Do ratmen dream of the sacred tree of spirits?

Chapter 116 Teacher Luke

"Dear foreman, I would be grateful if you could help me. Thank you." Fafnir bowed to the foreman, took some copper coins from his pocket, and placed them on his table.

"Haha, easy, I love talking to smart people like you," the foundry foreman said with a smile as he put the copper coins into the drawer. "Not bad, over fifty copper coins, that's enough for half a month's wages. Don't worry, I'll take care of you. Go to the second machine tool on the left near the gate and call Luke over. You come with him too."

"Yes, thank you."

Following the foreman's instructions, Fafnir went to the machine tool and saw a man standing in front of it wearing coarse cloth trousers and a short-sleeved shirt. Hmm—is this the man? Fafnir thought. The man had dark gray hair, large round ears that drooped, and long whiskers that looked like the whiskers of a rat. Like me, he was a rat-man.

Fafner understood that it was too hot to work in the workshop, so he had to wear short sleeves. When he was working at the machine tool station, he would also need to take off his jacket and roll up his close-fitting long sleeves.

"Hello, sir, are you Mr. Luke?"

After the gentleman finished cutting a piece of steel, Fafnir struck up a conversation with him.

"Oh—little fellow, no need to be so polite, haha, no need to call me 'sir,' it's not respectful, and there's no need to address me as 'you,'" Luke turned around and looked at Fafnir: "My kinsman, may I ask what brings you here? I need to cut a piece of steel right away."

"Hello, I'm a new apprentice."

"An apprentice? That must be tough. It's hard work here, my fellow clansman," Luke forced a smile from his extremely tired face. "If you don't mind, I can mentor you, but that requires the foreman's permission. I've never mentored an apprentice before. Besides, machine tooling is physically demanding. You're still young, kid. You could consider doing some other easier work."

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"Thank you, Mr. Luke. The foundry foreman asked me to come with you to his office, perhaps so that you can give me some guidance."

"Oh—I didn't expect the foundry foreman would actually let me teach you. Don't worry, I will teach you the entire process from using, maintaining and repairing the machine tool."

"Thank you, Professor Rook. My name is Fafnir."

Luke put down his work and went to a machine tool that wasn't in operation to begin instructing Fafnir.

"Mr. Luke, will this affect your work?"

"Haha, Fafnir, it's alright, it won't take long, and I'm quick on my feet. Today I'll teach you some basic operations first," Mr. Rook said in a relaxed tone. "Don't worry, Fafnir, I'll teach you well; you're my first apprentice."

"Do you see these belts and gears? These are just the transmission devices. As for the power system, that involves spiritual engineering, which I'm not entirely clear on. The machine tool we're operating is manual, not that the power is manual. 'Manual' here refers to manual feed, meaning you need to manually adjust the position of the steel on the machine tool by turning that lever."

As Mr. Luke spoke, he placed his hand on the machine tool: "Remember, what the machine tool does is cut the surface of an iron block straight, or cut out various grooves. It's really just these few things, not difficult at all: the machine bed, the drill bit, the ram, and the transmission system underneath. The power system comes up through belts and gears, and the rocker arm mechanism turns the rotation into straight-line movement. The ram then carries the drill bit back and forth in a reciprocating motion."

Mr. Luke then pointed to the handle on the side of the machine tool: "Fafner, look at this. It's for adjusting the stroke length. You can send the ram out as far as you want to cut, but if the distance is too far, it takes time, and if it's too close, it won't touch the workpiece."

Mr. Luke walked to the front of the slide and pointed to the drill bit: "After it's installed, the forward push is the working stroke, and the metal filings are cut off from here. The backward pull is the return stroke, which is a one-way empty run back to the starting position."

Luke casually picked up a piece of rusted iron from the nearby rack, clamped it onto the worktable, tightened it, and pulled down a handle: "This is called feed. After each empty return stroke, the worktable moves forward a small step, and one side is cut out."

He pulled the control lever, and the ram began to slide back and forth. The drill bit cut into one side of the scrap iron, and the iron filings rolled out. Lukla stopped the machine, took the piece of iron off, and handed it to Fafnir. Fafnir could clearly feel that the cut surface was flat, and he could feel the fine tool marks when he touched it.

"Give it a try."

Fafnir took the iron block, clamped it back in place, and Rook helped him adjust the stroke and feed, then stood by and watched.

"Crank that handle and push it forward, be careful."

Fafnir gripped the joystick, and the workbench moved forward a little. The ram then started moving, pushing forward with a "click-clack" sound. A resistance traveled up his arm, and metal shavings came out from under the blade. It was a bit difficult, Fafnir felt.

"The return trip doesn't involve cutting, so it has to be fast, but going too fast will cause the guide rails to wear out quickly as well."

Mr. Luke pointed to two shiny metal strips on the bed frame: "These are the guide rails. The ram grinds back and forth on these. Over time, the precision will decrease, so it needs regular maintenance. I'll teach you about this later."

Mr. Luke removed the drill bit, and the cutting edge of the drill bit was covered with iron filings.

During the brief lunch break, the workers all left, but Fafnir was still reflecting on what he had just done. This work was physically demanding, and the word "spirituality" had piqued his curiosity greatly. It seemed this world wasn't powered by electricity, but rather by spirituality.

"Fafner, you did very well this morning."

"Thank you for your teaching, Mr. Luke."

The canteen was full of people. Fafnir and Luke sat facing each other. Fafnir's makeshift lunchbox contained a thick soup of beans and tubers, as well as mixed wheat bread.

"By the way, Professor Luke, do we have to pay for the meals in the cafeteria?"

"Yes," Luke replied, "We only provide Chinese food, one copper coin per serving, all deducted from your wages by default. You can bring your own lunchbox from now on. Temporary lunchboxes need to be returned. Pack extra food in your own lunchbox so you can have it for dinner and save a lot of money."

"Fafner," Luke said after a moment of silence, "To be honest, I'm not quite sure why the foundry foreman asked me to mentor you. I had opportunities to mentor apprentices before, but the foreman thought I didn't know how to do things—"

He demanded one hundred copper coins from the apprentices, and that half of that be given to the foreman. I strongly refused, and because of that, I've never received any money from the apprentices. Haha, perhaps this time he's doing it because we're from the same clan, or perhaps the foreman knows he shouldn't be charging the apprentices anymore.

I understand very well that it's not easy for you apprentices to earn money.