Chapter Ninety-One: Schemes and the Scales

Wade had gained a skeletal carpenter as a companion—a soul who had truly immersed himself in the art of woodworking for many years, now inhabiting this body. Compared to him, Wade was but an amateur when it came to carpentry.

After awakening the carpenter, Wade returned to the cave entrance. With a real expert at hand, his first thought was to have the carpenter examine his house and suggest any possible improvements.

The skeletal carpenter observed from the entrance, then ventured inside to explore. After a while, he began rearranging the thorn branches Wade had inserted along both sides of the cave. He removed some wood from overly cramped areas and relocated them to nodes more in need of support.

His experience in crafting furniture gave him an instinctive grasp of what structures were most stable. In this era, a carpenter’s work was varied and plentiful; often, carpenters participated in designing and building houses and cellars, making them something of a hybrid between builder and architect.

The skeletal carpenter managed to save several thorn branches, and, sitting on the ground, began weaving them together. He bent the tough, long strips, then inserted short ones at stress points to form arched support frames. Without needing a ruler, relying solely on experience, he swiftly crafted three suitable arched supports. These he placed at the entrance, inside, and at the rear of the cave, like beams, propping up the structure.

These modifications not only conserved space but also made the cave far more stable—much more reasonable and effective than Wade’s crude method of simply wedging wood into the sides.

Wade communicated with the carpenter’s soul, asking whether the cave could be expanded further, and if doing so would increase the risk of collapse.

The carpenter replied that expanding upward would be difficult, but digging downward was feasible—excavating a deeper, rectangular pit, then as they worked around its walls, shaping it into an underground chamber with arched load-bearing structures.

Through their exchange, Wade learned how the people of Tania constructed their cellars. In those frozen regions, many dug spaces like cellars and basements to store food and wine; if timber was scarce, locals sometimes lived in semi-subterranean turf houses.

Those turf houses were only half above ground; the real living and sleeping areas were covered by about a meter of earth and easily sourced sod. Even sheep pens were built underground, so people and sheep would sleep together, warding off the biting winter cold.

The carpenter seemed adept at designing such cellars; these weren’t mere excavated caves, but comprehensive buildings combining digging, stone laying, timber framing, and earth covering.

Nevertheless, Wade was concerned that the sandy soil here might make the cellar prone to collapse. He asked about this, and through their mental exchange, the carpenter gave a precise answer.

The land on this wasteland wasn't as fragile and loose as Wade had imagined.

In the carpenter’s view, these soils were quite suitable for digging cellars. While there was a lot of sand and dust on the surface, it wasn’t a true desert. Most of the soil was original loess, not deposited by flowing water. From what the carpenter had observed during his renovations, the soil here was deep, fairly uniform, and showed vertical striations.

The cave felt unstable only because it was still within the sandy layer; but the soil at the cave’s bottom was no longer sand or gravel. Truly unsuitable cellar soil would be either loose sand or hard rock; this loess, neither too soft nor too hard, was ideal for digging.

The greatest challenge for cellars was waterproofing, but Wade had lived here for a long time without seeing a single rainfall. The lack of moisture meant waterproofing could largely be disregarded.

Wade considered the feasibility of the carpenter’s proposal. The current cave was indeed too cramped and primitive—he couldn’t even stand upright, and its stability was dubious. Natural caves in sandy layers collapsed easily, unable to withstand strong winds.

Now that he had the means to renovate, Wade was eager to improve his home. He was no longer alone; once he found suitable bodies, he could have fifty souls working alongside him. With Wade’s determination, they formed a perfectly united construction crew, free from any communication issues.

With many hands, materials and tools could be transported or crafted manually. He also needed a place to store the bodies of the souls—it wouldn’t do to leave them all sleeping outside, lest they get damaged.

With resolve, Wade instructed the skeletal carpenter to draft a plan, listing the necessary timber, stone, and tools.

Wade intended to visit the Skeleton Sands, that place where skeletons often emerged, and collect as many bodies as he could to increase his workforce.

The carpenter’s soul temporarily left its body, returning to Wade’s mental space, where it joined the other souls in calculation.

During this period, Mia, feeling tired, returned to her little bed and lay down to sleep. The body sat against the wall. Wade did not leave alone; he planned to wait until Mia had rested before taking her to the sands. The renovation plan was not yet finalized, so there was no need to rush.

He blocked the cave entrance with stones and lay on the mat.

He sensed a change in his spiritual space and wished to investigate.

Like Mia, Wade entered a state of rest, arriving in the pure white space.

The place now felt several times larger; the soul lights had gathered in a corner, exchanging thoughts. Since Wade needed a plan for renovating the cellar, the carpenter was discussing with the other souls.

Besides the carpenter, among them were others skilled in building houses.

Wade did not disturb them. His attention first fell upon the twenty-sided die, still floating as always. He picked it up, and the heart on the twenty-first face had once again turned gray-white.

It would take time before he could return to the outer world; the door had become a blank frame once more.

This time, Mia seemed not to need Wade’s help digesting the necromancer’s soul. The portion she had seized was incomplete; most of Casimodo’s soul had been taken by the fire demon, and what remained she could digest herself.

Once she finished, she would share a part with Wade.

These aspects were unchanged from his last visit here.

The greatest change was the appearance of something new beside the door—a small scale.

A very ordinary-looking silver scale with trays hanging from both sides, just like the precision scales in Wade’s memory, used for weighing expensive spices bought by the gram.

The scale floated next to the door; just as with the door’s appearance, Wade seemed to instinctively understand its purpose.

By placing something on the left tray and weighing it, if the value was sufficient, something could be obtained from the right tray as an "exchange."

But not everything could be weighed.

Wade silently gazed at his palm; the three transparent crystals appeared in his hand.

His breathing, his intuition, told him he could bring the crystals gifted by the vengeful spirits here, and use them for "exchange."