Discovery of Metal
"...In the forest about four days' journey to the west, we encountered individuals we presume to be other elves."
"What? Other elves?"
Elma's report sent murmurs of surprise rippling through the group.
I see. Up until now, they'd been so focused on advancing their agriculture that they hadn't crossed paths with elves from other villages. Even after four years, plenty of elves—including those from Muwan's group—had already started encountering and interacting with one another. But Rasl's people had prioritized building up their internal strength, so they hadn't sent out many scouts. Plus, the distance played a role. Elves could walk through the night, and even with the planet's 36-hour days, it was a solid six days' trek. Considering the nearest village was that far away, it was quite a haul. Breaking through uncharted forest for days with just a handful of warriors? No wonder they hadn't found anyone in four years.
But things were different now. They'd finally met elves from another village. It seemed perfectly timed, coinciding with those elves expanding their own range.
"We stayed hidden and just observed without being detected... but it felt like there was a village nearby."
"I see. Other elves, then."
Rasl pondered this, his expression thoughtful. Well, yeah. Instinctively, he knew they'd be friendly, but he couldn't be sure. As village leader, he needed to judge carefully.
"Understood. They don't know about us, right?"
"Yes, that's correct."
The others hadn't noticed them yet. The distance made it unlikely unless someone went looking deliberately. So, they decided to hold off for now.
"Still, just in case, strengthen the outer patrols."
"Got it."
With warrior chief Elma's report settled, construction chief Dro simply announced they'd built more houses for the elves. On a side note, construction techniques had branched off and evolved rapidly. They'd moved beyond simple huts of wooden pillars topped with plants or leaves, now framing proper wooden skeletons and mixing soil with dry grass to harden walls into proper pottery-like houses. And somehow, they'd even found a plant sap that acted like glaze, brushing it on so the structures wouldn't crumble in the rain. In just four years, their building skills had skyrocketed. Thanks to that, the elves could now live in homes that barely let in wind or rain, with fires inside for warmth and safety.
Finally, production chief Rakus. I'd snuck a peek earlier, and this one had real potential.
"About that special stone we found before. It doesn't seem to be just any ordinary rock."
After discovering fire, the elves had tried every experiment imaginable with its heat. While digging for graphite to write on leather hides, they'd unearthed this odd stone—a shiny greenish one. Scratching rock with it left a blue streak. And instead of the stone chipping or grinding away, the rock itself dented where it hit, like poking soft fruit. Drawn by its unique beauty, different from other stones, they wondered if they could make tools from it. Still in the stone age, they figured it was worth a shot.
So they tossed it straight into the hearth. They'd learned that heating stones in fire made them split cleanly for easier shaping, so they always fired up the hearth for processing. The hearth itself—made like their houses from molded clay—was for keeping fire going long-term to cook meat or crops quickly. They didn't know exactly, but it could hit up to 1,400 degrees.
The moment they put the stone in, it didn't behave like the others. This greenish one started to soften and melt. The startled elves yanked it out, and as the glowing red stone cooled, its color shifted—far more yellow than before.
What the hell was this? It softened like melting in fire, lost its blue hue entirely, and turned yellow. The elves had never seen anything like it, but I knew exactly what it was.
Copper. That smooth yellow metal, one of the most common with good conductivity—used everywhere in wires and electronics back on Earth. Low melting point, so in some places they mixed it with tin for bronze, kicking off the metal age ahead of iron. Guess digging for graphite hit a nearby copper vein. Not that it was a real vein—this planet I'd stuffed full of greedily abundant copper, tin, iron, silver, and pretty much every useful metal. Copper popped up easy after a few digs. Softer than iron and heavier, sure, but perfect for jumpstarting the metal age and later tech. They'd finally found it. While mining graphite, no less. Wild.
And since I'd packed in plenty of hard-to-find tin too, once they got that, they could whip up strong, easy-to-cast bronze alloys in no time. Even without it, tools from pure copper would carry them until they hit iron and built proper furnaces. Not bad at all.
Already discovering copper, huh? On my old Earth, it took humanity about 4,000 years from stone to bronze—nearly 1,000 times longer. Well, easy ores and their fast progress helped. Either way, getting to the metal age quick would be great. Whoever masters metal first becomes the unchallenged overlord of this elf planet.
Muwan and the other elves I'd been watching... not yet. Makes sense—Rasl's village stumbled on it by chance while digging graphite for writing. Others aren't even thinking that way, so Rasl's crew gets the lead. If it'd been Muwan, he'd have forged weapons from this heavy, hard, easy-to-shape metal pronto.
"It softened like melting, then hardened again as it cooled—retaining that melted shape. The blue faded, the yellow deepened, and it seemed even tougher."
"I see... Heat it to reshape easily, then it hardens stronger?"
To Rasl, focused on daily life, this screamed new uses.
"Tougher and easier to shape than stone? Perfect for farm tools."
She glanced at harvest master Selian.
"Stone sickles are a pain to grind and more tear than cut. Plowing fields with them breaks 'em easy and wears you out."
Rasl was spot on—stone tools were barely better than hands. But a tougher, shapable metal? Game-changer for efficiency.
"That'd help with warrior weapons and shields too."
"Stronger material means better hammers for building, or sturdy clubs for chopping wood..."
Elma jumped in, not missing a beat, and Dro followed suit.
Of course, copper's softer and heavier than iron, so limited uses. No electricity era yet. Still, leagues beyond ground stones. Arming tools and warriors with it? They'd leapfrog other elves into dominance.
"And there's a ton of that greenish stone, so we can make everything you mentioned. But... Rakus, you good with that?"
Ultimately, it fell to Rakus, overseeing production. And luckily,
"Perfect. My maker's soul is burning. Softens for easy shaping, hardens tougher—endless possibilities."
He was a total crafting otaku, fired up.