Lords of the Heavens

Chapter 5 Construction Experience
That night, Li Wei slept in a shack that reeked of mildew. Although it had been exposed to the sun for two days, it was still damp.

A sheepskin blanket was all he had.

He was exhausted last night because he was new here, so he didn't feel the mosquitoes biting him.

I couldn't sleep tonight because I had something on my mind, and that's when I realized what it's like to be bombarded by mosquitoes.

I finally managed to stay awake until midnight before falling into a deep sleep.

When I woke up the next morning, as expected, I was covered in bumps all over my body.

It's hard to imagine how Fila and Penny got through it.

The good news is that Penny's expensive herbs really worked; the ulcers and inflammation on his hands have started to improve, and calluses will likely grow back soon.

He can finally become a working person.

After relieving himself downstream, he washed himself in the stream water. Despite being extremely hungry, he was deeply grateful for the feeling of being alive.

Yes, it's good to be healthy, it's good to be alive.

When he returned, Fila had already cooked wheat porridge. This time, Li Wei felt no guilt for taking over someone else's place. He took a few extra glances at her. She looked to be around forty or fifty years old, with gray hair. Although her clothes were worn, one could still see some semblance of her former dignity.

In any case, even from a global perspective, she was definitely not born into a farming family.

However, an aura of decay lingered around her, as if she were a seriously ill person.

If I had to describe it in one word, it would be "the end is near."

In contrast, Penny, though petite and thin in every way, has a truly vibrant life force that cannot be concealed even by tattered clothes and messy hair.

“George, don’t waste time, what we have to do today is very important.”

Seemingly sensing Li Wei's observation, Penny urged him on, her eyes showing displeasure.

"it is good!"

Li Wei didn't ask any more questions. In fact, he still couldn't figure out how to build the house.

He cut down ten logs, each with a usable length of seven or eight meters, but how could he cut them without a saw?

He chewed the wheat porridge very hard and carefully, taking more than ten minutes to finish a bowl.

This is all experience.

This stuff is too coarse; eating it too quickly can easily cause indigestion and produce a lot of gas.

Meanwhile, Penny was already busy, and it was unclear how this construction experience was determined.

After Li Wei finished eating a bowl of wheat porridge and walked over, Penny had already taken an axe and chopped off the thinner end of the ten logs, dividing them into different lengths.

This should undoubtedly be a stage where he can gain the most experience in construction, but it's too late for him now.

However, Penny wielded the axe with completely different force, with a powerful and swift motion. In her hands, the axe seemed like a divine weapon, capable of chopping off a piece in no time.

Li Wei roughly estimated that Penny's strength attribute should be at least around 10 points, and her one-star craftsman card should also provide a decent boost.

Just like him, the apprentice farmer.

“George, dig four holes at the locations I marked, each up to your chest depth.”

Penny directed him, and Li Wei didn't try to compete for anything. He picked up the clumsy thing that looked like a shovel and started digging. But once he got his hands on it, he found that this seemingly clumsy tool was actually quite useful. Digging soil felt much more comfortable and natural than chopping wood.

Perhaps it was because the wounds on his hands had scabbed over and healed, or perhaps his body had become accustomed to such strenuous physical labor, but he dug with surprising speed and vigor.

Before we knew it, it wasn't even noon yet, and the four pits were basically dug.

He even had some energy left over.

Weird!

Could it be related to his status as an apprentice farmer?

"Well done!"

Penny wasn't sure if she was praising him or not, but she beckoned Li Wei over with her finger, and the two of them carried a thicker log into the pit.

Li Wei was in charge of straightening the soil, while Penny was in charge of backfilling it.

Once the pit was backfilled and tamped down, Li Wei received a message without warning: Construction Experience +1.
No one knows how much construction experience Penny had gained, but when she carried over the second log, she simply handed the shovel to Li Wei.

"You come!"

Li Wei didn't mind at all; he still had plenty of energy left and was no longer as disheveled as he had been the previous two days. Working together, the two buried the four thickest logs in the pit and tamped them down, creating a square frame with sides approximately five meters long.

The ground inside the frame is a layer of stone, which serves as the foundation.

Behind it was a two-meter-high earthen mound, which had been leveled and covered with a three-meter-high stone wall by Penny.

Anyway, by this point, Li Wei had understood Penny's house-building strategy.

The four logs serve as four support points, while the stone wall on the earthen slope behind can be used as an additional support point.

In this way, the house would have six supports.

By using two six-meter-long logs and fixing them in place, they can serve as the main beam.

Then, between the two main beams, some thinner logs can be laid longitudinally, and finally, even thinner logs can be laid laterally. Assuming that we don't use herringbone beams, it's quite easy to do.

However, this wooden house probably won't last long.

It can only be used as a transition.

After lunch, just as Li Wei had guessed, Penny took out eight rough, rusty iron nails, each about thirty centimeters long, from a small box wrapped in layers of cloth in the oxcart.

However, as he took out the eight iron nails, he also received a list of payments to Fila, which amounted to a whopping four experience points.

That's too expensive!

Li Wei looked at Penny, only to see that her gaze was stern and fierce, as if she would shove nails into his head if he didn't want to pay.

Okay, I can't afford to mess with them.

So all the four points of construction experience I had gained in one morning vanished in an instant.

However, these eight iron nails do indeed have the power to stabilize the world.

After a few moments of tinkering, Li Wei and Penny nailed the two six-meter-long beams together, and the basic structure of the wooden house began to take shape.

Afterwards, the two of them adjusted the last two fulcrums, adding or removing stones to distribute the force evenly and increase the stability of the house structure.

Thus, Li Wei successfully gained two pieces of construction experience, one piece of experience from a single main beam.

"We're out of nails, aren't we?"

At this moment, Li Wei asked, "If there were more nails, that would be excellent."

Penny rolled her eyes at him, too lazy to say anything, and just told him to get to work, just like an experienced player bullying a newbie in a game.

Li Wei had no choice but to be ordered around.

However, the next step was not too complicated. It involved lifting some logs about ten centimeters in diameter up and securing them with ropes.

Fortunately, the rope didn't need to be bought, because Penny just cut it from Li Wei's shack.

When they used up all of Li Wei's shack, they used her own.

With great difficulty, the area above the main beam was finally covered. All that's left is to add one more layer, and then the roof can be smoothed out with a mixture of weeds and soil.

However, by the time they finished working, the sun was already setting, and no matter what, the house could not be completed today.

Fortunately, there is still good news.

The house construction is two-thirds complete, and rewards are being calculated. The total reward available for calculation is 60 construction experience points.

You participated in the construction of the main structure of the house and gained 20 construction experience points.

You currently have 5 points of logging experience and 28 points of construction experience.

-

Wait, why only 20 points? Doesn't that mean Penny got 40 points all by herself?
Li Wei was very surprised and puzzled, because he had built a shack for this.

In the end, however, he did not choose to ask anything. The settlement of this experience reward was definitely not up to Penny; there must be some mechanism he did not understand.

Penny, being a seasoned player, undoubtedly took advantage of her status as a veteran player.

It’s okay, take your time.

Hasn't everything already gotten back on track?

(End of this chapter)