"Right here looks like it would be a good spot," Mr. Baxter says when I approach him and Todd. "If you don't mind and the others don't either, we'll set up our stuff here."

He and Todd looked for a spot to set up their home at after we returned, and it seems they've finally come to a decision. It's close to where Trent and Grace are staying, being just down the street to the left from my house when leaving my it and not far past where we're storing stuff. They're closer to Trent and Grace than I am.

With all of the growth in trees and other plants in this spot, they'll need to clear it out a bit first. That's something that should be started sooner rather than later, so that there's not even more when they get to work. They'll probably begin after breakfast.

The pack that Mr. Baxter had on him when we met him is leaning against a tree, while their kills are hanging from trees or spread out on tables made of conjured stone. They've already skinned their kills and it looks like they started working on tanning the hides based on the wooden frames set up.

"Sure," I say. "I don't think Trent and Grace would mind you being this close, either. Make sure to mark out how big of a space you'll need for your house and the tanning station. Also, Chance and I were just talking and we'll be building a proper shower house next now that we have more people around here. We'll need to finish preparing the construction materials for it, and it won't be a professional job, but it should hold up. He says he's almost done figuring out the necessary enchantments to move the water around and can set up a heater."

Which will be a massive benefit as it will no longer require people using the showers to use magic or get someone to use magic for them. He's already come up with a solution to the shower "heads" – the drains in the upper tank to allow the water to flow down. Something like that was pretty simple to find a solution for.

With a massive group here, having a second place to shower is more essential as well. Especially since I don't want a bunch of people coming into my yard just to take a shower. While I'm not that suspicious of Grace, Mr. Baxter, or Todd anymore, I still don't trust them too much. Plus, my backyard is my backyard. I do want some peace and quiet there.

"What about purifying the water?" Todd asks. "We were using water maginiite from slimes we killed by the pond near us. If needed, we can head over there to get more every now and then."

"The sports park's ponds have joined together into a lake," I say. "And there are plenty of water slimes there. You haven't seen him yet, but one of Collin's familiars is a water slime from there. One with a fair bit of a personality. So we've got a pretty decent – and closer – supply of them. Most of the still water sources that remain have slimes around them."

As opposed to flowing sources, like the still-expanding stream between here and the System Shop.

"Alright, cool," Todd says. "We'll make ourselves a breakfast, then get started on clearing this space out."

"Oh, right," I say. "The reason I came over here – Lucas made breakfast for everyone. Enough for you two as well. And if you have any letters you want to send to people with the big group that Grandma's leading, you can write them up after that. Fea's arrived and currently flying overhead."

Todd and Mr. Baxter both look up, though they can't see Fea due to the canopy.

"He's the magihawk that Grandma tamed," I say. "And I spotted him in a small clear spot. We use him to send letters between them and us."

"Okay," Mr. Baxter says. "I do want to say something to Cassandra. Come on, Todd. Let's take him up on the breakfast offer."

"You guys head on over," I say. "I need to let Trent and Grace know as well."

They're currently relaxing and recovering in their house. The enchantment to absorb ambient Mana seems to be working well enough, so they don't want to leave it if they don't have anything to do.

I let them know that breakfast is ready, then we head back to my house.

There's not enough table space for all nine of us so some will have to stand or sit on the ground, and that ends up being the newest members of our group, with Todd joining us at the table. It was originally going to be Trent since he's one of my friends, but he didn't want to leave Grace sitting on the ground by herself. She was fine with him sitting at the table since he is one of my friends, but since he insisted on sitting with her, Todd took the last spot. Mr. Baxter joins the two of them to make small talk as we eat.

Lucas has put out on the counters a pretty big breakfast. Blueberry-nut muffins, sausage links, eggs, biscuits with sausage gravy, and cinnamon-glazed apples. As usual, hot chocolate is used to wash it all down.

"Alright, Fea!" I let out a whistle as Trent and Grace take over cleaning the dishes. "Come on down!"

"The bird's here?" Grace asks. "Already?"

"I'm not sure how fast he is," I say as Fea comes down and lands on his perch stand. "But yeah, he's here. I'm pretty sure it doesn't take him all that long to get between places."

Opening up the mail tube, I pull out the roll of letters and check for other items in the container, though there aren't any. I start sorting out the letters to the various residents of the forest, placing them in separate piles. Todd's breezewing magihawk familiar flies down and lands on the perch beside Fea while I do that, then the two of them start doing some sort of dance.

"Looks like they're friends," I say.

"Is… is 'Fea' spelled F-E-A and short for 'Feather'?" Todd asks.

"That's how Grandma picked his name, yeah," I say, and Todd and his dad exchange a look. "What?"

"Ventus has mentioned his friend 'Feather' a few times," Todd says. "We thought it was a potential mate, not another male that he was just… apparently doing dances with?"

"They probably hunt together," I say. "Fea seems to be friends with Collin's magihawk, who still doesn't have a proper name as it changes all the time."

That's a more recent thing, though. The odd bird apparently did like the original name until about a week or so ago.

"He's just not happy with any," Collin shrugs. "Lets me call him one for a day or two, then decides he doesn't like it."

"Okay, well, here's a letter for you from Grandma," I hand it to him. "Maybe ask her for advice on naming your familiar?"

I hand everyone their letters, then sit down to read mine. There are two for me this time, one from Grandma and one from Dakota. As always, I open the one from Grandma first.

Carter,

It appears that Fea now just uses [Wind Mastery] to move the straps and latches for the tube. He put a pebble in there… and was apparently disappointed that none of you decided to keep it.

More members of the group have decided to part ways with us, though amicably. These ones were magic-blooded ones, some of whom have been near the tipping point. If you don't mind, would you accept them? By the time you've received this, they're already on their way up there. They are Dakota, Tessa, and a husband-wife couple I'm friends with. I believe you already know the first two, while the latter two ran a contracting company and could build a house from the foundation up before the Mana Flood.

Depending on how fast they travel, they'll arrive within the next five days. I'm not sure what projects you have planned, but they'll be more than willing to help with construction of any buildings you need.

If you want to remain in contact with them as you travel, you may. Fea will deliver letters to and from them on his way. They do know you aren't planning on being there more than six months, they just want to get away from the normies constantly causing problems and will probably move out when you do.

Or they'll find it cozy there and decide to stay even after you leave.

Regarding me leaving this group – I plan on doing so once it's settled in somewhere properly safe. I'm not quite as selfish as you are, Carter.

Grace's parents were with us, so you'll have seen the letters from them to her. I do know her parents and can vouch for them, so you can know that Grace is probably a decent person.

I hope everything else is going well.

Lots of love,

Grandma

Dakota and Tessa decided to leave? Didn't Dakota say he was going to do a run of one of the Dungeons there for more Levels first? That has me curious and I'm sure Dakota will give me a reason in the letter he's written.

Why am I not surprised that Grandma knows everyone I don't? If Grandma is saying that someone she hasn't met is trustworthy, then she probably got that from their parents, and she trusts their parents enough.

I still need to get to know Grace better, just like with Todd and Mr. Baxter, but it's good to know that there's a trusted vouching there.

Grabbing paper and a quill, I write up my response to Grandma.

Grandma,

As it turns out, magic-blooded people can survive here without healing longer than estimated. Trent and Grace finally went past the point of safety while they slept last night and probably almost didn't make it. Lucas and I had to do emergency healing on them this morning. My suspicion levels have gone down.

Mr. Baxter and his son, Todd, apparently stayed behind. I'm sure you knew that. We met them today and they've decided to move closer to us. That's going to ease some work off of us as they've agreed to butcher our kills and tan the hides.

I know you're not as selfish as me, but there's still a point where you should be. Koda gave me a more clear picture of what happened. That was a coup, Grandma.

We were wondering about the pebble…

Lots of love,

Carter

"The pebble was apparently because Fea was proving he could still open the tube," I announce, receiving confused looks from some but amused looks from others.

And amused kees from a pair of dancing falcons.

I decide to ignore them and read the letter from Dakota.

Carter,

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

You are NOT going into a Level 2 Dungeon without someone who can help tank attacks. Period. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Got that?

So wate wait until I get back up there. I'm leaving after finishing this letter. Tessa's coming with me. She'd rather be up there with friends than down here with the normies causing problems. Also that she can help make sure everyone is safe with her magic. She seems to like being a guard for the camps we've had.

Coming with us are a couple of others, a married couple. Grandma Elm says their they're trustworthy. They're annoyed by the drama, too, and they can build. So that should be helpful. I think the wife is a carpenter or a woodcutter? Maybe both.

Wait for us to get up there so I can help you with the Dungeon run.

I'm serious.

It's not fully because of you, mind. I've been wanting to come back up there anyway. Be with friends instead of strangers and all that. Got torn between leaving or keeping my commitment after reading your letter.

Then got a Quest to rejoin you. The gods are right. I'd be happyier in a more dangerous area but with friends than in an area with people who aren't already friends and where theirs there's constant drama and arguing. So I'm coming.

Dakota

I think I know why I was given that Quest and the incentive for it. By telling Dakota I was going to do a Rank 1 Dungeon, he'd come up here to help me out. Having him up here would make me happier, both because it's another friend and it's another fighter – and a physical one who can tank attacks for us mages. That should help round out our party.

Dakota himself admitted that he'd be happier up here as well, too. The gods knew this and when they saw he was thinking about not doing it even after knowing we could use his help, decided to encourage him to be selfish. It seems at least one god like Dakota and wants to encourage him to do things that make him happy.

Grandma could take a lesson from this.

I start writing up my response to Dakota.

Koda,

Be safe and careful. Also, Chance can make amulets that provide healing buffs to the wearers, and he's working on one which creates a membrane on the wearer to lessen the effect of the ambient Mana. The plan was to send them up there once the latter was made for Tessa to protect her and the baby up here. I meant to say that in my last letter.

Grandma said that we can stay in touch still while you're traveling, as Fea can stop on his way between us and them. Keep me updated.

Best of luck,

Carter

Some of the others need more time to finish their letters, and I take over dishes so that Trent and Grace can read theirs. Chance joins me and I update him on the developments as we work.

"Okay," he says. "So I need to make eight more of the healing amulets rather than four more. I think we have enough holy magic crystal for that."

"We should," I say. "But we'll basically be out of it after, and won't be able to make more potion using it. Not until we get more, anyway. So we'll probably have to run the Dungeon pretty much right after they get here. Maybe not the same day, but the day after or the one after that."

"Okay," he says. "And I should have a prototype for the membrane amulet ready by tonight. We can test it with Trent and Grace, since they're weaker."

"Cool," I say. "I'm not as concerned about the baby as I am everyone else's health, though I'd like to have the best one possible for Tessa because of the baby."

"I know," he says. "I'll do my best."

"Thanks."

We finish washing the dishes, then I let everyone know that some more people are coming down here, including people who can help construct houses.

"It should be maybe five days or so before they arrive," I say. "As long as they pace themselves properly. Since they aren't in a massive group and don't have a bunch of kids and elderly and frail, they can move more quickly. Once they're here, we can probably get more professionally-built houses. That also means probably a more professionally-built shower system."

"I don't have plumbing figured out yet," Chance says. "But since we've got a bigger group, the one structure just isn't going to work out for us. Carter and I are going to build a new, bigger one. It's going to work the same way, though – water gets heated, remove the covering, water flows down. Drains into the floor, where it stays heated. However, we won't need to use wood for heating it."

"You figured out the heating runes?" I ask.

"Yeah," he nods. "I can make the formation draw in ambient Mana to heat the water, and if I do it right… I can set the temperature to heat the water to. It's not something I can do for a room yet, though. That's going to take some playing around with runes. But I can heat water."

"We'll put in the boxes for wood fire, just in case," I say, then return to addressing everyone. "We're going to build it about a hundred feet in front of my house, so that there's still some sort of yard for us and a path between here and there. There will be two showering rooms now. When showering, make sure to put your things in front of the one you're using. We aren't going to divide them by sex… but please respect that if someone doesn't want a co-ed shower while they're in there."

"The only person I'm comfortable showering with is Trent," Grace says. "No offense to any of you, I just don't know you guys well enough to be comfortable with it."

"That's fine," I say. "I'm sure everyone here understands. Anyone else?"

"Doesn't matter to me," Mr. Baxter says. "If Grace wants to not have a shower with others, then I'll respect that."

"Same," Todd says. "I'm not shy, so I don't care much if others see me while I'm showering."

"Then that's that," I say. "Alright, let's finish up our stuff."

Everyone still working on their letters finishes them, then I send them off with Fea. Chance and I head to the spot for the shower house and I use blades of compressed air to cut through the trees and move them off to the side. Todd comes over and watches a little, then starts playing with [Air Mastery] a little.

"Trying to figure out how to do the blades?" I ask.

"Yeah," he answers.

"Here," I teach him how to create them with [Air Mastery].

Once Todd gets the spell down, he starts helping cut down the trees and clear the undergrowth. He and his dad were using axes for cutting down trees, but this is faster even if it costs Mana to do.

"That's a neat trick," he says as I extract the water out of the wood. "How do you prevent them from cracking? Dad and I tried that but they all cracked."

"Practice," I answer. "You need a slow and steady rate for it. You can do it fast as long as it's steady across the whole thing. Gives us firewood faster, but also makes it so we have wood for construction quicker, too."

"That would have been real handy at our old base," he says. "Thanks for letting us stay over here."

"Like I said," I say. "We couldn't really stop you, we just won't give you help if you aren't at least contributing."

"We'll do our best to," he says. "I took a look at your monster-processing station and no offense, but your skills with it are bad. What Level are your [Butchering], [Skinning], and [Tanning] Skills?"

"Well, I guess that answers the question of if those exist or not!" I laugh. "I never got one so I wasn't sure. Is it really that bad?"

"It's not awful," he says. "Passable if the actual quality isn't important," Todd looks to the side. "Uh… what did your brother talk my dad into?"

I look over to spot Mr. Baxter carrying the large brewing cauldron while Chance is pushing a wheelbarrow of supplies. Both are on their way over here and it takes me a moment to remember that Todd wouldn't know what that stuff is for yet.

"Moving a heavy object," I say. "Since he has the muscles for it."

"Yeah, I got that…"

"The insides of the tanks for the water are going to be coated in a special slime goo seal," I explain. "It'll help prevent the water from seeping into the stone, but also block air from traveling in. With it, we can keep the water hotter for longer. That cauldron is for brewing the seal. We need it close to the actual construction location since the seal hardens pretty fast after being removed from the heat, and we can't melt it back down that easily. We've tried."

"Ah."

We finish clearing the site for the shower house, then I bring over fireplace bricks with Todd's help. Next begins the construction of the building itself.

First, I build a lower tank which is fifteen feet long and eight feet wide. That is split into two tanks straight down the center, then I create the fire boxes. Chance needs more time to work on the goo, so I start building the section for the changing area. The seal is added once it's ready, then I construct the walls, which are coated on the inside with a layer of seal as well.

Only the walls, though – this one is meant for blocking air from traveling through, to help retain heat better. It would be pointless in the floor or ceiling since those are full of heat, anyway. Both of those are just smoothed over with [Earth Mastery] to help prevent them from absorbing water.

For the changing rooms, I build two separate fireplaces – one for the left side and one for the right. They're set back so that they're halfway between the changing room and the showering room they're attached to. This way, the heat from them can pass into both, though the actual fire will be in the changing space.

I construct support pillars and beams using more stone, then create the holes in the floors for the shower drains. Next is constructing the ceiling, which has several hole sets created for the showers, as well as a square gap in one corner of each showering room. When the tanks are constructed, their walls follow the edges of those corner holes. However, the walls of the tank on those corners don't go all the way up to the top of the tank, stopping an inch and a half below it so that there's a gap.

"What are those for?" Todd asks as he examines the boxes, the shower room we're in illuminate by one of Chance's lanterns. "They're not vents, right? You made the tank's top connect at the corners of the building."

"It's so we don't have to go outside to transfer the water," I explain. "I created holes in the tanks in the floors directly below, too. See?"

Todd looks down and spots the matching holes. I've installed small walls raised up so that people don't accidentally step into them. The actual drains for the water are below where it comes out of the ceiling from.

"They're so we can just use [Water Mastery] from in here," I tell him. "Draw the water up and send it through the gap in the wall at the top, sending it into the tank above."

"How do you keep the water from just flowing right back down immediately?"

"Chance made some covers for the upper drains," I answer. "Using a magical alloy he made. He says it resists water pretty well. We'll fix them into the ceilings at each drain. They slide close and should stop the water flow, then we can just slide them open when we want to shower."

Not everyone here is powerful enough to manipulate stone I conjured, so this was our solution to it. While it's not a perfect fix, it'll work for now.

The fire boxes for the upper tanks are accessed from the changing rooms, but we make sure to give them vents so the smoke leaves instead of going into the changing rooms.

Keeping everything inside will make it easier for everyone to handle, and also not require the use of a ladder. The fire boxes for the lower tanks do require being outside for, but I couldn't think of a solution to that.

Chance and I install the drain covers for the ceilings, then Chance and I install the doors he built for the rooms yesterday. They were treated with a special alchemy brew to be both water-resistant and heat-resistant, and their hinges use the water-resistant magical alloy he created. Stone benches are created and placed in each room, then I create a woodshed beside the shower house and start chopping wood using air magic.

"Mind if I help?" Todd asks.

"Go ahead," I indicate one of the logs. "Cut them down to that size. They'll get stored in the woodshed there, for use in the shower house. Since we have all these trees we cut down, we can stock it up now and have wood for awhile."

"Okay," he starts helping. "What's Chance doing? It looked like he was drawing with some sort of magic pen? I saw him doing that for the tanks, too. I'm assuming that was for the heating enchantment, though what he's doing now seems to be on the pillars."

For the tanks, the inscriptions were on the outsides of them, on a part not sealed. That was the only way he could make it in such a way that we could easily disrupt the enchantment if it turns out to not work right. The enchantment itself is fairly resilient to damage, so I'd have to remove a section of the stone itself for that.

I do trust my brother's abilities, but it's still better to be ready in case things go wrong while he's still learning.

"It's an inscribing pen," I explain. "It's how he creates enchantments. The ones he's doing now are for lights. They'll draw in ambient Mana and emit a glow. This way, we have lights while in the showers."

"Like with the lanterns?"

"Those use mana crystals, actually," I say. "But yeah, he's doing that. Since he's figured out how to make things draw on ambient Mana, though, he can use that as a power source. It's not like there's a lack of Mana in the air, after all."

"True," he says.

"After lunch," I change the topic. "Would you mind going on a hunt with me?"

"A hunt?"

"Yeah," I say. "I know a few areas where the lullaby owls were living – ones I didn't kill. I want to see if we can find out what's up. If there aren't any signs of them, we can probably check again during the night. But since you're a tracker, you might be able to help, yeah?"

"Oh, right," he says. "Yeah, I can help you with that. My Mind was enough to resist their magic last time I dealt with one, so unless they've gotten a lot stronger, I should be fine."

"Alright," I say. "Cool."

We finish stocking the woodshed and the inside of the shower house, and that's about when Chance finishes his enchantments. He lets us know so we can check it out.

The silvery glow is a bit different than what we're used to for lighting indoors, but it looks pretty neat. For the changing rooms, he put the enchantments on the ceilings. In the shower rooms, they're on the pillars themselves. Both sets provide enough light to see by but not be too bright for our eyes.

Honestly, it gives the stone rooms a slightly mystical feel to them and I kind of like that.

"Hey, Carter," Chance says. "I was looking at some supplies earlier and realized that we're short a crystal of holy maginiite and a decent amount of holy slime. I wracked my brain and I think it's been a few days since it went missing. The math doesn't add up for potions and my amulets."

"Oh, yeah, that was me," I tell him. "Don't worry about it. We still have enough for the amulets."

Chance gives me a skeptical look. There are enough crystals left for the amulets, he's just skeptical about me using them not being something to worry about.

"It was an experiment I decided to do," I tell him. "And it worked out, so it's all good. Don't worry about it."

"Okay…"

"Seriously," I say. "Don't worry about it. Let's get everything cleaned up, then whoever wants to take a shower can."