Chapter 14: Ch. 14 – Pulley Physics

It felt good to have my cards on the table. If I was going to make a difference here, I needed to be able to mine, train, and create. Ideas had been springing up in my mind throughout my time at Prixa, and it was time to use my engineering skills to solve some of the problems the Feka had.

I followed Typh and Romas into the courtyard, seeing the damage up close for the first time. The salty air from the gulf helped with the smell of death, but there was still an overpowering stink throughout the settlement. Fires went up for the fallen archers, the smoke black and rancid. Fountains were damaged, leaving stone and water scattered in the streets as jets of water soared everywhere. Merchant stalls were blasted apart, wood pieces being picked up by the merchant slave crew in their bright yellow shirts. And, of course, the wall. In the sunlight, it was clear that we weren't fixing the wall anytime soon. I scanned the workforce, looking for Jasper. He was near the battle site, picking up fangs and furry pelts with the two other younger slaves who replaced me when I went to the docks a few days ago.

Romas had swooped down to make sure every ingredient was accounted for. He barked orders to Jasper, pointing and growling to get him moving faster. A moment later, Jasper made eye contact with me and waved. A look of confusion crossed his face when he realized I wasn't over there with him cleaning up the ingredients. I gave him a small smile, waved, and continued walking, catching up to Typh.

"Typh, can I have a moment?" I asked the jaguar.

Typh looked at me, distracted in thought. He paused, considering, then nodded. He ushered me into a side alley. "What is it, Noah?" I noticed he didn't call me slave.

"It's time I helped at the settlement. Being a Creator isn't just about making weapons."

"What do you mean?" he asked, confused.

"Back where I came from, I was an engineer. Well, I was in training. You could call me an engineering apprentice. Engineers make devices to help with day-to-day chores, transport materials and people faster, all kinds of stuff."

Typh narrowed his eyes. "And these...engineers. Do they fight for your people? Do they make weapons?"

I chuckled. "Some do. But most do not. Our people have created glorious castles, monuments, and even vehicles that can fly. I need to learn how to do that, but I have skills here. And right now, we won't beat the Shadowalkers in a head-to-head fight. If they come back, they will win. They will track us down and kill us. We will need more time to retreat to your central city."

"And you think you can create something useful before they return?"

I nodded, a mischievous smile crossing my lips. "I think so. Or I would like to try. But I'm going to need some help."

***

I looked around the small room, faces of humans and Feka staring back at me. I gulped down the fear bubbling up from my gut. I was not too fond of public speaking, and it had been a while since I did a presentation in front of this many people. My palms were sweaty, and I felt my heart beating rapidly. When I told Typh my plan, he sprang into action, tracking down the three humans from the dock, Dee, Romas, and a few other humans I didn't know. They wore purple shirts with a logo I had yet to see. It looked regal, with crossing birds and a lion roaring over a field of the crop I saw out in the farms. A few other warrior class Feka were present, including the one I saved from the battle.

"Hello, everyone," I started, voice squeaking a bit. I cleared my throat, the room's occupants glancing at each other. "You're here today to help improve the city's defenses. And to learn a secret that has not become public knowledge yet." I paused to ensure I said this next part correctly. "I'm not from this world. I'm from a place called Earth, not Prixa. When I came here, I was assigned a Creator class. I can make things here on this planet." There was mumbling among the group, eyes darting around the room. The slaves looked hopeful, the Feka unsure.

"On my planet, creators make magnificent structures. Defenses that even the most battle-hardened warriors can't get through. And moats. Moats were a fantastic idea. I really like moats. But the first thing we need here is something called a draw bridge. The way the pulleys work together helps reduce the overall weight of the bridge, enabling just a few humans to pull something that is extremely heavy. Since you have only one way up into the upper levels of the settlement, the dogs shouldn't be able to attack us if we pull the ramp up. So instead of having a moat around your city, you have floating tree arms 30 feet up in the air. It should work the same way."

Everyone looked at each other like I was speaking another language. Romas spoke up first. "This seems impossible. You cannot make something weigh less."

"You can," I replied. "On my world, it's called physics. You're not making something weigh less; you're changing the force needed every time you add pulleys. For example, if you have one pulley and pull a 100-pound weight, it will feel like 100 pounds. But if you make that system three pulleys, the same weight only feels like 33 pounds."

"What's a pound?" Typh asked.

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I wasn't getting anywhere explaining the physics here.

"Look, at the end of the day; they're dogs. Dogs can't climb like you can. If we take away access to the upper part of your town, they will need to figure out a new way in, buying us some time. I can design this system if you can trust me." I looked around the room, seeing the uneasy faces of the Feka, the idea of trusting a human baffling to them.

"Which brings me to my next idea." I looked at the dock workers. "I want to transport the spikey fish destroyer to the upper levels and make them dog destroyers instead. Hopefully, we have some spares?"

The lead slave from the dock spoke up. "Yes...we have three in rotation. They weigh as much as four Feka, though. How do we get them up the hills? This all seems like a waste of time to us, Creator." That was strange, being addressed by 'Creator' instead of 'slave' or even 'Noah.'

"It's going to be hard work getting them up here, but these traps will be worth it." I grinned again, excited now. "It's going to take time to set all this up, so we need to hurry. Romas, I'm going to need some help. I hope to tell you the blueprints using my 'THINK' skill, and you can execute the creation. I don't have much mana and have no idea how much these items will cost to make, so all I can do is design them."

Romas scoffed at that. "Bah, creators do not make pulley toys. We make weapons and armor. I hope you know what you're doing, boy. The Shadowalkers will be back in one moon or so."

Trust me; I hope so too. "That's why we need to hurry. The first thing we'll make is a good ol' drawbridge."

***

I used my 'THINK' skill to create the pulley system and ropes needed for the drawbridge. The contraption needed three medium size pulleys mounted to the tower's underside and two bigger pulleys mounted inside the ramp's entrance. They connected to a wheel that turned horizontally through interlocking teeth with the last pulley, which was clever. I saw iron and wood from the bow trees in my mind, with slots designating the amounts for each. Was that me being clever or Prixa? I still needed to understand who was 'thinking.'

This time, another design called 'Advanced Drawbridge' showed in my mind and involved counterweights. We didn't have time for that, but seeing multiple iterations was excellent. I looked at my arm and realized 'THINK' had leveled up, which must have been a benefit from the increased level.

My mana went from [10/25] to [1/26], the advanced thinking using mana at a much faster rate than before. Is this the same for mining and inspecting? I also wanted to know what versions to use and when. If I tried to think of something small or simple, would it use level 1? If I was only mining silver ore, could I choose that? If I needed some unfound ore, I could do some advanced mining.

I wasn't sure and hadn't had a chance to talk to Romas yet. I told him the amount of iron and bow wood material needed and described the pulleys to him, and he took it from there. He told me that he made the pulleys for the dock and didn't need 'some human to tell him how to do his job,' then huffed off to the smithy. We had plenty of rope in the settlement, so that wasn't an issue. I didn't know where the hostility came from, as the city's survival was much more important to me. Regardless, I rolled my eyes and continued to the next assignment.

"You three." I pointed at the strong dock workers. "Eventually, I want to make carts for you people. How you haven't invented the wheel yet..." I trailed off, shaking my head. "Regardless, I don't have any mana to help you. All we can do is take shifts carrying those fish-crushing devices up here. Get as many dock workers as possible and get them hauling those weights. Then we will need to install them directly over the ramp."

Dee looked at me, stepping forward. "Actually, I can help with your mana. My father has a mana regeneration device. It's how he's made so many devices in a day. The drawback of it is the payment. The mana you use is taken from mana later on. So you will regenerate mana at a much faster rate, but your body can only take that for so long. He says you get 'mana poisoning' and do not regenerate mana for as long as the bracer is on. It's why he drinks at night. He works doubly hard during the day and sleeps just as hard at night. But since a battle is coming and your pulleys seem reasonable on his mana load, even though they are enormous, I bet he won't wear it so he can save some mana for his fighting skills."

My eyebrows raised at that. I knew there had to be a way to make things more quickly; the mana on this planet was abysmal compared to some video games I played on Earth. I had been here weeks and only made a choice few items and mined a few rocks. But since none of my skills needed mana to shoot my slingshot, I didn't care if I was out of mana. My proficiency with it was mana free and passive, and the pellets used mana to create, not to shoot. I needed to defend the city, then let the professionals do the actual combat. “Great. Can you grab it for me?”

Dee’s face lit up. “Of course!” With that, she bounded off into the street.

The remaining Feka in the room shuffled their feet, the one I saved from the last battle speaking up. "What of us, human? What do you need of the warrior Feka? We cannot sit ideally by and wait while everyone else works."

"You three with me," I replied. "We will head back into the caves after I get my bracer on. It's time we add a little fire magic to these dog crushers."

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