Limits

I finished treating the patients, then we left towards the tented area inside the city. Some Lizards were already taking down the tents. 'If the whole area becomes vacant, the field here would be decent' I thought. I waited with Lerry for them to finish. It didn't take them that long, and now we had some space. Harlin walked over, and asked "Is that enough for now?". I nodded my head, and said "Move the people away a bit".

Harlin asked confused "Why?". I replied "I can't grow stuff on stones, can I? I need the stones to be removed, just make your people stand back". He nodded, and ordered for the area to be cleared off. The stone slabs that functioned as road before, had to be removed. I wanted to test something at the same time.

I stood in the middle of the area, and jumped up. With as much strength I could muster, I punched the ground with my left hand. "BOOOM!". The stone slabs broke, and the ground caved in. A lot of dust was raised, but the job was not done yet. I repeated the same process, until all slabs were broken apart. 'Hmm… My arm hurts a bit, but thanks to the armour, it's not so bad' I thought.

The Lizards and Shades gathered, looked at me in awe. I didn't care much, and called out to Lerry. "Lerry! Can you get some people to clear the rubble? The soil underneath should be fine for planting. We also need a supply of water, if you know any blacksmiths, as them to come over as well. I will need them to make something". Lerry stood there staring again. 'Does this guy even know who he is? He is lost in his thought too much' I thought, and called out again.

He finally woke up, and replied "Right! I'm on it!". He then ran off to somewhere. Harlin walked over, and asked "Where did you get such armour?". I smiled, and replied "I made it. When you go to Obsidian Mountains, visit the blacksmith in Olrad. He will make you an armour or weapons from this steel". He nodded, and asked "Can I have a look?". I took of the gauntlet, and showed it to him.

After a while, he said "It's quite heavy, but not as heavy as Black Steel. There is something else as well. Those blue veins running across it… How did you come up with this?". I replied "It wasn't me, it was my master. Either way, your blacksmith knows the method. I imagine he is quite busy because of that. I wonder if he is cursing me right now, hahaha". Harlin returned the gauntlet to me, and I placed it back on.

A few minutes later, Lerry returned with a group of people. He said "I brought some people who will help. What should we do?". I nodded, and replied "Remove the stones from the ground in this area. Don't throw them away, store them to the side, we will use them for wall restoration". He nodded, and conveyed the message to others. The group didn't consist of Shades only, Lizards were there too.

I asked "Are there any blacksmith here?". A few people stepped out. I said "Come over guys, I will show you what to create". They nodded, and walked over. Altogether, there were four blacksmiths that came forward. I explained, while drawing stuff on the ground. "We will need four long strips of metal. Make them as long as you can. They need to be a bit flexible, because we will bend them into circles later. For now, just make the strips. As for the width, I'd say around ten to twenty centimetres. The length should be at least six metres long. There are four of you guys, so if you make one each, the workload shouldn't be a problem".

The blacksmiths nodded, while one of them asked "That is quite simple. Why do you need those metal strips?". I replied "I need to make a large barrel. It will be used to store water for the fields". He nodded, and said "Leave it to us". The blacksmiths left to do their jobs, while I instructed Lerry and others. I helped them remove the rubble as well. 'How could I just stand around, when injured people are working away?' I thought. Most of the people Lerry brought, were those who I treated. Of course, only those with minor injuries came over. If I saw someone with heavy injuries trying to help, I would disable them myself.

The stone slabs were cleared quite quickly. Harlin didn't even need to order his men to help us, they did it on their own accord. With the rubble cleared, and stored to the side, I said "We need wood. You guys cut down all the trees around Sedon, but did you take the wood?". One of the Shades stepped forward, and said "Yes. We have loads of wood laying around. We mostly used it to do simple repairs, or it was used for fire. Let me take you where they are stored".

I nodded, then asked Lerry and others to accompany us. The storage was quite far away from the tented area. Almost at the opposite side of the city. I wasn't really surprised, who would be willing to drag those logs through the city? I picked up a few logs, and told everyone else to take whatever they were comfortable with. This wasn't a slavery. People could choose to help or not, but ultimately it was for their own good.

We brought many logs to the tented area, where I began processing them. Not only did we need planks for the water container, We also needed tools. The blacksmiths were busy with other stuff, so wooden tools had to do. It was only for ploughing, and the people of the North were not that weak either. I made the tools first, then distributed them to those who wanted to help. I demonstrated how to plough the field, after separating it into different sections.

I left Lerry with the rest, and worked on the planks for the water container. The container had to be watertight, so the planks had to be rather straight. I didn't have logs long enough, to cover the whole height of that container, but that wouldn't be a problem. This was where those metal rings would come in. The planks would be connected with those rings, and make one large barrel like container. Filling the holes was no longer an issue either. I didn't need anything specific, because I learned how to make barrels.

All I needed was water, to soak the planks. As well as heat and coldness to tighten the rings. The difficult part was to make very precise plants. I worked for a long time, before I was able to finish all the planks required. The blacksmiths already brought the long steel strips, and left them at the side. I instructed them to make rivets, which will be inserted into those metal strips, together with the planks.

Everything was ready, but I decided to rest before I assembled everything. The next day, I gathered some people, and we started the process of assembling the water container. We started by punching out the holes inside the steel strips, then riveted planks to them. When that was completed, we had to connect two rings with planks together. I had to make a scaffolding, which allowed us to work on taller parts. I learned how to make one in Apium, and it was quite simple.

We connected the two halves together, and the water container was ready. All we had to do, was place it upright. With ropes attached to the water container and a group of people, we pulled and gently placed the water container upright. 'Almost done' I thought. Only the process of heating up and cooling down the metal rings was left. The planks were already soaking wet, so with heat, they would dry, and hopefully cover up any holes. 'If need be, we can use some fillers' I thought.

I had no skills that used fire, but Lizards had Formations. This worked perfectly. Those who could use Fire Element Formations, heated up the rings around the container. I got ready myself, and used my ice powers to cool down the steel quickly. The whole container creaked a bit, but that was a good sign. I told everyone to fill the container, and check for leaks. We passed one bucket after the other, and slowly filled the whole container. There were a few leaks in the beginning, but after some time, they plugged themselves up. Because the wood absorbed some of the water, and was held tightly by those metal rings, the leaks disappeared.

I nodded, and thanked those who helped out. I wouldn't be able to do it by myself, not to that scale. The field was already cleaned, and fresh soil was turned over. I showed them how to water the fields for now, as I would later implement the water delivery system. We didn't plant anything yet, the soil had to be conditioned first. That wasn't a problem either. Shades had a small amount of livestock inside the city. This of course meant manure, and that was what we needed. Many were disgusted by the thought of shovelling shit. But when they saw me shovel shit like it was nothing, they joined in to help as well. 'It's almost ready. I will be able to plant some seeds soon, and after a while, we will have herbs to make medicine for the whole city' I thought.