Chapter 70: Building Construction 3

[First, please load the required materials for the Wooden Storage House into the construction site.]

A section of the ground within the designated construction area suddenly lit up green, marking out a space for the materials.

Oh! I guess this is where I drop the wood and stone!

And so, I did just that.

Wood: 150

Stone: 5

I loaded all the required materials into the designated area.

[Ding!]

[Construction material loading completed!]

[Please select your citizens and designate them as builders!]

[Worker Capacity: 0/5]

In other words, I could assign up to five builders to this project!

Five little yellow construction-hard-hat icons materialized in my vision as I mentally selected the [Assign Worker] button.

One by one, I dragged two of the icons onto Gopugiga and Gopuran.

[Ding! Citizen Gopugiga has been successfully assigned as a construction worker for Wooden Storage House Lv. 1.]

[Ding! Citizen Gopuran has been successfully assigned as a construction worker for Wooden Storage House Lv. 1.]

Sadly, no actual hard hats appeared on their heads.

Now that’s a bit of a scam.

Still, the moment the assignments went through, both goblins straightened up, their eyes lighting up as if they had just heard something echo inside their minds.

Without me having to say a word, they immediately turned toward the designated construction site and marched over.

Huh? What the heck did the System just tell them?

Curious, I decided to ask.

"Wait, what did you hear just now?"

"There are voices! Voices of divine messengers! They’re telling me what to do!" Gopugiga replied, his expression filled with awe.

"Yeah! If we follow the voices, we can build the Storage House!" Gopuran added excitedly. Then, she tilted her head slightly. "Big Boss, are these voices your followers, too?"

"Erm... well, yeah..." I answered awkwardly. "Haha, something like that."

Honestly, hearing them talk about mysterious voices inside their heads sent a chill through me. It was a little creepy, not gonna lie.

Still, I knew it was just the System doing its job, so there probably wasn’t anything to worry about.

At least, that’s what I told myself.

Meanwhile, the two goblins continued toward the construction site, apparently eager to get started.

I kept a close eye on them, curious to see how the whole process would unfold. After all, even though I had supplied all the wood and stone the System requested, building an actual house normally required quite a few other things.

For starters, there were all the smaller materials needed to hold everything together: rope or other bindings, wooden pegs or nails, door hinges, handles, and so on.

And then there were the tools.

At the very least, the goblins would need hammers, chisels, saws, and shovels to process the materials and assemble the structure properly.

But at the moment, I didn’t have any of those things in my inventory, apart from a few stone hammers.

So... how exactly is the System going to make this work?

A series of notifications soon appeared before me.

[Calculating Points required to run this construction project... Complete.]

[Material Conversion: Converting basic resources into construction-grade materials. Cost: 150 Points.]

[Tool Rental and Guided Instruction: 5 Points / Worker / Hour.]

[Estimated Completion Time: 8 Hours.]

[Total Estimated Cost: 230 Points.]

Aha! I see.

So the System uses Points to process my raw materials and supplies the necessary tools and other construction materials, too!

Within seconds, the material-processing phase was complete.

The piles of raw wood I had supplied were now neatly transformed into planks and properly cut structural beams, all stacked beside the construction site. Everything was cut to the appropriate dimensions, ready to be assembled into an actual building.

At first, it almost looked like some absurd alchemy ability, transforming one material into another in the blink of an eye.

But the more I thought about it, the less surprising it seemed.

After all, the System had basically been doing this since day one. As long as I had enough Points, I could purchase all sorts of things, from meat and wood to weapons and furniture.

I had always wondered how it actually worked.

If the System wasn’t some kind of ridiculously overpowered alchemy god, then perhaps it was a massive dimensional warehouse filled with an endless supply of tools, materials, and goods, all available for purchase with Points?

A wild guess, sure, but not entirely unreasonable!

Anyway, while I was busy pondering the System’s true nature, hammers suddenly appeared in the hands of my two construction workers. Other necessary tools materialized around the construction site as well, neatly arranged and ready for use.

My attention immediately snapped toward the hammers.

Oh! Can I keep those after the construction is finished?

I zoomed in on one of them, eager to inspect my potential new acquisition.

Unfortunately, the System promptly crushed my hopes.

[Construction Hammer]

Description: A temporary tool rented by the System for assigned construction workers. Cannot be taken outside the designated construction site. Will disappear once construction is complete.

...

Haaizz... well, I guess there’s no cheating the System!

With everything prepared, Gopugiga and Gopuran finally got to work, following the instructions that echoed inside their minds.

Gopugiga handled the heavier tasks, moving the wooden beams into position and holding them steady, while Gopuran followed the instructions to assemble the smaller components. Whenever they hesitated, they seemed to receive further guidance, allowing them to correct their mistakes and continue without much trouble.

Soon, the rhythmic clanging of hammers began to ring through the courtyard.

Well, look at that! My little goblins are officially construction workers now!

With Partially System-Assisted Mode, assigning two builders to the project would cost me an additional 230 Points on top of the material costs, and the estimated completion time was only 8 hours.

By comparison, Fully System-Assisted Mode would cost a whopping 500 extra Points on top of the materials and take a full 24 hours to complete.

In other words, I was saving hundreds of Points and a considerable amount of time by letting my goblins handle the construction themselves!

More importantly, if my goblins could gain some kind of Construction skill or experience from doing this work, that would be even better.

With improved construction skills, we’d be able to complete future projects more efficiently, saving even more time and Points!