[NR] Not So Basic - Chapter 539 (Patreon)

Of course, in crafting, Energy can easily do most things Qi can do. It does have a bit of difficulty for the more fancy Mana based stuff, so no raising a stone house out of the ground. It can, however, do a good imitation of touch tk.

Touch telekinesis, a classic super power used to explain why a super strong character can lift stuff without them coming apart. After all, it isn’t like you can just lift a building from a single point the size of a human hand. And with Energy, Jason can extend his power around something to stabilize it and encourage stuff out of its way. In particular, this makes pulling a boulder or tree stump out of the ground much easier.

Oh, and he can use his Energy as a number of tools. Now, he can’t extend his Energy all that far from his body so that limits things to a degree. That is still more than enough to process the trees needed for their starter house. Tree limbs come right off as his hand plays the part of a blade sharp enough to shave with, yet sturdy enough that he could chop a tree down with it.

Not that he did that. While the projected Energy blade is sturdy enough, with his current cultivation, Jason’s skin is only equal to the tree and not tougher. So any attempt to actually cut down the tree, one karate chip at a time, would result in taking a good bit of damage. Oh, and if it wasn’t for his unique situation, a nasty bone deep bruise.

At least he didn’t need too many logs at the moment. In fact, Jason had to chop down more trees than would be used for the first structure. After all, if they were going to have a clearing, it should at least be actually clear of unwanted trees. Oh, and the stumps as well.

Anyway, with seven trees removed, the clearing traced out a rough circle and had more than enough room to properly handle those logs. While Jason figured, he would only need five of them, no reason not to work on the extra two. Besides, he was going to need their limbs almost more than the trunks.

That was because the first shelter was simple enough, but needed more than just a tarp for a roof. Too temporary and the System simply wouldn’t count it. That meant more effort, but also a better place to sleep. So, Jason chopped up four of the logs such that the bottom section of each was an even four meters long. Then, at the top of those, Jason cuts an angled wedge to the side.

This left Jason with a decision to make. Or rather, in a perfect situation, there would be a decision to make, the size of the building. Except, his plan involved using young trees about as wide as three fingers together as the roof. Thus, his decision on what size to make it is instead limited by the available trees.

Good thing most of the trees in the area are growing straight up as they try to pierce the canopy. So, while the house won’t be the biggest of its kind, Jason manages to find a trio of young trees with a usable section around six meters in length. He harvests the trees and quickly drags them back to the clearing where he uses them to measure out the size of the building.

That settled, Jason begins the most tedious part, digging four holes. Each such hole being about two meters deep. A pretty impressive depth when you consider he only has a rough shovel and all four holes only took him some of the day to complete. Though at that point night had fallen so the tents needed to be set up again. Not that they expect the building to be completed, but a man can dream.

Anyway, early next morning Jason lifts the hefty logs into place and secures them with a mixture of gravel, dirt, and some clay Rosha had found a little downstream of their water source. He wasn’t exactly sure if this was the best way to do it, but while the building would be impressive for what they had to work with. Everyone agreed that it wouldn’t be permanent.

It would only take one trip back to the settlement and Jason could likely barter for various tools to make his woodwork so much better. For now, he focuses on quick and dirty. Quite literally as the case may be.

Anyway, Jason grabs a couple more young trees, only needing four meter sections this time. These, in part, boast a semi-unique feature. At the top of the workable section, there is an even ‘Y’ that formed from the sapling splitting for some reason. Not the rarest thing, but thankfully Jason only needed four meter sections.

He sank those two poles half a meter into the ground and used to hold up one of the six meter poles up to act as the roof’s peak. Then two short poles were secured in the center of each side and he placed three meter poles across, providing a platform to eventually put the roof. In particular, Jason wasn’t exactly swimming in brick tiles for the roof yet and so a simple thatch design was used.

With the roof done, the building could technically provide some shelter, though mostly only if it rained. Jason was quick to correct this fault. Between the log corners, he begins putting in thin poles. Then once he has all those needed besides the one entrance, the branches and such come in handy.

Like a wicker basket, Jason weaves the branches in and out of the poles, creating a shockingly secure wall. Still drafty as all get out, but Jason has a solution for that as well, mud. Oh, and of course clay and anything else Jason felt might work as filler. Sort of like wattle and dob, except without the classic animal based contributions.