Along the way to the lumber processing plant, I started thinking about how to tackle the biggest issue that would arise when trying to make a tire. We would stick to one, just as a means of demonstrating how it works. Perhaps we could figure out some way to make use of it for later. The more I thought about it, though, the less feasible it seemed to me to make an inner tire that could be filled with air. I had no means of pumping air into it, and no proper way to seal it off, either.

I had planned to use the copper rod to wrap silk around it, and hopefully, try to fill it with air, but on second thought, it might be better to leave that last part altogether. I wondered if wrapping silk around the rod and then bending it around the wheel would allow it to resist shocks.

If only there was some kind of material that could be used instead of copper. Something that was malleable without much effort, yet sturdy enough.

“What are you thinking about?” Velariah asked, smiling mischievously. “I can see you thinking, you know?”

“I’m a bit lost. I just realized that I had to scrap part of my plan and now I’m looking for something else that might be of use when it comes to using this beyond a simple demonstration.”

“What do you need?” Draco asked politely.

“Ugh, fine. I’ll tell you what my plan was,” I said, slightly disappointed that I’d have to ruin the surprise. “You see, I wanted to carve an indentation around the wheel in which this copper rod would be bent, but I’d wrap the rod with rubber thread before doing that. I want to test its ability to resist shocks that occur on the road and it would be a good idea to test its traction in loose sand as well. The issue is that this rod seems hard to bend, and it’s also quite heavy. I was wondering if there is any light, sturdy, malleable material that can be used instead.”

“Why not just use your thread around the wheel and be done with it?” Seralyn asked. “Seems you’re making this overly complicated.”

“Perhaps that would work, and that was going to be part of my plan, but with this rod in between and layers of rubber around it, it should be way more shock-absorbant, at least I think it would be.”

Seralyn shrugged. “Your call.”

“Light and malleable, yet sturdy…” Draco thought aloud, his hand on his chin. “I think I may know something, but I forgot its name. Seralyn,” he addressed the elf. “I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.” He pointed at her bow.

“You mean Elven wood?”

“Elven wood?” Draco asked confused. “Is that how you call it nowadays?”

Seralyn sighed. “We do, yes. Apparently, Cyradynadion cacaprian hardwood was too complicated for foreigners, so we decided to just refer to it as elven wood.”

“The what?” I let out.

“Cyradynadion cacaprian hardwood?” Seralyn reiterated, causing me to open my eyes wide at the ease and speed with which she said it.

“I’ve heard it twice now and I still have no clue what the hell you just said. Cyprano…what?”

“Elven wood,” Velariah said. “A special type of wood that grows in forests near elven cities. It can be bent into any shape or form as long as you keep it moist with sap from the same tree.”

“It’s oftentimes used for beginner to intermediate tier bows,” Seralyn continued. “It’s very easy to work with and can mass-produce them. It’s not the most sturdy despite the original name, but it's light, and I think, sufficient for this.”

“And how do we get it? It sounds rare.” I said, fearing the worst.

“It’s not,” Velariah said. “There are literally farms of it near Goldleaf. To get it, we simply place an order at the guild for the wood and some large vials of sap.”

“Well, let’s do that after we’re done here, then,” I said when we reached the end of the road to the large wooden building. I heard loud sawing noises coming from within.

“So you know what we need right?” I asked Velariah. “There needs to be space for the rod, but there should be plenty of room between the rod and the edges.”

“I know, I know. Don’t worry. It might take some time to get done, though.”

“Well, I don’t really have anything better to do.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

I handed the copper rod to Velariah, who entered the building together with Seralyn. I let my body collapse to the ground as I heard we’d be here for a bit, and I started thinking about other applications that rubber might have. Draco and Nira sat down with me and watched me. I imagined they too could tell I was thinking deeply as they didn’t speak a word.

Surely there had to be other uses for rubber in armor right? Would it serve as proper lining for plate armor? I had just mentioned the part where it would make excellent shock-absorbing material. I imagined getting pummeled by maces would be a lot less painful if your armor was lined with a layer of rubber.

How resistant would it be to cutting?

I ran a finger over my lips and closed my side eyes and concentrated on ways to test it out.

Draco’s lips formed a smile as he watched me think. Nira seemed to be curious about what I was going to come up with this time.

I could always make a thread as thick as I possibly could and have Draco try to cut through it, but the strength of rubber lay in having more than a mere thread.

Hold on a second…

Were erasers a thing in this world?

The thought was so random that it almost passed me by, but erasers were incredibly useful. I could very easily test if my silk could be used for that purpose. All I’d need was a little ball and that’s it.

That was one thing to keep in mind.

Back to armoring applications, though.

I started playing with ideas in my head. About how I could line the insides of plate armor with a layer of rubber and then a layer of steelthread. I knew that that specific thread would get stronger with future evolutions and the idea of having multiple layers of material seemed like a solid idea. That was a thing back on Earth, right? Composite armor?

I didn’t know the specifics but the multiple layer technique, I believe, served to make it harder to penetrate. Adding in the rubber would also reduce the blunt force behind blows. All in all, it sounded like it deserved some proper testing sometime soon…

I felt awfully excited about trying things like these out. Simple lining, I could likely do myself, and I trusted my party in keeping things like that a secret.

I nodded at my ideas.

“Seems like you have things figured out,” Draco said, still smiling.

“Not really,” I replied. “But I have a few ideas for things to try. I don’t think it will be of much benefit to us in the foreseeable future because we’re dealing with trolls and goblins, but who knows?”

The lizardman nodded at that and I continued thinking, working things out just slightly more because we had plenty of time.

Eventually, my mind decided to jump to how it all started, rubber bands. It made me think if there were any applications for rubber bands. Slingshots were a thing, but I doubted we would get many benefits from them. I chuckled when I thought about me using one of them, or rather, about how I didn’t have enough hands to use them with what I was currently wielding.

My biggest question, however, remained. This was a world with all kinds of magic. How would rubber fare against that? Guns weren’t a thing, so I didn’t have to worry about that, but I imagined it could have been easier to use my new type of silk against that than magic due to how straightforward they are. There were simply too many types of magical abilities to even set up something to test things.

And yet, it felt like one of the best things I could do in this world. Testing and training would allow me to learn the limits of my body and then elevate them. I sighed as my thoughts finally came to a rest.

“Anything the matter, Miss Elania?” Draco asked politely as always.

“Just... thinking about things, planning, and whatnot. There is so much to do…”

“Never a dull time.”

“What do you do in your free time, Draco, if I may ask?”

“I don’t usually have much free time,” The lizardman replied. “But I usually try to find someone to spar with, or I check available quests and see if there’s anything worthwhile. Not much point in doing that anymore, though.”

“Why is that?”

“Because we’re a good team, and we certainly don't lack the funds.”

“I was just thinking,” I continued. “We should do some more training. There are a few things I want to try out when it comes to my own abilities. When your armor set is finished, I’d love to check how you do with it. Maybe we will all benefit from that?”

Draco closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them. “That sounds like a great idea. If Nira is willing to help as well, we could try to take things a bit more seriously, too.”

The harpy reacted to her name by suddenly looking at the lizardman's face, before turning to me.

“Is that a good idea, you think?” I asked. “Last time I checked, I ran a troll through with this blade. Not sure how much confidence Dworag’s armor demands, but…”

Draco shook his head. “I don’t know how to put it, but there’s not a lot of skill involved when it comes to doing that.”

I nodded. “You’re right. It’s not hard at all.”

“So I was thinking to just test it in short-range melees, practice it as if it were a sword. I’m sure Miss Velariah would agree with the idea.”

“Seems we’re on the same page then. I was already planning to do the same thing. Do you think it’s a good idea to be more reckless in spars, though? Will Nira be able to manage?”

“If you don’t go overboard,” Nira said softly. “I think I’ll be able to manage for the most part if things go wrong. We have potions and treemenders nearby if things do get out of hand.”

“There’s my blood as well.” I paused for a few seconds. “Maybe I should extract some? Do you think I could use them as an alchemy ingredient, Nira?”

The harpy shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m not an alchemist. You’d have to ask a treemender.”

“Wasn’t planning on that. I guess if we want to use it, we’ll have to use it as it is.”

I looked at the cobblestone road beneath me for a few seconds. “Hey, Draco?”

“Yes?”

“How sharp are your axes?”

“Very. I always carry a whetstone with me as well. Though, so far, I haven’t had to use it. Any specific reason you ask?”

“There’s always a reason I ask things. You know that.” I said.

Draco smiled as I stood up. With nothing to do, I figured we might as well check a few things. I lowered my spinnerets to the stones and created a few thick threads of rubber silk. I kept them short to not waste my energy.

Once done, I picked up the four threads, each about a centimeter thick, and laid them on the ground in front of Draco. “Have fun cutting those.”

I unsheathed my own weapon to get more information on this substance, seeing as my own weapon would slice due to the way the blade was shaped, whereas Draco’s would strike with more force behind the blows.

I sat down and used the sword part of my weapon like a knife to cut through the thread. I didn’t have to put in any effort to do so. Draco brought down one of his axes and cut through the thread cleanly as well.

“That’s… unfortunate,” I said. “I was hoping this was stronger than that.”

“I guess a thicker layer will help in that regard,” Draco said.

“We really are on the same page, aren’t we?” I said with a chuckle. “Though, I wanted to use different layers of different materials. I’ll probably leave some of the experimenting to be done by Dworag. He should know a lot more about how armor works than me.”

“Perhaps,” The lizardman spoke. “But I imagine some of the concepts in your head are as new to him as they are to me.”

I looked at Nira who had been awkwardly following the conversation. I didn’t want to leave her out of all this, so when Draco picked up one of the threads to inspect it closer, I turned my attention to her.

“Don’t you ever get annoyed with walking with us, Nira? I mean, sure, I’m carrying you around, but you know?”

The harpy looked at me, confusion plastered on her face. “I’m fine with it? As long as you don’t mind, it’s the fastest way for me to get around.”

“But would you not rather just fly?” I asked.

Nira shrugged and spread her wings behind her. “Sometimes I would, but what happened to me earlier…” She shook her head.

“You’re being careful,” I suggested to which the harpy nodded. “That’s fair,” I concluded. “By the way, how much are you able to carry while flying, anyway? You didn’t seem to have much of an issue with that log earlier.”

“I haven’t exactly measured it,” She said. “While it was doable, I don’t think I can carry anything that is much heavier than that log.”

“Doubt it will be necessary,” I said.

At the same time, the door opened and Velariah stepped outside, the metal rod in her hands which she handed to me. “How are things going here? Also, what won’t be necessary?”

Draco and Nira both looked at me. It seemed I was going to have to do the explaining.

“Things are fine here. We just talked about how much Nira would be able to carry. She said she wouldn’t be able to lift much more into the air than that log the other day to which I said I doubted it would be necessary.”

“I see. Well, anyway, things are proceeding smoothly. We’ll be done here soon enough. You guys discussed anything interesting?”

“Draco and I came up with the idea to do some sparring after he gets his armor fixed. Remind me to make some more of this new thread for Dworag, and to try to make actual strips of it instead of threads. Not sure if it’s possible, but I’m gonna try anyway.”

“Sparring sounds like a good idea to me. I welcome some practice. I’m very much interested to see how I hold up against Draco as well.” She smiled with her last sentence.

That was a tough question. When I first saw them fight, it seemed Draco was very much the better fighter, but he wasn’t nearly as mobile as Velariah. The elf would have an easier time dodging attacks whereas Draco seemed to have the build, and armor, to take blows head-on without issues.

“I’m looking forward to it, Miss Velariah,” The lizardman said, smiling back at her.

“I’ll be back in a bit, with a wheel, if they don’t screw up the last bit that is,” Velariah said as she walked back inside.

“Now I’m looking forward to it too,” I said as I picked up one of the rubber threads from the road.

I started wrapping it around the copper rod and noted that it didn’t truly stick to the metal surface. It wasn’t like my sticky silk at all in that regard. I had to wrap the thread around itself in order to keep it in place. I then hit the road with the end of the rod to see how well it would absorb the shock.

I didn’t put much force behind the blow, but did notice that it bounced back up slightly by itself.

“So far, so good,” I stated.

I looked at the silk and wondered just how durable it was. My experience with rubber bands was that if you stretched them out enough times, they would start chipping. This damage would increase over time and cause them to eventually snap. If I was going to wrap a substance resembling that around this rod and the wheel, I needed to make sure it wouldn’t break like that, or find a way to solve that issue.

I laid down the rod and took the last thread. I started stretching it time and time again to see what would happen. At some point, I used one of my pedipalps to create a small chip in the thread. I continued testing the limits of the thread as Draco and Nira looked at me with intrigue. I bet this looked ludicrous, but for me, it made sense as I knew what I was looking for.

Eventually, the small chip grew and the thread snapped.

“Fuck.” I let out. “I should have known.” I sighed. “Looks like there are going to be some more issues to solve… as usual, really.”

“I don’t know what just happened, but I think you’ll find a solution,” Draco said in an attempt to cheer me up.

I nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. There’s plenty of time to work on this after today anyway. I assume we’ll head back into the forest after the festival, right?”

“I would assume so,” The lizardman replied. “But I think things are coming along nicely if the general’s words are anything to go by. Not sure how much we can still get done that isn’t already done.”

I nodded. “Fair enough. We did wipe out a large gathering of goblins earlier. The trolls are the ones making things hard.”

The lizardman nodded and after that, things went quiet for a few minutes until the door opened again and Seralyn walked out. Velariah followed, rolling a cartwheel before her. It was hollowed out more than enough for the rod plus silk wrapped around it to fit inside.

“Well then,” The white-haired elf spoke. “Do we want to make a stop at home or what’s the plan?”

“Not sure,” I said. “I think it might be better to do it at home in a more private setting. Dworag’s isn’t too far from there anyway.”

She nodded. “Alright,” The elf said as she rolled the wheel over the cobblestones. “Let’s get going. I want to see the result of this experimentation.”