Jiran lightly jogged on his way back to the library, not liking that Miila was out of aura range for even a few minutes. He didn’t know if Cruex was a dangerous place for children or not. But he had taken responsibility for her and he would not shirk that duty.

Once Miila entered his sight, he was finally able to relax. She was sitting at the side of the front stairs to the library, along with several other children. The lady reading to them had a light smile on her face as the children paid rapt attention to her every word.

Satisfied that his charge was not in any danger, Jiran went back into the library. He pulled out several books on metallurgy and smithing before sitting down at a nearby table.

The morning flew by as Jiran compared what he read to his memories from Earth. By the time Miila came to find him, he had several specific ideas on how he could create a more resilient metal.

Jiran was deep in thought as they walked back toward the inn. He completely missed the multiple times that Miila looked up at him with pleading eyes. It wasn’t until she pulled on his sleeve gently that he snapped out of his reverie.

“Senior Jiran, are we going to run in the fast lane again?”

Jiran looked over his shoulder at the dark shadows in a nearby alley before responding to her.

“Not this time, Miila. No more of that senior nonsense, I’m just Jiran, remember? If you keep calling me senior I’m going to start calling you Great Grand Elder Milla the Magnificent!”

His pretentious voice and the pompous title returned the smile to her face. With a flourish of his non-existent cape followed by a deep bow, he scooped the girl up and placed her on his shoulders.

“Sing me a song, Wise Queen Miila!” he hollered up at her while dramatically stomping with each step.

The little girl swaying back and forth on his shoulders sang the entire way back to the inn.

Lunch was even better than last night’s dinner. Fried meat with a wide variety of vegetables.

Before Jiran was done eating, Krikk burst into the common room from outside. A near-manic gleam in his eyes.

“What’er ya wastin' time round 'ere for, let's go Sonny. We got work ta do!”

Jiran swallowed the steamed tuber he was chewing while rising to his feet. He couldn’t help the excited smile from spreading across his face.

“You got everything I asked for?”

“Aye, it’s all there. Now wipe that evil grin off yer face n' let’s get to it.”

The ancient man moved with a spring in his step despite his hunched posture. Once they arrived at his shop, Krikk led Jiran into the basement once more.

Jiran was excited to see the three buckets full of different ores. He took out a chunk of each type of rock and examined them closely.

He recognized the green and gold of copper. As well as the light gray of iron. There was also a sharp and craggy multicolored ore with its own bucket.

“What’s this ore?”

“Tin! How in the blazin beast's breath did ya make that hammer n' not even know what tin be?”

The ornery grumbling was met with a wide grin. Jiran placed the ores back in their containers and then moved to the table with the writing equipment.

He started by making several notes of the information he gathered at the library. He wrote in the old code he had developed when living at Samris’s manor.

His notes included the melting point for each ore, the amount of time needed at specific temperatures to purge impurities, and how to reduce heat gradually to keep the metal from degrading.

His first experiment was to take iron ore and heat it up as hot as he possibly could. All that remained after scorching the ore in a miniature sun was a fine black and gray char.

He repeated the process with each ore and recorded the results. The next attempt, he added pressure and then airflow after that.

It took Jiran half of his stock to create only a few bars of highly pure ore. His growing pile of the black and gray powder was embarrassing to look at, but an important part of the process.

Krikk had long since left him alone after grumbling something about a waste of everything sacred being blah blah blah. Jiran had tuned him out as he remained focused on his task.

Each attempt varied slightly. He tried multiple methods of adding oxygen flow before settling on a shaping that created pure oxygen. The number of impurities that separated from the ore drastically increased when he used this method.

He found that the optimal temperature for each ore was significantly higher than what had been recorded in the library. He assumed that was because of the inherent difficulty in creating and containing so much heat in the first place.

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The optimal heat for each ore was well beyond what would melt the forge before him. He had to expend significant amounts of additional mana to protect his surroundings, delaying the entire process.

He stopped when his mana reached ten percent. Even with his multiple additional methods of fighting, letting his base mana run any lower made him instinctively nervous.

He made his way upstairs to find Krikk snoring in a chair behind his counter. Jiran wondered if he would be sleeping so soundly if he knew the last experiment's heat was enough to melt the entire building in seconds.

With a shrug and a fond smile directed at the cantankerous old man, Jiran moved toward the exit of the shop.

“Before ye go, we need to have a word.”

I guess he wasn’t sleeping so soundly after all.

“As you wish,” Jiran said while holding his hands behind his lower back and stretching slightly.

“That hammer ye made was garbage, I ain’t satisfied at all. You surprised me good fer sure, so I’ll consider you the winner of our little wager.

“What I want to know is how you made that unwieldy, misbalanced, piece o’ scrap nigh indestructible.”

“I am a man of ethics, Master Krikk. I would never dream to forge and tell. What woman would ever dream of swooning after me if my principles were so loose?

“Jokes aside, I just pushed some mana into it.”

“Pushed some mana inta it! What a load of golem shiite! I know fer a fact you ain’t no more n’ Tier five. The only real Tier five smith in the city couldn't even scratch that hammer when I brought it to em.

I watched ya do it, so I know ye didn’t put more mana in than anyone else can. Bah, ferget et. Keep yer damned secrets. Rents four gold fer the two weeks, now pay up!”

Chuckling at the old man’s bad attitude, Jiran put the coins on his counter without complaint and waved goodbye cheerfully as he left the shop.

“Yah ain’t ne’er gonna make no friends with that bad attitude, whelp!” Krikk shouted as Jiran closed the door behind himself.

I need to recharge my mana. I could go buy a higher-tier meal somewhere or head out of the city where there's more ambient mana.

I’ll do my morning routine outside the city then. It’s just barely too late in the day to go now, besides I’ll be able to move much faster in the morning with fewer witnesses.

There were still a few hours of light left so Jiran perused the local shops. He asked a few smiths some specific questions about the smelting process and even got a demonstration of how it was usually done.

By the time he entered the Shapers Rest, there were a few other patrons already several drinks into their nightly rituals. Jiran took an empty seat and waited for dinner. Niila brought his food out of the kitchen, a sour expression crossed her face when she saw who the food was for.

“Oh, it’s you.” She said while roughly dropping the plate onto his table.

“I’m surprised you have time to bring people food with all those dishes you have to wash,” Jiran responded while playfully sticking his tongue out at the girl.

“You miserable swamp flomper! Yer face is so ugly I bet you don’t have a single friend!” She raised her adorable little fist toward him, waving it back and forth like the deadly weapon it no doubt was.

“Aww, there’s no reason to be so jealous of your sister, Niila. Doesn’t she work hard and deserve to have a morning to do what she wants every now and then?”

Jiran’s attack was a critical hit. Looking contrite, Niila instantly calmed down and nodded her head. Before crocodile tears could leak out of her eyes Jiran reached out and patted her on the top of her head.

“I’ll let you guide me somewhere fun too. After you finish your dishes punishment, and so long as you don’t cause any more trouble until then. Okay?”

“Really!? Will you pay me too?”

Jiran let out a bark of laughter as he smiled.

“Yup, the same price I paid Miila.”

Her exuberant expression turned to confusion as she watched Jiran turn to look at the back wall of the inn.

“Niila, would you please bring me a second dinner?”

“Uh, sure. I’ll be right back,” she said while scampering off to the kitchen.

A few minutes later she came back with a second serving. She placed the plates down in front of him and then rested her hands on her skinny hips.

“Extra meals a quarta’ silver.”

Jiran paid, then scooped up the meal and walked to his room. Once the door was shut he opened the window with a flick of aura and hovered himself out of the small opening. He had to crouch to get out, which was only slightly awkward while holding two plates.

Dropping the short distance to the ground, Jiran slowly walked to a nearby bush, holding the food out in front of him.

“You look hungry, eat.” He said while placing the food near the bush.

He only stood there for a few seconds, before the bush responded with the long drawn-out grumble that only a stomach that hasn’t eaten in days could make.

Unsure what to do, and with no further reactions from the bush, Jiran hopped back into his room.

He was about to close the shutters and block out the sounds of food being greedily scarfed down but paused.

He pulled out a set of clothes and tossed them out the window before he closed it.

Another eventful day. I’ve only been in Cruex for two days and it’s been one thing after another. Hopefully, I get to relax and work on smithing for the next two weeks.

What's the game plan for tomorrow? Add the carbon byproduct from the high-heat smelts to the ores and see if that works for making steel.

I probably need to filter it too, no clue how to do that. I'm sure I'll figure something out.

Wait, that black and gray stuff from incinerating the ore, was that graphite?

Jiran's face hurt with how wide his grin became.

That's exactly what I need. This could work, this could really work! Mana is exactly what it needs.

Why didn't I think of this until nighttime? I want to go test it right now!

Jiran did his best to fall asleep. He tossed and turned until restless dreams stole his consciousness.

Jiran had not fallen asleep without his mana body's protection since he unlocked it, and this night was no exception.

What was out of the ordinary, was the figure who entered his aura undetected. They silently approached him in the dark, swaying gently side to side with each step.