As he faced Karmin's confused yet elated gaze, Guy realised something. Proper steel didn't exist in this world.
At first, it sounded implausible. Considering how 5000 years had passed since the Age of Isolation at least one ancient mage powerhouse should have derived the exact formula for making the steel alloy. Alternatively, there were so many smiths registered to the guild, at least one of them should have determined the formula by now.
But it was after considering it for a while that Guy recognised a key fact. And in fact, Mast had brought this up many times after plopping Guy into this world.
Technological and ideological advancement in this world had stagnated. Any growth made was incremental at best, and mostly applied to the higher rungs of the power ladder. It made sense. A per cent increase in the pinnacle would be more significant as opposed to a per cent increase amongst mortals.
Guy envisioned this scenario as a house that was prone to flooding. Each year the water level would rise and drown the house's floor. However, instead of fixing the situation and elevating the house, the inhabitants found it reasonable to raise the ceiling incrementally. In the end, they'd have a magnificent house, akin to a mansion, but one that would be fully submerged during flooding season.
In the case of smithing, everyone recognised the superiority of Dwarven Metal, or steel, but they found it unnecessary to replicate it. Why? Because although the gap between regular iron and steel was vast, it could be bridged by using a different metal alloy that had similar properties to steel. The people in Gaea found this alternative cheaper than pursuing rigorous research in weedling out steel's formula. That, and with the presence of mana metals, people felt that it wouldn't be economical to tweak iron in any way and improve it.
Even with |Inspect| the smiths were constantly stumped by how iron could be mixed with a nonmetallic substance and purified to such an extent. Many tried and failed in the process. Over time people gave up and wrote it off as a metal naturally found in the Fel realm.
Karmin produced some of the journals from his youth, which documented his works in replicating steel. In it, he talked about how he applied various strategies in getting the composition right. Trying alternative metals in the mixture, changing up the foundry and experimenting with modified strategies in heating the ores. He included his failures and possible alternatives to pursue. But he too had quickly dropped the idea after hitting multiple roadblocks. Deep down he was also a businessman - he wasn't going to waste time on something with a bleak chance of success.
Guy sighed as he placed the journal back on the desk. He started to appreciate the tenacity of the people from Earth. With hard limits on their capabilities, humans had to push their minds to unimaginable limits. What they had accomplished in 4000 years in his old world far exceeded the advancements achieved by humans in this world in double the time.
'Does magic make people lazier and stupider? That actually makes sense! Why else would people go out of their way to set themselves up just to get dunked on by cheat characters like Jo Way?' Apparently, Guy was still salty about the whole deal with Jo Way.
"It's not just me, actually. I referred to a lot of journals about people attempting to replicate Dwarven metal. All of them get stuck one way or another in trying to mix the nonmetallic substance with iron and purifying it further," Karmin commented. After that, he leaned forward and probed, "You called it steel? Are you familiar with this metal?"
Guy nodded apprehensively and replied, "You could say that. I know the gist of how it's created. However, as you already know I'm not really an expert in metallurgy. I can't give you a definitive and exact methodology."
That was the truth! Guy never had to memorise the composition of steel and the way it was made. There were some books in the RoK that offered information on that topic, however, they were only up to the middle school level. To gain access to the more advanced books Guy would need to scrounge up four more students out of nowhere.
Karmin wasn't completely convinced after hearing Guy's answer, though. More knowledgeable people had tried to recreate the Dwarven metal, he didn't have confidence that a random teaching apprentice would be able to succeed where they failed.
Although, a small part of him wanted to believe in Guy. After all, he did have Teacher Jeeves' backing.
"You were quite close. What you made through your trials was pig iron, which is basically iron with a very high carbon content -"
"Carbon?" Karmin interrupted.
"That's the nonmetal present in the Dwarven metal. It increases the hardness of the iron, but it also decreases its malleability. Anyways, what you're missing are a few additional steps to refine the iron and the steel, and you would have succeeded," Guy commented as he pointed out specific sections in Karmin's journal.
"Regarding this... carbon. The mages I've referred to for inspecting the metal all alluded to it being present in coal. Is that what you're alluding to?" Karmin asked.
"Yes, coal is mostly comprised of carbon. There are other elements present in it of course, which is also something that affects the purity of the pig iron you created. It would be better if you used fuel with higher carbon content and lower impurities."
"Ah! Ashen Coal might work!" Karmin exclaimed.
"What's that?"
"It's like coal, except it's much harder and porous," Karmin clarified.
"Oh, so it's something like coke?"
"What are all these word's you're using?" Karmin retorted in exasperation.
Steel, coke, carbon, pig iron... All of those words sounded completely foreign to Karmin. If it weren't for Guy's serious demeanour, Karmin could have sworn that the man was pulling his legs.
"Forget it! You seem to have some knowledge about the process, explain it to me in detail," Karmin demanded.
Guy nodded and started to explain the basic principles of steelmaking to the best of his abilities. His knowledge was only perfunctory, but with the assistance of some of the books in the RoK, he could extrapolate key details about the process. He didn't extend beyond his limits, and thankfully he didn't have to. Karmin was knowledgeable and very quickly grasped the concepts as Guy unveiled them. He could even provide suggestions derived from his own experiences. The expertise of a 2-star smith was nothing to scoff at after all.
One thing Karmin found difficult to tackle was the scientific explanations surrounding some of the steps in steelmaking. He wasn't informed about oxidation of impurities, or what oxygen was in general. However, he had an intuition about its purpose. Publications on smithing and forging often described similar processes, nevertheless, they relied heavily on the craftsman's instincts and experience.
That is why most smiths start as apprentices. During those stages, they are forced to learn the craft by observing their teachers and learning through demonstration. The disadvantages of this process are obvious, not only do these apprentices not know the purpose behind certain decisions they are also liable to learn poor habits and quirks employed by their teachers - which may be propagated through their own apprentices in the future.
If someone asked the apprentice why a certain step was employed, they wouldn't be able to vocalise the reason. "That's just the way you have to do it!" they'd confess after struggling to voice an explanation.
As a result, Karmin was quickly frustrated by the purification stages Guy described.
"All of this seems quite advanced. Where did you learn this?"
Guy's left eye twitched as he heard that question - the damn thing almost triggered his PTSD. Now, Guy had come to terms with the practicality of his alternate self. So without even a second of doubt, he regressed into the RoK and put on the mask.
"It was a revelation!" He began, as his consciousness stabilised.
Guy didn't want to come off as a complete lunatic and off-the-hook crazy. After practising rigorously with the mask on, he had figured out a way to exactly tune his zealousness in this state.
Thus, he began preaching his pieces. Going on about how he was shown visions of a world devoid of magic - The True World. He made sure to tailor this "sermon" for a craftsman such as Karmin. The topics he veered towards were all relevant to blacksmithing, metallurgy and craftsmanship. He also reared in some of his outrageous claims to not scare Karmin away.
Surprisingly though, Karmin wasn't as averse to these preachings as Guy had thought. He was actively listening and providing appropriate reactions at the correct times. He showed surprise when Guy discussed the different versions of steel with varying carbon content and their uses. He exhibited confusion when Guy described the automation of processes through industrialisation. He was genuinely enraptured by the many absurd inventions that were borne of necessity due to the lack of magic.
After a point, Karmin was a little embarrassed as he couldn't keep up. He didn't understand or was unable to envision some of the claims presented by Guy. Of course, he didn't disbelieve them - the concepts sounded logical and implementable. Just that his mind couldn't connect a few dots - he had to test them out. And so, he quickly brought the discussion back to steelmaking with an audible cough.
"*cough* I guess that makes sense?" He then continued, "I think this warrants another trial. Good thing I didn't demolish my Dwarven metal, no! Steelmaking set-up. If you've free the day after tomorrow, why don't you come over to my personal workshop? Meet me here at noon and we'll leave together. I will need your assistance setting up the subsequent stages following the creation of pig iron."
Guy nodded and retrieved his original consciousness by taking off the mask.
"I guess that's another thing on my plate now..." he grumbled as he left The Burning Forge.