Chapter 12

I opened my eyes and stared at the cealing. The blinking of my screen bore its way into my restless sleep. I have only been here for a few days, and yet I still haven't gotten used to seeing it all the time. I mentally selected them and was bombarded by a list of new templates.

Templates unlocked:

Undead Deer

Undead Pigeon

Undead Wolf

Undead Linal

Congratulations! You have been gifted two thousand essence points for unlocking multiple templates!

I read through the list and nodded my head. Not a bad haul, I brought in two thousand essence points as a reward plus another thousand total from the squirrel doing its job. I dismissed the notifications and laid there for a bit. So, my first course of action today was going to be getting with Kharon and seeing how I can condense all my tools into an easy to use area. After that, I want to investigate that locked room and figure out what that strange room is upstairs. With a groan, I sat up, and a large yawn escaped my lips. I glanced around the room I had designated as my office. Alessia moved from where she was standing and instead had taken my chair.

Her head turned from looking straight ahead, and she looked me over. For a moment, I felt the excitement bubble in my chest until I realize that she didn't become sentient overnight. I would have to write her lore and see if I could do something to force that. I stood up and started to stretch before I walked over to my sports bag. I fished out some deodorant and my hairbrush. I lifted my arm, and the harsh smell of body odor immediately bombarded me. I felt my lips shift into a grimace. I wanted to take a hot shower. But there was a lake up top, so I could probably take a dip pretty soon. As for the clothes, I would need to wash them. I could probably create some once I figure out how to draw to organize my thoughts a little better on the matter.

Once I finished brushing my hair, I slide all the items back into my sports bag and grabbed my notebook and a pen. I would need this later. I pushed them into my sports bag and looked around the room once more. "Alessia, come along. We are going to explore today." I called out to her. I placed my hand on her shoulder to teleport, and much to my surprise, she was partially tangible. With a mental confirmation, we teleported back to the steps in front of the outpost.

The sun sat near the sky's halfway point and cast dark rays of light onto the ground. Clouds slowly crawled across the sky and absorbed some of the light, trying to make its way down. It felt like there was a storm coming, yet there were no storm clouds in sight. This was perfect, all I needed was some fog, and the theme would be fantastic. I glanced around the courtyard and saw that some of the undead were milling about mindlessly, while others were busy moving some logs. They have been working relentlessly and managed to clear out a large portion of the forest. That was good; it would give me room to work with, so I could expand the size a bit. I summoned my menu real quick and selected the massive pile of lumber, and stored it. With that done, let's take a gander inside, and while I am exploring, Ill send Kharon a message and wait for him to arrive.

The ghost managed to collect a lot of the loose rubble and get it into one spot. So I went ahead and collected all of it with my storage tool. The outpost looked a little cleaner than before. But there wasn't much that could be done here without a full rehaul. That was coming sooner rather than later. I walked over to the locked door on the first floor. The sound of my feet echoing in the lobby filled my ears as I walked at a brisk pace.

Once I got to the door, I looked it over carefully to see if there was any way that I could get it open. After realizing it was a fruitless endeavor, I glanced at my companion. "Alessia, can you get in the room and if you can unlock it from the other side?" The spirit looked at me and then the door and nodded its head. She walked over to the door and pushed a hand through, and then its body a split second later.

I waited for a moment and jumped when the door frame shuddered. Dust was knocked away from it as it rattled heavily. What was she doing? I asked her to unlock it, not whatever this was! The door rattled again and swung open with a heavy crack. Alessia stood behind it and gave me a questioning look. "Well, not exactly what I asked for, but it works. Thank you." I took a few steps forward to check out the room.

Dust caught the light that rushed into the room as it lazily danced through the air. Dozens of crates lined the walls, and dozens of miscellaneous objects sat in containers that were spread throughout the room. Oh, nice. This was a storage room from the looks of it. Maybe I could find something useful here. I walked over to a large crate and pulled it back only to realize that it was far too heavy for me to move. I attempted to pull it back again. I strained against the crate for a moment before it budged an inch and stopped moving again. There was no way I was this weak.

"Can you go get one of the zombies for me, please?" I asked the spirit behind me as I decided to look around the room and see what was in the open containers. The first few were nothing more than cooking utensils. I had no use for these, but I'm sure they were suitable for the ambiance. I glanced into the next one and saw some metal tips of arrows. I reached in and pulled a single one. The wood looked like it was in good condition, and the tip still felt sharp. However, the fletching was made out of some strange synthetic material.

I placed it back inside of its container and went to another. In this one sat a couple of dozen short blades. I pulled one out of the box and looked it over. It was in a leather sheathe that felt incredibly dry and brittle. I pulled it out, and the sound of metal scraping leather filled the room. I glanced over the blade for a moment and saw that there were no blemishes on it. That was nice; that means I didn't have to spend as much on creating blades for the mobs to use. I decided to keep this, and I slide my sports bag across and slide the sword in. I had no idea what the world was like outside of this domain. I would need to practice with this if I wanted to stand a chance.

In another, there were some torches and some stuff that looked like quills for writing, which I wouldn't need since I have pens. However, I would take some ink so I could refill it at some point. Maybe if I were lucky, I would find a case of it in here. I heard the sounds of feet shuffling towards me, and I saw a zombie with a missing lower half of its jaw coming towards my direction. "Can you grab the crates that are stacked on top for me and move them?" I know it couldn't talk, and I didn't feel like trying to convey what I wanted it to do mentally.

The zombie emitted a low moan as it stumbled over to the first crate and pulled it down without an issue, and set it on the floor with a heavy thud. I ran my fingers across the top. Eventually, I found a small dent just under the wooden lid. I hooked my fingers underneath it and pulled on it with everything I could muster. The wood creaked for a moment before it gave. Inside sat blocks of grey metal. Oh boy, I hit the jackpot! I cast storage on it, and a message appeared on my screen.

You have stored a lumber crate.

You have stored several hundred pounds of steel.

Nice, I needed this to experiment on. All the resources I could get now would be fantastic. I could create them from nothing, but I didn't want to shell out any more money then I would have to. With a grin plastered to my face, I had the zombie pull down every crate in the room.

So far, I have collected many swords, arrows, bows, old leather, and some more metal. I also found a small container of books that had nothing written on them, which I immediately sent to my office. I needed those to write in to set up this area for exploration. This was good for me. Now I didn't have to panic for a bit. I went ahead and sent down a handful of swords down to my office as well, so I can test some of the mobs. Now all that was left was to get with Kharon and then see what the upstairs room was.

A few minutes passed as I was finishing rummaging through the storage room. I never found any ink, sadly, which was my main desire at the moment. "Mistress, what can I do for you?" My companion's familiar voice broke through the silence. The zombie had already wandered away to do god knows what, and I was thankful. That one reeked.

"Hello, Kharon. I do have a couple of questions. Firstly, is there a way to condense all the tools I use most? This system is kind of cluttered." I asked as I pushed a few more books into my bag to take down into the office.

He stared at me for a moment before he replied. "I can access your system and move stuff around for you. However, you should have the power to do so yourself. "

A nervous chuckle escaped my lips, and I found myself scratching the back of my neck. "I am still learning. I'm doing my best here."

A moment later, a notification appeared.

Your companion wishes to access your system. Will you allow it?

I confirmed the choice, and I heard him hum something that sounded confused. 'What is it?"

"Your system is a bit cluttered, but I will clean it up while I am in here. What do you want me to do exactly?" I glanced over at my screen for a moment before I replied.

"Can you put all of the most important tools into one folder, so I don't have to shift through things to find it constantly?" Kharon nodded his boney head, and I saw my screen start to rearrange. "So, why does my system look this way?"

He glanced at me for a moment before his eyes dulled. "The system conforms to whatever you are the most familiar with."

I nodded my head. That would explain a lot about why it looked like computers I have used along with various software. "I see. Thank you. Do you like what I did to the sky sphere?"

He bobbed his head. "Yes. It's nice; I also see you created your first boss as well."

"Yeah, I was experimenting with the ghost template and made a spirit. After I finish my tasks for the day, I am going to work on the zombies and skeletons next." Kharon's eyes brightened again, and he stepped back.

"There. That should do it. I hate to cut this short, but I have to head back to the mines to make sure they stay on track. Good luck, and I can't wait to see what undead you make next." Without a word, he vanished in a puff of grey smoke. I giddily opened up my menu to see what changes he made.