Came for Cultivation, Stayed for DIY

Chapter 34

Came for Cultivation, Stayed for DIY

Leo was a bit flummoxed, as he'd gotten a new quest. However, unlike before, it wasn't a quest to help any one animal, but to help them all... kind of. 

[Things have gotten cramped and there isn't enough room for everyone. It is time to upgrade from the primitive mud huts into a grander construction]

[New Building Blueprint unlocked: Simple Wooden Longhouse]

[Simple Wooden Longhouse: a roomless construct meant to house a large number of people(?) and provide them shelter. Can be decorated independently]

[Simple Wooden Longhouse: though technically a simple construction, a wooden longhouse still requires materials that are beyond the scope of your abilities. As such, you will only be tasked with gathering raw materials, and the system will process them for you.]

[Materials Required:

Timber (Raw Wood): 1000 pieces of timber

Source. Chop down trees to gather unprocessed logs

Clay: 200 units

Source: Mine clay from riverbanks or clay deposits to be used for sealing and insulating

Reeds/Straw: 500 bundles

Source: Harvest from the forest floor to use for thatching the roof

Stone: 300 medium-sized stones

Source: Gather stones from quarries or riverbeds for the foundation

Iron (for nails/fittings): 20 raw iron ores

Source: Mine iron deposits; system will forge nails and fittings

Animal Hides: 50 hides

Source: Hunt animals to gather hides for insulation and bedding 

Water: 100 buckets

Source: Draw water from a river or a pond; system will process into mortar for clay and stone

Fibers (for rope): 200 unites

Source: Harvest plant fibers or obtain from animals (wool) to make ropes for structural binding]

[To note: you will temporarily be given an artifact, <Shimmering Compass>, which you can use to locate quarries and mines. However, you must be within 300 yards of one in order for compass to activate]

[All gathered materials must be piled close-by. The system will provide <Quelling Wood> that will preserve all gathered materials from rot and decay for the duration of the quest. It will only work for the necessary materials, however, and nothing else]

[You are allowed to seek help]

[Time Limit: None]

[Reward: Favorability with animals +30; <Quelling Soul Art>, 3x <Root-Washing Pill>, <False Phoenix Fire>, a set of kitchen appliances, Blueprint for <Wooden House>, +10 years of Cultivation]

[Good luck! Physical labor suits you perfectly!]

He was seated atop the random boulder, cross-legged, comically holding his chin up at a strange angle. It was all a bit too overwhelming, for he was changing genres again. For a brief while, he was actually living the life of a cultivator--even if it was often broken up by the bursts of needing to be a cook--but he was meditating, growing stronger, experiencing magic, and it was all so wonderful. And yet, once again, he was being tasked with switching genres.

Oddly enough, however, he didn't mind it; the mud huts, for however impressive they were, were still tiny constructions. None of the larger animals could use them as shelters, and even the smaller ones quickly filled them up. A longhouse, however simplistic it ended up being, would also be far more spacious. At the same time, though, it also required far more materials. 

His eyes shifted over to the side where two items appeared--a platform of wood that seemed beyond tiny in comparison to what it was supposed to hold (though, Leo immediately realized it would probably expand according to his needs), as well as a succinct, golden compass. It was no larger than the palm of a hand, its surface cracked and webbed with age and use, while its two hands lay still and unmoving, forming a cross. There weren't any markings on it, its face flat, though he was certain something would appear when he reached a mine or a quarry.

It would be a long, long, long quest, he knew. Even if the system itself would process all the raw materials for him, gathering just a thousand pieces of raw wood sounded exhausting. He also worried what would constitute a 'singular piece'--was it quite literally the entire body of a tree, or would one tree yield more than one piece? If it was one piece per one tree, he'd have to deforest nearly everything around him, and that felt like such a waste and almost not worth it. 

Furthermore, there was the question of animal hides--though he dreaded encounters with animals that wanted to impale him, he now needed to seek them out. 

All in all, it would likely take him at least a couple of months to gather everything on his own. If the animals (and Yue, when she came back) helped, though, it would probably go a bit faster. 

He didn't immediately get down to business--unlike with the mud huts, he wanted to plan out a little bit. Though he didn't know the precise size of even an average longhouse, let alone the one he was making, he did see one... once. It was part of a brief trip he did with some friends to an Amish community, and it was fairly big. Just in height, he estimated it was at least ten feet, which was nearly as tall as some of the trees around. If the system handed him some artificial behemoth, wouldn't he be planting a flag signaling to the entire forest where he was?

Sighing, he first put the compass into his robes and set the wooden platform to the side. The rewards were too tempting, overall. Though it was depressing on more levels than one, he most looked forward to the blueprint for a wooden house. He yearned just a tiny smidgen of privacy, even if he suspected the animals would crowd the house too, eventually. 

There was also the set of kitchen appliances--he didn't know precisely what this entailed, however. It most likely meant basic cutlery, perhaps a few pots, a few pans, maybe a dishwasher? 

"Heh," he chuckled at the thought, stretching lazily before digging out the sword from one of the huts. If he was to chop the trees, he may as well train a bit with the sword--even if it was hardly a replacement for actual training, he'd at least get the sense of swinging the sword around, something that he'd never done before in his life. However, he wouldn't indiscriminately begin tearing down the canopy. For starters, as ignorant as he was, even he knew well enough that you only cut the trees of certain age (though he had right about zero clue on how to estimate the age, let alone what the 'right' age was), but far more importantly, a lot of these trees were often occupied by animals. As such, he'd seek their counsel. 

"So," he broke the silence, drawing attention to himself. "I need to chop a few trees to test something out. Could you guys point out a few that are a-okay to cut?" because he knew (desperately) that the animals could not understand his words, he began gesturing, using his arms to replace the sword and unfolding chopping motion toward the trees before throwing out a thumbs-up... as though the animals from a different world were aware of a very Earth-human concept. 

Most immediately looked away, as though disinterested in the entire ordeal, while an animal that he'd seen occasionally (though never interacted with much) approached him--it was a stag with milky-white eyes and no irises, as well as antlers that formed a webbed pattern and went just about six feet above its head. Magically, however, they never seemed to collide with anything. It was an eerie phenomenon that Leo for the most part ignored as it clashed with his understanding of how things worked, but every time the antlers were about to hit something, that something would 'move' out of the way. Even if it was something that could not move--like a tree. It was as though the space itself bent beneath the will of the stag, allowing him to move unopposed no matter what.

The stag was a frequent visitor, but it was also one of those who merely stayed for the meal and then disappeared somewhere into the forest. As such, Leo was a bit apprehensive around it, but still followed the beast as it began to walk away, leading him deeper into the woods.

Only one animal, this time around, elected to follow him--the ever-attached owl perched itself on top of his shoulder and remained firmly there like a guardian. It brought a sense of relief to Leo, as it meant that he was unlikely to die. Probably. Possibly.

The stag led him westward, and they soon reached the pond--but they did not stop. Leo had never gone further than these waters, in part because he didn't need to, but in part because he walled the portions beyond it as 'wild animal territory' even if he had no evidence to support that claim. 

It wasn't long before the atmosphere began to change--and it all started with the little things that Leo seldom noticed. 

The colors of the flowers dulled, growing desaturated. 

The vibrancy of the moss and the grass faded.

The trees grew thin and their branches sparse. 

The ground beneath grew blacker and heavier. 

Leo paused abruptly, his heart leaping into his throat for a moment. Laid bare before him was a wasteland--trees lay scattered in the field of gray and black, their barks overcome with rot, their branches naked and trembling. Strange, pulsating cysts were latched onto their roots, their membranes thin and transparent, leaving a webbed pattern beneath. 

The stag stopped at the seeming edge of the wasteland, drawing Leo's eyes there until he received yet another shock--it was a tombstone. He approached is slowly and crouched--it was old, cracks diffusing outward, aging colors bleeding downward, letters yellow and carved into stone. Strangely, he could read them just fine, even if they weren't in any language he recognized. 

He who cursed the world with his dying breath.

Let thy name be forever forgotten, demonic fiend

Leo frowned, feeling a twine within his heart. It wasn't sympathy, grief, or sadness--rather, it was Qi within him reacting, as though awoken from its slumber. It began to churn and fidget restlessly, all the way until he stood up and looked beyond the tombstone and toward the forest.

He felt a strange resonance with the world before him, and a paradoxical thought emerged: that the rot was, in some small ways, beautiful and endearing.