Louie felt a warm glow spread through his body as Sher healed him.

"What was that?" Sher asked while she looked at the tree, Sally also leaned in to hear what he said.

"It's something I got from Gaea."

"Gaea?"

"Yes, I went to the shrine and asked her for a blessing to help in the fight, she gave me that clay ball, I guess there was a seed inside."

"Aah, it's called a seed bomb," She leaned in and placed her hand against the tree, and shrugged.

"I can't sense anything, not even what kind of tree it is, but if this was from Gaea then we must guard the tree and this place."

"I agree," Sally said while she looked tiredly at Sher.

"I just got a BB giving me a mandatory quest from my Goddess, stating that I must ensure that this dell is guarded and this tree stays safe. So I guess I will be staying here."

Louie sighed. "I must show you guys something, I found it in the back of the Dell when I entered through a crack in the cliff."

At that moment Joe arrived with his troops and Sher healed those that she could, unfortunately, the mood was somber as they had also lost one fighter while taking down the matriarch of the meerkats.

Louie took Joe, Sher, Sally the Captain, and a couple of troops to the cave that he had found; they were impressed with the cliff paintings in the walls.

Sally marveled at the feeling of the mana in the ancient dwelling.

"I think this was some kind of shrine."

"Shrine? You mean to a god?"-She nodded to Paul- "I saw stuff like this before, nothing this old or paintings this intricate. I'm a midwife, or I was a midwife, and only those that believe in the old ways still use midwives or those that are too poor to afford to go to hospitals."

"What's that got to do with this being a shrine?" Sher gave him an angry look and Louie retreated a step and lifted his hands in surrender. "Sorry, please continue."

"About two years ago I got a call from a young girl. Her friend was about to give birth and her parents didn't want her to go to a hospital. Her parents were from an old religion and didn't believe in all the new things. I was skeptical because I knew that some of them would shoot at you if you intruded where they did not want you. But she told me that they were from the San people and they believe in guest rights, and they would not show me away if I accidentally reached their place late in the afternoon. I met up with the girl and we set off for her friend. Damn it was a terrible four hours of the worst roads I have ever seen, we reached their kraal deep in the Matroosberg mountains, I met some of their kind before so I came prepared. I had my animal skins and beads and powders, but I told them that I'm not a Sangoma but I had some training as one, and I did. I also told them that I had years of bringing children into this world. I convinced them to let me help." She leaned in to look closer at the alcove.

"After the child was born they had a celebrating meal and there was some drinking and one thing led to another. We ended up talking about religion and the parents' great grandmother showed me their shrine to Kaggen, the trickster-deity. They believed that he could take the form of a mantis, so their shrine was full of mantis wall art. This place looks like that except, these drawings are of nearly every animal that I can imagine, not just of mantises. That's why I think this is some shrine."

Sher confirmed that the mana density was thick in the dwelling and that there might spawn a nest there if an animal made the dwelling its home.

"I will send a team out every couple of days to come to check on the tree and to make sure nothing settles here."

"Thank you, Paul. I appreciate that." Sher smiled at the Captain.

Louie looked over the small valley.

"I can raise a small stone tower here that would allow the guards to watch over the whole Dell, it narrows to the front so I can close off the entrance with a wall and gate. That should keep most of the animals out. I can also raise a couple of doors in front of the shrine."

Joe handed him the Capstone that he took from destroying the meerkat colony.

“You sure Bro? You guys can use it somewhere else.”

“Use it, we still have the one that we took from the ant nest a couple of days ago.”

Louie nodded and started on the tower.

He raised a miniature version of his tower, sculpting most of the living quarters inside the cliff with the entrance and windows looking out, placing it next to the entrance of the shrine, the first floor had four bedrooms with double bunks with an indoor bathroom each, that he hopes will be transformed with the addition of the capstone. The communal sitting room and an office were on the second floor, he made a door connecting the twenty-meter tower that rose like a bartisan out of the cliff with a single room with a 360-degree view over the Dell on top. After inserting the capstone he named Paul commander with Sally as sub-commander.

He found the bathrooms connected to a magical non-existing sewer system and a basement, he also found the gate arch in the basement and activated it, he thought of using it but decided against that. He remembered Jason's warning that his tower might not function like an ordinary wizard's tower.

The last thing he needed is to be transported far away and leaving his companions here not knowing what happened, as he left the basement the door disappeared behind him and the doorframe faded into the wall changing into a mural of a door.

It took him just over an hour to secure the dell and they left Sally together with a team and enough food and an OCD, guarding the valley to be relieved in three days.

They started for home and Louie told them about the pack, of what he named, Rockhounds that they saw as well as the iron vein they found and that it might be rich enough to warrant sending some people to start an iron mine.

It was getting late when they reached the back of the vineyards and they had about another two hours before they reached town.

The last time he had traveled the N1 he had concentrated more on the right-hand side nearest the river, but with the shortcut, they were moving through the thin strip of forest on the left-hand side of the road, and something was off.

They had taken a small shortcut when they saw a bunch of spiders fighting what appeared to be a giant lizard and now Louie had a feeling of danger.

Louie stopped and indicated that everybody should hold. He had a gut feeling that something wasn't right and he always trusted his gut.

He squatted behind a fallen tree to study the trees just inside the edge of the forest next to the road.

Some strange pine trees with a distinct purple tint were visible and the forest floor was covered in purple pine needles, but other than that there was nothing to indicate that there was danger.

The light was getting bad but everything looked peaceful, except that Louie's gut was churning and he knew it wasn't from anything he had for breakfast.

He activated and . Suddenly his eye was drawn to a lump half-buried under the pine needles.

Louie looked around and spotted a couple of spots around the pine tree with purple needles.

He used on the trees.

Prismatic Pine

These pines were created by the system to help facilitate cleaning the environment of dangerous toxins. The pine absorbs toxins from the air and ground and transmutes them into elemental mana which it stores in its resin. The leaves and various parts of the tree are very useful to alchemists and thus make it a sought-after species. The tint of the tree is an indication of its affinity.

Louie the long fallen needles as he slowly moved towards the spot half-buried in the needles.

Prismatic Pineneedle

These pine needles have a distinct purple hue that makes them easily identifiable. The needles are three times as long as ordinary pine needles. Tie five together and use them as incense, the smoke will clear the area of 15cubic meters of any harmful smells and burns for up to 2hours. Some are even known for clearing poisonous fog.

'Nice.'

He slowly edged up to the object that made his gut scream like a caught piglet. And to his amazement saw that it was a green pine cone but it had a slight purple tint to the edges of its seedscales.

He studied the pinecone and noticed that the pine cone was secreting a thick brownish sap and that was what was sending his gut in total overdrive. The cone was still closed but had a crack halfway down the side where the sap was leaking from, and it was about as big as a softball.

Shardcone

These purple Shardcone are filled with a resin that becomes unstable after the cone is separated from the tree and acts as a propellant spreading the seeds over a wide area. Due to an unforeseen mutation, the resin and the seedscales are imbued with various types of mana that the tree absorbs. This makes the shardcone a dangerous but highly sought-after item for master alchemists.

Louie Right-clicked on the word purple in the description.

There are several variants of these Shardcones

Red = Fire, Blue = Cold, Yellow = Lightning, Invisible = Thunder, Green = Acid, Purple=Force, Gray = Physical, White = Radiant and Black = Necrotic.

'Fuck.' Louie removed his trap chest from his inventory and slowly reached out, but before he stored it in his chest he remembered that pine seeds are considered food and that time is suspended in his pantry bracelet while it is not in his chest and he thought that having what can be described as a container of nitroglycerin in his trap chest wasn't a good idea.

He lightly touched the Shardcone and willed it into his bracelet, and it disappeared.

'Shit better show Joe and the others,'

Louie stood up and walked slowly back, making sure where he placed his feet. He called all the leaders together.

Joe looked worried. "What's up Louie. I saw you took your trap chest out, did you find a trap?"

Louie pointed at the pines. and then shared the BB with them.

After reading the BB Joe had the troops pass wide around the purple patch.

He saw a couple of small saplings growing through the pine needles and asked Sher if she would take a couple of the smaller saplings that were growing around the trees and transport them in her Druid greenhouse till they reached his tower where he would like to transplant them. He could see many uses for them and the shardcones.

Joe and Paul took the rest of the troops back to Starter Town while he and Sher decided to harvest everything they could from the trees and surroundings.

Bob and Ansi took to guarding as Louie slowly made his way through the patch of purple needles and inventoried all the cones in his pantry; luckily it only took up two sq, one with the cracked cone and 36 of uncracked cones.

Louie asked Ansi if she would move through the pines and remove all the cones that felt loose and might be ready to fall from the tree, these he placed in a separate sq because he had an idea that he wanted to try with them

As he and Sher left the prismatic pines he voiced his concerns about leaving the next day.

"I wanted to leave tomorrow but I also wanted to spend today preparing for the trip and making sure that the town is secure. I haven't even started trying to use those mage parts like I told Joe I would."

Sher shook her head. "Louie, you are in charge of your destiny. I know that the quest is driving you to leave, but it's your decision when. Take tomorrow off and leave the day after. It's not like there is a timetable running our lives anymore."

He agreed with her and decided to stay one more day, on one side it felt like he is making excuses for not wanting to leave and on the other side he just knew that it would be wrong to leave without making sure that the Town and his adopted family was safe as he could make them, even though he now had the means to come back when he wanted, it just felt bad leaving without at least giving Joe some steampunk weapons as they discussed during their joint Dungeon dive.

The road back to Town was starting to look really bad. The earthquakes on the day of the pulse had broken most of the road surfaces and nature has started to take over, just the fact that Gaea has tried to keep some of the infrastructures intact has prevented the road from being consumed by the forests on both sides

He decided to do something about the road, and grind his some more.

"Are you in a hurry Sher?"

"No, not really, why did you have something in mind?"

He pointed to the road. "I want to fix the road but I want to limit my AOE to just the area in front of us and that will take a bit of concentration, and something might try to sneak up on me."

She agreed to be on guard as they walked back to Town.

First, he concentrated on the area covered by his spell and visualized the 7m x 13 meters area in front of him, he remembered Gaea saying that the System works with intent, so he cast the spell with the intent of liquefying the road and then hardening it again.

After struggling for about half an hour he got it to work but he had never tried to restrict his AOE to just a specific direction, he had always just cast the spell out since he was the center and then chose what he wanted to affect in the area around him. This is the first time he is trying to choose where he wants the area to be.

'What? Why did this skill level up? I thought it would just level if I tried to learn a spell that was not compatible with my affinity. I must have gotten it from altering the spell. And I unlocked another spell. I must see if I can create more spells. I get one 1point in intelligence every time I create or learn a spell on my own instead of from a spell cube.'

liquefaction

This spell grants you the ability to soften and level matter over an area of 6x6 meters. The spell can be maintained and the area can be moved by infusing more mana into the cast

Cast time: 5 Second

MP Cost: 100Mp

Distance: 10 Meters

Duration: 20MP/min.

It was slow going, an hour and two stops later to meditate they had barely covered 2 kilometers of the road.

"I might have been a bit hasty to try and do this now, this is going to take about two hours to get to Town with me using potions."

"You got mana potions?"

"Yea I got a couple from the vendor and I can get more from it when I get back to town."

"What do you meem you can get more from the vendor, you just been through the Dungeon for your second time."

Louie searches her face to see if she was pulling his leg or something, he saw she was serious.

"Joe didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

He expected her to freak out when he explained to her that he had claimed the Dungeon that first night that he laid the cornerstone of the town and this gave him the ability to enter the Dungeon, suggest changes and use the vendor, when he wants.

He was surprised when she smiled and told him as punishment for not telling her sooner he will receive a shopping list from her that he will get from the vendor tomorrow.

He just smiled and told her he would come and get her in the morning and see if the Dungeon would allow her to come with him.

The rest of the way back to Town flew past as Louie told her about the discussion he had with the core and the proposed changes that might happen over the next couple of day or weeks, he even showed her the ring and touched it to all the burnt-out or dismantled wrecks that were dotted alongside the road, the wrecks all disappeared into the ring and he got a notification every time till he changed it in his settings.

Congratulations

Your reputation with the Huguenot Dungeon has risen with 5 RP (Reputation points)

Louie was tired to the bone when they reached the Gates to Town three hours later, it took a lot longer than he expected but the road was practically brand new again a third of the way to Worcester.

They found Joe waiting at the gate. "Hey, brother, what are you lurking here in the dark for? I would have thought you were having a cold Castle by now."

Joe shook his head as he fell in beside them. You know the last time I had a beer was at your braai. Some guys are talking about starting up a brewery but at the moment it's just talk, I was starting to get worried when you guys didn't show."

Sher chuckled. "You could have contacted us with your OCD."

Joe stumbled. "Shit, it's going to take some time to get used to all this magic stuff."

Louie held out his fist for a fistbump. "You and me both brother, you and me both. . . Joe, I have decided that I will only leave the day after tomorrow."

Louie told him that he thought of him and Sher as family, and that he wanted them to be safe while he was gone.

He sent Joe a transfer request, which Joe accepted. "Don't open it where people can see."

"What's this?"

"Open it tonight when you are alone in your room. I got it from the BOSS BOT when we cleared the Dungeon the first time. I'm afraid that when this gets out it might change some stuff, but it's more important that you two stay safe. Here take this token for the tower also. There are cold beers, just ask James." Louie smiled at Joe's curiosity.

Louie asked Sher where she was staying and when she told him about her quarters in the barracks to be near the troops. He also gave her a token and told her to use a room in the tower, since there are a lot of apartments empty and they will be leaving in two days.

Sher and Joe wished him good night as he turned off towards the tower.

At the door, he was greeted by James who told him that dinner would be served in half an hour in the Braai area, which gave him just enough time to have a shower and a change of clothes.

Louie was glad that everyone was together and told them that they won't be leaving the next morning but the day after. He had meant them all to have the day off to arrange their business but the discovery of the whereabouts of the Infernal camp and the fight has thrown his plans in disarray so they can take tomorrow to finish up and then they can leave the day after, which is Tuesday.

Everybody was relieved because they had no time to go see if the crafters had anything that they wanted to trade or send to the people of Paarl.

After dinner was done and everybody had left for bed, Louie sat at the table and went through his notifications of the battle.

Skinwalker InfernalLord Lvl 25 (Slain)

gained 2650 XP

"So that bloody thing was an Infernal Lord."

Infernal Loot

10G Rounds

1 x infernal hide.

1 x skinsuit jacket.

1 x cube of summoning.

1 x dagger sheath.

5 x vials Infernal blood

'Skinsuite Jacket? No thanks, not going to wear a jacket made from human skin.'

Congratulations

Completion of your mandatory quest, would you like to receive your reward now?

Y/N

He chose Y

Louie used on the green glowing katana and blue skill cube that appeared in front of him on the bed.

Thorn: (epic) (Soulbound)

This katana was created as a reward for services rendered to Gaea, it is infused with the earth essence, every successful strike against an enemy will infuse the opponent with spores that will germinate and consume the body.

Indestructible

1 or 2 handed sword.

Speed: fast

Nature Damage: 50

Damage to Sapient beings: 50 + nature damage + constitution.

Damage to Monsters: 20 + strength

Perception + 80%

Agility + 80%

Durability: --/100

'Damn'

Restoration

Restoration is a sought-after skill. It is mostly known for restoring and repairing inanimate objects. It will repair or restore 20% of the damage done to an object over 10 min, the skill can be stacked on any inanimate object till it's been restored to its pristine condition. Raise the skill levels to reduce the cost and increase the effect.

Cost: 10SP/ use + 15SP/ stack

Louie crushed the cube.

He opened his eyes and as he expected he was someplace else again.

Just like last time he had used a skill cube to learn cartography and the system map he didn't feel anxious or anything, he actually felt very calm.

The person who appeared in front of him looked like a humanoid stick insect. Wearing a long coat.

It bowed at Louie.

"Good day, are you one of the new Humans from the newly integrated system?"

Louie bowed back. "Yes I am, who might I have the pleasure of addressing."

"I'm Gruhllc, I am the foremost skills trainer in the art of restoration.

Louie walked over to a window and saw the strange crystal-like landscape outside just like before. "I was here before, are all the skill trainers in the same building?"

Gruhllc made a strange thrilling sound that Louie interpreted as a laugh.

Gruhllc raised two of its front limbs.

"I must apologize for laughing, you are from a new integrated species so you would not know, we skill trainers, as you name us, are an artificial construct and the cubes are a means of transporting your consciousness to here, this means that your body isn't here, so you won't get tired and need sleep or get hungry and need to eat. But enough, you are here to learn how to restore objects, not the history of the skill system, or how it functions. Let us start."

He led Louie over towards a table full of armour pieces.

"First we will learn all the names of the different pieces, what they were made from and what their purpose is, then we will take every piece apart and see how we could repair it before we will assemble every piece again, till it's as good as new"

Louie shook his head, "but I thought this is a skill where I can just place my hand on an item and the skill will restore the item."

"It is, but how will you restore an item if you do not know what the purpose of that item is, how it works, how it was made, and how it should look?"

Gruhllc shook his head.

"We will start by taking this cuirass apart, notice where all the pieces fit together and how this cuirass is built in four sections: right and left collar sections with shoulder guards, and right and left girdle sections. On each collar section, the breastplate is hinged to the mid-collar plate, which in turn is hinged to the top backplate, and below that the middle and bottom backplates hang on internal leathers. Attached to these plates by three more leathers are the upper shoulder guard, front, rear, and center plates hinged together, and four lesser or outer shoulder guards. The girdle sections are laced together at front and back, and are suspended from the collar sections using straps and buckles . . ."

He/she/it, for Louie, had no means to tell which gender Gruhllc was, went on about the armour piece, how it was made, the metal used, and the function that each piece served.

Time flew by, or no time flew by as time did not exist in this place, and Louie moved on from armour to art pieces and then to random objects. Months passed in the blink of an eye.

Louie felt like he was bent over that table for years before Gruhllc was satisfied with his progress and bid him a good day.

He was suddenly back in the braai area and as usual, he saw that only a couple of seconds had passed.

'Fuck me, now I understand why it's a rare skill.'

Intuition Tier 1

Intuition is an immediate understanding or knowing something without reasoning. An example of intuition is when you purposefully duck behind a barrier in the middle of the night just before an arrow impacts where your head was. The faculty of knowing or understanding something without reasoning or proof. Some people call it danger sense while others call it a gut feeling.

Objects or persons which constitute danger will now be highlighted with a visible aura. This skill will now take twice as long to level.

-50% in experience gain in this skill

'Got to go visit the Sewing circle and get me some clothes before we leave. Hopefully, I can get some casual clothes and grind the skill.'

Louie had a rough schedule for the next day but nothing was set in stone, there was a saying; the best-laid plans of mice and men. So he left it at that.

He was just about to head for bed when he got a message from Joe.

(Louie, What the fuck? Joe)

(Joe, Lol, I will explain more tomorrow night. Louie)