Interstellar: Exploring The Cosmos With My Anomaly System
Chapter 35: Path to Creation

Chapter 35: Path to Creation

"Will any of these do?" Belk pondered, one hand on his hip as he watched Astra look through the stones one by one, a screen popping up at the side of her vision labeling every single one.

"We have copper, that’s good at least..." She muttered to herself as she kept working away, her eyes narrowing as she looked through.

They were surrounded by a treasure trove of ores, all sparkling in the dimly lit room at the slightest shine of sunlight, dust shimmering as it floated around the patches of light.

Her eyes widened as she picked up a particular ore, the glistening grey crystals within catching her eye.

"Where’d you find this?" She pondered, watching it from all angles, the young scientist crossing his arms confused by her enthusiasm. "Deep in a cave on the side of the mountain, why?"

"Seems like your kiddy collection’s useful after all." She declared with a smirk, her hand outstretched, showing the scientist his own discovery. "This is Valorite!"

"With a mohs hardness of 9, compressive strength exceeding 5,000 MPa, High tensile strength that blows steel out of the water! Not to mention exceptional abrasion resistance—" Astra continued to gawk over the piece of material, her starry eyes far from hidden.

"The question is, how’d you get it– a stone pickaxe shouldn’t be able to do this..."Astra questioned more to herself than to him.

"I found it loose," He shrugged

"Well consider yourself lucky,"

"So do we make the pickaxes with these or what," He pondered, his eyebrow raised at her sudden interest.

"For a scientist you’re really stupid, huh?" Astra muttered, her face shifting from excitement to immediate disgust.

"What? Isn’t that the whole reason we came here?!" Belk argued, watching as the technician searched through the other ores, pulling out one with a less than magnificent sheen.

"Here—" She huffed, shoving the ore into Belk’s chest. He took a look at it, it was like an everyday rock, its contents filled with white that spread around it like a disease.

"No point using the good stuff on dumb pickaxes—" She explained, pointing to the rock in his hand. "Vilith, weak, but just strong enough to be comparable to Iron, use that to make the stuff we need."

"Melts as good as gold, so we don’t really need an industrial furnace just yet, a makeshift one I made will do fine." She waved him off dismissively, not even bothering to hold eye contact as she went back to the stone collection.

"And as soon as those’re done, we go mining for more Valorite, cause this haul you have here ain’t nearly enough," She looks back at Belk, smiling, he could tell she was excited to get started, and honestly, he felt just the same way.

"Got it!" He nodded, gripping the ore tighter in his hand.

"This is gonna be fun,"

As the day stretched on, the settlement buzzed with activity. Under Astra’s firm orders, the Aelvarians toiled away, feeding chunks of raw Vilith into the roaring furnaces. The heat shimmered in the air as the ore softened and melted, glowing a rich bronze under the intense flames.

"What’s this thing?" Sylvi asked, watching as Zelr stayed by the makeshift bloomery furnace watching as the Vilith smelt within its clay walls.

"It’s a bloomery furnace, it’s one of the earliest types of furnaces, though most people could tell that by just looking at how primitive it is," Astra explained, "It’s used to smelt iron but completely liquifies stuff like copper and Vilith,"

Zelr takes more of the dusty white powder from the ore and pours it in, adding to the gooey concoction.

"Hey Astra will these do?" Vagnis called out to her trying to get the technician’s attention. He shows her a perfect slab of rock, carved in it the shape of a pickaxe’s tip, many others of its kind laid behind him.

"Oh! these came out cleaner than I thought they would!" Astra gasped, admiring the handiwork Vagnis presented, the scout rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment at her praise.

"You think so?" He chuckled softly. Sylvi watches them, her gaze looking back to Astra before walking up to her, tugging lightly on her clothes.

"Is there anything I can do?" She asked, the technician thinking for a minute before sinking down to her level, patting the girl on the head.

"We’ll need wood for the pickaxes. Think you can show Tanaka and the others a sturdy tree nearby?" She pondered, Sylvi’s eyes lighting up with joy at the task given to her, immediately running off into the forest.

"She’s fast..." Astra muttered.

The night air was crisp as Astra carefully placed the last of the molten metal into the molds, the quiet murmurs of the workers around her fading as they anxiously waited. She watched as the glowing orange liquid gradually cooled, solidifying into smooth, hardened shapes.

The once vibrant orange glow dimmed as the pickaxe heads hardened, shifting into a deep, earthy brown.

"[Pickaxe heads acquired!]" a faint voice chimed in her head, the text flickering like a notification.

She exhaled slowly, the tension lifting from her shoulders. "Well, that’s one step down," she muttered to herself, wiping the sweat from her brow.

The others gathered around, their eyes reflecting the glow of the furnaces and the cooling metal. Belk clapped a hand on her shoulder, his grin wide and proud. "Not bad for a first try right, Astra?"

Astra glanced at the finished pickaxes, now solid and ready for the next phase. "Just the start. We’ve still got a long way to go before these are ready for real work."

She turned her gaze back to the others, catching the eager looks of the group. "But it’s a good start."

Sylvi had returned by then, accompanied by Tanaka and a few others. The scouts seemed out of breath but pleased, a pile of sturdy, workable wood slung over their back. "Got what you need, Astra," Sylvi announced with a proud grin, her eyes sparkling from her little adventure.

"Perfect timing!" Astra grinned, patting Sylvi on the head before taking one of the chopped wood and beating the pickaxe head onto it, until the head of the stick is through and secure. "There!"

The others started to copy her, assembling the Pickaxes until there were just enough.

"Why this many pickaxes though, you only need enough for two people," Celi pondered, walking up to Astra’s side, looking on to their handiwork.

[Pickaxes acquired!]

"Things break," Astra put bluntly, shrugging her shoulders. "Besides, we’ll be using these quite a bit starting from today,"

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