Chapter 8 – Stone Wall and Stone Bath

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Leaving the hut, I immediately started to take action. I created a stone wall with my Crafting Ability. The awesome part about my Crafting Ability is that it’ll even put the stones together for me.

I decide the scale at the moment of creation, and depending on that, the number of consumed 『Building Stones』 will change. As such, I surrounded not only the hut, but also some extra plot of land to allow for free movement with a wall. Behind the hut was the cliff, making it unnecessary to build a wall there, and I also made sure to leave a gap in the wall to allow for entering and exiting the compound.

I installed a special 『Wooden Fence』 in that gap. It had a single door that could be locked by inserting a wooden board into the latches of the fence and pillars. The pillars had to be buried, but because I had become able to create a 『Stone Shovel』, the work itself wasn’t that challenging.
The shovel’s grip was made out of wood, while the scooping part at its end was made out of stone.

“I guess this should do.”

Once I finished the job, Chiyu applauded while exclaiming, “Oooh~, nothing less of you, Sou-kun. This looks like it’ll keep intruders out.”

“I can put the hut and stone wall into my 『Inventory』, so it won’t come to nothing even if we move either.”

Given that the fence ended up connected to the ground after burying the pillars, I’d need to pull out those pillars to store them. Depending on the circumstances, I think it’ll be okay to leave this much behind, too.

By the way, when I stored my creations, they were being displayed as 『 Hut 』, 『Stone Wall』, and so on without being disassembled right away. If I want to disassemble them, it’s also possible. My Crafting ability has the wonderful feature that it’ll return all the materials previously used without producing any waste or rubbish.

However, there exists an exception as well. If the creation itself has been damaged, the material will be reduced in proportion to the damage. For example, in case 3x Ordinary Wood of a creation specified to have been built with 100x Ordinary Wood burned or rotted away, the materials after disassembly will amount to 97x Ordinary Wood.

While carrying out such experiments, I also discovered a welcome usage of 『 Inventory 』…

“Nothing less of you, Sou-kun, or abbreviated, NoleoySou.”

“Don’t abbreviate it.”

“With that said, heal.”

I wasn’t all that tired, but thanks to the white light, the exhaustion withdrew right away.

“Nothing less of you, Chiyu, or abbreviated, NoleoyChiyu.”

Chiyu remained silent for several seconds and then answered, “I feel like I’ll be happier without the abbreviations.”

“Right?”

Well, as long as it’s feelings of gratitude, I think 『Thank you very much』 or 『Thanks』 will do fine as well. But, in the end, it feels better to have a polite way of speaking used on you.

“By the way, Chiyu, don’t you get tired or something from using your ability? Is there some usage limit?”

These types of abilities usually have the issue of making their casters worry about running out of MP or having a limited number of uses at the beginning.

“I’m fine at the moment. Thanks for worrying about me.”

“It’s okay. All’s fine as long as you’re alright. Also, it’s a big help for my childhood friend to be a cheat.”

“I’ll turn that right back at you. So, Sou-kun, are you okay?”

“I’m totally fine, I’d say.”

I have used my ability so much that it’s actually worrying, yet I don’t feel any exhaustion from using it. Still, if I later find out that 『the ability is set to sap your life span in return』, it’s going to become slightly scary as I won’t know what to do about it at that point.

Well, thinking about it won’t change anything, though.

“In that case, there’s something I’d like you to make at all costs.”

“What is it?”

My childhood friend stared directly into my eyes as if she was about to make a major announcement.

“Bath.”

“Ah…”

It totally slipped my mind. Personally, I can handle it by randomly swimming in cold water, wiping myself with a wet piece of cloth, or enduring for a day, but I cannot bring myself to force this on Chiyu. It’d be one thing if I couldn’t do anything about it, but right now I’ve got my ability.

“Difficult?”

“No, a bath as it’s used in houses will be impossible, but if it’s something like a drum bath, it should be no problem.”

“Oohh……!”

Probably because she was quite happy about it, her eyes looked as if they were sparkling.

I don’t have a drum, but I got my Crafting Ability and stones. I made a foundation and installed a round stone cylinder on top of it. I also didn’t forget to equip the inside with wooden boards. Otherwise, your legs would get burned and you’d die.

Using the installation function, I filled the drum with water. All that’s left is to set it on fire.

I made the firestarter kit and the huge stone paving appear, and then got embers while glancing at Chiyu’s bold panty flashing. Next, I heated the water.

“Chiyu, could you watch this until the water is hot enough?”

I placed firewood next to the bath and called out to her.

“Count on me.”

Entrusting the watch of the bath to my childhood friend, who gave me a thumbs-up, I started an open fire for dinner, seeing how I had a fire going anyway.

I placed a log chair nearby, sat down, and concentrated on my Crafting Ability. The number of recipes has grown quite a bit. Considering that they just increased from my imagination, there are a lot of them. I guess the exploration has shown results in this as well.

However, currently, I have a very specific item in mind. I wanted to create soap.

While picking up various types of plants, the recipe for 『Oil』 was unlocked. Probably vegetable oil. However, due to issues with the plant, its explanation states that it’s not edible. It’s likely that you can’t use any oil for food, so that’s something inevitable. The road to tempura is still very long.

But, well, obtaining even a small quantity is a big help. If I add 『Ash』, 『Water』, and 『Lime』 to it, it’ll meet the 『Soap』 recipe. 『Lime』 is something I created out of 『Shells』.

Come to think of it, this Crafting Ability will quickly create anything requiring heating, such as earthenware, for me. On the other hand, it won’t automatically turn mushrooms into grilled mushrooms for me, and it won’t turn water into hot water either.

Mushrooms belong into the category of Cooking and boiling water 『isn’t crafting』, I suppose. Nevertheless, I wonder where the boundary line between crafted and not lies. This is something I’d like to investigate in the future as well.

Anyway, the soap is done. Also, one more thing. I took off my uniform and shirt, storing my underwear in 『Inventory』. I reformed it into a face towel and materialized it again. It’s inferior to regular towels in terms of water absorbency, but I think it’ll be possible to wipe your body with this.

I stored my uniform and shirt in 『Inventory』 and then materialized them again without changing their form.

“I wonder what happens if I do it like this.”

Wouldn’t they become as clean as fresh laundry even though I should have sweated buckets during the forest exploration today?

Yep.

The dirt was registered as a tiny amount of 『Soil』 in the 『Inventory』. Sweat and such were removed as 『Excess』. As a result of that, I was able to take out clothes that had nothing stuck to them.

Maybe it’s the same phenomenon as 『Salt』 and 『Water』 being created from ocean water while 『Bitterns』 are being omitted. There are things that my Crafting Ability won’t register, although they’ve been created or absorbed.

You could say this is a laundry method that exploits a feature of my Crafting Ability.

“Sou-kun, it’s all warm.”

I could hear my childhood friend’s voice from the bath.

“Aight, I’m coming right away.”

I stood up, wondering how she’s going to react to the soap and my new method of doing the laundry.

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