Chương 4: 171. Home, Sweet Home

The window was cracked as they drove through the winding, wooded roads. Something about the temperate air and gorgeous rays of sun shining on the forest made Alex want to weep with joy. He hadn't realized how tense the Shadow Rift had made him, or how much he'd missed simple pleasures like fresh air and vibrant colors. He inhaled deeply, listening to the quiet conversation going on around him. Two cars had picked up their group from the old Guild Headquarters.

He'd been slightly disappointed when Diane appeared with another new employee and informed him that Edwin was waiting for them back at the house. He loaded up in the car, keeping Lin, Sarah, and the spinners with him, while Mark, Sam, and Valtherion loaded up in the other car. The drive was comfortable, and Alex appreciated that Diane wasn't talkative. She had greeted him warmly, if a bit formal, and had seemed extremely uncomfortable with the idea of the spinners joining them in the car.

But when Alex insisted they come, and she saw how willing they were to follow his orders to load in the SUV and stay toward the back, she kept any other thoughts to herself. To distract her from the five spinners, Alex noted her level before starting some small talk.

"I see you're Awakened now. Did you do that on your own?"

"John and Ian took me to a Rift and helped me," she'd said. Alex had congratulated her and was happy to know that they'd taken the initiative to do so. He could tell from his scan that she either naturally leaned toward an Agility style or had already begun putting her points into the stat. Either way, he thought the heightened reaction speed would be a valuable asset for a driver. It wasn't long before they pulled onto the long gravel drive with round canopies that lined both sides.

When he heard the distinct sound, Alex opened his eyes. Home. Home! His companions' thoughts came through their link, all pretense at appearing calm thrown out the window as the large amphiptere cheered in Alex's mind. He couldn't help but smile when he saw the blue reptilian head appear from the window of the car in front of them. Val had grown so large that he likely took up the entire back of the SUV while coiled up. His growing head looked comical, sticking out the window like a wannabe golden retriever.

The house was a sight for sore eyes, but what drew his attention the most was the line of people waiting for them at the base of the stairs. Edwin stood one step higher than the group, but every other house staff member was lined up and waiting for their arrival. Everyone waited patiently as he and the team got out of the SUV and stretched their legs. The only exception was the Grants. Both proud parents rushed forward the moment Sam was out of the vehicle.

They hugged and fussed over their son, bringing a small smile to everyone's face. Alex's first thought was that it was a bit creepy to have everyone just staring at him, but as he walked up to the first person in line, he clasped the outstretched hand.

"Craig, it's good to see you two. I'm glad you decided to come and work for us," Alex said. Crag grunted.

"Sounds like I got away from all that madness down south just in time." Alex gave Duke a pat on the head and moved down the line, greeting each person individually.

"Clara, I'm glad Edwin brought you to stay up here. Who is this?"

"This is my son, Mike."

"Nice to meet you, Mike. I'm Alex," he said, sticking a hand out for the ten-year-old to shake. The boy stared wide-eyed at Alex but still reached out and tentatively shook his hand.

"Mr. Strum, it's good to see you here, too. I hope you've been settling into your role."

"Yessir. Yer man is a stiff one, but he's great at keepin' things on track."

"John—Ian, it's good to see both of you." He returned their wide grins.

"Gabby," he said, his smile growing wider as she stepped forward, giving him a huge hug. Edwin's cough caused her to release him and step back into line with a guilty smile.

"Sorry. Good to see you Boss."

"Great to see you too, Gabby." He turned to Edwin.

"This was unexpected, it's great to see you Edwin."

"Welcome home, Master Moore." The stately butler bowed at the waist.

"Hey, why does he get to bow?" Lin said from somewhere behind him. Alex ignored her, but turned as several of the people in line gasped. When he did, he saw Valtherion slithering from the back seat of the SUV and stretching his wings with the free space. Even Gabby and Edwin had a reaction to the sight of Valtherion's growth.

"Everyone, let me do some introductions," Alex called, pulling both groups' attention back to himself. He went through the entire group first, introducing the full team and Lin to the staff before turning to introduce both Valtherion and the spinners. The oversized spiders seemed to make people nervous, but Val's size and wingspan seemed to draw the most immediate attention. When the introductions were finished, Alex looked to Edwin, who motioned for him to dismiss the gathered crowd.

He did so before turning to his group and giving instructions.

"All right. Mark, Sam, and Sarah, you guys can go unpack."

"We're not in the field anymore, dude," Mark said with an exaggerated sigh.

"I call dibs on first shower," Sam said.

"Wait wh—""You snooze, you lose. Shouldn't have been complaining," he said with a laugh as he lifted his bag and moved up the stairs. Sarah and Mark followed after him.

"Lin, I'd like for you to spend some time with Edwin. He can help you settle in and give more information about the house and what's expected of those who live here. Edwin, she has no idea what's going on here. I have a lot to explain, but you can just treat her like she's from another country and doesn't know anything about how we do things." Edwin seemed slightly puzzled, but nodded nonetheless before motioning for Lin to join him.

"Val, you're with me, buddy." He sent a mana thread to talk with one of the mana spinners while turning to follow after Craig. When he was close enough, he called out.

"Hey, Craig. I have a task for you, if you've got the time."

"Just gettin' my cabin set up. I have plenty of time outside of that," Craig said, eyeing the large spiders following behind Alex.

"These are mana spinners. They're very intelligent and are now bonded to me. Sort of like Duke is to you, but maybe not quite as personal. Anyway, they're here to stay, and I want to start getting them set up with a place on the property."

"Hmm. Anywhere specific you want 'em?" Duke sniffed the air in the direction of the spinners, causing one of them to flinch and skitter in front of the hatchling.

"No, not really. I think anywhere in the woods would be great. I don't think that they made the tunnels themselves, but where they came from, they lived in huge caverns underground. Not sure if that was out of necessity or their preferred habitat. Get them set up in the woods for now, with a section that will keep them from being disturbed, and I can work out how to get them underground later."

"I can do that. Do they talk or understand me?"

"They might understand you, but normally, talking out loud makes them a bit skittish. They do better with silence and hand gestures." Craig grunted.

"Me too. Okay, leave it to me."

"Thanks," Alex said. He took a moment to communicate through their link what would happen, and the hunters seemed wary. It was hard to tell if it was because of going off with another human who wasn't Alex, or if it was because of Duke. Once the group was on their way, Alex and Val made their way back to the front of the house. He stopped at the base of the stairs for a minute and looked up at the front of the house.

The repairs on the corner wall of his office had been made, and if he didn't know any better, he wouldn't know that the wall had ever been damaged. He noted that both SUVs had been moved to the garage, and his bag, left by the stairs, had been picked up and taken inside for him. There wasn't anything in it other than some of the clothes and gear they'd been issued, so he wasn't worried about it. Smiling to himself, Alex walked up the stairs and scratched Valtherion's head.

"Be careful inside, bud. You're a lot bigger now."

"I'll be careful," Valtherion agreed. As soon as Alex stepped into the foyer, he stopped and took a deep, satisfying breath. The house was cool and smelled familiar. It was the exact feeling he remembered having when coming home from a long vacation. While he'd enjoyed the training and growth, nothing felt quite as comforting as returning home. He did a lap of the lower floor, starting to his right and entering the living room.

He ran his fingers along the back of the couch as he passed, and poked his head into the garage. Noting that his little Nissan Sentra was missing, he moved on and looked at the counter space in the back of the living room that led toward the gym. Nothing seemed to be different about the spaces, but it made him happy to see it all exactly as he'd left it. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

It hadn't even been all that long ago he'd obtained such lavish living quarters, it almost felt like he was getting the house all over again. He walked through the courtyard, surprised to find Sam already there.

"Hey, dude," Alex smiled and ruffled Sam's hair. Sam swatted his hand away with a laugh.

"You haven't done that in a while."

"Eh, I'm in a good mood. What are you up to?"

"I was just excited to plant some of the stuff I brought back from the Rift. My parents said that the smaller greenhouse is already completed, so I'm gonna go check it out and see what I should start planting first."

"Awesome. If you get anything good going, let me know!"

"Of course. I think there will be a lot of testing to do before we get any great yields, but I'm looking forward to getting the project started." Alex nodded and continued through the courtyard while Sam moved out into the backyard and towards the new greenhouse. Walking through the kitchen, Alex waved at Gabby and then made his way through the dining room. With everything covered on the lower floor, he excitedly went upstairs. Truthfully, there was only one room he wanted to see on the upper floor.

He went straight to his office and pushed the door open. Val followed behind him and rose in a taller 'S' shape to see over Alex's shoulder. They entered the space together. The room looked pristine. Just as it did on the outside, it looked like it hadn't ever taken any damage. The shelves on both walls had been repaired or completely replaced, Alex wasn't sure which. Truthfully, when he saw the books Edwin had already begun lining the shelves with, he didn't care.

He'd happily pay for new shelves if it meant starting his own magical library. Alex had thought long and hard about his first steps when returning to the house. Even among all the crazy things that happened during their final week leading up to the sun elf assault, one thing had bothered him the most. The fact that he'd been able to be so easily attacked in his own home, and that at the same time, his magical research had been stolen.

He walked to his empty desk, which had also been repaired or replaced, and ran his hands across its surface.

"First things first," he said to himself while removing several items from his bracer. He laid the five items out, one at a time, in their proper order. He surveyed his handiwork, but had his thoughts interrupted as the sound of clattering wood came from behind him. Alex saw Valtherion on the floor with the cat tree tower having fallen over, broken, on top of him. His bond watched him with wide eyes, and it reminded Alex of a dog that had gotten in the trash.

"I think we're going to need something bigger than that for you now," he laughed. Valtherion freed himself from the debris and shook his wings, causing a breeze to roll through the office.

"I will find a place, now." As his bond left the office, Alex removed his main notebook from the ring on his hand and scribbled another task to his to-do list, with a reminder to get Edwin's help on the matter. Then, he set the notebook down and looked at the top item. Leaning over the book, he crossed it off preemptively before grabbing one of the slabs of stone he'd set out on the desk.

There were four that looked almost identical in shape, and he thanked the destroyed city of Tianluo for the consistent practice material. Hefting the stone block with his Strength, he waddled over to the front corner of his office and carefully set it down as far as he could in the corner. The four stones had been the result of many nights of painstaking work during his nights in the field. He'd taken to carrying around mounds of the stone bricks from Tianluo to practice on as Maelis taught him more about warding.

The formation he'd settled on for his office was still crude and rudimentary by Maelis's standards, particularly because it was designed to be a mobile formation. Alex had made some adjustments to the cornerstones that caused Maelis to insist that they continue down the training path, and Alex was ready to move on to the next stage.

Even though he wanted to move forward with the warding training, he was pleased with his current progress and wanted to finish the project so that it could be set up as soon as he got back. Each of the cornerstones held three runes, a Primary and two Modifiers. The Primary rune was the same Barrier he'd used in his original test. The most obvious modified he'd chosen was Empower, leading to a stronger barrier all around.

The final modifier was one of the few new runes Alex had learned in the last three months in the Rift. In those three and a half months, he'd only learned four new runes, but each was chosen carefully, and he had plans for testing each of them now that he was home. The first of the four, the one used as the final modifier rune on his cornerstones, was what Maelis referred to as a lesser draining rune. It was a common variation in enchanting that was widely used by all levels of skill.

The rune was special in that it had a small, circular hole built into the pattern of the rune. Alex finished adjusting the stone in the corner, butting against the internal wall of the house and the bottom of a bookshelf. When it was in place, he removed a thin, D Rank Mana Stone from his bracer and carefully slid it into the center hole of the drain rune. He repeated the process three times, carefully arranging each stone before returning to the desk for the fifth and final item.

It was a flat piece of stone, closer to the shape of a piece of paper, but almost two inches thick. The stone tablet was heavy in his hand and contained three different runes. Just as he was admiring his work on the controlstone, Edwin knocked on the frame of the open door.

"Master Moore, Ms. Mei is settled in the last available staff room on the lower floor. May I ask, sir? What is your intention with her role at the house?" Alex noticed his mustache twitch.

"Is she already annoying you?"

"Of course not, sir. Though she is quite… uncouth." He lifted his hat and ran a hand through his hair.

"I'm not entirely sure what to do with her. She has some skills, but I don't really want to micromanage someone right now. I pushed a lot of my skills and power to the brink of advancement so I could do it here. I'd like to focus on that. She does need to stay here for a while, though; she needs to learn how to behave and what's acceptable in this world."

"In this world?" Edwin asked, his eyebrows raising ever so slightly.

"Yeah. I want to show you this, but let's talk for a bit first." Alex moved over to the two chairs that were placed in the corner opposite Valtherion's fallen tree and motioned for Edwin to sit with him after the door was closed.

"A lot happened in that last week before we left. Do you remember me telling you about the Planetary Title?"

"Yes, and the Integration Champion title."

"Good, well, the Planetary Title names me as The Magician. While we were in the Rift, Maelis revealed one of its more important functions to me. It allows me to take oaths from people and binds them to me through the System. The System enforces them, and its entire purpose is to allow the Planetary Title holders to create power bases around themselves.

"Anyway, Lin's story is more than I want to get into here. Let's just say she was the first to take the oath, and even though I thought it would be temporary, she refused to leave the oath. She wants to follow me and see our world, with her main goal being to get stronger."

"That sounds quite troublesome," Edwin nodded in understanding.

"The issue is, where she comes from, the group in the Rift lives completely different. They don't have technology, and they are generally a pretty ruthless group."

"Ah, that would explain her reaction to the lights turning on…" Alex cracked a smile.

"I'd like to give all of you oaths as well, but with actual positions. They should give you titles that come with a bonus that will grow with you. Would you be interested in one?"

"I suppose it depends on the oath you're asking me to swear. However, as I know you, it would very likely be reasonable."

"So you're open to it?"

"Indubitably." Alex laughed.

"Great. Well, for now, if you could just keep an eye on Lin. She can go most places in the house and talk to whoever she wants."

"I shall see to her education in our world's manners and procedures."

"Oh, you don't need—""It is my duty, sir. My role as the head of house staff requires nothing less of me."

"Okay, well… just don't stretch yourself too thin. I didn't see an apprentice in the lineup earlier. Have you still not brought someone on to help you out?"

"Not as of yet, Master Moore. But I assure you, I will do so when the time is right."

"I'll leave it up to you." There was a pause, and when he realized Edwin didn't have anything else to add, he tapped the tablet of stone in his lap.

"Let me show you this. It'll be important for when I'm gone."

"Gone, sir?"

"Well, I'll be here for a week or two, but I need to go find some Rifts for an experiment, so I'll leave when I make some progress and things get settled here." Edwin's mustache twitched, but Alex continued.

"This is the controlstone for a ward I'm setting up for the office," he said, pointing at the four cornerstones in the room.

"Can you control your mana, yet?"

"To a small extent, sir."

"That should be fine. Look, these are the runes on the control stone: Activation, Exemption, Draining." He pointed to each as he said them.

"I'm still pretty new with the wards, so I can only create one of these Exemption runes in the stone. That means when it's activated, only one of us can go in and out."

"I don't follow you, sir."

"Let me show you." Alex put a mana stone in the draining rune, just as he had done with the cornerstones. Then, he pushed his mana into the tablet to begin charging it. There were a few moments of awkward silence as he continued to dump his mana, but when it was ready, he activated it. At the same time, he sent a small amount of mana into his free hand and placed his thumb on the Exemption rune.

This was the second of the four runes he'd learned from Maelis in the last months of Rift time, and he'd learned it for exactly this purpose. The ward hummed to life, and the typical dome shape created by the corners connecting the ward naturally changed to fit the limited space. In this case, it led to the confines of the office's wooden and stone walls. He set the control stone on his desk and motioned for Edwin to follow him to the door.

He reached through the barrier and grasped the handled of the door before letting go and gesturing for Edwin to do the same.

"Try to grab the handle." When the older man did, his hand ran directly into the magical ward. Alex walked back and deactivated the ward, allowing Edwin to step out and inspect the door frame with interest.

"So, when I'm here, I'll be in charge of locking the office up. I'll probably be in and out regularly, and even if I'm in it at night, I'll probably leave it running. However, when I leave, I plan to have this responsibility fall on you. No one else really has any reason to be in my office, and I don't want another incident like the sun elves. The wards are still pretty basic, but the fact that it can draw mana from the stones and allow someone to enter and exit was a big push forward in my abilities.

I'll keep developing it and eventually I'd like to get a better System set up for the office, and eventually something set up around the entire house."

"I can understand the security aspect of things, sir, but is it truly necessary while you're here?"

"Maybe… maybe not. I'm working on a few things right now that I don't want anyone but the main team and you to know about. I don't want new hires or strangers to even know that they exist. So, this can potentially help prevent any of that from leaking out."

"I see," Edwin said, shifting his weight and looking back at the door.

"Not to be rude, but do you mind if I jump into some of that now? I have been dying to push one of my skills to the evolution threshold."

"Actually, sir… I fear there is something I must share with you." That piqued Alex's interest. Edwin had never come to him with a problem.

"Okay, what's up?" Alex set down the stone in his hand to focus.

"Several weeks ago, a group showed up at one of the new properties, claiming it to be theirs. I believe they were pushed out or fled from the Safe Zone shortly after martial law was declared. Mr. Riley, Flynn, and I handled the situation neatly, but it was just a temporary solution."

"What do you mean?"

"I established the relationship of landowner and tenant. They are currently paying to stay in the house, as it's been unoccupied; however…" Alex felt his brow tighten.

"However?"

"They have been paying less and less, though they have continued to get stronger, and their numbers have continued to grow. I likely should have followed Mr. Riley's advice and forced them to vacate immediately, but I thought it to be a clever solution. By having the estate occupied, it would prevent others from coming and destroying the property or taking it over.

"I didn't anticipate them beginning to form a group and inviting others to join them. They are not a respected group in the area, and many neighbors have come to me reporting that members of the group have begun to bully them into 'protection agreements'. But they're not protecting anyone from anything. There was a Rift break just a few miles from here that Mr. Riley and Mr. Flynn went to take care of.

"In the last two days, they have started coming around the main house and acting as if they are welcome to do so. When I ask them to leave, they simply laugh and continue to do what they want. When Mr. Riley or Mr. Flynn show up, they act innocent and slowly make their way off the property."

"I see," Alex mulled over the problem for a few moments. When he made up his mind, he pushed off from the desk and smiled at Edwin.

"Do me a favor. Go and gather the entire group. Tell them whatever you need to tell them, but have them come meet me out front, below the large tree."

"Sir…" Edwin looked very uncomfortable.

"Are you sure that's wise?"

"Definitely. You know? If I learned anything from the guild… It's that I really hate bullies."