Chương 39: The Cottage

After some last cautionary advice to stay out of trouble, they started on their journey. Jasper took the lead, and they left the city through the eastern gate. Close to Stormhaven, the roads were still busy with people, carts, travelers on horses, and they even encountered another mana user flying above their heads on a pink cloud, Goku style. The owner of the cloud knew Jasper, and he descended from the sky to have a short chat with him, hovering only a few feet in the air while Jasper walked beside him.

Evan watched him with some jealousy and, after the man had flown back up into the sky, speeding past them, Evan quickened his step until he caught up with Jasper, who'd been very taciturn until now.

"What kind of gem would I have to get for a power like this? The cloud, I mean. Or something like Alex's storm horses." Jasper smiled. He might be on the quieter side, but he definitely wasn't unfriendly.

"Pretty convenient, huh? There's a number of gems that can give you that, but they're all pretty rare. The most common way is getting a gem that gives you a familiar and hoping it's something you can ride on and not something like a leech or a fish."

"A familiar would be pretty cool," Evan said.

"Unfortunately, lots of people think so, which is why familiar skill gems are pricey, even if they're just uncommon or rare gems. The epic and legendary familiar gems cost a fortune." Evan sighed.

"Out of my reach for a while then."

"Maybe not as long as you think," Jasper said.

"Alex told me you and your friend Oliver over there are progressing really quickly."

"We got lucky encountering a couple of monsters above our rank," Evan said. Jasper raised his eyebrows.

"I'm not sure I would consider that lucky. Taking on a monster that outranks you grants a lot of experience, but it can also get you killed." Once they reached the forest, the road became narrower here and less well maintained. Encounters with other travelers became few and far between. They did come across a few monsters, though. The first was a group of especially fat caterpillar monsters. The same kind Evan had encountered in the Rainwilds, near Silvercreek.

"They're close to entering their cocoon stage," Jasper said.

"Be careful. They spray a very potent acid when you poke them too hard."

"I learned that the hard way," Evan said, taking out his sword.

"I figured out a technique to deal with them. The rest of you better stay back." He demonstrated the stab-and-teleport strategy he'd developed, and although these extra-large caterpillars produced an extra-large cloud of acid, he managed to kill all seven of the monsters crawling across the road without a drop of acid ruining his armor or burning skin. They only netted him a small amount of experience points, but every point counted, and getting more comfortable with his teleport skill was worth it on its own.

According to Alex, it was currently his biggest asset, and the fight with Crispin had proven that, so Evan was determined to learn how to use it as effectively as possible. The next monster they encountered during their trek through the forest was hidden so well Evan would never have spotted it on his own. It was Jasper and his excellent perception attribute that saved his skin. The tracker stopped abruptly and stretched out his arm in front of Evan's chest, gesturing him to stop.

"What is it?" Luca asked a few steps further behind.

"Are we taking a break?" Jasper pointed upwards, where the trees' canopies formed a dense roof of branches and leaves.

"Treeweaver." Evan craned his neck and squinted his eyes, and then he finally saw it. Two monsters, spider-like but with way too many legs—as if spiders didn't already have more than enough—and about the size of goats, sitting in the tree above them. Jasper pointed at something in front of them.

"They wove a trap between those two trees over there." Evan stared intently, but he couldn't see what Jasper meant. Not until a cloud moved past the sun and a few rays of sunlight shone down between the leaves, making a network of thin, silvery web threads glitter. His system rewarded his discovery with a chime and a notification. [Perception +1] That was good news. Perception was his weakest attribute. Maybe Evan could learn a lot from Jasper, even if he wasn't a fighter.

"I know Treeweavers. We have plenty of them in Silvercreek. They are very fast, and they'll try to drive us into their web trap," Oliver said, drawing his sword, "Let's take them on together. I'll try to slow them down with my Ironroot and you'll blast your Comet Shot at them until they stop moving."

"I can help," Luca said.

"I'll use Current Pull to keep them away from us."

"Okay, then you take one and I'll take the other," Oliver said. With that plan in mind, they got to work. A few steps toward the web were enough to alert the two Treeweavers, and they shot down the tree trunk surprisingly fast, propelled forward by their many legs. It was their first fight as a three-man team, and they had some trouble coordinating, but overall their plan worked pretty well.

Evan managed to finish off the monster Luca was keeping busy with his water stream skill quickly, but Oliver's Treeweaver slipped through the roots pinning it down just as Evan was throwing a [Comet Shot] toward it, so the projectile missed. Luca replenished Oliver's mana with his [Refreshing Mist] skill, and boosted like that, Oliver could use [Gravel Strike], while Evan conjured up another [Comet Shot] in his outstretched palm. This book is hosted on another platform.

Read the official version and support the author's work. It struck the Treeweaver in the head, nearly ripping off its entire front half. [You have killed 2 Treeweavers] [You have earned 24 experience points] [You have looted 36 mana stones] Luca pumped his fist in the air.

"Woohoo! My first monster fight!" Oliver raised an eyebrow while he sheathed his sword.

"Your first? Really?"

"Yeah. My parents never allowed me to go out to try out my abilities in the real world. They kept me at home and made me study for the academy exams." Luca rolled his shoulders and shook out his hands with a carefree laugh.

"This feels invigorating!" Jasper walked up to them.

"I'm glad you're having fun, but I think we should take down those webs and then set up camp for the night. It's getting dark." Evan gave Luca a little nudge with his elbow.

"Luca, give it a try. I think you can do it with your Current Pull skill." Luca took a deep breath and channeled a stream of water between his hands before releasing it toward the silvery web spun across the road. It worked. The web threads were ripped into the water stream, destroying the intricate trap the Treeweavers had set up, and the road was clear again. Luca looked very satisfied with himself.

"I guess we better start collecting firewood for the campfire," Oliver said, "before it gets too dark to see in the forest."

"No need," Jasper said with a half-smile.

"I might not have a herd of storm horses to speed up the journey, but I do have something that'll make us more comfortable while we travel." He pulled something out of his inventory, and at first, Evan didn't recognize what it was. Some kind of rolled-up cloth? Only when Jasper started unfolding it on the ground did Evan realize he was setting up a tent. It took Jasper only a few minutes to put it up.

He had clearly done it many times before, but when he was finished and stepped back with a satisfied expression, Evan was confused.

"It's…"

"Tiny," Oliver finished.

"I don't think we'll all fit inside," Evan said.

"This barely fits one grown man, let alone four." Jasper chuckled.

"Don't be so sure about that. Evan, why don't you go inside and take a look?"

"Uh… okay." Evan stepped forward, accompanied by puzzled looks from Oliver and Luca, ducked, and went through the flap. Instead of a tent, he found himself inside a… cozy cottage. A completely furnished cottage. Kitchen, heavy wooden table, a bunch of plush armchairs in front of a crackling fireplace. There were even windows showing rolling green fields outside and several doors leading to more rooms. Evan made a tentative step inside and looked around to take it all in.

The simple cloth flap he'd come through was now a bright blue wooden door. He pushed it open, stepped through, and found himself back in the forest, in front of the tiny tent.

"Woah!" Jasper smirked.

"Not bad, huh?" Evan scratched the back of his head and laughed.

"This might be the best thing I've ever seen in my entire life." Luca and Oliver were equally impressed by the full-sized house Jasper casually carried around in his inventory. Luca plopped down in one of the armchairs in front of the fireplace and sighed happily.

"I've heard of things like this, but it must have cost a fortune." Jasper went to the kitchen and started taking ingredients from a storage cupboard.

"I suppose it would be very expensive, but I didn't pay for it. I got it as a reward after solving a problem for a very rich and influential noble lady." Luca raised his eyebrows.

"Sounds like your line of work is very lucrative."

"It can be. There aren't a lot of trackers. Most people go into fighting or crafting." Oliver walked around the room, inspecting every nook and cranny.

"What happens to things you store inside here when you put the tent back into your inventory?"

"They stay inside the cottage," Jasper said, cracking an egg into a wooden bowl.

"It's a bit like an inventory within an inventory. I can't access them from the ledger inventory, though. I'll have to take out the tent and get them out physically."

"Still amazing. That gives you so much storage space." Oliver walked over to the window and looked outside. It was dark, just as it had been when they had entered the tent, but the environment outside was completely different.

"Is the outside real? Are we in a real place? Is this cottage like a portal?" Oliver asked.

"Oh, that would be convenient, wouldn't it, but no. The scenery outside is fake. The windows won't open. The only way out of the cottage is through that blue door and that's connected to the tent entrance." Jasper dumped the eggs onto a frying pan.

"How do you boys feel about scrambled eggs for dinner?"

"Add some bacon and I'm in," Luca said, leaning forward in the armchair to hold up his hand against the crackling fire. Evan used the time Jasper was cooking their dinner to take a look at the other rooms and found three fully furniture bedrooms and a small bathroom. A tent… or house like this would be an incredible blessing for someone constantly on the road, like a team of monster hunter for example. Evan added it to the list of things he wanted to buy once he reached Alex-levels of success.

He knew he had still a long way to go until he got even close to her rank, but somehow it still felt within reach. In his old life, he'd often felt stuck, unable to move up, unable to break out. In this world, everything seemed possible. Jasper called from the kitchen.

"Dinner is ready." They gathered around the table and dug in.

"This is really good," Luca said after shoveling the first dozen forkfuls into his mouth.

"I might have to go for seconds."

"Do that. You'll need your strength. We'll encounter more monsters as we get further away from Stormhaven. The roads aren't as well protected in the more rural regions. Lots of gaps in the ward stones."

"All the better," Luca said.

"I need all the experience I can get. I'm so close to rank 2 I can almost taste it."

"Don't worry. You'll get plenty of opportunities to cut your teeth." They finished their meal, exchanging stories about their adventures, and all agreed Jasper had the best stories to tell. His tracker skill set had opened up opportunities and sent him on quests that ordinary mana users never experienced. Evan was starting to get a little jealous of Jasper's unusual abilities. At least until he took his sword Dawnfire out to polish the blade.

Looking at the shiny metal sparkling in the firelight made his fingers itch. He'd taken a liking to killing monsters. The adrenaline rush it brought was a very new experience for Evan, but an addictive one. As interesting as Jasper's life sounded, Evan didn't think he would want to give up the action and thrill his battlemage path offered. The next couple of days passed rather uniformly. They were on the road during the daylight hours, fighting monsters whenever they encountered them.

Jasper's prediction had been right. The further away they got from Stormhaven and its wide, well-maintained, and well-protected roads, the more common monster encounters became. Thankfully, most of them were easy prey. Rank 1 monsters on the weaker end, like more acidic caterpillars, a few Scrapmaws, and a lot of Spinebacks, the hedgehog monsters Evan had encountered on his first day in this world.

On day three of their journey, they were attacked by a large swarm of Spitbeaks, but thanks to Luca and his [Current Pull] skill, they managed to defeat most of them easily. The last few survivors fled, but they had already earned a nice chunk of experience points and looted a wind affinity shard from one of the larger birds.

"I think you need a shield gem next," Evan said to Oliver after the fight.

"A tank needs a shield. Right now all you can do is soak up damage. That's not good for you."

"You don't say," Oliver said grumpily while Luca helped bandage the many wounds the Spitbeaks had caused with their sharp claws and beaks. Luca was scrunching his nose and looked like he was holding his breath as he unrolled the gauze around Oliver's scratched-up arm. Probably because Oliver's frontline position had also meant he'd caught a lot of the infamous foul-smelling spit the Spitbeaks used to defend themselves. Thankfully, Jasper's dimensional cottage included bathroom facilities.

After a thorough scrubbing under the shower, Oliver was ready to continue their journey. They encountered more monsters along the way, including a larger group of Treeweavers that were quite a challenge to defeat, but the more they fought together, the smoother their teamwork became. By the end of day seven of their journey, they had already developed a couple of strategies that combined their different skill sets into effective fighting tactics. All that fighting had pushed Luca's rank progression to 97%.

His breakthrough to rank 2 was only a few dead monsters away when they reached the Rainwilds region in the early afternoon of day eight. Unfortunately, instead of more monsters, they found a different kind of challenge. The very first village they passed through was completely abandoned.