Chapter 4(b): The Thinker of Kallidorra Forgehold (Part 2)
After a few minutes of walking and passing by numerous researchers who greeted them warmly they finally reached the far edge of the section: Durmuk's room.
A sign above the door read: Boss Dwarfy Durmuk with a mustache and beard emblem proudly carved beside it.
Durmuk opened the door, and they all stepped inside.
"Sigh…" he exhaled as he sank into his chair with a tired grunt.
Kael, Brasskert, and Nibsken took their seats on a long bench near the glass sliding door, which opened to a corridor overlooking the chaotic underground levels below.
Without getting up, Durmuk raised his hand slightly. Using his Wind Might, he levitated two full boxes packed with blueprints and design drafts from the corner of the room and floated them over to Kael.
"All of these need review," he said, still slouched lazily in his work chair.
"Send it back to me for approval later, ma boy," Durmuk said.
"Yer brain's one of the few in this lab that can actually imagine how equipment works—even when it's still just lines on a blueprint."
Kael received the boxes with both hands.
Kael looked at Brasskert and sighed.
"Ugh… Boss is right, Brasskert. Today's work is hellish," he groaned, eyeing the heavy load in front of them.
"Looks like we're in for a full crank-turn on this one," Brasskert muttered, adjusting his oversized spectacles with a tired sigh.
"Hahahaha!" Nibsken burst out laughing, clearly amused by their misery.
From his chair, Durmuk chuckled as he overheard their conversation.
"Oh, that's not all, ma boy," he said, a devilish grin curling beneath his thick mustache.
"HUH?!" the trio shouted in unison, eyes wide in surprise.
He turned and called out toward the back of the room.
"Grakna! Liraen! Get over here and give this small trio a hand!
"Yes, Boss!" came the immediate reply in unison, as two figures stepped forward from the shadows at the rear of Durmuk's room, a wind elf and a tall female ogre.
Help these three lift that container, it's full of heavy crystals and the new metal," Durmuk instructed, gesturing toward a large reinforced crate near the corner.
Yes Boss as you wish! Grakna and Liraen nodded without hesitation, already moving toward it with practiced coordination.
Grak'Na was a muscular female ogre with short black hair, accented by a few pink flowers tucked into it, symbols of her elegance and femininity despite her intimidating presence. Her sharp black eyes and pointy teeth gave her a fierce, confident look.
Her skin was a deep green, and though she was quite tall, she was still just the right size to move comfortably within the department's tight structure. Her fingers were adorned with several metal and gold rings, and on her shoulder sat a large blue crystal embedded in a thick metal frame, glowing faintly with stored energy.
She wore a white lab coat with her name stitched neatly on the front, just above an orange badge that read: Durmuk's Assistant.
And then there was Liraen, a wind elf with long, sharp ears and three thick gold bracelets on his left wrist. He stood taller than Kael but slightly shorter than Grakna, with flowing white hair streaked with strands of silver and piercing cyan eyes that seemed to shimmer with wind Might energy. His skin is quite tan compared to the other elves.
He wore the same standard white coat, with his name stitched on the chest and an orange badge beneath it that also read: Durmuk's Assistant.
A wind elf like him was the result of intense training in wind Might, so much so that it became difficult for him to use other elemental Mights effectively.
As Grak'Na and Liraen moved to follow Durmuk's command, Liraen suddenly noticed a slightly short figure with black hair and sharp blue eyes, someone he knew well. It was Kael, one of his best friend. Despite being Mightless, Kael had always stood sturdier than him.
The sight reminded him of when they just meet a few years ago, Kael still young back then while Liraen age flows differently from him. The human who always make mistake but still come with the new machine or invention. The last human of this realm.
To him, Kael was hope, a flame that never faded, and a living proof of pure determination, even without a single trace of Might.
Then Liraen gathered the courage to greet his best friend. Even after seeing Kael countless times in the Forgehold, he still felt a slight nervousness because he always put himself behind Kael in terms of Intelligence and he respected Kael because of that
"Kael!" Liraen finally called out, his voice steady but his heart uneasy.
Kael turned and smiled. It was his best friend, someone he knew well and trusted deeply. Deep in his heart, Kael felt proud to have a friend with such great control over Wind Might.
"Ren!" Kael called out with a warm smile.
He greeted Liraen using the friendly nickname he had given him long ago. "Liraen" was too long for Kael back then, so he shortened it and over time, everyone else began calling him that too.
Kael tapped Liraen's shoulder.
"Hahaha, you're so busy now, bro."
"You know... becoming the boss's right hand isn't easy," Liraen replied, scratching the back of his head with a sheepish grin.
As Kael and Liraen are talking and greeting each other. suddenly
"Faster, Ren! We've got more work waiting back there," Grak'Na reminded him firmly.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it, ogre," Liraen muttered, slightly annoyed but moving quickly.
The two of them then lifted two large boxes filled with ore and metal,materials meant for examination.
The group exited Durmuk's room.
As the five of them walked together, Kael couldn't help but observe the differences between himself and his companions. Nibsken and Grakna had green skin, while Brasskert and Liraen bore the sharp, elongated ears of their respective races.
And Kael... he was just a normal human.
Yet, as he looked at them, laughing, walking, working together, he felt a deep sense of gratitude. Despite all their differences, they had never treated him as an outsider. They had accepted him as one of their own.
Liraen noticed that Kael seemed spaced out, lost in thought.
He called out to him once, twice and almost a third time.
"Kael!"
"Hah!" Kael snapped out of it, startled.
**"Why are you spacing out like that?" Liraen asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No, I just... Never mind," Kael replied quickly, brushing it off.
"Weird human," Nibsken muttered with a grin.
They continued walking and soon, they arrived at Kael's room.
Nibsken stepped forward and opened the door for them.
Kael and Brasskert carried the two full boxes of blueprints and set them down on Kael's main worktable.
"Where should I put this, Kael?" Liraen asked, holding a box full of crystals, while Grak'Na stood beside him with another box filled with metal.
"Just put them there, Ren,Grakna on the other table in the back," Kael said, pointing toward the table at the edge of the room.
"Alright, got it." They nodded
Thud! The sound echoed as both boxes landed heavily on the back table.
"All done. Thanks, guys," Kael said with a grateful smile.
Liraen and Grakna nodded before turning to leave—both had other tasks waiting for them elsewhere.
Kael rolled up his sleeves and walked over to his worktable, joining Nibsken and his gnome assistant, Brasskert.
"Ah... here we go again," Kael sighed.
"Let's start with this one, human," Nibsken said, pulling out the first blueprint of a sword design from the box.
"Yeah," Kael replied, nodding.
He glanced over his table, frowning slightly.
"Now where's my pen..." he muttered, rummaging through the clutter.
Kael's table was a complete mess, covered in blueprints, sketches, and mechanical diagrams stacked unevenly across the surface. Beside it stood a tall board filled with layers of calculations, formulas, and scribbled corrections from days of nonstop work. On the far edge of the table, carefully arranged yet slightly dusty, was his personal collection of Might crystals—each one unique in color, shape, and energy signature, representing his extensive research into the nature of Might power over the years.
Above the messy worktable hung a framed picture, slightly tilted from age and activity around it. The photo showed a group of seven standing together young and smiling. In the center was Kael, the only human among them smiling. On the left side of Kael stood Nibsken, the grinning goblin his arm slung around Kael's shoulder and Liraen, the sharp-eared elf standing on Kael's right side leaning slightly toward him, Grak'Mar, Grak'Na's younger brother, standing beside Liraen towered over all of them with the unmistakable bulk of an ogre Grakmar huge hand gently on Liraen's head, smiling proudly. Behind them, only the massive leg of a giant could be seen, its face cropped out by the frame. A beastfolk from wolfkin with grey fur stood beside Nibsken, His hand holding Nibsken's bald head, his claws lightly visible but non-threatening and a shimmering water elemental beside him formed part of the group he have a faint reflection of the group rippling in its body. though both their faces appeared faint and blurry, from movement.
Elvareth was the one who took the picture but it wasn't just any picture. It was captured using Kael's very first attempt at creating a camera, his earliest invention. In fact, this was maybe the first photo ever taken in the entire realm.
Though the image wasn't perfectly clear, it showed something far more important: seven childhood friends of seven different races, smiling and laughing together despite their differences. A human, a goblin, an elf, an ogre, a giant (at least his towering leg), a beastfolk from a wolf kin with grey fur, and a water elemental all united in one frame.
This picture served not only as a keepsake, but as living proof. Proof that in a world filled with diversity, there could still be unity. That no matter how different their blood, skin, or form there was always room for togetherness and the powerful bond of true friendship.
Ah, there it is," Kael finally said, pulling his pen from beneath a stack of papers.
Then he and Nibsken got to work inspecting, correcting, and marking blueprint after blueprint.
While Kael and Nibsken worked on the designs, Brasskert carefully examined each piece of ores and metals . He compared their properties with the schematics and jotted down notes, occasionally passing corrections back to Kael. Just like always, the three of them worked for hours—focused, silent, occasionally exchanging a word or two.
Completely immersed in the rhythm of invention.
As if the future and the course of history itself depended on them.
Five hours passed in what felt like minutes.
"Fuhh... all done," Kael exhaled, stretching his arms. "How's today's report, Brasskert?"
Brasskert squinted at his clipboard, adjusting his oversized spectacles.
"Hmm... dere arr onlay thirteen designz accepted outta fifty-four," he muttered in his thick gnome slang. "An' dere's a few metalz and cryst'lls dat still need purifyin'. Can't reach der max potentshal like dis."
Kael nodded. "Thanks, Brasskert."
He stood up, pulled off his white coat, and grabbed a glass of water from the side table.
"Yaaawn..." Nibsken stretched. "Let's rest, human."
"Yeah. Let's take a break," Kael agreed.
"Brasskert, let's go," Nibsken called out.
"Yeah!" Brasskert replied with a tired grin, already hopping off his stool.
Brasskert and Nibsken removed their white coats and stepped out of Kael's working room. Together, they walked toward the wall of reinforced glass that overlooked the vast underground level.
Kael slid open the glass door, and the three of them stepped out onto the corridor. His boots tapped softly against the nearly transparent, crystallized floor.
Beneath them, on the lower levels, other races moved in synchronized effort—hauling crates, operating machinery, and managing their stations in a relentless, organized flow of work. They worked tirelessly—some driven by gold, some by passion, others by the sense of unity the job brought, and a few simply because they wanted to understand one another better.
The trio Kael, Nibsken, and Brasskert lingered along the corridor, taking a moment to rest. From their vantage point, they could see other researchers doing the same. Some leaned against the balcony railing, which acted as a safety divider to prevent falls, while others chatted casually or sat down to eat. A few stood in silence, quietly observing the vast operations unfolding below.
Above them, flying races glided through the air, transporting freshly crafted equipment. With practiced ease, they delivered the items to research platforms and balcony-level stations, where scientists and testers awaited to examine and refine the final products and they also receive back a newly corrected blue print that approved by Boss Durmuk
From afar, they could see the massive figures of giants and titans working tirelessly. Orcs and ogres dug deep into the rock, mining without pause after all, there were no days off down here.
"Look at 'em, human," Nibsken said, nodding toward the scene. "Strong and huge."
"Ya, dey don't even look like us!" Brasskert added with a snort.
"Yeah," Kael replied calmly, arms resting on the railing. "They've got their job... and we've got ours."
Suddenly, from afar, the trio noticed one of the giants moving in their direction.
Each of his steps echoed through the underground level—Thud... Thud...—slow, heavy, and deliberate. Though still distant, it was clear he was headed straight for Kael's corridor.
Kael didn't flinch. In fact, he smiled.
He already knew who it was.
End of Chapter 4
A towering shadow approaches.
Who is he?
Why is he heading toward them now?
And more importantly...
Is he Kael's friend?