Edge of Granite Thicket
East of Granite City
Jut sighed when he heard the bickering continue as he followed Brick and Joy past the tree line.
"I told you that if we didn't turn around, we would be stuck out here. Unless you think it's a good idea to be marching around, in the wilderness, after dark." Joy fumed as the last of the day's light was fading.
"Oh, relax buttercup." Brick scoffed. He covered his eyes as he scanned the land before them.
The Crusaders had been working hard to meet their System assigned quota of clearing Lairs and Dens. They only had three Lairs and a Dungeon left to go. It led them past the trees that had grown around the city, commonly being called Granite Thicket. Unlike to the South, where they had heard a flat expanse of land could be found, before the team was a small open, barren area that led to a deep canyon. The rock walls were a tan color instead of the granite grey they were used to. The bottom was so far down, they couldn't see it in the diminishing light.
Joy clenched her fist and Jut knew she was seriously considering smacking Brick. It was her first glimpse of how deep the canyon was that made her temporarily forget her frustration.
"Wow. It's so deep." She breathed.
Jut instantly brought her frustration back again when he stepped up next to her. "Right? We had to walk nearly all day, but it was worth it. Don't you think?"
The team leader nudged her and she gave him a look. He smiled softly at her and she deflated.
"Yeah, I guess. But what are we going to do now?"
It was Isabelle, who stepped up on Joy's other side and gave the answer Jut was about to. The platinum blonde elf looked down into the canyon as she spoke.
"We do have Spacial Residences, right? Let's use them."
Joy's eyes widened. It was apparent she had forgotten about the System feature. "Right! But that means we won't be back until late tomorrow." Her tone and shoulders fell slightly.
"Got special plans or something?" Brick asked, turning to the pugilist.
Joy rolled her eyes. "Not really. I just don't like the idea of being gone so long. What if another wave hits while we are gone?"
Diggy joined the group, both Gunther and Nox sitting at his feet. They had been the rear guard. "There hasn't been a wave since the first day after the Lockdown. I wouldn't worry about it." His tone was reassuring.
Jut shrugged. "Besides. They have the walls and gates finished. Only Jeffrey will make it through those, and I don't see the giant making a move like that."
They had heard of three teams that had been ambushed by the monkey turned giant. Out of those three teams, one had been wiped out while the other two had managed to escape with little to no casualties. No one had been able to determine exactly where the giant was until it was too late either. For something so large and destructive, he managed to keep himself well hidden.
Joy did not look convinced, but she said other wise. "I guess that's true. They'll only have to deal with flyers and jumpers."
Isabelle chimed in. "Ever since the Adventurer's started clearing the Lairs and Dens sufficiently, the number of wild Monsters we have to fight while traveling has decreased dramatically too. Everything will be okay."
It was true. The real reason it had taken the Crusaders so long to make the tree line had been distance, not because they had to fight Monsters. They only had to stop to fight a handful of Monster packs until they reached the far side of the wooded area. However, it was clear the canyon had not received the same clearing treatment the thicket had.
From the canyon below, the Crusaders could hear the screams, growls and fighting of Monsters. They sounded close but even Isabelle's lantern light could not expose any movement. With the pitch black moon already floating in the sky, sucking in any remaining light, it made everything eerie, nearly terrifying.
The Crusaders all looked at one another. It was Jut who spoke.
"Let's go back into the treeline and camp at that clearing we fought the snake monsters at."
Everyone agreed. They all nodded but remained silent. They all wanted to have the campsite put together and a fire going before it became too dark.
The team never experienced it, but they had heard what the wilderness outside the Safe Zone was like at night. Monsters become more violent and actively hunted anything that moved. Apparently, most Monsters match their regular animal counter parts for when they are active. Meaning, dogs usually hunt at twilight while cats were usually nocturnal. Spiders and snakes varied while birds and other mammals were active with the sun.
The Radiant Crusaders Guild as a whole had all agreed to not challenge the Monsters of the night without good reason. It seemed a lot of the other Guilds had done the same. There were just too many casualties from those who had.
The team remained silent all the way to the clearing. Both of the dogs immediately began to sniff around the perimeter while Diggy, Joy, and Brick set up a fire pit. Jut and Isabelle cleared the area of sticks, loose wood and any burnable grasses. Diggy and Brick turned to obtaining logs for seats. It wasn't long before the clearing had become a full blown campsite.
Once everything was done, the team split into smaller groups. One would start the fire while the others would take turns on watch. Both Gunther and Nox were alert and keeping their senses on the treeline around them. Lily slipped into the trees to scout and reported to Isabelle multiple times.
Once a watch order was in place, Diggy and Jut pulled out dinner for the team. The entire time leading up to everyone having some kind of food before them, the team had remained nearly silent. They relaxed just enough to chat a bit at the smell and sight of food.
"How are the Beastly Five doing?" Joy asked. She had not taken the ten person dungeon fiasco well. Because she was so upset, she hadn't really contributed to the new team's training. Jut wasn't sure if she was feeling bad about it after a few days had past or if she was just trying to create conversation to settle her nerves.
Brick, being his usual chipper self and having had a lot of experience sleeping in hostile areas, responded with a smile. "They are doing pretty well. Roxy and Mike are taking to the physical conditioning well. Sky and Diana not so much." He chuckled. "They whined more than Jut and Diggy did their first day running."
"I feel no shame. Running sucks." Jut said casually.
"It does." Isabelle nodded.
"I used to hate it too." Diggy added. "It still isn't fun."
"Try not to kill the newbies, will ya?" Jut teased.
"I make no promises. All of them were pretty squishy before the Initialization, even more so than Diggy and Jut." Brick said with a grin. "I'll have them in shape in no time. Don't worry."
"Hey!" Jut and Diggy complained together.
To curb any further bickering or teasing, Joy spoke. "Good. We need to get the first clear. It has to have a great reward."
"I wonder what it would be. More Skill Orbs and an upgrade to our Features?" Brick suggested.
"Pfft. I doubt it will be the same reward." Jut scoffed. "I bet it will be gear."
The team kicked a round a few more ideas, no one really sure what else there could be. As the chatting spun into wandering topics and usual conversations about Adventuring and crafting, Jut took a glance at his stats. He'd only gained a single level since they established the Vixen's Vigil. He made sure to exclude everything except his level, stats and equipped skills as nothing else had changed.
Name: Jut Zoak Rank: Stone Level: 2
Attributes: Body: 2 Mind: 1 Available Attribute Points: 0
Characteristics: Body: Strength: 15 (1) Constitution: 14 (2) Agility: 15 (1) Mind: Intelligence: 13 Wisdom: 14 (1) Willpower: 11 Available Characteristic Points: 0
Equipped Skills 5/5 General Skill Pool 11/XXX Combat Path Equipped Skills: Magical Strikes: Level 3 Windy Steps: Level 3 Consequence: Level 2 Non-Combat Path Equipped Skill: Smithing Level 2 Harvest Level 1
Jut was so close to level three, he could taste that glorious Level Up. He closed his status window and rose, killing the last of his meat skewers. As they didn't expect to fight any Monsters that night, they were eating food without any buffs. There was no reason to waste the good stuff. He dropped the wooden sticks into the fire.
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"I'm going to set up my Special Residence then I'll take my shift on watch."
"Oh, me too." Diggy said.
"Everybody go ahead. I'll keep an eye out." Brick said with a nod.
Jut and Diggy both walked to the canyon side of the clearing. Jut hadn't even accessed the Spacial Residence feature yet. He never had a need to do so, despite how excited he was to get it. After pulling up his menu and activating Special Residence with a thought, he regretted not checking it out sooner.
Welcome to your Spacial Residence. When Monsters can spawn nearly anywhere, a safe place is needed to allow Ascendent Beings to rest and recover. As Safe Zones are set and Settlements are hard to form, the System created Special Residences. The more you use your Spacial Residence, the better it will become. To complete initial set up of your Spacial Residence, please choose the following:
Entrance: Portal Arch
Door
Ladder Material
Wood
Stone
Color
Red
Green
Blue
White
Purple
Black
Brown
It took so long for Jut to decide what he wanted to choose, he began to feel the pressure of taking too long. He knew Brick was also eager to investigate the Spacial Residence. After all, despite Joy's nerves and fear, one of the goals of the trip was to check them out.
Jut immediately eliminated Ladder as a choice. While he was in what had to be the best shape of his life, he had no desire to climb up and down a ladder over and over again. Door was eliminated too, only because the choice of having a portal that led him into his own space sounded way more badass.
Jut chose stone as the material because he had always preferred stone and metal structures over wood. While he doubted the wood would degrade like regular wood products, he wasn't going to take any chances.
Lastly, Jut chose green without hesitation. It was his favorite color after all. He couldn't help but notice that the available colors matched the colors of basic magic. He wondered if the choice of color would have an impact the growth of his residence. If so, it didn't bother him. Green was associated with Wind Magic and he had always like the wind. Nothing beat a cool breeze on a hot day.
Confirming his choices made a new window open in Jut's vision.
Your Special Residence is now ready for use. A special slot in your inventory has been created. All you will need to do is pull out the Anchor and place it where you want it to be. Please Note: Once the Spacial Anchor is placed, no living beings may be inside your Spacial Residence to pick it back up again. Spacial Residences will not operate within a Safe Zone. Your inventory is accessible inside your Spacial Residence and will be inaccessible from your person as it normally would be. Only those who you grant access too will be allowed inside your Spacial Residence. Nothing short of Mithril Ranked damage will be able to harm a Special Residence.
Sure enough, Jut found a special slot to the left of his inventory grid that contained the designated Spacial Anchor. Removing the anchor was just as easy as taking out the dinner he just ate.
The anchor itself was not what Jut expected. Although, he shouldn't have been surprised. It was an Orb. It was made of a Stone like material and was the cool green he had selected. Inside the nearly translucent Orb was the shape of a simplistic house. So, Jut set the Orb on the ground which caused a new pop up to appear in his vision.
Please step outside of the Area Of Effect ring.
As he read the words, a red ring of light appeared on the ground. It only took Jut a single step to exit the ring. He didn't have to wait long for it to activate once he had either.
A soft light emanated from the Orb. The body of the orb began to expand and change silently until a glowing archway just a bit taller than Jut was left in its place. The edges of the archway touched the edge of the red ring. As one, the glow and the ring faded. In its place was an intricately carved, stone archway.
The arch was made of the same green stone material the orb had been made of. In the center of the Arch was a familiar energy, similar to the energy found in a Dungeon entrance.
Taking a glance around and it appeared everyone was doing as Jut did. He managed to catch a glimpse of Diggy climbing down a ladder that disappeared into the ground, a small hole just large enough for Minotaur to fit through having appeared around the black, wood ladder.
Before Isabelle was a door made of white wood that looked elegantly carved and had a slender metal handle.
Brick's entrance was just like his, an archway of brown stone. He couldn't see the energy in the Arch like he could with his own. Maybe he needed Brick's permission to enter before he would be able to see the energy there?
Joy also had an archway as well, but hers was wooden and red.
With a smile, Jut approached his own archway. Unlike when he entered the Dungeon, he didn't get a notification asking him if he wanted to enter. Instead, he felt the same sensation he would have when entering a Dungeon. His vision went blank momentarily as he stepped into a new space.
When Jut's vision returned, he was standing in a small room. It was neither warm nor cold. It was square. The floor and ceiling were made of grey stone. The space as a few feet taller than he was and there was just enough space for him to lay in any direction. On the ceiling was a magical bubble of light just bright enough for him to see clearly.
"Kinda cramped in here." Jut said aloud. "And it comes with no preset decorations either."
Still though, with no one able to get in and nothing being able to destroy it, I doubt the team needs to post a guard.
"That may be true, Alex, but creatures or enemies could also set up an ambush. It is probably smart for us to have a guard posted anyway."
His guide's floating body of light left his vision and floated around the space as if examining it.
Are you going to use the stuff you commissioned?
Jut grinned. "Of course."
There were two "doors" in the space. One was the same portal arch he had entered through. The other looked like a slim closet. Pulling open the latter revealed a small space lined with shelves. Each shelf was divided into sections that had to be the inventory slots from the grid, seeing as there was the same number of them spaced across the area. Jut could see all the items in his inventory placed through out the small closet. Items that were large, like the bed he had bought specifically for the residence, were small replicas about the size of his hand. Other items, such as his Skill Orbs from clearing the Dungeon, were their regular size as long as they fit on the shelf.
Jut grabbed the bed and pulled it out. As the bed exited the storage area, it began to expand to its normal size. A little fancy handling had Jut setting and sliding the bed into place against a wall. He pulled out a small night stand and set it next to the bed. As Jut was unsure how big the space was going to be before hand, which was not very now that he was looking at it, he was glad he got a single person bed.
Jut looked at his new space and nodded in contentment. Alex popped their chat window forward.
Now check out the Special Residence menu.
Jut did so and was surprised at what he saw.
Spacial Residence Controls Residential Points (RP) Available: 0 RP Generation 1/hr while occupied by you. Categories: Materials
Dimensions
Rooms
Furniture
Decoration
Options
Each of the categories created a drop down menu.
Materials Incorporate: 75 RP per item Upgrade:
marble: 3000 RP per surface,
Iron: 2000 RP per surface
Dimensions
Height
10 RP per foot
Width
50 RP per foot
Length
50 RP per foot
Rooms
Add 1 room, 2 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet
1000 RP
Furnishings
Incorporate
100 RP per item
Decorations
Incorporate
50 RP per item
"Wow. So I can manually increase this thing. I wonder how big I can make it." Jut said aloud before examining the options. Unfortunately, that button was greyed out and unusable.
Maybe it will become available once you ascend again?
"Maybe," Jut said. "Either way, it looks like I can't do much else in here for now. Let's get out there and take our watch."
Good idea. The sooner we are relieved, the sooner we can start to garner RP.
Jut exited his Special Residence to a nearly empty clearing. Only Brick and the two dogs were present, their sharp eyes on the perimeter.
"Ready man?" Jut asked, stepping over to Brick and sitting next to him.
"Yeah, but I'll hang out a little bit. The inside of that thing is too small. For now, at least." Brick shrugged. He looked at Jut for a brief moment before going back to scanning the trees. "Think we will find a Dungeon?"
It was Jut's turn to shrug. "I have no idea. It's kind of bullshit that only two Dungeons formed within a day's walk of the Safe Zone."
"No, it's bullshit that those bastards managed to clear them both first." Brick fumed.
"Casanova's Delight. Yeah, they're a bunch of pricks. Have they found their missing teammate yet?" Jut said. Despite how much he hated the way the other team acted, he felt for them.
"Nope. They hired a new guy. I bet he's Monster shit now. I'd say it's a good thing, but no one deserves to die like that." Brick said flatly.
The mood was heavy. Jut changed the subject. "So, I've noticed you and Joy have been a little... snippy with each other lately. What's up with that? You didn't... dip your pen in the Guild's ink, did ya?" His tone was teasing. He didn't really care what his Guildmates did as long as they were able to do the job.
Brick let out his boisterous laugh. "Nah, man. She's hot, but I won't go there. Let's just say she's a little pissed because I keep teasing her about the Dig man and that kitty cat."
Jut scoffed before he chuckled. "Is she that jealous?"
Brick nodded. "Not that she'll ever admit that though." The Guardian rose. "Okay. I'll turn in. See you in the morning boss."
Jut gave Brick and small wave. He completed his watch shift, being replaced by Joy a few hours later. He considered asking her about her constant bickering with Brick but decided against it. Instead, he turned in, too. Gunther followed him through the portal with no issues.
It turns out, he was able to sleep rather well in the small space of his residence. Gunther eagerly curled up at the foot of his bed. It was perfect. He then rose and dressed before heading out to the campsite early the next morning. Diggy and Isabelle were already up. The three of them prepared the team's breakfast.
When the team returned to the canyon and looked over the incredible sight in the morning light, Jut spoke quietly as he pointed to a cliff in the other side of the canyon. "Look!"
There, etched into the crayon's wall was the tell tale arch of a wild Dungeon. Between them and their goal was a sea of Monsters.