The loss of an entire day filing down steel—a direct cost of Master Finnick's "artistic signature"—was a lesson Elias would never forget. He realized that relying on perfect initial component fabrication was a fatal structural flaw in a world ruled by human ego and primitive tools.
Elias ordered a halt to all further truss assembly. He returned to his blueprints with a new, maniacal focus: he would design a bridge that could forgive human error.
Elias's solution was the Variable Tolerance Joint—a complex coupling system designed to accommodate slight misalignments. The core of the invention wasn't the truss itself, but the connecting hardware:
1. Slotted Bolt-Holes: Instead of perfectly round holes, the trusses would have slightly elongated slots to allow a few millimeters of wiggle room.
2. Massive, Precision Bolts: To hold the joint rigid despite the slot, the connectors needed far thicker bolts and washers than previously designed, requiring high-tensile strength and perfect threading.
3. Adjustable Tensioners: A heavy, integrated nut-and-bolt system allowing workers to apply massive final tension, effectively welding the components together through sheer compressive force, neutralizing the slotted tolerance.
"We will beat imperfection with engineered flexibility!" Elias announced to Kaelen, sketching the terrifyingly large bolt. "The bridge will now tolerate up to five millimeters of error in any given axis! But this requires precision hardware!"
Sir Kaelen looked at the drawing of the bolt, which was nearly as thick as his wrist. "My Lord, the smiths can barely forge a standardized horseshoe, let alone a bolt of this size and required strength."
Kaelen was right. Elias's current smithy, optimized for mass-producing simple ingots and rough cement mixers, could not handle the precision machining required for the Variable Tolerance Joint.
The bolts needed perfect, clean threading to handle the immense final tension; the washers needed to be perfectly flat; and the high-tensile steel needed to be worked at consistent, high temperatures.
MAOI Alert:
[Component Integrity: Hardware]
Precision Requirement: Critical.
Current Forging Technology: Insufficient. Upgrade Required.
Elias realized that upgrading the barony's smithy was no longer an option—it was a mandatory administrative cost to secure the bridge's structural integrity.
"We are building a Precision Forge, Kaelen! I need high-pressure air flow, a standardized coal chute, and a complete rebuild of the smithy's ventilation and temperature control systems! We must eliminate all variables!"
The bridge construction paused again, swallowed by the obsessive quest for a perfectly manufactured bolt.
Elias forced Gark and the smiths into a brutal, month-long training regimen in precision.
1. Air Flow: Elias redesigned the bellows system to use a large, standardized gear-driven flywheel, ensuring a constant, measurable stream of high-pressure air for consistent heat, rather than relying on human lung power. This required the smiths to constantly turn the flywheel (another gloriously inefficient task assigned to the less busy workers).
2. Temperature Control: Elias introduced fire clay baffles and thermometers (simple mercury-in-glass tubes) to monitor and control the forge temperature—a concept completely foreign to the smiths, who worked by the color of the heat.
3. Precision Tooling: Elias forced the creation of standardized dies and jigs for threading the massive bolts, ensuring every thread was identical and clean.
Master Bartok, the Royal Mason, observed the transformation with quiet fury. He viewed the mechanized precision as a vile offense to the sacred craft of the forge.
"He turns honest fire into a sterile oven!" Bartok grumbled to Kaelen. "There is no soul in standardized temperature!"
Elias ignored him. His obsession paid off. The first Precision Bolt—thick, heavy, and perfectly threaded—was pulled from the new forge.
"Look at it, Kaelen! Structural forgiveness! It is ugly, but it is flawless!" Elias held up the bolt with immense pride. "Now, we can resume the assembly. Even if Finnick carves flowers into the next truss, this bolt will hold it all together!"
Elias had solved the fabrication crisis, but his funds were once again critically low, and the King's deadline was rapidly approaching. He had spent months fighting administrative delays, artistic pride, and material science. Now, he was nearly broke, and the bridge was barely 10% complete.