Chương 313: A New Home Part 2

"The house consists of two floors. The ground floor has the kitchen, living and dining rooms as well as several large rooms that have been left completely empty, save for the standard enchantments in each room."

"Those will be useful for setting up my workshops," Damion told the Water mage.

"Yes. I thought as much. On the second floor we have several bedrooms, each with its own dedicated bath. Since no spatial stretching enchantments are employed, the mana cost for running all of the various enchantments is not very much. Still, if you leave the structure in a magic starved area for too long the enchantments will fail and… well… in that event I hope the waste tank and the holding tanks are empty."

"I don't intend to go to such forsaken places," Damion told him. Magic starved areas were rare zones where there were lodes of Magic Absorbing Crystals that sapped the ambient mana from the air. There were not many such areas known and they only existed in the wilds of Red Zones and Black Zones as such lodes of Magic Absorbing Crystals were mined out long ago in White, Green and Yellow Zones. Nothing liked to exist away from mana.

This meant that magic starved zones were usually devoid of pretty much everything except ordinary plant life. Even Ferocious Beasts and Demonic Beasts avoided such areas because of the lack of mana. A magic starved zone could be a haven for nonmagically inclined people, but mages and knights had no reason to go to such places unless hunting down criminals and Damion was more concerned with finding strong Demonic Beasts than human troublemakers.

"So, what do you think?" Mage Caplan asked, fishing for praise.

"A remarkable piece of artificing. I am sure you will have many takers for models with more aesthetics."

"Oh yes. I have already begun marketing these as a vacation home. In fact, with the new spatial artifacts Mage Fletcher has been selling I have been thinking of a design to allow it to fit. I think quite a few high Rankers are going to start adventuring in style."

"It does beat a tent and a sleeping bag," Damion joked.

"How much do I owe you?"

"Since you did not ask for exceptional materials or difficult enchantments, your model is likely the cheapest I will ever create. And since you have helped inspire this line, I will only ask for 20 platinum."

"Will you accept payment in the form of materials?"

"What materials do you have in mind?"

"Ferocious and Demonic Beast carcasses. I haven't had a chance to stop by another shop to have them processed."

"Spatial mages are indeed the best. Yes, indeed. We can accept payment with materials. Shall we go to the processing room?"

"Certainly. If the materials I've brought are more than sufficient, I would like to keep as many of the Demonic Beast cores as possible."

"Can you give me a summary?" Mage Caplan asked as he led Damion to the processing room.

"8 F Rank Ferocious Beasts, 9 E Rank and 3 D Rank," Damion began listing off his recent kills. For Demonic Beasts, I have 12 F Rank, 31 E Rank, 15 D Rank and 6 C Ranks." A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Well, unless they are all in terrible condition, I don't think you will have any difficulty in exceeding the cost of your house."

"Wonderful. You know," Damion started casually saying as he dumped the carcasses on the sorting platform.

"If you took one of those big supply trucks and spruced up the insides of the containers and added some of these enchantments you might have a whole other line on your hands."

"Put a house on the inside of the container," Mage Caplan said.

"Yes, no need for a spatial artifact then. Could appeal to guilds and patrol groups. Let them drive around in comfort while they hunt beasts. Mage Picard, you really are a fount of inspiration. But I have to ask, why didn't you ask for a house on wheels first?"

"I don't need my house to move around with me. I can return to it whenever I want."

"Too true too true. It will take a few minutes for everything to process, but you can collect your new house while we wait." Two hours later, Damion placed his new house in his personal cavern. The house was a bit spartan, coming only with the basics, but luckily, he had an entire cargo container of things for a house in the Magic System Inventory. The problem he was facing, was actually taking his things out of the cargo crate and into the house and putting them where they belonged.

His parents had no need for most of the items, as they had simply bought new things when they started their new lives in Levande. Still, Damion thought it would be best if he at least gave his family the opportunity to keep any items they wanted. Since it had been a few weeks since he visited his family, Damion decided to visit them and inquire if there was anything from the old house they wanted.

A few minutes later, after bidding a farewell to Phil, he cast portal and arrived outside of Levande and made his way to his family's apartment.

"You are back," Sharon said, hugging Damion as soon as she saw him, even though he appeared as James Picard.

"I wanted to visit and see if there was anything from the old house you wanted. I have all that stuff in storage, and I was going to use some of it to make my new house feel less like a laboratory and more like a home."

"You bought a house?" Elicia questioned, emerging from a bedroom after she heard that Damion was here.

"More like had built. It is underground. So, I can use it as a safe haven to return to after a day's exploring."

"And now you are needing a woman's touch in decorating it. Well, come on. Let's go take a look at it," Sharon said, slipping on her shoes and a coat.

"I was really just…"

"Face it, Damion. You have no sense of style. If we leave you to decorate the house it will be nothing but function," Elicia told him.

"She's right dear. You need a woman's touch. Trying to decorate on your own… well, I can't imagine how the house would look if I left it to your father."

"Dad's an architect," Damion tried to counter.

"Yes. And everything would be in neat straight lines and each item in its perfect place. But it would have no feeling."

"Bru'er's 'ouse?" Bethany questioned. Damion looked over to his little sister with a smile, but Elicia spoke up before he could say anything.

"Just use Portal to take us to your house and once we are done, you can send us right back to the apartment," Elicia told Damion.

"Can the city detect a portal?"

"They didn't say anything last time you used Portal in the apartment. Either that means they don't care, or they can't tell."

"Should we wait for dad?"

"Your father still has a few days of his old job left. Once he finishes his final project for them, he will be working on your and Helga's project. He is much too busy to worry with decorating. Your father can visit your house another day," Sharon told him.

"Alright," Damion said. With a quick cast of Portal, the opening to his cavern appeared. Elicia walked through right away. Sharon and Bethany on the other hand were a bit apprehensive.

"It is perfectly safe mom," Damion told them.

"I know. This isn't the first time I've traveled this way. Helga sent us to your friend Arica's master to get us out of Saung. I was just remembering." The news that Arica's master knew his family had been alive this whole time was a bit shocking. Had Arica known all along as well? Was she part of some greater conspiracy? Damion shook his head to get rid of such thoughts. What was done was done. While he would like to know the answers to his questions, he felt it was more important to focus on the here and now.

"Why don't we go through together," Damion offered, holding out his hand to his mother.