Chapter 19: Housing

Another warm morning, and just before dawn, Foin was already up. He had already drunk his usual tea and was eating some peppers. And as usual, once finished, he planted his seeds.

His farmland had changed over the night like before. Some of his peppers had grown up. Even the first pepper he had planted using many seeds had matured. It bore only four products. However, they were different. They were quite noticeably larger and had a different colour. They were not the usual yellow peppers, but they had a darker green colour.

However, Foin decided to keep them on for at least another day, seeing how long it took to grow, so for the time being, he only harvested the usual yellow peppers. While he was harvesting, he got a new notification, which he hadn't expected yet.

"Congratulations! You have levelled up. Required Experience Points increased! All Stats have increased by 1! Ability Points increased by 1!"

Foin sighed and finished harvesting. At that moment, he was focused on a few things. First, he finished harvesting, and then he put the unneeded plants into the compost bin, which he once again started watering. Once it was done, he could focus on more brick-making.

He slowly made another few dozen bricks, but then he decided to see the ones he made previously. At first, he gently touched them. They seemed solid, and as he grabbed them firmly, they stayed in shape. Seeing their current state, Foin decided that he would stop for the time being, and instead, he grabbed his spade.

Although he wanted to move some dirt again, this was not so that he could create another pit. His plan was to dig out the base of his planned house. He wanted to sink it slightly into the ground and use some grass as the floor, which could also be used as a pillow or even a blanket.

With great speed, Foin dug a short layer of dirt in about a two-by-two meter square. He put the unneeded dirt to its sides instead of to the large pile of dirt, and then he brought his somewhat ready brick over there and also a full bottle of water. He used the water to make the ground slightly wet and then put the brick on top of it.

He slightly watered the dirt left around the base, and then he scraped the somewhat wet mud, applied it onto the brick, and then quickly put another brick next to it. He repeated this process until he ran out of bricks. It happened quite quickly, as he was barely able to do a bit over two sides, so he went back and continued creating more bricks.

He planned the house so that it would look right at his farm and grass pile so that he could move things in and out more easily if needed, and should the need arise; he could also use the house as storage.

For the rest of the day, he was focused on making his bricks. He almost managed to use up all of his dirt in the process, but he intentionally stopped as he could use that as some sort of adhesive to put his blocks together more easily.

Once he was done with the boring and tedious work, Foin decided to take a bath. He was quite muddy, and since he had a pool, he would be stupid not to enjoy it. He quickly removed his clothes and jumped into his pool. The water was slightly warmer than the day before, so it was even greater.

As Foin was just relaxing, he looked around his garden, and something came to his mind. He hadn't seen the ant in a few days; however, he was certain that it was still around as his food storage was shrinking every day.

"That little leach is using me as a food source... Well, at least I am not the one on the menu... I should probably break a few peppers so that the seed doesn't go to waste."

He slowly submerged in the water so that the water would reach his face; also, he wanted to wash his hair. Since he had no soap to wash his hair, he only scratched it hard under the water. He repeated the process a few times, and once he felt that it was enough, he just kept enjoying the water.

Once he had enough of the water, he slowly climbed out and shook some of the water off of his hair and body. He then grabbed his clothes, walked over to his peppers, and kneeled down. Water from his body was dripping down, that is why he only kneeled down, as he didn't want to get muddy and dirty again.

He quickly grabbed the closest pepper and broke it, collecting its pepper. He repeated this process until he had removed the seeds from dozens of peppers. And then, with the help of his wooden space, he planted the seeds. By the time he was finished, he was already dry, so he could take on his clothes.

He quickly grabbed a large amount of grass and spread it across the floor of his new house. He decided that although it barely had a single brick-high wall, he would sleep that night. However, before he went to sleep, he grabbed the manual given by the system.

He was already done with the first three pages, so now he needed to do the fourth page; however, that was no longer simple hand and arm movements. They required whole-body movements.

In the slowly growing darkness, Foin copied the movements depicted in the manual, and once he had repeated them a few times, he went to sleep. He knew that tomorrow, he would have to use the bricks he had created to continue his house. Although he was uncertain of the size he wanted his house to be, he felt that he would most likely need more dirt.

He would most likely need to dig another hole, but he still needed to find some sort of purpose for that, as it would be a waste to have a pit without using it. He fell asleep thinking about how to use a supposed extra hole.