Al occupied himself with harvesting the mushrooms in the valley, and Mahya and I tinued our experiments with the house.

  Mahya turo me. “I have another idea,” she said, a hint of a smile pying on her lips.

  “What’s on your mind?”

  She took out a poud emptied a handful of gold grains into her palm. “Remember these?” she asked, holding them up, so they caught the light.

  I nodded, reizing the gold we had collected o isnd. “Yeah, what about them?”

  Mahya’s grin widened. “What if we gave these to the house?”

  I frowrying to follow her line of thought. “You mean, give the house gold?”

  “Exactly,” she said, noddihusiastically. “Then we give it a as an example and ask it to vert the gold into s.”

  I blinked, sidering the possibility. “It’s worth a shot,” I admitted, feeling a spark of excitement myself.

  roached the house and pced the gold grains and a single on the deck. “House, absorb the loose gold and vert it into s like the example.”

  For a moment, nothing happehen, the gold grains shimmered as the house absorbed them. Suddenly, it began releasing s, each gleaming as it appeared.

  My jaw dropped in amazement. “It worked!” I excimed, turning to Mahya with wide eyes.

  She ughed, her face glowing with triumph. “I k would!”

  We high-fived, excited, as we checked the stack of fresh s. It was like we had just discovered a new world of potential with the house. I took out all the gold grains I had and poured them on the deck. Mahya did the same.

  Before I could tell the house what to do, Al approached us and asked, “May I inquire as to the reason behind your act of spreading gold?”

  “Watch,” I told him, then said, “House, absorb the gold and vert it into s like the example.”

  Again, the gold disappeared, and s appeared in its pce.

  Al looked at it with wide eyes, shook his head, and said, “Your house is quite extraordinary.”

  Mahya and I collected the s and divided them equally. Al, with a thoughtful expression, turo me. “Could you please request your house to struct a greenhouse for me? I am seeking a ge to my baly, specifically to expand and enclose it with gss.”

  “Yeah, sure, no problem.”

  I said to the house, “On the sed floor, in the bedroom on the right, double the size of the baly and enclose it with gss as a greenhouse.”

  The house started moving things, and then I felt a hunger from it. It made little sense; we fed it a lot of wood. I focused on the feeling and realized the house wanted sand ss—it wasn’t my imagination; I uood what the core his was the first time I could decipher the need. In previous times, it was just a general feeling of hunger.

  I turo Mahya. “Do you still have the sand from the rat isnd?”

  “Yes, do you ?”

  “The house needs it for the gss. By the way, I felt what the house needed, not just a feeling of hunger, but I deciphered it. Is this normal?”

  She tapped her finger on her . “I think so. You’re the Dungeon Master. But that’s just my opinion, not based on anything crete. Lis didn’t say anything about it. He probably didn’t know.”

  “We o find a way to tell him everything we discovered. I don’t think the book idea will hold if we keep adding data.” I said.

  “We’ll think of something,” Mahya said.

  After Mahya poured the sand on the ded the house finished building the greenhouse, I asked Al, “Do you need anything else for the greenhouse?”

  “I possess the soil that I gathered in the dungeon, so I am well-prepared in that regard. I was w if your house create pnters for me?”

  “House, in the new greenhouse, build rows of pnters along the entire length.”

  We went upstairs with Al, and he poured soil out of his Ste into the pnters. I asked him, “I remember my wife buying bone meal as a pilizer. Is that something alchemists use, too?”

  “Yes, of course. Once we locate mas, I will gather their bones and pulverize them for fertilizer. Mulch is also a favorable option, although I produce it myself.”

  I took some bones I had collected in Tuone and showed them to Al. I had no use for them. “Will these help you?”

  “These are amazing! Where did you get them?” he asked, his eyes widening.

  “Remember the baby dungeon?”

  “Yes,” he nodded.

  “From the same pce, but from the cave of a giant snake.”

  I gave him all my bones, and Al was over the moon. After Mahya exged a look with me, she also gave him her bones. If Al had smiled any wider, his head would have split.

  I showed him the quills I had from Tuone and asked, “ you use these?”

  He ied them, even prig his finger with one, and said, “Maybe, but you should keep them. You use a crossbow sometimes, and these are excellent as bolts.”

  Mahya chimed in, “Give those to me. I’ll do something with them.”

  I handed her all the quills, feeling relieved. My ste was overflowing with junk, so getting rid of stuff I had no idea what to do with was great.

  I asked Al, “How will the pnts grow while the house is in my Ste?”

  “They will not,” he replied simply.

  I frowned. “Isn’t that a problem?”

  He shook his head. “No, as the pnts will tio grow from the moment the house is outside. Given that I do not possess a greenhouse at present, a greenhouse that produces pnts itently is preferable to none.”

  It made sense.

  After lunch, I asked Al, “How long do you o finish harvesting all the mushrooms?” I watched as he examined a giant mushroom, his brow furrowed in tration.

  “Three to four days,” he replied, not looking up.

  “If I help you harvest them, how long will it take? I’m ready to move from this valley.”

  He finally looked up, a thoughtful expression crossing his face. “At most, it will take one or two days. Especially if you lend a hand with the signifit ones,” he said, nodding towards the giant mushroom he house.

  I helped Al harvest mushrooms while Mahya took out her boat and was doing something on it. On our sed day of harvest, he asked me, “I am curious as to why you did not sider asking the house to gee pocket dimensions instead of expanding in size.”

  “Pocket dimensions? You think it ?”

  “It is logical to assume it is possible. Have you ied the area where the dungeon reviously situated?”

  “No. Why?”

  “I exami. This was my first enter with a demolished dungeon, and I was intrigued. It is an immense boulder. I was able to navigate the entire perimeter of it without i. The dungeon was seven ht times the size of this valley if we bihe measurements of all the floors. A boulder is incapable of aodating su area, regardless of its dimensions. Therefore, I arrived at the clusion that cores create a pocket dimension or some form of spatial expansion. It is reasoo assume that it perform the same feat outside a dungeon, particurly when a dungeon master is in charge.”

  I rubbed my in thought. “You might be right. I never sidered that. The entrao the other dungeon we destroyed was on a rock face, so it was less obvious.” I squeezed his shoulder, adding, “Thanks, Al. I’ll check it out.”

  Al was right. It took us two days to harvest all the mushrooms, especially since he wao uproot a the small ones in the new greenhouse. But finally, we were done.

  In the m, I shrunk the house into the core. Mahya stored her boat and took out the balloon. Al and I held its mouth open, and I expected her to fill it up with air using her spell, but she took out a traption made of two wood sticks shaped like a V, with the first crystals I engraved with the mana absorption magic circle at the V opening. She fiddled with some runes oick, and wind poured from the stito the balloon.

  “This is awesome,” I excimed.

  “Wait till you see all its capabilities,” she said, looking very smug.

  After the balloon was full of air, she fiddled again with the runes, and the top crystal started glowing.

  “What is ?” Al asked, his brow furrowed in fusion.

  “The bottom crystal is wind, the top is heat. The wind passes through the heat as the air in the balloon. We don’t need gas anymore.”

  Al was exg over her idea while I facepalmed and shook my head.

  “What?” Mahya asked me.

  “Now I have a huge supply of gas and no use for it.”

  “You’re wrong. We have the portable fes that work on gas, and you still o cook on the boat with gas.”

  That made me feel better. “Did we pick a dire?” I asked.

  “Not yet, let’s do it now.”

  We opehe map, zoomed in, and looked at what was outside the valley. The mountain was vast, with several circles of mountains surrounding the valley—the valley, with the mountains, covered over sixty pert of the isnd’s surface. Between the coast and the mountains, cities or towns dotted the isnd. They were close to each other, with not much spa between. After rotating the map twice to see the entire area oher side of the mountains, I didn’t spot any pletely deserted areas we could fly toward without our balloon being seen.

  “I have no ideas. No matter where we fly, we will be seen,” I said, frustrated.

  “Did you fet the camoufge of the balloon?” Mahya asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “Right, you’re right. So where do you want to nd?”

  “Look in the northeast. There’s a yellow area there. I think it’s sand. If I’m reading the scale correctly, the distaweewo towns is about five to seven kilometers. If we nd in the middle, I don’t think they’ll see us.”

  “Looks good. Al?” I asked, turning to him.

  “I cur,” he said with a nod.

  When the balloon started to pull and try to take off, Rue jumped ihusiastically, and we all got into the basket after him. Mahya attached the rod with the crystals int fixed to the basket. I examihe ring; its structure was brilliant. It allowed her to point the rod into the balloon’s opening or twist it to point outwards to create a wind trail and push us in a specific dire.

  “Smart,” I said, impressed.

  “Of course, I’m a genius,” she replied with a grin.

  Al and I ughed, but I had to admit she was indeed a genius. “Need a push from the wind, or is the V traption enough?” I asked her.

  “A push is always nice, especially with the size of the mountain . It’s huge!” she replied, adjusting the gadget again.

  I ected to the wind aed the sequenotions like the first time we flew with the hot-air balloo’s py, dire, ck of i in other dires, let’s py, and our balloon flew much faster toward the northeast.

  “Do you need me to el Restore into the balloon?” I asked Mahya.

  “No need. Remember the experiments we did in ada? Only a dragon destroy our balloon at this point.”

  “What about the basket?”

  “Hmm, I didn’t think of that,” she said, furrowing her brows. “Flow Restore into it now and then just to be on the safe side. ime we stop for a few days, I’ll see what be doh the basket.”

  “If ell me, and I’ll think of a magic circle tthen it.”

  She gave me a thumbs-up, and we tio fly. Crossing the mountain took us over four hours, and we flew fast! The was simply enormous.

  I ected to the wind and asked her to slightly lower the speed usiions. I sehe feeling that the game was ending and we o slow down. In this respect, the wind here was more cooperative than the wind oh. There, I had to vince her; here, one sending of a sequenotions was enough, and there was o vince her. She may have been annoying in that she refused to move me when I was in the air, but in carrying out requests uo my personal aviation, she was much easier to work with than the wind oh. I wondered if the mana levels here or the wind’s personality were responsible. I wasn’t sure the wind had a personality, but given that there was a differen attitude aions, maybe the idea of a personality wasn’t that far-fetched.

  Mahya held binocurs in one hand and trolled her gadget with the other, expertly guiding us to the sands area. Retively high dunes covered the entire area from the waterlio about two or three kilometers innd. Mahya adjusted the gadget again, and the balloon desded.

  “What’s it doing now?” I asked.

  “I reversed the airflow a hundred ay degrees. It’s sug the air out of the balloon to nd us,” she said, winking at me. “Yeah, I know. I’m a genius.”

  The balloon nded on the sand as lightly as a feather. We all got out, and Mahya stored the balloon.

  “How do you want to travel, by nd or sea?” Al asked.

  I looked at the sea and then at the nd, not having a strong preference. “I don’t care,” I said.

  “Overnd. We o do a real motorcycle and ATV test. Don’t you think so, boys?” Mahya suggested.

  “Sounds like fun,” I agreed, and Al nodded.

  Rue started growling in a specific dire. We all looked but saw nothing. I deployed my mana sense and still felt nothing.

  “Where is it, Rue?” I asked.

  “Inside sand. Rue feel something bad moving inside sand,” he responded.

  We all immediately drew our ons—I took out my two swords—and prepared for whatever might e.

  The sah our feet trembled, and then all hell broke loose. Giant crabs the size of boars with pincers like industrial shears started popping out of the duhere must’ve been fifty of them, all snapping and scuttling toward us.

  Mahya was already swinging her sword at one crab, slig off a pincer swiftly. She then switched to her rifle, aiming at another crab’s exposed underbelly. Al was beside her, his sword fshing as he hacked at the ining crabs.

  Rue was growling like a beast possessed, his teeth sinking into a crab’s leg and ripping it off with a powerful shake of his head. I spun around, slig through the air with my katanas, cutting through the thick shells of the crabs as they lu me. Their pincers cshed against my bdes, but I kept moving, dodging, and striking with practiced precision.

  Mahya’s rifle cracked loudly, each shot bsting a crab bato the sand. She didn’t miss a beat, switg between her sword and rifle like it was sed nature. “Keep ‘em off me!” she yelled, reloading quickly.

  “I got you!” I replied, cutting down a crab that tried to sneak up on her. Al was a whirlwind of steel, his sword cleaving through the crabs with brute strength. He didn’t seem to tire, just kept swinging and sshing with relentless energy.

  Rue was having the time of his life, barking and tearing into the crabs like they were oversized chew toys. His ferocity was a sight to behold, and he kept a clear space around us with his attacks.

  One crab came at me with both pincers wide open. I ducked us swing and drove both Katanas into its underside, twisting them food measure before yanking them out. The crab colpsed in a heap, and I spun to face the one. I saw Mahya jump high in the air.

  “Mahya, how ma?” I called out, slig through another crab’s leg.

  “Too many! Just keep fighting!” she shouted back, firing off another round.

  We fought like that for what felt like hours, but robably just minutes. Slowly, the tide of crabs thinned. Sand and sweat covered all of us, but we didn’t stop until the st crab fell.

  Finally, the beach was quiet again. The only sounds were our heavy breathing and the gentle pping of the waves. I wiped my brow and looked around at the age. Crab parts scattered everywhere, staining the sand with their bluish blood.

  “Everyone okay?” I asked, st my Katanas.

  “Yeah,” Mahya said, slinging her rifle over her shoulder. “Nice work, everyone.”

  Al nodded, catg his breath. “That was intense.”

  Rue trotted over, looking pleased with himself, his tail wagging furiously.

  “Good boy, Rue,” I said, patting him. “Let’s get out of here before more show up.”

  We walked around for a few mio store all the crabs and headed away from the dunes.

  “Are all the creatures so big in medium mana worlds?” I asked both of them.

  They both shook their heads, and Al answered, “There are certain animals that are retively rge in parison to their terparts oh. The small size of some animals that inhabit Earth astonished me. However, not all the creatures. It is a matter of makeup or breed.”

  I rexed a out a relieved breath. For a mihere, I thought we would have to fight giant creatures stantly. Mahya patted me on the bad gave me a reassuring smile.

  After twenty minutes of walking, we finally reached the road. It was a pacted dirt road, much like those in Shimoor. I frowned, feeling a pang of disappoi. “I was expeg something a bit more impressive for a medium mana world,” I muttered.

  She waved a hand dismissively. “It’s just a road—don’t expey grand surprises.”

  We checked the map again and decided to head north. Though, on a round isnd, calling it north was a bit of a stretch.

  I turo her, a touch of in my voice. “Isn’t it risky for us to drive these unfamiliar vehicles around here?”

  She shook her head fidently. “Not at all. With the four of us together, we’re strong enough to handle any group that might e our way, even a rge one. Plus, with your Personal Information showing that you’re a healer, most people will be weling. The ce of entering hostility is very low.”

  “That’s good to hear.”

  Mahya grinned and took out the motorcycles. She guided Al through prig his fio unlock his bike, and said, “Let’s get moving then.”

  We mouhe vehicles and raced down the road, heading toward the own.