The first order of business was repairing the furnaces. Both of them had a dome-like base, with an entrance that dipped down into the ground. From the top of the domes emerged large, tubular chimneys. But there were cracks everywhere. I placed my hands upon them and let the magic flow through me. My mana sealed the cracks and channelled stone from underneath me to fill the holes. I mentally envisioned tiny connections, like hands holding each other, between the bricks of the stone, causing them to be stronger together. From scraps of cloth and leather, 2 bellows were made and attached to the furnaces. With the little magic I had remaining, I also created a stone anvil and a set of stone hammers for later use.

The goblins had dug out some iron ore and placed it in front of the furnaces. I sat in silence, staring analytically at the pile of iron ore, thinking of how to put it to use. From what I knew, impurities had to be removed from the ore, and that was the purpose of these furnaces. Once the impurities are smelted away, you would get the desired iron.

I put my hand to the ore, and cast [Stone Shaper]. If the impurities were counted as stone, my magic could remove them. Truth be told I did not know what counted as "stone" since it could be made from a variety of materials, but it was worth a shot. I let the mana run through me like a stream of water. Upon making contact with the iron ore, I was taken aback. The familiar feeling of stone was there, but it was blurry, faint as if diluted in a weird mixture. I could tell there was something else, but it was weak and intangible, I knew it was iron, but I could not grasp it.

I stood there sweating, focusing, the veins bulging on my forehead. I kept going until my streams of mana became like dry riverbeds. One could barely notice a difference in the appearance of the ore, at most you could say it was just slightly brighter. Besides the ore was a tiny pile of dust, which I assumed was composed of impurities. I doubt that I had managed to completely purify these stones, as they hadn’t changed much in size or appearance. But I felt excited at this discovery. Regardless, my energy was spent, so I retired for the night and allowed the goblins to experiment with the ore. I shared my insights with them, so they could at least go in the right direction.

Upon stepping outside on the next day, I was greeted by 4 goblins, covered in soot and red dust, kneeling on the ground, with ugly burnt rocks in front of them. I gazed towards the furnaces, and despite my efforts, I found them broken once more. I gazed at the goblins with no attempts to hide my ire. But I would not lash out, it was not the time for that.

“Holy Chief! Heavenly Warrior! We failed you! We did not manage to produce iron!” They fell to their knees and banged their heads to the ground.

At least they did not burn down the camp, I sighed to myself. “You are forgiven, after all, you are the first to experiment with ore.”

As I pardoned them, they led me to the furnaces, and I repaired them once more. This time making the connections between the stone even stronger, further reinforcing the furnace.

“Our first attempt was just chucking the ore in there, then lighting it all on fire. That didn’t really work. Afterwards, we thought we weren’t using enough charcoal, so we added more, but then smoke started to come out from the front of the furnace.” And so, on they repeatedly went on about how they tried to make iron in a myriad of ways.

I contemplated solutions for this challenge. A small piece of sugar dissolved more easily in tea compared to a large one, this was because the sugar was more exposed. I suggested that they should try grinding the ore into dust beforehand. I know that iron ore formed slag, so I told them that they need to clear out any obstructions during the process.

With my advice, they immediately took off to experimenting again, but with much more caution since I was present. I assisted them in cracking the ore with my magic, and further purifying it. It was a difficult process, the ore was very tough, and it was difficult to grind it into powder. Using a hammer was a far simpler solution. Purifying the smashed ore proved to be easier, but only by a bit.

The charcoal was placed first into the furnace and then the iron powder was poured on top of it through the chimney. After starting the flame, I assisted by pumping the bellows. Perhaps this part of the process could be powered by automatically? Like a water wheel? I was soon bored with staying in the same place for too long, and thus I decided to go out hunting.

For ease of travelling in the snowy terrain, I asked for the craftsmen to make us snowshoes, out of simple sticks. This helped us travel quickly and not leave behind obvious tracks. The hunters had gotten skilled, to the point of not having to involve me and my magic. Still, I provided insurance in case anything got out of hand, like a giant snake perhaps. Yet, what was not reassuring was once more discovering the trail of humans. It was time to steel ourselves.