Homestead Survival

<09 August 2024, GRAND MESA OF SUMMER , A+>
[Theo and Julia]
They walked to the cabin in silence, just enjoying each other's company. They got through the open doorway and sat down on the sleeping platforms.

"So, a Seat of Power," Julia said, looking at Theo as she still blushed slightly.

"A seat of power." Theo agreed, "Oreburn said it could be anything that lets us project power over an area, but it was most commonly a castle."

"He also mentioned that it could be a Runic array," Julia said.

Theo thought for a moment, then went outside and grabbed one of the bricks. When he came back in, he spread his hand out and measured using his thumb and pinky. "So it looks like these are slightly bigger than a cinderblock. These are roughly eight inches by eight inches by sixteen inches."

Julia nodded, standing up and walking outside to rub the dirt flat in a spot. Theo joined her, and then she began scratching math into the ground. After a moment, she shrugged, "Just based on the blocks themselves, not counting any mortar, we could build a wall that is eight feet high and roughly four hundred and fifty feet long. It would be one layer thick."

Theo thought for a moment, and as he was thinking, he got another idea. "Okay, let's say that we build a basement. Twenty by thirty-four feet with two stairways that are four feet by twelve feet. We can do a ramp to the basement as well that is ten feet wide by twenty feet long. We can do the walls out of the bricks. Can you figure that out?"

Julia nodded and began a rough drawing after confirming with Theo that what she had drawn was close to what he was envisioning. She began to do math. She spoke out loud as she worked.

"Okay, assuming the four hundred and fifty feet of eight-foot high wall is what we have, the main room here," She tapped the drawing of a room that was thirty-four feet by twenty feet, "would use one hundred and eight feet of the total, leaving us with three hundred and forty-two feet."

She tapped the two stairways that Theo had described. "Each of these will share a wall with the big room, so we only need to count one long wall and two short walls. Each one will use another twenty feet of wall for a total of forty. That leaves us with three hundred and two feet of eight-foot high wall."

She pointed at the ramp, "So this shares walls with all three rooms we have already calculated. It is also sloped, so we could save some brick..."

"Let's just build a room and build the ramp out of wood so that if we want to later, it can be a room," Theo said.

"Okay, so then this will use an additional forty-two feet worth of brick. That leaves us with a total of two hundred and sixty feet of eight-foot high wall. Converting that roughly back to bricks..." Julia stopped talking while doing the math.

"Two thousand three hundred and forty bricks... But that is probably off, so let's give or take a couple hundred to twenty-one hundred left." Julia said. "Then I have an idea for the rest."

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"Oh yeah, what's that?" Theo asked.

"What if I laid out some Ward runes that were like eight feet across all around the Thronehold?" Julia said, "Then we could cut the bricks to lay in the same shape. I am allowed to make some permanent Ward runes, but it can be as big as I want."

"That is a good idea." Theo said, "We can build the rest of the keep on the foundation out of wood..."

"You look like you just had an idea," Julia said.

"I did, but it is probably a bad idea." Theo said, "What if we build it out of one of the specialized Titan Trees. Or, what if we kill the King of Summer and make our house out of it."

"That is maybe a very bad idea." Julia said, "We walked away from the dungeon boss because it was level thirteen, or at least with the Boss modifier, it would be equivalent to a level thirteen; this tree is actually level thirteen."

"Yes, fair." Theo said, "But also keep in mind that the Dragon Wraith was probably S- mana rank. So, I would imagine that it would be more powerful than the King of Summer. We could lure the Prince and Baron away somehow, kill them, and then kill the King."

"I like it, but let's start with the foundation; then, we can look at what is going on with the King. Deal?" Julia asked.

"Deal," Theo said with a smile. "In that case, I have some things that I want to work on in conjunction with the Seat of Power."

"Okay, what are you thinking?" Julia asked.

"So, the berry bushes that we have found all over the overlook?"

"Yes."

"Well," Theo said, "What if we build a bunch of raised beds or something."

"Hugelkultur!" Julia exclaimed excitedly. "Please, can we do hugelkultur?"

"The mound beds?" Theo asked, and she nodded excitedly. Theo chuckled, "Sure we can do hugelkultur."

"Yes!" She said happily, "I have always wanted to try hugelkultur, but I have never had the chance or the space."

"Okay, so a little bit of hugelkultur, maybe some raised beds for other things if we need them. Then, after that, I think we should start stockpiling berries." Theo said, "There is one more thing I think that we need to do and that is figure out some way to collect water."

"True," Julia said, "we have been very fortunate with the water that we got from The System."

They both thought about it for a bit, eating dinner while they were at it. Julia broke the silence. "We need water vessels."

"That is what I was thinking." Theo agreed, "But I also am not sure how we want to go about that. We could do pottery, or we could do..."

Julia looked up as Theo trailed off. Theo was looking behind her and looking mad. "You have got to be fucking kidding me."

Julia looked around. And next to one of the trees was the damned Goblin.

"How did it get here?" Julia asked, "And how did it find us?"

"I have no clue," Theo said, taking out his Master Tool and walking towards the Goblin, shifting the Master Tool into a bearded axe form. "But I think it is time that this problem is no longer our problem."

Theo walked forward, and a message appeared.

>Local Message: Combat System Engaged.

The Goblin jumped excitedly. And text appeared over their heads.

{Theodore Oskar Sorrenson, Level 05, B}
{Julia Brahmin, Level 05, B}
{[Corrupted] Goblin Chief, Level 07, A}

The Goblin Chief began to use a skill, a red ball of energy forming in its hands. After a moment, the Goblin Chief made a pitching motion, and the ball of red energy shot forward. Theo saw that the Goblin Chief had targeted Julia, so he stuck his axe out and caught the red ball of energy.

> Local Area Message:
> WARNING: User Theo Oskar Sorrenson has been marked with the skill Harbinger. Time Remaining 10 Days.

At the same time, the text on Theo's head was updated.

{[Marked] Theodore Oskar Sorrenson, Level 05, B}

With that, the Goblin Chief made excited noises and turned to sprint away. A moment later, another message appeared.

>Local Message: Combat System Disabled.

"What the hell was that?" Julia asked and rushed up to Theo. "And what the hell does it mean that you are marked?"

"I don't know," Theo said, trying to remain calm despite a subtle sense of panic he was feeling rise up. "But I have a feeling that we might need some more plans."