Chapter 09 – Base Making – Building the Houses

I petted Hippolius before I started building.

“Hippolius, I’m going to use the crafting skill now, so I won’t be able to watch you knock down trees for awhile.”
‘…Okay. Kyu.’

Apparently, Hippolius would work even when not being watched.

With some relief, I started to prepare for the construction.
I would be making small houses that up to four people could live in. That meant four rooms and a shared area.

Before building, I checked the ground with my appraisal skill.
It didn’t matter how good the building was, you needed a solid foundation underneath it.

I gathered magic energy into my hand and touched the ground.
And then I activated the appraisal skill.
I succeeded in scanning an area that was two hundred meters in diameter and twenty meters deep.
The range depended on your proficiency with the skill.
And this range would be considered quite impressive among those with the appraisal skill.

“Tsk.”

All at once, information that could not be put into words flowed into my brain.
It was very difficult to process all of it.
In fact, there were many who didn’t understand half of the information they acquired.
But I was somehow able to manage.

“Phew. This foundation is quite good. If we hammer the stakes into it, they should be quite secure.”

Next, I lined up the wood that Hippolius and the Adventurers had gathered.
Aside from the wood, there were also metal materials, such as hinges.
We also needed stone and sand. And so I placed them with the other materials.

Once I was finished, Victor questioned me.

“Is this a new type of wood? Are you sure that it’s good for building houses?”
“The wood itself isn’t new. It’s a type that is well-suited for building. A good tree.”
“That’s a relief.”

I carefully looked through the lumber and metal materials.
I hadn’t even needed to use the appraisal skill in order to tell what kind of wood it was.
The only reason that I did use it, was in order to know the intrinsic properties of it, much like when I had built the shed on the boat.

But there was much more wood this time.
And the information that was to be gained was much more vast.

Most people thought that having more information was a good thing, but it wasn’t always the case.
After all, it was my own brain that had to process all of that information.

Those with basic appraisal skills only appraised a little at a time in order to process it.
And many just narrowed it down to finding out the name and quality of the materials.

The immense appraisal range and quantity of information was supported by the ability to process it, and by a great amount of power. You could even call it a cheat ability.

“I finished appraising the materials for one house. Next, construction with the crafting skill.”

It was also my information processing ability that raised my crafting skill to the level where it would be called a cheat.
I could think of things clearly and precisely before I made them.
Then I added the properties of the materials gained with the appraisal skill and constructed it in my mind.

The quality of the finished product depended greatly on how clearly you could imagine it.

Crafting skills were not rare.
However, I had heard that there was hardly anyone who could envision it as clearly as me.
And there was no one else at all who was able to do it in combination with the material’s properties found through the appraising skill, in order to craft something that was perfect.

Besides, I had immense magic energy.
You needed that much magic energy in order to make use of all that information, and the clear image you created.

No matter how great the image, it would suffer as time passed.
And so you needed to craft it as speedily as possible, and that took a lot of energy.

Normally, you would take breaks in between work, and finish a house in a few days.
But this way, you would have to rebuild it in your head every time you started to work.

And then there would be discrepancies between your previous image every time you rested.
Such discrepancies could end up having a great impact on the finished product.

“Now…”

I had a solid image in my head, and so I got to work.
The trick to making something good, was to complete it as soon as possible.

And so I took the trees that the Adventurers and Hippolius had gathered, and turned them into processed timber.
You could not just use cut down trees for construction. And so I had to use my skill once to process and dry them.

Once that was done, it was time for construction. I would put it together all at once.
It required a lot of focus. And magic as well.

From the foundation to the floor, and the ceiling and roof. I built it like stacking bricks.
It took all of my power to stay completely concentrated.

After fifteen minutes, one house was complete. It turned out quite good, if I do say so myself.

Victor and a few resting Adventurers went inside to see the results.

Once you entered through the front door, there was a shared space.
And from there, you could go to any of the four private rooms.
The floors were all covered in wooden planks.

All of the rooms had windows that could be opened or closed.
I had used the sand to make glass panels.

“There are even windows…amazing.”

Victor was impressed.
You could do all kinds of things with this skill if you knew how to use it, but not many people would be able to make glass.
You had to understand the structure of glass, and it was also very delicate.
If you weren’t careful, it would easily shatter.

“Glass panels. Amazing!”
“It’s like a noble’s house!”

The Adventurers were also very happy.

However, there was still not a single piece of furniture in the house.
I planned to install kitchens and toilets once we had a well and a sewage system.
And so it wasn’t really complete, but at least they could escape the wind and rain when they slept.

“Phew. It’s alright for now.”
“It’s splendid.”
“Thank you. There’s still more wood, right?”
“Yes. Thanks mostly to Hippolius. The creature works about five times faster than the others.”
“I see.”

I left the house and looked at the lumberyard where the wood was being kept.
There was plenty of wood here. I could build another house.
The Adventurers had also gathered large rocks and sand. That too was a great help.

“Well, then. I guess I’ll get started on the second one.”

And so I took a short break and then repeated the process until the second house was finished.

And then I took another break, and started building again as soon as enough materials had piled up.
Since Hippolius continued to bring more, I did not have to rest for very long.

All of the five houses had the same structure.
But since they were in different locations and each tree had different qualities, there had to be some adjustments.
That being said, the work was mostly the same.

I grew more familiar with it every time, and was able to build each one more efficiently than the last.

Once I was finished with all five houses for the Adventurers, it was time to build Hippolius’s house.
Since Hippolius was big, the house also had to be bigger.
Which meant more materials.

“Kyu-kyu!”

Hippolius was carrying a tree in its mouth as it looked at me with great expectation.
Its tail wagged wildly.
Hippolius had continued to gather wood even when I wasn’t looking.
No one had contributed to the effort as much as Hippolius. And so there needed to be a reward for all of the hard work.

“Hippolius, leave it to me.”
“Kyu!”
And so I got to work in order to meet Hippolius’s expectations.

Next Chapter

https://www.patreon.com/tigertransations

Hen na Ryu to Moto Yuusha Party Zatsuyougakari