Raid: The Blacksmith-Chapter 97: Epilogue: Part Three
I teleport out of the Item Space and reappear in the Training Room where Melissa cut my hand off, that shebeast.
"Yeesh... thaaat’s not a good feeling." The shiver that runs down my spine the moment I appear definitely does a lot to confirm for me the possibility that I might have PTSD now.
I ignore it with expertise, leaving the Training Room to head down to the 1st Floor.
"The stuff I ordered should be arriving anytime soon now. Though it’s late, that store is apparently open twenty-four/seven so it’s not exactly a problem for them."
I head towards Hazel’s table after walking through the corridor, only to find no Hazel.
"Hm... her shift must be up for today."
Instead, there’s another young woman, who looks more or less around the same age. Thing is, I’m not particularly familiar with her, so I only wave as I pass by the table. Her eyes gleam and her cheeks flush a little as she awkwardly waves back. Cute.
There aren’t that many Warriors in the Main Hall right now, what with how late it is, yet I still get stares from a few as I walk towards the doors. I pull them open and step out of the building, then wait by the small stairway, casually sitting down in the process.
A good ten or so minutes and twenty tonne delivery trucks pull over by the sidewalk. I stand up to greet the men stepping out of them, letting them know that I’m the one who placed the order.
They’re sceptical at first, seeing how young I am, but my attire, building behind me, and face that’s been one of the most trending things on the internet right now does a lot in convincing them of my credibility.
They start packing out the things I ordered. A whole bunch of bags of cement, bags of aggregate, steel wires, and a ton of other building stuff. Some house things too, a king sized bed, solar panels, a stove and what have you, along with a great list of other things as well. They all cost quite the hefty price that they basically leave me bankrupt, consuming over ninety percent of all my savings.
"Well... that’s only based on my bank account. I still have that large amount of Mana Crystals I haven’t sold a single wink of. Then there’s the fact that I have a job with an eight figure annual salary now — ignoring the fact that I haven’t been payed anything yet — so yeah... furthest thing from broke on a wider scale."
I help the delivery guys unpack everything seeing as I’m considerably a lot stronger, until there’s a great orderly pile of stuff just outside the building.
Seeing as it’s night, meaning there aren’t a lot of people around, especially people who may or may not be having cameras, I snap by fingers, teleporting all that stuff to the Item Space. Of course, the delivery guys see it, and their jaws drop at the sight of everything they delivered disappearing right in front of them. I chuckle and make a shushing gesture as I bid them farewell, making sure to tip them as much as I’m able to all the while. Seeing them go back in their trucks and drive off, I teleport back into the Item Space after checking the coast to make sure no one sees.
Once there, I get started on building my own smithy. With Dawn’s help of course.
We start immediately, by leveling the ground for the foundation. We dig a flat, rectangle-shaped crater, thirty centimetres deep, using the Sub-Skill Gaia, with a width of twelve metres and a length of twenty-two metres. Situated perfectly in the middle of the open space. Then after that, we make the formwork. We build the mold for the foundation with some of the planks of wood then place the rebar accordingly within the formwork, adding wire mesh as well. After that we use Marid to conjure out a buck load of water, floating it in the form of a sphere, a few metres above the ground, and then we use Gaia again to manipulate some of the cement and aggregate, to mix it all together in the sky, creating concrete mix. We pour all that mix in there, letting it settle in nicely, filling the crater we had dug.
While the concrete sets and the cement hydrates, binding the aggregate and rebar, creating a strong, durable structure — we, in the meantime, use Gaia to create flat bricks to use for the floor and pavement. We make them in unmatching shapes so there’s no pattern when placing them, but all three centimetres thick. We then mix some cement with just water, and use said mix to create the pavement with the bricks.
Once that’s done, we finish the day’s work by making more bricks, but this time, make them all the same shape and size. All five centimetres thick, twenty-five centimetres long and ten centimetres wide. We make enough to create a two-row, rectangular frame, thirty centimetres high within the confines of the foundation. Specifically, right in the centre of the foundation that it leaves a metre’s worth of pavement outside of it from all sides. The space in the middle of the two parallel rows/lines of brick, we make sure to make fifteen centimetres wide to accommodate the wooden walls we’ll build in after.
Day one’s work. Finished.
Hours later, after a long well deserved break, we get started on the walls. I conjure out a great multitude of the various planks of wood, then we use them to make the walls. We stack them accordingly in between the two-row frame of brick, pouring cement in the small spaces in between to strengthen their hold then continue building up. Making sure to leave a doorway in the front, right in the middle, and window frames accordingly, we build the walls up to five metres high. Then, inside, we split the interior in half by creating a wall in the middle with a doorway on the right, making two rooms, each basically ten metres wide on all sides, with a stairway that leads all the way up on the left side of the interior wall.
After finishing up with that, we cover up the top of the wall with wide rectangle sheets of ceiling boards, then layer them with thin beams and place planks of wood on top, all while making sure to leave a big enough hole by the left corner of the interior wall to allow one to step out from below and step in from above. We keep going, layering walls on top of the second floor. Also five metres high. Also with their interior split in half by a wall in the centre, with a doorway over to the right, making two rooms, the first of which is almost completely wall-less on its right side, due to the large window frame that takes up nearly ninety percent of its space.
Once we’re finished with that, we use more planks of wood to create a roof frame, adding beams and the like to support the roof. Then we cover the roof with tiles, pure white in color. Dawn’s choice. We then go back inside, and install the ceiling boards of the entire second floor’s ceiling, also pure white in color. Also Dawn’s choice.
After that, we look into tiling the second floor. Making sure the wood doesn’t creak or what have you — by walk-around and applying considerable weight — I conjure out some tile glue and we apply a thin layer of it onto the wooden floor of the first room. Then I conjure out sheets of 6mm Cement Backer Board, lay them down across the entire room and start screwing them all in, every twenty centimetres while Dawn watches. I do the same thing in the second room, then conjure out some Flexible Adhesive, mix it while levitating in mid-air using Gale Blaze, and apply it all in one go, trusting myself to apply the tiles way before it hardens. I conjure out the tiles, also white-maybe Dawn shouldn’t choose colors anymore.
Using Gaia, I levitate them around both rooms as I float by the doorway in between and place them all accordingly on the adhesive, pushing them down evenly, creating a straight flat surface. I then use Gaia to remove the adhesive sloshing about between the tiles, wait a good while to let it harden well enough, then conjure out some of the Flexible Grout, mix it with water via Marid and then apply it in the thin lines between the tiles.
Then we finish the day’s work with installing the windows in their respective frames.
Day two’s work. Finished.
The following day, me and Dawn have a bit of fun, painting the abode. Really less of a work day, considering how much we’re just playing around. Of course, she’s no longer picking the colors.
"Aww, but Master-"
"No."
We paint the interior, then the exterior until the whole thing’s done. After that, we stand a few metres away from the doorway, taking in our new home.
"It looks great, Master." Dawn praise with a genuine bright smile.
"I know, right...? Just call me Raid the Builder."
"Hey, I helped too, y’know?" Dawn pouts as she looks to the side.
"Oh... r-right... Raid the Builder and uh... Dawndy?"
"... You can’t be serious..."
"I can honestly stand here and tell you that... that I really tried my best..."
Doing well to ignore the embarrassment coursing down my spine, slightly making my whole body shiver, I step towards the smithy. And go through the doorway. Dawn follows, a thin broken smirk on her face. Once inside, I then utter; "Open Item Space."
Report. Command accepted. Now opening Item Space...]
[Report. New items detected. Now processing new items...]
[Renewing Item Space contents...]
[Now opening Item Space.... again...]
Item Space A-Rank contents:
....
I look through the Item Space list, with Dawn peeking from the side. There’s a lot on said list, including all the things I ordered, considering I didn’t use up all of them.
"Still a great amount of cement, aggregate, tiles, and all that stuff left" Dawn and I step into the back room of the 1st Floor. "Alright, time to lighten the load." With that, I activate the Item Space Skill’s Sub-Skill Expansion, and use it on the back room, leading to a development that can only be described as mind boggling. The entire space gets wider and longer with Dawn and me standing in the centre of it, almost as if it’s being stretched. "Incredible." Dawn utters in admiration. The bricks paving the floor grow in size to become ten times bigger looking than before, same for the wall and ceiling. I hurriedly step by the doorway to look into the first room. It’s still the same size. Then I look back into the back room. It’s huge.
"Oh yeah, this is a cheat Skill, alright." I affirm as I get back in completely. Then I conjure out basically every thing out of the Item Space. Every single thing. Letting them float in the wide space of the room, I start to situate them accordingly. I gather almost all the things I bought in one corner, placing them in an orderly fashion, alongside all the remaining various planks of wood. Next to that, is all my normal iron. Next to that, is all my Cold Iron. And next to that, I place a sizable table that I bought, among others, where I neatly fold all my various fabrics, such as leather, cotton, silk, alongside the fabric based loot I got from Dungeons Bosses, the pelts and skin and so forth. As for the Harpy Countess’s wings, I quickly make a hanger by the wall and hang them there, spread out, as if they could soar off at any moment.
I then grab a big barrel, and another table plus a chair from the things I bought, placing the table and chair against the left side wall, close to the corner of the interior wall, then place the barrel right next to said table. Then I put all the claws, canine, etc. that I got from the Dungeon Bosses, in the barrel. Only but a metre to the side, I levitate the Dragon Furnace then place it against the wall, right next to the table and barrel, then do the same thing with the Everchanging Anvil. Then, right above the table, I make a few hangers to accommodate all the weapons I usurped from my previous enemies. And to the side, on the interior wall, I make a few more hangers to accommodate all my weapons, including the ones I use for mining, crafting and blacksmithing along with Hayzar’s Gifts. Then finally, I use Gaia to create a big box made of stone. A treasure chest basically, over to the right side of the Dragon Furnace and Everchanging Anvil, then I throw in all my Mana Crystals inside it.
"And... done." I utter in satisfaction as I create a lid for the massive chest, closing it with it.
"All that’s left are the other three rooms, now." Dawn comments as she casually rests her elbow on my shoulder.
"Yeah." I nod to then turn my head slightly to look at her. "Once that’s done. I’ll be having a whole house for myself and won’t even have to worry about rent or mortgages."
"Hehe." Dawn giggles, her head ducked down as she shakes it slightly. "Alright... let’s finish up this little house of ours, then."
"Couldn’t have put it better my self."
