Today is the day our house is finished. I don’t care if it cuts into mana pearl production, I want to sleep in an enclosed area tonight! I feel like I’ve said it before but today I really can see the end. I can taste the new bed! Taste it!

It tastes like freedom and soft cushion.

Our space is incredibly temperate currently but that doesn’t mean I like sleeping so exposed. My current bed is hard and slightly damp.

As I head towards the construction site, I think about the best way of creating shingles or an alternative. I figured out I could make them with runny cement and it didn’t take too too long yesterday. Instead of that I could make much larger ones – try and make a massive slab all at once…or I could try and pour it on up top and have it set into the shape. As cool as a drippy frozen roof might look I think individual sheets of stone I can lift are the best. I need to criss-cross more across the top to rest the shingles on but I’m happy to work with this. I’m thinking I’ll run twine across the roof alongside some wooden crossbracing so I’m not gluing shingles out into space.

It’s a plan!

Making a base doesn’t take more than an hour or two and I churn out hundreds of shingles without worry. My main bottleneck is gluing the shingles in actually – I can pour down dozens at a time to set. Tried to get Len to help with that but he found it difficult to pour each dollop carefully unless his body was nearly empty. In terms of transporting it up to the roof, all I did was wrap stacks in twine and had thefishyminer hoist them up to the top of the wall one at a time. One stack fell and shattered a bunch of shingles, but it still saved tons of time.

No gluing the singles to each other and the framing is what takes all the time. I’m rushing so much I take an extra safety measure and glue a rope around my waist and to the top of the wall as a short harness in case I fall.

It’s only after a few hours of sweaty physically exhausting work that I start to notice something strange.

My wing skill is…fueled by feather mana. Feather mana – at least in this skill – works based off the sheer number of feathers I’m personally involved in working and placing. And…now. Now I’m not saying my whole roof is now a wing. Nothing that crazy.

But something happened. I’m positive something has happened.

Each shingle placed built that “something” and now the entire structure has that sort of “almost feeling”. I think the roof is maybe lighter than it should be? My skill is definitely interacting with the singles and I’m getting better at noticing it's activating even if I’m not consciously doing anything other than repetitively gluing flat sheets together.

I wonder if this “roof is almost a wing” effect would have worked better if I made an upside-down V arch instead of a single slope? I also wonder if it has some useful side effects or secrets.

Anyways my house is not in danger of flying away anytime soon – these “feathers” are way too heavy and glued into place – but it’s neat and I actually think my skill might have levelled because of it.

Finally after hours of grinding, I place the last shingle and step back in sheer awe at how fabulous the roof looks.

My only critique is how monochrome the whole thing is. Personally, the roof matching the walls makes it look less like a real house and more like a toy or something…but no! Happy thoughts! I did it – we did it! I couldn’t have done it without all of you.

It hasn’t quite sunk in yet, but I can feel the fire of my excitement slowly building the more I stoke it. I did that! We did that! Yipeeee!

Climbing down my ladder I run around the structure in excitement then enter for the first time since I made the roof.

Immediately I can see several small cracks where light is shining through…I don’t think the roof is fully waterproof yet.

I put my hand on my face in proper detective thinking fashion then tilt my head back and to the side as I consider our problem.

How can I fill those from above if I can only see them from down here?

If I had a bright light I could maybe wait till dark and place it in the middle of the floor so it shines up?

…but I don’t really own a light. That’s probably something I should fix isn’t it?

Briefly I consider bringing a ladder in and converting it into a sort of step ladder so I can glue from the bottom…and then I realize that’s probably a better option. The framing looks kind of weird from the bottom anyways and I kind of wish I could cover it and hide the parts I don’t like…

Yep. Let’s do that actually – I’m going to need to figure out a light in general so let’s check the marketplace.

Taking one last proud look around the inside of the house I turn and run back towards the sign.

Step one is going to be a quick check of my progress.

Self status (click to expand)

Tier 34

Status: Healthy

Skills 5/6 ->

[Triboadhesion] Tier 16

[Mana Crystal Creation] Tier 4

[The wings of fell] Tier 5

[Phantom Breath] Tier 4

[Eyes are the window into the soul] Tier 5

First time I’ve checked and Triboadhesion hasn’t gone up at least one tier! Guess I haven’t done much novel gluing today – everything new I found out was done yesterday…I guess a day of glue grinding isn’t enough for a level anymore.

Wings did go up when making the roof! I was right.

Eyes went up around when I gave fishyminer a body. I think we can grind that up pretty well.

I have another skill slot. I’ve mostly finished my main goal! Still have to glue the shutters and door on – I kept them off so they wouldn’t get covered in cement – and furnish the place so it doesn’t feel like a cell.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

That means I can roll for a new skill as a reward for all my effort!

I nod to myself. Yep. All checks out. I’ll shoot for a skill after the market.

Now for some shopping. Let’s see – the corner store is easier to interact with. What sort of lights do they have?

There are torches…I could make those theoretically, but these look pretty well made with smooth handles and stuff. There are lamps…Once again I could make them but the lure of ready made products is stronk.

And then we shift to the more expensive magic item section. Glow stones – shake them really hard to get them to start glowing. They are a soft glow, but act like a cross between an emergency light you could use in disasters and a child’s night light. Bit pricy at close to 1000 moola per fist sized stone but I might end up getting at least one. Could also go for the mini barely light up your immediate surrounding style stones – those vary from 300 to 700.

In the same section there are flare stones. Smash them to light up your whole area with a verry bright light for a few minutes to an hour. Single use so that 100 buck price tag seems a bit more outrageous but they are much much brighter.

Further down the list there are eternal torches – 2000 for a single torch that burns forever while properly tended…it looks pretty good until you notice the “smokeless, non air eating” versions are 5000 each. Might be fine to keep around the farm but it wouldn’t be good to keep an oxygen burning fire in an enclosed area.

I probably should have built a chimney into the initial house design in case I want to make a fireplace. Going to need to figure out warmth if this space ever gets an equivalent to winter.

There are also what straight up look like regular flashlights in this section, each costing upwards of 20,000moo’s.

I’m going to assume they are forever flashlights because those are pricy as heck.

I slap my face suddenly to clear my head. Smack and I’m good. I should have a mirror I can scream into to help wake me up…

Okay. I’m not sure if any of these are worth it, Part of me wants to buy a hundred forever torches and put them up all along a path about my property. Sort of like a a cute little garden trail.

The other part of me wants to scream at big torch and their stifling monopoly in this store. They have higher margins than my mana crystals! Unless I put in the work to make Tier 3 pearls but those take a full day…

Fine, I guess their torches might be more useful than my pearls. Still! Robbery! The opposite of a good deal!

I wonder if I can get the goddess to get me a plot of land with forever torches on it. Or forever fire I can harvest and shove in stuff? I don’t even want to undercut big torch I just want to light up my property a bit.

…

Checking the fae market I see 4 potential light sources. Make that 3, we aren’t touching that last one. Give me a sec to compare all their prices.

There are glow sprites in a cage – look like little balls of light with sad faces floating around. Part of me wants to buy them just so I can set them free – the picture the system gives me makes them look oh so sad they are in a small container with barely any room to move around. You know. I bet I can make a better home for them just by making a bigger pet tank. Could make them a whole enclosure! Seller wants either children teeth or other “cute” bones in exchange for them. Weird.

Next option is moonglow lilies. They look like flowers that give off light as long as its nighttime and the moon is out. Don’t even need to see the moon they give off light even if they are deep in a cave…makes you wonder why they are dark in an eclipse or cloudy day.

This seller wants a laundry list of plants. She – I’m assuming it’s a girl fae based on the style of description – wants toadtips, Baby tears (a plant thankfully), dwarf orchids, sunkiss ferns (if I had these glowing plants why would I need her moon glowing plants?), Spidervine, common impweed. The list just goes on and on and doesn’t include my one current plant – the still growing snow peas.

The final seller has glowing peaches. From what I can tell, they own a tree that creates glowing peaches and sells the produce all season. The main problem seems to be the peaches go bad after a while… They want a drop of virgin blood…for reasons.

…

Heading back to the OG market I check the meat section. Butchershop has a relatively large selection of steaks and bone filled lumps of…well I don’t recognize any of the creatures and only some of the appendages but they are there. I’m going to have a barbeque tonight and we can search for cute looking bones. I’ve been having some pretty bare bone (heh) meals so a single full bone splurge could be fun for the house finishing celebration.

So light! I buy a single glowstone and search for beds. My favorite bed is roughly a million dollars but there are more reasonably priced options available for the frugal among us. I'm not the frugal one but at least one of us is probably frugal. Speak up if its you wew.

The nicest possible mattress could fit on the cheap box thingy I’m already using. I think I’m going to reuse it.

Walking over to the old bed, I flip the damp and musky looking thin sheet of nothing and measure the boxspring to double check. Yep, should be able to reuse this as cheap as it sounds.

I’m surprised I manage to keep a balance from all my pearl sales with how much I like spending my money. I’m down to less than a thousand moneys already and I haven’t started buying decorations for the house! Rubbish! I also can’t keep selling all my pearls I still have a debt to pay off.

I manage to squash my decoration instincts down and move to the skill wizard.

Hello Mr Wizard. It’s me again, back for more magic. How are we feeling today? Fresh and friendly? That’s good to hear.

I navigate through the menu – it already ingrained as a habit – and step back to accept Mr. Wizards skill solidifying touch.

Annnnnnnd There!

M* Presentation

*More accurate translation upon main Mystical skill line. “Ephemeral Matter” affinity.

Fairy gold. A payment made in trickster’s gift. A true false currency that vanishes upon morn as mist. False currency passes all standard tests for validity appearing as true as any other currency until it breaks.

Visage shift. A temporary form to show your might. A temporary form to hide your ghastly sight. Form breaks upon exposure to true sight.

Illusionary weight. Temporarily give physical weight and form to any illusion you control. *does not come with illusionary manipulation.

Conjure clothing. Create a dress, a suit, a costume. Clothing breaks at midnight or upon exposure to true sight.

Alright then! This choice seems quite similar to the last one but…less useful for me? Nothing pops out as something I want with a burning passion and there isn’t even a group of options I want that I need to prioritize.

Am I snobby about my skills? Considering there’s a limited number I feel justified...

This is probably the biggest proof I have that my environment is effecting the type of skills I get. Second time in a row I've gotten something with M* which I'm kind of translating into mystical. Very "keikaku means plan" of the system.

Alright! let’s look at all the options for now.

Fairy gold seems mean – I don’t want to make a habit of scamming people. Maybe I'm not very imaginative but other than scams I can't think of a use for it.

Visage shift…I’m not fully sure I can picture it but it seems like a way of changing your body shape temporarily? Kind of like a doppelganger skill? Considering the base mana type seems to be conjuring something instead of transforming it…well do you think it actually lets you shift forms or is it more like creating a suit around you? Might be more useful for tiny little fairies that want a human sized body.

Illusionary weight would be an instant winner if it came with the ability to actually make those illusions. Even without them being permanent I’d probably use it loads to make temporary tools or molds or something.

Clothes…well I can see the appeal. I’d love creating a new outfit each day – I can swap to builder outfit with plenty of pockets then swap to business casual outfit to respond to a goddess email and swap to comfy pyjamas afterwards. Only point against it is really my limited skill slots. As a skill among hundreds, it would be amazing. As one of my limited skills…well it’s a bit harder to justify. A small luxury I don’t really need.

Ah idk. I think I lean towards trying again for a different skill. Do you have any input or should I pick something random and trash the skill? I could also pick something to play with and then toss it if it's not useful.