The fortress gate groaned open as Evan and the soldiers stepped inside. The walls were stone the towers tall the flags worn from wind and weather. The place felt old but not abandoned. People moved around with purpose carrying crates tools and pieces of metal that hummed with strange faint energy.

The soldier leading him waved Evan forward. “Commander Rhel wants to speak with you. He needs to hear how you handled that weapon.”

Evan nodded though his focus drifted to the things people carried. Every magic device he saw had the same problem. The parts were too large the joints loose the channels inconsistent. Whoever built them had ideas but no precision. It was like watching someone build a rifle using only a hammer and faith.

The soldiers guided him into a broad stone hall where a man in dark armor waited by a map table. His armor was thicker than the others and his presence filled the room with the quiet pressure of authority.

The commander studied Evan for several seconds before speaking. “My men say you fired a mana lance with accuracy exceeding trained casters. Tell me how.”

Evan shrugged. “Your weapon is poorly aligned. The energy chamber jitters. The grip is wrong for that weight. I compensated.”

The commander narrowed his eyes. “You understand our weapons yet you are not one of us. Your clothes your speech they match no region. What are you”

“A model maker” Evan said. “A weapons model maker.”

The commander raised a brow. “You craft toys”

“Models not toys. Precision scaled structures. Miniature systems that must work like real ones. Believe it or not that teaches a lot about how things should be built.”

Commander Rhel considered him again. “Follow me.”

He led Evan down a passage into a workshop. The moment the door opened Evan knew exactly why these weapons failed. The place was chaos. Tools scattered across tables. Metal shards mixed with dust. Blue mana crystals cracked from overuse. A half finished cannon hummed with leaking energy that no one bothered to control.

Every workstation was loud unfocused messy.

Evan rubbed his temples. “This is rough. How do you make anything stable in here”

“We do not have the luxury of time or artisans” Rhel replied. “War drains us every year. Monsters rise stronger. Rival kingdoms watch for weakness. We push our workshops to the limit.”

“That explains the shortcuts” Evan said. He watched a craftsman hammer a crystal into a slot until sparks shot across the table. He winced. “That is not how energy flow works.”

Rhel crossed his arms. “Can you do better”

Evan stepped forward. “Give me one of your magic lances.”

Someone handed him a broken one. Evan opened a side panel examining the internals. The alignment spiraled unevenly. The conduit lines were cracked from stress. The trigger assembly rattled with each touch.

“This is your first problem” he said. “Your magic core is not stabilized. Your energy path wastes half the power. And this part should be six percent smaller for balanced flow.”

The craftsmen stared as if he spoke another language.

Evan set the weapon on a bench and took a deep breath. The table reminded him of home though none of the tools were proper. He grabbed a chipped file adjusted the angle then smoothed an inner metal ridge. The tool fought against him but his hands knew how to coax precision from rough equipment.

He worked slowly methodically carving a cleaner path aligning parts with careful pressure. Even in this primitive workshop he felt familiar calm settle into his fingers.

Minutes passed. Then he straightened up. “Try it now.”

The commander summoned a mana user who fired a test shot into a practice target. The lance discharged in a steady line without recoil. The shot struck dead center.

The craftsmen gasped. The commander stepped forward eyes narrowing with intense interest.

“What did you do”

“I made the thing actually listen to itself” Evan said. “The core now compresses energy instead of letting it vibrate out. I tightened the channel so your magic does not leak. This is basic structure work. Anyone here could do it if they slow down and pay attention.”

Rhel let out a breath. “We cannot slow down. We do not have the skill to do what you just did.”

Evan looked around at the crude tools and cluttered benches. “Then let me fix this place. Not your whole army. Just this workshop. If I can stabilize your weapons your soldiers will not waste their strength fighting the tool instead of the enemy.”

Rhel studied him for a long moment. “Why would you help us”

Evan thought of the forest the creature the strange sky and the fact that he had no idea how to return home. “Because right now I have nothing else. And because if I am here I might as well do what I am good at.”

The commander nodded. “Then you will stay in this fortress under my protection. You will oversee this workshop. You will teach our craftsmen what you know. If you succeed the kingdom will reward you. If you fail you will still be under our guard. Either way we need your skill.”

Evan exhaled. “Fine. But I need better tools. And better organization. And for the love of structure stop hammering your crystals.”

A craftsman in the corner guiltily set down his hammer.

The commander actually laughed quietly. Then he placed a hand on Evan’s shoulder. “Welcome to Ironhold Fortress. From this day on you are our workshop specialist.”

Evan looked at the broken weapons scattered around him.

If this was his new world then this messy workshop would be the birthplace of all the changes he was about to bring.

He flexed his fingers cracked his knuckles and whispered to himself. “Time to rebuild everything from the smallest piece.”