The morning after she submitted the manuscript.
Lovia held the small iron shovel and stood in the middle of the shed, tapping the ground beneath her feet with her toe, feeling somewhat helpless.
She had bought this shovel specifically for this purpose, even choosing a relatively suitable size, but holding it now, it still felt a bit heavy.
The soil beneath her feet carried the unique dampness of the seaside and wasn't particularly hard.
She had discovered during her previous survey that the foundation of this small hut was laid rather casually; it was less "built" and more "placed" on this soft, coastal land.
She had originally envisioned digging downward in a corner to create a small cellar that could store food for a long time and perhaps double as a refuge.
But just now, she had only tentatively poked downward with the tip of the shovel as a simulation, and at less than half an arm's depth, she could already clearly feel the looseness and moisture of the ground below.
Digging further down?
I'm afraid before the cellar could even take shape, this tiny dwelling she relied on for her livelihood would perform a "house-collapsing" style subsidence.
Or worse, it might just collapse entirely, showing her the scenery of the sea.
"Sigh..." Lovia sighed.
Ideals are plump, but reality... reality's geological conditions simply won't allow it.
Lovia squatted down, poked the slightly moist earth with her fingertip, and muttered softly, "But... but in storybooks, everyone can dig great cellars under houses by the sea."
She tilted her head and looked seriously at the iron shovel in her hand.
"Could it be that it's not the soil's fault, but that my digging posture is wrong?" Lovia stood up, holding the shovel handle with both hands and striking what she thought was a standard "digging pose." As a result, the heavy shovel made her wobble, and she almost lost her footing.
"Al-alright, let's put this aside for now." She decided to let the precarious ground be for the moment, and also to spare her own poor hands.
After leaning the shovel against the wall, Lovia's gaze fell back to the small gap she had poked in the ground.
The damp, dark soil was exposed, surrounded by clean wooden boards, which looked a bit eyesore.
"As expected... it's safer to use wooden crates." She nodded to herself, as if trying to convince herself. "As for the cellar... let's just pretend it doesn't exist! Right, I never even thought about digging a cellar, and it's definitely not because I can't dig one!"
But now, she had to clean up the traces first.
Lovia squatted down again, using her hands to push the scattered soil back into the small hole, handful by handful. As she pushed, she muttered softly, "...I'll fill you back in now. Please don't collapse anymore; I don't have the money to build a new house..."
The soil obediently filled back in, but after she pressed it down with her hands, the middle part was still slightly concave, and the color was darker than the surroundings.
Next was the thick wooden board she had carefully pried open earlier to facilitate the digging. However, the edges of the board seemed to have been damaged when she pried it up, making it extremely difficult to fit it back in seamlessly. She tried several times, but either this side would bulge or that side would sink.
Damn it! What a piece of junk board!
She was getting a bit anxious, tiny beads of sweat forming on the tip of her nose, and her cheeks flushed slightly from the effort. In the end, she had to half-kneel on the ground, using her body weight to gradually press the edges of the board flat and align them.
When the board finally clicked back into place with a "clack," forming a roughly level surface with the surrounding floor, Lovia let out a long sigh of relief.
Finally managed to fix it!
"Alright!" she announced to the quiet hut and to herself, "The cellar plan is officially canceled! From now on, I'll just keep using wooden crates to store things."
Although there was a bit of regret, seeing the floor she had finally restored to its original state made her feel much more at ease.
At least the house was saved, and the board was back in place; otherwise, it would have been a mess.
She patted her dirt-stained hands. The sense of relief only lasted for a brief moment. As her gaze swept over the shovel in the corner that seemed to have no use, and then fell on the floor she had just "repaired," a sense of frustration quietly welled up again.
"Sigh, if only the ground were sturdier..." she grumbled softly, walking aimlessly to a corner of the room.
There were several empty clay jars she had sorted out earlier, old items left by the previous owner. She used to use them to store some seawater to increase the humidity in the room, but later found that doing so made her little nest too damp, and even her manuscript paper would grow moldy. So she had to stop, and these clay jars were left empty, occasionally used to store small trinkets that had nowhere else to go.
Lovia absentmindedly tapped one of the jars with her toe. The body of the jar was slightly cool and felt solid.
At that moment, an image crashed into her mind without warning.
Beside a collapsed hut, villagers were frantically filling such clay jars with sand and stacking them to form a wall to resist the raging waves.
"Using... jars?" Lovia blinked, appearing startled by her own idea.
She looked down at the ground beneath her feet—soft, damp, and unable to bear weight. Then she looked up at the sturdy clay jar. When empty, it seemed ordinary, but if filled with sand, its weight and stability... She imagined burying these solid, curved jars one by one into the soft soil, like laying down foundation stones.
With the jars filled with compacted earth and countless jars supporting each other, their curved walls could disperse the pressure from above and then dissipate the impact of the waves... From "jar foundations" to "jar dikes," and then to the tiles that inspired the roof... the logic seemed to click into place all at once!
Lovia's eyes grew brighter and brighter.
"Yes! That's it!" She almost jumped up, excitedly announcing to the empty hut, "It wasn't because Rex Lapis used immortal arts to conjure sturdy houses as soon as he arrived, but because the Ancients used the most common things at their disposal to lay the first foundations for themselves! This is the true meaning of 'establishing a foundation'!"
She sighed contentedly, looked at the ground again, then at the clay jars in the corner, a look of relief appearing on her face.
Although the real-life cellar plan had fallen through, it had given her new creative inspiration.
Therefore, today's outcome: the cellar's defeat, Lovia's victory!!
She turned and carefully bypassed the floorboard she had just "repaired," walking toward her desk with a light heart, ready to write down this sudden flash of inspiration in detail.
Perhaps she could quietly add a line at the end of the story: "Inspiration derived from a failed cellar digging project."
How interesting!
Of course, this was just a joking thought; she certainly couldn't write about such an embarrassing thing.
-------------------------
If you enjoy this story, you can read 70+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
Webnovel will keep getting 1 new chapter every day but Patreon readers can stay far ahead.
Maybe it's not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
[email protected]/Greyhounds
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"