Chapter 2
Morgan woke up in an infirmary bed. His bones felt as if they'd been crushed and turned to paste. Slowly he sat up and looked around. He was inside Gnomish Piping Inc.'s employee medical division. A few other employees lay in beds surrounding him, some burned from an alchemist fire explosion a few days ago, others being treated for a Mana sickness they had contracted working in the tunnels. A few of them were also injured by the various monsters living in the deeper tunnel section.
Morgan was glad not to be one of the exploration team members. After centuries of floating in the air, schematics for the deeper tunnel systems had long been forgotten or lost. The company had to send exploratory teams into these sections to clear out monsters, map, and figure out the use for some of the subsystems. Only last year they learned from an extensive study of a higher level subsystem, Linava had a built-in shielding system in case of attack by air.
The Gnomish Piping Company was currently working to build a Mana pipeline from the newer Mana generators to power the subsystem since the older system was long outdated. Mana generators were a newer invention, a few mages and engineers had come together to create a device that created Mana, using a formula of alchemist fire and elemental crystals.
Morgan tried to get up and move around but his body wasn't allowing it. Every movement was painful so he simply laid down to rest for another few hours. He guessed the cleric of Sol, the god of magic and healing, would be around sooner or later to heal his broken bones.
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Aleister was working on a compound mixture of two parts alchemist fire and one part dragon's blood when another gnome knocked on his laboratory door. Carefully he set the two vials down on his work table. The table was cluttered with research papers and various strange devices, some nearly finished, while others lay disassembled.
The young Gnomish alchemist lifted his safety goggles from his eyes; setting them on the table along with his gloves. He quickly picked up a sleek metal cylinder roughly the size of a piece of chalk. It was an invention of his, the Auto-Inking Quill. After a moment of digging through his various research papers, he began writing.
"Come in," Aleister said as he jotted down the color change that had occurred during his experiment.
"Sorry to interrupt. But I have a letter from the Exploration Department," Hammond, an older gnome and one Aleister's lab partners said as he handed over the letter.
Aleister quickly opened the letter and began to read.
"Aleister your expertise is required in the exploration division, you are being requested for transfer. Report to the exploration department immediately."
Aleister shivered, he always feared he'd one day be reassigned. He folded the letter and pocketed it.
"Thank you, Hammond, it appears I'm being transferred. Please go through my research notes here and continue working on the formula. Perhaps I will be able to return and finish it myself," Aleister sighed as he looked back at his work table, his life's work sprawled across its marble surface.
"Will do," The older gnome replied as he took the notes from Aleister's hands and began them over.
"I have a few things to grab before I go," Aleister said as he began looking over various inventions he had on the table. After pocketing his personal research journal, he grabbed a few vials and carefully placed them in a small box with special holders for each vial.
Aleister left the Gnomish Sciences and Alchemy Department and made his way through the Gnome Piping Inc. headquarters. Dodging various mail runners and office workers, he made his way to the exploration division. The exploration division was semi-hidden in a sub-level under the engineering department.
