Is that a Wisp?
chapter-972

"Alright, this looks pretty good." Krune heaved an exhausted sigh as he looked at the ground before him. He was currently inside a wide cave where he had dug the ground and placed all the rocky gravel on one side.

He then made numerous trips from the cave to the topmost cave, bringing with him the mud that was in there. The closer the cave was to the ocean layer, the more abundant the mud in it. Thus, he transported the mud from there to the large caves in the walls.

It was to plant the Rope Bushes. Having raised two of them for more than a year now, Krune had collected quite a few of their seeds. A Rope Bush finished growing within a month and bore a seed at the end of each month.

Krune collected the seeds and stored them. As he hadn't uprooted the two Rope Bushes, they bore seeds every month. Because of that, he had 30 Rope Bush seeds now, including what he obtained from the Primary Landmass.

As they needed a lot of rope to descend to the ground, their priority was to grow even more Rope Bushes. With that, all their needs would be satisfied.

The Seamstress worked on the delicate parts of making rope, pipes using the rope, and so on while Krune worked on the grunt work and created places to plant the Rope Bushes, the bone trees, and other plants they had.

He also dug a large pit in one of the longest caves. This cave only had a width of three meters but a length of almost 30 meters. He chose this place for the Motor Fishes to live in for the time being. Keeping them in a small place would cause them to die sooner or later. After all, even if they were a tamed species, moving in the water was what they loved.

So, if he didn't wish to lose them, Krune had to create a place for them to survive. He couldn't leave them in the ocean since it was too risky. When he checked using his Sonic Radar, Krune noticed a lot of predator fishes in the vicinity.

Even if he was strong, they would swarm him to death within a dozen seconds. It was too risky. This was another reason he almost despaired. After all, he would have to face them when they planned to leave the place.

The Seamstress only had one Helper Whistle with her that she carried around for emergencies. Naturally, it was clearly insufficient in this place filled with predator fishes. Even if she summoned all 10 predator fishes, they would easily be overwhelmed.

'Once the two of us grow stronger, leaving this place should be possible,' Krune thought as he finished planting all the thirty Rope Bush seeds in a couple of caves.

The Seamstress had created a bundle of threads that were wound close to one another to create tiny flexible pipes. She lodged a rectangular piece of coral into the walls that were submerged in the water, fixing all the thin rope pipes into it.

She then extended them straight, stopping them at the entrance of the topmost cave.

Capillary Rise!

It was a concept of physics where water moved up in a thin tube against gravity. She used the same concept here, making the water move a certain distance until the gravity changed. At that exact point, she increased the diameter of the rope pipe, causing the principle of capillary rise to fail.

With gravity acting on it, the water soon dripped down. This way, she created an automatic pumping system. Even though the water only dripped one drop per second, she had placed around a hundred pipes in the cluster. In other words, it was a considerable amount that was generated automatically every second.

She had created an inclined slope over which the water dripped. They slid down into a funnel that was connected to another pipe, with it being connected to the water tank. The water tank had a width of three meters, the same as the cave's width.

It was a considerable reservoir of water, able to hold 24,000 liters of water. Once filled, it would last them for a month. Though, they still had other necessities, like watering the bone trees and the Rope Bushes. With that, they needed even more water.

Then again, considering the speed of water influx, they would have more than enough water to use after a couple of days. After all, the dripping from the numerous thin pipes equaled to five milliliters per second, which amounted to 18 liters per hour.

It was more than enough for all their uses. As the water began to drip into the water tank, the Seamstress continued to make more rope pipes, intending to connect them to the other tanks that Krune was making.

They intended to have a couple more water reservoirs just in case they had an emergency. Moreover, they also needed to provide a source of running water in the tank with the Mutated Motor Fishes. After all, if they lived in stale water, they would come down with diseases.

Setting up everything required time, a lot of it. Once the first water tank was completed, Krune made numerous visits to it, carrying a small bottle that he filled with water and used to water the Rope Bushes.

Making repeated travels along the slope was hard and exhausting. Nevertheless, he persisted while relying on his Ocean Heart. The Seamstress relied on the Healing Extract he had created, subsisting on it to continue working with almost no rest.

In the night, they played with Solare for some time before sleeping. It almost seemed like they had formed a routine as they worked without a single complaint, soon running out of rope to use. They had first prioritized creating pipes using the ropes to obtain a reserve of water for their use.

And now, the water tank in the topmost cave was fitted with almost ten taps, with each tap connected to one of the caves. Among them was the longest rope that caused them to run out of their stock. Even though Krune had brought in a massive amount that he had stolen from two Monster Gecko villages, their expansive project quickly burned through the reserves.

"Thankfully, it was enough." Krune sighed in relief as he noticed the pipe continue to drip a drop of water every couple of seconds. Currently, he was standing atop the rock pillar. And surrounding the bone tree before him was a small circular platform.

It had been built around it, with enough space between it and the bone tree to house some water. The walls were made of coral. And inserted into it was the pipe that continuously dropped a drop of water every couple of seconds. This way, the bone tree would have a continuous supply of water.

At present, Krune wasn't sure if that level of water was enough for the bone tree. So, he was just experimenting to see the level of water it needed. Moreover, another pipe was attached to the walls around the bone tree.

From this pipe spanned a rope, heading into their cave, connecting with their boat, the Paddle. This way, they can fill up their water reserves. Moreover, Krune also installed a simple drainage system in their cave so that their level of hygiene would be maintained.

The drainage was connected to a thick rope pipe that was connected to the nearby rock pillar. From there, it fell wherever. Krune noticed how the murky drainage water fell through the layer of clouds, coughing once as he muttered, "May you have pleasant rains under."

A month later, the first batch of Rope Bushes finished growing. Krune harvested them and planted the thirty Rope Bush seeds that grew on their top. Now, they got more material to use. They constantly worked to finish setting up.

When they rested, they took turns to teach Solare about simple stuff, carefully taking him to the top of the rock pillar for fresh air. Once the pool of water for the Mutated Motor Fishes was completed, Krune and the Seamstress struggled a lot to transport them to their respective cave.

It took them a day to transport each. Once they reached the cave and noticed the pool with a length of 30 meters, the Mutated Motor Fishes were overjoyed. It was more than enough for them to live happily.

After all, Krune had increased the depth of the pool to a staggering four meters. It gave them plenty of space to swim. Moreover, a pipe was connected to the pool, supplying it with fresh water from the ocean.

Plus, another pipe was connected to the pool that siphoned out the murky water at regular intervals. Thanks to the Seamstress and Krune's efforts, they had made it entirely automatic. Thanks to the bone tree fruits, they could keep them fed easily.

After three months passed in such a fashion, they were close to running out of food. After talking it through, the two of them headed into the ocean layer above, struggling for some time before they killed a massive fish.

Krune dissected it while in the waters as they constantly moved around, dodging the attacks of other predator fishes that had been lured by the blood. Once he had cut out sizeable chunks of the fish, they left it in the water and arrived at the topmost cave.

"This is enough for a week." Krune heaved a sigh. Then, they carefully brought in pieces of the meat, making numerous trips to do so. Once he stored all the meat in his boat, Krune said, "Let's hunt once every three days. That way, we can stock up on food. I need a lot of energy since I've already expended four rings of my Ocean Heart."

"Fine by me," The Seamstress nodded and headed out to work once again, keeping her conversation with Krune to a minimum. He understood why she was doing that. It was because if they interacted more, over time, they might become used to the company of the other party.