Ethan Sterling, chief materials engineer, transmigrates to ancient times. Auctioned like livestock, he is bought by Lila Linden to be her son-in-law. Facing disdain from his father-in-law and aggression from the Zhao family, he uses modern metallurgy: salt water quenching to forge iron, extracts iron from sand, cuts through refined steel in an arena, rises up with Lila Linden, and paves a path to steel hegemony in Stonebrook Town.