Most people praise those who are quick to learn things, especially if they are also quick to think of solutions.
Most people also neglect those slow learners who need time to catch up.
Lawa has potential and is also talented, but he is not that smart and is not quick on his feet at all times.
He was the type that needed time to catch up.
Some will quickly think outside the box and arrive at answers but he will need to know the box before even attempting to think outside of it.
Making a yellow stone cave was what he had done for 6 days and he was good at it to a degree.
For that, he stopped trying to act cool and began doing what he could do.
Inside his stone cave, Lawa thought of adding more weight above until he raised it to reach 2 meters.
There were numerous cracks, showing the imperfection of his work but he doesn't care.
Now a 2-meter structure, he came out and observed it.
'Now I have to make the wall move that way!'
***
"This thing will not last!" A woman said. Standing beside Old Man Luno.
Another one said, "He doesn't know what he is doing. He should start from there; that way, the wall won't collapse by sand shift."
Those who know something about construction can see the flaw in Lawa's actions. But they won't complain. The stone fragments themselves can be useful to them if the boy fails.
"He is learning!" Old Man Luno said. "He never said he did it before."
Indeed Lawa was learning. From within the stone cave, he passively shifted and began to move along the design, clustering yellow sand with yellow taint.
Then he came back adding more force to them without making them into stone.
He was slow; at sunset, he had only made a 100-meter wall. But his fear and anxiety abated because he had a clear idea of what to do.
He called it a day and went into the settlement to eat and rest. Of course, he made his own cave and also didn't change clothes to soft ones.
He didn't trust them.
Before sunrise, he went out and began again.
But there was no single stone he made there. They broke it and took it inside.
Lawa wasn't upset at all but his mind now has a clear idea.
"Making the same thick wall that reached 3 meters will not be strong. But if the foundation was wider and thicker, I could thin the wall as it went up."
Today, he tested his plan, and it worked, but still, the foundation had to be extra thick and wide as long as he wanted the upper part to be strong.
Lawa tested and learned even as a disappointment murmur reached him, he didn't care. He did his thing.
Old Man Luno tried to make him pull sand and make a mound and call it over but he refused.
It was on the 9th day that he began to make the wall. And in just a few hours he had covered 130 meters distance with 1 meter thick and height.
He checked and checked, confirmed this was good, and he went around and used the Miracle Stone.
It hardened with a deep yellow colour.
By now there was only one person assigned to watch him. He waved his hand and the guard came.
"Please, ask Old Man Luno to test this wall's integrity!"
The man ran inside and he was back with a woman and a man.
"Chief went to fetch water." They bowed to Lawa and announced that they could test it in his place.
"All right!" Lawa was interested because they could only do it with their Rachis Innate and he hadn't seen anyone use it here.
Even though he knew some of them were cultivators.
The man stood in a pose before he took in air through his mouth. Sand particles included and he blasted it toward the wall.
Lawa noticed it; the particles had become a single hard stone.
Bang!
It rammed at the wall, and cracks appeared, but that was it.
"It's strong!" The woman said with surprise.
Lawa, on the other hand, was, 'Wait, it cracked from that weak attack. And you call that strong. Is she joking with me'
But she was genuine.
Lawa went and caressed the crack and it healed.
The chief later came and he too praised Lawa's effort.
From then, it took another ten days before he circled the settlement. The reason for the delay was Rena's limitation, and also, he kept asking the wall to be cracked so that he could heal it.
This way it became stronger than before.
He was 30 days in that settlement when a 4-meter-high wall was finished. It wasn't the best of work but it can deter Iron and Copper Grade Maha Beasts.
And that was their main problem.
It only took an additional two days to raise the sand mound around the wall as the people set traps and also buried some of their treasures.
This way bandits won't have them.
Lawa observed his work and felt content.
'I have never worked this hard for a month straight but look at me now.'
There were a lot of areas that needed improvement on the wall, but he had reached his limit.
He doesn't want to have anything to do with the wall again.
He sauntered through the settlement. People call him and he waves his hand at them. The last 32 days were eventful.
When he came, he was respected because of his origin, but then they were disappointed when his skill was shown to be not that good.
But his resilience and dedication made them realise this boy was here to improve.
Even Old Man Luno said he understood that Marmara Elders might have sent Lawa to hone his skills and Lawa acknowledged that.
"This is the end of our agreement!" Lawa said.
"Yes, Young Limit Master. The wall is a great help to us."
The two talked like friends until food was provided by that girl that they kept pushing on him, but Lawa didn't bother to know her name but acknowledged her presence.
"The cost of the wall is higher than the 10,000km destination. If it is within that limit, you won't have to pay, but if it exceeds that, you will have to pay the additional charges."
"All right," Lawa said. His thoughts were elsewhere.
Being alone, surrounded by strangers was an alien feeling but this feeling awakened another feeling. The one about the dream.
'I think what Master Brass did is waning!' Lawa thought. His sleep was fine but the feeling of paranoia was coming back to him.
The paranoia was also alien but he recognised it with the pain he had endured for decades.
The good thing was there was no pain now.
Unfortunately, Lawa is now developing a fear of pain.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm fine. I will retire!" He said to the old man.
'He is getting stranger and more distant by the day!' Luno thought.