Chapter 17: [Vol-1] Ch.17 Storage Space

Well, the only thing on my todo list is finish clearing the burned area. So today, I'll start by hauling the rest of the materials out and scattering it in different areas, to maybe promote more plant growth. I was thinking it is unfortunate that there isn't as much ground plants up this high, which makes it hard for me to eat, but that might actually have been a blessing in disguise. After all, that's likely why I haven't also run into anything dangerous outside while I've been exploring. Although I've made some progress strength wise, I still get the feeling that I'm likely very weak. Judging from the fact that both freshly evolved goblins and myself can easily dispatch an imp, I have a feeling the older goblins are a real threat to me.

It takes a little more than half the day to dispose of all the ash and bone meal, but on the way back I would fill the buckets with sticks, and then leave them in my room, so it ended up being more productive than I initially felt like it would be. Although now I still have the dilemma of what to do with the spare buckets. Breaking the buckets feels like a waste, but they also don't stack well, so they take up a lot of space, and storing them such that the goblins don't find them will require some extra effort.

I sit down and think on it for a while before making a decision. My first option is to just reshape them into inconspicuous rocks, and put them back in the main cavern. Which means I'd be doing shaping effort anyway, and if I need the buckets in the future, which seems likely, I'll have to remake them again. The second option is to just break them so they're unrecognizable, and leave them scattered somewhere. The effort is a little less, but again, it feels like such a waste.

The last option, and the one I decide on, is that it's time to reshape a second sub-cave to be a storage area. That way I can just store extra buckets, and anything else that won't decay over time. One unfortunate aspect of this choice though, is that I'm already living in the largest sub-cave. I purposefully picked this one so that I wouldn't have to worry as much as I grow in size. That means that no matter what sub-cave I choose, it'll be smaller than the cave I'm in now.

As much as I'd like to tunnel from my cave to my storage cave as well, the caves that are closest to this one are fairly small, and not actually that close due to elevation differences. That said, I'd still like it to be closer to here than across the cavern for maintenance purposes. With these criteria set, I go into the cavern to evaluate my options.

After refreshing my memory on all the nearby sub-caves in the cavern that are close to my house, I pick out the one that will become my storage shed. Of the nearby ones, it's the largest, but will also require the most work to make functional. In fact, it's only a little smaller than my current cave. The big issue is that the whole thing has a pretty heavy downhill slant to it. Which means serious renovations will need to be done before it's even slightly usable. Just going into and out of it requires climbing in its current state.

I wouldn't have chosen it if it was slightly smaller even, but given its size, I feel the effort of building stairs and ledge leveling inside will be worth it. There is also a fairly narrow point at one point on the decent of it that I'll need to widen. Before I make any estimates for how long this is going to take me, I still have a few hours, so I go and get my leveling tools, and build a few stairs to see how long they'll take.

As it would turn out, it'll take me quite a long time probably. Working on downhill slopes to try and carve stairs not only takes quite a while, but I also spilled some water from the level at one point, and was lucky that the buckets at the surface had some water in them, so I brought one bucket down to use for refills. I expect as I work, I'll spill less, but until that point, I'll need to keep water nearby. With that in mind, I decide that I should build the stairs down one side of the tunnel, and larger ledges on the other side, so that the bucket and level can be placed nearby so that I don't need to return to the main cavern every time I need to put a tool down.

Given all the work that will need to be done, not to mention storage built into the final room, I'm estimating a solid twenty days of uninterrupted work to finish. That is including the advantage of being able to simply grab crystals from the wall to recharge my mana. I decide to not remove all the crystals as I go though, leaving just enough for lighting. Instead I opt to seal the entrance with stone so no one can see inside. Gone are the days of having to hide the entrance by meticulously removing all the crystals!

With a plan set, I erase my old todo list, and add "Build Storage Room" before going to bed for the day. Tomorrow I begin work on the new room.

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The last three days went by well, each day I got a little further with the stairwell. Unfortunately now, at the end of day three, I've hit an unfortunate snag. Namely, all the raw lion root has started to rot. The cooked lion root seems to be okay for now though, but it does mean that tomorrow I'll need to go and acquire more lion root, and then cook it before storage. Tomorrow morning I'll experiment with eating some of the pre-cooked lion root, and also try reheating it over the fire, and verify which if any are fine to eat. It will be unfortunate if they are bad as well.

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The pre-cooked root that has aged seems fine to eat, but it is a little stale. Unfortunately, when I re-heated it, it basically crumbled apart and burned. It's unfortunate, but it seems like lion root doesn't boast the same great shelf life that the spuds did. Today, I'll go and harvest another five days worth, then cook them.

When I get outside, it's lightly raining. Which makes it even harder to get the lion root part of the way down the mountain. While I could wait to go and get it, I have zero idea about the weather here. What if it's the beginning of a hurricane and a bunch of the mountainside has a mudslide and I'm trapped in the cave for a long time without knowing. It's just a light rain, so I should be fine.

It took nearly twice as long as normal, due to my being overly cautious with the slippery ground, but I made it back with fresh lion root. As I get ready to go back in the cave, I check the buckets, and most of them are a little under half full.

I head down into the cave, and get ready to cook the lion roots, when I have a new idea, partially thanks to the rain, and having just checked the buckets. What about boiling the lion root. I want to test all my options. Raw, and cooked, both old and fresh, although not the rotten root. Which means that I haven't really harvested nearly enough today, but that's okay, I can go out again tomorrow. For now, I first shape a pot for boiling, complete with a stand for use in my fireplace. I go through the extra trouble of making sure that it's the concentrated form of the stone, with as few possible air bubbles which might cause it to crack. I set it, empty over the fire, while I go and haul some of the buckets down from outside.

While I let the pot go over the fire, I redistribute the water in the buckets. I don't want them so full that I spill again, but enough water that it's useful. Then I haul empty buckets back up to the surface to collect more water.

While I'd like to boil water tonight, it's already fairly late, and I want to be extra careful. My experiences with fire and water have not been great so far. So for the rest of the day, I roast most of the lion root, leaving a few raw to try boiling. I also go out and prep the campfire area in the cavern for use again. Tomorrow, I'll maintain a second campfire out there, in case the pot breaks, and I put my fire out again.

Satisfied with my day, I check my status before I go to sleep.

<EPIC IMP>
Level: 89
HP: 450/450
MP: 111/111
Traits: Mana Affinity, Earth Manipulation
Magic: Stone Shaping

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