The Way of the Future: Age of Machines(Completed)

Building A House 2/2

The limestone Artemis had broken down and placed inside his otherwise cramped furnace had been burning for about 4 and half hours. If Artemis had the abiltiy to sweat, he would be sweating buckets by now.

Artemis didn't need to accommodate for health concerns, the first reason being that he is not a wholly biological person who needed to take into account the many risks that came with working in the conditions he was putting himself in.

Heat stroke? Not a problem.

Thirst? No thank you.

Food? Nope.

Overwork? Not in his personal vocabulary. 

Despite most of his systems still not functioning at their nominal capacity, he was making do with what he had for now.

Artemis went to see Wart and asked if he had a shovel of any kind. Wart, having had his expectations blown through the roof by 'Erik' numerous times, pointed him to the direction of the shovel he had he kept at the back of the hut.

Artemis thanked him and moved on.

As Artemis approached the hut, the onlooking Pandora was caught off-guard and tried to hide herself under the window. 

Artemis, though noticed her actions, ignore her and went straight for the shovel and hurriedly headed back to take out the lime.

Artemis then wondered, Pandora had been on that window for quite some time now. By quite some time, she'd been over there for 5 hours straight.

It was already noon. The sun was simmering hot but thankfully, the forest surrounding the lake and the lake itself made sure the area was cool and moist. The thunderstorm that came a day ago also contributed to the welcoming atmosphere of a cool fog that settled over the area.

But the area around Artemis' construction was far from being optimal or comfortable. The amount of heat he was generating from the furnace and his body alone was enough to cause heat stroke if exposed for far too long.

Wart felt the immense heat coming from Artemis when he approached him by the lake shore. The heat Artemis exhibited surprised him and reminded him of his times as a child when he was a mere miner. 

Pandora felt the heat through the breeze that blew through Artemis and entered the window. She commented on the heat, thinking that it was unusual for a human to have such a feature.

Artemis, on the other hand, did not know about the heat his body was giving off around him. 

He used the shovel to take out the baked lime pile by pile and placed them on a sheet. The pile was a quarter his size but it would make do for now.

He now needed to wait for the baked lime, which was referred to as quicklime, to cool until it had a dry and crumbly consistency. 

After the baked lime had cooled, he would mix grind it down further into a powder, mix it with gravel, water, and sand to make his cement. 

Since he was going to use cement to stick the logs. He needed to make them efficient as possible. He couldn't just cut the logs into planks since that wouldn't be optimal. He needed a wide surface and a thick body, similar to a brick. Planks could only be used if he had nails but he had no nails.

Artemis imagined the house that was about to be erected at the clearing he had made. With his tools, the logs, the cement. All he could think of was one hell of a mess. 

He could, theoretically, turn the walls into a concrete wall and use the logs as a sort of foundation but by doing so, he would need a lot more cement. 

Meanwhile, Wart had finished fishing but after 5 hours, he had only caught a total of ten fish, not very efficient use of his time.

Wart sighed after looking at his catch for the day. 10 fish of the same species. He picked all ten up with 5 on each hand of his by the tail and headed back to the hut.

"Fish?" Pandora asked as Wart entered through the door.

"Yes, I guess we'll be having some roasted fish tonight for dinner," Wart said with a smile. He then walked to his room.

"Call me if something important happens, you rest more, alright?" Wart said. Pandora nodded and Wart closed the door behind him. 

Pandora felt sleepy and so, took a seat against the wall and closed her eyes. Her body was still weak and so, this rest was more than welcome.

"Maybe tomorrow.. I can ask him.." Pandors said before entering the realm of dreams. 

By nightfall, Artemis had returned to the hut but not before cooling his body up by diving into the lake. He had finally noticed the heat he was exuding after a warning popped up to the right of his eye, saying that his internal temperature was near boiling.

Jumping into the lake was the only option he had though. A cloud of steam formed as soon as he touched the water that floated into the air until the his body temperature returned to normal. 

While under water, he could see clearly thanks to his eyes and thermal scanning. A dead fish floated beside him. He grabbed it and noticed that the fish died due to the heat when he dove straight into the lake.

"Whoops," He said underwater. Bubbles formed and floated up to the surface. 

When he got back to the hut, Pandora had managed to crawl herself back to her place on the floor and was sound asleep. 

Artemis' uniform was waterproof and so, prevented water from sticking to it permanently. And unlike the rainwater that was pouring before he entered the hut, the water from the lake was removed completely a few seconds before entering the hut. 

He walked past Pandora and headed to Wart's room. The door leading to it was shut but wasn't locked. There wasn't a lock.

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Note: The reason I named Artemis' real name Zack Synder because it was based on one of my favorite directors, Zack Snyder.

And if you don't like the name because it sounds so simple, comment to vote if you want to change it.

a.) Change the name

b.) Keep the name

And if y'all vote for option A, then here are the names I've been thinking in my head.

a.) Jaune Forester

b.) Johann Gardener

c.) Thomas Bryan

d.) Ruslan Fedorov

e.) Comment here and give me a name in your mind