Let MapleStory experience the Fourth Calamity

Chapter 129 Starting the Furnace

Deep in the sewers, at the boundary between the waste dump and the toxic swamp.

The goose and the agent trudged through thigh-deep black mud, struggling to pull their legs out of the powerful suction of the mud with each step forward.

With the soft popping of bubbles, a strong smell of hydrogen sulfide hit the nasal cavity.

The grayish-green miasma hovered in mid-air, compressing the visible distance to less than ten meters.

Beneath the murky water, rusted and abandoned pipes crisscrossed, forming deadly hidden pits.

The agent used his insignia to send a tactical assessment in the team channel: "This terrible terrain is a natural meat grinder. Movement speed is greatly reduced, and if we are ambushed, we won't even be able to deploy the most basic tactical formations."

The goose is focused on the task at hand.

He took an entrenching tool and rummaged through the pile of rusty metal, assessing the composition of the soil.

The blast furnace in the South District workshop needs an insulation layer, and they must find suitable clay here.

On the edge of a relatively dry, slightly elevated garbage mountain, the goose finally found its target.

He wielded a shovel, stuffing some mud into the waterproof layer of his backpack.

The agent was responsible for keeping watch around, holding the starfish symbol, ready to throw it at any moment.

His gaze swept across a patch of withered reeds in front of him, and he decisively raised his hand, gesturing for him to stop.

The agent tiptoed slowly toward the water's edge.

He temporarily put away his darts and used his dagger to part the floating duckweed.

Beneath the surface of the water, three sharpened wooden spikes were hidden. The surface of the spikes was coated with a layer of purplish-black slime.

Beyond the trap, on a patch of harder, muddy ground nearby, lay a clearly visible half-grown shoe print. It was impossible to discern any monster's claw marks; it was clearly the imprint of a special military boot with anti-slip treads.

The agents stopped the goose that wanted to go forward to check, and the two of them retreated step by step, following their own footprints.

"Something's not right."

The agent frowned and said, "These traps perfectly exploit the blind spots created by the miasma. Those bastards from the Wild Boar Brotherhood definitely didn't all die. Not only did they not starve to death, they integrated into this toxic ecosystem and turned this muddy place into their absolute home ground."

The agent's eyes never left the water.

Less than twenty meters away, he caught a glimpse of a tattered cloth half-hidden in the black mud out of the corner of his eye.

The agent raised an eyebrow at the goose, and the goose immediately understood.

Then, using the edge of an entrenching tool, they carefully pried it open, revealing a highly decomposed skeleton underneath.

He immediately recognized the rusty metal tag hanging next to the broken rib; it was the number tag that used to register identities at the Pearl Harbor refugee camp.

"This trap is not meant to protect against monsters at all."

L

The goose was startled. "The angle and height of the wooden spikes are all aimed at an adult's calf and ankle."

This is a specially set-up early warning and defense line against targets who are on two legs; they are even supplementing their supplies by hunting refugees.

"They're not going to eat people, are they?"

The two exchanged a glance, and a cold sweat broke out on their backs.

I thought I was just going on a picnic and collecting scraps, but I ended up stepping into the heart of a bear trap.

"Withdraw, don't leave any new traces." The agent lowered his center of gravity.

In order to avoid triggering the warning line that might be hidden under the silt, they had no choice but to abandon their original route and turn back, circling around the edge of the abandoned pipe.

"Do you think we should give them a piece of our minds?"

"They're offering sacrifices to the dried antelope! They'll definitely go back and gather a good team before coming back to fight!"

Carrying heavy clay on their backs, the two retreated safely back to the abandoned southern district of the city.

As soon as it landed, the goose immediately took over command of the workshop.

Elliott, a young foreigner with a face covered in coal dust, was squatting in the mud, dismantling an inefficient old bellows.

Upon seeing the materials brought back by the goose, the camp's recognized "chief mechanical forging manager" decisively dropped his wrench and quickly stepped forward to greet him.

As a key member who usually handles all the weapons repair work in the camp, he urgently needs a qualified furnace that can withstand high temperatures more than anyone else.

The goose beckoned to the foreigner and a few novice players to help: "Sieve the quartz sand dug out of the ruins and throw away all the large particles."

"And the bones of those low-level monsters, smashed and ground into powder, we'll use the calcium inside as a binder."

Clay, quartz sand, and bone ash are mixed in precise proportions.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Several shirtless men repeatedly stomped and kneaded the mixture with water on the open ground until the mud became firm and uniform.

The clay blanks were pressed into rough wooden molds and neatly stacked in a sheltered place to dry in the shade.

Once the moisture had evaporated, the goose used discarded steel plates and ordinary red bricks to build a simple earthen kiln and began pre-firing.

The temperature inside the kiln steadily increased.

The goose stood guard at the seal, estimating the heat with its homemade, simple temperature probe; everything seemed to be proceeding according to plan.

"It's almost done cooking."

One of the helpers wiped the cigarette ash from his face and prepared to use pliers to pry open the sealant at the kiln opening and pull out the first formed brick.

"Wait! Step back!" The goose's expression changed, and it shouted to stop them.

Before the words were even finished, a series of muffled cracking sounds came from inside the earthen kiln. It was like someone had lit a string of firecrackers inside a sealed iron can.

The group quickly used shovels to remove the blocking soil, and a wave of scorching heat, carrying a large amount of dust, rushed towards them.

When the thick smoke cleared, everyone peered inside and their hearts sank.

Inside the kiln, the neatly stacked mud bricks collapsed in large areas, and the few that were still intact were covered with crisscrossing cracks. A considerable portion of them even shattered into useless powder.

"Did it crash?"

The goose picked out a broken piece of food, examining the broken surface from all angles, its brows furrowed into a knot.

"It's probably a problem with the proportions."

The goose scraped off a bit of white powder from the broken surface. "The density of the monster's bones here is completely different from that of ordinary animals in reality. There may be some kind of magic deposited inside."

The high temperature catalyzed the microscopic expansion of these elemental impurities, directly causing the internal structure to burst.

This is a rather fatal blow.

If the refractory bricks can't be fired, the blast furnace won't start. If the blast furnace can't start, the two masters can't unleash their full potential.

"Can you remove the impurities from this?" someone asked anxiously from the side.

"Without the centrifuge equipment, it's impossible to do it at this stage."

The goose bit its nails, its brain rapidly searching through its knowledge base of chemistry and materials science.

Since the expansion of elemental impurities in cremated remains due to heat is unavoidable, it is necessary to find a substance that can neutralize this expansion and form a stable vitreous body at high temperatures as a buffer.

His gaze swept over a pile of miscellaneous items in the corner of the workshop. These were slags that players had dug out of the mine a few days ago, mixed with a large amount of talc dust and fluorite fragments.

The goose's eyes lit up, and it immediately threw away the broken brick in its hand.

"Go and bring all that fluorite slag over here! Grind it into the finest powder using a stone mill."

Fluorite can be used as a flux and can also react with magical impurities to completely seal up tiny cracks inside bricks.

"I'll do it."

Elliott volunteered and brought over a makeshift grinder made from the gears of a discarded machine tool.

After finding a solution, everyone suppressed their frustration and quickly threw themselves into a new round of work.

They sifted and mixed the soil again, this time removing some of the high-risk cremated remains, and added ground fluorite powder in precise proportions.

Stepping, molding, and air drying—every step is personally overseen by Da'e, with the margin for error compressed to the limit.

The second furnace was ignited.

Everyone gathered around the earthen kiln, holding their breath, with only the crackling sound of burning charcoal audible.

The goose kept a close eye on the probe's scale until the kiln temperature climbed to the predetermined limit and then steadily dropped back down, without any unusual noises of structural breakage coming from inside.

A few days later, when the kiln was opened, the refractory bricks produced by the traditional method had rough surfaces and were covered with black ash.

The goose casually picked up two pieces and struck them together forcefully, producing a crisp clanging sound.

Become!

Next, the players worked together to fill the inner wall of the converter with the fired refractory bricks one by one, and then sealed all the small gaps with clay.

As the last handful of coke was thrown into the furnace, the young foreigner personally took over the bottom linkage pedal, pedaling the improved manual blower with great speed.

The flames rose from orange-red to a blinding bright white, and the terrifying heatwave distorted the air above the furnace opening.

But only a step away from the furnace wall, one can only feel a weak heat.

Sind and Smith stood by the hearth, the doubts in the eyes of the two old craftsmen dispelled by the steady fire.

Smith glanced at the young foreigner, who was covered in sweat but still gritting his teeth and pedaling the bellows hard, and nodded slightly, officially accepting this apprentice from out of town.

They took off their coarse cloth coats, revealing their arms covered with old burn scars.

Elliott quickly put on his insulated leather skirt, grabbed a small hammer, and stood on the opposite side of the anvil like a devout student, watching the master's every stance and the details of his exertion.