"First, congratulations. Second, welcome to the unofficial beginning of the second quarter." Doyle gave us a solo round of applause and grinned at the lot of us before continuing. "You've all seen exponential improvement over the last three months of training. Now, you all are combat-ready. So the name of game is now experience."
"You'll continue your practical lessons in class. But here." He gestured to the verdant forest behind him. "Hunting Season is open. From this week onward, hunting beasts will reward you with many points. And, as of next week, hunting other party members will reward you with even more points. As much as five-hundred for anyone on the winning side.
"Enticing, I know." Doyle grinned. "But this forest is a realm in itself. You'll need great skill or ability to even find a member of another party. And defeating them is another matter entirely. The school recognized this long ago and has chosen to aptly award the students for their efforts. But in doing so, they realized that one day in the wilds wasn't enough. Which brings me to my next announcement.
"From now until years' end, our time in the wilds has been extended to two days and two nights. And any duels will be moved to the last day of the week." He declared with a wicked smile. "As such, the objective for this outing is to find and establish a headquarters or base for your party. You must find and secure a position, fortify it up to standard, and provision it with enough rations to sustain yourselves for a month. Once that has been done, you'll be free to do as you please. And the party will be transported here at the start of every outing going forward.
"Any questions?" He glanced in either direction. Taking each student's expression into account before he settled on me. "Lead the way."
"Alright." I turned to face everyone after taking Doyle's spot. "Els, Urshure, Zakira, and Rhody are in charge of choosing our location. Once we get to our area of operation, those four will lead scouting parties while the rest of us gather some resources. Check your gear, use the restroom or do whatever it is you have to do before we depart. You have five minutes."
Having long grown used to my ways, the party rightfully took my words as a dismissal and scattered to tend to their last-minute needs. Allowing Doyle free reign to trail behind me with inquiries about my business as usual.
"What's that for?" He threw his chin at the large circle I drew in the dirt.
"You'll see in a few minutes." I chuckled.
"Vague as always." He dryly sighed. "These questions can influence your points you know?"
"And what's the true purpose of these points?" I turned to him with a placid expression.
"They're used as currency," he said simply. "And as recognition." He then shrugged. "But more so as a form of payment. You said you wanted to be an Artificer, right? Well, you'll need points to buy the necessary components and whatnot."
"I see." I nodded. Not that I agreed with the practice.
"Now, if I may ask, why did you choose those four to lead the scouting mission?"
"Because those four have spent the most time living in a concealed or fortified location, sometimes in plain sight. Which is exactly what I need. Now, if you'll hold your questions for later." I turned my attention to the gathered teams. "Everyone but Duke and Urshure, in the circle. That includes you," I said to Doyle.
And begrudgingly, he followed, coming to a halt just a few steps later to join in on the expectant gazes surrounding them.
I, however, lowered my eyes to the circled I'd drawn before. It had a radius of ten meters and was hardly perfect. But it was more than enough to comfortably house Doyle and the students. Surprisingly, however, few of them seemed to notice the trap spell I laid into it.
The gravity mana, weak though it was, was enough to cause a gentle rumble to ripple across the ground and rise to a crescendo that cracked the ground itself. Causing the bystanders to lose their footing and, in some cases, miss the small island detach from the ground and drift up into the sky.
It took me and the two winged ones to ascend to their height for them to look down and shake in either awe or fear from seeing the ground so far below them.
After snickering at their plight for a bit with Urshure, I tethered the island to myself and spawned an Artificial Well to pull me on a subsonic flight on a northern heading. And once I was sure the other two could handle it, I bumped it up to supersonic speeds and coasted until the mountain range began to tower over us and the great Bodhi Tree was but a distant, but still colossal pillar that split the southern skies in two.
Eventually, we came to a landing in a grassy field located far behind the lines of the divine beasts' borders. Here, I assumed we'd be safer than we'd otherwise be from the other parties. Though they both had members that could travel just as much distance in almost as little time as I could. More so, I intended to not only raise my first undead out here, but I wanted to let the Menagerie run wild in this place. I wanted them to grow as I did and maybe, rise to a higher status than that of a mere magical beast.
That, however, required a bit more patience on my part. Thankfully though, it served to be quite the form of motivation.
Now eager, I assigned a few members to tag along with the teams and sent them on their way. Then divided up the remaining groups to form a temporary woodworking squad, hunting and foraging crew, and a masonry team before sending them off to work.
"I've never flown. And I've certainly never flown thirteen hundred fifty kilometers in under an hour." Doyle laughed into his map. Then dropped it to reveal widened, baggy eyes filled with a flux of manic emotions. "I've never even been this far into the wilds. We're so far." He turned back to the Tree with a dry sigh. "Yet, we're still well inside its territory. That alone is a testament to the Headmaster's power. To have control over such a vast area. All the flora, the students, and even the creatures who call this place home.
"It's terrifying."
"Impressive, yes." I nodded, turned to him with a blank expression. "But not terrifying."
"I forgot. What would a necromancer fear?"
"The void." I took to the air with a snort and smoked in solitude until the groups returned in sequence.
After giving them some time to rest, I made a new island and guided it to the first location. An isolated hill just a few dozen kilometers to the northwest.
It was large enough for a modest fortification to be built on top, but I was more interested in what was underneath. If we were to use it, I intended to take after ants and construct vast labyrinths. The only downside was that there were many races in the other parties that were also adept at operating underground. And worse, every access point would have to be emplaced on ground level. Making it prone to flooding. Not only that but many in my party were without dark vision. Which could've been negated with torchlight and braziers, I supposed, but the investment simply wasn't worth it.
A few dozen more kilometers to the south from that was by all rights a junction point between two biomes. From here, we could see that this vast savanna sat atop a plateau that boasted little hills or trees but had been complemented by a river that wound in from further west. From that raised section of earth- like a fault line had split the ground into two, the river poured and dispersed into a mist before landing in the vast lake below.
Within that lake was a central island large enough for a compound. And around it was a densely verdant forest that stretched all the way back to the Bodhi Tree. A forest filled to the brim with an abundance of magical and mythical life.
Upon seeing it for what it was, my immediate idea was to build a series of tree bases. Though, with many students who could fly and a few orcs who could manipulate plant life, that was simply suicide in the making. One strong spell was all it'd take to topple our base to the ground. Besides, it had a slight child-like aspect that didn't really fit the intended purpose.
That left the waterfall itself. Of which there were three aspects about it that I liked. The first of them was the cliff itself. The grassy field along the edge provided few, if any, warnings of the dropoff. Only a few clusters or outcroppings of stone sat along the edge. However, further down the cliff were several ledges or terraces that were just wide enough for one to sit, stand, or perhaps even lay on.
The selling point was that those ledges or terraces could've easily been linked to the natural cave sitting behind the waterfall. Pointed out by Urshure to be the perfect den for a young dragon and thus would suit our needs perfectly. And everyone seemed to agree. Even Zakira and Rhody, who had yet to show us their locales. So we descended, took a few minutes to scout out the place, and reconvened a few minutes to make a plan.
After half an hour of deliberation and architectural design, we decided to leave the opening of the structure as is for the most part. The only alterations would be the installation of a curtain or wall behind the waterfall to block the light pouring from the alcove behind it at night. The space itself was only about five meters deep with vaulted ceilings that stood around fifteen meters high. A space we decided to place some outhouses and a few crafting stations.
Aside from that, the small cave leading deeper into the cliff would be raised and doored to seal off the underground complex I designed with Terranaut. A simple, three-story layout. With the main floor dedicated for mission planning and recreation, the dorms placed above it, and with a warehouse below.
The final agreed-upon objective was to build a small outpost on the island, which sat about 160 meters away from the waterfall basin and more than twice the distance away from the southern coast. It was a tad bit larger than the hill from earlier and irregular in shape. Probably 90 by 110 meters and filled with trees, thickets, and most likely a few animals.
While it was a veritable bounty of wood and forage, the entire party pitched in to form the island into an amalgamation of many places. A faux base and security fort. A Crafting or industrial outpost. Gardens. Outdoor recreational centers. Anything we could think of was added into the design and painstakingly copied onto paper.
With that, I made a small security detail and released everyone to work.
For me, that consisted of using my void magic to more or less repeat my actions in Hill Base while Doyle watched from the sidelines on objective horror. From my practice, I was able to float through the main floor and most of the second floor with ease and without the use of the Dial.
From there, I ventured to the cliff face to modify the terraces and alcoves, making them deep enough to house two or three people comfortably before I tasked Peter with camouflaging them while I connected them to the main compound with steep staircases and slides.
With over a dozen magically gifted individuals working on the task, the island infrastructure was completed before five in the evening. That milestone, coupled with the dropping sun and the smell of smoked meat lingering in the air seemed to cause a sudden wave of celebration to sweep over the party. They started to disperse into the groups and throw up glasses in cheer. But I was dragged off to attend to more business.
But not just me, for I dragged the students off one by one to create their rooms according to their design. And once that was done, I ventured below ground with Els and a few others to carve out a warehouse and walk-in freezer.
Only then was I allowed a chance to sit back, eat, smoke, and admire my work.
But that didn't last long, because in doing so, I got a great idea.
"What do you think about digging out a mine?" I mentioned to Els.
Even without the mention of his name, the dwarf stopped his mug halfway to his mouth and held it there while he stared into my eyes. "We're already underground." He lowered his mug and looked away. "And we'd need metals if we were to do any crafting. Let's do it!" He turned back to me, beaming. Then flung himself from his seat to sprint to the basement.
And not too far behind him, was me. Amassing void mana into my hands to carve a deep channel into the depths of the Bodhi Tree's territory.
Eventually, a soft humming sound brought me to a stop. And after looking at Els' wide-eyed expression, I understood that he heard it too.
"What… is that noise?"