The first person he saw was an old man. But damn, this dude was huuuge!

He easily stood 10 feet tall, his hands and feet were gigantic and he looked very similar to an ogre. As soon as Lucif saw him he knew that this giant was the grand master smith. He radiated an aura like that of a crushing mountain. His fist seemed like they could pulverize buildings, it was a very surreal feeling.

Lucif quickly walked over and clasped hands, “Greetings Grand Master.”

The giant turn his head and squinted his eyes, “Ay’ what’s a little brat like you doing er’?”

Lucifer felt his heart seize, ‘Damn these old men are always talking down to me.’

“I’m here to make a request venerable elder sir.”

The grand master came closer as he blotted out the light from the moon. “Listen er’ kid, rules state we’re not allowed to take request unless it’s from the UCA. So either you get a permit or get lost.”

“A permit? How do I get one of those?”

“Well, first ya need ya UCA space license. Then er’ need to go to the office and fill out er’ form. It’s simple really, but er’ young’n is obviously not from the UCA. Er’ a native, I can feel it in my blood. Us natives can’t get er’ permits, so er’ won’t be getting nothin’ from me.”

A trailer came forward full of gold ore about to smelted. “Master, another order of Gold.”

“Okay young’n, I’m off back to work. Better make er’ way home now, go on, get.”

He pushed the trailer and started making his way towards a building not too far away.

“W..wait, how can I get my request done then? I need something made immediately.”

“You’ll av’ to make it er’ self.”

“But I don’t know how to.”

“Then I’ll teach ya’, but er’ av’ to ask the boss first.” The giant waved his giant hands in the air, telling the kid to shoo. He then walked off and made his way back to work leaving Lucif there thinking about what to do.

‘Okay it can’t be helped. It looks like I’ll have to ask the boss about it tomorrow. I might have to learn how to smith before I can make some claws, how bothersome.’

The moon slowly disappeared as the light of the sun burst through the sky vanquishing the darkness. Like always, he worked out and then went to work.

Today he spoke to the boss and he agreed to Lucifs proposal.

The smith operated from 3 pm to midnight every day. They started so late because they went through ores and materials so quickly. By 3 pm would there be enough materials gathered up to smith. If they started earlier then they would spend a lot of time just waiting around.

‘First I’ll start mining at 8 am and work until 12, which gives me just over 4 hours in the mines. That’s enough for 2 loads and after that I’ll give my martial arts lesson. Afterwards I’ll spend the rest of the day at the smithy before picking up Aruna and Ambrosia.’

He went to the mine but was unlucky. He never found another gold deposit; his grand total for the day only amounted to $1.20.

He gave his martial arts lesson and then went to the smithy. He had lunch and then went on his way back to the smithy. It was a lot of back and forth.

“Yeah kid, the boss already told me ya starting today. Alright then, I’ll show ya the ropes. The names Joe Coco but the lads er’ just call me Giant Joe.”

Lucif put on a big amiable smile and replied, “I’m Lucifer but the miners just call me Lucif.”

“Ah, bit of an archaic name ya got there? Lucifer meaning light bearer or morning star? Right then, let’s not dawdle. Get a move on, get!”

They entered a room that was lit up with the red glow of molten metal, “This is where we purify the ore and the room over is where we mold it. We only make er’ frames ere’, then we use the frames to set the parts over ere’ to make it easier to mass produce parts. We get tens and thousands of requests but a lot of the items just go into storage in space for when the UCA need it.”

“What about custom request?”

“Ah kid, those custom request are handled by me and 2 others. The rest just manage the frames and mass production. Main product we use er’ is steel, I’ll put er’ on the frames it’s easy work. Just don’t burn ya and’ off.”

Lucif quickly shook his head, “I want to learn how to smith like you so I can make my own swords and weapons.”

“Ar ar ar, I like er’ spunk kid. Alright then follow me to me workshop.”

Not too far away was another building, it wasn’t as large as the others but this was the personal workshop of a real grand master. He ducked his head under the door and walked in. The place itself was 2 stories but really it just had a high roof. Probably made so this giant of a person could move around without having to bend over all the time.

To the side Lucifs eyes widened as he looked at the large pile of uncut gems on the side. ‘There’s millions and millions of dollars in gems right there.’

Joe turned back when he heard Lucif gasp, “Don’t get any ideas kid, the guards are ruthless. Me last apprentice tried to steal a gem no bigger than a nail. Their scanners picked it up and they shot em’ from space, one shot dead.”

Gulp, Lucifer quickly swallowed his saliva.

“I specialize in crafting and smithing. First off I’ll teach ya how to get the fire nice and hot.”

His lessons went on and on, Lucif paid rapt attention as he absorbed all the information. He was never much of a scholar, he was always better with things that required him to use his hands so he excelled in this area. And just like that a few more days had passed uneventfully.

------------------------

“Merry Xmas!”

‘It seems some traditions never die out, but one thing that fascinated me was Christmas was now just Xmas. Maybe it had something to do with the Christian religion dying out when we made first contact with alien life.’

‘We gathered around and handed out presents to each other. This time I splurged and purchased three solar heated showers that I gave to the girls which were secretly for me as well. They purchased a salt water purifier which was one of the greatest pieces of technology I’ve seen since I got here. Now we could purify the polluted river water and if we wanted, we could also purify salt water. Clean and fresh water was no longer an issue, which means warm water and clean showers. Ahh, I can’t wait to wash all this dirt off my skin. It’s at least 12 layers thick by now.’

‘They opened my second present and their eyes went wide, it was efeme efalur also known as FF. It was a popular perfume in this world, worth more than $100. A hefty sum but nothing was too heavy a price for them. The night was festive to say the least. We played games and drank wine for the first time in this life. It was great to see Ambrosia and Aruna smiling and playing joyfully. They never had much of a childhood so it was good to see them release some stress.’

‘Ambrosia had slowly let down her guard around me. We even cuddled by the fire as the night died down. She was a curious girl and tried to do some not so kid like things, it must have been the alcohol. Of course I never let it progress further, after all I may be 13 years old but I have the mind of a full grown adult. It just wouldn’t be right.’