kscans

Chapter 120 - The Yuri Village Renovation Plan 3. Grafting Wood to Wood

If one were to try and explain his state of mind at that moment, "thoughtless" would be the most accurate description, or to put it more gently, it was "on a whim."

In any case, it happened while Yuri was doing a preliminary inspection of a vacant house he was using as a warehouse, in order to repair it.

"Ah... this pillar is probably a goner..." Yuri muttered with resignation, looking at a pillar whose section exposed to the wind and rain had rotted away. The other pillars were still solid, so it was unlikely to collapse right away, but other parts were also quite damaged. Replacing all of them would require a significant amount of lumber. It was a difficult decision, whether it was worth maintaining this vacant house to that extent, or if he should just dismantle it and reuse the timber.

"I have a lot of buildings, but I’m hesitant to just tear them down. In an emergency, it would be difficult for me to build a house on my own... Considering that, I want to preserve the existing houses as much as possible..."

Regarding the common light novel trope of building a house with Earth Magic, he had just begun a practical experiment, the construction of the fermentation storeroom. Until its safety could be confirmed, he had no desire to live in a house made of earth. Besides, there was no guarantee that a house built with Earth Magic would be comfortable. One only had to consider how concrete baked by the summer sun becomes scorching hot.

"Hmm... in light novels, they’d usually just repair something like this in a flash with Earth Magic..."

Unfortunately, what he wanted to repair was a wooden pillar in a wooden house. Repairing it with Earth Magic would be difficult. He might be able to make an entire pillar with Earth Magic, but then nailing planks to it seemed like it would be a pain. A quick repair like with Earth Magic was...

"...Wait... can I really not do it...?"

When repairing things like stone walls with Earth Magic, he uses the surrounding soil as material to create a new section of wall, which he then hardens with magic power. Filling the damaged part of a rotted piece of wood with another piece of wood is...

"...not even magic, they did that normally in Japan in my past life..."

Setting aside the issue of strength, that kind of repair was definitely done in Japan. Could he not do something similar with magic? He had a custom-made subject right here. In a way, wasn't this a perfect opportunity for an experiment? The strength was a concern, but if the experiment included testing that, then this vacant house would be useful.

"...Yeah, I’ll try it out with some scrap wood."

To state the conclusion, the repair using scrap wood as a sort of filler was a success. ...And on a level, or rather, a dimension, that far exceeded Yuri’s imagination.

Because the rotted area was large, it consumed more wood than he had expected, but it was all just scrap wood that he had trouble finding a use for anyway, so he didn't mind. The sight of the wood chips melting away as if dissolving, filling the damaged area was... both interesting and creepy to watch, something he found difficult to describe. More important than that, the problem was...

«Magic Laminated Wood. Wood repaired by filling the decayed part with the wood material of other lumber using the Wood Magic skills [Wood Transformation] and [Wood Reinforcement]. It has also been magically strengthened, making its durability far surpass that of ordinary wood.»

"...Yeah... the mystery has deepened..."

Seeing the unfamiliar skills `Wood Transformation` and `Wood Reinforcement`, Yuri tried reading the explanation, but...

"...Yeah, something about lignin this and cellulose that... I don’t really get it."

He quickly abandoned trying to understand the principles and focused only on how to use them. For now, he decided that knowing he could use scrap wood to reinforce lumber was good enough. Skills, like home appliances, were ultimately just tools. Even if he didn't understand the principles or structure, he should have no trouble with normal use.

"...If it becomes necessary, I can just look it up again then..."

For now, knowing that he could use this skill and how to use it was enough. With that settled, Yuri went around repairing most of the damage in the houses, from broken siding to rattling window frames, using this newly acquired skill.