Chapter 14: Ch 14 – Construction

 In Issac's vision, there was a large and complex construction. 

The house he designed, due to the primary available resource being wood, was a cabin. The cabin has its primary living areas to the left of the river. There was also a section of the house that rose and extended over the river. Issac had thought it would be cool to give this water source a room of its own, maybe making it a pool room. 

Everything else he would need was situated to the side, and he even planned an underground area like what Anthony had. 

The actual design process didn't take that long. What was tedious was the engineering for all the corners, joints, and connections between the wood he would be using. He couldn't have his house falling apart with a gust of wind, so everything would need to be secure. 

After designing everything and getting an accurate count of the construction items he needed, he actually placed an order for them. Things like screws, nails, metal plating, and more. 

As for the tools, he could just make his own. 

"Well, better get started."

Issac mumbled before changing into a pair of casual clothes. Then, he walked to a nearby area of the forest away from his designated construction site. 

Issac didn't know about different types of wood, but quick galactic net searches by Nifty provided him with easy data. The tree's on this island were a kind of softwood that was strong yet lightweight, perfect for wood construction and carpentry. Not only that, but the trees were tall and wide, making the sheer amount of wood available to him abundant.

"Genetically modified Blue Atlas Cedar trees. A bonsai variant too. A tree with blue-green needle leaves, light brown sapwood, and near-black heartwood. I want the heartwood primarily for construction. Guess that makes things easy. I'll have to calculate the wood I need as I get it since the heartwood concentration can vary between trees. Though, it says the taller ones are generally older. I want them instead of the younger ones."

Issac lifted his hand as he found a tree deep in the forest. The next moment, electricity sparked along the dark iron modifications in his palms. 

An axe was created from Hardlight. Issac knew the blade of this axe was extremely sharp, so he didn't need to feel it. 

Stepping up to the tree, he swung.

*Chop!*

The axe buried itself in the side of the tree, cutting through 5 feet before stopping. Issac ripped the axe out before swinging several more times. 

With the extremely sharp Hardlight that had a blade edge the width of a few atoms, Issac could chop through thick wood so long as he put his back into it. 

A bit of grunting and chopping eventually created a large divot in the tree. Going to the opposite side, Issac finished the job. 

With a single chop, the tree began to collapse under its own weight. Issac heard the loud cracks and saw the 40m tall trunk tilt. 

"Timber!"

*Thud!*

The tree fell among its brethren, hitting the ground with a shockwave that swept up piles of leaves. Issac smiled and clapped. 

"Now I just need to move this wood. I'll do that after chopping some more. Hey Nifty, go grab my pilot suit."

*Meow*

The cat answered with a cute sound, trotting off as Issac moved on to the next tree. 

When the cat came back a few minutes later with the suit, Issac had cut down a couple more trees. His axe made quick work of the wood. 

Issac finally stopped after cutting down 10 tall and old trees. After checking them all, he found that they all had large heartwood cores, making them perfect for his construction needs. 

He had worked up a sweat too. Issac took off his shirt before looking at the pilot suit that Nifty sat on the shoulder of. 

"Hey cat, have that thing start carrying back some of these trunks. I'll carry some too. It'll be my workout."

*Meow!*

The cat assented before moving the pilot suit. Issac conjured some chains and spikes that he handed to the suit. 

With those chains and spikes for anchors, the suit was able to drag the trees off to the site. Issac chained a trunk too, but when he pulled, he found that the tree was impossible to just drag by himself. 

"I'm stupid."

Shaking his head, Issac went and chopped off all the branches. He then divided the trunks into segments that he could drag. Each of these segments were still extremely heavy though, a couple hundred pounds, and Issac had to give full effort to sling a chain over his shoulder and drag one. 

The cut down trees were about 250 meters from his planned house site. So Issac had to drag heavy tree segments 250 meters. After a few minutes of dragging, he finally made it, his breathing labored and his shoulder sore. 

"Damn! I'm out of shape!"

Issac let out a loud shout. Beside him, Nifty was dragging back its third tree trunk. Issac looked over and scowled. 

"Dammit. You know that suit gets energy from me, right? You're not special."

"Meow!"

"Hey, I still have a soul ache from earlier too. Just let me get my workout in. I'll get two trees worth. You get the rest."

With that, Issac trudged back off. He dragged back the next segment with just as much difficulty, though he did so faster. Nifty got another two trunks in that time, making Issac feel dejected. 

By the time Nifty had collected 8 of the tree trunks, Issac was able to drag all the segments of a single one over. He then moved on to the second batch of segments. 

It was an hour later that Issac finally fell to his knees. The last segment had been dragged, placed among the rest of the trees. His body was dripping sweat, his shoulder was bruised, and his hands were tender. 

Issac had done a lot of manual labor on the farm, so this much wasn't difficult to put himself through. He was still really tired though. That was an entire day's work, what he just did. 

The day wasn't over though. Issac caught his breath for a bit before raising his head. 

"If I work quickly, me and the suit should be able to at least lay the foundations of this house by the end of the day. Alright, let's keep going."

Picking himself up, Issac began doing proper construction. 

He already had the layout. He had constructed the virtual house of standard-sized pieces of wood, and he had a list of materials he needed to complete the entire thing.

And tools he needed like saws, hammers, screwdrivers, or shovels could be conjured by him with Hardlight. Not only that, but his order for construction supplies had come in only an hour after he bought it, delivered specially by a drone. There were boxes of screws, metal joints, glue, and other various tools that were more permanent and couldn't be created by Hardlight. 

With that, he got to the first order of business. 

Issac conjured a shovel, giving it to the pilot suit controlled by Nifty. After making his own, he got to digging holes for the foundation posts. 

The suit was able to dig three deep holes before Issac even finished his first. Only after much sweat did he eventually finish.

Issac planned to create the main house before doing anything auxiliary like the pool room, so he made 10 holes in a 4x6 rectangle formation. 

Then, he got to cutting the trunks. He cut the trunks to produce a rectangular piece of wood, each one precisely measured by Nifty and cut by Hardlight saw. The foundation posts were made of heartwood and were 8 meters tall. 2 meters would sink beneath the ground in the hole and 6 meters would be aboveground. 

It was only after Issac set the first post that he realized how tall it was. 

"...Should I plan for a second floor? You know what, tall ceilings aren't bad either."

Shrugging, he continued. 

With Nifty, Issac quickly planted all 10 posts. When this was done, he looked up, wiping the sweat off his brow. 

The miniature star in the center of this inverted world had glowed a bright yellow, giving the place natural sunlight. At some point though, it began to change color. 

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Over the course of an hour, the star changed from a bright yellow to a soft blue flame that got progressively darker. This was the transition into nighttime. 

Issac marveled at the star before continuing. Instead of sweating though, Issac's body was cooled by the chilled air. For an isolated moon, the Mantle truly had a realistic environment. 

By the time it got really dark, Issac had not only laid the foundation posts, but built the foundation for the flooring. The beams that intersected between each beam were just as thick as the foundation posts and supported by additional posts in the central areas of the house. Issac didn't want to deal with creaks as he had in his previous farmhouse, so he made everything solid at the expense of a bit more time.

At some point, Issac collapsed against a stump he used as a cutting board. While he only did a fraction of the work of Nifty, he did it all personally, pushing his body to the limit. He didn't realize construction could be so difficult. 

"I'll have to come back tomorrow. I'll just sleep at Anthony's house. It had plenty of bedrooms."

He pulled his body up as he said that. Nifty called a flying car as he threw his shirt on, and they flew to the Zeta residences. 

By now, Issac had obviously realized that his being on a floating island wasn't normal. 

"99th place, not percentile."

He mumbled as he looked at his card. He didn't know how he was able to jump to 99th place in the entire 13th generation, but it had been done. He had just gone with it, and now he had his own island.

Granted, he wasn't happy when he walked up to no house, but he didn't feel so bad about building his own. In fact, he quite liked the work after a while. In this metropolis that had the most advanced technology the galaxy had to offer, building a cabin in the woods was a nice change of pace. 

Plus, Issac had lived on a farm all his life. He didn't like the bare modern houses with cold marble, though he did like the fancy tech in them. Instead, he liked the more homely feel of the cabin. It would be even better once he fully built it. It would be his own house, built with his own grimy paws and sweaty back. 

Issac thought of the future as he arrived at Anthony's house. Only, he was surprised when Anthony wasn't home. 

"Maybe he's still with his dad. I won't disturb him then."

He mumbled as he climbed back into the flying car. There was no way he was breaking into his house, so he could only go back. 

Back on his island, Issac bought soap and a sleeping bag. Deciding to be exotic, he jumped into the river and washed. He didn't worry about the water since Nifty found that it was all freshwater. There weren't any fish, bugs, or bad bacteria. In fact, the entire forest was devoid of any pests, making the place very comfortable. 

After washing and getting clean, Issac set himself up on the ground. He laid down a sleeping bag plus some blankets, getting nice and cozy atop the soft dirt. 

"Keep watch, Nifty. Wake me in the morning."

*Meow*

The cat climbed into bed with Issac. At the same time, the pilot suit stood guard, Nifty obviously connected to it. And because both items were charged with Issac's power, they didn't run out of energy. 

Like that, Issac went to sleep beside his work in progress. 

............

Unbeknownst to the naive farmer boy, people had been watching the entire time. 

There was a forum specifically for those in Generation 13. Every 10 years, a new generation was established. This meant that everyone in a generation was both competitor and ally being in the same age group. 

And naturally, testing straight into the top 100 was huge news. 

Issac had immediately caused waves within the first couple hours of his admission. The forums had momentarily exploded, everyone wondering which newbie had dethroned a ranker. 

And they instantly found out. Issac Exos, a 22 year old kid. 

Everyone immediately sought out background information on him. Even if this didn't amount to anything, people were naturally curious. And in this galactic age of information, there was very little that couldn't be found out. 

Issac Exos. A hillbilly farmer boy from a rural human farming colony. Has a deep connection with Cornelius Hayle, an Admiral of the SSC, and has a friend who instantly grabbed a Zeta residence after his pilot test.

These details weren't that special. In the Mantle, who didn't have an amazing background? In fact, Issac's was shockingly underwhelming, even disappointing. A farmer testing into the Mantle? And straight into the top 100? The man who was dethroned because of this kid was furious. 

But there was one detail that caught everyone's attention. Issac's parents were Maximus and Victoria Exos. But little to no information could be found on them. This could only mean they were high profile, people that couldn't be easily touched. 

More people got curious about this newcomer, and a new thread was created discussing Issac personally. On top of that, people had gone to watch him on his island. They wanted to see what he was all about. 

But his subsequent actions shocked them. He actually started building a house!

One particular Aatrix who loathed Issac's dirty appearance posted a video of him chopping down and dragging the tree segments. 

"Look at this primitive. Doesn't even have the money to buy tools or clothes."

"Are primitive humans called Neanderthals?"

"Does he know those trees weren't put there as building materials?"

A few other Aatrix and Zandran jumped on the wagon, criticizing Issac's dirty labor. On the contrary, others had a different impression. 

"Hawt."

"I haven't seen anyone workout like this in years."

"And he's got no shirt..."

"Tell the human women to chill out."

"Aatrix woman here. My forbidden feelings are about to leak out."

All sides had their fun either praising Issac's manly work or making fun of his primitive actions. As people could go anonymous, they just said as they thought. Nobody cared either way, but clashes did still happen. And as cameras were high powered, everyone could view Issac in full detail from out of sight. The pictures and videos taken of him looked as if they were taken right beside him. 

This was until night came. When Issac had gone to use the river and wash, everyone was flabbergasted. 

"There's no way he's gonna wash in the river."

"He's stripping."

"There's no way!"

"He's nude!"

"He's washing!"

"Someone stop this man!"

"Aatrix woman here. Interfere and I'll break your neck!"

"Someone hold this Aatrix woman back!"

"At least he's not gonna get made fun of..."

Without much suspense, Issac's nighttime wash in the river made the forums explode once more. Thankfully, since Issac had washed in the cold river he decided to be quick, and it didn't last more than a few minutes. Still, he was captured as if filming a movie, and he had no idea. 

Into the night, everyone was sharing the videos and pictures. Because it was an open forum and everyone there were adults, the censorship was mild. Meaning, it was totally useless. Nothing could stop the spread. Technology was mean like that. 

Thankfully, Issac was blissfully ignorant. He went to sleep with a peaceful mind, not realizing how much he had shocked the entire Mantle in just one short day.

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