The process of building a Solar Plant was not an easy task, but with eleven willing individuals buzzing around without rest, most of the labor was almost complete in a single day.
The roles were clearly defined within the squad, as Sergeant Elena maximized everyone's efficiency by assigning the right job to the right individuals.
The role of mess officer was naturally given to Biscuits, while scouting and gathering were assigned to Sharp. These two roles were pivotal to keeping the group functioning, as Biscuits would feed them and Sharp would gather foodstuffs and mark scrap locations.
The rest were mostly split between dismantling and hauling scrap. Adam was focused on learning how to craft, and Kave was assisting him, as usual.
The Solar Plant was composed of many parts that needed to be printed separately, assembled on the workbench, and then put together at a single building location.
Elena made a rough drawing of the parts they needed to print on paper, and the most basic ones were sent to print, starting with the Support Frame. This was the first time Adam saw an entire large piece of metal being put together from mineral powder and printed in one go. He questioned the integrity of the process, but Elena explained that while the Rig printed everything from inside, the metal would usually experience a lot of pressure before being printed and subjected to the extreme heat of Blazer beams—a process called "Sintering."
After the Support Frame, the Energy Conduits and Battery Frame were also printed in parts and put together using simple screws. Then came the bigger part.
"We need to fill the battery tank with Fluxgel."
That's what Elena said.
If "easier said than done" were a person, this was exactly it. Filling the battery with Fluxgel was no easy feat. First, the tank was as large as a bathroom tub. It had double layers, one filled with raw Silicate Dust to isolate it and absorb leaks. But once the tub was filled, it was impossible to budge.
Fluxgel is a dense compound made of water and biopaste, and treated at intense heat by the Blazer beams. It produces a lot of waste in the process, but since all the waste is regulated, captured, and directed into the Carbon Compounds, it is not really considered HereTech by Solarium standards.
However, this gel is special because it possesses unique traits, making it the Solarium's favorite battery, as it can store and discharge energy elegantly and without degrading for a very long time. Thus, it was used in energy cells and batteries alike, and even in the creation of highly explosive materials.
But the amount needed to make a single battery was huge. The Rig was reserved for half a day to fill the tub, constantly feeding it biological material that wasn't edible and only satisfied the bare minimum required.
After the battery was moved, carried by no fewer than eight men, the printing process shifted to making glass panes, which was almost as slow as the Fluxgel process.
These glass panes were the first thing needed for the recipe for making solar cells. After that, more Polyfiber was printed in wide sheets, which were predominantly black fibers interspersed with iridescent filaments of blue and green visible under direct light. Using a small quantity of Fluxgel, the glass panes were given a layer of the gel to act as a paste for the Polyfiber sheets. A silicone frame was added to seal the edges, sandwiching the Polyfiber between two glass panes.
With the Solar Cell complete, it was affixed to the frame and manually adjusted to face the light. After that, three more solar cells were made before the end of the day.
During the night, the group realized they needed better lighting, so rather than going through the process of crafting, they went down to the Shelter and retrieved all the fluorescent lamps.
By the next morning, Kave came to Adam with news.
"I see it."
"Sure you do, buddy."
"It is nothing like I imagined it at all."
"Strange, I once read that they look exactly how you imagine them."
"I don't think it's about imagination. It's deep and profound. Your description of it was quite shallow."
"Did Elena squeeze your head so badly your hallucinations got more vivid?"
"Maybe. The awakening conditions are different from what we imagined, though."
"Awakening?" Adam frowned at Kave and asked, "We're talking about unicorns, aren't we?"
"Unicorns? No, Adam, focus! The System. The Status Window."
"Oh!" Adam wore an understanding expression before his face twisted with bafflement, "Say what?!"
"System." Kave said, raising a finger.
"Aha?" Adam nodded.
"Awakened." Kave said, pointing at himself.
"Because Elena was crushing your head all night?" Adam asked.
"As I said, this doesn't make any sense. Your assumptions were wrong."
"Damn!" Adam exclaimed before shrugging, "Anyway, congrats. How are your class and stats, then?"
"Warrior, and I got 1, 2, and 1 when I woke up."
"I see. Since my Sorcerer class is Spirit-based, I guess your Warrior is Might-based."
"True. I have 5 EXP, so I raised my Might to 3 at once. Honestly, I feel much stronger," Kave said as he raised the sitting log around the campfire from the ground, just as Adam had been capable of doing.
"That's good. I messed up when I raised Might to 3 while testing the System," Adam said, then asked, "The skills and powers?"
Kave informed Adam about his skills: he had Artifice and Charisma like Adam, but also three different skills—Warfare, Toughness, and Senses—the last of which was ridiculously high.
As for the powers, Adam was surprised to hear that Kave had no Runes and only had a class power called "Fighting Spirit," which increases his tenacity in the heat of battle.
A useful power, but the whole System hypothesis he had was about Runes being the reason the System awakens.
This made him drift further into thought, but since there were no more references to study, he simply told Kave to take notes and started today's work.
On the work front, Sergeant Elena joined Adam for a final report on the Solar Plant and how they finally made a breakthrough: successfully growing a kind of microorganism that could further enhance the efficiency of solar cells.
She explained that since both the Fluxgel and Polyfiber are organic materials, they combine well with each other, creating a habitat for unique bacteria to grow within a solar cell. These bacteria thrive in photovoltaic environments and perform a process similar to photosynthesis, which adds to the cell's efficiency.
Adam knew that piece of lore from a book he once read, and if his memory served him right, it was called the Living Glass—a marvel reported to be highly efficient at absorbing sunlight, between 85% and 92% efficiency—higher than Earth's latest known technology, which achieved around 20%.
Other parts were also crafted, such as the Power Regulator Core and Power Interface, which Adam wasn't familiar with, but he learned from Elena as she made time to explain it all to him.
With all that complete, the first Solar Energy Plant was fully assembled, and the independent Solarium power grid was established.
However, before that could even happen, a member of the group disappeared and departed: none other than the Star Paladin of the Slayers, Captain Creed.
As none of the people present knew where he went, none went looking for him, as they all understood that Creed was merely waiting for the Solar Plant to finish and depart, doing the bidding of Sol Imperius.
As for the man in question, he no longer needed to concern himself with the affairs of mortal men beyond this point, especially after staying two days guarding them, giving them power from his suit, and watching as they haphazardly made the seed of a possible Solarium base.
Still, the Captain often thought to himself: Is it worth it? Will they really make it?
Despite facing daunting odds of less than ten percent, hope remained. He had seen Men-at-Arms overcome harder obstacles before; cold analysis could not measure the strength of belief, a force that could build and destroy nations.
For that, in the dead of night, Creed did something that many would consider heretical. He wired his own Power Armor's interface to the Sacred Code within the Refinery Rig without the supervision of a Techno Monk.
Such a thing would have terrible consequences, but it needed to be done.
To the Techno Monks, the Sacred Code is the spirit that breathes life into Solarium technology, preserves its knowledge, and allows it to flourish. To the Men-at-Arms, it is what assists them in battle, guides their systems, and aids them with reinforcements once they establish communications through its network. As for the Star Paladins, they have a different use for the Code.
Once a Star Paladin's Power Armor is wired to the Sacred Code, it can contact the higher office of command, be it a Bastion, the Planetary Command, or even the Stellar Arks. However, if no high command office was found, it would provide them direct contact with the highest office there is.
To Sol Imperius.
In a sense, the Sacred Code is a manifestation of Sol Imperius, just like how the Solwoken are his fragments. For that, each command the Paladins follow appears to them on their Armor Interface. When they are told to kill, they kill; when they are told to sacrifice themselves, they sacrifice themselves.
The words of the Sacred Code are not mere technology or support systems; they are the will of Sol Imperius made manifest, looking after his people and giving orders to his angels.
So when Captain Creed wired himself to the Terminal, hoping to receive any command and update his standby status, he received something, and he needed to depart and investigate.
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