John looked over the test furnace; this would be their sixth attempt overall to melt the ore. They had failed repeatedly over the last five days. He had a meeting scheduled with his team half an hour before the attempt to go over the failures and successes from the previous days, but he was nervous.
He walked through the area where the Forgeworks was being built. The walls were now going up; they had been following the plan the system gave them, but they still felt unsure whether this would really work or not.
John was the only member of the team who had ever operated a furnace or melted ore. That had been years ago in a hobby club he joined because he thought making a sword would be cool. It was not cool at all; it was extremely hot, and he still remembered the burns from touching something without the proper equipment.
But this time they were in a new world: no modern equipment, only scavenged tools found in the cave instances. They had a pair of tongs and some gloves a team brought back just the other day. The contribution value and cost were huge to buy them, but they were well worth it. He could not figure out how they would pull ore out of their furnace without the tongs. But so far they had never gotten it hot enough to refine. Today had to be the day. He just knew it.
The core team of ten had met late the previous night. They were making good progress and still believed they could meet the construction schedule, but John was personally stressed about the furnace because none of their test models had succeeded. He brought up his class advancement requirements again.
[Furnace Keeper — Apprentice]
Advancement Requirements:Successfully process raw ore (0 / 1)Maintain stable furnace temperatures (4 / 10)Reduce impurity contamination (0 / 1)Coordinate furnace labor (6 / 10 workers)Produce first usable refined metal (0 / 1)
Potential Advancement: Furnace Keeper — Journeyman
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John was hoping if he could just get the furnace to work, he could upgrade his class and unlock something that might make the process easier. There had been word all over the work site of advancements others had made in classes. Some of the stonemasons and clayworkers had advanced a lot; John felt today was his day.
It was finally time for their meeting. His group today included Darren, Luke, Mason, Eli, Grant, and Owen. They were first going to go over the issues from the last five attempts.
John said, “Okay, let’s review our past issues. The first furnace cracked from excess heat. What did we learn from that?”
Luke replied, “We found that we did not have proper venting, and the clay lining and stone used were not of a quality that could take the heat.”
John said, “What changed after that?”
Darren replied, “We have found better quality stone and improved the quality of the clay in tests so far; it’s the best we can currently produce. The stonemason got a new skill that has helped us improve quality, and the group working on the clay production team has recently gotten three different classes between them, and quality is up a lot.”
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John said, “The second attempt we had too weak of an airflow, and the ore never even got hot enough to glow. What did we do to overcome that?”
Eli answered, “We have completely replaced the venting systems, and their airflow has improved, causing temperature to climb much faster. The last test was 50% better; the team is sure they have worked out the kinks.”
John said, “Good. The third attempt had issues with charcoal running out and the temperature collapsed.”
Mason answered, “We have moved the location of the charcoal to be closer to the furnace, and we have tripled the size of the team of shovellers so we can get more in when it’s needed.”
John said, “Great. Attempt four we had a partial meltdown, and the clay lining failed. I assume that is now fixed?”
Owen answered, “Yes, we are sure that it should hold this time.”
John said, “Okay, the last attempt, the ore did not fuse, and the impurities contaminated everything.”
Eli answered, “We have the heat working now how we want it. It will fuse this time; I am sure of it. If it melts, it should burn off and separate the impurities.”
John said, “Now remember, if it works today, we double the bonus.”
They all looked at him, but Mason finally said it. “What bonus, boss?”
John said, “You know we end up with a large glowing ball of ore that no one yet knows how to use.”
The group laughed, and they all prepared for the test. Everything was in order, and it was go time. The tension in the place was high. The workers were sweating, and the furnace was roaring. None of them wanted another failure; John was taking it personally, and they did not like the stress it was causing him.
They started the furnace and added the materials in the correct order. The ore began to glow, but it was not enough. They added more charcoal and increased the airflow until it turned cherry red. John put on the heavy gloves, gripped the ore with the tongs, and rotated it. More charcoal and air pushed it from orange to yellow and then white as black residue flaked away.
John knew this was it. They had reached the temperature they needed; impurities were burning off and separating, and the metal had fused together. John finally pulled it out and dropped it into the cooling barrel. When the piece had finally cooled enough, they pulled it out and threw it on the ground where everyone could examine it.
John shouted, “It worked! It worked!” as he and his crew started to dance around. He finally calmed down and looked at it. It was a rough, contaminated, barely usable hunk of metal. They were far from producing anything useful, but they had crossed a major milestone, and they had a working furnace model. During the successful run, the steady temperature and full furnace crew had completed the requirements that were still unfinished. As he sat there looking at it, he received a system message.
[Furnace Keeper — Journeyman]
Class Advanced
◈ ◈ ◈
[Skill Acquired]
Thermal Awareness Level 1
Allows:Better estimate furnace temperatures.More easily recognize unstable furnace conditions.Reduce the chance of catastrophic furnace failures.
◈ ◈ ◈
John shouted again, “YES!! I finally leveled my class.”
John and the crew celebrated for the next hour. The other workers at the camp just looked at them, and one of them walked by and told them to get back to work; they were behind schedule, so no standing around. But John was happy; he had done it; he could not wait to tell Mark about it. Now he wanted to see what his next requirement was.
[Furnace Keeper — Journeyman]
Advancement Requirements:Produce stable refined metal batches (0 / 10)Construct dedicated smelting stations (0 / 3)Train specialized furnace workers (0 / 5)Create basic metalworking tools (0 / 5)Improve ore efficiency rates (0 / 25%)
Potential Advancement: Furnace Keeper — Expert
◈ ◈ ◈
John just looked at the list. This was impossible. But then again, he had said that when he looked at the previous list of tasks. This was doable; he would be able to get this project done.