The counterweighted hoist descended with a smooth, oiled hiss.
Austin stepped onto the polished black-glass floor of Underground Floor 1, fifty meters below the surface. His boots struck the stone with the solid weight of Level 35.
Acting Plant Superintendent Tie Kuang waited at rigid attention. The former warlord was broad as an anvil. His yellow hard hat shone under the shop lights, and his orange vest was spotless. He held a bronze-trimmed clipboard against his chest.
“Report, Superintendent Tie.”
Tie Kuang clicked his steel-plated boots and bowed.
“Patriarch, all three underground floors ran at ninety-nine point nine eight percent efficiency during your expedition! The four induction furnaces processed thirty-six metric tons of spirit iron into two thousand and sixty standard Tier 4 Stellar-Steel ingots! Scrap remained at zero point zero four percent! Floor Three’s cooling loop held at eleven point eight degrees! No electrical faults, safety violations, or lost-time injuries on any shift!”
Austin signed the daily log.
“Solid numbers, Foreman. Clean records, good output, no unplanned downtime. That’s how a plant should run.”
He nodded toward Jiang Taixu, who stepped from the hoist carrying eight hundred pounds of precision tools on his shoulders.
“This is Jiang Taixu, our new framing contractor on six-month probation. Signed a Form 1099 equivalent. His arena repairs are finished and his Root Core claims are released. You control his work assignments. He starts in the southern timber gallery, ripping six-by-six cedar timbers into twelve-foot studs.”
Tie Kuang studied the probation terms instead of Jiang’s reputation. “I’ll check his first ten cuts myself. He gets no solo work near power lines or sealed doors until I sign him off.”
He handed Jiang a yellow hard hat. “Watch your footing near the coolant sump. Sweep your sawdust at the end of every shift. If a mark looks wrong, stop and ask. I don’t pay for blind obedience or ruined timber.”
Jiang set down the crates and fitted the hard hat. “Understood. What happens after the framing work?”
“If you pass probation, there may be survey work when Vault 04 becomes Floor 5,” Tie Kuang said. “That is an assignment to earn, not a promise.”
Jiang nodded. “Then I’ll start with the studs.”
***
Two hours later, Austin stood on Underground Floor 2 with a two-foot torque wrench.
The air was a cool eighteen degrees. Metal ducts hummed along the granite ceiling.
He inspected the new machine pad first. Before the tournament, he and Tie Kuang had poured an eight-foot-thick concrete foundation reinforced with heavy steel bars. Wet burlap and gentle steam had cured it while he was away.
Austin ran a gloved hand over the flat gray surface. No cracks. No settling.
He fitted the wrench to the first anchor bolt and pulled.
CLICK.
“Eight hundred foot-pounds. Pad tested at eight thousand four hundred PSI. Rock solid. Run a fifty-ton press on green concrete and the shock would break it apart in twenty cycles.”
He stepped back to inspect the finished Fifty-Ton Automated Hydraulic Forging Press.
Four Stellar-Steel columns supported the frame. A two-stage pump drew power from the water turbine on Floor 3. Braided high-pressure hoses fed the cylinder, secured against vibration and protected by yellow sleeves.
Austin checked the oil level and release valves, then pulled the control lever.
VUMMMMMMMMMMM.
The ram descended.
THUD-WHIR-CLANK.
An eighty-pound glowing Stellar-Steel billet became a smooth, flawless ingot in under three seconds. No splatter. No hammer marks. No wasted motion.
Austin grinned and wiped oil from his cheek.
“Cycle time down eighty-five percent. Tie Kuang can stamp machine parts while I’m sleeping.”
***
An hour later, Austin returned to the central control room on Floor 1.
Pug lay beside the drafting table, chewing an old steel pipe fitting. Austin opened the hound’s padded saddlebag and lifted out the First Epoch Root Core.
He fixed a steel bracket to the wall beside the main switchboard and locked the cube into it. Two heavy copper cables connected it to the 480-volt DC supply. Then he seated the six-pin data cable.
CLICK.
Austin closed the main switch.
CLACK.
BEEP-BOOP-CHIME.
Cyan light spread across the cube. A huge projected map unfolded beneath the thirty-foot ceiling. Mountain ranges appeared in green. Geothermal channels glowed amber. Deep fault lines shone blue.
A system message opened.
Austin stepped onto the raised steel walkway with a mug of jasmine tea. He leaned on the brass rail and looked over the workshop.
The four furnaces burned with deep sapphire fire. The new press stamped ingots with a steady rhythm.
THUD... WHIR... CLANK.
Overhead belts carried ore and limestone to the hoppers without a single shovel.
In the southern timber bay, Jiang whistled an old sword tune. Thin spatial cuts turned cedar beams into matching twelve-foot studs. Tie Kuang checked each one with a brass square and grunted his approval.
Pug lay on a wool quilt near Austin’s boots. His three tongues hung out, and his tail thumped the floor as he chewed his pipe fitting.
Austin sipped his tea and looked up at the map of Vault 04.
The early game was over. Foundation Establishment was complete.
The imperial capital had become a long-term supply contract, delivering copper, oil, currency, and dog food to Sunset Peak for the next ten thousand years.
And five hundred and twenty kilometers west, a sealed First Epoch research vault waited for a master builder with the key.
Austin set down his cup and lifted his blue pipe wrench onto his shoulder.
“Underground Vault Zero-Four. Time to run some pre-collapse server ruins.”
The mountain base was online.
The Main Sequence Spark was lit.
The expedition into the Void Secret Realm was cleared to begin.