Chapter 408 - Bottled Up
For now, Eisen just figured he wanted to try the idea that he had for this out, but for that, he of course needed to first make the mechanism to actually make the molten glass and then push it out in certain amounts so that it could be used for the bottles.
Usually, the way that this was done was by pushing out a steady cylinder of molten glass out of a hole and have a blade cut it up in steady intervals so that everything would be the same size.
Eisen figured it probably wouldn't be too complicated to try and do that as well, and so, Eisen got to work trying to do this. The first thing that he made was the container that was supposed to heat the glass up to the point that it was going to melt and combine properly. Because all of the things that needed to be added crystalized pretty quickly, albeit in different forms and purities, when they were molten regularly, Eisen figured that it would be enough to simply have a direct transmutation-based flow inside of the container that would run through it and combine the different parts together so that the glass would be the same quality all the way through.
And then, at the bottom of that container, Eisen wanted to add a bit of an enchantment that would both make sure that a steady amount would be pulled out, while cutting the glass up once enough left the container.
Once more, that wasn't really necessarily that big of an issue when basing all of it on transmutation, so next, Eisen had to work on how to properly have the glass move around. Depending on what the setup of the 'Mall' that Komer was working on would be, it might be tough to build the actual glass-melter directly in the vicinity of the players, so it might be necessary to create a longer line that the glass could move through without an issue.
With Eisen's element, and once more some help of transmutation, that didn't seem like an insanely complicated matter either.
The thing that Eisen was worrying about most was the actual 'Production-Line'. In the end, the old man chose to go with a very simple concept of having the bottom and top of the glass-cylinder be set steadily in place with metal parts, while the actual 'Shaping' would happen through transmutation. This simply made it easier to make sure no accidents could happen with everything.
One tube would be set in place properly in the metal parts and moved further along the production line, and then stop at the point where the bottle would be turned into its base-shape, then move along again to the point where the bottle would be turned into its final-shape.
And this wasn't really that complex either, because transmutation could relatively easily be used to press things away, so for the base-shape Eisen had to simply let a transmutation enchantment pull everything into that shape and then another one push everything else into that 'pull' area.
And as for the next one, the only thing that was needed was a 'push' enchantment, where only the outer layer would have mana like that, and the center would be 'hollow' of mana, and the glass would be blown up with air and pushed against the push areas, but wouldn't be able to continue on like that. Basically, as if there was an invisible mould there.
Just like that, Eisen hoped to be able to make it work just like intended. As the old man expected, it took a while to make the production line work properly, but soon enough with a few different enchantments and mechanisms, everything worked and was run by as little mana as possible.
To his luck, it wasn't that complicated to make the 'mould' enchantments either, seeing how Eisen could simply take his mana copy of the bottles that Evalia designed and modeled out of clay and have his mana take that shape, while then controlling the properties of that mana toward interacting with things using transmutation.
For now, Eisen just filled the melter up with Silica, Soda Ash and Limestone, and then started the process by pouring his mana into the small crystal that he set up for it.
Soon, Eisen was able to see that everything was melting properly, was pushed out at a steady pace, and then cut up into even pieces, before being brought to the transmutation moulds.
The small bottles ended up looking really nice just like this, and after they were released by the metal parts and went further along the production line, Eisen picked one of the dozen or so bottles up and just held it in his hands for a little while to try and see if it was really good like this balance-wise.
With transmutation, you could never know if one part was too strongly pressed together, especially now that Eisen had the actual compression ability connected to Alchemy, but it seemed like there wasn't really any issue with all of that.
Now, Eisen just had to make sure that the bubble in the center of the glass was actually large enough for one regular potion-portion, and that it was really the same size in all of them.
This was done by simply pouring the exact same amount of water into each bottle. To his luck, if there was some sort of major discrepancy, Eisen himself didn't see anything. So he was sure that there wouldn't be any issue with this when actually using it later on.
Now, the only thing that was left to do was to directly connect these bottles to the bottling-system. While they were on the way to that system, they would slowly start to cool down to the proper temperature that was needed, and then they would be led into a thinner 'Path' so that only one bottle each could get through, and then one bottle after another, they would simply be grabbed by the neck, filled up with the potion, and then they would have the cork put into the top and at the same time recognized as finished items.
What would happen afterward was a very simple thing, they would just end up being pushed into a collection center where they would have to be sorted into shelves by hand byt he employees. That's just how it was.
With a little bit of fiddling around, Eisen managed to make everything work relatively smoothly, and soon, he had a basically completely finished mass-production machine for low-grade Health Potions.
Now he only had to change the recipe for the bottle's glass a little bit, and everything would be ready to go and be set up in the places that Komer bought.
Of course, Eisen then spent a little bit more time just mass-producing this system, which he did with the help of his four Doubles, which he connected to his movements to have them directly copy whatever he was doing. He had to supply them with some leftover hammers, but in the end, as long as Eisen only relied on them to do the base work and he properly finished everything up and fixed any mistakes that may have been caused, the old man was able to push the different systems to still have an extremely high-quality.
The enchanting needed to be done by himself, obviously, but at the very least he could work on this mass-production system a little quicker.
Like that, Eisen had time to work on some other items as well. And when he finally finished everything and had time to think about the next project, the old man's thoughts slowly drifted toward his Level-Up quest again.
And so, the old man chose to work on some cloth or leather items so that he could level up his Tailoring and Leatherworking skills. For that, Eisen figured he should make some sketches, to level his Drawing skill up more as well, and then ask for Evalia's opinion.
Just like that, Eisen quickly got to work, sitting down at a small table to Sketch, which was quite a big change of pace compared to all the heavy-duty smithing and enchanting that Eisen has been doing over the past few days.
Eisen thought of himself to have an alright style, maybe not amazing, but he was sure he didn't dress horribly. Although that was something rather hard to truly believe considering that Eisen has only been wearing a leather apron and wide, three-quarter cloth pants for a very long time now.
Either way, for another little while, Eisen just continued to sketch a few things. But all of those outfits were quite basic, there was nothing special about them. Of course, a clothes' shop would need those as well, but those would probably mostly be outfits for the people born and raised in this world, rather than the 'Artificials' that would be coming here.
From the little bit of research that Eisen made, it was very clear to him that a lot of people wanted to be extremely flashy, wear bright and unique clothes, and have 'awesome' weapons. Eisen could make everything that someone asked him to make, there was no doubt about that in his mind.
But when it came to getting ideas for things that were extremely visually pleasing, or artistic, or even just 'beautiful' to anyone but another craftsman, then Eisen was pretty sure he was at the lower end of the ladder.
So, noticing that Evalia was nearly finished with painting the walls and seemed to want to take a break, he quickly asked Sigurd to call her over toward him, and she quickly made her way over toward him, curious what he needed her help for.
"What do you need, eh?" She asked excitedly and plopped down onto the ground directly next to Eisen, who slowly showed her the designs that he came up with so far.
"A little bit of artistic and youthful advice." The old man chuckled, and Evalia raised her eyebrows surprised. "Hm? What do you want to make clothes for?" Evalia asked, slowly starting to look through what Eisen put onto the paper, and the old man swiftly started to explain.
"Mostly because I want to level up my Tailoring and Leatherworking skills. I figured while I was at it, I could make a few different items for a clothes shop that Komer mentioned."
"Oooh~! That sounds exciting…" Evalia admitted with a bright smile, and then slowly cupped her chin between her index finger and thumb. "Hmm… So, I think we should differentiate between casual, and Occupation clothes. In most games, people don't need to change 'armor' or something because they don't actually feel it, but here they do, so they'll surely want to take some stuff off, especially when it comes to Combatists… I think crafters and artists are the most likely to stay in their clothes, though… What you came up with seems pretty casual, although only in real life. In this game, it still needs to be more unique when catering to Players…" She pointed out, and quickly grabbed a pencil, starting to work on a quick design herself. Eisen figured it looked a bit overwhelmingly weird, but he trusted in Evalia. It's been roughly 40 to 50 years since he could have been counted as part of the game's main demographic, so he had no idea what teenagers and young adults wore these days.
And like Eisen figured, Evalia confirmed that people will be much more open in a game like this. This was the perfect chance to actually express yourself however you wanted, because you were able to change your whole body where nobody would be able to recognize you anyway, so it made sense for the clothes to need to be a little… crazy.
But slowly, Eisen actually managed to get a rough hold of what might be popular when sold, especially when he could think about it like trying to take the most essential thing of what a profession was and trying to turn it into an outfit. And just like that, Eisen had around two dozen different full-outfit designs, as well as a lot more basic clothe-piece designs, to work with.