Enter the Dragon

At the heart of the town of Solus, construction of a massive scale is under way. The loud banging of hammers and grinding of saws in the morning forced the townsfolk to rise-up earlier than they used to. While hunters and farmers didn't mind the buzz and were grateful for the awakening spell, the rest of the townsmen found it obnoxious.

"Ah, so early! Why don' cha put the racket down?" an old townsman scolded, vigorously swinging his walking stick in the air, threatening the carpenters.

"Morning, Old Vincent! Why don' cha let us work so we get done soon? The chief commissioned this project. Mind if you put that thing away?" Simon pleaded.

"I'll come back every morning!" Vincent warned, pointing his stick at them.

"Old Vincent, why don't you have a sip of this nice warm barley tea. It's good for you. Come, sit." Simon placated the man, patting him in the back.

"Uhmm… alright old pal." Vincent coyly put his stick down, sat down and warmed himself with the tea Simon offered.

Much to the old man's chagrin, the noise only grew louder as more people gathered at the town center. Sipping the tea, he wondered where all the people came from. Solus wasn't a big town and it didn't have much people, but only today did he see such an assembly. The chief stood tall on the platform, waving his massive club. Could it be war? Was he gathering people for the new campaign?

"Townsmen and visitors, I welcome you all to this assembly today. I would just like to inform you of new developments in our town." Julius briefly paused before continuing.

"In the past few weeks, many of you were amazed by the new bronzeware that our new Mountain Village produces. Even though they are far cheaper to buy in Solus than anywhere else, they are still expensive but worth it. The products speak for themselves. The new bronze knives, kitchen utensils, and work tools transformed our lives, saving us much time and labor.

"Our mountain foundry keeps on churning out new products every day that it has become difficult for us to keep accounts if we settled in stone coins. So we came up with this."

Julius stopped his speech momentarily and took out an article from his pocket. Bathed in morning sunlight, the article glared red as he raised it in the air, wowing the merchants and the citizenry alike.

"I can only ask you all to adopt this new currency, the copper coin! People who have this new currency available will start paying fees and services with it. Each one of these will be priced depending on the size. The smallest copper coin, the Atsu, has the value of 10 stone coins. The moderately sized one, or the Diamat, can only be exchanged for 10 Atsu, while the bigger sized coins, the Enqui, can be exchanged for 100 Atsu or 10 Diamat." The people were silent, staring at the palm-sized copper Enqui in Julius' hand.

"Behind me is the town hall under construction. After its construction, foreign merchants can start exchanging their stone currency here into copper. Only the townhall of Solus and authorized merchants are allowed to use stone coins for payment of goods coming outside our walls. Everyone else has to pay in copper to buy." The people chattered.

Julius ended the assembly and people went back to their daily routines, but the merchants didn't stop pestering him for the change, asking a plethora of questions. Julius calmly addressed them and headed back home.

"Brat, you told me it would be easy, but the merchants weren't very happy." Julius told Linus.

"That's only initially. Once they held the coins in person, their perspectives will change." Linus replied.

"By the way, how's your whatchamacallit, keymeistry project? Have you transformed those rocks into gold yet?" Julius raised a brow.

"Unfortunately, no. And that's Chemistry for you." Linus corrected his old man. "The copper and bronze vessels corrode significantly and contaminate the solution. I need non-reactive vessels made of this new ceramic material, so I'm busying myself with these things first." Linus pointed to the cracked and deformed ceramic containers on the table.

Upon discovery of the barrier hindering him from extracting silver and gold from the ores, the system gave Linus a new quest, urging him to experiment with pottery.

Ding! [You have a new notification. Press [OK] to continue.]

[Quest: Create Porcelain]

[Since you discovered that early metals couldn't handle chemical reactions, you concluded that you either needed ceramics or glass to do the experimentation. Glass is unavailable due to scarcity of materials, but firing porcelain should not be an issue. Create porcelain and claim the rewards. Failure means forfeiture of the reward.]

[Reward: Skill up voucher (Levels up a skill one tier higher)]

[Time Limit: 2 months]

[Accept the quest?]

[Yes] [No]

Over the week, Linus and Raymond experimented making porcelain using mineral coal as heat source, baking the fine clay in the furnace, but their attempts ended only with broken and malformed products. Linus reckoned the furnace was not up to the task, but he had ideas in his mind. Searching his knowledge of anthropology, Linus had the right device in his mind. He commissioned Raymond and his team of new foundry workers devise the new kiln.

While the boys were busy building the kiln, Linus consulted Nina of wares the townsmen would like to have in their homes. Linus took Nina to the foundry and showed her designs of ceramic ware, and she proposed some modifications to make them look more appealing to the townsmen.

"Here Linus, shaping the cup's handle like this looks nice." Nina showed Linus her improved work.

"Certainly, my lady. But you look a lot nicer." Linus took her hand, giving it a kiss.

SLAP! Blushing, Nina snatched her hand away, slapping the boy lightly on the cheek. "Young man, don't tease this older sister too much!"

While they were working, they were interrupted by the arrival of a team of men with oxcarts in tow.

"Sorry to interrupt your happy time, Young Master. I got you the new batch of the finest clays ready." Samir led a team of men with oxcarts filled with clay.

"Good job, Samir. Do you mind if you joined us work on pottery?" Linus offered Samir.

"It is my pleasure." Samir joined them in designing pottery. They ended up with various new designs at night.

After a few weeks, Raymond and the boys finished the new kiln. Excitement fueled his legs as he ran to the chief's house, informing Linus of the project's completion. Linus too couldn't help but be energized by the news Raymond brought, he took the entire family, Nina included, to see the new kiln.

In the foundry, there's an area by the side, dedicated to the new kiln. The kiln took the shape of a serpent, with interconnected mound-shaped segments rising up the slope. It has doors by the side for entry of pottery to be fired, and an exhaust at its tail.

"Behold, the dragon kiln. This new invention will allow the creation of a new pottery called porcelain. Unlike ordinary pottery, porcelain does not contaminate its contents. The taste of food and drink contained in it remain neutral, making it an ideal storage. In addition, it has very strong resistance to corrosion which is useful for my work." Linus explained as Raymond loaded a bunch of firewood in the dragon's head. At ignition, the dragon breathed fire and smoke, intimidating the onlookers.

"It takes 8 hours of firing and another 16 hours of cooling before we can get porcelain. Let's return tomorrow to see the results. Raymond, please inform us when it's done." Linus spoke.

"Yes, young master." Raymond affirmed.

The next day, Linus' family and friends came back, excited to see the newly manufactured porcelain. Raymond unsealed the doors, taking the bricks apart one at a time. Seeing that the kiln has cooled to a safe temperature, he led the people in to see the new pottery.

Ding! [Achievement unlocked! You are hereby granted a skill up voucher!] The system notified Linus.

Nina's eyes glittered seeing the glaze on the pottery, exclaiming "These are simply beaauuttiful!"

Meanwhile, Lina busied herself picking ones to take home, her face plastered with a smile. "Liny, don't mind if I took these ones home."

"Sure Mom, take everything you need." Linus replied.

Meanwhile, Julius grabbed him by the shoulder, saying "Thank you, son. Combined with the bronze utensils, these porcelain cups, bowls, and plates will surely upgrade our prestige. I can't wait to invite guests to see how they react."

"No problem Pops. This solves a lot of our problems, and gifts us with more wares to trade with others." Linus said.

"Right, our Solus and the Mountain Village can only grow more prosperous and powerful thanks to you." Julius said while admiring a porcelain cup in his hand.

Tap, tap, tap! Hurried footsteps resounded. A panting man stormed the foundry and approached Julius.

"What's wrong Ray? What's the hurry?" Julius asked the man.

"Chief… I'm sorry to bother… but it's urgent…" Ray pants, catching his breath. "Chief Haroldson of the Rockford City demands audience."

"Rockford City of the north? Has the news gotten that far? First merchants, now I have to deal with these people. Alright. I'll meet him." Julius replied.

"Lina, bring the wares. Let's show our city-dwelling friend how Solus townsfolk receive guests." Julius directed at Lina.

With a delightful smile, Lina replied "Okay hubby. We'll treat them to the finest feast in town."

Linus felt a chill at the back of his neck. Something in his guts told him to be cautious about dealing with the city chief.