Karn led Drake to the nearest but most talented blacksmith within Miller Town. Although it was small town, blacksmiths were abundant due to tools and weapons in high demand. Since the town was small the walk did not take long. They arrived a decently large building with smoke coming out of a chimney and the constant 'clank' of metal hitting metal.
"I need to go visit the blacksmiths shop a building over. If you finish before me come over, and the same goes for me."
Without waiting for a reply, Karn left. Drake could only wearly shake his head. Karn was all business and cut fluff from conversation getting right to the point. Drake had nothing against such actions as he was not much a talkative guy himself.
Drake entered the smith to see an overly large burly man swinging a hammer down on a sword. Drake did not interrupt him and decided to look around while he had the chance. There was a large furnace with a half-moon opening emitting skin drying heat, buckets of water for cooling off hot metal, and different tools such as tongs, hammers, and chisels. The man was forging away on a large anvil which Drake assumed to be made of steel.
Taking a closer look at the forge Drake was left surprised. Instead of charcoal or coal there were red stones. From dark red to light red, which were emitting high levels of heat with a raging fire where Drake assumed metal was melted or heated up to a certain degree for forging.
"Whatcha need kid?"
A deep, rough voice floated towards Drakes ears. Drake turned around and saw that the man had taken off his goggles and gloves and was looking at him a judgmental gaze. The man was tall, very tall. He stood at what Drake assumed to be at least 210 meters high. Giving off a slightly intimidating aura with soot and sweat plastered all over his body and clothes. The man had brown hair tied up in a knot behind his head, a large, square nose and abyssal black eyes that were deep an unfathomable. Drake took a second to collect himself before telling him why he was there interrupting his work.
"I came to learn about metals and blacksmithing."
'And I'm not a fucking kid! I'm like 26 years old! I don't know how long they had me in that hell.'
"Is that so..."
The man gazed upon Drake wondering why he really came here. Obviously Drake was well dressed so the man assumed he had money to buy books and learn about himself. What he didn't know was that even though Drake was being taken care of by the Tenebris family he dared not mooch off of them. This was his new life and getting a debt right off the bat would be no good in his books. Drake had higher aspirations which didn't include the Tenebris family.
Once the man could see Drake's determination while his crimson eyes never left his, the man figured at least Drake was not a fool.
"Name?"
"Drake."
"Well Drake, what is it you want to know?"
Drake was inwardly happy that he didn't just kicked out after barging in.
"I was curious how Aether Energy and mana crystals work with metals, I have a rough understanding of metals themselves. Such as that steel sword you are making. I know that using just iron and ridding it of impurities is not all that is required. Using coal as a carbon filling in the iron to create different levels of carbon steel gives it a stronger or more brittle effect. But when the steel, or carbon steel has been pounded, cooled, and pounded again where does the Aether Energy come in. Mana Swords are said to have Aether Energy imbued into them, how does this effect the make up of an already refined ingot of carbon steel?"
As Drake finished talking the man couldn't help at look at him in a new light. Never would he have expected that Drake new about carbon steel. Most fighters, warriors, or knights just go with 'steel' when describing the metals they want in their weapons. Usually nobility knew some of the differences but not how it was achieved. Knowing that Drake understood the process of adding coal for the affect of carbon mixed into iron was indeed not something a non-blacksmith knew.
"Hmmm...how does Aether Energy effect steel you ask?"
'Why repeat my question old man!?'
Drake nodded. However, for some reason learning this made Drake's heart beat a little quicker. How Aether Energy fit in this world was something he had thought about on the ride here. When Drake learned that there were Aether imbued weapons called Mana Swords and regular swords from listening to John and the others talking he was secretly dying to know how.
"Well, Aether Energy, in the form of mana crystals or Aether crystals, however you want to call them, is usually added into the smelting process. This process is done after the first round of smelting when the carbon has been added to the iron. When the initial process of coaxing out slag is done and the metal goes back into the furnace we add small pieces of mana crystal to it. Depending on the metal, you can add a certain amount of Aether Energy through Aether crystals to the sword. Too much Aether Energy and the metal will end blowing up. The less amount of Aether Energy the less powerful the Mana sword is."
'Ohhh? Does that mean its it own element? But how would that work on the elemental table from my previous world? But thankfully I was right on the carbon and iron process of making steel which means metals are the same in this world. Could it be strictly electrons? But then again if that happens only bad things will happen and technically and scientifically impossible. They would need the pull of protons and neutrons as the nucleus which crosses that out. Hmmm....scientifically with my knowledge so far nothing seems probable. I would need a microscope to see the make up of a crystal to understand its uses.'
Deep in thought Drake didn't even notice the man going back to work. He could see Drake was thinking about it what he just said. The man knew that even some of the most talented blacksmiths in the world didn't fully understand the use of Aether crystals. Professors, researchers, and other freelancers were all trying to figure out the cause on how Aether Energy influences the world.
Although some interesting pieces of technology was made, it was a far cry from what Drake was envisioning. If Aether crystals were used in such rudimentary ways it shows that knowledge on the application of crystals was small.
'I wonder, if so little knowledge is because the lack of resource...?'
"Uh...sir..."
"Obon."
"Uh..Obon, how rare are Aether Crystals?"
"Pure Aether crystals are extremely rare. Sometimes miners can find elemental mana crystals while going about mining. Such as Earth crystals which have a brown hue with some transparency and little pure Aether energy. The fire crystals I am using in the forge are usually the most abundant, they are found in volcanoes or other hot spots within the ground. Water crystals are usually found on the bottom of rivers of oceans but due to the vastness of the water sources in the world it is hard to find. Most kingdoms and empires are lucky to find these inland because sea capabilities make it hard to go far out and even more to difficult to go to the sea floor. Pure Aether crystals are just pure Aetheric Energy. These are the most rare to find. The Aether Energy has to be dense within certain areas which are extremely hard to find."
"I see...thank you Obon. You have helped me a great deal."
"It was a pleasure seeing someone young interested in such things. You plan to research crystals don't you?"
Drake slightly raised his brows. Within just this conversation Obon could tell he was doing it for research which shows Obon has quite the sharp mind. Drake slightly nodded his head once more before leaving the blacksmith with a few parting words.
"Yes, I plan to and thanks to you I think I know where I want to start. Thank you Obon, have a wonderful night."
'Not a bad mind...he could help me. Although, he could sell me out. Screw other's. The only way I can be successful is doing it myself. Someone sold me out to that damn organization to get their hands on my tech. I won't make the same mistake again.'
Drake came out of the smithy and saw that Karn was walking out of the shop too. Drake saw nothing new being held by Karn so he assumed he was just taking a brief glance. On the way back Drake brought up the matter of money and how much pure Aether crystals cost.
"Karn, how much does a pure Aether crystal cost?"
"Depending on the size...finger tip sized crystals cost around 1-20 gold pieces. A palm size crystal can cost up to 100-200 gold pieces. A hand sized crystal can cost up to 500+ gold pieces."
"And how much is a gold piece worth?"
"There is copper, bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. 1 platinum, the most rare currency is the equivalent of 10 gold pieces, 1 gold is worth 50 silver pieces, 1 silver is worth 100 bronze pieces, and 1 bronze is worth 100 copper pieces. For a rough idea, a simple bread and meat porridge at a tavern is usually around 20 copper pieces with beer included."
"Hmmm, so depending on size, a finger tip crystal can cost from 100 silver to 1000 silver... or 500,000 bronze."
'Sheesh...as expected, low demand, sky high prices, although it seems a bit extreme. Either way I can see why research is so slow. Not many people would want to research crystals in depth if it costs so damn much. Especially with how little meals cost, platinum pieces and gold pieces must be hard to find. Probably with just upper-nobility and royalty.'
"Here."
"Hmm.."
Karn handed Drake a 'piece' of copper, bronze and a silver. A 'piece' was just a simple cuboid shape of metal not more than a few cm in length and half a cm of width and height. A small imprint of P.E. for Proxima Empire stamped on both sides.
"I see, thanks."
Karn nodded and they didn't talk anymore as they headed back to the city mansion where the others were waiting to sleep the night away before going back on the expedition.