Chapter 17 – Plans Manifest(?) (III)

Chapter 17

Plans Manfiest(?) (III)

The undelivered things were delivered within an hour; how amazing was this? Will I ever get to the point where my mere name alone scares the crap out of someone like Elder Zhou?

Forget it. It’s better to be low-key in this world. Isn’t there that saying that goes: the star that shines the brightest dies the fastest? Or something like that. Anyway, I’ve always been a low-key person, even back on Earth. Besides, I have Long Tao–he can be the brightly shining star. And if he refuses, I’ll find some other knucklehead who won’t.

First things first–the dwelling!

Now, look, I’m not an architect, or a builder, or any of the vocations even remotely in the realm of construction. But I was a teenager a few years before the internet exploded onto the scene and made me entomb myself within four walls.

There was a forest some ways behind the suburbs that I lived in, and Jackie, Taylor, Greg, Simon, and I used to spend almost every waking hour we were allowed to be out just trouncing around the wooded area. Over the years, we’ve built like sixteen tree houses, each better than the last, and even if tree houses and, you know, ordinary houses weren’t the same thing, so what? Trial and error, baby! The principle upon which the modern world was built!

So, first things first… foundation. Since this peak is as stable as any place on Earth (based on the memories, there had never been an earthquake strong enough to shake this place in all the time Lu Qi has lived here), it doesn’t have to be perfect. Plus, it will be a small ‘hut’, essentially, so there’s probably no need to dig out massively.

Maybe start with some shallow stone pads? Maybe timber posts? No, stone pads are better. After all, there’s a bunch of scattered stone all over the place, and I don’t have to pay for any of it.

After that, the frame itself–vertical posts and horizontal grits. The big question is how to make them stick together. I vaguely recall us ‘sawing’ the wood in such a way that they perfectly fit together; I think it was called wooden joinery? There’s probably a fancier term for it, but I can’t remember. Anyway, that’s one option.

This world did have nails, or at least an ersatz of the invention, but they did not use it as a means of keeping pieces of wood stuck together but for formations and arrays. Joinery is probably a better option and a far cheaper one. I’ll just have to be careful; even though I don’t have a saw, I can actually use Qi to finely cut it. This body’s at least capable of that much. Lastly, the roof frame should follow the same principle.

Hmm.

So, there are a lot of bamboo trees outside the sect. I can probably fetch a bundle or two by my lonesome, which should be enough to fill out the gaps, after which I can use plaster to keep it all tightly coated. Unfortunately, plaster is all one gray color, so it might look ugly, but… well, Long Tao seemed to have no issues with living in a pigsty, so this would be much better.

Lastly would be the roof covering; shingles are out of the question—those things cost an arm and a leg—and thatch will be good enough, as it rarely even rains. If I insulate it well enough, it shouldn’t leak. Eaves and drainage should be relatively easy with a hollowed-out piece of lumber.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Floors, interior, doors, and windows… hmm, I need to leave gaps for those things. Two windows, one for each room, should be enough. I also need to account for the fact that Long Tao’s dwelling will become a ‘communal’ dwelling soon enough. Every disciple should have their own room, but other areas will be shared. But that’s easy enough to do; I’ll leave a secondary doorframe that will lead to a hallway connected to a bunch of identical rooms to Long Tao’s.

I can always just say that the position of his room is a privilege of my most senior Disciple.

“What are you thinking so hard about?” speaking of Senior Disciple!

“I plan on building a small place for you to live,” I said.

“Oh? You know how to do that?”

“… you don’t have to sound so befuddled.”

“Apologies, Master. It’s just that everything about your reputation contradicts every word of what you just said.”

“…”

“…”

“If I give you that cloaking art, can you use it to sneak out of the sect and never come back?”