Chapter 112 - Chapter 100: The Bar Keeps Rising
“
The stone floor was finally laid, marking the end of the afternoon shift.
Around 5 PM, I returned to the Virtual Club Room to find Club President Bell-san engrossed in homework, so I decided to leave her be.
After making dinner, eating, and doing the dishes, I logged back into IRO precisely at 8 PM.
It was unusual—only Seth and I were there.
"Hmm, a rare sight, indeed. It's understandable that Bell-dono isn't here after her painful experience this afternoon, but for Mion-dono to be absent is quite something," Seth mused.
"Right? Well, let's just wait a bit."
Speaking of which, I remembered Yata-sensei’s comment from earlier about the Civil Engineering skill perhaps having prerequisites.
"Indeed, that's a strong possibility. I researched it during my game break, and it seems that with current civilian technology, tall buildings cannot be constructed. Viscount Amiera’s mansion, too, is only two stories high."
"Huh? So, things like the Kingdom's castles are also [Ancient Ruins]… or rather, they've been there since ancient times?"
"Precisely."
Apparently, buildings up to about three stories can be made, but nothing taller. Underground facilities and deep tunnels are even rarer, with most ore found within dungeons. It seems like it became a lost technology at some point…
"Thank you for waiting!"
"Mion, good work."
"Hmm, I shall investigate that matter further myself." Seth stood up and departed for IRO.
Guess it's our turn now?
"Shou-kun, before that, about… the dish I'd like you to make. My mother said she wants Chinese food."
"Huh? You're treating Mion's mom too?"
"Is that… not okay?"
"No, it's fine, but I'm worried it'll turn into a story about me being some amazing chef or something…"
I wondered what Mion had told her, but I was just a 'high schooler who can cook a little.'
"It's perfectly fine. Let's play IRO."
"Ah, okay. I'm off, then."
"Yes. Have a good game."
*
"Alright, I need to start building walls and prepare for the roof."
After finishing dinner with Lupi, I immediately set about constructing the storage building next to the Mountain Cabin.
"Shou-kun, how do you make a stone roof? You're not just spanning long stones, are you?"
"Ah, simply put, after building the walls, you lay several sturdy wooden beams across them, and then place [Stone Pavement] on top."
Thinking it might be hard to visualize, I walked around to the side of the Mountain Cabin.
"See? The beams are laid across here."
There were five beams supporting the first-floor ceiling, which also served as the second-floor floor. They were visible from the recessed part at the very top of the wall.
They're about one log thick, I guess? I think beams of this size should be fine for the storage building too.
"I see. So, stone buildings aren't entirely made of stone."
"Well, some are arch-shaped, like kamaboko roofs, made entirely of stone, but those are rare."
Fortunately, I had plenty of books on such construction at home.
"Starting with the walls, then?"
"Yep. I'll stack the stone walls from the bottom up."
Using the size of the Mountain Cabin's stone walls as a reference, I constructed rectangular stone walls along a rope guide.
Thanks to magic, gaps were rare, but I still applied a thin layer of [White Clay] to the sides before placing the next stone wall…
………
……
…
"Phew, break time."
I took a rest after completing the first layer, enclosing both sides and the back.
My character level had risen, and I'd put points into my stats, so I had a fair amount of MP, but I'd still used over half of it.
"Nothing for the front?"
"Nope. So it's easy to move things in and out until the Mountain Cabin is finished."
"I see. Still, it looks like it'll be a long haul."
"Well, can't be helped, I suppose. I got greedy and made it quite large."
However, there were things I could do while waiting for MP to recover.
First, I needed to cut wood to prepare scaffolding.
"Woof."
"Lupi, welcome back. Again today?"
"Woof-woof."
Five [Greenberry Fruit] were in the pouch still hanging around her neck from yesterday. She's probably going to play with that Fairy again.
"I'm curious about what Lupi-chan is doing."
"Yeah. Well, she's not hurt, and she seems to be enjoying herself, so."
Watching Lupi go, I stood up and immediately headed to fell trees.
It was my first time cutting down a large tree, so I felt a little nervous.
"Hmm, this one, I guess."
It was convenient that a forest was just a short walk away.
I found a tree of a manageable thickness and gripped my [Two-Handed Axe], focusing on the [Logging] skill.
"Be careful, okay?"
"Got it."
Uhm, according to the skill assist, if I stand here and cut here and here, it'll fall that way, so I need to move a little to the left… Okay, now check the surroundings. No people, but it would be dangerous if Lupi or the Fairies were around.
"And… heave-ho!"
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
……
"Oh!"
After nearly ten minutes of struggle, the tree beautifully toppled over in the intended direction, filling me with unexpected emotion.
In real life, that would have taken 30 minutes, or even longer, I bet…
[Your Logging skill level has increased!]
Oh, lucky.
That makes it 5, and I'll need to cut a lot more, so that's good timing.
"You did it!"
"Yeah. But it still looks like a lot of work from here."
Removing branches, stripping bark—there was a lot to do.
But, I had the tools for it, so all I could do was steadily keep at it.
………
……
…
"Hah, finally finished one, but this is really tough…"
"It looks very well-made!"
It took another 30 minutes to turn one log into a straight piece of timber.
Even so, that was probably quite fast, only thanks to it being a game.
"What about Club President Bell-san's place? What do they do?"
"Perhaps NPCs handle it?"
"Ah, of course…"
They probably just cut the trees down and leave the rest to the NPCs.
But well, the [Carpentry] skill level also went up with this work, so I'll count it as a win.
It was only level 2, which was unavoidable, but I wanted it to be level 5 before starting the Mountain Cabin renovation.
"Are those logs for the roof?"
"Ah, no. These are for building scaffolding first. For when the walls get higher."
"I see."
Oh, my MP should be recovered enough to stack the second layer soon.
It would be nice if MP recovered a bit faster.
"Speaking of which, I've never seen an [MP Recovery Potion], have I?"
"I haven't heard of one either."
Does Club President Bell-san know about them? Since she's a pure magic build, she must have much more maximum MP than me, but even she should run out, especially during long battles.
"If I were chugging potions in Full-Dive VR, my stomach would probably feel terrible."
"Is that so?"
"Well, you get a proper sense of fullness when you eat, so I imagine it'd be similar with potions."
Running around with a sloshing stomach, it feels like it would cause another status effect, like 'reversing'…