Master Of None

When the king of the deep cave had said master furnace and explained that twenty people could forge in it at the same time, Walker and midnight had been very interested. They had worked together forging before using Midnight’s dragon flames and Walker’s collection of skills.

As they approached the area, there were many other groups bringing materials toward and not bringing them back as often. This was normal for larger projects. There was also a growth in what was very noticeable to both Walker and Midnight. While they had resistances to just about everything at this point, the heat they felt was proof that there was a lot more mana and activity ahead.

Looking though, they just saw a massive pillar. A structure that they believed to be holding up part of the ceiling. ”That’s not a pillar for support, that’s the master furnace.” This caused a stutter in Midnight and Walker’s steps. They hadn’t expected it to stretch all the way to the ceiling to deal with the fumes and constant exhaust. That meant this fire was always going to age within.

”The forge furnaces in the underground could heat a lot of the city when it gets cold, which is great, but this, it will be a perfect guarantee that people will never need to worry about keeping their families warm again.” From the way that the king of the deep caves spoke, it seemed he had heard and met with those who struggled to stay warm in the past.

There had been plenty of demons who had stories of losing their family members to the cold. The ice and snow that came seasonally had been a horrible villain to them due to the fact that the sin title holders and demon king had treated them as slaves. They never received help and anything good they had was stolen or destroyed. This being a driving force for many leaders now as a way to improve the lives of everyone and avoid those past traumas.

Seeing that the king of the deep caves had it in mind and used his influence to ensure that it happened, Walker was not going to comment at all. It was the right thing and the right thing didn’t need praise. Sometimes it just needed silent supporters standing shoulder to shoulder with them.

”All the ore mined around here can be brought here for general smelting. I can’t say that this master furnace can make refined this or that. It can make mass produced ingots and alloys though.”

”That makes more sense. There would be contamination from other metals and the burning slag. It would disrupt the mana flow and purity. All the metal forging techniques that need herbs or other woods to be burned would cause some break down in quality too, so this is perfect for making the iron for all the nails and hinges for doors. It’s actually perfect.”

As Walker and midnight approached, larger doors were opened exposing the massive surrounding room. This huge forge had been made around the master furnace then walled in for safety. There were hundreds of small rune formations built to protect everyone from heat and fumes while also reinforcing everything here. While explosions for forges were very rare, having protection for everyone in case it happened was imperative.

There were also large stocks of ores against the walls that were bing fed in to processing areas to be made in to the ingots cooling across the opposite side. This was a massive square assembly line to make the most ingots of different ores as possible. It also would guarantee a cheaper price on ingots for the average blacksmith trying to make a project or to advance themselves through their work. Meaning that many would not need to worry about costly prices due to the lack of local materials.

”We have enough blacksmiths working here right now, and we can hire more since this forge will never stop unless it’s for maintenance. Those other two are angry they can’t come here and see it.” The king of the deep caves was clearly speaking about his other two fellow kings of the dwarven race. One was in charge of the people while the others in charge of the forges. However, it was the king of the deep caves who came to Genesis and supported them the most.

Walker looked back internally about how the king of the deep caves had allowed them in to the caverns to explore and help. Because of this, they had come to a better bond and built their relationship leading to where they were now. Yes there was more in all of that, but it was all steps toward a better everything for all the people of Genesis.

”We can also bring the wood here to make charcoal, can’t we?” Walker looked at the king of the deep caves, who had a wide grin despite the ashes and black smears on his face.

”You are right about that. We can make charcoal for all of those merchants when they try to go off exploring or trading in the winter. We can even manufacture some ingredients for long lasting torches without magic or runes being needed.” This was a great plan and idea. The productivity and affordability would make this master furnace a perfect core of the city. It would support so much of what went on during the coldest and hardest time for any city, town, or village.

”What else is there to know about the master forge? I figure you have something special if you want to show off so much.” Walker and Midnight both focused on the king of the deep cave. He was giving them a knowing smirk too before reaching in to his pocket and tossing Walker a stone.

”Give that an appraisal and tell me that the slag from this furnace isn’t making something unique.” The laughter as he watched Walker use his all around appraisal skill was all too telling.

’Earth glue

An entirely accidental creation due to forging multiple ores and alloys within the same furnace. While this is normally discarded as slag and broken down in to other items for production, this earth glue was made in such a large quantity that someone finally saw the value in it.

Just like metal and ore, when heated it becomes malleable. However, when cooled it is exceedingly rigid and tough. It can be used to meld metals together without needing to forge or fold them together. Because of this, it is ideal for construction of walls and even metal roofs which will need to flex and shift with the natural flow of seasons and time. It is also ideal for crafting weapons that have many moving pieces or other forms of armor that need reinforcements without adding extreme weight.

While most people would not realize the benefits of this, there are additional benefits when breaking this items down further in to pure earth glue which can be used as a material when creating earth and even metal magical equipment. It would be ideal for spell swords, magical forgemasters, metal mages…’

The appraisal was interesting and surely unique. ”So this was a material that had been ignored for generations as waste and broken down all the same with normal slag. We missed this because we just didn’t look close enough.” The realization was striking. So many good things were missed because people didn’t slow down and take the time to actually look. If someone had seen this earlier, each mages alone would have better magical equipment for them to use.

Walker’s mind drifted to the steel lamia race that used metal magic. They would find this sort of material very valuable since they would be able to use it to enhance their strength. Since that race would be visiting them sooner than later, he knew that stocking up on it would be a valuable goal.

After explaining his idea to the king of the deep caves, Walker didn’t mind that Midnight had taken the piece of earth glue and was using her dragon flames to heat it and mold it like clay. He was actually happier that she found some interest in utilizing her dragon flames in a more refined manner. It meant that Midnight was growing just as fast as he was in terms of her own abilities.

”Don’t worry about the stockpile of this. I will have it all set up to use as we need. Just make sure you push forward a request to get my teams of miners better pickaxes. We have a lot of broken tools because of how fast we are working.” The king of the deep caves knew that Walker could push forward his orders and he didn’t seem to mind that he was being a little manipulative. Regardless, Walker smiled as he and Midnight headed out an hour or so after they had spent playing with the earth glue and learning more about it.

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