Vile Valley
Inside the fortress, the people were already adjusting to the new way of life. The construction and engineering sector focused on building more houses and apartnts, but the most important part was completing the mansion and reinforcing the walls.
Laurel had finished attending to the matters of the stomach and headed towards the northern district. The crops won’t be in danger anyti soon, and her main concern was the teor rock which was still sitting in the crater.
"Commander!" Gabriel greeted in a high voice, like soone who suddenly saw their best friend who had gone AWOL and was just returning.
Laurel was taken aback by the enthusiasm in his voice. "Hey," she drawled, uncertain if that was the right greeting to reply with.
"How is the research going?" She turned to the geocologist who was hovering a device around the rock.
Beeep.
The sound cut through the air before the man could respond to her.
"Commander," he greeted with a polite bow. "The device was not able to tell the kind of talloid the rock is... if only I had access to advanced tools, maybe I would have been able to figure it out." He said with a small frown settling between his brows.
"So I can’t give proper advice on what the rock would be best for. But rely looking at it, I know it must be a rare alloy, if you would give full jurisdiction over it, I’ll make sure to use it for the right reasons." His eyes swirled with hidden excitent.
"I think..."
"Commander, if you don’t mind, I can make a quick suggestion." the man said, his speech fast that one had to listen carefully.
"Don’t cut in when I’m not done speaking," Laurel said with a displeased look. She didn’t an to sound rude but his behavior was not condonable.
"I’m so sorry, it wasn’t intentional." The man quickly apologized.
Gabriel stood beside Laurel with his hands folded across his chest, his expression was angrier than Laurel’s.
"You need to know your place whether it is intentional or not, after all you are talking with the commander. I’ll let this slide because this is your first mistake. If this should repeat itself, don’t bla for teaching you a lesson." Gabriel said, pushing his chest out to appear more intimidating.
But in Laurel’s eyes, he looked nothing more than a child trying to defend his big sister.
Laurel turned to the man who now had a pale face. "What suggestions do you have?
The man’s face brightened with colour the mont he heard the question. He turned towards the rock, tapping faintly on it. "Do you hear that?" He said, placing his ears beside the rock, his eyes sparkling as his lips widened revealing his teeth.
"Hear what?" Gabriel replied with a look of confusion, he glanced at Laurel mouthing if the man was okay upstairs.
"Although I can’t tell what type of alloy it is, from the sound, I can tell it is one of the best ones on earth...Its properties would be best for defensive lasers... it is hard and versatile enough to withstand several hits and heat." He said, stuttering from the excitent.
"And not just that we can make weapons, and I promise it would be the best weapon ever seen in terms of efficiency and durability... and not to ntion its usability in gears and machines... this is phenonal. If it is malleable enough, we can make armor from it...."
Laurel raised her hand up slightly. "Can you hold on?" She asked, her head already buzzing from the information she had to process in a few seconds.
The man imdiately stopped talking, though the excitent still burned brightly in his eyes as if he was afraid the idea would disappear if he did not say it aloud again.
Laurel stared at the teor rock for a long mont.
It sat in the center of the crater, its surface dark with faint streaks of tallic silver that caught the red light of the sky. Even without touching it, she could feel sothing unusual about it.
"How stable is it?" Laurel asked calmly.
The geologist straightened up. "So far, it shows no signs of volatile reaction under thermal scan, but without proper analysis equipnt, I cannot guarantee long-term exposure safety." He hesitated before adding, "However, its density is extraordinary. The outer shell alone is harder than any standard alloy we currently possess."
Gabriel let out a low whistle. "So it’s basically a treasure."
"I hope it is," Laurel replied without looking at him. With the red mist and everything she wouldn’t be surprised that sothing was wrong with it.
The man quickly shook his head. "Commander, if it were unstable, it would have reacted when it entered the atmosphere. From the impact pattern and structural integrity, I believe it stabilized during descent. What we are seeing now is only its dormant state."
Laurel stepped closer to the rock, her boots crunching lightly against the gravel at the edge of the crater. She crouched slightly and ran her fingers across its surface. It was cool to the touch despite how warm the air was.
For a brief second, she considered channeling her light attribute into it, but she held herself back. There were too many unknown variables. Her ability was ant for life, growth, and restoration. This thing felt foreign.
She stood upright again.
"If we refine it," she began slowly, "how much usable material can we extract?"
The geologist’s eyes widened. "That depends on the purity ratio inside. If the core is consistent with the shell, we could potentially extract enough to reinforce the walls, upgrade weapon fras, and still have surplus for research and experintal prototypes."
Gabriel’s gaze sharpened. "Reinforce the walls first."
Laurel nodded faintly. That had already been her thought.
"And the process?" Laurel asked.
The geologist took a breath, clearly delighted to explain. "We will need to transport it to the engineering sector and initiate slting and tallurgical refinent. First, we conduct controlled cutting using high-temperature plasma torches. Then we separate impurities through alloy purification and structural analysis. Once we determine its molecular composition, we can begin forging or casting depending on its malleability."
Gabriel blinked slowly. "In simple terms."
The man cleared his throat. "We lt it down and refine it properly before shaping it into what we need."
"That is better," Gabriel muttered.
Laurel glanced at the workers stationed nearby. Heavy machinery was already positioned at the edge of the crater, waiting for orders. Cables and lifting rigs were prepared, but no one dared to move without her instruction.
She exhaled slowly. If it went really as expected, then they wouldn’t need to worry too much about the great hunt that was coming.:. That was the most dreaded part of the apocalypse.
"Ensure the transport team wears full protective gear," Laurel said. "No direct prolonged contact until refinent is complete. I want continuous structural monitoring during cutting. If there is any abnormal reaction, you stop imdiately and report to ."
"Yes, Commander," the geologist replied quickly.
Gabriel stepped forward, already signaling to the nearby crew to prepare the lifting equipnt.
Laurel cast one final look at the teor rock resting in the crater. It had fallen from the sky and reshaped their fate in more ways than one.
"Move it to the engineering sector," she ordered calmly. "Begin tallurgical processing and full refinent imdiately, I need the alloys as soon as possible."
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