Chapter 273: The Art of Building Houses

Tower of Time, Lord's Study.

Niya sat upright behind the desk, continuously reviewing the documents on the desk regarding the recent situation in the Territory, occasionally picking up a pen to annotate a few strokes; some came from the Town Hall, some from the Adventurers Guild, and others from the Temple.

Through these documents, Niya firmly controlled the direction of the Territory, but at this moment, her focus was not entirely on these documents.

In her mind, the words her father had said when he contacted her these past few days kept echoing—

"It is indeed a Mythallar ruin, not large in scope, I will be able to finish searching it soon!"

"The Mythallar here is somewhat complex, I need to study it further."

"The ancestor must have been able to foresee this place, I will search for a few more days, if I cannot find the Plane Crystal, I will return!"

"Today I conducted a destructive experiment on the Mythallar, I can be certain that something is hidden here! I will study it further!"

"I will be able to find what is hidden here immediately, you and Sain handle the Midsummer Festival celebration, if Aiboke asks, just say I am conducting a very important piece of research! I cannot be distracted!"

The more Niya thought, the more worried she became, the more she thought, the more irritable she felt; she felt that the font on the documents in front of her had also become hateful.

With a "clatter," Niya put down her pen and summoned the Tower Spirit, "Tower Spirit, please ask Uncle Aiboke to come over!"

Before the words had even faded, Niya hurriedly canceled it; since her father did not want to tell Uncle Aiboke, there must be his reasons, and Niya did not want to go against that.

But just sitting here waiting idly was something Niya could not do either; after thinking about it, she still contacted Xia Duo.

On the other side, here in Daxia Territory.

This morning, he first went to the Mythallar to report the abnormal changes in the Water Element outside to Lord Aipusi; while he was reporting, Lord Aipusi had a dark face the entire time, his eyes full of bloodshot veins.

After reporting, Xia Duo left quickly as if dodging a plague god; before, he still had to pretend to dig a few shovelfuls, but now he did not even bother to pretend.

Because Lord Aipusi's state had been becoming increasingly unstable recently, just like a living volcano about to erupt, Xia Duo was no longer willing to run over there.

No matter how many treasures were in the ruin, one had to have their life to take them; he was terrified of accidentally angering Lord Aipusi and suffering disaster for no reason.

After returning to the camp, Xia Duo called for Priest Laidun; he was preparing to distribute the houses.

Now, under the guidance of the slave carpenter named "Carpenter," a normal wooden house, different from the previous simple communal sleeping quarters, had been erected to the north of the Lord of Radiance Altar.

Although it was not as long-lasting as a stone house, it could already be used as a long-term residence, as a "home"!

The wooden house had two rooms, one slightly smaller to be used as a warehouse, one slightly larger to serve as a bedroom, kitchen, and living room at the same time, and there was a simple animal shed outside, where livestock could be raised for meat in the future.

Only the roof was still covered with hay for now; if there were conditions in the future, tiles could be fired, or it could be replaced with wooden planks.

After the tour, Xia Duo felt quite satisfied, but out of habit, he still had to pick a few faults:

"Priest Laidun, just this one wooden house took eight or nine days to build! How long will it take to complete the Phase I plan for Linshui Village at this efficiency! Didn't you say it would only take seven days last time!"

"My Lord, the territory residents and slaves were not slacking off, it is just that they had just started working together and were not yet skilled; the next one will not need such a long time." Priest Laidun was a devout believer in the Lord of Radiance, and his explanation was impartial, not even belittling the slaves.

"How long will it take?"

"After becoming skilled, one wooden house can be built in four or five days; if you can give me one more team, I have a way to improve efficiency!" Laidun said affirmatively.

The number of people currently used for building houses was one team, ten people, half territory residents, half slaves, led by the carpenter Carpenter.

Over these days, Xia Duo had also watched the steps of building the house roughly; for one team to build a house, four or five days should be no problem, but if it were to be faster—

Xia Duo had a method of his own, but he wanted to hear what Laidun had to say!

He bypassed this newly built wooden house and came to the east; in the distance, dozens of territory residents and slaves were chopping trees, carrying, and dismembering, a busy scene.

"Priest Laidun, if I give you one more team, what method do you have to further improve efficiency?"

"My Lord, I would first have Carpenter list the materials needed for the wooden house, then have everyone first produce a large quantity of materials, and only build the wooden house at the end; doing this might be slower at the beginning, but it can save a lot of time later!"

"Oh?" Xia Duo revealed an expression of surprise.

If this method were spoken by someone from Earth, he would not be surprised, but hearing it from Laidun, he felt extremely surprised.

Only because in Savile Town, or even in the Tower of Time Library, he had never seen a similar practice; this already had the shadows of large-scale industrial production, and even involved standardization.

Such a method of production was seriously inconsistent with the backward productivity of this locality.

So he asked Laidun: "How did you think of this?"

"My Lord, I read a book written by a craftsman in the Temple Library, which recorded an event from the early construction period of the Tower of Time, and I thought of it from that."

"What event was it?"

"The main body of the Tower of Time was built by stacking stones; at that time, there was a standard stone block in the Quarry made by a Great Arcanist, and only by matching the dimensions of the standard stone block could it be transported to the construction site; even now, that standard stone block is still placed in the Quarry east of Savile Town!"

"..."

It seemed he should find time to find the books in the Temple to read; he did not expect that there were actually books on building a Mage Tower there.

Priest Laidun's method was much the same as Xia Duo's, both involved producing wooden house materials first, only Xia Duo's method was more detailed and specific.

"Do as you say, but I cannot give you more people for the time being; keep it at one team!"

"Yes, my Lord."

"Gather everyone, I am preparing to distribute this wooden house."

"But my Lord, you are still living in a tent, just distribute it like this?" Laidun was somewhat puzzled; shouldn't this only wooden house be enjoyed by the Lord first?

Xia Duo glanced at him, his tone slightly heavier, "No need to doubt, go do it, call everyone over!"

"Yes, my Lord." Laidun felt a chill in his heart and left in a hurry.

Listening to Laidun muttering as he walked away, "My Lord has said, do not doubt the decisions of superiors; my Lord, Laidun is guilty!"

Xia Duo laughed dumbly; if his words caused Laidun's faith to regress, that would be his fault, but the devout believers of the Lord of Radiance were truly useful!

Actually, it was not that he was unwilling to live in a formal house; in his view, this wooden house was still too crude, and rather than moving back and forth, it was better to do it right in one go.

Anyway, he had gotten used to living in a tent now.

And the real reason he quickly dismissed Laidun was—Niya was looking for him!

Arriving next to the Altar, Xia Duo then took out the Communication Magic Tool and connected to Niya.