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WotR Chapter 73: Always Bring a Rubber
🕑 Added 2019-12-24 23:38:20 +0000 UTCThe first step is to mix your composites. The enchanting layer needs the most flex so we add a little extra softening agent to the silica and Nem mix. Cobalt keratin, if you were wondering.
Jinei sat crosslegged in front of three ceramic bowls, happily in his element as he demonstrated the glass procedure to Calvin and his friends.
You mix Dust in? Youre practically burning money to make that stuff. Baroke said, frowning.
Where do you think the enchanting comes in? Jinsei asked with a smug raised brow.
I can still throw you outta here, Baroke said, but he stopped talking at a look from Calvin.
So what now? Calvin asked, as Jinsei finished carefully mixed blue and white powders, along with pinches of other fine ground dusts that he didnt bother to explain.
Now we work it. he said, tapping his mixing whisk on the last bowl for a moment before touching a hand to each bowl. At his touch, the fine sand in the bowl became red hot, and in a few moments, a glassy pool of goop filled each bowl.
Now, Jinsei said, reaching into the bowl and grabbing the wad of red-hot glass.
Ah- Calvin wanted to stop Jinsei from burning his hand off, but it was already too late. The glassworker didnt scream in pain, writhe around or show any sign of cooking his hands, so Calvin just shrugged and shut his mouth as the glassworker dipped the wad of red hot dough in a fine black powder, then began stretching it out before looping it back on itself and stretching it out again. Now there were two lengths of glass stretched between his hands.
Strangely the black powder didnt seem to melt, despite being red hot, keeping the glass from reconnecting to itself.
Its like one of those old Japanese men making hand-made noodles. Sit your ass down, cuz this is gonna get good.
There were two lengths, then four, then eight the number of glass noodle quickly became ridiculous as Jinsei kept going, until each strand was half the size of Calvins pinky.
Jinsei frowned and laid the glass down flat, pulling out a dark spatula looking tool and cutting the middle, giving him two handfuls of several thousand strands.
Pretty sure he was aligning the molecules to make it stronger and more flexible.
Then Jinsei took one handful and held it over the bowl of black dust. With a moment of concentration, all the black dust coating the glass noodles fell away, returning to the bowl, and the noodles began to incorporate with each other.
yeah, I dont know how he did that.
Jinsei took the incorporating noodles and laid them down flat, then grabbed his other noodles and repeated the process, putting them beside the first ones on his smooth metal table. he then picked up a glowing red ceramic rolling pin and expertly made each of the two lumps into equally sized striated sheets before laying them on top of each other, perpendicular to one another.
Ah, thats the old soda bottle trick.
Whats a soda bottle trick?
Those striations indicate much greater strength in one direction, so hes using them to reinforce each others weak direction. Like two layer plastic soda bottles? No? Whatever.
Jinsei moved on to the puddle of glass with Nem in it. The glass was much harder to work, and he had to pound it into a flat shape before adding it to the stack of glass. He followed this up with the contents of the last bowl, then folded the whole thing into an ingot.
Any requests? Jinsei asked, glancing over his shoulder as he worked the molten glass.
Bow, Baroke said without hesitation.
Knife-damnit, Calvin said a fraction of a second behind him.
Theres more than enough for both. Jinsei said, forming the shapes with his hands as he worked.
Sword, pen, goblet. Nadia said in one breath.
Brooch, shield, invisible sword! Ella shouted.
And thats probably the limit of what I have here, Jinsei said, tugging off fist-sized balls of oozing glass with his fingers.
Heres something to get you started, though, Jinsei said, taking a pinch off and working it into a quick ball like a child with clay, until it was perfectly smooth in every direction. A moment later the glass marble cooled into a dark blue glass.
Holy shit. It didnt crack.
What am I supposed to do with a marble? Calvin asked, looking down at the glass.
Idunno. This? Jinsei flung the marble at the ground, but rather than crack, the whole thing shot off the stone floor at incredible speeds, bouncing around the glass and stone workshop, leaving dents in the walls and floor until it eventually lodged itself in a thin ceramic cup.
interesting.
Interesting? He made glass rubber with his bare hands!
Whats glass rubber?
Exactly!
That doesnt really tell me much.
In nature, you can usually only have strength or toughness. If an object is strong, its brittle. If its weak, its flexible, not prone to shattering.
Okay.
So he made glass rubber! With his hands!
Still not getting it.
Its a material that wasnt invented until humans were printing organs and taking vacations to other planets. Get your hands on this and dont let it out of your sight.
Okay
I call it Jinseis Hardness. Jinsei said proudly as Calvin tugged the marble out of the cup and inspected it for damage. The sphere was unmarred, still perfectly smooth.
Its called glass rubber, apparently, Calvin said, pulling a Jerrytanium knife out of its sheath and pressing the edge to the surface of the marble. There was a faint clicking, scratching as the two extremely hard substances competed with each other. Calvin applied more force, but couldnt make one damage the other.
Calvin saw a vice on the other side of the room and locked the marble in place while Jinsei turned his attention to Baroke, asking him questions abou this draw length, weight and preferred size of his bow.
Calvin covered his eyes and forced the knife edge down on the marble, using another clamp as a lever.
Just at the edge of his strength, Calvin was able to see the edge of the blade dimple the surface of the glass. When Calvin pulled the blade away to check the glass, the dimple was gone.
Damn.
I know, right?
Calvin checked the edge of the blade for damage, and found it still sharp. The glass was similarly flawless.
How can it be back to normal? I saw it dimple.
Rubber, dude. Looks like the blade is harder, but the glass is more durable. Jerrytanium doesnt really like bending.
I like it.
How much of this stuff can you make at once? Calvin asked.
I can keep about sixty-four pounds of it hot at any given time, Jinsei said, pinching off a double fist sized ball of glass and gradually massaging it into the shape of a bow.
Naturally I cant work more than maybe ten or fifteen pounds at once without the right tools, as it tends to slump or spill out of my hands.
Calvin pursed his lips. What do you need to make this on a bigger scale?
Itd be tough. I mean, the ingredients are common glassmaking supplies, but acquiring them is somewhat difficult. The price of refined Cobalt spine is expensive, and they arent available anywhere but the Storm-Stretch group, who ship them in from the mountains to the north. Those same people are the ones who tried to get my brother to sell them the recipe, and refused to sell him the materials we needed to make it.
Jinsei cocked his head to the side. My brother was actually looking for another supplier when he disappeared.
Yeah, hes probably dead, Calvin said, thumbing his chin. He glanced over and saw Jinsei with his jaw dropped, the glass limp in his hand.
Tears welled up in the glassworkers eyes and he threw down the unfinished glass before running out the door, bawling.
Damnit, Calvin, he was this close to finishing me a new bow. Baroke said.
I thought you liked your steel one.
Yeah, but come on, this one would be custom made from magic glass. I want a magic glass bow.
Fair enough. Calvin glanced over at Nadia. I want you to put Jinsei on a training regimen to work on his Will and Stability.
Why, cuz I slept with him? Nadia said with a scowl.
Because youre a princess. I assume you were put through a strict upbringing to shore up your mental attributes?
Nadia straightened, her crimson lips set stoically. Youre damn right I was.
I give you permission to visit the horrors of your childhood upon that man. Calvin said, pointing after Jinsei. She smiled maliciously and sauntered out after the weeping glassworker.
Her leather-clad hips swayed hypnotically from side to side as she left, causing Ella, Cal and Baroke to stare after her for a moment.
She did a real good job getting the information we needed to get this place
Nadia made for an excellent spy, and she was able to extract exactly what they needed with a little well placed sex, but her loyalty to Calvin walked the razors edge. He could try to leverage her ability to be in more places than once and set her up as an information network and source of income by ordering her to work at the brothels, rather than simply patronize them.
The question was; would she actually allow herself to be used like that or should he just let sleeping princesses lie?
I say go for it. Worst thing she can do is say no, amiright?
The worst thing she can do is kidnap an Ilethan sorcerer, force them to wipe my mind, making me only capable of eating, shitting and summoning Nadia, then killing the sorcerer and stick me in a dungeon somewhere deep underground for the rest of my life while she lives out her life in a semblance of normalcy.
Youve really thought about this, havent you?
Yes.
For all the responsibilities he gave her, Nadia was the one he had the least trust in.
***
A couple days later, Kala was visiting to see how they were doing and share her progress on negotiations. Calvin was trying to talk to her in the main hall of the mansion when Jinseis training regimen spilled over into their conversation.
You call this clean!? Nadia shouted at the top of her lungs, following a teary Jinsei who held a mop and bucket. You must think this is a joke! Her eyes narrowed. I know whatll make you take this seriously. She dumped pair of fried eggs and porridge onto the immaculate floor.
Eat it! she grabbed Jinsei by the scruff of his neck and forced him onto the floor, tears streaming down his cheeks.
Damn.
Did your family ever do anything like this to you?
Oh? Kala asked, glancing over. At the scene of Nadia abusing their glass smith. Yes, or something similar. She met Calvins eyes. You cant learn to tolerate stress without a stressor, can you?
His Will is up by one and Stability by two already, Nadia said proudly as she pushed Jinseis head into the floor with her foot.
Wow. No wonder all the princesses you meet have a screw loose.
Wow. Calvin echoed Elliot.
Lets take this somewhere quieter. Calvin said, guiding her to a side hall, where the noise of outside construction and Jinseis protests couldnt penetrate.
So I did some looking around, and there are a dozen major players in Uleis, and every new law, every edict that the country puts forward goes through the hands of one of twelve men, who own and operate huge swaths of Uleiss industry. Together, they form the chains I saw that keep the palace in check. Its a bit of an open secret. Kala said.
Okay, what am I supposed to do with that information?
Well, now we know who were up against. The twelve men with the deepest pockets in the entire country, and six of them bet against Gadvera in the war, investing heavily in ILethas victory. The other six abstained.
How about the Storm-Stretch group? Calvin asked, interested in finding out whether or not they could secure themselves a source of Cobalt spines for their glassworks.
Theyre owned by Orson Haal. Kala said with a shrug.
Was Orson one of the ones who abstained from betting against Gadvera? Calvin asked.
No, he wasnt.
Eeewww, Calvin groaned. Thats complicated. It was also looking like it might be a pain to get their glassworks off the ground.
Youre telling me, Kala said, rolling her eyes.
What do you need me to do? My first instinct it to tear it all to the ground, but Ive come to understand that thats not always the best move. Calvin asked.
Hmm for now, I need to push the right buttons to get a room in the palace, which will give me the same level of importance as the Ilethan Diplomat.
Theres an Ilethan diplomat?
Kala frowned. Why wouldnt there be?
Oh, I suppose so.
Some Ilethan prince, or so I hear. Kala said.
So what are the right buttons? Calvin asked.
First things first, I need to weaken Orsons hold on me. And for that, Id like you to kick him in the balls.
Metaphorically or literally?
The Storm-Stretch group transports basic materials from one side of the desert to the other, and the are the biggest asset Orson owns. I want you to make him lose money. A lot of money. But you absolutely cant get caught.
I can do that. Calvin said, crossing his arms.
Good. While you do that, Ill try to make inroads with the moderates, see if I can tip them over to Gadveras side. If I get enough of them, I might even be able to make some of those against us decide cut their losses and change teams.
Sounds like a plan. You want me to kill the Ilethan diplomat?
What? NO! Kala said, pinching him.
Damn, Calvin said, rubbing his side. I think I might be able to throw the man off his game though. Could help you get the upper hand.
Alright, but no killing.
No problem.
Comments
Macronomicon
Nah, I got 4 days left
Darastrix
This is the last chapter we're getting this year?
Merry Christmas also this is one of the best Christmas presents I've ever gotten lol thanks for the chapter
Chad B. Sonnen
Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas.
Macronomicon
Laptop coming through FTW, merry christmas eve.
