On the western terrace of the Master First-born platform, an ancient potion-made refining forge stood recessed into the star-iron floor.
Unlike the clumsy blast furnaces of modern corporate armories, the Pre-Cataclysm workstation operated on the principles of atom-deep ring. The forge consisted of a shallow basin of polished iron-hard metal stone, suspended over an earth-heat mana channel that channeled the pure, uncorrupted heat of Earth’s mantle at a stable eight hundred degrees.
Arthur Vance laid out his main frontline implements upon the sterile preparation tray: his ARC-7 Mag-Carbine, the air-powered needle glove. His eighteen-inch heavy was dark metal drain needle, and three spare magazines of high-thickness sabot darts.
Beside the weapons sat the five crystal-clear cylinders harvested from the central end-post, their inside golden-violet fluid swirling with sky soft glow.
“In modern manufacturing, weapons are forged through external heat and blunt hammers,” Arthur explained to his companions, who sat in an attentive half-circle around the workstation. “The First Sovereigns didn’t hammer metal. They treated metals as living crystal-clear lattices. By introducing ancient stem-essence under ringing sound shakes, we can align the atom-deep lattices into single-crystal perfection.”
Arthur unsealed the first Progenitor Core Metal tube. He poured twenty drops of the golden-violet fluid into the potion-made basin.
