Upon waking, I can immediately confirm that the house was a success. At least, as far as being a warm living space goes. How well the completely amateur job will hold up is another matter entirely but not one for me to worry about right now.

Bundled up in my blankets while wearing socks, sweatpants, and a hoodie really heated me up during the night. The warmth from the fire has spread throughout the house and been contained thanks to the sealing goo layers and the cold from outside didn't force its way in.

I pull off my blanket and strip off my clothes. Being under there actually made me sweat a bit and wearing sweaty clothes just isn't comfortable. While I was extremely hot under the blanket, the house itself isn't hot.

It's only warm in here thanks to the bit of fire we had going last night, which was just enough to warm the house since it had to fight against the cold which was already present within the space. The fire's burned down to coals at this point, so I add a few more logs onto it so that the house can heat up to more than just barely warm, then stretch out on the floor.

I should probably get started on breakfast but I want to cool down a little first and relax some more. My body's aching from all of the work yesterday as well. Not that it hasn't had its sore times in the two weeks since the Mana Flood, but I did more physical exertion in the construction of the house than I have for anything else even when factoring in how much magic helped me yesterday.

Well, I suppose that I've technically exerted myself more on days where I walked around and killed monsters or the day I searched for Lucas or ran somewhere like the System Shop, but those don't count. That was a different kind of exertion my body was more adapted to.

This one just makes every part of me ache, so I'm going to take a few minutes to relax and adjust. It's not like there's anything important going on right now, anyway.

Chance is still snoozing under his blanket despite having done less physical activity than I did. That's more because I woke earlier than I probably should have than because he's sleeping in. Judging by the light coming in through the windows, we've both slept in a bit.

Waking up before I'm fully rested doesn't surprise me, though. I'm normally up hours before now and that was my norm even before the Mana Flood.

"Oh, it's so warm under here," Chance grumbles when he finally wakes.

"It's cooler out of the blanket than in," I tell him. "We wore thick clothing to bed. Lighter clothes will probably be better from now on. Or back to naked, since we'll have proper warmth."

"Yeah," he pulls off his blanket and immediately strips naked. "Aaaaaaaah. Much cooler."

"Yup," I scoot to the side a little so he can join me in front of the fire with space to spare. "It seems the others decided to just set up camp. Their Aura and Mana levels are stable right now."

I probably shouldn't have gone to bed until that happened but building the house really wiped me out. The plan was actually to just lie on my blankets until their levels went stable for an hour but I passed out before then. Sitting up would have been a better idea.

"That's good," Chance says. "I know you said before that you don't mind it, but I want to double check something."

"No, I don't have an issue with you and Collin staying in this house for a bit," I tell him. "We have the wood to build a second one, sure, but it would be good to see how this one holds up for a bit first. Neither of us have any proper training so you never know."

"And if it comes down on us?"

"I'll probably survive."

"That's… not reassuring," he snorts and I grin at him. Chance stretches out and groans. "Jeeeeeez. I'm so sore from yesterday."

Even Chance did a fair bit of physical activity he's not used to yesterday. Just when his body was starting to adjust to him having done all the prep work, he did even more things. There's a fairly decent difference between grinding up some ingredients for ten minutes and preparing ingredients for fifteen to twenty minutes many, many times. Same with using [Air Mastery] to slice wood and getting down on one's hands and knees to actually install it.

It's the same reason that I'm sore.

"We don't have enough wood for two more houses," I tell Chance. "My ring doesn't fit that much anymore so I can't just go into the Dungeon and grab more, either. If this one holds up, I'll only be able to build one more. And that's if we don't burn through a lot more of the wood from the Dungeon for making shelves and furniture."

If needed, we'll just cut down more trees from the area. They're still growing at a decent rate and I've already cut one down to turn into firewood, another project that happened over the last two weeks. Sadly, my old stockpile of it from before the Mana Flood was not proofed against the ambient magical energy in the air now, so we needed to source more.

"Use what you need to," Chance tells me. "It's loot that you, Wyatt, and Lucas got so we have no claim to it. Like I said, we don't mind having to wait. Besides, we can always use more trees from the area. Now that the houses are gone, plenty of lots are starting to grow their own. Magic is really making nature grow fast."

"Yeah," I nod. "I think it's specifically the ambient Mana in the soil. I was looking through the nature magic tome the other day and it mentioned that Mana can act in place of the needed nutrients for plants while increasing their ability to absorb it and grow. So just putting Mana into a plant can make it grow faster. Nature magic's growth spells affect it even more because they're tailored for that task directly."

There's more to nature magic than that, as their equivalent to the bullet spells conjures plant matter directly. Magic does what it wants rather than obeys the laws of science, so that probably helps things as well.

I haven't started using nature magic yet as it hasn't been necessary for what we've been doing.

The Mana in the soil has been keeping my plants alive even with the freezing nights we're having. In fact, it's causing them to produce too much as they continue to grow. So much so that we've had an overflow of resources and even with turning some of them into sauces and jams and selling the excess to the System Shop, it's becoming a bit too much for us to handle.

Then there's the fact that we also have to contain the plants. The extra growth for them is causing some to try and spread out, which is a further issue for ones we don't need too much from and can't do much with. Ripping those out (after harvesting what can be harvested from them) is a pain in the ass.

Even trees are doing that and I've already ripped out a few saplings from the area we're using. It needs checking every two or three days due to how fast trees are growing in the earlier stages. That might be a task for today.

Or I might make the others do it when they come back as a bit of a punishment for escaping work.

"The trees here might not need as much treatment as the ones from the Dungeon," I tell Chance. "Since they're growing in an area with a higher amount of Mana in the soil than the ones from the Dungeon did. It'll be harder to chop them down and then cut them down to size, but they may end up sturdier."

"If you build a second house and want to move into that because it's going to be sturdier," Chance says. "I'm not going to argue with that. It's your area and your muscle."

"We'll see," I stand. "I'll be back in a minute."

"Alright," Chance looks a bit confused by the sudden shift but doesn't ask.

I walk over to the back door and slide it open, feeling the cold air from outside rushing in and blasting my body. This actually feels a little bit nice since I was just in front of a fire and am fairly warm, and it helps me cool down some, especially with me still being naked.

Instead of putting something on, I leave the house and make sure to slide the door closed. There's a thin layer of snow and frost on everything, the first time that's happened since the Mana Flood occurred. It adds an extra bit of coldness to my bare feet but I ignore it as I walk to the storage building and open it up.

From within there, I grab clothes for both myself and for Chance, then return to my house, making sure to pull the door all the way closed behind me.

"Dry, clean clothes," I tell Chance. "Though we might want to warm them up before putting them on."

"You went outside butt-naked."

"It's not like there's anyone else around to see," I start setting out the clothes. "And I wasn't outside for too long."

"Dumbass," Chance rolls his eyes, then looks toward the door with a slight frown. "Was that snow I saw?"

"Maybe an eighth of an inch," I confirm. "There's also frost on stuff. I guess last night was a bit cold one."

"It's nearly the end of April," he says. "We don't get that weather around here."

"I'm guessing that with pollution destroyed by the Mana Flood," I finish setting down the clothes to warm up, then sit. "The temperature cooled a bit. And maybe our atmosphere was fixed a bit as well? I don't know, I'm not sure how that science works and magic may be fucking with it, anyway."

There's just not enough information for us to go off of with this so there's no way for us to know for sure why it's so much colder right now than it normally is.

"Fair enough," Chance looks back to the fire. "I hope it warms up soon."

"Maybe another month before night temperatures are consistently above freezing," I shrug. "Won't know until it happens, though. I think the clothes warmed up enough, so I'm going to go make breakfast."

Chance nods and I get dressed, then head outside and pick out items for breakfast. It's probably a good thing that we tested the air-blocking seal with the storage building, since it's keeping it warmer inside than outside. Mostly. Without that, pretty much everything inside would freeze during some nights and that would be… a problem.

Air can still pass through the stone on the section where I remove it to enter and exit, but that's not as much of a problem as when it could make it through all of the walls and ceiling. Me smoothing out the door section helps block the air some as well, but it's not a perfect job.

The storage building could definitely use some improvement.

I pick out the ingredients for breakfast and begin preparing it using a fire I build in the cooking pit. Considering the time and how hungry I'm sure Chance is based on how hungry I am, I prepare us a decent breakfast.

Cinnamon french toast; egg casserole with bell peppers, some herbs, a little bit of cheese, and breakfast sausage; a cinnamon-glazed fruit mix of apples, peaches sourced from a tree that was in another part of the neighborhood, and some chopped walnuts; bacon; and hot chocolate to drink. The volume of food I cook up is pretty decent for just two of us but again, I'm starved after yesterday's work.

"Got any plans for the day?" Chance asks as we clean the dishes after breakfast.

"My original plan had been to go down to the dairy plant after the house was built," I tell him. "But I guess that will have to wait until after the others return from the Dungeon."

Chance really isn't a fighter so taking him with me isn't an option since I'd be the only one there to protect him. At the same time, I don't want to leave him alone by himself if no one is around to take on monsters. He'd probably be safe in the house now that it's built, but I don't think he'd be happy staying staying cooped up.

"So I think we should move the stuff that shouldn't get frozen into the house," I say. "All of the jars and cans of unopened stuff. The cold stuff should be fine with the air seal preventing it from getting too cold in there, but I'll probably make a proper fridge and freezer in the next week or so."

That way, we can still store the cold stuff come warmer times, but also to ensure that the current setup doesn't freeze stuff that really shouldn't be frozen. That's mainly the milk and stuff without air in their containers like the jars. There's not been an issue with that stuff freezing yet but the colder front that came through last night does have me a little bit concerned.

In addition to making sure stuff that shouldn't be frozen doesn't get frozen, this will also allow us to have a freezer for longer storage of some perishables.

"Why go down to the dairy plant?" Chance asks.

"It's straight down the main road," I say. "And yeah, I know, it doesn't exist anymore."

Neither the road nor the dairy plant, thanks to the ambient magical energy in the area. However, I know where it was and how to get there and the tree growth hasn't fully spread to that path yet so it'll be easier to travel down.

"And I dunno, to be honest," I shrug. "My gut just says there's something over there."

"Ah," he says. "Yeah, let's move the stuff over."

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We enter the storage building and remove all of the items from one of the shelves that Chance built. They're basic shelves that are lighter than the stone ones I'd originally made, since they're crafted out of wood rather than stone, and we know they're more stable.

With the shelf emptied, I take it over to the house and put it against the left-hand wall when entering from the back, but with one end up against the front wall. Chance brings in some of the jars that were on the shelf and once the shelf is set up, I do the same.

Moving everything over isn't difficult work, it's just tedious.

Halfway through transferring all of the jar goods from the storage to the house, something slams into one of the jars I'm carrying, shattering it and sending apple butter everywhere. Another grazes my upper arm, tearing my hoodie, and another hits my left hand. A fourth one passes in front of my face, far too close for comfort. The projectiles slam into the wall of the house as I end up dropping the rest of my load.

Even before the jars have hit the ground, I'm casting a spell and turning to face the attack direction.

"Stay inside and close the door!" I yell. "Attack!"

Chance is still in the house and I can hear the door rolling shut as I try to locate the attacker. It takes them casting another wave of their [Stone Bullet] spell for me to spot them.

"Been wondering how long it would take for you to make an appearance," I say as I shoot the [Air Bullet] I was casting.

My spell shatters one of their spell circles – though not the ones they were casting when I spotted them. It looks like they have Level 7 [Stone Bullet] and the ability to cast four at once, two in front of each paw. I'm not surprised about that knowing what my enemy is, though.

The creature is a stoneshot squirrel, but much larger and fatter than the others. This isn't a normal one but the queen of them all. At least, the queen of all the ones for this area. I've been expecting her to grace me with her presence due to how many stoneshot squirrels I've killed. Even with them not attacking while I'm around anymore, I still kill any that I see just to be safe.

Due to being a superior version of the stoneshot squirrels, she has a higher toughness compared to them as well. My [Air Bullet] strikes her left foreleg and while there's blood drawn, she's able to pull it forward to begin casting again.

I do my best to dodge her next volley of attacks, though I still take a hit to my right arm, just below the shoulder. That nearly causes me to lose hold of my casting, but I manage to push through and keep it going.

With her much faster casting rate, I'm not able to keep up with the stoneshot squirrel queen's attacks, but I'm at least able to cancel one spell out of every two or three volleys she sends my way.

That, I learn, is also a key to winning this fight. If I shoot a spell and she's not in the middle of casting, she darts to the side to avoid the attack. While casting her spells, however, the queen stoneshot squirrel doesn't try to dodge. I'm able to get hits in on her while she's casting so I make sure to time my attacks to while she's in the middle of creating the spell circles for hers. That creates an opening for me to attack without her trying to evade.

After managing to strike her underside a few times thanks to her sitting/standing on her hind legs, I realize that she's simply too durable to make that worthwhile. Each [Air Bullet] which slams into her only barely draws blood from her. At this rate, I'm going to lose.

I need to stop her from casting altogether if I want to win because I'm taking too many hits. My hoodie is starting to be more gap than fabric and I'm bleeding from far too many wounds.

Not only that, but her aim seems to be improving the more she attacks, which is a problem as well as it means I start getting hit by more attacks.

Let's try the standard interruption trick. I didn't want to do it because of how long it takes to cast meaning she gets off even more spells, but I need to. Three more volleys of [Stone Bullet]s strike, graze, or fly past me before I finish casting [Stunning Sound].

"KAAAAAAAAAA!" I yell into the spell circle, drawing it out until the spell ends.

The stoneshot squirrel queen isn't pushed back at all, though her next wave of spell circles shatter. For a moment, she's frozen in place. I begin casting another [Air Bullet] – only for the queen to shake her head as if shaking off the stun, then she casts another quartet of [Stone Bullet]s.

Fuck. Why does she have such a high Mind stat?

I quickly bring up my arms to shield my face and chest, canceling the spell I was casting as I do. Two [Stone Bullet]s slam into my arms and the other two in her volley slam into my stomach, then I lower my arms and hold both hands forward.

Casting two spells at once hasn't been something I've succeeded at before but like hell am I going to let that stop me from winning this fight. The queen of the stoneshot squirrels is far tougher than anything I've fought before despite being a squirrel. Casting multiple spells at once is another key to how I'm going to survive this fight and I'm going to make sure it's one I acquire.

At first, my Mana refuses to shape into the spell circles, failing to transmute into magic. I push, however, visualizing two streams of magical energy flowing out of my hands and into the spell circles. This is taking too much time but I need to do this.

Just as another wave of [Stone Bullet]s slam into me, a pair of greyish-white spell circles begin to form in front of my hands. That makes the stoneshot squirrel queen pause.

I wasn't aware a squirrel could look shocked but here we are. She's not the only one in this fight who can cast more than one spell at a time now.

You have learned [Multicasting].

Unlike with the stoneshot squirrel queen, my casting time has been increased for this. It takes me just-over five seconds rather than two-point-seven to cast both spells at once. The casting cost is also increased, rising from 3 Mana to nearly 6 Mana each. There's a ninety-percent increase to both casting time and cost when I cast more than one at a time. Fuck. Doing just two at once stretches my casting abilities hard, too.

A [Stone Bullet] strikes me in the side of my head just as I'm about to finish and I nearly lose control over the double-cast. Dammit. This takes too long to cast but it's still faster than casting two in a row. I'm not going to attempt three yet, not until I'm more accustomed to this.

However, the head-shot dazes me a little and I take another volley to my body before I've recovered. I suspend my cast spells so I can block the attack with my arms, then stretch my arms out to the sides with the spell circles angled slightly toward the stoneshot squirrel queen. The [Air Bullet] from my right hand slams into her right front arm while the one from my left passes just-over the arm and slams into her chest.

The impact from the one that connected with her arm knocks that off to the side from the impact force and it was right before she completed her casts. To my benefit, those spells shoot off but they do hit one of my berry bushes.

Why does a magic squirrel have so much Constitution when her spells are actually pretty weak in comparison? She's a caster, not a tank!

Then again… I'm kind of acting as a tank for the team and I'm a caster, too. The main difference is that I don't have a tank's stats and this thing does.

I clear my head of those thoughts as I focus on the fight, casting another pair of [Air Bullet]s. The attack to her arm seems to have pissed her off if her angry chattering is anything to go by. However, her casting speed hasn't increased like the water slimes' did after their cores were damaged.

From my next attack, only one of the [Air Bullet]s strikes her arm but my aim with this is getting better. On the third multicast attack, both [Air Bullet]s strike her arm. The timing and aim were both slightly off, however, so it didn't have the effect I wanted.

The fourth pair of [Air Bullet]s, however, strike exactly where I want and with the timing I wanted, too. Combined with the previous damage done to her arm, the double-strike breaks it. The angry squirrel lets out a scream of pain and begins casting more [Stone Bullet]s… but only two.

"Yes!"

I was right – she needs to use her hands to cast, just like we do. They're her focal point for spellweaving.

For her other casting arm, it only takes me two pairs of [Air Bullet]s to break. That should end her offense so…

"What the fuck?" I exclaim as a brownish-orange spell circle begins forming in front of her tail.

That spell circle is different from one I know yet is still similar to [Stone Bullet]. It's a new spell for me and judging on the rate of casting for the five-inch spell circle, I'll be able to cast a pair of [Air Bullet]s in that time so I start.

Hit the center of the spell circle and hope these can break it or aim at the squirrel queen's face and hope I can hit it? I could go for the chest again but I think a lucky shot into her eyes might be faster. Or it could be worse, that's why I was aiming at her chest before.

I opt for both, sending one [Air Bullet] at her face and the other at her chest. They both connect and draw blood but I can't otherwise tell how good that was. The larger spell is taking some time to cast so I continue multicasting [Air Bullet] in the hopes of taking her out before it finishes, but to no avail. Even sending [Air Bullet]s into the bigger spell circle fails to disrupt the casting so I switch back to attacking her body after just the one attempt at interrupting her spell.

The spell circle she was shaping completes and the stone attack she was casting takes form. It's a fifteen-inch rod of stone two and a half inches in thickness. The front end of it is dome-like, but with a small, conical point at the very tip.

A missile. She just summoned a fucking missile. A flick of her tail is all it takes to send it flying and the spell is faster than I expected. Not as fast as her bullet spells are but still fast enough.

"Fuck!" I yell when it slams into my right shoulder, barely able to avoid it hitting my chest.

I don't think anything broke but the impact was intense. My arm doesn't quite want to move and pain has flooded my shoulder. The queen of the stoneshot squirrels is trying to take out my hands so I can't cast either, isn't she?

Nice trick, waiting until her paws are useless to reveal she has another casting point.

"I'm still going to win," I tell her as I begin casting with my left hand.

This isn't an [Air Bullet], however. Forming in front of my left hand is a greyish-white spell circle five inches in diameter rather than two, a near copy of the queen's previous spell. She manages to get her second larger attack off before I finish, though having suspected her goal, I shift to my right just before she flicks her tail.

The missile of stone grazes my left arm but doesn't break it, instead slamming into the house behind me. Then the fifteen seconds of my own casting completes and an interesting notification appears as the air in front of the spell circle warps from the concentrated air bending light.

You have learned [Air Missile]. [Mana Manipulation] is now Level 2. All spell costs have been reduced by 10% of their base and casting times have been reduced by 1% of their base.

Bringing up [Mana Mastery] apparently reduces casting times and costs. That's nice, but not something to focus on right now. Aiming the spell is and it seems the stoneshot squirrel queen has been shocked for the second time in this fight.

Spells of concentrated air tend to warp light at their edges, something which took me a few days to notice. If one looks for that slight warping, they can make out the spell and it's path. Noticing the warping is no doubt why the stoneshot squirrel queen has realized I've cast her own spell, except with air instead of stone.

Then my [Air Missile] shoots forward. Unfortunately for her, the timing of its completion meant that she was already casting her third [Stone Missile] and isn't able to move.

My [Air Missile] blasts through the stoneshot squirrel queen's head, obliterating it before breaking the spell circle that was going to end, anyway. It continues flying until it hits the ground two yards behind her, blasting snow, grass, and soil everywhere.

You are now a Level 15/50 [Elemental Mage]. +40 Mana +0.012 Mana Regen +4 Magic +4 Mind +4 Skill Points +4 Attribute Points You have gained 4 EXP.

You have reached a milestone in [Elemental Mage]. +10 Aura +10 Mana +0.0001 Aura Regen +0.001 Mana Regen

You are now a Level 16/50 [Elemental Mage]. +10 Mana +0.003 Mana Regen +1 Magic +1 Mind +1 Skill Point +1 Attribute Point You have gained 1 EXP.

You have completed a Quest! [Quest Type]: Slay [Requirement]: Slay the Stoneshot Squirrel Queen [Reward]: 5,000 syscre; 5 [Mana Crystal]s; 1 [Basics Pack]; 1 [Hunter's Pack]; 5 [Health and Healing Pack]s The queen of the stoneshot squirrels is a powerful foe, much stronger than her subjects. Her magic may be superior to theirs by a small amount, but her Constitution makes fighting her dangerous. Those who can pierce through it and take her out, however, will find their area spawning fewer stoneshot squirrels.

Without reading the messages that appeared, I quickly dismiss them and apply my Attribute Points into Magic, then I close my Status and focus my breathing. There's not much time for more than that and I already know the Level I gained from the increase in my Mana capacity.

My body hurts all over from the attacks and that pain is about to worsen now that I'm aware the fight is over. The rush of battle is going to fade and… there it is.

"Gnnnnnn!" I moan from the pain.

I'm pretty certain nothing broke in my arm from the [Stone Missile] attack. That doesn't change that it hurts like hell. All of our healing potions are inside the house so I walk over and open the door with my left hand.

Chance is currently bundled up under the blankets, which he's turned into a sort of fort on the far side of the house, backed up into the empty corner on the front wall.

"Fight's over," I tell him. "And I don't think putting on fifteen layers of blankets will shield you from the squirrel queen."

By the time Chance has managed to get himself out from under the blankets, I've located some [Basic Healing Potion]s and have begun to down one.

"Carter!" My brother exclaims as he rushes over. "You look like-"

"Most of them are light injuries," I tell him. "I think the queen probably had around 14 Magic. She had a hell of a Constitution, though."

"What's wrong with your arm?"

"The main reason I'm drinking potions instead of using [Lesser Heal] first," I say. "I need to fix it up at least some before dealing with anything else."

"Carter!"

"She pulled a switch on me," I tell him. "Convinced me she could only cast [Stone Bullet] and then once I took out her arms, she revealed that she could cast with her tail… and also [Stone Missile]. Then learned that it really hurts to get hit by it."

"No fucking shit," he says. "Your arm is hanging limp, Carter! You broke it!"

"Nah," I say. "It's not broken. It does hurt like hell, though. Hm. I suppose she didn't learn that. I mean, it kind of blew off her head. And it was [Air Missile], not [Stone Missile]."

Even though the missile was made with the same amount of Magic as the bullets, there was more compressed air there. That meant it weighed more, so the impact delivered more force. I decide that leaving it at Level 1 is too stupid so I invest my 5 Skill Points from that fight into bringing it up to Level 3. It's not a massive difference in casting time but it'll make a difference in future fights against strong creatures.

I doubt the queen of the stoneshot squirrels will be the last tough beast I face.

When considering that, it might be best for me to make sure I reach the next Level 10 threshold in two Classes before I reach Status Level 28, which is 16 Class Levels away.

Doing so in [Elemental Mage] is a given. That's my offense right now and it's currently Level 16, so it has another 4 Levels to go. Factoring that in, I have 12 Levels left that I need to use to make sure I reach a Level 10 threshold in.

That should go into either [Mind Mage] or [Holy Mage]. The first is Level 4 while the second is Level 3. Together, they need 13 Levels to reach their threshold, which is one more than I have left before Status Level 2. If I use [Lesser Heal] here, then it'll bring them even with each other as I'm sure I'll use it enough to gain a Level. Maybe even two or three…

Would it be better to bring [Holy Mage] up to the threshold for now? It probably-

"Hey!" Chance snaps in front of my face a few times. "Stop plotting how you'll be taking down stronger monsters in the future and get to healing, Carter! Focus on that more! Down another potion!"

Chance shoves one he's already opened to me.

"I can do both," I tell him.

"Drink!"