Construction Mage - Chapter 33: Hygiene

AN: Here's an extra chapter, and I already owe another one! The next one won't be until the weekend, though. Enjoy!

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After another fruitful morning in the dungeon, Clay retired to his house and got straight to work on his home renovations. He had religiously worked on his makeshift house ever since its completion. Of course, it wasn’t without reason that he dedicated so much time to it. To be precise, there were two major reasons.

The first and most obvious reason was naturally to improve his living conditions. As a person used to modern comforts, Clay wasn’t satisfied with what he had. It was quite hard when his home was really just a few walls and a roof. 

He didn’t even have any windows. The cost of stained glass was exorbitant, while the wooden shutters weren’t cheap either, and required hiring a craftsman to customize them to the correct dimensions. It was something to be considered later.

For now, the biggest inconvenience was still the bathroom. Every morning, he would have to work up a sweat in the dungeon. Combined with having to answer nature’s call, it became quite tedious to have to go fetch water and empty the bucket several times a day. It wasn’t that bad on the good days, but when the weather was bad or in the dark of night, it became a real challenge. There were some cases where he had to wait for morning, allowing the stench to marinate for an entire night.

As a modern person, he couldn’t endure the filth any longer. This was especially because the water sources were so far away, which prevented him from just washing things clean. Each bucket of water entailed an arduous trip to the wall, only found by the gates. To keep up the hygiene of the house, finding a solution to the washroom problem became a high priority.

Another reason he was so dedicated to his home improvement projects was simply due to the benefits he could reap from them. It came as a pleasant surprise to him when he had been constructing the house that making ample use of his spells, even when outside of the dungeon, worked to level them up.

He suspected the hidden experience gained from non-combat activities was likely lower, but the ability to grind away at it for the whole day more than made up for it. That’s why it became impossible for Clay to give up such a safe and effective method of practicing his skills.

Employing his spells in new and creative ways also acted as an experiment to see if it improved the rate it leveled up. After the first two days of constructing the house, progress had slowed down significantly to the point that he had yet to see a level-up message again to this day. It was imperative that he find more efficient methods to make use of his time wisely.

With two such compelling reasons, Clay would be a fool not to work on his house. Which brings us today, where he would put the new magic crystals to use.

Giving up yet another two thousand Lyons, Clay now had a total of four magic crystals. Two water crystals, one light crystal, and one fire crystal.

Using his stockpile of earthen bricks, he put the earth golem to work.

One man and one golem started stacking the bricks up in the corner of the washroom. They weren’t too ambitious, only creating a tall reservoir around the width of a person against the corner in a square shape. 

Their work was entirely reliant on the light crystal, which was essentially a light bulb, providing much clearer vision compared to the flickering flames from the candle he had been using. Thanks to that, the work didn’t take long at all, but the more tedious process was to wait for the lime and sand mortar he specially procured from Garrick to dry. He had been told it couldn’t be rushed or it wouldn’t set in properly, causing it to be weak.

If it wasn’t for that warning, I would’ve put this fire magic crystal to the test already. Using it to quicken the drying process.

With the red magic crystal in hand, Clay still couldn’t resist testing it out. He gingerly channeled mana into it. It activated immediately, producing a small but stable flame. Seeing how the fire was only pointed upwards, away from where he held it, he breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that he hadn’t burned himself. However, that came along with a new question.

I got ahead of myself and got this fire crystal to heat up the water, but how am I supposed to go about it? In the first place, I think I could’ve gotten by with just normal firewood.

He stared at the square reservoir for a few minutes, contemplating what materials he would need.

A metal slab of some sort? Sounds expensive. Maybe a stone one, then? They use plenty for the wall. 

He didn’t dwell on it, as he knew exactly who to consult. He made his way to the familiar worksite, where a grand church was over halfway complete.

The burly man sporting a fiery red beard was easy to spot. Naturally, his own towering figure was noticed as well.

“Enjoying a midday stroll, milord? Shall I fetch ya a parasol?”

Clay ignored his teasing gaze, looking over at his former coworkers toiling away as he scoffed.

“When will you let that go? Can’t I just come see how a friend is doing in peace?”

“The likes of you, visiting for no reason? Inconceivable! Spit it out, what troubles have you come to vent about this time?”

Clay didn’t answer right away, shifting his gaze around as if searching for something.

“You don’t happen to have something akin to a thin stone slab around, do you? Something no thicker than a finger.”

“Coming to sponge off me again? Unfortunately for you, perfectly flat slabs aren’t cheap. Not something I can just give away.”

“Doesn’t have to be perfectly flat. I just need it to use as a base to heat some water.”

“Got nothing for ya here. Only the artisan carvers have something thin enough for that, and you know how they are. Better check out the general store. They should have what you need.”

With no other choice, Clay did just that.

The journey into the third ring was uneventful, and the path to the general store was known to him. After all, he had gone there once before to buy the basic furniture for his home.

Perhaps because it was the time of day when most people were hard at work, barely any customers were there except for a few housewives. Seeing this, Clay didn’t shy away from enlisting the help of one of the staff. He went straight for the counter.

“Excuse me, but do you have something like a metal or stone plate? Oh, and some firewood and a wooden spigot as well.”

“Firewood we have, but a plate?” the young woman repeated with a head tilt. “What kind are you looking for? We mostly have ceramic plates for roofing, but we do have some stone slabs for flooring. As for cooking, we do have some metal plates as well.”

“Um, how big are the price differences?”

“Come to the back and pick them out yourself. They vary a lot depending on size, material, and workmanship.”

For half an hour, Clay was dazzled by various options, but he quickly made a decision once he went over all of them. Metal plates were surprisingly not that expensive, compared to what he imagined.

I’ve got to remember that this place isn’t the same as the Middle Ages of my world. I bet there’s a dungeon somewhere that spits out large amounts of iron ore or whatever magical equivalent there is. Mundane metal isn’t as expensive as I think it is.

With his goal accomplished, he immediately went back home after his pockets were five hundred Lyons lighter. The first thing he did in order to fit the base into his water reservoir was to have his golem break a section near the bottom. It gave him access to the bottom and room for the heat source.

The iron plate he bought was square, just like the reservoir, but slightly smaller. In order to fit it in place, he began building another ring of bricks right above the opening the golem had smashed open, so that the plate could rest on it when placed from above without falling through. Afterward, he would then create a custom batch of bricks that was the same thickness as the plate, so that it would fill the gap around the plate and lock it in place.

The golem’s strength to seamlessly manipulate the hardened earth material proved invaluable to this endeavor. It flattened the Earth Blasts he produced like nothing. Before long, the makeshift stove-reservoir—or, as Clay would prefer to call it, water heater—was complete.

All that was left was to insert a wooden spigot valve by creating a small hole in the side. Clay scratched his head about how to do so for a split second. He didn’t want to risk breaking the heater apart, as it wasn’t exactly easy to poke a hole through the hardened earth, until he slapped himself as he remembered the solver of all problems related to the earthen bricks—the golem. 

It had become a habit to summon the elemental to help train and level the spell, even if he had no need for the golem at that moment. His gaze rested on the earthen golem’s thick fingers for a few seconds before he gave it a go. Perhaps because it was made from the same material as the bricks, his summon was able to easily poke a hole through it. From what Clay saw, he doubted it even exerted any strength, as if the hardened earth material gave way on its own.

With the final piece slotted in, he had the golem create small indentations near the top to place the water crystals and turned them on. Water began to trickle down, slowly filling it up. 

He then lit the firewood using the fire crystal and watched his creation come to life. To his surprise, the firewood all ignited at once the moment he brought the crystal near it.

This fire crystal produces a lot more heat than I thought, or its fire has some special property. Still, it was too impulsive of me to buy it. It cost a whole two thousand Lyons for a fancy lighter!

His regret wasn’t long-lived, as there was soon enough water to put his creation to the test. 

Flipping the tap, Clay grinned as he watched steaming hot water flow out.

Finally. I can wash myself with hot water. Now I just need to work on a flushable toilet and my soul can be at peace.

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