The next day, Caelen woke up with a plan. With Zira in his life—and more so, his expanding "village"—it was time to start working.
He went out into the sun, flinging his arms open wide. Zira trailed behind him, rubbing at her eyes and yawning.
"So. what now?"
"We build your house," Caelen replied matter-of-factly.
She grinned. "Really?"
"Hey, I did promise, didn't I?
They began cutting wood together. Caelen employed his stone axe, and Zira collected dry leaves and twigs to use on the roof. It was hours before anything happened, but a small hut began to form, incrementally, right next to Caelen's own.
They constructed walls, a basic roof, and even cut out a doorway. It wasn't ideal, but it was safe and warm.
By midday, they had something resembling an actual home.
Let's go get furniture," Caelen said, wiping the sweat from his brow.
They crafted a bed frame, a chair, and a little table out of leftover wood. Caelen even made a simple chest out of sticks and vines to store Zira's belongings.
Once they got everything situated, Zira sat down on her new bed and grinned.
"This. this feels like a home," she stated.
Caelen nodded. "It is."
[System: Furniture Crafted – Comfort Level +1]
As the sun set lower in the sky, Caelen got up.
"I'm going to the mines. We need metal," he told her.
Zira glanced up. "Be safe."
"Always am," Caelen said with a wink.
He headed toward the tunnel he'd excavated previously. It was now designated in his mind as the "resource zone.
He took out his copper shovel and dug deeper, tracing the wooden ladder he had made earlier. The tunnel groaned slightly as he went down, but it remained stable.
Once in the darker part of the cave, Caelen tapped his head.
Search 1/30:"Hey Google, is there any metal around here?"
[Google: Detecting… Metal Around – Iron and Copper Detected]
He smiled. "Okay. Time to dig."
He cut into the walls with his pickaxe. Shards of copper caught the light of the torch. A few feet away from it, there was a thin gray vein along the wall—iron.
Caelen labored. The rock was recalcitrant, and he had to stop often. Sweat trickled down his back. His palms throbbed. But he did not give up.
Chunk by chunk, he extracted copper and iron ores, storing them in his simple leather satchel. He even found some shiny dust he'd never seen before.
Search 2/30:"Google, what's this sparkly stuff?"
[Unknown Material – Data Incomplete. Try analyzing later with Furnace Upgrade.]
He shrugged. "Alright, mystery rock. You're coming too."
Hours later, Caelen climbed back up the ladder, exhausted but satisfied.
He went back to his hut, set the ores beside the furnace, and sat down heavily.
Zira came over from her home. "You alright?"
"Tired. But obtained metal. Plenty of it," Caelen replied, eyes hardly open.
Zira set a wooden cup of water before him.
"Thanks," he grunted.
As the stars came out overhead, Caelen glanced around. Two houses. A mine. A fire pit. And now, furniture and supplies.
Things were gradually becoming more than mere survival.