Chapter 9 : The Dawn of Reconstruction

The morning after the storm revealed a scene of disheartening ruin. Splintered fences lay scattered, the central living cabin and its attached rooms were a chaotic mess of broken timber, and the precious stores of food were largely lost. Amidst the wreckage, the strange, blocky room Neil had instinctively created during the storm stood intact, a stark cube against the devastation.

The shaken family gathered before this unexpected structure, their faces reflected with the grim reality of their losses. A hushed discussion arose, filled with worried tones and uncertain glances. Seeing their distress, Neil stepped forward. "Perhaps," he began hesitantly, "perhaps I can make more houses like this… with my ability."

A wave of surprised silence washed over the family. They exchanged bewildered looks, then cautiously approached the cube room. They touched its smooth surfaces, marveling at its unyielding strength against the storm's fury. A sense of possibility flickered in their eyes. If this strange structure could withstand such a tempest, perhaps it held the key to their future. Agreement rippled through the family.

"Stone would be stronger, wouldn't it?" Neil suggested, recalling the sturdiness of the mountain rock. Again, his family members nodded, a newfound hope dawning. Tasks were quickly divided. The women and children would begin clearing the scattered debris, while the able-bodied men would forage for any surviving food stores. Neil, accompanied by his eldest cousin, Orion, volunteered to head back to the mountain cave to collect stone.

The journey to the cave was somber, the signs of the storm's passage evident in broken branches and displaced rocks. Reaching the familiar opening, they entered the cool darkness. Neil focused his mind, bringing forth the stone pickaxe he had crafted. As he began to strike the cave wall, the stone dissolving into his inventory with surprising speed, Orion watched in stunned silence.As the pickaxe moved far too quickly for any normal tool, leaving behind a perfectly smooth, cubic indentation. With that neil efficiently gathered a hundred blocks of stone, adding to the twenty-six he had from before. but suddenly, with a final pop, the stone pickaxe vanished, its durability spent. He quickly crafted a new one, using two sticks (reducing his stick count from 88 to 86) and three stone blocks (reducing his stone count from 26 to 23).

Now the new pickaxe ready, Niel was about to start second round , But orion stop him while give him some fruit to eat he tell him to take a rest . previously when Neil was working, Orion, though unable to replicate his mining speed, gathered fallen fruit near the cave entrance .

While eatting and resting neil efficiently organized his inventory. The wood page now held one slot completely filled with 100 planks (having used 116 of the 216 created from the 54 wood blocks during the storm reinforcement).

The second page held the familiar saplings and berries, and the third now contained a complete stack of 100 stone and a second slot with the remaining 23 stone. While neil was organizing his inventory orion look around the cave Neil was minning now have began to take on a new form, the area become a large, flat-walled cube.

After resting for a while neil and orion decide to return to what remaining of their settlement, they found that the majority of the storm's immediate mess had been cleared, leaving the strange cube room as the most prominent structure. Neil decided to clear this initial construction as well, intending to rebuild with stone. His family offered to help, but they soon stood back in astonished silence as Neil, with a few focused mental actions, caused the wooden cube to dissolve, adding the planks back to his inventory – resulting in two full slots of 100 planks. The speed of it left them speechless.

After clearing the cube room neil deciding to prioritize a protective boundary, and begin outlined a rectangular frame on the cleared ground with wooden planks: five blocks wide, ten blocks long, and five blocks high, connecting at all sides. The skeletal frame of a new structure took shape quickly.

The member of the family, recovering from their shock, decided to focus on the crucial task of gathering more food, as their previous supplies were lost. They headed out.

Meanwhile as the women of the family worked, their gazes would often drift towards Neil, a look of bewildered awe still present on their faces. Neil's sister, Lyra, expressed her excitement at the prospect of a sturdy house that wouldn't require constant repairs every few months.

Back to neil after completing the wooden frame he then began to fill in the gaps with the collected stone, leaving a two-by-two block space for a door. The floor of the room was also made of stone, raised one meter (one block) above the ground. As the last stone block was placed, the sun began to set.

Everyone gathered for an outdoor dinner, a somber meal amidst the destruction but with a glimmer of hope. As dusk deepened, they looked at the newly formed stone room. It felt smooth and radiated a surprising warmth, blocking the cool evening air. Later uncle Kael retrieved the old wooden gate from the wreckage and temporarily placed it in the doorway. Weary but with a sense of newfound security, they all decided to sleep in the newly made stone room.

The sleep was deep and warm. The children were out instantly. but, the adults gathered, their voices hushed with a shared hope. Everyone looked at the sturdy stone walls and envisioned a safe place for their children. Neil's grandparents, their eyes glistening with unshed tears, remembered years of struggling with fragile shelters. The family offered quiet words of comfort. Unaware of the profound impact of his actions, Neil slept soundly within the stone sanctuary he had created for them.