Nexha woke up with a fixed idea in his mind. He quickly opened the store to confirm if last night’s notification was real.
((Store)/) (\MD 10,149/)
Welcome to the store, user! Here you can buy whatever you need for your world conquest. Where did you steal all that money from? (⊙.⊙)
- Food/Medicine - Slaves
- Skills - Magic Items
- Miners - Animals/Pets
- Plant Materials - Accessories
- Clothing/Armor - Technology
He let out a loud shout and jumped for joy, so high that he startled Lilay awake.
— What’s wrong, Nexha? Did a lucky crab pinch you? — Lilay rubbed his eyes and yawned.
— No, I just woke up excited! Ah, here, take the bottle of milk I promised.
Nexha bought two bottles of milk, and they drank together. With their stomachs full, he grabbed Lilay’s hand and led her to the surface platform.
— Lilay, our new project is going to be an oven!
She blinked, trying to figure out if she was still dreaming or if this was just another one of Nexha’s crazy ideas.
— An oven? What’s that?
— It’s a place where we can cook! We’ll use the leftover stones. If we do it right, I can cook without fear of burning everything down, and I’ll even be able to cook more often.
Lilay was still sleepy, but the mention of food woke her up instantly.
— Warm food?!
With a satisfied smile, Nexha grabbed a defective brick and sketched out a rough design using his chisel.
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— Here will be the base. It needs to be really sturdy. The top part has to be thick to hold the heat. And we need holes for the smoke to escape and to put in the fuel.
— Sounds complicated.
— It will be, but with patience, we can do it.
The two began separating the remaining soapstones. Some were too irregular, so Nexha picked up his chisel and started shaping them. Lilay grabbed a stone but, out of curiosity, asked:
— Nexha, where did you learn all this?
— Let’s just say it appeared in my head.
— Oh, so that’s why you roll around holding your head in pain sometimes?
Nexha huffed, remembering the previous incident.
— Yeah… but it was worth it.
Lilay chuckled and picked up an improvised chisel to help.
Slowly, the structure of the oven began to take shape. They stacked the stones, creating a combustion chamber in the center. The biggest problem was how to keep the pieces firmly together.
— If we just stack them, this could collapse, — Nexha murmured, deep in thought.
He opened the store again, looking for a solution. He found some clay for sale and bought it.
— Perfect!
He spent 40 MD, and in an instant, a pile of grayish paste appeared before them. Lilay wrinkled her nose.
— This looks like seagull poop. Gross.
— But it’ll keep the oven standing. And we can use it later to make other things too.
They worked together to spread the clay between the stones, sealing every gap. It was meticulous work, but in the end, the oven was solid and well-built.
To test it, Nexha used dried moray-seaweed pieces as fuel. He struck some stones together, creating sparks until a flame finally ignited inside the combustion chamber.
The heat spread, and the oven remained sturdy. The clay began to dry slowly, hardening the structure.
— We did it! — Nexha cheered.
— Now we can have hot food every day! — Lilay grinned.
— Yeah, on the days I feel like cooking.
As he watched the flames dance, Nexha began thinking beyond just cooking.
— Better tools will also come out of this oven...
Krahs, who had been watching the platform’s progress, finally approached.
— What have you two been up to?
— Look at this! — Lilay proudly pointed at the oven.
Krahs raised an eyebrow, impressed.
— Interesting… but what exactly does it do?
Nexha crossed his arms, satisfied.
— Well, it’s a much better place to use fire than in the nest. Now I can cook more often without any risk.
— So you’ll be using your techniques to make more of those fried fish? Looks like we’ll be having some delicious meals from now on. — Krahs ruffled Nexha’s hair.
— Really?
— Yeah. That deserves a reward. I’ll go catch some tasty fish for dinner.
Krahs dove underwater to hunt. Lilay, realizing he was going to get food, immediately followed after her father.