When Andrew arrived he found Jason still there, circling the completed forge, one hand raised and constantly smoothing out his beard as he carefully examined the structure. The roof and chimmney of the forge were complete, and Jason had evidently gotten Rowan and Tyler to help him inscribe the appropriate runes on the wooden framing because they were already melding smoothly down into the stone structure of the forge below. A doorway nearly as large as the forge's main structure was carved out of one side of the stone box. Andrew could see deep scuffs scratched into the stone base of the forge, leading from the carved doorway to the door itself. It was leaning up against the side of the forge and about eight inches thick like the rest of the forge's walls. Handholds were carved into the face of the door, large enough for a giant to get a good grip on it, though the scuffs on the stone made it clear that the door itself was too heavy to pick up entirely, even for the giants. In the center of the forge box sat a large boulder that nearly filled the space. It was a rough oval, taller than it was wide, and it sat upright in the forge box propped up by wooden wedges on all sides. Hanging just above it was what appeared to be a whole log, stripped of it's branches and inscribed with earth accumulation and air dispersal circles. The circles were glowing and the log was well on it's way to taking on the stony texture of the rest of the forge's structure. It sat snug within two holes carved into either side of the forges structure, and as Andrew circled around the forge he could see that the log extended out through those holes a couple of feet from either side of the forge.

Jason did a quick double take from the forge to Andrew as soon Andrew entered his peripheral vision while circling the forge. Andrew raised a hand and smiled as Jason sort of jumped before turning fully to face him.

"Andrew! You're back! I improvised things a little but I think you'll approve! Okay so here's what I was thinking, That door is way too heavy to move regularly, right? Well we can hang the crucible up on that log there, you know, use some of your magic to carve up that rock and stick it on or whatever? Then we can attach spokes to the log bits that poke out from either side there and use those to pour the crucible out!" Jason circled the forge as he spoke, pointing out each element of the forge's design as he did so.

"We'll carve a channel for the molten material to flow down along here." Jason said, circling around to the doorway and pointing out a straight line scratched into the stone leading from the boulder in the center to the doorway/ "And carve a matching hole in the door itself, that way we can pour it without having to remove the door or anything. We can have it flow from here into ingot molds or whatever, and I made the chimmney short and wide enough that we should be able to lower materials directly down into it." Jason continued pointing out each element of the forge as he spoke. He paused just as he finished.

"Ah, I know you mentioned something about a bellows earlier? I'm not sure that this kind of forge would really need that, if I'm honest. You'd know better than I do, but your forge doesn't work like a typical fire right? Would adding air in really help?

He has a point, there isn't exactly any kind of traditional combustion going on, just a heavy accumulation of fire mana. I could turn up the heat fairly easily by just infusing more mana into the fire mana accumulation circles. I wonder If I could find a way to add a steady stream of air mana into the mix? That could definitely increase the temperature, or just blow the whole damn thing up. Either way it's not a problem we have to solve right now.

Jason looked a little nervous and Andrew dragged himself out of his thoughts to answer him. "That's a good call, I didn't consider that this morning but you're completely right, we'd probably lose more heat than we'd gain if we put a bellows hole in. You did a fantastic job Jason! I'm going to get to work carving out the crucible and getting the finishing touches done tonight. I bet we'll be able to pour the first test batch before lunch tomorrow." Andrew said.

"Great! Ah, well I'll just head back for the night then. I'll be here tomorrow to check on the tests. The cabins are pretty far along as well, so we should have a meeting to figure out what kinds of buildings you guys want me to help out with next." Jason said, eyes still glued to the forge.

If I keep cooking up interesting projects for Jason to work on I think I'll have him well and truly integrated into our camp in no time. He really enjoys this kind of work. That's great. I hate that I'm thinking about how to manipulate that right now.

"That's another good call Jason! I'll try to get this far enough along tonight that we can get the tests out of the way quick and get the next project sorted out alright? You should head back and get some rest for now though, we'll have plenty of things to work on tomorrow. " Andrew said, giving Jason an appreciative smile. He was half turned between the forge itself and Jason, eager to get to work on the project himself.

"Yeah, yeah. Sounds good" Jason said, turning and taking about five steps towards the other camp before stopping suddenly. "Oh shit, almost forgot this, heads up!" Jason called out. Andrew turned and Jason reached into one pocket and pulled Andrew's chisel out, tossing it a few feet back to Andrew before turning and heading back towards the other camp. "Have a good night! I'll see you tomorrow then!" He called out as he hurried back towards New Eden.

Andrew waved him off before turning his attention back to the forge, there were several things that needed to be done before the forge was ready. The interior fire accumulation and binding circles needed to be carved, the crucible needed to be shaped, merged with the hanging log, and empowered to resist fire mana. He needed to carve a new hole in the door for the molten material pouring channel, and he needed to construct the channel itself. There was a lot to do. Andrew got to work right away.

He found Rowan and Tyler first, they were just finishing up a batch of brute daggers, the small scale mana forge was glowing merrily behind them as they finished the weapon inscriptions. He inturrupted their work, grabbing them and having them get to work inscribing several fire accumulation and binding circles into the interior walls of the forge. While they worked on that Andrew got to work hacking the large oval stone down into a thick stone crucible, easily ten times the size of the one he used within his original forge design. The moon was well in the sky by the time he finished and Rowan and Tyler had carved a set of three fire accumulation circles and two fire binding circles into the walls of the forge. They both looked pretty tired, so Andrew sent them back to their cabins to rest for the evening. There wasn't much left to do.

He climbed into the crucible and carved two holes directly across from each other, about three inches below the rim of the crucible. The holes were about an eighth of an inch wider than the diameter of the stone log support running across the upper portion of the forge. Andrew had Po drag the earth infused log out of the forge as Arges, Andrew and Carter lifted the crucible up from the inside. Kalan stood on top of a stool and helped to guide the stony log back into the forge, threading it through the two holes in the crucible until it poked out of the opposite side of the forge once again. Andrew and the others slowly released the crucible, breathing a sigh of relief as it settled onto the log and stuck firm. Andrew had Argus lift him level with the top of the crucible, and Andrew scrambled up and inside gracelessly. His arms were burning from the effort of holding the massive crucible up and he was nearly too weak to pull himself inside at first.

Once inside he turned his attention to the empty crescent of space between the crucible's mounting hole and the earth infused log that held it up. With some effort he raised his hands to the gap in the stone and activated Mana Welding. He filled the gaps with pure mana that crystalized into a physical form before melding into the stone, sealing up the gaps between the shaft and the crucible. Andrew carved the same earth accumulation, air dispersal circles into the stone of the crucible around where the shaft merged into the crucible on either side before pumping eighty points of mana into each. He clambered up and out of the crucible without grace, landing awkwardly on the stone floor of the forge.

"Well alright. We'll let that cook overnight then. A few more steps and we'll be ready to test it out." Andrew said, dusting off his palms and waving the small crew that remained out of the furnace. "It's bedtime for everybody then. I want to get this thing done within a couple hours of Jason getting here tomorrow, and the dude shows up at the crack of dawn every morning. Nothing more for us to do now. "

The next morning the same crew gathered up and got right to work. Rowan and Tyler were sent off to check on their grove first thing in the morning as Andrew got to work checking out the join between the log and the crucible. The stony material melded perfectly into the log without cracks or seams. There was a slight difference in color where the material was filled with Mana Welding, but otherwise it was impossible to tell they had once been two separate pieces. Andrew sat down and pressed both palms to the body of the crucible as soon as he confirmed it was smoothly joined to the supporting log. He activated Empower Item, focusing his mana on the crucible and log, being careful to restrict the mana from seeping into the body of the forge itself.

You will resist fire mana. Your durability will increase and you will not crack or break from heat. You will become a crucible. You will resist fire mana.

When Andrew finished he opened his eyes to see that the log and crucible's texture shifted from rough stone to a glassier grey look. They were truly merged as one now and Andrew couldn't see where they joined up at all any more. Andrew stepped out of the forge and rested a hand on the exterior of the forge. He repeated the Empower Item process on the body of the forge itself, focusing on improving it's resilience against heat and it's ability to channel mana. It took on a similarly glassy look, though it's hue was slightly different. He repeated the process with the forge door that was leaning against the side of the forge nearby. They still had to finish the molten material channel, and the hole in the door before they would be able to use it for anything. It was around this time that Jason arrived, whistling appreciatively when he saw the crucible suspended in the center of the forge.

"Looks like I came right in time." Jason chuckled, "I hope you left me something to work on!"

"oh don't you worry, we have enough work here to keep you busy for a lifetime! Do you want to help Po get a channel worked out for the crucible to pour into? I'm going to get started on the mold for our first casting." Andrew said.

Jason quickly agreed and he set off with Po to search for viable stones. They would carve up a number of long narrow stones which would lead from the base of the crucible out to the door on a steady decline. While they worked Andrew got to work on his own project. He enlisted Arges' help carrying two large flat rocks out of the forest across the river and over to the predicted pour point. Once the stone was set Andrew started carving into it with his chisel. He carved a channel for the molten material to be poured into the first stone, then extended it out into two branches. The branches split into two symmetrical half-circles. Three spokes poked out about a foot from outside of each half circle, and twice as many spikes poked inwards about an quarter as long. Andrew carved three branching channels into the next stone. Each one led to an oversized ingot mold, about twice the length and fifty percent thicker than his existing molds. Andrew and Jason finished up their respective projects at about the same time, and they quickly assembled them. A hole was carved into the massive door of the crucible, just perfectly fit to join up with the crucible's pour channel and shaped to pour cleanly out into the space directly below it. The door was fitted into the forge just so, the inner mana circles lining the forge's interior matching up perfectly to the ones carved across the door's inner surface. Arges and Po carefully set the ingot mold into place below the spout first and Andrew climbed up the scaffolding surrounding the forge until he could see down into the forge.

"Okay we'll want this one to be mostly traditional iron. That means we'll want to try melting down some of that ore first off, see where that gets us eh?" Andrew called out to the assembled crowd below. "So lets get on it then, we'll be filing this thing about a quarter high, so I'll definitely be needing Po or Arges's help again. "

They quickly agreed, pouring a good chunk of their existing iron ore down into the crucible until it was about a quarter full. Andrew pressed a hand against the side of the forge and poured mana into it. It began heating up rapidly, and soon a narrow gout of flame was flickering out from the small hole carved into the door where the molten material would eventually pour out. Andrew and Jason discussed future plans while they waited for the forge to melt. Jason was filled in on the deal Andrew made with Maria regarding the wall yesterday, and they agreed it would be best if he helped get an installation plan going before the first batch was finished. By the time their conversation was finished the forge was well and truly cookin. Andrew could feel the heat of it from several dozen feet away, and he knew it should be fairly well insulated.

Andrew climbed to the top of the scaffolding again, the heat was intense this close to the chimmney. Andrew's first instinct was to peek over the side to see if the metal was fully melted, but he resisted, instead passing a hand quickly over the top of the chimmney. He was immediately thankful for his caution as his hand burned almost instantly as it crossed the space. He looked down at his palm and saw a bunch of little boils forming up across the surface of his palm, the skin as a whole glowing red. His palm began to itch as soon as he saw the blisters.

[Fire Resistance lvl 2 -> 3]

Fucking ouch. No good way to tell what the metals looking like then. This thing is getting a whole lot hotter a whole lot quicker than the other one though, and we've left it to cook for nearly an hour. It should be good and melted. Should be.

Andrew hopped down from the scaffold and doused his hand into the nearby water barrel. "Yep. It's definitely working!" Andrew called out to Arges, Po, Jason and Kalan who were supervising. "Arges, Po, could you guys give that thing a little baby pour? I want just enough that we can pour the slag off the top!"

Arges and Po complied, wrapping their hands in loose pelts before gripping the circular shaft that extended out from either side of the forge and working hard to twist it just a bit. A moment later glowing orange molten metal spotted through with clumpy impurities poured down the channel and into the three oversized ingot molds. They were about half full by the time the impurities cleared from the molten material and Po and Arges let the crucible settle back into it's upright position.

"Alright, now help me move this thing out of here!" Andrew said gesturing to the three-ingot mold. "We need to get the next mold ready to pour right away!" Po and Argus helped Andrew push the mold out of the way as Jason and Kalan worked to drag the other stone mold into place. When they had it all lined up Po and Arges wrapped their hands again and poured the rest of the molten metal into the two half circle molds. The glowing metal poured down the channel and filled the molds completely, a little excess remained within the crucible, though it was hard to tell how much exactly.

Andrew had Po and Arges drag the cooling molds into the dirt. As soon as it was settled Andrew got to work carving a couple of circles around it. A fire dispersal circle, and a water infusion circle. This wheel was designed to be hammered into the crucible shaft and mounted with longer wooden spokes. Andrew wanted it to have strong fire resistance and the easiest way to do that was to boost it's water mana density and affinity. He would have to wait until it cooled before he could do any affinity siphoning, but it was a good first project. As it stood they would need the teamwork of two giants any time they wanted to tip the crucible. This tool might reduce that to one giant. It seemed like they were a long ways off from a human managing the tip though. Andrew finished the circle and stood back, hands on his hips, staring down at the cooling metal and contemplating his next move.

If this forge ends up working all good and proper, then we're going to need to work on a few new sets of molds, one for ingots. Another for the thin plates we put into armor, for certain. We'll also want one for those brute daggers Rowan and Tyler have been working on. Speaking of, where were those two? They should've been done checking out the trees an hour ago, at least.

Andrew broke off his thoughts as he turned towards the river and the grove of inscribed trees beyond. Tyler and Rowan were jogging towards him, as soon as they saw him looking they raised hands to wave for him to come closer. Andrew shrugged to the assembled forge crew and jogged over to meet them.

"Andrew!" Tyler huffed out, sucking in a deep breath before continuing. "They want to talk to you! Over in the forest, it took a second, they only wanted to talk to Rowan at first, but we convinced them. They want to talk to our leader! They're- It's so cool!"

Andrew was taken aback, about to open his mouth to respond when Rowan cut in. "They're little fairies! They really like the trees we made! They wanted to make a deal or something with us, but I said I had to talk to you first, and they didn't want to wait at first, but it's fine. I convinced them. They're waiting for us, but I'm worried they'll run away again! They're really skittish."

"Wait, fairies? Seriously? Alright, yeah, lets go. Thank you for convincing them to talk to me, and not making a deal with them right away. With all the magic stuff we've been running into, I think we'll want to be very careful about deals made with anything that isn't a totally normal human. Whatever. Take me to them." Andrew said.

Tyler turned and started off in the direction of the forest and Andrew hurried after. Rowan kept pace with him, huffing out more details as they jogged. "Ah well, maybe not fairies, exactly. Not yet. I identified them as Mana Spirits, but when I asked they said they were basically fairies already! I think they level up into fairies or something. I don’t know, but they're super cool and they talk inside your head!"