As a newly graduated young Alchemist from university, Henry felt he's been pretty lucky all along.
Originally he was just the son of a small vendor in Langton's lower district, and though his family ran a grocery store, it barely maintained a decent standard of living.
After all, the lower district was not like other places, protection fees and various tributes were unavoidable if one wanted to run a store peacefully.
A large portion of the family's monthly inco went to local gangs and tribute to various governnt departnts, leaving just enough for the family to barely make ends et.
Yet despite this, the family managed to scrape together enough money to send him to study, instead of staying in the shop as a clerk.
Although Henry felt he could also work as a clerk, for he didn't mind inheriting the family business.
However, Henry's father hoped he wouldn't stay in the lower district but find a way to make sothing of himself instead of returning to that wretched place.
Henry listened to his father, perhaps because children from poor families mature early; Henry was sensible and knew his opportunity to study wasn't easily won.
So, at school, Henry was very diligent, always working hard, completing his primary and secondary education with outstanding grades.
But just as he was considering whether to go to university, the Empire announced the end of the world had arrived.
The entire Empire descended into chaos; the bigwigs naturally didn't worry about the end tis, as they would live comfortably even if the world collapsed.
But small figures like Henry's family had to fret about their livelihood, considering how to survive.
Luckily, Henry was fortunate; as an excellent graduate of his school, he was admitted to university and thus was on the Empire's migration list.
After all, college students were still elite talent and scarce resources for the Empire of this era.
His family was able to move to the Northern Territory, and Henry also got the chance to complete his studies smoothly.
Moreover, he learned Perfikot's public Imaginary Alchemy, becoming an Alchemist.
Though not a particularly skilled Alchemist with any noteworthy achievents, an Alchemist in the Northern Territory wouldn't worry about finding work.
This allowed Henry to obtain a job sufficient to support his entire family, sparing his father from the hard toil of the past.
Even Henry's sister got to attend the school established in the Northern Territory, gaining an opportunity to study which was previously nearly impossible.
After all, previously, the family supporting even one person for education was already the limit, impossible for a second; if his sister wanted to study, Henry would have to work early to earn money for the family.
Due to such experiences, Henry's gratitude to the Lord of the North was heartfelt, like most ordinary people in the North, he was full of gratitude and respect for Perfikot.
Especially since he was an Alchemist, he admired Perfikot, the Empire's most genius Alchemist, even more.
Therefore, when the Northern officials recruited Alchemists, Henry under his father's persuasion beca a technician at a mine under the lord, responsible for equipnt maintenance and inspection.
"Henry, there's a bit of trouble with Machine No. 4, seems a mining head is stuck, go take a look!" The manager called out Henry's na, asking him to inspect the equipnt.
Henry answered and put on protective gear leaving the rest area.
As a technician, Henry's daily work wasn't much; during his shift he coordinated with the previous technician, conducted an inspection, confird all equipnt was operating normally then returned to the rest area waiting for end of shift.
The remaining task was to inspect once more before clocking out and coordinating with the incoming technician.
If any temporary malfunction occurred, Henry would need to conduct troubleshooting, though it wasn't a big deal nor very taxing work.
All equipnt is operated automatically, and maintenance puppets handle routine upkeep; he only had to solve problems the maintenance puppets couldn't.
Such issues didn't appear frequently but would co up occasionally, then Henry as the technician had to step in.
"Production must not be delayed! The lord's plans must not be delayed!" This was the manager's daily refrain.
So colleagues disliked the manager's daily nagging but in Henry's view this was the truth.
Because this mine is dedicated to serving the lord, delaying production would hinder the lord's plans.
For Henry who had received the lord's favor, this was unacceptable.
He couldn't repay the lord's kindness for his family, and the lord didn't seek his repaynt, but Henry still couldn't tolerate his own actions affecting the lord's plans.
The lord didn't require his repaynt, thus he should further ensure the quality of his work since it's all he could do for the lord.
He reached Machine No. 4, squeezing into the maintenance passage.
This was a massive automatic mining machine, a mining head as large as a carriage installed at the machine's front easily digging through permafrost and rock layers, crushing the ore, extracting it, and conveying it to the hopper behind the machine.
Its mining speed was astonishingly fast, much quicker than traditional miner manpower.
After all, a worker could dig two hundred pounds of ore a day being incredibly diligent, yet two hundred pounds for this mining machine was simply one spin of a mining head.
Henry quickly located the faulty spot; a broken ore piece had jamd the transmission gear, causing decreased efficiency.
Temporarily shutting down the whole Machine No. 4, reversing the transmission gear to remove the stuck ore, checking the entire machine again to ensure no other issues, Henry then restarted Machine No. 4 to resu operations.
"Manager, Machine No. 4's issue has been resolved." Henry reported the fault clearance to the manager.
This was a necessary procedure, solving issues required imdiate notification.
Similarly, if unable to resolve issues, this thod allowed imdiate feedback for more specialized technicians to address problems.
Besides Henry, two Alchemists holding technician titles also worked at the mine.
Naturally, more senior Alchemists existed but didn't station at the mine, handling responsibilities beyond servicing just a single mine.
The mines surrounding served a steel mill, where higher-level Alchemists mainly resided ensuring the blast furnaces operated normally.
This entire system ensured blast furnaces produced five thousand tons of steel monthly, a massive steel production system requiring extensive personnel for upkeep.
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