Chương 28: Chapter 27 - Can we fix the Forge
Tect's jaw hung slack, not at the damage, but at the lack of damage. "How the hell is this thing still solid after 20,000 years? Only a few pieces have corroded away."
Azulak laughed, "Your people didn't always have magic, they relied on Technology to rule this world, it gave them a very unique outlook on the world. They developed self healing compounds, and metals that absorb mana to resist the effects of wear and tear. I'm surprised it's this damaged though. I figured if it was damaged at all it would be from the elementals, and would be totally wrecked. This is pretty good for us. We may be able to repair it."
Tect was stunned, "What the hell is it. I recognize a few parts, like the gears and sprockets, but a lot of this is too strange."
"This is what your people called an auto forge. It will smelt, purify, shape, and temper any metal known to goblinkind, which is a truly staggering amount. Look around carefully, they stored a few parts here for repairs in a spatial chest. If we can't get all of the parts we can search for the store room on level 5."
"How many levels does this mine have?"
"Last I heard they had just opened the 32nd level, but we can't go that far down. The lower we go the more dangerous it will be. The Goblin miners of the past used to keep the elementals in check, but now it's possible that high level elementals are occupying the lower levels."
Tect nodded, he knew he couldn't handle anything much stronger than the elemental he just killed. It took nearly an hour before Tect found the spatial chest. Inside it had a variety of tools that tect was unfamiliar with, and a few that he recognized but were far more advanced than anything he had ever used. Thankfully there was a book on maintenance stored here, and it was in the common language.
*AutoForge repair for dummies*
*So you tried to make a grilled cheese and broke the AutoForge, no need to fear as this comprehensive manual will show you how to fix the top 100 causes of Autoforge Failure.*
Tect scowled, "Well this is a very interesting sounding book. Was Grilled Cheese Failure a common occurrence in goblin society?"
Confusion came from Azulak, "I am not sure. I ate mostly grilled meats and vegetables, I've never grilled a cheese, I assume it melts and makes everything sticky."
Tect nodded, it did seem like grilling cheese would simply melt it, making a mess, but perhaps his ancestors found a way.
Tect began to read the manual on repair, luckily the first chapter was about tools, and it helped Tect identify many of the tools from the spatial chest.
"I've made sprockets and gears for the miners before, but I can't believe that gears could come in so many shapes. The Ancestor's were really amazing to think of these things."
"Many of these things came from before they got mana. Mana lets you twist the fabric of reality to your will, but without it your ancestors learned to take advantage of the laws of the universe to move mountains. No other civilization had to struggle like this, it's what made Goblins special."
Tect read the manual for hours, finally he got up and walked around the machine, occasionally looking at the diagrams in the book.
"I think most of the pieces that have broken are used to extend and retract the bed, form the mound, and Forge. The Heating, and Tempering are controlled manually by adjusting the output of a power crystal, and I have replacement parts for most of it. We will need to find 2 sprockets, 1 beveled gear, and a small silver box called a solenoid."
"I guess we'll need to head to level 5 then. Is there a tool in the box that looks like a miners pick made of black glass?"
"Yes, it's the only tool not in the book."
"That's because it's not a repair tool, it's for mining power crystals. I'f you use a regular pick the crystal will lose a large portion of its charge."
Tect pocketed the broken sprockets and gear and then walked back to the ramp down to level 3.
The ramp was wide and the slope was gentle, overhead many white crystals lit the tunnel. When Tect worked with the miners he entered the mine once to help dig out a collapse. The tunnels in the human copper mine were cramped and dark. It made him feel like he was crawling through a crypt. In the end it really was, 3 miners were buried in stone, only one made it out alive. Tect had driven the bodies and the injured man back to town using the donkey pulled cart the old man let him use for deliveries. The man's wife cried as she hugged Tect, thanking him for saving her husband.
Azulak radiated a feeling of confusion, "You have so many memories from the human town you lived in that show humanity's good side. Even I get touched by them, I am having trouble understanding how such nice people could be ok with slavery. Human's used to take indentured servants when I was alive, but that was a strictly regulated practice and only used to settle personal debts, I can't imagine why they are so ok with slavery now."
Tect frowned, "It's the church of Lumnos. According to the church of Lumnos enslaving any being that lacks civilized bearing is a mercy and it is the mission of all good Lumines to civilize the uncivilized. So they think it's God's will to enslave the poor, orphans, and goblins."
Azulak was angry, but without a body all he could do was bottle it up. " One day I will drink the golden blood of Lumnos. I hope your people are around to join me."
Tect sighed and shook his head. He understood how Azulak felt, but Goblinkind was not in a state that they could help him fulfill his wish yet.
Finally the floor levelled out and Tect entered the third floor. As he reached the bottom of the ramp the path split left and right. Carved into the wall were arrows pointing left and right. To the right was a ramp going down to floor 4 to the left was the mining area of floor 3.
Tect walked 200 feet to the first cavern and upon entering he was awed. Many people find beauty in the sky, near water, or in art, but what Tect saw was in his mind true natural beauty.
The cavern had no large white crystals lighting it, it didn't need it. Every few inches a glowing crystal was embedded in the walls and ceiling. The crystals glowed softly in every color of the rainbow and in the dark cavern it looked as though the stars had descended and been trapped in the cavern.
"This is amazing. Are these power crystals?"
"Yes, they are. Power crystals are crystalized mana. The Portal to the elemental plane of earth leaks strong earth mana, when it mixes with the mana in this world it makes these crystals. Though to be honest these crystals are only powerful enough to run basic gadgets. The crystals we need are many many times larger than these."
Tect walked slowly into the cavern, the low light made it very difficult to see for most people but Tect's improved night vision adjusted quickly and he could see fine. Still the camouflage of the Elementals was too good, and he couldn't see them regardless of the lighting. Luckily there were no major surprises in this cavern.
Tect proceeded to the next cavern fairly quickly, once again everything was lit by the white crystals in the ceiling. It seems the first cavern was left the way it was on purpose, perhaps it was too pretty to mine. It made Tect happy to know his ancestors saw the beauty and they couldn't bring themselves to destroy it.
The second cavern was huge and showed signs of mining. Large veins of grey streaked the brown stone with occasional sparkles of blue. This was the area that was labeled low manatite concentration. Tect was astonished. "This area was labeled as having low manatite concentration. I have never seen concentration this high. If I made a sword out of this it would be fit for a lord's son."
Azulak laughed, "Wait till you see the quality of metal we will be making your sword and armor from. In the past it would be training equipment, but by your reckoning it will be godly."
Tect began to walk towards the iron vein when suddenly the wall collapsed. A large grey earth elemental walked through the rubble, as it came to a chunk of iron it would quickly swallow it. The sound of the metal being chewed sent chills down Tect's spine.
"Ok boy, this is the moment we have been waiting for. Take your time, stay light on your feet, and only strike when you are confident. This big bastard is going to need worn down slow, but you can do it. In your inventory you have an herb, it's got 5 leaves, the leaves look like a palm, and they have little teeth along the edge. Crush it and rub it on your knuckles. It will help reduce the pain of punching for a while."
Tect did as he was told, the creature was still oblivious to his presence so he had time. Once he was ready Tect cautiously approached the creature from behind. He was within 30 feet of it before it turned and glared at him. Tect stopped moving and they stood in a stalemate for a time. Finally Tect stepped forward again, the creature bellowed, chunks of iron ore flying from its mouth.
Tect winced, "You eat rocks and ore, how the hell do you have such bad breath." We may never know if the creature could understand Tect, but the look on it's face would certainly indicate that it had, and that it was highly offended.
The creature charged Tect, the three toes on each foot dug deeply into the stone, gouging it. Just like a charging bull, Tect dodged left and right, ever mindful of his surroundings so as to maximize the distance between himself, the beast, and the walls. For three hours Tect played this game, every so often he would unleash a mana charged punch, slowly whittling away the strength of the creature. Eventually the creature fell to the ground too injured and exhausted to move.
"You'll need to use your charged punch to dig into the neck so that your sword can reach it's weak point."
"Ok" Tect used two punches to open up a wound before plunging his sword in and killing the beast. When he did it fell apart and tect found a 6 pound shiny metal sphere. "Finally, we found one. Now we just need to clear out this floor and the next two, find the parts, and get a few power crystals and we can make my armor and sword."
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