After half an hour of mending, Dominic looked at the chest plate with resignation. It was beyond saving, and the repeated working was making the metal brittle. The best option would be to smelt it down and start over with a new piece using the same raw materials.

However, he now had some better raw materials than he had used the first time.

Partially because he could make them, but mostly because he now had magical items that could be smelted down from the monster horde. The items themselves, and the magical bonuses on them, were not great.

But even the Common Grade magical items dropped by more powerful monsters were normally made with better materials than simple iron or copper.

If he picked the ones that had the worst bonuses first, he could smelt them without anyone ever missing out on the opportunity to use them. But they were his loot to begin with, and they really weren’t worth selling when he could make them into something so much better.

The first item on the list was a Minotaur Cleaver.

It was made of Dark Iron, a magical metal that was incredibly durable and heat-resistant. Not particularly valuable, as far as magical materials went, but as the weapon was sized for a Minotaur to use two-handed, it would provide over ten kilos of raw metal.

Raw metal that would hold much better enchantments than what Dominic had been working with.

Now, the real limitation would be the magitech circuitry that he was able to design for it.

And that was where he needed a bit of luck.

He had three new crafting recipes that he hadn’t checked yet, and there was some hope that one of them would be usable. Even if it just had a bit of circuitry that gave a bonus he wanted, it would be enough to allow him to upgrade his next works.

After crossing his fingers for luck, Dominic unrolled the first blueprint.

Then turned it over, wondering if he’d opened it upside down.

"What did you get?" Amie asked.

"That’s what I’m trying to figure out. Give me a moment because I have no idea what this thing is supposed to be. The System Calls it a Bypass Turbine. Maybe it’s for airship propulsion?" Dominic replied.

The pair of them examined it for a moment, then decided they needed an expert opinion.

"Let’s go ask Pops."

The rest of the blueprints could be inspected once they got to the smithy, where the old man could give them better advice about the loot. But until they understood what this thing was supposed to be for, there was no point in opening more.

The Dwarf was waiting for them as they approached, as Mead had been working the front counter for the morning sales. He had pints of ale ready for the visit, and a knowing smirk that said he was expecting them to have run into something that needed his expertise.

"Good to see you again. I do hope that you’re not being overworked. But I really can’t decipher the purpose of this blueprint.

I get how to make it, but I have no idea what it’s for." Dominic explained, then opened it on the counter.

Pops inspected it for a moment, then began to laugh.

"It’s a steam plant turbine. If you’re using compressed air, or need regulated constant steam pressure, you use one of these so that you don’t waste all that precious steam.

Once it’s up to pressure, your main drive will work as usual, and then this will run the excess steam over a secondary turbine, driving a shaft to power more equipment. You can use it for electrical power, running an air compressor, even operating a water pump.

However, there are other uses. Instead of using it as a secondary option, you can use it as the primary for a power plant, and it’s more efficient than the standard pumps." Pops explained.

"Well, there goes our theory that it was for airship propulsion." Dominic sighed.

Pops stared at the design for a moment. "No, you have a point. If you used it that way, with magitech fire, you could use it to replace the propellors on an airship. I’m not sure what the advantage would be, though.

The existing design is so much easier to make, and an airship can only move so fast without damaging the envelope.

However, if you wanted to make a more efficient truck, you could use the steam turbine with variable vanes like these to control speed, instead of bleeding pressure. The sound tends to bother small animals, though."

Dominic frowned. "The sound?"

"Oh yes. A high-speed turbine makes a whistle that can’t be mistaken for anything else. Is that the only blueprint that you got on this trip? I had thought that there might be one or two more coming up on the market, even if none of the others had trade cores.

So, I’m assuming they traded them to you." Pops asked.

Dominic shook his head. "It’s not the only one I got. But I didn’t trade for any. The soldiers and the adventurers might have a few more that they just haven’t mentioned yet."

Mead laughed. "Likely holding out for a few months until the glut of items fades, and they can get a better price. The only ones they’ll likely sell will be the really obvious ones, that would be valuable any time."

Dominic nodded. "Well, we might as well open the others. I haven’t even checked them yet, so we’re all learning at the same time."

Then he took out another and unrolled it over the steam turbine blueprint.

This one was much more practical, in a military sense.

"There is something with you and Gunswords. Isn’t this the second one that you’ve received?" Pops asked.

"It is. But this isn’t a Gunsword, is it? It’s on a halberd. Honestly, this one looks like a lot of fun to use in combat." Dominic laughed.

"Just give the poor sap a bayonet and call it a day. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. What else do you have?"

Dominic shrugged and unrolled the final blueprint.

"[Barrier Shield], Rare Grade. 4 sockets. It looks like the shield has built in circuitry for the Area Barrier spell, with minor mana collection to a mage made mana gem, and some circuitry for durability. Not bad. Those four sockets will make all the difference when you’re building them.

If you socket two of them with Magitech Orbs in advance, you can build them into the design, and leave two more open for the user to choose.

Every warrior needs more spots for skill gems, and the Royal Guards all carry shields." Pops narrated as he inspected the plan.

"Then I suppose that I should start working on obtaining new Magitech Orb plans." Dominic sighed.