The Mechanical Era

The sun shined on the gorgeous city of Villina. A bustling and lively place with many happy people who worked and lived in the city their entire lives. The paved cobblestone streets smelled usually of baked bread, tulip flowers, and even sometimes meat, and rarely of trash and unwanted ordure.

The roads and buildings all looked clean of dirt and filled with people walking and shopping around. The stone buildings all had a classical architectural touch to them, along with lots of excessive details. Most roofs appeared to be made out of wool but were almost always painted to suit their needs.

From a distance, long or short, anyone can see the only magnificent building of the city; the grand cathedral, home to the largest angelisist cathedral on the continent. Though many seem to despise it, with some giving it dirty looks, it was an icon of the city skyline.

Outside a large smithy featuring a large column that puffed out ash clouds of smoke, a middle-aged man with a great black beard sat on a great wooden rocking chair. He wore a beige tunic along with black breaches and leather shoes. On his front, was a brown leather apron.

His eyes were closed shut as a rocked around in a relaxed position. He was on a good break, awaiting for his workers inside his smithy to be finished cutting the stones.

Just then, the sound of two horses clopping, along with the drawing of the wooden cart, caused him to open his right eyelid, revealing his emerald green eyes. His eye recognized a familiar face on the driver's seat. As if it was an instinctive reaction, he got up to welcome the man.

"Cartman! How are y'all doing!" he said. The man stopped and hopped off to greet the man.

"Howdy there Mr. Erwin. It's been a while!" he proclaimed. Erwin smiled.

"Man look at you! You have grown quite a lot! How is your old man doing?" he asked.

"He is doing fine Mr. Erwin," Cartman replied. The knights all dismount. The men grabbed two bags, while the ladies lifted one.

"Where do we need to place these?" Lola asked Erwin.

"Toss it along with the other bags. Those crystals need to be properly sorted and cut first," he said. The knights did as they were told. Erwin put his hand on Cartman's back.

"Hey, let me show you around. I think you might be interested in what I am doing here," he said. The two walked into the large smithy, which did more than any ordinary smithy would do.

There were lots of people running around, doing work using the many simple, yet genius devices laying around the place. There was one in particular that helped with sorting different sizes of crystals.

One simply must dump it into a funnel, where the rocks travel through a large tube where it comes across a slide with a hole. The hole gradually gets bigger so that the rock continues to pass through while sorting them from smallest to largest.

Erwin picks up a bucket containing large mana crystals and walks over through the wooden plank floor to a short man with a crooked nose.

"Hey, pal. Would you mind sorting these for me?" Erwin asked.

"Yes sir. I can," he replied. He started to pick up each stone and place it in the designated bucket by color. There were also a number of buckets on the side, waiting to be used. Erwin picked up the blue-colored mana crystal and brought it over to his workbench along with Cartman.

"Now watch carefully boy. If you ever change your mind about becoming a simple... cart man. You will need this." he said.

"Alright, Mr. Erwin. I will try my best to listen." Cartman replied. Sarah came over to Erwin, wanting to ask him a simple question.

"Mr. Erwin, can you please tell me where did you keep the runes we came to collect?" she asked politely.

"They are over there." Erwin pointed to a spruce door with a sign saying 'Storage'. Sarah thanked Erwin and left the two to be.

"Now, back to business," Erwin remarked. He placed the crystal into a hole that fitted it perfectly. The crystal had 7 sides on the front. With the largest one being flat while the other small sides were tilted.

"Now to make runes is a VERY difficult task. It's why there is not a lot around here. You know?" he told Cartman. He takes a small paintbrush and dips the very tip in black ink. He then marks tiny dots on the crystal at precise locations.

"For a rune to work, you need to give it precise instructions. You understand?" Cartman nods. Erwin then grabs a tool. It was a very thin yet sharp steel knife. Erwin started to carve strange letters on the dots he placed.

"The runes have their own language that allows them to work. The more instructions you write on the rune, the more complicated commands it can execute," he told Cartman as he continued to engrave it.

After writing a small sentence that Cartmen read 'να μην σπάσει ποτέ η ασπίδα', he wiped off the ink using a little alcohol and some white cloth.

"Now what we need to do is to make the engrave bigger for the manacite to fit," he said. Erwin started to cut out more of the crystal until the text looked to be in a thick font. He then took it over to a different room where the metal would be engraved.

The room was much hotter than the rest. The floor transitioned from oak planks to hard stone. Cartman's feet felt a tolerable burning sensation as he walked around. Erwin placed the crystal down and dowsed it with molten hot manacite.

He then placed it down to cool, while taking another one to complete. From the side, he took a violet mana crystal and showed it off to Cartman. It was a medium-sized mana crystal, with metallic tiger orange words engraved on it.

"And this is the final product. If the metal gives an orange look, it means we have done it correctly." Erwin said.

"So... what do you think?"

"It looks good Mr. Erwin, but I have a question to ask you," he said

"Go on."

"Where do you fit a rune in armor? Is there like a socket?" Cartman asked.

"Well yes, after fitting this to an armor, which needed to be specially made, it would give the wearer unique powers encoded with the words," Erwin claimed.

"That is brilliant Mr. Erwin," he said.

"So my child, what do you think?" Erwin asked.

"I think what y'all doing is amazing!" Erwin smiled. He carefully place the crystal back in its place and then turned to Cartman.

"You think so? Well then, do you mind if I... train you?" Erwin asked.

"Well..."

"Cartman here needs to be with us to deliver the runes to the blacksmiths." Lola interrupted. The knights have all been waiting patiently for them to end their chatter to leave.

"Oh? Did you load the boxes already?" he asked

"Yes, we did. I am sorry to interrupt both of you, but we need to leave NOW." she proclaimed.

"Well then kid, you should probably go. Tell me if you are interested," he said.

"Alright, Mr. Erwin. I will." Cartman replied.