When he is done, he comes back to me.

“I noticed that you have not assigned a massive amount of AP. May I ask you why” he asks taking his customary pose?

“Well, I earned the bulk of them in the swamp and did not want to do it there. I also tend to be incapacitated when I do so I wanted to be somewhere safe. I also felt like I was close to another breakthrough, and I wanted to talk to someone first.”

“You are indeed on the cusp of another transition. I would ask that you wait to assign your AP until my gift is ready in a few days. I would also like to gift you the tower. It was my friends and he said I would know when I had met its new owner. The item is semi sentient and can choose to reject you as its owner. But I have a feeling that it will not be an issue.”

I look at the cottage while I would love to have it. I don’t know what good it will do me. While I like my new friend, I do intend to find other people. I can tell he senses something is off. He looks at me and laughs.

“It is an artifact if it accepts you, it will increase your storage and travel with you” he says laughing.

“Yeah, even if it increases my storage by a lot. I still don’t know if I will have room for a whole house.”

“Trust me my young friend you will see” he says cryptically.

We walk briskly back to the cottage slash tower even though I never found the second floor. As I enter the residence, I leave the door open so I can hear him.

“Now the key to this place is actually the large stone in the hearth. You need to infuse the stone with your mana once you do so it should tell you what to do.” He says his face covering most of the door.

Mana source detected. Testing applicant for suitability

It is like I have stuck my hand in an electric outlet. I can see the hairs raising on my arm. The whole process is unpleasant, even slightly painful. After a few seconds I start to get scrolling text across my vision. Unlike my own screens I cannot shut these ones off or minimize them.

Mana source suitable. Mana 83% compatible.

Searching subject for compatible skills. Compatible skill found; Linguistics. Searching available languages. Language compatibility 77% subject deemed highly suitable.

Searching knowledge base. Advanced knowledge found. Advanced knowledge is found of the following; Math Chemistry, Metallurgy, Architecture, Biology, Astronomy, Astrophysics, and Robotics.

Additional investigation required initiating a deep scan. Subrace quantified Outworlder.

After the last line, the process becomes less intrusive. The energy coursing through my system lessens.

Host deemed acceptable for full unlock. All systems are unlocked. Advanced abilities unlocked.

Advanced binding is required for full system access. Do you wish to bind artifact Y/N?

I select yes because who in the hell would go through all of that without the intent of claiming the thing afterwords. I watch as the stone my hand is currently attached to becomes porous. And a spike forms, surprisingly the spike is very precise as it lances my thumb. I can see a small shard of stone break off the point as it draws some blood.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Initialization required please leave the Tower for Initialization! Initialization will commence in 30 seconds!

I walk out the front door interested in what will happen. I was not expecting the cottage to shrink down to the size of a river stone. I looked over at the guardian he had a knowing look on his face. It sat there inert for ten minutes before it grew to take its previous size and layout. This time though when I went inside the interior was mostly empty. This time when I step into the room it recognizes my presence.

Welcome new keeper of The Masked Tower. This artifact is a portable library and laboratory. The knowledge inside is available for your use. All keepers of the tower are asked to do only one thing to increase its knowledge for those that follow them. As an outworlder with advanced knowledge, a portion of the knowledge available to you has been added to the tower. This replaces the requirement to add new books to the library yearly to keep it active.

Base storage increased by a factor of 10. Base storage is 30 cubic meters, total storage is 300 cubic meters.

So, I guess it would have some requirements to search out new knowledge. But due to my status and the information I possessed, it counted towards my possession of the artifact.

The increase in my storage was huge I now had three hundred thousand kilograms of storage. Which should be just enough to move the cottage. When I looked at the storage though that was not the case the storage was on top of a space that had been created just for the tower. That must be one of the additional functions. To amplify the carrying space of the keeper. I realize that I now have enough space to keep whatever I want as long as it is not a living thing.

New floor plans available would you like to view the available layouts of the residential floor?

I select yes, and watch as several home floor plans pop up on their own individual screens. What is more surprising is that I recognize most of the designs. I had friends who were buying their first home a number of years prior. I had gotten into the process with them. They would go out to several home builders and look at floorplans. They would bring the sheets home and I would go over the plans with them. I had also gotten into several shows about design on HGTV. I had even considered trying to get my own house. I had wanted to get a little fixer. Ultimately the pandemic had hit making it a moot point. I had not wanted to move in the middle of a pandemic so I had put my plans on hold. Now I was here looking at floor plans all over again.

The floor plans all had one thing in common they had all of the living areas on the ground floor. They were all modified ranch floor plans. Most of them even had basement options but there was something hidden in the way those were shown. I was guessing the basement had some kind of extra requirement to be active. I found one of those plans with the basement option. It was similar to one of my favorite floor plans from one of the multiple builders we had visited. The plan had a number of changes based on the level of available technology. It also had integrated magic. So somehow it did have running water but that water was cold only. I had a bright idea about the insight I had given the avatar. The system had allowed for changes so I did some minor design changes and added a solar water heater. At worst it would tell me I could not do it. I also made another small change by adding a butcher’s room next to the kitchen. Having a place to clean my catch was a necessity. The pantry was not necessary due to storage being available. So, the butcher's room took its place. I made the bedrooms larger with smaller closets since again storge was available. When I was done, I had four bedrooms, one of those was a large master bedroom. The other bedrooms were a decent size. Each of the bedrooms ended up having its own rudimentary bathrooms. The larger master suite having a larger bathroom. From the way the interface acted it seemed as long as I had available power, I could change the layout of this floor.

I finalized my changes and hit select and was greeted with a new message.

Missing resources for proposed changes.

Wood 277/500

Stone 368/600

Metal 300/75

Hides 4700/90

Large Leaves 00/25

“Fuck!”

“What is it my young friend,” he asks me his head sticking partially through the door?

“Well, it is asking for extra resources for the change. If says I need more wood and stone.”

“Is that all I will be right back” is all he says as he disappears.