Aaand, that’s done.

I slowly lower the spatial distortion until the log I’m levitating falls into place and then cancel it. There we go. The last piece of the puzzle.

Before me stands a small cottage made out of whole tree trunk. Yeah, I’ve been busy.

After I figured out the whole telekinesis thing, I couldn’t think of anything to improve in my spell control-wise, so I decided to practise some raw power.

And what better way to do that other than working with some heavy things? And combined with the fact that I was beginning to get sick of sleeping out in the open, I decided to build myself a house.

It definitely wouldn’t pass any inspection, but those no longer exist anyway, sow who cares.

It also helped me level up some of my skills, chief among which improvised implements.

Level Up!

Silent steps – level 48 -> 49

Fortified mind – level 63 -> 66

Languages – level 34 -> 43

General knowledge – level 42 -> 43

Visualize – level 51 -> 54

Focus magic – level 11 -> 28

Improvised implements – level 34 -> 40

Meditation – level 45 -> 52

Digestive system – level 22 -> 40

Well, I say that and then there are a bunch of skills that jumped a lot more levels. But those are the lower levelled ones, so they don’t count.

Except maybe languages. That’s a suspiciously high rise in levels considering it was already in the thirties. Well, that has perfectly reasonable explanation.

I managed to get a rudimentary version of grammar and sentence structure going, and apparently the System considers it a good enough language now that the skill properly applies and doesn’t suffer a penalty. At least I think there was a penalty.

Either way, it’s even more useful that before. The first time I cast a spell with the new version I was surprised by how much the spell improved.

Anyway, the house.

At first, I didn’t quite know how I was going to build it, but I knew I would need wood. And for that I’d need an axe. Fortunately, I already knew the process from when I made my knife, so it only took two days.

During the process if this axe making, I also properly noticed the effect of my skills. Sure, I already knew that silent step made me quiet and faster, or the effect of my mental skills is also very noticeable.

But this was different.

As I was sharpening the rock, it almost seemed as if the stone was mouldable clay and I just had to shape it. It did exactly what I wanted it to and the sharpening took much less time than with the knife.

While I’m on the topic of improvised implements. I think that it may also be working as an amplifier.

I noticed a while ago that sometimes I got unrelated level ups in the skill even when I hadn’t crafted anything. And then I realized that those usually came after a thought up an incantation or anything spell related on the spot. So, yeah. I think it considers magic to be an implement that I can improvise.

Anyway, the ritual to fuse the axe with the handle also went much smoother than before, and the result was an actually passable axe. Maybe I should also redo my knife.

After that it was a couple of days of cutting down trees. So many trees in fact, that I noticeably expanded the clearing. All the while I utilized a different part of my brain to plan out the actual building. Which is where visualization came in handy.

Then it was mostly just transporting the logs and moving them into the right position.

But if that were all, the cottage wouldn’t stand for very long. No, I had to also cut spherical indents into the sides of the longs, so that the one over it wouldn’t fall off.

And that part was truly boring and didn’t help me train my spell at all! So, I fixed both issues at once. Through a clever manoeuvring I managed to rip the portions I needed out of the logs. Yeah, the spell became quite powerful after a while.

One experiment I did was to see how much of the lake’s water I could hold with it. Now, the lake isn’t exactly the largest, but when I expanded the gravity well as much as I could, the water level dropped by at least a couple decimetres.

Yeah, that was nerve-wracking slowly putting all that water back inside without causing a huge wave.

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And now, here I am. A nice, cosy, completely not up to regulations cottage in front of me. Well, almost. There’s just one last step.

Similarly, to when I made my bed, the finishing touches that’ll smooth everything over will be done with magic. And as I don’t want to run out of mana mid-way through, I prepared a proper ritual. The most complex one I created yet.

There’s the classic ritual circle all around it. Only this time it’s much bigger, stretching a dozen metres to the side. And it’s not empty.

I realized that when I was by the Void summoning circle. Those stones had their inscriptions filled with blood, so I might as well use something too. But blood’s a bit icky for me, mostly because it’d have to be mine, so I came up with an alternative.

Slime. More specifically, smile from a decomposing sapwood. Yeah, those devil trees. For better or for worse, I found a use for them.

Another part of this ritual inspired by the stones is the building itself. Yes, I also carved some inscriptions into the walls. Though these ones aren’t filled with the slime, as it’d eat through all my hard work.

And that’s all the preparation I did. The rest is up to the casting itself.

Which I’m about to do. I briefly remind myself of the image I’m going for, and then it’s time.

I begin slowly and quietly. No incantation just yet, only movement.

At first it looks mostly like a simple walk. Which, I suppose, isn’t wrong. It is based on the silent step skill after all. Eventually though, I add some smaller stomps. But it’s still quiet, my skill working flawlessly.

This is also the point where I start my incantation. For now, it also slow and quiet, just like the dance.

I slowly speed up. The small stomps become proper ones, but still unnervingly quiet. My voice gets louder and the words come out faster.

I speak of home, of protection, of a safe place, a shelter. And magic comes to life.

Similarly, to when I performed some bigger magics, it exits from all of myself at the same time. And instead of forming a stream that flows to the spell area, the misty feeling of magic gather around me, forming a… well, a mist.

I press on. Quicker movements, quicker chanting. The dance still unnaturally silent, but my voice getting steadily louder. I make a full rotation around the circle.

The mana I leave behind, the one forming a cloud, pulses all at once and rushes towards the cabin. It almost looks like a reverse shockwave.

I don’t stop. Another rotation and another reverse shockwave. After the fifth time this happens that not all of the magic leaves. A small amount stays inside the ritual and permeated the whole area inside.

More and more revolutions pass and I get lost in the rhythm. Who knows how long it takes, maybe ten rotations, maybe a hundred, but suddenly the whole inside of the circle has the same concentration of mana as what I leave behind.

Focus magic unexpectedly speaks out at this moment and I abandon my prepared choreography. Perhaps I already was in meditation, perhaps the skills pulls me there, but I lose focus again and let focus magic guide me.

My chants lose meaning, no longer words but pure sound and meaning.

I awake sometime later inside. Huh, that’s… not what I expected to happen. The magic is mostly gone now, but a fain haze still permeated the surroundings. I really hadn’t expected that.

I look around the room and spot something I really hadn’t expected. Is that my bed? But it was outside? Did the ritual transport it here? Or did I do that in my magic induced trance?

Honestly, that’s pretty scary. I don’t want to lose myself like that every time I do some bigger works of magic. And this wasn’t even that grand! At least, I don’t think so? Did I overdo it with the preparations?

Let’s head outside. Some fresh air will do good to me. Let me just ignore the suspiciously fresh air in here and ger out.

Once outside, I see that the sun is at least a couple hours further along the sky.

Damn. That’s really worrying. Did the ritual take that long or was I just passed out for long?

I take a deep breath and look at what I did to my house.

It’s… beautiful? The logs have partially fused with each other, getting rid of any imperfections my amateur construction had. The roof is covered in leaves, probably due to some vine. I haven’t even seen a vine anywhere in the forest! And at the base of the house, where a foundation should be, are roots.

Proper roots. Like an old tree should have. Don’t tell me. Has my house become a magical tree!?

Oh, this could be either the best or the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. No, hold that thought. Second best or worst. The first place in this category is surviving the end of the world and ending up here.

I lye down on the soft grass in front of my house. Damn, even the grass here got affected.

And I just lay there, laughing and chuckling over the absurdity of my situation. Perhaps this last thing was just the tipping point, but it suddenly all seems so unbelievable.

And then something moves in the corner of my vision. I stop, becoming serious, but the thing is still there moving on the horizon.

Which is doubly strange, because some five days ago, the scroonusi finally crested over the horizon and they shouldn’t be back around just yet. Filled with trepidation, I gaze far into the horizon.

And see… A mountain? But why is it so high up in the air? And moving? Are you telling me this world has flying islands?

But, as it gets closer, I notice that while it could technically be called a flying island, for the most part it’s a flying city. A flying city at least as big as a scroonus. Which is just smaller than the size of a cloud.

And it’s flying rather fast. In this direction.

Is it a ruin of long-lost civilization? Or last remaining bits of humanity, fleeing on a lifeboat?

I start preparing a late lunch, all the while observing the strange flying contraption. I wonder if there are still humans there. What would they be like? Could we even communicate with each other? If not, I’m sure I can learn their language rather fast with my skill.

I’m only just finishing my meal when the island is close enough for me to truly appreciate its size. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still many kilometres away, but already it’s towering over me. I have to crane my head back just to see the top.

It’s a few minutes later, when I’m washing the pot, I cooked in when I realize that it has stopped. And when I stop and focus really hard on it, I can almost make out small speck moving around on it.

Huh, am I really about to meet some people? Wait! I don’t even have clothes! How am I supposed to make first contact with aliens when I’m naked? Then again, I suppose I’m the alien in this situation. And a lot of movies on Earth also showed aliens in movies naked. Maybe this is how it’s always done?