16. Hut

"Alright, we’ll need a place to sleep tonight. Didn’t the goddess say something about preparing a hut or similar? I don’t recall seeing anything like that around here, though?" Shiro mused, recalling Firumia’s words, then paused, puzzled.

"Shiro, please check the Ideatool library," Mitoka said.

"Library?"

Why a library? Shiro wondered, but he quickly activated the Ideatool and scrolled through the library list.

"Resource list," Mitoka instructed.

Ah, right. Checking the resource list, he found thumbnails of objects and materials—standard stuff used in 3D modeling. Shiro scrolled through the list.

Then he spotted an object labeled "Goddess’s Hut."

"Hey, wait—could this be…?" Shiro muttered, a hunch forming, and turned to Mitoka.

"Yes, Shiro. Those objects can be materialized," Mitoka replied, floating gently with a smile.

"No way!"

Shiro exclaimed. Then, after a beat:

"Ugh… this is either too easy or just too convenient…" He shook his head, half-amused, half-exasperated.

"Well, there are limitations. The biggest one is your current mana capacity. Honestly, your mana right now isn’t nearly enough to materialize anything from this library. But since you’re the one using it, and you’re already nearby, the Ideatool’s skill allows materialization without mana cost."

"The usual personal-use license restriction? Or is it a perk now?"

"Yes. For now, that limit isn’t an issue."

"Fair enough. Let’s just try it."

Shiro selected the goddess’s cabin from the list and visualized its placement. A rectangular wireframe-like outline appeared in the real world—apparently indicating the cabin’s size. He positioned it somewhere suitable and muttered, “Manifest.”

The cabin materialized right where he’d placed it.

——‘[Manifest] Level 1 acquired.’

“Whoa. Can actually make something like this out of thin air? No wonder it’s called magic.” Shiro, half impressed, half dismissive.

“Fufu. Shiro, incidentally, you’re the only one in this world who can use this spell.”

Mitoka said it with a smug grin.

“Wait, really? Eh, whatever.”

Shiro shrugged it off—more out of embarrassment than anything else.

The cabin, or rather a fairly large cabin, was built of logs, resembling a traditional log house.

It had a proper stone foundation, a triangular roof made of overlapping wooden planks, and measured about five by ten meters—substantial enough. There were a door and windows, too.

“Let’s go inside first.”

The door wasn’t locked, so Shiro just pushed it open and stepped in. A lock was present, though, if he wanted to secure it later.

Inside, the living room opened up immediately. To the left of the window was a kitchen and a cupboard. In front of it stood a dining table with four chairs.

On the right side sat a sofa and a coffee table. A small bookshelf held a few books.

In the center, a hallway led onward. At the far right was a door. Shiro opened it to find a small room with a single twin-sized bed. A small wardrobe, a chair, and a desk were also present. The door on the left led to the bathroom and sink.

Peering further into the next room,

“Whoa! There’s a bath!”

Shiro’s voice rose with excitement.

After surveying the whole place,

"This is quite a simple, yet thoroughly complete little cabin."

He spoke honestly, impressed and pleased.

Since he was here, Shiro sank deeply into a sofa that looked comfortably soft.

"Yeah, this is pretty nice. Feels like I could relax here. But how the hell did they model this place, anyway?"

Even in VR authoring, there were plenty of so-called 3D models floating around.

Hundreds of 3D modelers worldwide had been uploading their work to the net—free, paid, everything you could imagine. The quality varied wildly, though, so getting something at a decent completion level wasn't easy.

"Shiro, everything in this cabin was actually built in reality. It's just stored in the library, like items in an inventory. The functionality is a bit different, but the library serves a similar purpose to an inventory."

"Ah—so it wasn’t materialized through modeling. Then…?" Shiro paused, curious.

"Um, wouldn’t it have been easier to just use the library as an inventory from the start?" he asked Mitoka.

"No, unfortunately, you can't learn the library's materialization skill unless you already have the inventory skill. Plus, once something is stored in the library, the entity gets converted into the library’s internal format. So, in a way, once registered, it’s no longer the same thing it was originally."

"I see. So the library’s kind of like a 'template,' huh? Wait—then if I wanted to revert this cabin back, I’d have to put it into the inventory?"

"Yes, exactly."

"What about the stuff inside?"

"It goes in with it, automatically."

Ah, I get it. So this could double as a tent on the road. A bit big and eye-catching, but still—Shiro smirked.

If you find this interesting, please consider rating and bookmarking it—it really helps!