smelting
Like processing, smelting is a fundamental aspect of the player run economy.
Unlike some games where you might loot a corpse and sell their stuff at a store, in Moral Decay you take those items to your friendly neighborhood smelter. They melt down those items, pay you by the weight and then in turn sell off those materials to an armorsmith or weaponsmith who make things for you to buy.
Of course it gets very tiresome carrying around all those things you want to smelt. You will likely need some sort wheels to get about. (See: corpse wagons)