Baby steps

Breathing deeply, Alex took a step back.

'They are too numerous, and I'm tired after passing all those hours here. I also am awfully outgunned. I need something else, arrows and knives won't cut it.'

Alex felt no shame in backing down. He may be the only one knowing of the place, but he wasn't about to throw his life away for nothing. He knows that the level bellow might hide an even greater strength that he faced until now. It would be suicidal to delve more in-depth with the ridiculous amount of protection he had on himself.

Backing down, Alex returned to the second level staircase. From there, he collected all cores left by the babe. Collecting says core took him a good two hours, and he knows that he would need around as much time for the second one.

What worried Alex was he didn't see any sign of activity in the pits, any of them.

-I don't like it, this level alone had enough energy for at least six monster gems, counting ten babes for one goblin! Yet, not a single trace alone! You better get out of here quickly.- Hurged CS, Alex.

The lack of energy pool had also worried Alex the instant he lost all trace of it. Where Alex had left the gems in the walls, he was sure that the dungeon would have spawned new buds immediatly, by charging them. Without them, he didn't know how the Dungeon would react, but will not stay long to discover it.

Rushing to the floor above, he gathered all two thousand two hundred cores before bolting straight to the exit.

~~~

The lack of any Dungeon activity on the three-floor did nothing to reassure the two. Like humans, Alex was susceptible to the unknown, and it brought him great fear as to how the Dungeon would react.

When he exited the Dungeon, the night just falls on the forest, leaving him a few hours before sleep as days shorted for the incoming winter. Unwilling to go hunting, Alex raided the large outpost. With the group of adventurers' past presence, Alex could salvage some kitchenware, and pieces of furniture from the floors above.

After receiving the message, Alex was left with only wooden appliances and few other commodities as they brought every weapon with them.

It was only once he stood in the new home that Alex allowed himself to relax. Looking around, Alex smoothed the walls were the core and large mass of iron stood before. Filling the holes of the spikes, he made himself a comfy spherical room. Rather than sleep on the cold stone, Alex took out the mattress he gathers from the outpost.

Using his craft magic, Alex spins the wools ball packed in sacks, constituting the mattress. He was far from the composite material he knows, but Alex would have all he needs for what he had in mind. Using the spun wool, Alex crafted a sheet made of tightly woven threads.

'Welding' the processed wool into a thick and sturdy layer, he knitted the sheet around, forming a futon.

Alex needed the entire eight mattress wool to form his bedding and pillows but create a high-quality product. Left white as he didn't process any pigment or dye, he lay the futon on the wooden platform raised in the hole.

~~~

His sleeping area done, Alex erects a slented aqueduct. Raised from the wall, and taking it source in the waterfall, the channelled water would gather in the pit, before returning to the stream through a second conduit carved in the floor. Left in a continuous flow, he wouldn't have to worry about stagnant water. On it side, Alex made a second, smaller, basin. A cavity beneath was left for him to fill with coals to heat the water above.

To avoid gas poisoning, Alex dug a second pipeline in the aqueduct. The line would bring the gas out, in the waterfall. The tube's end was shaped in a circumflex accent form not to let water enter through it.

~~~

After extracting and lighting the coals under the basin, Alex undress. The steaming water of the basin worked wonder on his aching body, after his rough day. Looking around, Alex noted that the cavern hadn't been that much changed. Other than his 'bedroom', the aqueduct and basin, he only made a smithy.

Under his futon, the platform had a hidden compartment, was all his cores, Monster gems and Dungeon cores had been put, in separate space. The mass of magic iron was on the smithy side, along with a large number of coals.

While he wanted only to use magical means to smith the magic iron, Alex would need to start somewhere. This somewhere would be through the use of coke. Even if he didn't smelt the iron, it wouldn't matter. As long as it was hot enough, Alex would be able to reshape and forge magic steel with it.

~~~

-What are your plans?- Asked CS, after leaving Alex profit off his hard-earned hot bath.

'First will be crafting an armour. I have leather, magic iron soon-to-be steel, and the clothes I salvage from the two outposts. I was thinking of taking some of the paddlings out of the pant, replacing it with leather. If I can make a large amount of magic steel, I want to mesh some into it. With enough chance, the magic imbued in the steel would be able to support some minor enhancements.

After that, I was thinking of crafting throwing spears. Like the pants, I will run them with hardening, piercing, or both if it can support some minor enchantments. Now that I have a place, I will be able to leave anything un-necessary here and fill my storage with forged weapons.

I will do the same from the spears to the knives and arrows. If I had enough time, I want to look at the Monster gems. If they can support being drained of magic without crumbling, I want to try turning them into rune-stones. If it possible, it would allow me to drag around pre-made spell I would be able to throw at the goblins, saving me some magic and effort.

Lastly, I want to craft some items with the Dungeon cores.' Listed Alex, while washing his body with the few meagre products he stole from the outposts.

-That much?- Shouted, CS surprised. -How much time do you plan to stay here for all of this.-

'It not this, rather, I give myself five days to make as much as possible. That would be fifteen-day from the raid and two days from the arrival of the new team. If by the time of those five days, they found and took care of the DUngeon, then so be it, but I won't try my luck before that.'

-You want to give the Dungeon enough time to start its plan, but not enough to mature any goblins from the gathered energy!- Understood CS, following Alex thoughts.

'Yes, that way, we should still be able to understand what it tried to do, without taking too many risks.'

-Good.- Said CS, aware that the previous experience in this place still gripped Alex, forcing him to become more vigilant. He was all for, at it would mean that they stay alive longer.

While Alex was relaxing, CS access one of the system's features, wanting to confirm something.

-'As I thought, good, that way, he should stay relatively protected.'- Sigh Cs in relief at the result of his research.

~~~

Raising the following morning, Alex was greeted by the few sunrays able to pierce through the waterfall and shine through the small holes he made in the wall. While he wanted to keep the place secret, Alex still made several holes, hidden as crack to let natural light enter the room.

Unwilling to lost time more than necessary, Alex lightens the smithy, after crafting some cokes. Thankfully for him, he could bypass most of the process through his craft magic, thus not needing the large arrays of pieces of machinery usually need.

Raising one of the spikes in the burning cokes, through the use of a stone platform supporting the entire mass, Alex processed to his first task. Keeping most of the heat trapped in a stone chamber, the spike's temperature rapidly rose, turning it dark grey surface to a bright cherry-red colour.

Seeing the metal colour, Alex manipulates the stone platform to move the spike out of the fire. Using a set of stone tool, he cut the heated part, before working on the large piece of metal.

Extracting a piece of around a kilo, Alex put the rest back in the fire. Turning back to the block in front of him, Alex immediatly goes to work. Spreading a tread of craft magic in, Alex covered the entire block of his brand of magic. Taking the powdered carbon, he made just before, started to transform the iron into steel.

At the first folding, Alex how much different the metal was from steel. Not only it needed a larger amount of carbon, but also a constant flow of magic inside. Nothing happened, but as he folded the block more and more, pumping magic and carbon in, veins pattern started to appear.

~~~

The veins pattern spreads at first dull blue and barely existing as he injected more magic while turning brighter. Pushing himself further than before, Alex felt that the piece or forming steel was already outclassing his best one, even still unfinished.

The block of one kilo of iron had shrunk by a third twenty minutes later. The previously barely existent pattern covered the entire block, shining a bright neon blue light. Feeling the completion near, Alex pushed a last, large amount of magic in. Sweating, and nearing exhaustion, Alex gritted his teeth and persevere, pushing past his limit and feeding even more magic to the block. The glow on the block brightens to the point of blinding light, before vanishing in a flash.

Surprised by the sudden afflux of light, Alex hadn't the time to protect his eyes. When he finally recovers sight, he was left speechless by the crafted alloy. Of a kilo, the dark grey block had left the place to about six hundreds gram of pure silver metal with soft, neon blue marbling. Taking the ingot in hand, Alex was caught off guard by its cool temperature. Running a finger on it, and closing his eyes, Alex could feel the barely existing pulse of magic running inside.

'It alive.' Whispered him in awe at his creation. 'I can feel the magic inside freely run.' His previous exhaustion at its creation vanished at the discovery. It was as his the cool nature of the metal had waters him, recompensing him from his efforts.

Bathing in the afterglow of his discovery, Alex injected a tread of craft magic in the block, wanting to study its proprieties.

'The goblins would kill for this.' Said Alex, referring to the Gringotts' ones.' This alloy truly beyond anything I know until then. Not only it could only be crafted with magic, but even it craft had limitation! If the magic came from an external source, other than the smith, it wouldn't form! Not only that, but due it living proprieties, once forged in a form, and sealed, it would be near impossible to melt it back. For this you would need to kill it, broking it and the magic inside. But if you do that, the metal became inert, barely worth the steel its made from!'

-How would you grade it for this world?- Asked CS intricate.

'Following the smith skills and the purity of the magic inside? Alone, it could be good against low level 2 monster. With some runes, mid to high level 2. With an external core strengthening it, top-level 2, low-rank level 3. After that, it would depend on the metals added and the alloys formed, but it should be good against level 4 monsters.'

-So, goblin?-

'Would be like cutting butter with a lightsaber. The only drawback is that the weapon would feed on the holder magic. The stronger the hide, the more it would take.'

-So the drawback lay more with the holder than the weapon made out of it?-

'Precisely. Theoretically, I could cut down the hide of the black goliath that appears at Riviera in the anime, it would just suck me dry and leave it with barely more than a paper cut, but it would cut through.'

-So, not only you need a skilled smith to bring the best of the metal, but also an experienced crafter to form the best weapon, who would draw the least amount of magic from you?-

'Yes, that resume it. The stat of the adventurers also play an important role, but yes. Thankfully for me, I'm both. I will just need to be sure and ready to form the weapon in one go. Otherwise, I would waste metal.'

-Good. Alex?- Asked CS, his voice carrying hints of surprise and eagerness.

'Yes?' Asked him, surprised and puzzled at Cs for calling him by his name.

-Look at your mission table.-

~~~

Following CS advice, Alex discovers that he an objective had popped, without appearing.

{[Hidden Objective: Main. "Baby step."]

You are now part of this world, to anchor yourself in it, create something still unseen in this age, that would awe your Mother.

Condition: Any meaningful action.

Reward: Following the action.

Fixed reward: Skadi Blessing.}

"What?" Was all Alex could eloquently utter, before feeling something carving itself in his body, more precisely his back.