Aiming for a Cozy Life in a Dangerous Forest in Another World! - Chapter 23
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- Chapter 23 - Let’s Build a Base 1
Chapter 23: Let’s Build a Base 1
The day after my 『Dragon Transformation』 experiment, we decided to transform the cave, where we had been living for almost three weeks, and the surrounding area into our base.
Yesterday, I had brainstormed with Kaito and Pola, and we had come up with a few ideas.
The first was to build a base around this rocky mountain where our cave was located.
There were three locations I wanted to incorporate into our base:
The 『Amaju』 grove, the 『Cell』 grove located on the opposite side of the cliff from the cave entrance, and the 『Shen』 tree growing near the riverbank.
These three were our lifelines — well, two for Kaito.
The 『Amaju Fruits』 were not only a source of food but also had medicinal properties.
I never knew when I might get injured, as I had the day before yesterday, so I needed to secure a stable supply.
And according to Kaito, the 『Amaju Fruit』 was a legendary fruit.
I had no intention of leaving the forest or interacting with humans for now, but I had a feeling the importance of securing 『Amaju Fruits』 would only increase in the future.
Then there were the 『Cell Fruits』. I had Kaito and Pola making salt from 『Cell Fruits』 while I was out hunting.
We now had a large stock of salt. But it was important to secure a stable source of salt, as it seemed to be essential for survival.
Lastly, the 『Shen Fruits』. We used them as a spicy condiment, so we didn’t go through them that quickly, and a single fruit yielded a substantial amount of the paste-like condiment. And it wasn’t exactly essential for survival.
But spicy Fangrabbit meat was delicious, and I couldn’t imagine giving it up now.
Considering all of this, I wanted to incorporate all three locations into our base.
However, the 『Amaju』 grove was about a five-minute walk, or 500 meters, from the rocky mountain. And the 『Cell』 grove was a five-minute walk from the cave entrance, along the opposite side of the cliff.
The 『Shen』 tree, on the other hand, grew near the riverbank, about a 15-minute walk from the rocky mountain. It was a bit far.
And many magical beasts frequented the river.
It would be troublesome if our base was too large and magical beasts wandered in.
…Hmm, maybe I should start by incorporating the 『Amaju』 and 『Cell』 groves for now.
I could collect 『Shen Fruits』 on my own, and I didn’t need that many of them.
I could try planting some seeds and growing them.
One of the goals of building this base was to allow Kaito and Pola to venture out into the forest on their own.
Right now, either I went into the forest alone — with Rin — or we all went together.
But if Kaito and Pola could collect 『Amaju Fruits』 and 『Cell Fruits』 by themselves, then I could use that time to hunt or explore further, making better use of our time.
Kaito’s 『Earth Magic』 was now level 2, and he had seen me create stairs countless times, so he should be able to do it without any problems. He could also create boxes for storing the fruits they collected. And he could take Rin with them.
Pola couldn’t use 『Earth Magic』, but her 『Fire Magic』, 『Water Magic』, and 『Light Magic』 had all reached level 4. She was strong enough to take down a Fangrabbit with a single blow.
And if we incorporated the two groves into our base, then I would feel safe letting them venture out on their own.
The second was to remodel the rocky mountain and the cave.
The rocky mountain had a radius of about 100 meters and was about 20 meters tall. About halfway up, there was a semi-circular platform with a radius of about 10 meters that led to the cave entrance.
The cave extended straight back for about 30 meters and was about 3 meters tall.
So, I could expand the cave further and even dig down to create rooms.
I had tried it once, and I seemed to be able to dig through the cave walls with 『Earth Magic』.
I wanted to expand the cave by another 20 meters. Right now, we all slept together in the back of the cave. But Kaito was a 12-year-old boy, and he was probably starting to feel awkward sleeping with me and Pola. And having separate rooms wouldn’t hurt.
If I expanded the cave and then created partitions with 『Earth Magic』, we could create simple, but private rooms.
I also wanted to create two or three basement rooms under the cave that we could use for storage.
Right now, we were using a partitioned-off area in the back of the cave to store boxes of meat, salt, and the condiments we made from the 『Shen Fruits』, as well as the magic stones, fangs, and other materials. But it was already at capacity.
I wanted a storage room for food, and maybe I could even create a refrigeration room with ice created with 『Water Magic』. And a room like a treasure vault for storing non-food items, like magic stones, fangs, and other materials we collected from magical beasts.
Every time we went to the cave, we created stairs with 『Earth Magic』.
It wasn’t difficult for me to make stairs, and even Kaito had no problem with the mana consumption.
But it was troublesome to make them every time, and if we were in a situation where we had to flee back to the cave, it would be a bit risky not to be able to get inside immediately.
……Maybe I should create permanent stairs and also dig a moat around the base of the rocky mountain to keep magical beasts out?
And should I also create some barricades?
Simple defenses like that probably wouldn’t stop a Greymlad Viper, but they could dig holes anyway, and they could probably climb the rocky mountain even without stairs.
So we needed to focus on defending against Fangrabbits and Forest Tigers, and I thought a moat and barricades should be effective against them.
…Alright, I’ll give it a try.
I could always dismantle it if it didn’t work out.
I started to flesh out the ideas we had come up with.
Okay! I’ll get to work after lunch!