Chương 25: Chapter 22 - Breaking Ground

A few hours later, a pack of brown wolves finally reached the location. They arrived carrying bundles of tools, wooden planks, ropes, measuring devices, and all sorts of other equipment. Just from the amount of material they had brought with them, there was no mistaking what they were here to do. They were builders. Luan had been waiting near the edge of the clearing. The moment he spotted them approaching, he straightened up and walked forward to greet them with a welcoming smile.

"Welcome, everyone." The leader of the group was a bulky brown wolf with a large hammer strapped to his side. He glanced around the clearing before looking at Luan.

"You're the one who requested the construction?"

"Yes, sir. My employer is the one who requested it."

"Mr. Unknown?" Luan nodded. The builder hummed thoughtfully.

"I've heard something about him before. You said he's a mysterious merchant, right?" Luan's smile froze for a moment.

"He is... mysterious indeed." The builder suddenly laughed.

"No worries. I'm not here to pry into anyone's personal affairs. If we get paid, then it doesn't matter to me if your employer is a tree, a ghost, a dragon, or even a god." Luan blinked. Well, if only you knew... He quickly turned his attention toward the marked location.

"That will be the location of our shop." The builder looked where he pointed and began examining the site. He walked forward, crouched down, and pressed one paw against the ground, digging his claws slightly into the soil to feel the earth beneath it.

"Hmm." He stood back up.

"Solid ground. Though there's a slight slope here."

"Do you think that will be a problem?"

"No, not really. We'll just have to level it first." The builder looked around the clearing, judging the available space.

"How big would you like the shop to be?" Luan stopped. Dendron hadn't given him any specific measurements. He quickly conveyed the question through their connection.

"How big should I make it?" After a brief moment, Dendron answered.

"Big enough for storage, trading, and a few people to work inside. Don't make it too fancy. We can always build another one later." Luan nodded.

"He wants it to be practical. Big enough for storage and trading, as well as enough room for a few workers. Nothing too fancy." The builder rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"That will make things easier." He turned toward the other wolves and raised his hammer.

"All right, boys! That's what he said. Let's get to work!" The builders immediately scattered. Some began unloading their tools and materials. Others walked around the clearing, inspecting the surrounding trees and deciding which ones would need to be removed. One wolf approached one of the enormous trees and placed both paws against its trunk.

"Move." For a moment, nothing happened. Then the ground trembled. The tree groaned as its roots slowly tore themselves from the earth. Spiritual essence surged through the wolf's body, and the power of his Wood attribute spread into the tree. Its branches folded inward, bending and twisting toward the trunk until the enormous tree became far easier to handle. With a grunt, the wolf pushed it toward the designated pile. Luan stared.

"You can do that?" The wolf looked back at him as though the answer should have been obvious.

"Wood attribute." He said it so casually that Luan's ears warmed, embarrassed he'd even asked.

"I've been building for twenty years. You pick up a thing or two." Luan nodded slowly. I suppose that's one way to put it. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Nearby, another pair of builders had already started laying the foundation. One wolf struck the ground repeatedly with his paws, compacting the soil, while another followed behind him with a measuring device.

"Two feet."

"Here?"

"To the left."

"Left from me or your left?"

"From me!"

"Then my right!"

"Your left!"

"... Your other left!" A couple of wolves nearby burst into laughter. Luan couldn't help but smile. Despite the size of the project, the builders moved through it like it was any other day, trading insults, tossing jokes, never once slowing down to second-guess themselves. They weren't soldiers preparing to enter battle. They were workers. They had likely built hundreds of structures before this one, and to them, another building was simply another day's work.

A short distance away, another wolf sat cross-legged beside a stack of lumber. His paws glowed faintly with spiritual essence. Then something began growing from between them. At first, it was nothing more than a small branch. The branch slowly thickened. It grew outward, straightened, and gradually flattened under the wolf's control. Before long, what had started as a branch had transformed into a wooden plank. The wolf stared at his creation for a moment. Then he sighed.

"I need a break." Another worker looked over.

"Already?"

"My spiritual essence isn't inexhaustible."

"You've been working on that for ten minutes."

"Exactly." The wolf pointed at the plank.

"Ten minutes too long." The other worker laughed.

"Then go refresh yourself. We'll take care of the rest." The tired wolf didn't argue. He simply moved beneath a nearby tree, sat down, closed his eyes, and began slowly absorbing the spiritual essence in the surroundings. Luan watched him with interest. So this is how the Brown Wolf Tribe constructs their buildings. They weren't simply chopping wood and hammering nails together. Their attributes gave them capabilities that ordinary craftsmen could never possess. Some could manipulate wood. Others could shape earth.

Some possessed immense physical strength. And there were even those who could manufacture their own construction materials. One of the builders was currently doing exactly that. He held a small piece of metal between his paws. A faint metallic glow surrounded his body. The metal began to soften. Then it melted. The wolf carefully stretched it, shaped it, and pinched it into form. Clink. A small nail dropped onto the ground. Without even looking at it, he immediately began making another.

Luan glanced at the growing pile beside him.

"You make all of your nails yourself?"

"Most of them." The wolf didn't even look up.

"That way, it's cheaper than buying them."

"And faster?"

"Usually." He held up another freshly shaped nail.

"And when something doesn't fit, we simply make another one." Luan nodded. They're more skilled than I thought. Behind them, the actual construction had already begun. The foundation was laid first. Then the wooden supports were raised. The workers moved between them with practiced precision, tying beams together while others drove nails into the joints.

"Raise it!"

"Got it!"

"Hold!"

"Move your paw!"

"I'm holding it!"

"You're holding it crooked!"

"It's not crooked!"

"It is from here!"

"Then come over here and look at it!"

"Fine!" The argument continued for several seconds before both wolves finally stood beside each other and examined the beam from the same angle. Silence.

"... It's crooked."

"I told you."

"Stop talking and help me straighten it." Luan laughed. The building slowly began to take shape. At first, there wasn't much to look at. Just wooden beams rising from the ground. But with every passing hour, another piece appeared. A wall. Another beam. A doorway. Part of the roof. What had been nothing more than an empty clearing that morning was slowly becoming something real. The beginning of Dendron's first true business. Yet the work didn't stop there.

Not far away, another group of workers was dealing with an entirely different problem. The road. Several wolves stood near the edge of the forest, staring at the dense vegetation separating them from the main road. One of them sighed.

"This is going to take us some time."

"How much?" The wolf stared at the forest for a moment.

"Depends on how wide they want it."

"Wide enough for caravans." The wolf slowly turned toward him. Then he stared.

"Then we're going to be here for some time." The workers immediately got to work. They felled the trees. Tore the tall grass from the ground. Dug up the roots and dragged them away. Some workers relied heavily on their attributes, while others simply used their physical strength and tools. One wolf released flames from his paws, burning away thick patches of grass. Another immediately followed with his Water attribute, extinguishing the flames before they could spread deeper into the forest.

Elsewhere, wolves swung axes into thick tree trunks. Chop. The axe sank into the wood. Chop. Another strike. A large branch finally snapped and crashed onto the ground.

"Clear!" One of the workers immediately dragged the branch out of the way. Further ahead, two wolves were already working on leveling the ground. One used his Earth attribute to push and smooth the soil while another shoveled the excess earth away.

"This way?"

"Go ahead."

"How far?"

"Until the ground is smooth."

"That's not an answer."

"That's the only answer I'm going to give you."

"How long have you been doing this?" the younger wolf asked. The older wolf paused, wiping sweat from his brow.

"Longer than you've been alive."

"That's not an answer either."

"It's the only one you're getting." The younger wolf laughed and kept working. The sun gradually climbed higher into the sky. By noon, the first section of the road had already appeared. It was rougher than the roads near the larger villages, still marked with plenty of imperfections, but it was wide enough for several beasts to walk side by side. Dendron looked at Luan and then watched the builders work, and for a moment, the feeling of being rooted didn't feel quite so heavy. They weren't his people.

They were wolves from Luan's tribe, working for payment, not loyalty. But they were here because he'd asked. Because he'd made the first move. In his old life, he'd never built anything. He'd quit jobs, walked away from relationships, let opportunities pass him by. Now he was watching strangers turn wood and earth into something that would outlast him. It wasn't much. Not yet. But it was his. Luan stood at the edge of it, looking down the partially completed road. It led directly toward the half-built shop.

For the first time, he could see the plan taking shape before his eyes. A shop. A road. A place where merchants could come. A place where goods could be exchanged. And perhaps, eventually, a stable supply of spiritual fruits and corpses. Luan smiled.

"So this is really happening." A voice suddenly appeared inside his head.

"Of course it is. What did you think would happen after we got the builders on board?" Luan scratched his head.

"Well... when you put it like that, I suppose it's common sense."

"Exactly." Luan turned his gaze back toward the construction.

"But, sir... this is your first business." A brief silence passed. Then Dendron answered.

"Sure." Something in his trunk settled, warm and pleased, though there was no good way for a tree to look proud of anything.

"My first shop." Luan grinned.

"Then we should make sure it succeeds."

"Absolutely." Luan looked toward the workers again. At the moment, all they were doing was constructing a simple wooden shop in the middle of nowhere. But Dendron wasn't looking at the building itself. He was looking beyond it. He imagined the merchants who would eventually pass through its doors. Warriors seeking resources. Tribes looking for goods. Merchants carrying information from distant lands. New resources entering his territory. Knowledge that would otherwise never reach him. And, eventually, influence.

The shop was small. The road was rough. The building was still nothing more than a collection of wooden beams. But it was a beginning. A small point of connection between Dendron and the vast world beyond his forest. And through that connection, he could eventually reach places he could never reach himself.