Smelter's Blues [P/NK - Solo Mission]

Spoiler:

Senba got another day off finally from training so he decided to do his first mission as a village Genin. Arriving at the mission desk he asks about anything in particular. The person giving out missions looks up at Senba.

Person: "Oh you are Hashi's son are you not?"
Senba: "Why yes i am sir."
Person smiled: "I have the perfect one for you. Not really a mission "mission" but it would help out the village in the long run."
Senba smiling: "By all means what shall i help with."
Person sifting through papers finally finding it: "This particular smelter we assigned to extract aluminum in its purest form. Though this process is new and a bit hard for some. Would you happen to know anything?"
Senba: "There is a new process that involves electricity and can be temperamental since we do not have everything down to the exact science yet, but me and my father have been successful at it. I will assist."

The person behind the desk smiled with a thank you as Senba went off to the smelter he was assigned to.

Before even arriving at the destination he could hear cussing from the shop and a hammer being throws out the door into the ground. Thankfully no one but Senba was around. He picked it up and peered inside to see the smelter looking exhausted.

Senba: "Hello sir. I am you assistant for the day for the aluminum."

Smelter with his eyes closed: "Oh great i highly doubt you will be able to help. Everyone they have sent me so...." noticing Senba mid sentence. "Oh you are Hashi's boy. I am sorry. Come in come in. Everyone they have sent me so far have been more in my way than anything."

Senba smiling: "Well you got someone who knows what they are doing now. Me and father have done this a couple of times. It is not a exact science yet. Thing have been...interesting with it."

Smelter: "I see that but there is a new process that i do not know completely."

Senba: "I shall help."

Senba explained the normal process of using bauxite. Bauxite being a impure aluminum oxide with stuff like iron and other metals in it that are in the way.

Senba asked: "Got any like...water treatment powder or anything like that around."

The smelter brought Senba water treatment powder that is basically sodium hydroxide with a little additive but should not be a issue. Senba puts it into the cauldron and blasts it with heat until it got hot enough to start steaming. Dropping the bauxite into the hot mixture it reacts separating the impure metals from the rest of the compound. The impurities stayed as solids and Senba filtered those out and put them to the side.

Smelter: "That is actually pretty genius."
Senba: "Well the powder is not really the best option but it does the trick once you heat it up. It separates the unwanted stuff leaving it in solid form so just throw that to the side. It is like red mud so just be careful when filtering it out. Then let it cool for some time and "seed" it with with scrap aluminum with some already produce product."

Once it cooled and was "seeded" Senba put it back into the furnace and had the temperature cranked up to a good twenty - two hundred degrees fahrenheit. The heat was really intense as they waited for the solution to melt into each other.

Smelter: "So how did you and Hashi figure all of this out?"
Senba: "Trial and error in the hundreds of attempts. I hope you have one of those fancy electric machine things for this."
Smelter: "Yeah it was given to me when i took this up."
Senba: "Good it will be so much easier now, but i do not know electricity conversions. You would have to do that."
Smelter: "Do not worry about that. I know the process."

Once the molten mixture was finished Senba took some cryolite. It is a fluoride of sodium and aluminum in mineral form. Senba threw that into a different furnace and molten it down. This is used in the process of "electrolysis" that the big machine thing was used for. The machine itself was big but not big. It took up about the same room as a blast furnace. the molten solutions are combined and put into this machine that is lined with special reactive metals. A negative charge is sent through the outside while the inside has carbon tubes and are positively charged. No one truly knows why everything reacts the way it does. This is brand new technology to get aluminum to be extracted and in a usable state. Unfortunately things can still go wrong up till it is siphoned from the machine and placed in sheets or whatever is needed. This uses a unprecedented amount of electricity to which the smelter has to be separated from the rest of the village or else cause blackout village wide. Though this process can yield a lot of aluminum at once which is the good part about it.

The pure molten aluminum takes awhile to collect and the machine does not really make any sound. The only way you see it working is when the molds are being filled. Senba took this time to relax. He was sweating and his brain was fried. The smelter brought in some more water and even a snack. Senba scarfed down the snack and drank plenty of water while they waited. Slowly but surely the molds filled up and the last bit of it was siphoned out.

Smelter: "Thank you Senba for your time."
Senba: "Your welcome. Anything to help a fellow tradesmen."
Smelter smiling: "Take this and this." The smelter gave Senba a pure aluminum casting and a letter of completion to give to the desk person.
Senba: "Thank you sir."

Senba left and returned to the mission desk person.

Person: "You both got it?"
Senba giving the person the letter: "Yes sir we did."
Person smiling "Well here is your ryo. Thank you."

Senba left with one thousand and one hundred ryo and a aluminum casting that he could do with whatever he wanted.

[WC: 1,042 / Claiming: 1,000 + 100 (Genin Bonus) = 1,100 Ryo, 3AP, 1x Aluminum, 5 stat]

Approved for appropriate awards