Not far away Ben could see his cattle grazing on the lush grass inside the small fenced in ranch.
The sun overhead cast its warm rays of sunlight down while the wind danced through the grass that carpeted the prairie.
Strange insects crawled across the stone paved road that Ben was walking on while others flew from flower to plant.
Ben had already upgraded the dirt road that led to the Stone Quarry and Mine with stone pavers and now he was looking to the south wanting to continue with upgrading this final stretch of dirt road.
South of the farm area he could see the forest where his Lumber Mill was located. This was the same forest that had remained unexplored for so many years.
Ben opened the road interface and used the stone paver tool to draw out a line on top of the dirt road which was now displayed from above on the road interface window.
After marking it out the new road a blue glowing mist a few inches thick covered the surface of the dirt road. It was the same blue mist he watched create the moat and his buildings.
The blue mist began to erode away the old dirt road to leave behind interlocking smooth stone pavers that extended off into the distance.
Ben curiously questioned the system on how these roads were made. When he began construction of a road the system would cast to connecting formations. The land in between these two formations would be leveled or built up to make a smooth surface. When the land was leveled the formations would begin using the road material he had choose to use.
The land was always covered by the blue mist so quickly that Ben had never seen the formations used to create the roads.
He followed his the new stone paved road to eventually stand in the shade of the forest next to the Lumber Mill.
This is as far as his road extended south. This was originally the border of his Build Zone. The Build Zone borders had now been extended since the system had leveled up a few times.
Standing on the edge of where his stone road currently ended, Ben looked off into the forest while a new idea began to form.
'Now that my Build Zone has increased I can build anything I want for the next four and a half miles south of here into this forest.' Ben thought as he worked out what he wanted to do.
First off, he reopened the road interface and marked out a straight line with the stone paver tool that extended to his southern Build Zone border and clicked finalize.
Yet again the blue glowing line laid out on the ground in front of him.
He watched as all the trees, bushes, rocks, and any other obstacles were dissolved away. No matter what was in the way of the blue glowing line it was removed to make a perfectly flat stone paved road extending south.
He quickly placed his foot into the blue mist as an experiment after asking the system about it and found it would not harm people or animals. When he was watching it dissolve rocks and trees it made him worry if it would hurt someone who unknowingly stepped in it.
When he finished testing the blue mist, Ben, opened the wall menu and used the wooden wall tool to mark out a straight wall on both sides of the road twenty feet high and three feet thick.
Every mile along the two walls, he also added a Wooden Gatehouse on each side of the road to allow him to have access to the forest beyond the walls.
[Wooden Gatehouse]: Wood log gatehouse equipped with sturdy wood gates that are secured with wood drawbars. [requires: wood]
Now that he was growing in strength, Ben wanted to go deeper into the forest to find more impressive profound beasts to hunt.
With this new road and the wooden walls along it, he had a route that would be clear of lower level creatures. He could use his Whirlwind Maneuver to quickly travel from his Keep into the forest and back without having to stop and fight constantly.
As he grew in strength and increased his Build Zone size, he could cut a road all the way through this forest one day.
When he reached the current border of his Build Zone where the stone road had ended, he decided to build a small [Stone Block Tower]. He made the tower 10ft x 10ft with a height of 20ft.
[Stone Block Tower]: A interlocking stone block tower that can be built with multiple levels with options for staircases or ladders internally. The tower can be constructed with a flat top or a roofed top. The tower interface allows the host to create custom designs and add additional options like windows, arrow slits, doors, and many other options. [requires: stone-wood]
[Auto_Notice] [The system has advanced a level! System Level 9!]
Inside the constructed stone tower, there were wood plank floors and a narrow staircase that led to a second floor. The inside dimensions were only 8ft x 8ft, but for a small forest outpost, it was plenty big enough.
On the second floor, he had designed the tower to have a wooden ladder bolted to the wall that led to a trapdoor in the ceiling that allowed you to stand on top of the tower to survey the area or defend the tower
There was a sturdy wooden entrance door at ground level that had an option to put a barricade bar across it when you were inside. It would take a creature the size of a rhino to knock down the tower door when it was braced shut..
Ben opened his inventory a placed down a couple of the beds he had bought for the slaves on the top floor. He also placed down one of the wooden tables and a couple chairs on the first floor.
Now he had a secure place in the forest that he could use to sleep in or to just get away for a few days. He liked the cozy little tower so much that he made up his mind to later make similar towers every few miles along the road in the future. These towers could then be used to station troops out here to guard the road or to allow travelers a safe place to sleep at night.
Outside the tower door, Ben used stone blocks to make a fire pit and bought a cheap steel grill grate for a couple silver coins. He made a fire and placed a thick slice of fish raised in the Fish Hatchery along with a couple vegetables on the grate.
While his food was cooking he used the system interface to open the Warehouse and he withdrew enough cookware, tableware, plates, and utensils for six people. With his hammer, saw, and nails he had from making the sign for his vendor stall Ben built another shelf out of wood planks.
He placed the shelf against the first floor wall and neatly stacked all the pots, pans, plates, cups, and utensils on it. This way, if he did have people stationed out here one day they would have less stuff to pack in here.
The notification icon had began flashing in his peripheral vision, so he stopped to check the new notices.
[Notice] [You have learned a new profession! Carpenter Level 1!]
[Notice] [You have learned a new profession! Furniture Maker Level 1!]
'It appears I learned two more professions from building the wooden shelves here and in Goldcrest. I don't know if I'll ever need to use these professions since I can build a carpenter and furniture maker structure with the system, but who knows they may come in handy one day.'
With the tower door opened, Ben sat at the table eating his meal while enjoying the sounds of the forest and the cool breeze blowing in from outside.
'This place could use a sink, but I don't have the money right now to place a water treatment structure out here and buy a sink. It isn't that important anyway, it's not like I will be living out here. I do know one thing that can be built though and it doesn't cost anything beside the wood needed to build it.'
On the opposite side of the tower door, Ben built a couple [Wooden Outhouses] out behind the tower and christened the first toilet he built.
[Public Outhouses]: Two wooden outhouses. A crude solution to stop people from defecating everywhere around your fortress. [requires: wood] [cost: free]
Back inside the tower, he closed the door and placed the bar across the door frame and went upstairs. Sitting on the bed, he began to cultivate for the rest of the day and throughout the night.
As the sun was rising the next morning, Ben equipped his chain-mail, sword, bow, and quiver. He sold some of his resources to the System Store and bought a couple of dozen barbed arrows to restock his quiver and a new Skill for 100g.
[Notice] [You have learned a new skill! Herbalist Aura Vision Level 1!]
[Herbalist Aura Vision]: This skill will allow the host to see the spiritual energy of nearby spirit plants and herbs. The host will see a glowing aura around them making it easier to find them. Higher skill levels will allow you to see the aura from greater distances.
Ben figured that since this forest didn't have humans trekking through it, he may find some spirit herbs and spirit plants here. Because he had no idea what they looked like or where to even begin looking he found a passive skill that would assist him in spotting them.
Earlier, when he was deciding on what to build in the fortress he noticed there was a farm that would grow Spirit herbs, plants, and trees. The only drawback was it would only grow the plants that he physically scanned into the [Spirit Farm's] database.
Once he did find an herb or plant and scanned it, he could then grow as many as his farm could put out. He knew that if he were to begin growing these herbs and plants it would be another great way for him to possibly make money.
Ben also wanted one day to begin making pills for him and his people and having a [Spirit Farm] with a decent selection of spirit plants and herbs would make that possible.
__________________________
As he traveled deeper into the forest, Ben began to actually find spirit plants. Some grew in swampy areas where others might grow only in the scattered clearings.
Right now he was in a shallow ravine and had come across a patch of what were known as Blood Orchids.
He removed the flower from the soil and was being careful to get the roots with the plant. Ben assumed the more of the plant he had to scan later, the better the chances would be that he could grow it.
He was focused on the task at hand while slowly moving toward the center of the ravine where he soon found a small tree growing with two small blue fruits about the size of a plum.
Ben was surprised to see there was a bright aura around the two fruits from his Herbalist Aura.
Curious as to what they could be, he walked over and used Analyze on one of the juicy looking blue fruits.
"Analyze!"
[Indigo Iron Fruit]: This spirit fruit is known to vastly increase bone density. If this fruit is eaten it will strengthen the skeletal structure to equal the tensile strength of iron.