Kyle gasped as he jolted awake, his eyes darting around the room. He raised his arms gingerly, noticing he was lying in a puddle of blood leaking from regenerating skin– a side-effect of his class upgrade.

Two screens hovered in his vision.

Kyle smiled to himself, despite the copious amount of blood that had pooled around him. However, as he tried to sit up, he suddenly realised something critical that he needed to test immediately. Select one single engraving within five-meter radius to disrupt… does that affect my own engravings?

He decided to test it now immediately, despite the cooldown being one day. He painted himself as the target.

Arcia Disruption!

A warbling visual effect surged from his body as the centre, forming a sort of translucent wave that rebounded back into him.

Penchant for Violence!

Instead of feeling the same familiar surge of power rushing through his blood, Kyle winced from a backflow of arcia energy, sent into turmoil by the negation field. The pain erupted from deep within his body as though he had an engraving in there.

What does this mean? Kyle questioned himself internally, but he already knew the answer all along since his first Class Upgrade : the System has been engraving the skills onto his body or readjusting his internals to generate the skill effect. This also explained why every single class upgrade was so painful and agonising, as though someone was carving away at his flesh.

Kyle had always held the notion that arctech was not a form of magic but rather a special exotic element that simply had magic-like properties. He had seen other exotics have equally amazing properties, but he had never heard of one which could be imbued into the human body like this without rejection.

Nearly every study of the Galactic Era stated that humans could not integrate exotics normally without completely modifying their genetic makeup to adapt. Kyle wondered now if all humans on this planet were of a specific variant, able to ingest and manipulate arcia normally.

But how did the humans get here in the first place?  Kyle could not confidently say he knew exactly what happened in the history of this planet. It could still very well be a virtual reality game, though it seems to be straying even further from that angle.

Time travel was a possibility as well - Kyle was not unaware of time anomalies present in the more chaotic sections of the Milky Way Galaxy.

The installation that he was in as well did not look like an evacuation shelter either but rather as an observation laboratory. Perhaps they studying the natives, which were the goblins.

As Kyle was weighing the different theories he had, the A.I’s holographic image appeared. [Good morning, sir. It has been three days since you were last awake.]

“Three days?” Kyle was astonished. The previous class upgrade took only the better part of a day; he did not expect to be knocked out for so long. Perhaps it was also due to the main class upgrade as well. “Is the stabilisation of the goblins complete?”

[Yes, sir. All goblins are now united under King Sahusa. Agricultural reforms are in progress, though from my observations, they have encountered a hitch.]

“Understood, I’ll have it solved.”

Kyle nodded, standing up with the sludge around him sliding off. The facility had no functioning showers left, so Kyle had no choice but to head back to the palace.

The new hobgoblin guards, made up of the loyal knights of Sahusa, were standing guard outside the Oracle Chamber under the orders of the King Sahusa. They were told not to fidget or stray from their duties, but an overpowering foul stench, as though someone had bled to death, soon assaulted their senses, nearly causing them to gag.

<What is this stench?! Not even my mother’s cooking is this bad!>

The guard turned to see Kyle marching out with a blank expression, his body stained with disgusting streaks of blood as though he had massacred an entire hive of alien ants.

<Is this an abomination?> One guard put his sword up at the ready before the other hobgoblin guard smacked him on the head.

<Idiot! This is the human that King Sahusa told us about!>

<Really? The smell is vastly different from that of the female human monster…>

Kyle ignored their bickering, simply stepping past them and heading straight to the king’s room, where Sahusa was relaxing.

Sahusa took a whiff of the air before he screamed at the appalling appearance of Kyle.

“Why are you screaming?”

“Have you not looked at yourself?! Servants, quickly! Give this human a bath!”

The goblin servants led Kyle towards a large bath area, where a small waterfall cascaded down from a cavernous river, the flow blasting away the grime and stains on Kyle’s body.

The fact that there were no proper shower room or bath irked Kyle. The facilities here definitely need to be improved. Kyle examined the state of the palace. It was indeed opulent but could be designed to be much more efficient and relaxing. A task for later – let’s see the overall progress.

Kyle got Sahusa to bring him around the valley to observe the projects implemented and to learn of the current issues.

“It’s only been three days since we have reunited the goblins – we are focusing on the terrace farming project as instructed by the Oracle.” Sahusa pointed out to a nearby sloped section of the valley, where sectioned terraces were already carved out and planted with the modified radish seeds. Rows upon rows of elevated farms were being carved out, the work mostly accomplished by the recently enhanced hobgoblins.

All hundred of them were put to good use, digging canals and irrigation channels to provide ample water to the soil, keeping it damp and moist. Sahusa escorted Kyle around, pointing towards a sapling that was already germinating, the leaves vibrant.

“According to the instructions, the soil should be dark and moist, full of nutrients when planting such a seed. However, as you can see…” Sahusa grabbed a fistful of the soil, most of which were loose dust and sand. “The seeds are rapidly absorbing the moisture faster than we can water.”

Kyle glanced at the irrigation canals, noticing that the water flow was a mere trickle, and hardly enough to sustain the increased requirements of the modified radish. This was the downside of having a much faster growth cycle which drew nutrients and resources way beyond the normal range.

“Can we utilize the main tributary?” Kyle pointed towards the snaking river at the base of the valley that was far below the terrace farms.

“We’ve tried carrying the water in buckets up, but its far too strenuous.”

Kyle sighed in despair at the goblin king’s stupidity, blaming himself for assuming that the goblins would be able to industrialize on their own. “Sasha, are you in the area?”

[Yes, sir.]

“Have Merissa and Feldon arrived?”

[Yes, sir, they are working to distribute the food among the goblins.]

“Good. Once they are done with that, have them build a waterwheel to ferry water upwards in a pulley system. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.”

[Yes, sir. The prospector Raksha is also here as well. He is at the base of the valley currently, investigating for iron.]

“Understood, I’ll be there shortly.”

Ordering King Sahusa to work with Merissa and Feldon, Kyle himself headed down to the base, where a large gaping hole in the side of the mountain loomed over him, the entrance to a crude iron mine that the goblins have been using.

Unsurprisingly, there was not much infrastructure, with the goblins doing everything by hand. Right now, Raksha was accompanied by a few goblins, inspecting the mine.

“Sir, the mine is definitely rich in iron, alongside a few coal seams.” Raksha presented the result of a geological borehole that had been lowered fifty meters into the ground. “This iron mine could last for two hundred years even if it supplied the whole of Raktor.”

“That’s good news.” Kyle nodded in affirmation. With the acquisition of iron and coal, all he had to do now was to create a distribution network towards Raktor. “Can the existing tunnel network be connected with our current progress?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but it would be definitely be far less work than digging an entirely brand new tunnel. But the air within the tunnels would be severely limited.”

“Not a problem, we can solve that easily.”

Kyle wasted no time, instantly getting King Sahusa to order the other idle goblins into the mines. Only a few enhanced hobgoblins were assigned, the rest being small weak standard goblins. He did not plan on upgrading every single hobgoblin, as with increased power naturally came increased consumption. Until he stabilized the food production locally, he could not afford to let the general population evolve just yet. Furthermore, it could serve as a form of reward for those who had work hard, establishing a sort of hierarchy inherently.

Over the next week, the redevelopment of the Culdao Peaks proceeded with little hitches. Any defectors or agitators that attempted to further destabilize the goblin society were instantly eradicated by Sasha’s strike force.

The waterwheels were constructed swiftly, the surrounding trees utilized for easy construction material and solving the irrigation issue.

At the same time, water was routed towards the mine to speed up the digging process as well as a rudimentary steel factory that was slowly being built up. However, it was not without obstacles.

“The blast furnace will need to be of sufficient scale to achieve a profit when heating up.” Kyle explained to Feldon. “And the entire method of delivery from the iron ore deposit to the blast furnace and out into a basic oxygen converter.”

“A what converter…?” Feldon was confused, having no background in chemistry or anything to do with engineering.

Kyle sighed, quickly drawing out a system diagram on a piece of paper, his style of labelling and shapes completely different to whatever Feldon was accustomed to.

“Let me simplify it for you – raw iron and coking coal is mixed into pig iron, then slammed into a large pot where we blast oxygen, a constituent of air, into it, blowing away the excess carbon and forming steel. We then pour it out into a mold. As much as possible, this entire process should be completely automated, save for the mining.”

“Uhh….”

“Never mind, I’ll handle it.” Kyle regretted not having Reese or Gordon here, but they were still busy building the weapons factory as well as the trade school back in Raktor. The oblivious expression on Feldon’s face only served to remind Kyle of just how important it was to have skilled arctech designers.

He had the A.I break it down into a simple steps for instruction, using King Sahusa once again to oversee the construction. While that was in progress, Kyle checked up on the mine, where the tunnelling process was already beginning.

It was a forty-kilometre distance from the iron ore deposit to the factory, which meant significant amounts of ventilation and filtering of air would be necessary to make it less dangerous for the workers. Kyle explained the plan to Merissa and Raksha. “We only need ventilation for the mine and the receiving end of the resources. For everything else in between, the carriage would be completely encased and supplied with its own air. That would be easier than digging ventilation shafts everywhere, or wasting energy to pump it in.”

“Like a diving bell… but how are we going to lay the tracks?”

“We’ll craft the tracks by hand here in the temporary steel factory. It won’t be the best quality, but we can iteratively upgrade it when we have the weapons factory set up in Raktor. We’ll rotate workers in and out through the tracks.”

With no time to spare, some of the heavier equipment were ordered in from Raktor. The sinter plant, coke overs, blast furnace and ladles were all ordered from other manufacturers under the wing of Baron Cain.

At the same time, Kyle crafted a rudimentary mine cart, one that had compressed air inside along with makeshift tubes that could allow deep miners to replenish their own air tanks. Much time was spent creating generic air-tight helmets and pressurized crude iron tanks.

The following week, the first laying of the newly manufactured rail tracks began in earnest. Groups of goblin workers dug in parallel, some of which had already been digging for more than four months to this point, having very nearly reached Raktor.

The harvested radish also boosted the morale of the goblins even more, with the famine successfully being solved. More and more workers entered the mines, expanding it and accessing even more iron veins under the guidance of Raksha and Merissa.

As the tunnel became deeper and deeper, it became harder and harder for the goblin to manually push the mine cart along the tracks, especially with limited air. Kyle quickly drafted and crafted a temporary solution, repurposing parts of a normal arctech wagon and attaching it to the minecart, allowing it to be driven properly.

Soon, after three weeks since Kyle pacified the goblins, the tunnel was soon to be completed. Reese and Gordon waited at the end of their basement tunnel right below the factory. They had constructed a basic platform of sorts, preparing to ease the loading and unloading of goods.

Reese was about to check the time again when the soil in front of him began to crack open, bursting out to reveal fifteen goblins, all sweating and panting, their temporary helmets and tanks filled with air weighing them down tremendously. Behind them lay a continuous stretch of railway tracks with the first crafted mine cart on it. 

He quickly added his own air pump on this end of the tunnel, filling the tunnel with air. As he worked with the goblins and hauled the first batch of steel tracks up, a rumbling sound could be heard as a second mine cart attached with an arctech engine hurtled down the tracks like a rollercoaster, with Kyle being the first test passenger.

The cart came to a stop at the end with manual braking. He stepped out of the cart shakily, immediately jotting down notes on a clipboard while a large bruise on his forehead was visible.

“Section 4-D is not aligned properly; Section 2-A nearly took my head clean off – needs to be wider. Steel quality in 5-D is not good; severe fatigue noted – mark for replacement.” Kyle muttered to himself as he ordered for minor fixes to the tunnel tracks, making sure it was smooth as possible for quick transportation.

The tunnel now served as a direct transportation route. Critical tools and other essential goods were immediately transported down the tunnel, the mine carts pushed by arctech towards the Culdao Peaks, and in return, processed steel bars were stacked neatly, allowing the weapons factory to kick into action. However, due to the small nature of the tunnel, it only allowed for one mine cart to enter at a time. A simple lighting system with controllers at intermediate points allowed the operators to know if there was a mine cart convoy currently travelling the tunnel.

“How’s the progress of the weapon’s factory?” Kyle inquired of Reese as he exited the cart.

“Everything is in place, all preliminary machinery installed.” Reese showed Kyle around the completed weapons factory, the conveyor belts already in place with workstations defined. They were not the best money could buy, but Kyle had other ideas on how to improve production.

“Good. Time to make some money.”