Chương 35: Turning Up the Heat

A little knowledge gets you a little progress. A lot of knowledge gets you much further. Right in between, there's a sweet spot. There's something to be said about ignorance of safeguards. —The Artillerificers Guide to Big Booms Once my excitement died down, I read over the new notifications that rested in my periphery and was surprised to see that the System had adopted my naming convention for the new invention. > Magic Thermite > An original creation, this substance burns with a ferocious intensity.

> Quality: Uncommon > General skill unlocked: Alchemy > Through alchemical design and reckless experimentation, you have discovered the ability to create various concoctions. Higher levels may increase potency or volume. Now we're cooking. If I were to combine this with… Despite not having any experience in creating weapons, I did have some ideas. The first of which lay half-finished in front of me. I picked up the metal arrowhead from the strewn contents of my bag.

Either in my blind panic or my celebrations, I must have knocked it over. On its own, an arrow was a decent enough tool of war. But if I were to add a little spice… I looked over to the bare shaft and nodded confidently to myself. This would work. Gene, once again, would be the first to benefit from my creations. Once things were flowing more smoothly on the production side, I'd be able to make things more expeditiously. For now, I'd build on what I already had.

I began by shaving down the tip of the arrow shaft, flattening one side with a blade. My fire-starting kit made the sacrifice, and I broke a corner off of the flint with my hammer. I made a small incision along the grain just below the tip and wedged the flint shard into the narrow gap. Some string ran through the thermite putty, making a sticky and explosive 'glue' that I wrapped around the narrow tip of the shaft to hold the now ill-fitted arrowhead in place.

I added a small amount of putty into the arrowhead, then pushed it onto the shaft, taking extreme care not to push it on far enough that the flint made contact with the steel. Not that simply touching the two would create any sparks, but after what I had seen… I wasn't ready to take any chances. It should take a large amount of force to cause the shaft to slide fully into the arrowhead and strike the flint against the steel and ignite the thermite. My dangerous new toy in hand, I rushed down the slope to find Gene.

"It's wobbly." Gene gave me a skeptical look and reached to wiggle the arrowhead.

"NO!" I yelled, smacking his hand away before he could ignite the arrow. Gene was too affronted to come up with a response.

"Look, this is something I've been working on. It's a prototype. It's… delicate. I know it's wobbly, just… shoot something." He gave me an annoyed look before acquiescing.

"Don't know what yer so excited about, but I reckon I can just shoot that stump," he said, indicating a block of wood a good fifty paces out. He drew the arrow back, and I screamed out for the second time in a row.

"Wait!" I frantically gestured for him to lower the bow. Gene stared at me, bewildered.

"Your ability! You can't set this arrow on fire."

"Good gravy, Logan! We can't hardly test nothin' if I catch it on fire now, can we? I wasn't born yesterday, y'know."

"Just… just making sure." I took a step back before following up, "And make sure you don't look at the stump after you shoot it." Gene harrumphed loudly, ignoring me, and quickly raised and fired the arrow. It made a beeline straight to the trunk and slammed into the older wood. Gene raised an eyebrow. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"Don't understand what all that fuss was about. Seems like a normal arrow to m—" The stump burst into flames with an intense, blinding light.

"HOLY MOLY!" Gene fell back, covering his eyes with his hand.

"What in tarnation!?" My cheeks hurt from how much I was smiling, and I knew I probably looked silly, but I didn't care. It worked. Dark smoke rose from the smoldering wreckage of the old stump. I repeatedly answered Gene's pleas for more 'spicy arrows' with confirmation that, yes, I would make more. Extricating myself from the desperate old man, I broke away to locate Darby. I needed to make sure that we were still friends. After checking an empty longhouse, I found Darby alone, outside of his future inn.

He was lost in thought on a small stool, holding his chin with one hand, his elbow braced on a knee.

"Taking it that hard, huh?" Darby jumped at the sound of my voice and caught himself before he fell from the stool.

"You gotta stop doing that, man." He heaved a sigh.

"And no, I thought about it, and I think there's a good person in there. Somewhere. Deep down." He glared at me, before continuing.

"Doesn't make you less of an asshole, though. I'll get you back."

"What's got you looking so down, then?"

"Not down, just thinking." He frowned.

"I talked to the others after the vote. They were excited to get things moving. I just… How do I push to get the inn made without feeling like I'm abusing power now?" I put a hand on his shoulder.

"I think it speaks for itself that it's something that you're concerned about, Darb." I sighed dramatically.

"But then again… I suppose it speaks volumes that your own inn is your first concern over everything else. I'm sure there's someone deep, deep down in there that—""ALRIGHT. Jeez, was there something that you wanted?" He couldn't help but laugh.

"Just checking in on ya, and wanted to know if you've seen Emmie? I've been needing to get measurements from her for something more permanent, but she keeps eluding me."

"Ah. You might want to put a pin in that. She's working on something."

"Working on something?" I pushed, my curiosity piqued.

"Didn't hear it from me. My lips are sealed." He shook his head.

"I think it had something to do with a class upgrade, but I'll let her tell ya."

"That changes things then, one less project on the list. Fourteen more to go," I said, closing my eyes and rubbing the bridge of my nose.

"I really need to find some help."

"Put a request on the board. It's what it's for, after all."

"Huh. You're right, good idea." The thought hadn't occurred to me before, and with all the demand for more and more tools, weapons, explosive ordnance, taking on some help made sense.

"So as a public servant now, would you be the one to help out on making a request orrr…"

I stacked the coals onto the furnace under and around the scrapped tools. The broken, rotted hafts lay in a pile where I'd stripped any material that wasn't good iron. There were plenty more scraps to be had at the abandoned settlement, so I was comfortable with a little experimentation. Small kindling lit easily and slowly heated the coals. I wasn't completely well-versed with the science behind working a forge, but I knew enough to be dangerous.

I used the least amount of fuel to light the coals as I could, wanting to keep a clean-burning heat for the iron. Shifting the coals around with a stick, I pressed two of the fireleaf coals on either side for a little extra heat, and softly worked the bellows. Once they started to glow, I added some of the smaller coals on top, burying the iron. In what seemed like no time at all, heat began to emanate from the forge as the charcoal glowed with the bellows' fresh air.

I stopped only for a moment to wipe the sweat from my brow before pumping again. I wanted to keep the temperature steadily rising. After several minutes, I rose to check the iron. I knew I was being impatient; it would need much longer to heat to a point that I could begin to shape it, assuming that the forge was able to heat it to that point. The coals were white-hot and the intense heat that radiated off dried my eyes, making it difficult to see well.

My poking stick, the flame-resistant fireleaf stick, immediately caught fire. I did my best to ignore the heat and move the coal around to find the iron. There was no iron. Confused, I got my tongs and began removing coals, revealing a pool of molten metal below. It would seem that I'd severely miscalculated the efficiency and amount of coal that would be needed. Criminy! A little insulation and I wouldn't need but a fraction of the coal! With the coals removed, the pool of molten metal was able to begin to cool.

I had many questions, and no answers. Why hadn't the basin cracked? Is it really that heat-resistant? How was I going to manage heat if it was that intense? I had just as many ideas popping into existence. This made cast iron items easily within grasp. I could do it now. I could make steel, adding a bit of carbon, or removing it, if it was too high a percentage. What did they mix with iron? Manganese? Is that in this world? I could make custom cast arrowheads! Hollow cast arrowheads… No! GRENADES!

I smiled deviously while I waited for the iron to cool. This would open up so many doors. I just hoped that someone would answer my board post soon. There was much to do, and for the first time, the only bottleneck was manpower.