The Lord of Secrets remained startled for some time, but snapped out of it in a few moments. "I am not quite sure how you know about the existence of the Loop, but I do not have a problem with educating you."
I guess I was right, then. It really is a loop! Lua was overjoyed at his assumption being correct. The Lord of Secrets' booming voice sounded again;
"I will not be able to explain very much. The agreement prevents me from doing so, and explaining could allow the other Gods to lock onto me." He explained his situation.
Agreement? What agreement? Lua was tempted to ask, but decided not to push his limits. The Lord of Secrets continued his explanation. "I have no doubts you have heard of the saying 'History repeats itself', correct?"
Lua nodded. He was all too aware of this.
"You are free to take it a lot more literally." The Lord of Secrets explained, and didn't continue further.
A lot more literally.. Just how much more? Lua still didn't have a full grasp on the situation, but suddenly, he felt his splintering headache return. It was slightly less from the time he had obtained the gem, but it remained very painful.
He crouched on the ground, groaning in pain, and held his head in hopes it would pass. The Lord of Secrets continued to watch silently as Lua crouched over and screamed. "I see.." He then promptly ended the summoning, returning to his rest.
Lua felt the pain recede, but he felt something had changed about him. He had decrypted the evolution process from Grade 13 to 12. As the veins in his head throbbed with each new information he decrypted, he finally understood a lot more things.
Firstly, understanding the situation of the Lord of Secrets had allowed Lua to gain a deeper understanding of the world. He could now be considered more knowledgeable in this field than most.
Secondly, his decryption was somehow related to the evolution process. It felt like the gem was rewarding him for understanding its initial information, letting him evolve to Grade 12.
Finally, he still hadn't decrypted everything. He somehow knew he would be gaining more symbols to decrypt after successfully evolving, and would need to decrypt those if he wanted to proceed further. Alternatively, he could also learn it from a Tinkerer of a higher level. He could use both options.
Getting back up from the ground, he immediately wrote down the method of advancement for Grade 12. Additionally to the default mixture he was to prepare, he had to add 3 grams of steel into it. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem. But, steel was an alloy, and he didn't have the means to make alloys just yet. He'd have to go to a nearby town to get it, or even the capital. However, he was told not to leave Illusion Castle unless it was for a few days, and he had no choice but to follow their orders.
He looked at Arc, and realised he was back in the real world. He assumed he must've fallen to the ground during his 'sleep' and hadn't realised that the summoning had ended. The Lord of Secrets was nowhere to be seen.
"Have you seen a blast furnace in this place?" Lua asked, expecting to hear a negative. Although they hadn't found one yet, there were still many rooms to explore. In order to alloy steel, he needed a blast furnace that was capable of reaching high temperatures, Iron, and a special type of coal called Coke. The materials were easy to come by, and Lua already had plenty. In fact, he had used some steel during the production of Arc. Of course, he had to borrow someones blast furnace.
Arc shook his head, confirming Lua's thoughts. They needed to explore further in order to find a blast furnace. Arc seemed to have the same idea, and got up from his seat. They both began the search for a blast furnace in the maze-like Illusion Castle.
An hour later, Lua finally had some luck. It took him eighteen rooms to finally find a blast furnace, but he had done it. The gigantic structure already had a heat source, but it needed powering. He needed to create a few power sources before he could get it working.
Lua already had some ideas. The river nearby had a relatively high flow, and he could use it to power a few water wheels. He just needed to be careful not to over-stress the system, as Illusion Castle had many machines that were still unknown to him. If he wasn't careful, he could end up accidentally powering the entire base. And of course, a few water wheels couldn't power an entire industrial center.
It took Lua and Arc a few hours to get the water wheels ready. They weren't a complicated system, being made out of wood. With a few unfortunate trees, that was easy enough to come by.
They created three water wheels in total, in large sizes. Lua estimated that the rotation system in Illusion Castle was designed to speed up incoming power, so he made the water wheels large and slow accordingly. The slower and larger they were, the more power they could generate in total, preventing it from over-stressing the blast furnace. Installing it on the rushing water, Lua and Arc were proud of a job well done.
The next step was a bit more difficult - getting the rotation they produced back to Illusion Castle. Lua had already searched for an open shaft he could attach them to, but he hadn't been able to find a lot of luck. His final solution was going to be breaking a wall, and digging underground to connect the shafts to the water wheels.
The next day, Lua continued to search for a possible input source, but failed nonetheless. Grabbing a shovel, Lua and Arc began to dig. After a few hours of painstaking work, they finally reached the river, giving them the ability to connect the water wheels to the base. After inserting wooden shafts that weren't too durable, but did the job, they closed the holes they had created, letting the ground return to its original state in order to not disturb the illusion of the castle.
Grabbing the steel plate from earlier, and a bit of coal he had prepared for his evolution, he went down to the blast furnace, excited to see it work. He looked upon the gigantic funnel-like structure, basking in its glory. He looked at the furnace attached to produce heat for the machine, and fed it with a few pieces of wood. With Arc's help, he was able to increase the temperatures inside the furnace to around two thousand degrees. This was one of the powers of a Tinkerer - albeit Lua could only do it in a limited fashion due to his level.
The flames burned and burned, and Lua could feel the heat increasing inside the room. Of course, he had already expected this heat. He was working with a furnace after all. All the windows in the room were open, ready to clear out the poisonous gases that could arise from this procedure.
Placing the iron and coal, he waited patiently for the process. Coughing due to the increased amount of carbondioxide, he felt that he needed bigger windows.
In the end, he was able to produce steel, although it was in poor shape. It was rough, and didn't turn out as well as Lua expected. Either way, simply having steel was enough for him. He didn't need to work with it, he only needed to shave of 3 grams and use it to evolve. Perhaps he'd be able to make better steel in the future, but not now.
Returning to the main area, he sat on a chair, bringing out the materials for his evolution. He was covered in soot due to the process, and it constantly made him cough. Regardless, he couldn't wait to finally get stronger.
Mixing the materials he had gathered prior to his arrival through various means, he added three grams of steal that he had crushed to dust beforehand. Adding it, he felt that this concoction would be immensely harmful to anyone else. However, he trusted his instincts, and the Lord of Secrets. This wouldn't kill him.
With Arc watching just in case, he finished the mixture, slightly disgusted by it. Fertilizer did not give it a good smell.
Holding the mixture bowl in his hands, he held his breath, and downed the disgusting "meal".