novelraw Chapter 60: Upgrading the Stronghold (2)
Chapter 60: Upgrading the Stronghold (2)
Inside, the dirt floors lifted and flattened.
Packed earth was compressed, and wooden planks spread outward across the interior. Floorboards aligned tightly side by side, forming smooth wooden flooring.
No more bare dirt and dust rising with every step.
Above, the wooden framework thickened as beams widened and joints tightened.
Then the roofs changed as the thatch deepened in thickness, and layer upon layer was stacked precisely.
Binding rope lattices formed across the surface, tightening and securing the dried hay so it would not scatter in heavy winds.
The houses looked much better, but the transformation was not done yet, as each structure trembled once more before stretching.
The walls extended outward smoothly.
Six meters...
Seven meters...
Until each house expanded to seven and a half meters in length while maintaining five meters in width.
Interior space increased instantly, and the rooms felt broader.
The hovering houses then began to move as they drifted gently across the air like pieces on a game board. The structures aligned themselves into clean, orderly rows.
Spacing between each home became uniform. Paths widened into defined lanes.
The once chaotic settlement reorganized into a planned village.
BAM!
BAM!
BAM!
One by one, the houses descended. They settled onto the ground firmly, stone edging anchoring into place without so much as a crack.
When the final home touched down, silence fell.
The tribe stood inside a completely reorganized settlement, as it was no longer a scattered cluster of clay huts.
One elderly man stepped forward toward his house slowly, staring at his house.
He reached down and pressed his palm against the wall. "It’s solid."
A woman stepped inside hers and gasped softly as her feet touched smooth wooden flooring.
"There’s no dirt..."
Children ran along the widened lanes, laughing heartily.
As the rising sun bathed the newly arranged settlement in golden light, Ash observed quietly as he felt satisfied with the result.
However, he felt that something needed to be done and ordered the system in his heart again. "Upgrade my house and 10 of the 5th Ranks’ houses!"
[Ding! 275,000 System Points have been successfully deducted.]
[Ding! You have successfully upgraded 11 houses to Tier 2.]
The moment the tribe people were still happily inspecting their houses, the ground trembled again.
But this time, it was just a faint one.
The eleven newly upgraded houses of Ash’s and the ten of the Fifth Rank began to vibrate.
The people nearby instinctively stepped back.
"Again...?"
Before anyone could react, the eleven houses tore free from the ground.
They rose ten meters into the air.
Unlike the earlier mass transformation, only these stood suspended now, hovering above the neatly arranged rows of Tier 1 homes.
All eyes turned upward as they knew what was going to happen but were still curious about what kind of transformation would happen to these houses.
The houses did not transform immediately. Instead, they began to move, and the spacing between them widened.
The eleven structures rearranged themselves toward a slightly elevated central zone within the settlement, positioning themselves with deliberate distance between one another.
Status was beginning to manifest in space. Then, they expanded as the walls stretched outward.
Eight meters...
Nine meters...
Until each house broadened noticeably, gaining both depth and width. Only then did the real transformation begin as the base of each house darkened.
The slight stone edging around the perimeter thickened rapidly. Rough stones emerged from within the structure, stacking themselves upward.
Half a meter...
One meter...
A full meter of rough stone foundation formed beneath every house, tightly layered and packed with clay and gravel. The stonework locked together seamlessly, giving each structure a raised footing above the earth.
Above the foundation, the timber framework thickened further as heavy wooden beams formed visible support frames along the exterior walls. Vertical posts anchored into the new stone base, connected by horizontal braces that locked into place with clean precision.
Clay walls shifted again as wattle reinforcement integrated deeper between the timber frames, creating a denser, more structured surface. The exterior texture smoothed slightly, less crude than before.
Small window openings were adjusted in proportion as wooden shutters were formed.
Inside the house, the wooden flooring reinforced itself, beams beneath thickening to support the enlarged structure.
A proper hearth formed against one side, and above it, a clay chimney stack rose cleanly through the roof.
Then a subtle grinding sound echoed from above. The thatched roofs that were tightly bound with rope lattice began to shift.
The ropes snapped loose first, then the woven lattice dissolved before disintegrating entirely.
The thatch itself compressed as thick layers of dried hay flattened as if pressed by invisible weight.
A ripple passed across each roof, and within seconds, the roofs reshaped into overlapping wooden shingles.
Each shingle was neatly cut and uniformly sized, laid in precise rows from the bottom edge upward to the ridge. The layered pattern allowed rainwater to cascade cleanly downward.
The color shifted to deep brown timber, treated and sealed.
The roof pitch subtly adjusted again, changing to be steeper than before. The ridge beam thickened, locking the structure firmly into place.
Where primitive binding once held grass together, now interlocking wooden shingles rested on reinforced rafters. The sound of settling timber echoed softly as the final pieces aligned.
Ash’s house stood at the center of the eleven houses. Its shingled roof gleamed faintly in the rising sunlight.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
One by one, the eleven houses descended.
They landed firmly upon their newly formed stone foundations, perfectly aligned within their rearranged district.
The faint tremor faded into silence.
The difference was obvious because compared to the surrounding Tier 1 houses with their thicker thatch, these structures now appeared distinctly superior.
A clear separation of rank without needing words.
One of the Fifth Ranks stared at his new residence, eyes slightly widened.
"Even the roof changed." He murmured softly.
Old Ni folded his arms, glancing at Ash. "We’re dividing the tribe by strength now."
Ash looked at the elevated row of larger stone-footed houses and nodded his head. "Yeah, the main purposes are to motivate them so that they will strive to become stronger and contribute more to the tribe."
Clap!
Ash clapped his hand to get everyone’s attention.
"I will also upgrade your houses once you have contributed enough to the tribe, or you can pay enough tribute to basically pay for the cost of me upgrading your house." Ash said it loudly so that everyone in the distance could also hear it.
Murmurs could be heard among the crowd as they couldn’t help but be excited at Ash’s words.
"Tribe Lord, how much do we need to pay for the tribute to upgrade the house?" Harold asked curiously.
"It depends, but if they have never contributed to the tribe, they need to give five 4th Rank Beast Cores." Ash replied with a faint smile as he thought that with five 4th Rank Beast Cores, he could at least earn 25,000 System Points since the cost was only around 25,000 System Points.
"Or I can upgrade it for free once you reach the 5th Rank." Ash shrugged.
Harold’s eyes lit up when he heard it since Ash had promised him that he would upgrade his rank today. "Then I—"
"Don’t worry, I’ll upgrade your rank now that almost everything is settled." Ash interrupted with a chuckle before ordering the system.