Chereads / The Homesteader's Rise / Chapter 17 - Chapter 17: Home Sweet Home

Chapter 17 - Chapter 17: Home Sweet Home

Five days later, on a sunny April Monday morning, Thaddeus pulled the horses to a stop atop a hill. From here, he could see his entire territory. He saw the river rapids, plains, forests, and mountain ranges. It was a beautiful sight. His 10,000-acre territory ran along the northern riverbank, to this hill, and ended at the southern mountain range. Finally, he reached his goal.

There was not a human in sight, nothing but wilderness for miles. He cracked the reins, and the horse made their way down to the riverbank. Thaddeus wanted to build his house just off the riverbank and a quarter of a mile from the road. When he arrived, he noticed the northern riverbank was higher than the southern. The shorter riverbank was more prone to flooding.

Off in the distance, he saw a pack of coyotes hunting. For now, it looked that would be his predator of concern. Most of the Cayotes were Levels 10 to 15, which wouldn't be a problem for him now that he was Level 12. They would serve as good combat practice. His real worry was the predators in the forest.

When he found the location, he liked he unhitched the horses and tied them to the wagon to let them move around a few feet from the wagon. He also unloaded the goats to let them graze nearby. With the animals taken care of for the moment, his first task was shelter. He pulled out the [Yurt In A Box] white small package he purchased with his five-gold voucher. He quickly read over the simple instructions, which warned him to open the box in his desired location with an eight-foot radius clearance, and hit the [Open] button, the disclaimer warned once the processes started it could not be stopped nor moved.

He moved six yards away from his wagon, placed the box flat on the ground, and hit the open button. The white box started magically opening. Its flaps opened first to realize a small crate inside. Then the crate magically expanded to the size of a small rectangular, wooden, train container. The sides of the container slowly dropped down to the ground, as they fell more flaps extended to form an octagonal base that rose two inches from the ground.

Next, the accordion wooden lattice walls magically extended along the octagonal perimeter, latching itself in place. As the walls extended along the perimeter a circular roof slowly rose to a height of 8 feet from the floor. The roof was held in place by 24 connecting beams. Finally, a heavy canvas draped over the entire yurt.

When the construction was finished, Thaddeus walled over to the yurt and saw a small window appear, seemingly out of nowhere facing the wagon. Before entering he ran his fingers over the heavy canvas. To his surprise, he could feel and hear some type of light metal inside. He guessed that was the insulation, but he wasn't sure until he saw it. When he opened the yurt, he was in for a much greater surprise.

The yurt was fully decorated with a sleeping loft accessed by a ladder, and a twin-sized mattress. There was a nice wooden bench next to the staircase on the first floor. The first floor also had a woodstove that vented out the roof, a small four-person table, and a kitchenette, minus a mini refrigerator. He candles were inside a cabinet, he guessed to help him see at night. Lastly, four durable five-foot rugs covered the wooden first and second floors.

When he returned outside, he noticed there was a wooden outhouse where it didn't exist before. He thanked Owen for the helpful advice. Now he understood why this box was so expensive. Five gold was equal to 50,000 coppers. As far as he was concerned it was well worth the price. He was unsure how long would it have taken him to build a temporary shelter. This was a real-time saver. And now he had somewhere safe to sleep.

He quickly brought in the supplies he bought from Owen and his carpentry and blacksmithing tools off the wagon. Now that his temporary shelter was built, the next on his list was to build the sawmill, plow the field, and plant crops while the planting window was still open. Then he could work on building his woodshop, forge, and tannery, then later he could build his farmhouse, barn, goat pen, and chicken coop. He knew much of the work could be done simultaneously, which meant he was in for long 12 to 14 hours days. And he couldn't wait.

Second, the bandsaw mill powered by water was on the agenda, which would require manual labor. Most of the sawmill was built in White Pines with Roy and Josh's help. Step one was to transport the large 4-foot long, 1, and quarter-inch wide blade and track to the riverfront. The track held the wood and the blade cut the wood that was the basis of a sawmill. To protect the blade and track he covered it with the blue tarp he built.

Then thought about the building he wanted to build to house the sawmill, the waterwheel to power the saw, and the gears he need to build to make it operational when he got a notification.

System Message: Build Water Powered Sawmill? Y/N

He clicked yes and a new prompt appeared:

System Message: Designation structure's location

Suddenly a red rectangle appeared in his vision. As he changed where he looked, the red rectangle followed along. When he looked next to the riverbank, the rectangle changed from red to green. Thanks to his architectural skill, he knew green meant okay to build and red meant not a suitable location. It didn't take him long to find a place he liked along the riverbank next to tree tall pine trees. He selected that area and the rectangle flashed green, like a camera flash.

Soon rectangle expanded into a translucent 3D blueprint image of the sawmill he envisioned. The image outlined where every piece of wood or metal needed to be placed. Thaddeus walled over and swiped his hands across the image, but all he felt was air. He thanked Demeter for giving him the skill of architecture, with this skill, construction would be much easier.

He went over to the wagon and grabbed, six 12-foot planks off the bed. To start, he cast [Stone Wall], which he slowly pushed down to use as the stone floor for the sawmill mill. Then he cast [Erosion] to securely buried the planks in the ground. As he did the translucent green planks disappeared. If he made a mistake the translucent green would flash.

The work was slow and tedious, but by afternoon he finished framing four sides of the building. As he worked, he received constant notifications that he had level-up in woodworking. He knew framing a house in one day wasn't possible for a single person in the real world, but in-game players were far stronger and more agile than the best Olympic athletes. When he finished, the frame he felt a huge sense of accomplishment.

He took a quick 30-minute break inside the yurt. He sat down at the table, took out Rhoda's quiche from his bag of holding, and placed it on his kitchen table. He used his metal utensils be built to cut a piece and start eating. He opened his flask and drank large gulps of water between each bite. He put one piece in his mouth when Carl and Betsy started baying loudly. He quickly ran out of the house to see a pack of six cayotes surrounding the horses and goats.

He grabbed his axe and raced to the cayotes, using bash he slammed into a coyote, which collided with three others. Using cleave he killed the stunned cayotes before the rest of the pack realized they were under attack. The other tree immediately jumped at him trying to scratch his body, but he was too agile. He quickly dodged one, slammed his shield into the other, and killed the third. The coyote who slammed against the shield limped and ran away, with the uninjured one.

Thaddeus quickly field-dressed the dead cayotes away from the wagon. He buried their organs and bones in the ground, put the meat into his bag of holding, and laid the pelts on the ground. After he was done, he went to the wagon bed and took out three large barrels. Which he put sat next to the sawmill. Carrying a barrel, he walked to the crystal river and filled it with water. He washed the pelts in water and scraped off the membrane as Alice showed him. He left the pelts in the water, finished eating, and returned to the construction site.

Looking at the translucent 3D blueprint, he wondered if he could change the walls from wood to stone. As if responding to his question, a notification appeared.

System Message: Would you like to modify the blueprints? Y/N.

Thaddeus clicked yes and watched as the translucent image changed. The wooden walls faded away and stone walls appeared. He was glad he could modify the building. This change helped save the lumber he brought within from White Pines. Until he built this sawmill, he had to manage his remaining lumber carefully.

Thaddeus cast [Stone Walls] around the rectangular building finishing the exterior walls in less than five minutes. He spent the rest of his afternoon and evening finishing the interior walls and nailing the beams to the top of the stone walls to make the base of the roof.

At night Thaddeus moved the chickens, goats, and horses into the yurt. It smelled terrible, but at least he knew his animals would be safe. He didn't log out that evening in case something happened to the animals or another emergency. At the break of dawn, his rooster woke him up. When he went downstairs, everything seemed okay except the goats ate part of the rug last night. He walked the animals outside and tied them to the wagon, cleaned the yurt, and ate another helping of quiche and water for breakfast.

After breakfast, he planned to finish the sawmill roof. When he arrived at the construction site, he noticed some of the stuff at been moved around. The ladder which was placed against the wall was knocked over. Clearly, some critters had come to investigate last night. He picked up the ladder and walked the wagon bed to bring the rest of the beams needed to make the trusses for the roof.

Yesterday, he nailed panels to the top of the stone walls to make the top plates and started nailing the heavying planks down to make the ceiling joints. Finishing the ceiling joints wasn't too difficult. The hardest parts were steady himself on the ladder while he hoisted the beams on top of the walls and worked to slide them in place. Thanks to his architectural skill, their measuring was limited to cutting the right-side planks and panels. Hand-sawing should've been a skill in the game. But he couldn't complain about the 3D image in front of him.

On the ground next to the sawmill, Thaddeus struggled to build one correct scissor truss. Unlike the frames for the walls, the angles he had to cut for the trusses and plum cuts proved difficult even with his woodworking skill. But struggles bring growth.

System Message: Congratulations your woodworking skills have increased to Level 75. You have reached the rank of adept carpentry. +1 STR, +100 EXP, + 1 SP

Thaddeus was thrilled, reaching the rank of adept meant he was no longer considered an amateur carpenter. As an adept wasn't a high-ranking carpenter, but at this level, he could take on his apprentices. Every 25 skill levels players increased a rank in the skill. That meant to reach the legendary rank, his woodworking would need to reach 250. And every player knew leveling, whether experience or skills, became more difficult as you advanced.

Thanks to leveling, he managed to finish the trusses and nail the paneling on the roof before it just before sunset. After he finished, he brought the animals inside the yurt, closed the bed of his wagon, ate dinner, and went to sleep.

In the morning, he felt refreshed. Even though it was the third day, his body was slowly getting used to the routine. Get up at sunrise, take the animals out, eat breakfast, work until sunset, bring the animals in, eat dinner, and repeat.

After finishing breakfast, it didn't take him long to finish shingling the roof. When he finished, he looked at the exterior of the sawmill and felt very proud of himself. He constructed a building with his own two hands, which was a good feeling. He walked inside and realized how empty the 500-square-foot building felt. The only things inside were the saw and track. Thaddeus looked around inside and a translucent 3D blueprint showed the missing gearwork he would have to build which required a forge.

Instead of building the forge, Thaddeus spent the morning, building the sawmill's kiln, which he placed on the west side of the building facing the forest. The kiln was important to help dry the timber he cut. One of the most important lessons Josh taught him was never to use moist or wet wood. And he Thaddeus how to check the moist content of wood, to figure out which one to use and not to use.

Thaddeus rolled up his pants, removed his shirt, and grabbed a shove from the wagon bed. He walked to the riverbank and began digging up clay. He must have walked the short distance from the riverbank to the sawmill at least a hundred times before he had enough clay to build the kiln. To build the updraft kiln he cast [Stone Wall] four times to build a 4-foot-tall stone shed that ran the length of the sawmill, and insulated walls with clay. He let the clay dry before he added a second, third, and fourth lining which took him most of the morning. Now all that was left was the gearwork and waterwheel and the sawmill would be in operation.

After lunch, Thaddeus built walked out of his yurt to where he planned to build his farmhouse. He decided he wanted to build his woodshop and forge behind his house. Using [Stone Wall] he built himself a forge atop a stone patio. The two most important elements of a forge are the firepot and the bellow because both control the heat applied to the ingot.

The forge resembled a modern outdoor stone pizza oven with a long chimney flute. The bellow Thaddeus carried out of his wagon bed was the size of a medium-sized travel luggage case. The bellow connected to the bottom of the forge, and he could operate it, he had to stand up and manually presses the two ends together to send air into the firepot.

Opening the second of the barrels, he removed after killing the coyotes, poured coal into the firebox, then lit it with his flintstone. It took a while, but he got the forget was lit, now he needed to pump the bellows until the coal started to turn to coke. Turning coal into coke was not an instantaneous process. For the process to work, Thaddeus needed to tend the forge overnight to make sure the forge stayed hot enough. If he failed, he would have to wait longer, which meant delaying finishing the sawmill which would delay his other projects.