80 winter

Now that the goblin menace goblin was nothing but a memory for the people of Tiris, Alex had all the time before winter to realise his project. The first being a furnace to smelt his metal. Using a 50*50 centimetres chamber, Alex layered the magic steel runes embed in the steel walls on all the sides. The top was left open with a twenty centimetres diametre.

The rune scheme on itself was simple, a 'heat impervious, along with a 'heat repulsion'. The heat produced would have none other choice but escape to the only 'flaw' in the construct, the hole. In it would be an enchanted crucible. The external layer would have a 'heat gathering' and unbreakable scheme. The interior would have a similar scheme and composition to the steel in the room. Made this way, the internal layer would concentre the transmitted heat to the metal inside.

Alex knows that the enchantment wouldn't hold indefinitely but hold enough for him to craft better alloy and replace the one in the room.

Inside the furnace was it's heart, on the bottom three runecores spread equally in a triangular shape. That runecore would feed on the magic ore or coke's energy before transmitting it to the furnace and the fourth runecore at the middle of the triangle.

The central piece was the same that Alex used to create the energy ball, a Fiendfire seed. Since the seed was linked to the amount of energy it receives from the three cores, he doesn't have to fear it going out of control.

The three runecore charges to extract energy were the only core to jut on both sides of the furnace bottom.

A simple drawer was made under the fire chamber to store the magic iron to drained or coke to burn. The drawer had similar enchantment that the fire chamber along an incendio and switching runestone to light the coke and send the drained magic iron in the crucible.

Entirely running on the drained energy, Alex didn't need to have a runecore to serve as a magical source.

~~~

With his next furnace ready, Alex prepared for winter. Some of his newly obtain Dungeon cores turn into stasis runecores. Using wood, he creates a box with inside coated in metal, a metre square worth woven with magical steel. The box, added with the runestone, would create a stasis field, thank the magic steel treads inside the boxes and kept it content from rotting.

The runecore put on a knob would deactivate the stasis field when losing contact with the woven treads inside the wood and return once closed. From then, he passed a few days actively hunt and gathered wild vegetables, storing them in his new rot-proof pantry.

His last action before the snow falls was to bring down the large ironwood tree above the Dungeon remains. Bark was shaved, branches cut and log turned into large beams before shrunken and stored away.

~~~

The following morning of the first-day snow fallen, Alex looked at the enormous expense, now snow white.

"I never would think that I would witness such a scene outside my home." Softly said Alex, a flicker of longing in his voice and eyes as he gazes at the endless white.

Outside, the ground had been buried under a thick layer of snow, fifty centimetres high.

-I understand why they wanted them to be ready before winter; it only the first day of snow, and they're already half-a-metre worth every was.

Clothed as he had been since his arrival here, Alex exited the house toward the old nest. The biting cold outside was invigoring for Alex, making him feel more than ever energised. After all, how can a child of winter not feel at home in this weather?

Entering in the nest after trudging unobstructed in the snow. Walking to the veins, Alex put the large crate he had been transporting down. Looking around, Alex gazes over the vein containing the magic iron ore.

Crafting a small stair in the rock, Alex simply put his hand on the rock below. Crafting it, Alex moved the rock around, trapping the ore in between, before making them fall to the ground.

Mine was a task that took little of Alex, and during the following hour, he would extract large amounts of ore and different metal present in smaller quantities. Digging deeper and deeper, he removed kilos of ores at a time, forming a large stack of rock balls in no time.

Judging enough, for now, he separated the ores in the different case in the crate after enlarging it. Alex cast a 'feather-light' and shrinking charm on the crate before exiting the pit, returning the rock in the cracks.

~~~

Back to his hut, Alex passed the rest of the day refining the ores. During one of his smelting sessions, a sudden thought struck him, examining all the possibilities while casting the magic steel.

Alex creates space expansion using runecore, like the stasis field, the treads of magic steel would delimit the expanded space. As the runecore run on ambient magic, Alex woven arrays limiting the space expansion until stability. The runecore would spend a little less than its ability to gather magic from outside.

Using different box sizes, he discovers that the initial space had no incidence on the final result. The runecore would always expand the space on a factor of five. He had the idea to test this only because it worked on the magazine of his guns.

Now that he could expand space on how much he wanted, Alex wouldn't need to create a cart, just made a box at a fifth of the required dimension before obtaining his house. He had still a large amount of problem to solve, but it was a start and that all Alex needed before turning to solve the rest.

~~~

Now that he had all he needed, Alex crafted another fire chamber before enlarging the space inside. With the expanded room, Alex easily inserts the shrunken beam of wood from the ironwood tree before returning to their normal size and starts to process them after loading them on a holder. Looking through the inserted window, Alex sees the wood lightens dark shade, turning dark silver before clearing more and more. While its colour changed, the beam slowly shrinks, licked by the burning flame under. All the while, the shaft was slowly rotating, like a pig on a roast pit.

Three hours after entering the piece of wood, Alex retrieved the now nine-metre long deep brown wood. The colour was due to several chemical reactions operating inside the wood; it also served as an external measure. From the small experiment Alex made on the roots, the wood would need to stay between a specific range of brown shade to be at its best. More and the wood would be charred, less, and the wood wouldn't be entirely processed.

What made it challenging to work with this wood was that everything needed to be done in one go. You couldn't re-cook it and need to burn it in an enclosed furnace. For others, they would need experience to perfectly process the wood, adding ever more to its price, but it was a simple matter for Alex.

~~~

During the second week of his first winter, Alex would process the entire tree, turning all the beam of wood into extremely sturdy building material. The straight branches would be sorted and calibrated. Those passing his criteria would be cocked and turned into arrows shafts. From the roots, Alex carved himself a compound bow. The pulley was crafted in his best magic steel and the bowstring woven from the same metal.

What asked him the most of the work was the ridiculous amount of runes he needed. The larger enchantments needed was the bowstring to give the metallic wire the proprieties needed. The rest was divided into several parts, giving the needed balance and a plethora of necessary detail. To power it, Alex merged a dungeon core inside.

A crafty array alternates its appearance, making the bow dark as a star-less night. A layer of carbon coating put on the arrowhead would assure Alex the greatest discretion in the night.

~~~

Alex successfully gathered the wood to construct his house. Turning the beams in blocks, he shrunk them again before storing them away. He started to plan his house blueprint, keeping a small amount before crafting the shell and interior. Stopped by the lack of proper material to furbish and power the large arrays of runes he intent to insert in, he left it on the side for now.

"The only material I could see fitting the criteria is the magical Arc reactor I made. The only problem is my lack of aquamarine, gold and mithril. I think I can subside the last with magic steel. The rest should be easily obtainable in the mountain range."

-Yes, I think that could work; it will surely be less powerful but should work none the less. You will need to keep an eye on the power consumption not to overload the reactor and made it blow, perhaps a sort of power scale? You tune the reactor with a console that allows you to follow the different enchants' consumption in real-time and adjust when needed?- Offers CS, on which Alex readily nod, founding the idea more than sufficient. -That a thing then, I start work on the arrays, and you found the materials.-

"Seems like I will need to partake in some hiking."

As if knowing his thoughts, Alex ears perked and twisted on their own. Turning his head toward the mountain, Alex caught the faint echo of a howling wolf. He was about to dismiss it when more and more echo resounded, responding to the other's call. Even if quiet, Alex made at least two hundred different 'voice' responding to the call until he heard it.

The next howl sends a slight shiver down his spine. The sound had nothing natural. He could hear and felt the twisted nature of it.

'As if...' Alex eyes widen in realisation.' CS! I...'

Before he could even think another word, more and more similar howl respond from the mountain, before the last one came to an abrupt end, morphing in a yelp of pain then completely stop.

-That not good, Alex, that was wolves howls, but the number is wrong. Otherwise, that would mean a pack of...- Started CS, seriously

'... Of at least three hundred, I know, but that not the worst, their hunting.' Responded him grimly.

Alex bolted to his hut, nearly tearing the door out in his haste. Rapidly putting on his armoured clothes, he equipped his knives harness and belt before fixing two flat boxes on his shoulders.

Closing the door, barely realising that he merged the stone or the door's wall and wood, Alex sprinted toward the mountain.