Andrew did his best to keep the crowd busy while they waited, answering questions about the battles they've had with the hobgoblins, and the giants involvement. He made sure to explain that the hobgoblins were likely to attack again, and that they would all need to work together to fight them off. He's made it known that his people were experienced combatants, that they would be here to support New Eden in every way against the coming threat. He saw a few of the well armed, patriotically garbed 'enforcers' hovering at the edge of the crowd, listening in but not asking any questions. As soon as the icebox was completely frozen over, Andrew stepped out from around the workbench and scuffed out the earth accumulation circle with a faint pop. The seams on the boxes were sealed, the wood shifting into a stony grey. Andrew used his hammer and a chisel to break the ice into smaller pieces, then grabbed a chunk of ice and activated siphon affinity, pulling water affinity from the ice and pushing it into the largest of the three smoothed boxes.

"What I'm doing now is an extra step, but a very valuable one. Everything in this world processes mana differently. An object or creature's affinity for a mana type determines how efficiently it processes that kind of mana, so far as I can tell. What I'm doing now is using a skill called Siphon Affinity to transfer the water affinity from this ice to the box. I haven't encountered anyone else with this skill yet, but if you have the opportunity to get it, it can allow for an incredible increase in mana tool efficiency." Andrew said, working through half the box of ice until he was satisfied with the water affinity saturation in the first crate. "Water creation is done by combining two similar circles. A water mana accumulation circle, and a water mana binding circle. The first accumulates water mana when pure mana is pushed into the circle, the second binds that accumulated water mana together and keeps it from going anywhere. I'm going to use what I call a bridge rune to connect the two circles, so that you only have to charge the top one."

Andrew picked up the water affinitied box and set it down on the workbench with the top facing out towards the crowd. He grabbed a simple woodcarving chisel and took a moment to carve out the first base rune and connector with the simple tools. "The barrel over there uses two water accumulation circles, and one binding circle. I'm only using one accumulation circle here, which means it will gather water a little slower than the barrel, that’s it. The wood is a little harder, a little more brittle than before, so if you're used to wood carving already there'll be some adjustments to make, but it's easy enough to do." Andrew said, stepping back to show off the runes he carved into the inside of the box.

Andrew set the chisel aside and slipped his hammer back into his belt. "I'm going to use another skill to speed this up a bit though." He said, then pressed his palm against the interior of the box and got to work quickly carving out the well practiced water accumulation, binding, and connecting runes. It took him about thirty minutes to finish the inscriptions on the box, and his crowd thinned, rotating out a little as he worked. When he was finished he picked the box up and set it out in front of the crowd. "Go ahead and try putting your hand against the first circle on the inside, there. Then just push mana into it, as much as you'd like. I figure fifty points'll be enough to fill that box though." Andrew said, grabbing the other box and inscribing the same set of circles into it as the crowd gathered around and watched water bead down the sides of the enthusiastically powered box.

Andrew finished the second box and set it down next to the first. "Alright, whoever wants to try this one, go ahead. It'll be less efficient than the other one, by a significant amount, but it'll still make water if you give it enough mana." Andrew recognized Kyle, the skinny youth who Andrew first met, as he stepped out of the crowd to power this box. A smile sneaking out as the runes beneath his palm lit up.

"Now, we have one more box. If anyone wants to learn how to do this, now would be a good opportunity. There are some other things I want to show y'all before the day's up, but I'll be right here if someone wants to try carving up that box while I'm here to help out." Andrew said, grabbing the wood chisel and a hammer out from the back of the wagon. Several people stepped forward and exchanged looks before nodding to the one man in the center and stepping back. The wrinkled man had a full head of white hair, deep tanned skin and heavy calluses. He mostly ignored the others who initially stepped up alongside him, focusing his attention on Andrew as he stepped up.

"I'm Doug. I do most of the furniture round here. I'd like to try that out, if you don't mind." Doug said.

"Absolutely, here ya go!" Andrew said, handing the chisel and hammer over to Doug. "Let me know if you have any questions."

Doug accepted the tools with a nod, looking over them with a critical eye before heading over to the box, tipping it on it's side and gingerly crawling into it to get started. Andrew turned to address the crowd once again. "Now then, that," Andrew pointed at the earth accumulation circle, "will work just fine for creating building foundations, and I bet it'll work just fine for hardening up any log walls you guys come up with. If you guys want, I'll help you get a few of those set up around town for the future, or I can make a couple of axes for y'all."

The crowd was strongly in favor of the axes, though there were a couple of called out requests like, "explosive bullets?", "What about magic fertilizer?", "I heard you guys've got grenades?". Andrew ignored those, mana rifles would take at least a full day to explain, and he doubted anyone in the crowd possessed the skill to inscribe the delicate runes required. He didn't know if magic fertilizer was possible, but it was an excellent idea worth looking into, and he was just a touch hesitant to share the grenades with this crowd. They were fairly complex and mistakes could easily blow up in the user's face.

"Alright, axes it is. My method is a little rough and relies on several skills. I don't know if any of y'all'll be able to replicate it without those skills, but it'd be pretty neat if you could. So pay attention if you've got confidence in your blacksmithing skills." Andrew said, pressing a hand to the forge and charging it up with mana. He popped open the half-filled box of iron ingots, pulled one out, and shoved it into the forge to heat. He pulled a suitable length of wood out of the wagon and set it aside on the work table as he waited for the ingot to heat. Then he pulled it out with his tongs and started hammering it out into a simple axe head. He talked as he worked, explaining how the mana forge worked in essentially the same way as the water barrels, just with fire instead. He talked about the iron, how most of his camp was forced to mine up the raw ore for the hobgoblins, and how they took as much as possible with them when they escaped. He showed them the red light building within the axe head as it was reheated, and explained what he understood about it accumulating fire mana and affinity whenever it was placed in the forge. When the axe head was finished and cooling, Andrew sat up on the worktable and answered more questions as he carved out the handle.

No, he did not know how to make crops grow faster, but he would try to figure it out. The rifles he made did not use explosive bullets, they were entirely mana based. Yes, he could make more of them. No, he would not be showing them how to make one today, they were far too complicated. Yes, he would be willing to show them later. Yes, he would be willing to trade for some later. No, he did not think he could inscribe their bullets, the rifling would destroy any runes he managed to inscribe. Yes, he could make mana based grenades, and no he wouldn't be showing them how to make any today. They were too dangerous to practice without supervision.

New Eden was breaking for lunch around the time Andrew finished the axe handle, and the crowd around his workstation dispersed to gather within each of their respective log bunkhouses for lunch. Doug returned shortly afterwards with a large bowl of meaty stew. He wolfed down big bites as he thoroughly inspected his work on the water accumulation box. A few others returned to eat lunch with Andrew, and he made his best attempt at small talk, drawing Po into the conversation as much as possible.

His strategy seemed to be working so far. He had certainly introduced himself to New Eden. He had the chance to directly address most of the town over the course of the morning, and the crowd as a whole was in a positive mood. Several of the people who joined Andrew for lunch had started the day a bit wary of Po, but were now asking him all kinds of questions about his home and people. He would stay for a few more hours, then head back. There was a lot to do.