August went ahead and built the sixth layer right on top of the still wet clay. He was getting to the point where he actually had to stand up to comfortably reach the top now—about level with the top of his thighs. If he kept the layers at roughly the same height, then he thought it would end at the fourteenth layer. By that point, he’d probably need to ask one of the others for help reaching the top of it or drag something over for him to stand on.

He threw a couple more pieces of wood onto the fire and then took hold of the cube once more. He dumped his almost full bar of mana into the spell and watched it rise—[41/80]. The protrusions pushed out from the cube again, and like before, he went ahead and trimmed them back to avoid any chance of the monster waking up.

He’d put a pin in how the taming cap was calculated, at least. A level eight Efkini had a progress bar of eighty, while a level three Mitikos had a progress bar of thirty; not exactly hard to figure out the connection from there—ten points for every level. Which gave him a nice rule of thumb that the higher level the monster, the longer it would take to tame. Something to consider for the future, even if it wasn’t relevant to his immediate situation.

August removed his [Wooden Shovel] from his inventory and then stepped back from the furnace to get a good look at the area. He wanted some overhang to protect the fires from any future weather events, so he’d need to start a bit further back. He stopped where he wanted the first post to go and then dug out a small circle of dirt to use as a marking before dragging the tip of the shovel through the dirt towards the other side of the [Kiln], trying to keep the distance roughly equal on both sides. Once he was happy with it, he dug a second area out.

He dragged a new line from the hole across the grass to stop on the other side of the third [A-Frame-Hut]. He spent a moment making sure his attempt wasn’t too wonky and then dug the third hole. Then he made a new line behind the huts, lining it up with the first hole on the far side of the furnace. Once the fourth hole was made, he moved towards the treeline to get a better view of the entire area, making a mental note of where he wanted each of the other holes to be.

Once he’d divided the massive rectangle into six slices on each of the longest sides, he moved back in and began marking them out with his shovel. When all twelve of the holes were in what he thought was the correct spot, he returned to the furnace and started work on actually digging out the first hole—a task that had him immediately remembering just how shitty of a job digging a hole actually was.

He took a brief break when his mana topped out again, returning to the cube and bringing the progress bar up to [51/80]. The protrusions returned, and he spent a moment trying to judge how much they would grow with three more mana dumps—then trimmed them back anyway, still not willing to take the risk.

August added the seventh layer to the furnace while he was there, then he returned to his digging, stabbing his shovel into the hole and then stopped as Haiko approached from the shoreline. She had three of Rittan’s breadboards in her hands, and on the top one sat two tall, vase-like shapes.

“I was running out of space,” Haiko said, stopping well outside of his two-meter range. “Do you mind?”

“There’s wood in the Kiln already,” August said, “You’re free to use it whenever you want.”

Haiko smiled before kneeling down to place the three cross-sections down beside the [Kiln]. He got a look at what was on top of the other two for the first time. Two bowls, two mugs and four neat rectangles that must have been the tablets.

“August, this part of the process can take a long time,” Haiko said, “Upwards of eight hours, more perhaps, considering we are using an actual fire to accomplish it.”

That was a pretty long time, and they were really starting to burn through their firewood now.

“I’ll put a stack of firewood down for you to keep it running,” August said, shovelling out another scoop of dirt. “I’ll probably have to start collecting more firewood every day, or we’re going to end up running out.”

“I will put aside some time to procure some more wood—I am the one who will be using it after all,” Haiko promised, “Once I have retrieved my axe from Kalter, they seemed to be having some trouble with their own ones.”

“They aren’t exactly durable,” August admitted, “I’ve been thinking about making a new one out of the Otrogon’s incisors; I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.”

“Perhaps you should think more on how to delegate your duties,” Haiko said, placing the two jugs inside of the [Kiln]. “There are some things you are able to do that we are not, and your time might be better spent in those areas rather than performing the more labour-intensive tasks.”

“It’s not like I haven’t done that already—you’re making stuff we need; Rittan and Kalter are cutting down half the forest,” August said before sighing. “Which would have been easier to accomplish with a better axe.”

Haiko just smiled before reaching down and stealing a coal-tipped branch from the furnace. August stabbed his shovel back into the hole before stepping away from it. Haiko’s render burst to life in his mind as he stopped next to the [Kiln] and deposited a stack of firewood for her to use. It vanished again as he stepped out of range and then rotated around to the other side of the furnace. August sat down on the ground and started considering everything he’d need to make a new axe.