Gina woke up at the same time as the sun, a quick search revealed her gnomes still hadn't returned. She felt tired today, a quick look at her energy showed 45/225. The only thing different was Shale was still gone. Apparently, each gnome used up 10 of her energy regeneration by staying out all night.

Gina decided to finish up the brewery while she waited for Shale's return, if they were still out by nightfall, she would have to consider how to rescue them.

The glass work flowed easily enough, it was just another form of rock. The dwarves had long ago found out how to turn almost any rock into rough silica just by using water and heat. She just had to think about the process as she formed the bottles, beakers and flasks that made the apparatus, the shapes glowing with soft swirling light as they formed.

The light was much dimmer than it was when she didn't have the materials, and it didn't seem to drain much energy now she was using her stockpile of stone to form the glass.

"I wonder if there is a shortcut to all this, like a catalogue of everything I have and can make" She wondered to herself. She knew she didn't have the patience to write one out, but in her past life she had used one to request supplies to complete her commissions so maybe her new magic could shortcut the process like it did with her status and inventory.

One blank book later and her energy even lower, she had her book. The book was titled Master Catalogue, the words written with a flourish of bright yellow ink on a polished wood cover that was hinged with several tiny hinges holding the covers to the wooden spine. A bright copper clasp latched the tome closed.

Gina opened the book and found to her surprise a larger list than she expected, all neatly categorized and indexed. The categories were: Traps, Utility, Structures, Furniture, and Decoration. Each category had sub-categories to further organize them. Next to each listing was three numbers, "Summon Cost, Material needed / Material cost" confirming her assumptions that she could use energy in place of materials.

The brewery was listed under Utilities/Production/Mechanical and the basic wooden bridge under Structures/Floors/Wood, but what thrilled her most was the wide variety of default items like the table, chairs and basic traps. It looked like she could only use materials she had already absorbed.

"This is perfect!" She remarked as she admired the simple sketches next to each listing. "Like I had written it myself but without the agony of having to actually do it..."

Admiration of being able to skip all the record keeping aspects of crafting were put on hold, as Shale returned from their mission.

Shale stood in a half circle on the workbench, just finishing describing the heroic details of their harrowing mission.

"We locked the door behind us and hurried back here!'

"In a sneaky, no scufflin kinda way, of course"

"The two-legged monster has no clue who took its barleys"

Shale finished with grim satisfaction, and together dumped out the backpacks. The collection of random treasures sat in a small pile. A satisfied smile exposed sharp triangle teeth that fit together without gaps.

Gina, while concerned about the dangers associated with stealing, was proud of her hard-working gnomes. She studied them, looking for injuries. No injuries, but each had gained a points in Reflex, Stealth, Stonework, Foraging and Endurance

Shale Status Sheet Status Race Gnome Level 1 Age 2 Days Height 30cm Physical Health 200/200 Strength 5 Agility 5 Toughness 10 Mental Alertness 117/150 Intelligence 5 Deduction 5 Focus 5 Social Resolve 132/150 Influence 5 Slyness 5 Willpower 5 Racial Traits Stone Skin, TGH+ 3 Durable, TGH+ 2 Elementalist + 5 Earth Absorbtion Equipment Skills Dagger 1 Magic Industrial Machinist 3 Chemist 0 Elementalist 5 Fabrication 5 Abilities Ingenuity 5 Stonework 6 Locks 1 Foraging 2 Reflex 5 Stealth 7 Endurance 1 Chemistry 5 Search 1 Appraise 6

Most of the pile disappeared into the inventory, leaving 3 seeds.

"This is barley" Gina said as a light brown seed shaped like a boat appeared closer to Shale. "This one is wheat and has a split down the side. This one is Rye, dark and long" Shale studied the seeds, before they were put into the dungeon inventory.

"Next I want to warn you about taking from houses. The creature you ran into was a Langden (she knew it as a tall skinny dwarf) and they don't like their stuff missing. If the Langden caught you it would have killed you, it's not good to take from others."

"What? over a measly couple of barleys?" Shale was stunned.

"Probably" Gina continued "But they love their metal almost as much as their God, and they put gold before their own lives. In the future stay away for safety"

"Now I want to apologize. I sent you out without rations, food or shelter and sadly I don't even know if or what you even need."

Shale looking a little embarrassed "Oh that's no problem mum"

"We may eat a rock when we feels like it, nothin comes out"

"And we're tough, sun and rain won’t bother us"

Gina was not going to just let her oversight slide "Still, take care of yourself and let me know how to help. First thing is your own space, what do you want me to build for you?"

Shale was surprised mum would take the trouble "Oh don't trouble yourself none!"

"We can just dig out some space here"

"right close to your crystal for when you need us" Dark Shale pointed helpfully at the lamp.

"Sure, if that's what you want" Gina watched as they jumped down and started Digging 3 equally spaced holes in the wall where her old room would have stored the blueprints. She turned her attention to the days loot.

Shale had brought back a good amount of different seeds, she consumed all of them (including the acorn) but only one barley. She also consumed the coins and other bits. The metal made her feel more complete, like she had just earned recognition for her work.

It was at this point something stirred inside Gina. She had a dungeon, sure it was a little small but it was home, on the other hand there was so much more she could do and have. The taste of the gold was warm and pleasant, it filled a small space in her inventory, waiting to be used. She could get used to this, and with enough Gold she could have Shale buy all the barleys she needed.

After a while of dreaming of the wonders her dungeon could have, she set herself back to her task. Gina spent 15 of her remaining 20 energy and summoned enough barley to get her brewery going, adding in the ones she still had. It only took a single point of energy to duplicate some of the yeast naturally found on the grains, she added these to the fermenting stage jars.

She interrupted shale, having them collect some firewood to get the fire going. She had them use one of their knives and a coin to start the fire. Smoke flowed along the ceiling until it found an escape through the doorway, the living area quickly filling with smoke.

Rock was consumed to balance the cost of rounding the long ceiling and adding a sloping chimney in the middle. The smoke exited out into the higher part of the cave, finally finding its way outside around the sheets of water.

She spent the rest of her time watching Shale build little condos in her workroom. Three little houses with two little stories complete with little windows that looked out into the nearly empty room. Gina decided to put some of the materials from her inventory on the shelves opposite their houses to give the room a sense of purpose.

The open doorways of their homes troubled her; the open doorways of her home troubled her. The lack of barriers and the lack of protection made her worry about Shale; the lack of barriers and the lack of protection made her worry about her crystal! How had she not worried about this until now!

She finally had her own home, her own valuables, and precious lives under her care, she needed a way to protect them! Unfortunately, her energy was nearing empty, the problem of defending the gnomes homes would have to wait, but she knew it couldn't wait long.