Avatar destroyed. Reinitializing. -50% EXP penalty. -75% AP penalty.

Franklin sits up, finding himself back in his core room, and it takes him a moment before he realizes what has just happened. He scratches his head, letting out a sheepish laugh. “Right. Oxygen plus fire… charcoal go boom boom… Well, at least I don’t lose-”

The words barely out of his mouth, a second dialogue box materializes before his eyes, interrupting him, reading:

EXP detected below threshold values. Delevel imminent at -101%.

“What…?” he lets out in confusion, “Not sure if that blast knocked something in my head loose, but… I’m pretty sure this message didn’t show up last time when I died to the slimes…” He pulls up his Stats screen to investigate, the relevant lines reading as follows:

Level

2

Current Exp

-250 / 500

AP

100 / 2000

What immediately catches his eye is that his experience value is now negative, “...somehow. Wait, I thought experience couldn’t drop below zero…? When I was level one... Is it because I have a level to lose now that this is suddenly the case? Then the whole -101% thing… If I lose 50% of my max experience with each death, then basically... if I die two more times, I’d go back to being level one???”

A sudden frown tugs on the edge of Franklin’s lips, for he had been planning to exploit the avatar system, “I thought getting my avatar destroyed would be a nice way to teleport back to my dungeon from anywhere, like a recall system, but if I’m going to lose levels in the process… Well, there goes that idea. Actually… I seem to distinctly remember getting quite a few new bonuses upon level up as well, like the ability to summon higher level creatures. I wonder what happens if I summon a creature, then lose a level. Would it suddenly despawn, since I no longer have the level requirement…? Hm, well, I can’t really think of an upside to all this business, so I guess the conclusion is… I need to be way more careful about not getting my avatar destroyed… Probably starting with properly calculating the amount of oxygen to inject into the bloomery… Yeah, let’s start with that…”

****

Having properly done the math this time, Franklin determines that, in order to raise the iron bloom to a castable temperature of 1200°C over the course of, say, a minute, an increase in oxygen content from the bellows is required such that the normal air concentration of 21% is increased to 25.1% per stroke, the math working out as follows:

Heat Required

Specific heat of iron = 444 J kg-1 °C-1, meaning 444 joules to raise temperature of 1kg of iron by one degree celsius Iron bloom = 0.5234kg 444 x 0.5234 = 232.4J per degree celsius 1200°C needed to melt cast iron - 25°C ambient temperature = 1175°C increase needed 232.4J/°C x 1175°C = 273070J needed = 273.070kJ Heat of combustion of charcoal = 25250kJ/kg 273.070 / 25250 = 10.815g of charcoal needed Charcoal = C7H4O = 104.11 g/mol 2.043g charcoal / 104.11 g/mol = 0.104 mol charcoal needed

Oxygen Required

7 carbon in charcoal, so 7x mol of oxygen needed 0.104mol x 7 = 0.728 mol Oxygen gas = O2 = 32 g/mol 0.728 x 32 = 23.296g needed Oxygen density = 1.429 g/L Assume majority of heat loss is due to convection of air and not thermal transmittance through clay walls of bloomery 3.083L per bellow contraction, 20 strokes per minute Normal oxygen content of air = 21% 0.21 x 3.083L x 20 = 12.95L oxygen supplied 12.95 x 1.429 = 18.5g oxygen supplied 23.296 - 18.5 = 4.8g oxygen needed through materialize 4.8 / 1.429 = 3.36L per minute New composition = (3.36L + 12.95L) / (3.36L + 61.66L) = 25.1% 4.8g oxygen = 5 AP

“Okay, so basically, spend 5AP per minute to add an extra 4.8g of oxygen into the bellows. Got it. Now, to actually make the crucible and cast…”

He begins with the former, the crucible, which is essentially a mug, but without the handle, and will be used to hold the iron bloom as it melts, catching the molten metal and preventing it from spilling all over the place. To actually make this, he starts with clay, shaping it into a cup, then letting it dry to avoid cracking, before dropping it off to let bake in a normal campfire.

Next, he moves on to the construction of the cast. For this, Franklin resorts to the primitive method of using a sand cast. He begins with a roughly rectangular box, with walls made of cob. Into this container, he adds dirt and mud, obtained from Paradosa Swamp. Shaping the earthen material into the negative form of two long sticks, he essentially digs out two long troughs, but with circular curves at the ends. The final cast appears like a set of facing question marks, ⸮?, and will allow him to make his first tool, namely, tongs. As to the reason he has chosen this as his first, and not something like a hammer…

… Franklin fires up the bloomery, setting the charcoal alight. Then he places the finished crucible, containing the previously smelted iron bloom, inside, recruiting Cy to help him run the bellows as before, this time carefully injecting more oxygen with Materialize to raise the internal temperature of the flames. A minute later, and with bated breath, Franklin peaks into the bloomery, to see what the results might be. A grin stretches across his face as he notes the molten red of metal, bubbling occasionally on the surface. “‘I’m melting! I’m melting!’,” he cries out in mock panic, “Mwahaha! Now, last step is to cast it-”

With no tongs, he can only reach into the fire directly, grabbing ahold of the glowing hot crucible with bare hands. And while he does not feel any searing pain, instantly, messages do start appearing before him, reading:

You have taken 1 burn damage.

You have taken 1 burn damage.

...

Not wanting to die from something stupid like holding a hot crucible for too long, Frankly quickly moves to the sand cast, pouring the molten metal out, the liquid immediately taking the shape of the mold. A minute later, and the iron cools, leaving him with two stiff sticks. Holding the items, one in each hand, he gestures with them, imitating a pincer motion as he goes to pick up the crucible, and lifting the latter into the air, he feels another smile cross his face, “Dun dun dun dun! Tongs have been added to your inventory!”

“Slim~e!”

“Indeed, Cy, it has been a rather long, tedious journey, but we’ve reached the light at the end of the tunnel! We’ve finally done it! We’ve made our first tool! We’re no longer cavemen!” He glances around. “Well, sort of. Anyways, with this, I think things should go much faster now. We can make essential tools that the System can’t Craft, like a hammer, anvil, forge… oh, and a pickaxe! The all important pickaxe! Finally! Cy, we can finally start shaping this place!”

“Slime?”

“... Yes, Cy, I’ll be sure the first thing I do is construct you your own room…”

I guess he’s already getting to be “that” age, huh.