For Little Ink Marker, Did I Really Have to Learn Blacksmithing?

"Rise!" With a sharp shout, a surge of green swept through the ship.

From bow to stern, dozens of giant bamboo stalks shot out of the ground. Each stood twenty to thirty meters tall, as thick as a bowl, and exactly two meters from the next.

The stalks were smooth and straight, with almost no stray branches. They grew until they neared the roof of the enclosure, then stopped all at once.

A moment later, green vines dropped from the ceiling. Each caught a bamboo stalk and creaked as it pulled inward.

The stalks bent obediently toward the center, meeting in pairs to form arches. At the bow and stern,

four exceptionally thick stalks curved over and grew toward the middle along the arched roof formed by the stalks on either side. Only then were the bamboo stalks allowed to sprout branches and leaves.

At the top of the arches, branches crossed and leaves intertwined, binding the bent stalks tightly together so they could not spring apart:

The four lengthwise stalks formed beams and bound themselves to the crosswise ones.

Teacher Lu's eyes widened slightly. He wondered if his vision was playing tricks on him:

Had the branches and leaves growing from the tops of those stalks fused together, one end rooted in one stalk and the other in another?

Once the crossing branches had fixed the roof's shape, the vines finally relaxed their grip on the stalks.

They wound around the bamboo a few times for leverage, then lowered countless strands toward the hull. Catching hold of a plank from the upper structure, they gave it a hard pull. Creaks and rustling from the shaking bamboo filled the air. Shen Le stared at the green roof, his hand resting on a stalk, ready to feed it spiritual energy at