Chapter 120: The Mountain Forge
The Totem’s divine energy descended from the sky in a beam of red light that wrapped around the platform. The rock mass shaped itself at an astonishing speed, taking on the curved forms of powerful claws, sharp fangs, and a robust five-meter body.
When the light finally disassociated, the Black Skull Tribe’s effigy had completely vanished. In its place, standing tall upon the old stone pedestal, rose a majestic statue of the Bear God, identical to Ignis, staring out toward the northern pass with eyes glowing in a soft crimson radiance.
"It is a miracle of the Shaman..." said Mark from the palisade, involuntarily dropping to his knees while the other former nobles held their breath.
Krag observed the colossus’s effigy and smiled with pride, pressing his fist against his chest to pay homage.
"The Bear God has claimed this mountain," said Krag, turning toward the crowd with his voice echoing through the compound. "From this day forward, this fortress answers solely to the mandate of the Overlord Tribe!"
"Glory to the Great Shaman!" shouted the hunters and villagers in unison.
With the sacred altar reconsecrated and the Bear God’s presence blessing the fortress, activity within the new settlement intensified at dawn. The biting mountain wind blew fiercely, but the heat of labor began to claim the central yard.
Lennis led the inspection of the old workshops alongside Garik and Vael. Kellar walked beside him, observing the mud structures, the deteriorated deer-hide bellows, and the rudimentary stone molds the Black Skull Tribe had used to fashion their weapons.
"This place is far too primitive," said Lennis, kicking a dry clay wall with his foot. "The furnaces they used here barely reached the temperature needed to melt iron. The metal they produced was full of impurities and snapped easily."
"We did what we could with stone and charcoal," said Garik, stepping forward to defend their past work. "To heat the iron further, we needed to blow air nonstop for days."
"That changes today," said Kellar, pulling from his tunic a series of scrolls containing detailed diagrams of the blast furnace granted by the system. "Lennis, we will build a forced-draft furnace using refractory bricks made of clay and sand. Garik, you and your men will be in charge of molding the blocks under Lennis’s instructions."
Vael stared at the blueprints with wide eyes, tracing the design’s lines with his calloused fingers.
"This structure..." said Vael in an awe-struck whisper. "With this height and these ventilation pipes, the heat will concentrate in the center. The iron will flow like water."
"Exactly," said Kellar, tucking the blueprints back into his tunic. "Krag, Lennis, let’s go inspect the mine."
Kellar set off toward the northern slope of the fortress, accompanied by Krag, Lennis, and Vael. The mine entrance did not look like a piece of engineering, but rather like a foul maw carved into the living rock. As they drew closer, a suffocating stench of sulfurous gas, stale moisture, and decay wafted from the shadows.
Vael lit a resin torch with trembling hands, halting just before crossing the stone threshold.
"Great Shaman..." said Vael, his voice laced with genuine apprehension. "I must be honest. In the Black Skull Tribe, this place was known as the Stone Tomb. No warrior or hunter ever set foot inside."
"Why?" said Kellar, inspecting the cracked walls near the entrance.
"The ground is unstable, and the rock crumbles at the slightest strike," said Vael, swallowing hard. "Besides, in the depths there is a poison air that puts men to sleep, never to wake again. The old shaman only sent those condemned to death or the weakest slaves down here. Every ton of iron we extracted cost the lives of dozens of crushed or suffocated men."
Kellar snatched the torch from Vael and brought the flame near the ground, watching the light flicker due to the heavy gases accumulating below.
"Your former shaman’s ignorance cost you unnecessary lives," said Kellar, showing no concern whatsoever. "That ’poison air’ is no curse; it is gas trapped within the rock veins. And the collapses happened because you dug like beasts without supporting the ceiling."
"We cannot send our people to dig blindly into a death pit," said Lennis, touching the stone surface.
"That is why we will not dig like the Black Skull," said Kellar, turning toward Krag. "Order your men to bring heavy wooden beams from the forest. Before we chip away at a single piece of iron, we will shore up the tunnels with oak frames."
"And the poison air, Great Shaman?" said Vael, staring into the dark tunnel.
"We will build wooden ventilation fans powered by cranks and leather piping to pump fresh air from the outside," said Kellar, fixing his gaze on the supervisor. "The Stone Tomb is no more, Vael. As of today, this mine will be safe and efficient. Lead the way inside."
Barely fifty meters in, the mountain’s groan echoed above their heads. The gallery ceiling had no support whatsoever; only a few rotted wooden beams attempted to hold back tons of loose rock. On the ground, broken pickaxes and fallen stones confirmed the supervisor’s words.
"It is a death trap," said Kellar, raising the light toward the far wall.
Despite the danger, the fissures in the rock revealed veins of a dense, reddish ore, saturated with an exceptionally high purity of iron.
"The raw material is excellent, but the extraction is pure stupidity," said Lennis, running his hand over the vein’s shimmering surface. "The Black Skull people dug blindly, weakening the stone’s natural pillars just to extract the easiest metal."
"We will not extract another single kilo until this main tunnel is completely reinforced," said Kellar, turning to Vael. "Starting tomorrow, your men’s first task will not be chipping away at the ore, but constructing oak frames and clearing the debris."
Vael looked at the shimmering vein and then at the young leader, letting out a breath of contained relief.
"No one in the Black Skull ever cared about the miners’ lives," said Vael, bowing his head with deep respect. "If you give us the tools and the timber, I guarantee this mine will yield all the iron the Overlord Tribe needs."
"Get to work immediately," said Kellar, turning around to head toward the exit alongside Krag and Lennis. "Time is ticking, and the mountain won’t wait for us to be ready."