“First, congratulations. Second, welcome to the unofficial beginning of the second quarter.” Doyle gave us a solo round of applause and grinned at the lot of us before continuing. “You’ve all seen exponential improvement over the last three months of training. Now, you are combat-ready. So the name of the game is now experience. You’ll continue your practical lessons in class. But here.” He gestured to the verdant forest behind him. “Hunting Season is open. From this week onward, hunting beasts will reward you with many points. And, as of next week, hunting other party members will reward you with even more points. As much as five-hundred, for anyone on the winning side.
“Enticing, I know.” Doyle grinned. “But this forest is a realm in itself. You’ll need great skill or ability to even find a member of another party. And defeating them is another matter entirely. The school recognized this long ago and has chosen to aptly award the students for their efforts. But in doing so, they realized that one day in the wilds wasn’t enough. This brings me to my next announcement: From now until year’s end, our time in the wilds has been extended to two days and two nights. And any duels will be moved to the last day of the week.” He declared with a wicked smile. “As such, the objective for this outing is to find and establish a headquarters or base for your party. You must find and secure a position, fortify it up to standard, and provision it with enough rations to sustain yourselves for a month. Once that has been done, you'll be free to do as you please. And the party will be transported there at the start of every outing going forward.
“Any questions?” He glanced in either direction. Taking each student's expression into account before he settled on me. “Lead the way.”
“Alright.” I turned to face everyone after taking Doyle’s spot. “Els, Urshure, Zakira, and Rhody are in charge of choosing our location. Once we get to our area of operation, those four will lead scouting parties while the rest of us will switch between gathering resources and providing security. Check your gear, use the restroom, or do whatever it is you have to do before we depart. We leave in five.”
Having long grown used to my ways, the party rightfully took my words as a dismissal and scattered to tend to their last-minute needs. Allowing Doyle free reign to trail behind me with inquiries about my business as usual. “What’s that for?” He threw his chin at the large circle I drew in the dirt.
“You’ll see in a few minutes.” I chuckled.
“Vague as always.” He dryly sighed. “These questions can influence your points you know?”
“And what’s the true purpose of these points?” I turned to him with a placid expression.
“They’re used as currency,” he said simply. “And as recognition.” He then shrugged. “But more so as a form of payment. You said you wanted to be an Artificer, right? Well, you’ll need points to buy the necessary components and whatnot.”
“I see.” I nodded. Not that I agreed with the practice.
“Now, if I may ask, why did you choose those four to lead the scouting mission?”
“Because those four have the most experience living in concealed or fortified locations, sometimes in plain sight. And that is exactly what I need. Now, if you’ll hold your questions for later.” I turned my attention to the gathered teams. “Everyone but Duke and Urshure, in the circle. That includes you,” I said to Doyle. And begrudgingly, he followed, coming to a halt just a few steps later to join in on the expectant gazes surrounding them.
I, however, lowered my eyes to the circle I’d drawn before. It had a radius of ten meters and was hardly perfect. But it was more than enough to comfortably house Doyle and the students. Surprisingly, however, few of them seemed to notice the trap spell I laid into it. The gravity mana, weak though it was, was enough to cause a gentle rumble to ripple across the ground and rise to a crescendo that cracked the stone itself. The sound alone caused some of the bystanders to lose their footing and, in some cases, miss seeing the small island detach from the ground and drift up into the sky. But oh, did they feel it.
It took me and the two winged ones to ascend to their height for them to look down and shake in either awe or fear from seeing the ground so far below them. After snickering at their plight for a bit with Urshure, I tethered the island to myself and spawned an Artificial Well to pull me on a subsonic flight on a northern heading. And once I was sure the other two could handle it, I bumped it up to near-supersonic speeds and coasted until the mountain range began to tower over us and the great Bodhi Tree was but a distant and yet still colossal pillar splitting the southern skies in two.
Eventually, we came to a landing in a grassy field located far behind the lines of the divine beasts' borders, who I assumed we'd face far more than the other parties. Though they both had members that could travel just as much distance in almost as little time as I could. Even with that being the case, though, I felt confident we could roam freely here. And not just me and the party but my first undead and the Menagerie as well. I wanted them to grow as I did and maybe rise to a higher station than that of a mere sorcerous beast. That, however, required a bit more patience on my part. Thankfully though, it served to be quite the form of motivation.
Now eager, I assigned a few members to tag along with the teams and sent them on their way. Then divided the remaining groups to form a temporary woodworking squad, a hunting and foraging crew, and a masonry team before sending them off to work. And of course, the silver-haired Battle Mage came waltzing up the moment they dispersed.
“I’ve rarely flown so I can say with certainty, I've never flown thirteen hundred fifty kilometers in just over an hour.” Doyle laughed into his map. Then dropped it to reveal widened, baggy eyes filled with a flux of manic emotions. “I’ve never even been this far into the wilds either. We’re so far.” He turned back to the Tree with a dry sigh. “Yet, we’re still well inside its territory. That alone is a testament to the Headmaster's power. To have control over such a vast area. All the plants, the students, and even the creatures who call this place home.
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“It can be daunting.”
“Impressive, yes.” I nodded, turning to him with a blank expression. “But not daunting. Plants can die, after all. And the animals within will then have no reason to stay.”
“I forgot." He sighed weakly. "What is there for a necromancer to fear?”
“Void.” I took to the air with a snort and smoked in solitude until the groups returned in sequence.
After giving them some time to rest, I made a new stone platform and guided them to the first location marked by the scouts: an isolated hill just a few dozen kilometers to the northwest. It was large enough for a modest fortification to be built on top, but I was more interested in what was underneath. If we were to use it, I intended to take after ants and construct vast labyrinths. The only downside was that there were many members in the other parties that were also adept at operating underground. And worse, every access point would have to be emplaced on ground level. Making it prone to flooding. Not only that but many of those in my party were without night vision. That could have been negated with sconces and braziers, I supposed, but the investment simply wasn’t worth it.
A few dozen more kilometers to the south from that was by all rights a junction point between two biomes. From here, we could see that this vast savanna sat atop a plateau that boasted little hills or trees but had been complemented by a river that wound in from further west. From that raised section of the earth- like a fault line had split the ground into two- the river poured and dispersed into a mist before landing in the vast lake below. Within that lake was a central island large enough for a compound. And around it was a densely verdant forest that appeared to stretch all the way back to the Bodhi Tree. A forest filled to the brim with an abundance of magical and mythical life.
Upon seeing it for what it was, the more childish parts of my brain got the immediate idea to build a series of arboreal forts. Though, with many students who could fly and a couple of half-orcs who could manipulate plant life in the other parties, that was simply suicide in the making. One strong spell was all it’d take to topple our base to the ground. Besides, the aforementioned childlike aspect didn’t fit the intended purpose of the structure. That left the waterfall itself. Of which there were three aspects about it that I liked. The first of them was the cliff. The grassy field along the edge provided few, if any, warnings of the dropoff. Only a few clusters or outcroppings of stone sat along the edge and only a few distant trees could be seen from the precipice. However, further down the cliff were several ledges or terraces that were just wide enough for one to sit, stand, or perhaps even lay on. The selling point was that those ledges or terraces could’ve easily been linked to the natural cave sitting behind the waterfall. Pointed out by Urshure to be the perfect den for a young dragon and thus would suit our needs perfectly. And everyone seemed to agree. Even Zakira and Rhody, who had yet to show us their locales. So we descended, took a few minutes to scout out the place, and reconvened a few minutes later to make a plan.
After half an hour of deliberation and architectural design, we decided to leave the alcove behind the waterfall as it was for the most part. The space itself was only about five meters deep with vaulted ceilings that stood around six meters high, thus the only alterations would be the installation of a curtain or wall behind the fall to block the light pouring out from behind it at night, and perhaps some outhouses and a few crafting stations carved into the rock. Aside from that, the small cave leading deeper into the cliff would be raised and doored to seal off the underground complex I designed with Terranaut. A simple, three-story layout, with the main floor dedicated to mission planning and recreation, the dorms placed above it, and a warehouse below.
The final agreed-upon objective was to build a small lookout post on the island, which sat about 160 meters away from the waterfall basin and more than twice the distance away from the southern coast. It was a tad bit larger than the hill from earlier and irregular in shape, probably 90 by 110 meters, and filled with trees, thickets, and most likely several animals. While it was a veritable bounty of wood and forage, the entire party pitched in to form the island into an amalgamation of many places. A faux base and security fort. A crafting or industrial yard. Gardens and farms. Outdoor recreational centers. Anything we could think of was added to the design and painstakingly copied onto paper. And with that, I made a small security detail and released everyone to work.
For me, that consisted of using the void to more or less repeat my actions in Hill Base while Doyle watched from the sidelines in horror. From my practice, I was able to float through the main floor and most of the second floor with ease and without the use of the Dial- mostly due to the speed at which Els worked. From there, I ventured to the cliff face to modify the terraces and alcoves, making them deep enough to house two or three people comfortably before I tasked Peter with camouflaging them while I connected them to the main compound with steep staircases and slides.
With over a dozen magically gifted individuals working on the task, the island infrastructure was completed before five in the evening. That milestone, coupled with the dipping sun and the smell of smoked meat lingering in the air seemed to cause a sudden wave of celebration to sweep over the party. They started to disperse into their cliques and throw up glasses in a cheer while I continued on with more business. But not just me, for I dragged their doppelgangers off one by one to create their rooms according to their design. And once that was done, I ventured below ground with Els and a few others to carve out a warehouse and walk-in freezer.
Only then was I allowed a chance to sit back, eat, smoke, and admire my work. But that didn’t last long, because in doing so, I got a great idea.
“What do you think about digging out a mine?” I mentioned to Els.
Even without the mention of his name, the dwarf stopped his mug halfway to his mouth and held it there while he stared into my eyes. “We’re already underground.” He lowered his mug and looked away. “And we’d need metals if we were to do any crafting. Let’s do it!” He turned back to me, beaming. Then flung himself from his seat to sprint to the basement. And not too far behind him, was me. Amassing void mana into my hands to carve a deep channel into the depths of the Bodhi Tree’s territory.
Eventually, though, a soft humming sound brought me to a stop. And after looking at Els’ wide-eyed expression, I understood that he heard it too.
“What… is that noise?”