Spending his working days toiling away, the fledgling workshop quickly began to take form. Leaving only to stock up on more bones occasionally, changes rapidly appeared. First, the grate covering the magma whirlpool was completed, allowing Rory to step over the golden magma with an abundance of caution. Once that had been completed, next up was a 'chain' of bones that he could suspend a cage made of bones from. After that, there was an obtrusively large crucible that Rory had made by crushing the bone into dust, grinding some of the steel-colored stone into powder, and finally adding gem dust that he had mapped to principles of heat and heat resistance. Mixing it as well as he could, Rory had then melted it all together using the flash 'kiln,' eating up a rather disgusting amount of higher-grade pneuma in the process. The off-white material had a sort of glassy shine, a polish that Rory had found intriguing, and when his tests had gone well, he promptly named it steel-bone glass. It didn't have anything special going for it, aside from the fact that it was resistant to melting, requiring rather obtuse amounts of effort if he wanted to attempt to re-melt it.

Which he didn't, so it was perfect.

Melting crucible and temporary forge set up finished, Rory had plopped a single anvil down -one he had snatched from Ehkorrus's forge without mentioning it to Gil- and found himself pleased with his progress so far.

With a method established that would allow him to forge new metals, Rory finally took to mining the rubedo from the walls. Tough as the material was, it was quickly wearing down his pickaxe, making Rory glad that he had taken the initiative to establish a forge before mining any.

Once he had mined a decent amount, Rory began running tests, attempting to melt small amounts of material or striking it in specific ways with his hammer to see what would result.

What he found was pleasing; at a baseline, the material was tougher than Stabilized Steel.

What wasn't pleasing was that some of the regular methods of improving metals didn't seem to work. It was as if the material didn't want to be anything other than itself.

What the hell do I do with it then?

It hadn't lost value in that it was still better than Stabilized Steel, but Stabilized Steel was far from the best material he'd ever made; it was just the most 'easily' mass reproducible uncommon grade material.

Are there just materials that can't be improved?

If that were the case, they would almost be like secondary or peripheral metals —things to use in tandem but never as the main case.

Interesting.

Rory did have one idea for getting around the problem, and it was in the form of his newest skill, Metallurgy. It wasn't much more than a feeling, a vague hunch at best. Still, just looking at the rubedo, Rory had the sense that there was something more to do with it, an instinctual recognition born from the work he'd put in to earn the metallurgy skill to begin with.

While that may have been the case, Rory also wasn't planning to handle that query immediately. For the time, he was content with fashioning a new pickaxe using rubedo and monster bones.

Armed with a new and slightly improved pickaxe, Rory went back to acting like a dwarf and excavating the volcanic mountain. Knowing the concepts higher up were still a bit too much for him to handle, Rory opted to tunnel downward. In his mind's eye, he had mapped out a corkscrew-like facility of auxiliary workshops and tunnels, eventually circling the entirety of the interior of the mountain. At some point, he planned to connect to the central volcanic vent, but much like tunneling upward, it was a bit too much for the time being.

Tunneling through the volcano was not exactly riveting work. Still, it was satisfying in a visceral sense as Rory shaped the earth to his whims. His only major break was when, during a visit to dump stone from his inventory outside the volcano, Rory encountered Eia lounging atop the grate covering the magma whirlpool. That itself wasn't all that new.

What was different was that her normally electric-blue scales now had a prismatic luster, and the brow of her head was also adorned by a small crest of crystal spikes, flickering with energy. Sometimes, these spikes contained electric-looking bolts, while at other times, they gave off dark red flames and, occasionally, a purple haze.

That change would have been far more perplexing if not for the obvious answer to what had changed, the snake radiating a pressure that Rory hadn't felt from her before.

"Congratulations on reaching tier seven."

She had been close even when they had been in Ehkorrus, and now that she was in a land where the monsters bottomed out at low-tier-six, it wasn't surprising that she had finally broken through. Examining her, Rory raised his eyebrows as he noticed something new.

Aural Serpent

A serpent born not of typical reproduction but the molding of aural affinities of a non-viable egg. Removed from its aura molding stasis, the Aural Serpent hatched before it was thoroughly imbued with the intended aura.

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Ardent Aural Serpent

A serpent born of the molding of aural affinities. An evolution made possible only through constant consumption and internalization of differing auras during early maturation. Due to an affinity for energy itself, Ardent Aural Serpents possess a scaling degree of magic and energy nullification based upon the tier and qualitative difference between themselves and opposing forces.

"So, tier seven and a race evolution or whatever it's called for monsters," Rory said with a smile. It wasn't a new concept; he'd first seen it with the killer rabbits of Ehkorrus evolving into jackalopes, annoying little space-deleting pests that they were. While monsters undergoing such changes weren't new, it was notable that Eia had not undergone such a change until tier seven.

I'm just glad she doesn't seem to be taking the Khan of Blue Lightning's route of growing supermassive. I don't think I have the budget to buy that many mice to feed her.

A joke that Rory opted to keep to himself, lest Eia bite him, Rory concluded by giving her a thumbs up, preparing to walk away. That was until he heard something, and he suddenly stopped.

"Thanksss."

"Huh?" Rory spun around, staring at Eia. "Was that you?"

It had been odd; Rory knew that he hadn't actually heard anything out loud, but there was this strange sense as if he had heard something that should have been there.

Tabling that for the moment.

The weird, psychic speech from his snake companion was a consideration for another day.

With that distraction soon fading, Rory's days of tunneling continued onward, occasionally stopping to mark a potential spot for another workshop or area but otherwise carrying on with his singular focus.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Having tunneled rather far down, Rory was suddenly alerted to the sound of crumbling stone, the material in front of him crumbling as Rory took a step back, on guard. The possibility of a cave-in should have been damn near impossible, as Seams Unseen made it clear that he hadn't dug anywhere that would cause a cascading cave-in. Still, there was always a chance he had to be ready for it.

Instead of a cave-in, what Rory found was that he had entered a strange geode-like room or cavern. Thankful for his eye skill that allowed him to see in the dark, Rory peered in. Dotting the walls were shining black rocks as if someone had polished pieces of coal to a metallic finish.

"Wow,"

Instantly, Rory could sense they were objects of interest, his in-built instinct for valuables and other such things triggering as he stared at them. Entering the cave, Rory intended to examine them up close.

His mistake.

Like he had triggered a trap, something black dropped from the ceiling, orange acid flinging everywhere as the monster attacked.

"Ah fuck!" Rory shouted, taken by surprise as he found himself fighting for his life. Surprised for a moment, the pickaxe vanished as he whipped his banner, intending to disorient his assailant.

However, it did nothing as the monster advanced, battering aside his banner. It wasn't often that the disruptive illusions had zero effect whatsoever, almost as if-

"Oh, you again," Rory growled as he snapped his hand forward in a finger gun, blasting away with projected bullets.

The Architect Bane had made its grand return.

Perhaps Rory had been getting ahead of himself. Still, for whatever reason, he had assumed that the Chosen Bane wouldn't show up until at least the mid-point of early tier seven, giving him a break since he'd only fought it not that long ago at the peak of tier six.

Evidently, he had been operating under false assumptions.

Doing his best to defend himself, Rory grimaced as he understood how disadvantageous his position was. Even without checking adaptations, Rory was sure that it had evolved to be immune to illusions after the theatre of illusions had been its utter downfall during their peak-tier-six fight. Aside from that adaptation, the Architect Bane had changed forms again. Now, it appeared like a fusion between a bat, a base template that Bane seemed to default often to, and a type of lemur or monkey that Rory had seen from pictures on Earth.

An Aye-aye, I think? I don't know; I wasn't a damn zoologist.

Gone were any of the scythe appendages Rory had often come to expect from the monster. Now its fingers were the scythes, extremely long, curved nails on its already unnervingly long and gangly fingers that would occasionally split, spewing orange acid.

Knocking aside a strike, Rory whipped his hand forward as a chord-like projection appeared, cracking through the air and striking the Architect Bane. It growled a weird, chitter-like noise as it then opened its mouth, releasing a shrill, sonic screech that drove Rory to his knees. He was unprepared for the new attack, the bombardment of sound too much for his senses, his ears instantly bleeding.

On his knees, Rory suddenly felt something sharp poking into his jugular as his head was tilted upward to face the Architect Bane, which almost seemed to be smirking before it vanished a moment after, stepping through space in the blink of an eye.

And just like that, the first battle against the Architect Bane of tier seven was over.

"Fucking petty, grudge-holding prick," Rory snapped as he rose to his feet. In a way, the entire battle had been reminiscent of their last battle, short-lived and one-sided. Caught off guard in a location he wasn't ready for a fight in and against new tools that he had never witnessed before, he'd lost perhaps even more easily than the Bane had lost in their prior encounter.

Testament about how badly he had done, Rory didn't even receive the complimentary reward for inflicting enough damage on his Chosen Bane.

"Annoying as shit," Rory grumbled as his ears finally stopped their bleeding. "That was a cheap shot, and you know it," Rory shouted into the ceiling, raising his fist. He was hollering at Eon, but he suspected that Eon didn't much care.

Well, at the very least, I won't have to deal with that shit again for a long time.

Grumbling, Rory returned to what he was doing before he was interrupted by his arch-nemesis.

I need a collar for my neck to protect me from shots like that.

A project that he would handle in the future.

Approaching one of the weirdly shiny pieces of coal, Rory examined the stone.

????

Rarity: Uncommon

When flames themselves are turned to stone, the potential for energy they carry far exceeds most other forms of mineral and artificial coal. Having absorbed the energies of volcanic concepts, this petrified fire embodies the essence of volcanic energies.

"Not exactly what I expected," Rory said, staring at the weird rocks. If he understood correctly, it was basically fire that had undergone the same sort of process that coal ordinarily went through while also fusing with volcanic affinities.

"If I had a coal plant, I'm sure I'd be very excited," Rory finally sighed. Rory did not doubt that the stuff was useful somewhere, but he didn't see where he would need that much-

Wait, hold up.

Halting his train of thought, Rory forced himself to reverse course as he realized he was running away with the wrong takeaway.

Yes, coal is excellent for power plants and all that, but you, of all people, should know it has other uses as well.

Steel, for example, would be produced through the refining of iron with coal or similar materials.

Still staring at the display, it suddenly shifted as Rory settled upon a name in tandem with an idea.

????

Rarity: Uncommon

When flames themselves are turned to stone, the potential for energy they carry far exceeds most other forms of mineral and artificial coal. Having absorbed the energies of volcanic concepts, this petrified fire embodies the essence of volcanic energies.

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Nigredo

Rarity: Uncommon

When flames themselves are turned to stone, the potential for energy they carry far exceeds most other forms of mineral and artificial coal. Having absorbed the energies of volcanic concepts, this petrified fire embodies the essence of volcanic energies.

If rubedo was the equivalent of volcanic iron, a simplification for argument's sake- then perhaps the reason he hadn't found a way to improve it was that he needed something of a similar nature.

Taking his pickaxe, Rory began to dislodge the nuggets of shiny black petrified fire. There was a lot of the stuff in the one geode-esque cave, which would be helpful as Rory had found several other sporadic pockets of rubedo during his caving operations.

Once he had had enough of the stuff, or as much as he hoped would be enough, he quickly raced through his sprawling tunnel system, making his way back to the main workshop. Once there, Rory began adding some rubedo into his oversized crucible hanging from a pulley system composed primarily of bone directly above the heart of the magma whirlpool. Tossing in some of the nigredo, Rory finally topped it off by dumping in some crushed gems, a matte-steel color, given that they were his newest batch of gems made from melted stone.

I've no idea how this blend will hold up, but I think I've found something here!

Once everything had been added into the crucible, it was simply a matter of lowering the crucible until the bottom half of it was submerged in the slowly spinning pool of golden magma.

"C'mon," Rory said quietly, holding his breath as he stared inside the crucible, waiting to see what would happen.

Still holding his breath, Rory saw as the rubedo began to melt into a blood-red slurry of molten metal.

Alright, and now for the hopeful part.

Crossing his fingers, Rory saw as the nigredo within the slurry began to soften, glowing slightly.

Yes!

All that he needed was for the nigredo to soften so that he could slowly stir the mixture, folding it all together so that the end result would-

Rory's thoughts were cut off, as without warning, he was launched backward as the crucible exploded, a shockwave of released energy exploding outward so powerfully he was slammed into the far wall, a groan escaping him as he slowly sank into a seated position.

"Ow,"

One moment, everything had been looking solid, good even. The next, he was tossed aside like a rag doll.

What went wrong?

"Stupid, impatient idiot," Rory groaned after thinking about it for a moment. The nigredo was explicitly stated to be high-energy, so once its physical form began to break down, it might, of course, explode.

Idiot.

Taking in the wreckage, Rory winced. The grate had been devastated, the crucible exploded, and general chaos had ensued.

"Should have known it wouldn't be that easy," Rory sighed.

Slumping back, Rory thumped his head against the cave wall.

What a day. First, I'm assaulted by a pissed-off demonic bat-lemur, and then my workshop explodes.

It was rather annoying, and yet, Rory found himself grinning.

Man, if only Earth-me could see me now.

Life wasn't bad on Earth; he had a life, some family and friends, and occasional girlfriends. He wasn't walking through a grey-hazed depression.

But.

But something had been missing, something he hadn't even realized.

Challenge.

It was the setbacks and trials to overcome that seemed to bring life some vibrancy. It was part of why he had sought to leave Ehkorrus so that he could challenge himself in ways that Ehkorrus just couldn't.

Picking himself up from his spot on the ground, Rory dusted himself off.

"Step one, rebuild," Rory said, shaking his head. "Step two, reinforced crucible for moments like this. Step three: figure out how to properly blend nigredo and rubedo. Step four, uhm… Something else, I don't know, just felt like there should be four steps..."

Realizing he was speaking to himself -Eia was nowhere to be seen- Rory sighed.

Whatever, it doesn't actually matter.

With a set of tasks in front of him, Rory did what he did best.

And got busy.

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