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The next question on Hector's mind was whether or not this Forge had ever actually seen any use. If Agrian had finished it but also fucked it up by naming it improperly, then had Agrian even been able to make anything with it? Had the thing ever been turned on, for that matter?

As he kept watching, he was a bit surprised to see that Agrian had indeed managed to create something.

Some sort of lantern, it looked like.

Hector lingered on the scene of him pulling it out of the Forge for quite some time. Apparently, the big glass orb could split itself open like an egg in order to let its contents be retrieved.

Even more than that, though, Hector was interested in the actual creation process. It looked like the base of the Forge functioned as a receptacle for materials. He saw Agrian tossing things in there rather haphazardly, chunks of metal and glass, rocks and oil, followed by a final topping of a melted, red hot material before closing it back up again.

And as Agrian worked, tree roots came up through the base, extending through the giant orb like tentacles as a warm glow appeared in the center.

Hector watched closely, asking the Forge to keep rewinding and playing the scene over and over for him.

As far as he could tell, it was the roots that were doing the heavy lifting here. They seemed to operate with fine motor precision, handling objects delicately, while Agrian merely held his hand to the glass and kept his eyes closed. They would sometimes grab two or more separate pieces out of the base and then wrap them in a wooden cocoon. The sphere's glow would then pulse more greatly for a period of time--maybe a few hours, maybe a few days--and then the cocoon would fall away, revealing its work. Either the previous pieces were now fused together as by welding, or they were completely different, as if blended entirely into one, new material.