The heavy star-iron counterbalance swung downward with a deep metal groan.
Lin Tao gripped the main winch handle of Cauldron 084 with his calloused hands, winding the forged steel chain with steady, measured effort. Beside him on the upkeep platform, Tie Shan placed his good right hand against the outer rim of the five-ton bronze dome, guiding the seal upward as the balance weights lifted the lid clear of the crucible throat. The bronze was still hot, streaming a dry, gentle warmth that smelled faintly of pine sap and sweet beeswax.
A hiss of pure, cool vapor escaped from the opened rim.
It wasn’t the scalding, rotten-egg backdraft that normally accompanied the opening of a royal fire. The vapor that rolled out of Cauldron 084 was cool as morning mountain mist. He carried an overwhelming fragrance of wild honey, pine needles, and sky bone marrow. Every man standing within fifty paces felt an immediate, tingling rush of warmth through their spirit veins, as if their blood was being gently washed with liquid gold.
Inside the bronze reaction chamber, resting on twelve fine china collection cradles, sat twelve flawless golden spheres.
In physical state persistence, Lin Tao observed, his test left eye inspecting each pill down to the hair-fraction, the result is a total replication of the master template. All twelve units exhibit matching mass, matching atom-deep thickness, and zero leftover uncommitted waste scum. The database commit was core.
