyes will swell up really big, and wrinkles will appear on your pretty face." Steel Hammer Daddy gestured for Flame to take over his work, then squatted down and gently comforted Stone.
Stone was so frightened by Steel Hammer's words that she immediately wiped away her tears. Although she didn't know how much of Steel Hammer's words were true and how much were false, she couldn't be careless when it came to her pretty face.
"Stone is such a good boy!" Steel Hammer Dad pinched Stone's cheek, secretly chuckling to himself. Hehe, he knew his little Stone was a vain little devil.
Stone pouted, and although she stopped crying, it didn't mean she was willing to come to the smelting furnace: "Daddy, Stone wants to go to school!"
Seeing Stone's unwavering determination, Steel Hammer Daddy couldn't help but feel a headache coming on. He scratched his head and said, "How about we ask Furnace to teach you?"
A stove? How could you even say that! "No, even Third Brother doesn't know how!" Stone stuck out his neck and pouted, refusing to compromise no matter what.
The stove, caught in the crossfire even while lying down, silently covered its face.
"How about Fire Tongue? Fire Tongue did very well in the Wise Man's Academy!" Steel Hammer Daddy also felt that Furnace was not very reliable, so he simply changed to someone else.
"No, no, no!" Stone shook her head like a rattle-drum. She'd rather be nagged by those old wise men every day than spend all day in the smelting furnace: "Stone wants to go to school!"
"This..." Steel Hammer Daddy was quite conflicted. Since the Dwarf Kingdom moved underground six hundred years ago, there had never been a precedent of girls attending school. Although he was the king, he still had to respect wise men.
Stone glanced furtively at Steel Hammer's dad, seeing him deep in thought, and immediately glared fiercely at her brothers beside her. "Hmph, if this princess can't go to school, you'll all just wait and see!"
Instantly, the five spineless older brothers turned against him, vying to persuade Steel Hammer Daddy to let Stone go to school. Steel Hammer Daddy, his head throbbing from the incessant chatter, raised his hand and slapped the loudest boy, Stove, hard on the back of the head: "Shut up! I never said Stone couldn't go to school!"
Stone's eyes lit up: "Daddy lets Stone go to school! Stone is so happy!" Before he knew it, Stone's tone was becoming more and more like that cute and spoiled little dumpling.
Steel Hammer Daddy wanted to slap the stove again, but faced with his beloved daughter's smiling face, he was truly helpless: "Alright, alright, Daddy agrees, Stone can go to school, but..."
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Extra chapter tonight~~~