Chapter 14: Building a new home

Even though Marcus referred to his base as a cabin, in reality, it was a concrete suburban double-floored house with a stone-tiled roof. This was a huge improvement from the tunnel house he used to stay in. However, constructing such a massive and fancy building took a lot of effort on Marcus's part.

First of all, he had to find a small clearing in the forest and expand it to create a foundation for his abode, which required a lot of digging. After this tiresome process, he had to fill it with cement to make the footing of the columns. 

Marcus did not want a fragile house, so he had to use almost three times the amount of cement used in a normal house. This was just for the footing, pedestal, and columns. This alone took him half a day to complete, thanks only to his abilities that provided him with perfect conditions for building.

However, it was not enough; he needed to complete his building quickly by night, or else he might have to sleep in the trees again. Not to mention that he already had to go to the cave several times to get limestone.

Marcus carefully removed the concrete layer sealing the entrance to the labyrinth. First, he checked the situation with his senses. After ensuring he was in the clear, he decided to go and look around. The scene in front of him astonished Marcus; the nest from the earlier night had completely disappeared. There were no such things present in the greater basilisk memories.

Marcus quickly recovered from his shock and decided to be quick on his feet to search for limestone. During mining, he encountered several lesser basilisks, but they were no threat to him, so he was able to deal with them quickly. He had to come and go out of the labyrinth three times.

Thanks to the extraordinary sensing power he had received, he was able to survive for so long; otherwise, he would have been ambushed and killed a long time ago. Moreover, he found out something interesting about his powers. If he focused and imagined hard enough, he would be able to do some pretty interesting things. Things like molding the cement into a shape without using his hands and quickly hardening it were things he initially thought were his limits. But when he made a mistake and wanted to remold it, he found that this thought ended up making the concrete liquid, surprising him greatly.

The process was quite simple but laborious. Normally, when making cement, he had to imagine the chemical reaction and the chemical bondings occurring during the process. Normally, concrete would have to be crushed before being turned back into cement. But Marcus imagined directly reversing the reaction. This was very exhausting, but he was able to do it.

After playing around with his powers for a bit, he started to work hard again on making his dream house. The sun had already set, and the gentle glow of the moon had already engulfed the forest. But Marcus did not have time to appreciate its beauty.

Rather, Marcus was too engrossed in his work to the point where he did not even look at his surroundings, relying only on his senses as precautions. By now, he had completed almost most of the building, with the columns, basement floor, and the roof completed. Just placing the roof on drop panels made him feel like his heart was about to burst. This feeling of being on the edge and a single mistake potentially ruining everything was too excruciating.

But he succeeded in the end. Marcus decided he would no longer rush the expansion of his new home and take one step at a time. After all, he was just too tired from today's work and did not want to repeat it, no matter what.

After building the four walls with multiple layers of concrete to provide as much protection as he could from wild beasts roaming around, and after exhausting all his cement reserves, he finally felt secure. This might have been the most secure house on his resume. It did not even have a door; yes, he was directly sealed inside it. It was more like a big concrete coffin than a house.

But Marcus did not pay it any mind; he was already very tired and instantly fell asleep. The next morning, he woke up in a completely dark place, scaring him witless. It was only when memories of the last day resurfaced did he end the hypothesis of him being dead. After finding the wall in this dark place, he managed to see the light of the sun.

As for what type of door Marcus wanted, he gave up thinking; he would just make a new concrete door every time he was inside the house until he found any suitable material for it.

It took him a complete week to finish his project. He would slowly expand the columns and make the roof in parts every day. Other than gathering food, he would completely dedicate his time to improving his new home. This did not bother Marcus since he really liked his work.

After building two floors, Marcus was very pleased. Except for decoration, everything was ready. The best thing about this new home was that he could add and remove anything at his will.

This was exactly why Marcus did not need windows and doors; he could add them whenever he wanted. However, he always made some vent holes for air circulation, so other than some bug bites, he was completely safe inside.

This made Marcus restless since he had nothing else to do. He also felt it was time to explore the labyrinth after when he was mining limestone, he also discovered that absorbing mana crystals made him use his power for longer durations, which helped him greatly in completing his project.