When I finally woke up after a long, dreamless sleep, I simply stared at the dome's stony ceiling for a while, not knowing where I was.

But as my eyes slowly began to wander toward the middle of the room, where I saw the radiant crystal shining in all its mesmerizing beauty, I immediately remembered everything that had transpired yesterday and hurriedly jumped to my feet.

I cautiously checked my surroundings, but everything looked exactly the same—still and serene. I sighed in relief before I went on to check my status.

[Name: Jayden] [Race: Human]

[Level: 2 (Soul Essence: 20/200)]

[Class: Scavenger (lvl.1)]

[Skills: Synthesis (lvl.1), Portal (lvl.1)]

For a moment, I was afraid that everything that happened was just a part of some crazy, delirious dream, and I was still trapped under that giant pile of debris.

But when I saw the shimmering glyphs, it all clicked, and I understood that this was now my new reality. That’s right, I’m a real Hunter now…

I had no idea how much time had passed since I went to sleep, but when I checked, the Portal's cooldown was gone, which meant I must have slept for at least seven hours.

However, guessing by how exhausted I was after the battle, it was probably much longer than that. Carson must have already returned to the Shelter by now, and everyone assumed I had died.

Well, let them think that… I can’t wait to see the look on their faces when I emerge from the tunnels unharmed and a Hunter, no less. I chuckled, donning a wicked grin.

Alright, let's do this! Full of energy, I was ready to make another attempt with that [Portal] thingy, but before that, I still had one more job to do.

Seeing that the Seed's mana had likewise recovered, I remembered that I could now construct another building.

So, while I took some of my last remaining food out of my satchel and prepared myself a meager breakfast, I took another look at the building's list. I definitely need something that will help me with defense…

But while I was attentively browsing the awfully long list, I furrowed my brows, spotting a particular building I was sure wasn't there when I looked at it the last time.

[Petty Summoning Grove - Summons an echo of a possessed creature or construct (Build cost: 100 Upkeep: 20)]

Wait... does this mean it became available because I picked the Synthesis skill?

Rejoicing over the possibility of unlocking new, unique buildings based on the Skills I chose, I quickly read its description again.

It says summon... So, is it something similar to the synthesis skills? Would it allow me to create more golems?

Having experienced Rocky's battle prowess firsthand, I was very interested in the possibility of having more of them. The build cost and upkeep were exactly the same as the Mana mine, so there was nothing stopping me from choosing it.

There's no point in endless pondering; if it is a unique building, it must be something good. Alright, I'm gonna do it!

Resolving myself, I promptly selected the Petty Summoning Grove before I could change my mind. I was expecting to hear the same rumble as when I built the Mana mine, but contrary to that, I was suddenly overwhelmed by a strange sensation.

My perspective seemed to have shifted; it was almost as if I had a bird's eye view of the dome and everything in it.

Am I supposed to pick a place for it? After a momentary confusion, I focused on a spot close to the dormant rift to see what would happen, and at the next moment, a bright flash of light momentarily blinded me, after which everything went back to normal. Is it done?

Curious, I went on to check it, and right at the spot I had previously selected, there was now a small circle carved into the rock.

Hmm, what's this? Inside the circle, there was a peculiar imprint that looked like a five-pointed star, and in the center of it, there was a tiny, faintly glowing crystal.

I eagerly approached it, realizing it would probably activate right after touching, just like the Seed did. But after I placed my hand atop its smooth surface, my happiness quickly subsided. Only one option?

Well, I guess I synthesized only one creature, after all. Still, I had hoped it would give me something better to work with.

After some testing, I found out that I could summon only two constructs at the same time. Undeterred, I focused on the single option [Petty Rock golem] and mentally selected it.

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I watched in awe as the mana began coalescing in the air around the crystal before falling down in two distinct streams. Soon, I was greeted by two new golems, yet I immediately noticed they looked quite different from Rocky.

Their surface was kind of dull and lustreless, and I quickly discovered it was because they had no mana crystal. It was just plain rock all the way.

So, I guess they must be powered by the summoning crystal itself, which means I wouldn't be able to take them away from it.

I looked closely at the two identical creatures standing there motionlessly, diligently awaiting my orders. "Alright! From now on, I'm gonna call you Stoney and Bouldy!"

The golems didn't react in any way to my excited proclamation, so after a moment of awkward silence, I simply shrugged my shoulders and ordered them to guard the area in front of the rift, just in case.

I watched them slowly sway on their stubby legs as they dutifully carried out their orders, but then I realized something. Oh, right! Now that I think about it, I never bothered to check what the golem's skills actually do.

I knew that one of them was some sort of offensive skill, but that was about it. Wanting to immediately rectify my previous error, I quickly summoned Rocky's status.

[Petty Rock golem (lvl.1) (8/100 Shards)]

[Skills: Absorb (lvl.1), Shatter (lvl.1)]

Still level one, huh? It looked like the golems needed much more experience to level up than I did. Well, not like it mattered too much as with how things currently stood, they would soon get plenty of opportunities to gain experience.

Remembering what I wanted to do, I then focused on the actual skills.

[Absorb (lvl.1) - Ability to consume, to provide sustenance, and to strengthen one's body.]

[Shatter (lvl.1) - Power to crush, power to destroy. Ability to alter one's surroundings.]

I already knew what Shatter did, so I was a lot more interested in the other one. As I was reading its description again, a faint smile appeared on my face.

Could it be? I looked toward the spot where I had previously left the Wolves' remains as an exciting idea popped into my head.

I quickly ordered Rocky to follow me as I made my way over to what I called the discard pile. There, I pointed at the pile of rancid flesh and told the motionless golem, "Use Absorb!"

Rocky lingered for a moment but then went toward the discard pile, stopping right in front of it. He stretched out his right arm, which then began to subtly glimmer.

That glimmer soon spread over the carcasses as a cloud of golden dust began flowing out of them and then back into Rocky's body. So he could absorb the corpses!

I continued to happily watch this peculiar process go on, and before long, all that remained of the once horrid wolves was a small pool of thick black goo.

Hmm, so it looks like he could only absorb the bones but not the flesh itself, interesting.

[Petty Rock golem (lvl.1) (14/100 Shards)]

[Skills: Absorb (lvl.1), Shatter (lvl.1)]

I quickly checked for changes, noting that the Skill gave him only half the advancement point compared to actually killing the thing.

I also ordered Rocky to try to Absorb other things like, for example, the everpresent rocks. Unfortunately, although I saw the skill activating, nothing happened, and there was no gold dust.

I wasn't sure if it was because he couldn't Absorb anything other than dead bodies or because he was made out of the same material as the dome itself. So, I decided to run a few more tests with it later when I got access to some unique materials.

Alright! I looked back at the Seed, wondering how long it would take before I could build something again.

[Petty Seed (lvl. 0) Capacity: 6/100 mana; Production: 60/100 mana per hour]

It looked like it would take more than an hour to refill. However, I was slightly bothered by the continuously decreasing mana production. Isn't there some way to increase it?

Right as I thought that, another prompt popped up.

[Conditions for Seed’s awakening (lvl.0 --> lvl.1) 1000 mana, 10x Petty Essence gem]

So, I need to raise the level of the Seed, huh? Wait, how do I get this much mana, and what the hell is this Petty Essence gem?

I blinked a few times, staring at the confusing line of text before me. I guess I might get the required mana if I manage to get my hands on a few full mana crystals, but what about the other thing?

Don't tell me... After a bit of pondering, an unnerving thought entered my head, and I took out the tiny crimson monster core out of my pocket.

Focusing on it, its description simply said [Petty Essence gem]

I decided not to dwell on the peculiarity of why the glyphs called it something else than what was commonly used. Instead, I focused on the fact that I now had to somehow collect a whole bunch of them.

I was already quite lucky to have gotten just one, and I didn't even want to imagine how many wolves I would have to kill to get ten.

Yeah, that will take a while... So, for now, I chose not to build anything as I didn't want to lose the few remaining build slots I had left before I figured out a way to level up the Seed.

Realizing I had already lost a lot of time, I decided to return to the task I had initially wanted to do.

With the Domain protected by the newly summoned golems, I could now finally leave this place without constantly worrying about it being destroyed in my absence.

So, after making sure I had everything I needed with me and after ordering Rocky to come over, I focused on activating the [Portal] and then watched in awe as the same elaborate black door manifested before me.

Yet this time, I knew what was going to happen, so I stepped sideways to not be immediately sucked in and carefully touched the golden knob. As the doors swung open, I then promptly commanded Rocky to go through to the other side.

I tensed, watching as the golem slowly made his way toward the shimmering doorway, wondering if it would work, but before I could react, Rocky was sucked in, disappearing inside the Portal.

It works! Seeing Rocky pass without any apparent problems, I broke into a wide grin and quickly followed after him.