Vol. 8 - Intrigue - Chapter 8

Thomas walked through the streets of the Dwarven city and made his way directly toward Fokgrag's house. On the way, Fokgrag kept asking Thomas what he planned to do but Thomas didn't bother answering him. The man would see him in action soon enough and have even more questions then. Everyone always did. Fokgrag's thinking was clearly that Thomas would have to pay construction workers to repair or rebuild his home. Thomas had other plans. He'd thought of it immediately after he'd seen the state of Fokgrag's home and knew he could save a ton of time and effort by cheating.

When the arrived at Fokgrag's home, they found two large wagons filled with large stones while eight dwarves went around unloading the stone boulders right next to Fokgrag's home. Wasting no time, Thomas joined them and helped unload the large hunks of stone. None of it was processed and it was all rounded and jagged edges. For his Power, the stones didn't weigh all that much but their awkward shapes made them a pain to move around. Still, with his help, the group of dwarves unloaded the carts a little faster. When they were done, they gave him a minor head-nod and left.

Fokgrag had shut up and decided to just watch whatever Thomas was up to. Something Thomas appreciated. Thomas looked at the damage to the house. With the way it was cracked in some areas, it looked like one wrong move would cause more of it to collapse. It was currently very unstable. He looked it over before coming to his decision. His mana flared as he lifted his hand and conjured up some metal. A thin strand of metal weaved through a crack in the first-floor ceiling and made its way to just below the ceiling. Once the strand was in place, he began to reform the spell.

He started by extending the strand down to the still solid floor of the house and expanded it out like a puddle. Once the base was ready he expanded the thread handing from the ceiling until it was as thick and sturdy as a steel girder. At the top of the thick beam of metal, he expanded it out again to create a platform to support the ceiling. He repeated the process for the second floor until he was left with thick iron beams holding up solid platforms to support the structure of the house while he worked.

Finished with casting the spell he focused on just maintaining it while he turned to look at Snowlily, "Please keep an eye on my spell, if you see it changing let me know right away, okay?"

Snowlily nodded her head and turned her blue eyes onto the metal spell and stared at it. While she made sure he didn't lose control of the spell holding the building up, he turned away and started moving rocks closer to the house. His plan was to shore up the walls and support of the first floor before fixing the ceiling. Fokgrag watched as Thomas set the stone down near the broken house and began his work. His hands glowed as he placed them on the stone. As soon as he touched the stone it began to flow like a liquid and climb up to a damaged section of the wall.

As Fokgrag was being shocked by the sight, Thomas focused on reshaping and fusing the new stones with the old house. He started by filling in cracks and small broken sections and fusing the two kinds of stone together. Once the smaller damage was dealt with and sealed, he moved onto rebuilding the completely broken sections of the wall. These sections were easier to deal with than the smaller cracks or holes. As he worked, he paid attention to his metal spell and continued to feed it enough mana to hold it steady. The stronger he got and the more he increased his Mana Mastery, the easier it was for him to cast two individual spells. It still took some effort, but it didn't lead to crippling headaches or pain anymore.

Thomas worked for over an hour as he maintained his spell and used his Transmutation to build up the walls around the house and completely removed the damage. Thanks to being able to fuse things together perfectly it wasn't just a simple patch job but was a complete and perfect fix. Every little nook and cranny, every small or big fracture, all of it was filled in and fused into one solid piece. Once he finished the walls nearly half of the stone he'd ordered had been used on the first floor. That was to be expected since the explosion originated from the first floor and that was where the majority of the damage resided.

With the walls completely fixed, it was time to move to the ceiling of the first floor. He walked around to the front door and entered the house while paying close attention. The ceiling was still heavily damaged and without his metal spell holding it up, it could likely collapse and cause damage to the areas he'd already repaired. He wasn't the least bit worried about being hurt by the collapse, he was too tough to be hurt by stones weighing just a few kilograms. He just didn't want to give himself any extra work.

After examining the ceiling, Thomas placed his hand on the wall and channeled his Transmutation. He started by filling and fusing the cracks in the ceiling to reinforce the structure. Broken stones on the floor from the ceiling turned into puddles and flowed up the wall to add more mass and continue to repair the damage that had been done. As he was working he randomly wondered what would happen if he purified the stone making up the house while working on the repairs. However, he decided it would probably turn the whole building into dust. Most stone and rock were made of a mixture of many elements and purifying it down to just a single one would likely destroy any semblance of strength the stone had.

Once the repairs were done with the material that was available, he stepped out and carried some of the smaller stones in through the door of the house. What really surprised Thomas was that the house was built with human-sized people in mind. Normally a fully dwarven village built their houses to dwarven specifications, about half the size of a human house in height. He wanted to ask Fokgrag about it but his mind was already working on two things at once and didn't a third would diminish his control and risk ending his metal spell that was currently supporting the building while he worked.

Thomas worked quickly but carefully as he started adding new material to the ceiling and building it back up to a solid-state. By this point, Fokgrag had become numb to the sight of stone melting like wax and flowing around to different spots to once again become solid stone. His house was being rebuilt quickly and solidly. He kept a close eye on Thomas's work and found nothing to complain about. He even saw how Thomas blended the different stones together to make it harder to notice the difference between the old and new stone. Since the stone all came from the same source, the mountain, it wasn't hard to make it look like it was all one solid piece like it had been before.

Once he finished filling in the gap in the ceiling and fused all the edges to the walls, it was capable of supporting itself. However, He still maintained his spell so that the ceiling of the second floor would remain supported. To repair the ceiling on the second floor, he stored stones inside of his inventory and removed them once he got up the stairs. The stairs themselves hadn't been damaged since they were on the opposite side of the house. Whatever Fokgrag had been working on seemed to have a directed blast effect as only one side of the house had been heavily damaged. Thomas was pretty curious about it but continued to save his questions for later.

Repairing the roof of the house along with the ceiling of the second floor was a little more difficult. The roof had a peak with attic space and a small access hatch with a folding ladder leading up to it. The ladder was lightly damaged and would need some repairs as well. Thomas just used some of the cheaper wood from his inventory to repair the ladder. He worked on repairing the ceiling first then worked on the roof. The roof proved to be the most difficult. The walls and ceilings were just flat and plain. The roof actually had a design on it that looked similar to a clay tile roof. Thomas found that to be a bit off as there was no way in hell for there to actually be rain inside of the mountain.

Getting the pattern right was annoying but not out of the realm of his abilities. Repairing all the major damage took a couple of hours of solid work but when he was done the house was once again solid as... well... stone. Once he dismissed the steel he used to hold the place up, he repaired the small hole in the first-floor ceiling while Snowlily moved to his side. Thomas gently stroked the top of her head which she seemed to thoroughly enjoy. The structure of the house was completely finished and he still had a quarter of the stone he purchased remaining. After double-checking his work, he approached Fokgrag, "How does it look?"

Fokgrag walked through his repaired house and pat the walls here and there. He checked every inch before nodding to Thomas, "Not bad, kid. Ya got the house fixed but ya still need ta finish my workroom!"

Thomas nodded with a sigh and followed Fokgrag into the room that used to be his workshop. The explosion damage had been the worst there where the explosion had originated from. Almost all of his equipment had been destroyed. His forge had been reduced to rubble but a few minutes of Transmutation work and some spare stone restored it to working order quickly. Fokgrag started direction Thomas on where to install tables made of stone around the room. He built the tables quickly and easily and even reinforced them with some crossbeams to make sure they wouldn't collapse very easily under heavy weight.

As for tools, that wasn't Thomas's problem. In fact, he looked around a bit, "Where'd all your tools go? It's unlikely they were all destroyed."

The only tools left in the room were the anvils sitting near the forge. They were too big and heavy for the explosion to actually damage. The anvils, and their stands, were made of solid mithril and were barely even scratched. Fokgrag grinned and started pulling tool after tool out of his inventory and arranging them around his workshop. Thomas nodded in understanding. If he knew he was about to be arrested he'd do the same thing and store all of his tools away so they couldn't be taken from him.

Fokgrag filled up the room with a large variety of tools rather quickly. Unlike Thomas, he had a full and complete set of tools made out of solid Mithril. A dozen hammers, tongs for days, and tools Thomas actually couldn't recognize. They were custom things that Fokgrag had invented himself for his personal work. As Fokgrag was setting everything out, Thomas decided to ask a few of his questions, "So, I'm curious about your house. Why is it human-sized? Not that I'm complaining about not having to duck to fit inside."

Fokgrag let out a long sigh, "Kafla was founded near a thousand years ago. Back then the humans around here weren't stuck up little bastards with sticks up their asses about race. We got along so when we built the city, we built it to be comfortable for everyone."

Thomas nodded in understanding, "So what were you doing to cause such an explosion?"

Fokgrag just huffed, "Experimenting. That's all ya need ta know!"

Thomas shrugged his shoulders. He was definitely interested in something that could be that destructive but he wasn't going to push it. He looked around the rebuilt shop, "Looks like everything is repaired. That should take care of fixing your house right?"

Fokgrag stopped organizing his tools and looked at Thomas. He slowly nodded his head, though he looked defeated for some reason, "Yeah, ya finished what ya promised. Even did it faster than I thought ya could."

System Notice: New Quest!   
Fokgrag Coalheart wants you to rebuild his home and workshop for him. The better you do the more impressed he will be.
Requirements: Build a workshop with a house on the second floor. Must include stations for Blacksmithing, Enchanting, Leatherworking, Tailoring, and Alchemy.
Rewards: 15,000 Exp, Bonus for style
Failure: Fokgrag Coalheart will forever refuse to teach you how to make an U.L.T.R.A.
Time Limit: 48 hours    

System Notice:
You have gained 15,000 experience.
Your reputation with Fokgrag Coalheart has increased.