It took a while for the Core Power Cable to go from the Generator to the Architects' Library. As it seemed to manifest from thin air, the Cable was a pale blue-white flexible line that looked oddly fibrous compared to its own gem-like form. Rhamiel watched and carefully analyzed the mana as his Mana Processing Skill created the Cable. The skill, if Rhamiel was observing it correctly, was using the loose mana particles in his Domain to generate the Cable.

  Thinking about it as the Cable steadily took shape, Rhamiel attempted to take more active control of its construction. The Cable seemed to fray almost as soon as he mentally held on to the creation process, the mana still trying to condense into the shape dictated, but Rhamiel himself trying to mimic the automatic process directly.

  Grumbling, the Core focused on understanding the process, feeling the mana move and solidify. It felt natural literally; the mana that free-floated inside his Domain flowed towards the conjured Cable and condensed into the prescribed shape that was saved into his mind, or the structured Mindset Skill.

  His direct involvement slowed the process, but he was determined to understand. And as he grasped the skill needed, he slowly picked up speed. He had only used it once before choosing to become a Civilization Core. However, this reminded him of the Mold Mana Skill he used to conjure a limestone block above the Werejackal when he first met Joselin.

  This felt both more complex and simple than that loose block of stone. For one, this substance was not made of atoms, something other cores, he was certain, could manipulate directly with mana to create or recreate things out of seemingly nothing. To conjure that limestone, he had to quickly use mana to ‘create’ one calcium atom, one carbon atom, and three oxygen atoms until he had a large enough block to kill the Werejackal.

  But this Cable was made of ‘him’ or Cornerstone, he elected to call it. A substance that he was certain mainly was mana or some kind of mana variant. Whatever the case, Rhamiel was sure he understood something about his own atomic construction, which made this easier.

  He soon fell into a rhythm, creating the Cable faster than the automated process and running it down the prescribed path he had designated to the Architect’s Library altar.

  He was sure he understood the process when he received a prompt to confirm it.

  The part about the Core Presence Attribute jogged something in his memory. So Rhamiel left the Core Power Cable to resume the automatic construction, observing that it was a little bit faster with the skill level up.

  Looking up his unspent points, Rhamiel was certain that he was an idiot.

  Had he really not spent any Attribute points since… gaining level 10? What insanity has he been operating under? Looking at his current Attributes, Rhamiel thought about where to put some of his points.

  Grumbling to himself, Rhamiel chose to spend his points. Mostly to move on from this ridiculous blunder of his. He put six points into core strength to push to three even to increase his Drone count and to increase his mana strength per point. Next, he put five points into Core Mana Supply to increase how much he could hold at once and six into Core Mana Recovery to improve his passive mana regeneration per hour.

  His Core Structure and Core Presence were both under-invested in. With Core Structure being used to increase his durability and prevent shattering and Core Presence now having a proper purpose than just the ominous ‘feeling’ that he was given as a descriptor early on. Both were important, just less so than the others, in his opinion. So he slotted one into each, increasing them to three and four, respectively.

  Finalizing his choices, Rhamiel confirmed them, and they now looked like this.

  With those numbers now strengthened, he felt much more prepared to work. Especially since he now had many more Drones to work with. Rhamiel looked it up and confirmed that he could summon four Drones per whole Core Strength point, in this case, three, which means he could summon twelve instead of eight.

  With his new quartet of Drones, Rhamiel reviewed his list of blueprints and thought about them for a while.

  Most of them needed iron to craft things like nails, hinges, and everything else. One or two did not require anything but stone and wood, but they would be pointless to work on right now. The Chopping House could expedite several smaller wood products and the Remote Gathering Post. A blueprint he had gained as a bonus upon choosing to become a Civilization Core could be used as a middle ground between him and a resource outside his Domain, Allowing his Drones to exist longer outside his Domain while working on that project.

  Curious, Rhamiel looked around and found everyone still enjoying their evening. Joselin was talking with Apprentice Morris Keane and smiling widely as they ate some meat dish. Mom and Dad were… elsewhere. Rhamiel did his best to ignore their nakedness and grunt behind the rubble of some of his early Basic Dwellings.

  He found Lamar Headley, the level sixty Artisan, at the end of one of the tables. Most people avoided him, staying at least a few seats away from him on the table. To be fair, Rhamiel reasoned, he had taken about half the table with handwritten notebooks, bits and pieces of minerals, silver, iron, and what appeared to be powdered Core Crystal. He had a small burner with a pan above it. He was mixing some material together and was smiling wildly.

  He found himself wishing he had paid closer attention to the Artisan. He had seemed entertaining, to say the least, but he needed the Miner. So, he only took a quick look at his notes to avoid disturbing him.

  And every scrap of his notes was complete gibberish. Each word read like a knife in his Core, and each diagram exasperated that wound. But what little slipped through without injury to his psyche was about creating glass. Curiosity sated, Rhamiel moved on.

  Next, he found Yule sitting against the Architects Library, reading a worn and handwritten book with an open notebook next to him that he was actively taking notes in. Notes that he found himself curious about, especially when he saw the words’ mineral creation and reconstruction.’ While he had the determination to focus more on work and their absolute safety, he needed the knowledge to keep things moving.

  Thus, he took a moment to poke the notebook with his mana. After reading a few lines, Rhamiel looked around until he found an opportune place to begin a quick read. He was fascinated by the concepts.

  ‘Mother always said that when you get stuck in a process, go back a step and try again. If you are still stuck, go back and try again. You do that until you can solve the problem. So here I am, going back a step to try and determine where mother, and now I, have gone wrong.

  In Mother’s early lessons, she told me that the world is built of countless tiny building blocks that make up more complex pieces. She stated that, from a distance, the manipulation of these building blocks was the basis of most forms of alchemy. All of them follow the same three principles of Alchemy. Transmutation, Synthesis, and Amplification. Some specialized versions of the Alchemist Class focus on one area, like Chaos Distiller on Amplification or Genetic Mutate on Synthesis.

  All forms of Alchemy also require specific catalysts to function. Lesser Health Potions revolve around Transmuting and Amplifying Yarhelm Root with alchemically purified water and other ingredients.

  So why can’t I, or couldn’t we, figure out what we are doing wrong with Alchemical Agriculture. Is it the Catalyst? Am I Transmuting when I should be Synthesizing? Amplifying when I should by

  Transmuting? What Catalyst do I need to make the Mineral creation and reconstruction process possible? What mystic means to empower-’

  “Core?” Yule asked, looking around confused. “Please tell me you are here and I’m not hallucinating.”

  “Yeah, I’m here. How did you know that?” Rhamiel asked curiously.

  “I wasn’t sure,” Yule shrugged, holding up his notebook. “I think I felt your presence when I was touching my notebook. Were you reading it, like the way we figured it out?”

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  “I was!” Rhamiel confirmed with a chirp. “It’s rather interesting; Alchemy can do a lot. Do you think I can do alchemy?”

  Yule shook his head, “Not unless you can create arms to work with.”

  “Awww,” Rhamiel whined, then cheered up almost instantly. “Wait, can you tell me a little about normal alchemy?”

  Scoffing, Yule shook his head, “Normal alchemy isn’t really a thing, but, uh, traditionally basic alchemy… I guess it would be potioncraft.”

  “Okay,” Rhamiel acknowledged. “Then, can you tell me a little about Potioncraft?”

  Yule seemed like he didn’t want to go into this, his eyes shifting around, looking for some escape. But he found no one who he could leverage for that purpose. Taking a deep breath, he began talking as if he memorized his words from a textbook. “Potioncraft is the shorthand descriptor for the branch of alchemy that has to do with crafting potions, self-descriptive. But, uh, you take specific ingredients like alchemically purified mana water, Transmute it with Yarhelm Root and Living Honey to create a Basic Healing Potion.”

  “What do you mean by transmute?” Rhamiel questioned for clarification.

  Shaking his head, Yule elaborated, “Alchemy has three main principles. Alteration, Combination, and Empowerment. Or in Alchemist’s Terms, Transmutation, Synthesis, and Amplification. Transmuting is the Alchemical process of changing an item or ingredient into something similar. Synthesis is the merging of one or more compounds to create something new. Amplification is a direct strengthening of a specific element within the process. Does that make sense?” Yule asked, looking tired from that explanation.

  “Sort of, so can you tell me what Alchemical Agriculture is?”

  The young man flinched a little at the words, a strange reflex of some kind, Rhamiel was sure. “It was…” he hesitated, then sighed before continuing. “It was my Mother’s life work,” he said, closing the book. “A way to alchemically treat some kind of agricultural seed or plant to produce minerals, not foodstuff.”

  “Wait, seriously? You mean you want to grow a field of iron?” Rhamiel asked skeptically. If this was true and possible, why had no one ever told him? He would have loved this. But that also begged the question, “Why would you want to do that? Why not just mine it?”

  Sighing, Yule said, “Because Mining- Wait, has no one told you why mining is dangerous?” Yule asked, rising to his feet.

  “Yeah, because of cave-ins. It’s why I can’t use mining Drones to-”

  “Stop,” Yule demanded, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “No, well, yes, that is a danger, but it’s because of the Natural Golems that spawn in mines and near veins of… anything,” Yule looked around and shook his head. “Look, I’m busy trying to figure this out. If you want to ask about Natural Golems, then you should ask, uh, Karrow.”

  “But I’m talking to you,” Rhamiel insisted.

  Groaning, Yule shook his head, “Look, I think it is an Age of Decline thing. The world is trying to wipe out the Enlightened species on the planet. To do so, it did many things involving monsters to kill us. It created Boss Monsters, there was the Night of Gods Tears that dropped all the Spirit Cores to the planet, and new monster types. One of them is a creature called the Natural Golems; they-”

  “Oi, wha’ deu ya’ think ya ah takin’ ’bout?” Karrow walled up, a stone cup with a handle in his hands as he approached Yule. He looked right at the young man and aimed his almost empty cup at Yule as if it were something to be feared. “Who are ya takin to? The’ Golems ahr nottin’ ta be messin wit’.”

  “I was just telling the Core, Rhamiel, about why mining is so dangerous. Didn’t you already talk to him? How come he doesn’t know about the Golems?”

  “Eh, eh did’t come up?” Karrow shrugged. “‘Sides, I wa’ goin’ to tell him ’bout it soon. Ya know, when I show ’im some things ’bout Minin.”

  “What are these things? Is it a big deal?” Rhamiel interjected.

  “Eh, some’wat,” Karrow shrugged. “Any Miner wert ‘is s’alt ought to be able to hand teh weak ones.”

  “Natural Golems form underground where the ambient mana can spawn various living creatures made from unliving ore, stone, or crystal. They can be weak, but usually-”

  “Teh ar’ strong and tuff,” Karrow interrupted. “Ya kno, bein made from dirt, stone, or anytin’ not flesh woul’ do tha’. Tha and if ya kills one, they break apar’ and leave raw materia’s of wha’ they are carryin.”

  Rhamiel looked between the two, the young and the adult. He liked Yule and wanted to see if he could help with his conundrum, but he had to get to work. He had to find iron or anything to continue to build.

  He put Yule’s goal into his mind and tried to get his Structured Mindset Skill to separate a little space towards his problem… after he spent a little time reading some more of Yule’s books on alchemy. He may not be able to acquire a skill for alchemy, but if he could, he thought he might have to obtain one before being able to help him and, in turn, help himself.

  “Yule, uh, is there anything I can do to help you for now?” Rhamiel asked, honestly wanting to help the young man reach his goal. “I really want to see this done too!”

  The Alchemist seemed a little surprised. “I- uh, I don’t know. I’m not even sure what I need to make this work. I need to get some plausible theory going before I know what I need. But, I, uh, I could use some kind of place to study or an alchemy lab to work in. You know, like we have talked about,” he reminded.

  “Yup, you’re right. But can we get back to this later? I want to try to help you… if I can,” Rhamiel said, a little unsure and trying not to promise anything.

  “Whatever,” Yule shook his head and sighed. Rhamiel was unsure about what emotions he read in the young man, but he seemed disappointed in the encounter. “Are you going to go, or do I have to leave to get some quiet?”

  “We’ll go,” Rhamiel turned his voice to Karrow. “Do you think we can do that training thing now?”

  “Eh, Whey No’?” he shrugged. He looked at the mug in his hand and shook his head pitifully. “It’s no’ like it’ i’ worth et ta keep drinken this spring wa’tah?” The man poured out the remaining contents, and Rhamiel thought it looked as dark as muddy water.

  Rhamiel set his perception to hover just above Karrow’s shoulder as he walked towards the campfire. The man grabbed his dusky-blue metal pickaxe, the tool leaning against one of the dining tables, put on a helmet, and grabbed the lantern next to the Pickaxe.

  Karrow told some people that he was going to the Mine for a bit, and all of them jeered at him in good humor, saying that he was working too hard and that he should come back and celebrate. One even said that nothing would vanish by the morning.

  “Ma’be,” Karrow responded, slowing down, and turning his torso to aim his voice at the complainer without stopping. “But at least my too’ do’t vanish when ai look aht my wife, eh?!”

  “Wait, what did he say?” the man asked his companions as they tried to parse the thick words. “What?!”

  Karrow snorted and returned to walking towards the hole where Rhamiel had originally crashed when he had fallen from the sky. Now, the area had been forcefully altered to allow the miners down there more easily.

  Instead of the wall that Joselin had to climb out of originally, now steps had been carved into it like a spiraling staircase climbing into the underground. Torches were placed freely around the space, though none of them were lit. The sun streamed down from above and allowed them to see for a little ways further. But there were several paths that led down, right, forward, and one that went left and looked to loop around.

  “So, where ta begin,” Karrow started looking around as he walked down the steps toward the nearest tunnel.

  Karrow spent the next several hours walking Rhamiel through the tunnels, showing him everything and explaining as he walked. In many places, they had braced the walls with wooden beams to help keep the ceiling from collapsing, and Karrow took a few barely understandable moments to vividly explain why cave-ins were bad. The story involved several dwarves who had died due to dehydration or asphyxiation, while others were simply crushed.

  After that story, the Core took a moment to create a blueprint for those braces.

  Karrow explained everything he could think of saying and repeated it when Rhamiel couldn’t understand him. He told him to round the ceilings like an arch to increase the tunnel's strength and to use the braces to further reinforce it. Watch out for gas pockets further in the rock that are hazardous to miners and may detonate, destabilizing entire sections of the Mine.

  He kept going and going; Rhamiel didn't pay attention twice in his monologue. The first was when he felt the Cables that had been working their way towards the Architect’s Library Altar had been completed. He was initially giddy since he had not received any blueprint from the Building in a while, and it had a slower flow. Now, he should get a pretty good one when it spawned.

  The second time was when, seemingly coincidentally, the Architects Library finally awarded him a new Blueprint.

  He took a moment to confirm that part of his attention was still following Karrow’s near-constant half-explanation, half-narrative. It was as he found that Karrow was stall talking about the different types of non-magical ores and magical ores. A good thing to know, and Rhamiel could list off the ones he had not been actively paying attention to at the time.

  Then he looked up the New Blueprint.

  “Wow,” Rhamiel had whispered at the Blueprint. While the Building wasn’t powerful, it was definitely a step above any normal building with those bonuses, whatever they meant.

  “Wha’ wa’ Tha’?” Karrow asked, stepping back from the wall he had been gesturing towards.

  “Uh, Wow, I didn’t know there was such a thing as Iron Pyrite; you say it looks just like ordinary gold?”

  “A’mos’ li’e it,” Karrow clarified. “Fortunately, we kno’ tha’ Iron Pyrite ha’ some value in Enchantments and Alchemy,” Karrow spoke slowly to say those words correctly. “Otha’wise, i’ would jus’ be ah waste.”

  Then he continued talking, and Rhamiel focused on listening to him. The man was a wealth of knowledge that the Core was sure few could replicate, but he kept speaking of the dwarves as if they were the real masters of this craft and recounting tales of his education as a child.

  Eventually, Rhamiel heard Joselin call from him, and he waited until there was a lull in the conversation. “Hey, Karrow, I think we should stop here for the moment. We have been going at this for hours, and I think I know enough to do what I wanted.”

  “An’ ya let thi’ man run on? I am no’ sure if tha’ is nice or rude,” Karrow cackled. “Fine fine, goh on, I’ll speak wit ya latah. Of couse, ya remembah yous deal, right?”

  “Yup,” Rhamiel chirped. “I will be building you a place of your own down here soon!” The Core confirmed. Then paused and said with immediate haste, “Keep an eye out for a lot of Basalt and iron in particular!” Rhamiel added quickly, intending to turn his attention to Joselin, but was happily frozen by Karrow’s words.

  “Aye, foun’ a pretty good deposit in a lowah tunnel,” Karrow confirmed. “My Surveyin’ Skill told me it wasn’ a big one, but it is no’ small. Would yah like me to show yah?”

  “Yes, yes, yes,” Rhamiel said excitedly. “How long will it take for you to get there?”

  “Eh, twenteh minutes or so.”

  “Okay, head down there and call me when you are there. I have to take care of something with Joselin for a bit.” Rhamiel explained, getting a toothy smile from the Miner.

  “Oh ye’, sir. I will cahl when the’e,” Karrow saluted, lightly taping his helmet with his pick.