A tired sigh leaked out into the fresh air surrounding the base of the grand mountain, a figure whose bronze hair was gently swaying in the wind was sat on the bottom step of a grand staircase that spiralled upwards with both of his hands on his cheeks.
'Well that was disappointing' Shu He thought to himself as he pulled a scroll out of his robe.
It was the 'Beginners Guide to Alchemy' he had just received from Tao Ru, he stared at it for a whole before placing it back in his robes pocket.
'I'll leave it for when I get home' He leaned back, placing his hands on the stairs behind it as his head tilted up to face the clear blue sky.
He felt like he had the wind taken out of his sails, the past few days had been rather hectic for him as he absorbed all the new information he had thrown at him, so he had expected something similar from his visit to the alchemy tower, but instead he had basically been refused entry and given a beginners guide.
It was like being excited for a theme park ride and then being turned away because you're an inch under the minimum height.
He sighed again as he looked at the clean sky, at their current height the clouds were below them so all he could see was a clear azure sky as far as he could see, it was beautiful for sure, but the lack of clouds populating it felt odd.
'I don't really feel like returning home already' He went though his plans in his mind to figure out what to do next.
'I'll visit the Beast Taming Division another time, I haven't gotten over that first visit yet…' He thought as he could swear he caught a bestial scent wafting off his clothes.
He was just paranoid of course, there was no such thing.
'The training area? No I don't feel the need to right now, for the other cultivation areas i'll use them when I need to, but right now all I need is to use the pills and meditate'.
"Hmm" He thought out loud, mostly to make himself feel a bit more awake since it was too quiet where he was, the lack of human chatter made him feel a bit lonely.
Then he hopped up, pushing himself on to his feet and patting the dust off his robes.
"Only one option left then!" He said with a slight smile.
'Off to the Forging Division!'
…
The Forging Division was based in the main peak of the Titanic Steel Sect and it was the largest division inside the sect, essentially it was their speciality; The main camp of the division was situated deep in the core of the mountain and to get there you had to enter one of the large shafts fitted with a staircase or descend from an elevator at the peak, but since the peak was where the Sect Master's residence was situated along with the Elders Hall, most people wouldn't enter that way.
Currently, Shu He was making his way down one of the mentioned shafts, he was holding a lamp as the tunnel was only lit every so often, so visibility wasn't great.
'This feels so… crude compared to the rest of the sect, I thought that the forging division would have the most impressive decorations' He thought to himself as he carefully made his way down being careful not to slip, the incline was rather sharp so if he did so he might end up barrelling down all the way to the bottom which wouldn't be pretty.
He lifted the brightstone lamp up to get a better look at the path ahead, but no matter how far he looked all he saw was more rock and stone, it was still a while until he reached the division's base.
'Forget a passageway, this is basically a mine shaft' He was beginning to feel slightly claustrophobic with how small the shaft was, it was barely big enough to fit two people side by side and even that would be a squeeze.
As he walked past he had his hand on the wall feeling the smooth stone pass under his fingertips, the wall of the shaft wasn't a crude layer of rocks but more like finely carved and chiselled stone and there weren't any wooden support beams either.
'I guess this is the wonder of cultivation techniques, this rock is solid and sturdy without any imperfections, at least I can't see any with how deep my 'sight' can go, it's like it was naturally formed this way, like one giant solid stone'.
He compared these techniques to the mining techniques of his other life and couldn't help finding them wholly inadequate, so far he could say modern weaponry might easily trump the cultivators he's seen but the applications of cultivation techniques seem far more versatile and convenient.
He walked and walked trying to keep his mind preoccupied from his echoing footsteps reminding him of the deathtrap he was currently in before he started to hear sounds echoing from the other side of the tunnel, the moment his ears picked up the sound of metal slamming against metal his pace picked up to the point he almost tripped over.
Eventually he made his last step as he stood at the exit of the tunnel as he took in the sight that awaited him there.
The area was massive, easily the size of multiple football pitches placed side by side and the roof was domed like a grand theatre with a grand metal pillar piercing the centre of the room.
He looked around and could see hundreds of people walking about carrying crates, metal poles or packages, there were metal 'buildings' here and there with forging sounds echoing from them, in fact the entire floor was made of metal plates and grates.
Shu He took a step forward as he took a look down to the floor, through the metal grate he had stepped on.
'How many floor are there?!' He could see multiple layers of metal floors below him overlapping creating a man-made collage of silver, it seemed like this 'camp' went far down maybe even passing 50 levels.
And even further than that…
'No wonder I was starting to feel hot…' Shu He thought as he witnessed a deep red glow seeping through the gaps in the metal collage.
Right below them was a massive lake of magma flowing freely, the heat rising through the levels like a multi-layered grill.
"I sure hope this is a dormant volcano…" He muttered, hoping he didn't just jynx himself my mentioning that.
He began taking a few steps cautiously as he heard the metal clank of his shoes against metal before he found his pace and started briskly walking, he still wasn't sure about the stability of this place yet.
'I know I'm being overcautious, but I can't help it, this place just screams like a mass of problems waiting to happen' He rubbed a drop of sweat off his skin as he started to feel the heat get to him.
As he began strolling around he took a good look at everything he passed, surprisingly everything seemed normal; He passed by a lot of places that looked like storage units or resource depots, a few places that seemed to be makeshift homes for sleeping in despite the heat, he even passed by a small diner that looked like something you like see on the side of a modern street, a bunch of stools surrounding a counter with someone standing there serving food.
'Seems like they're serving dried meat and pickled veggies mostly though, along with water, I guess not too much would survive storage in this heat'.
Soon he passed a building that looked like a workshop, when he looked inside he could see a man hammering on a piece of metal fully concentrated, it was like nothing in the world existed except for man, hammer, and metal.
Shu He stopped and thought for a second while looking at the man.
'If I want to ask about someone, a smith would probably be knowledgeable about the forging division right?' He assumed as he stepped over to go ask but-
"You, there! I wouldn't disturb him if I were you!" A voice came from behind him as he turned in surprise to see who it was.
Shu He locked eyes with the man that called him out, it was a middle-aged man with a bald head, stubble lining his face and a workman's stout body, his clothing was simple a white vest-like top and cotton trousers with shoes, quite similar to what you'd see a modern builder wear.
"Really? Why?" Shu He asked, curious.
"The smiths here can get quite grumpy if you interrupt their forging, if you want to ask someone something I can answer" He said as he patted his chest. "I'm guessing you're new here?"
"What gave it away?"
"Everything" The man replied with a dead serious expression.
Shu He chuckled "I guess that's true".
He then looked at the man and the smith and asked a question that had been burning in his mind.
"What about you? I thought wearing sect robes was mandatory for disciples outside of our rooms" He asked, a bit confused.
"Oh, that? We're not cultivators, just normal mortals here to work!" He said with a bit of pride.
"Oh! I'd heard there were some mortals in the sect, but are they mostly here?" Shu He asked as he activated his 'sight' out of curiosity.
'It's true'
The man in front of him, the smith behind him and even most of the surrounding people had no core of cultivation, their qi levels the minimal level, they weren't cultivators in any sense of the word.
"Yup, the sect hires a lot of mortals for simple labour work or basic craftsmanship, it's good money so a lot of us come here".
"Weird, I didn't hear anything about that when I was down in Orefine City…"
"That's because we're sworn to secrecy, can't go blabbing about stuff here since it's part of the sects core operations after all".
"I see…" Shu He looked thoughtfully over at the core metal tower.
"So what was it you wanted to ask anyway?" He asked, sitting down on the box he was in the process of lifting before.
"Right, I'm looking for a friend, he should have joined this division a few years back."
"A cultivator, of course, may I ask your friends name? I'm not too familiar with all the cultivators here but I might have heard of him".
"Yun Jiang" Shu He casually mentioned his friends name as he watched the mans expression distort in real time.
"You're that man's friend?" He asked with a bit of disbelief.
Shu He frowned "Somewhat, why?"
"No, it's just… I haven't seen him myself, but I've heard a lot from the rumours flying around".
"Did something bad happen to him?" Shu He felt a little worried, he may be an old man compared to him, but he was a friend he had made and one of the few people who came from the same hometown as him.
"Not bad… just that, well, I've heard his obsession with forging is only matched by his relentless will to work, he rarely ever stops and the sounds he makes when working are… horrifying".
"…What." Shu He didn't want to believe what he was hearing.
"It's true, he's even got a nickname!" The man panicked thinking he wasn't being believed.
The urge to place his palm to his face was increasing as Shu He asked "So… what's the nickname?"
"The Asura Smith!"