Once the stones were in place, it was time for the real challenge.

  John took a deep breath, already feeling fatigued. He placed his hands on his hips as he looked at the ten logs waiting to be dragged into position.

  “I can already feel my back straining at this.’

  Nevertheless, he wasn’t daunted.

  While Luna continued chasing fish in the little stream, John dragged the first two logs into place. He made sure to squat and lift with his legs rather than his back. If he hurt his back out here, he would be entirely on his own.

  He laid the logs along the long sides of the rectangle. Unfortunately, the logs rolled off the stones. It was probably because everything was wet. And this was his first log house, after all—he was no expert yet. He pushed back the feelings of insecurity and failure by chopping small flat notches into the underside of each log. That way, they would rest more securely on the cornerstones.

  John nearly had a heart attack when Luna, investigating the logs, jumped onto one to see if she could balance on it. The log immediately shifted. John had to grab it to steady it.

  “Uh, maybe wait until it’s finished, okay?”

  Luna whimpered slightly but obeyed, jumping down.

  With the eight remaining logs, and thanks to John’s increased Woodcraft skill, he began laying them across the frame like thick ribs between the two side logs. He spaced them roughly one foot apart. That spacing would support a future floor.

  He realized he would probably need to figure out how to craft planks, since this structure was really more of a foundation than an actual floor.

  Once he had laid each one onto the two beams, thanks to his basic log joinery skills, he added six bark sheets across the log frame, overlapping them like shingles to act as a natural moisture barrier. He then topped it off by using a good amount of cordage from the Portal Co., tying it diagonally across the frame so the rope connected opposite logs and held them together more firmly.

  Luna looked at his basic foundation skeptically, cocking her head and touching one crystal toe to it.

  It didn’t budge.

  “I’ll try it out so you don’t have to,” John said, reassuring her as he hoisted himself onto the foundation.

  Though it creaked slightly, none of it came apart.

  “Oh, thank goodness,” John said, feeling relieved.

  In succeeding in building the foundation, he completed his quest.

  Objective Complete: Lay the Foundation

  Rewards:

  Homestead XP

  Character XP

  Long Log Wall Section Recipe

  Hand-Split Floor Planks x8 (Common)

  Appearing right on top of his foundation were eight hand-split floor planks. He touched one, feeling in awe and thankful that he didn’t have to hand-cut them himself.

  Hand-Split Floor Planks (Common) — Rough wooden boards split from seasoned logs and shaved flat with careful axe work. Crude but sturdy, suitable for laying a basic cabin floor and covering uneven log foundations. When installed over a log foundation, it increases Comfort and Insulation while creating a smoother walking surface.

  “You want to sleep on a warm floor tonight?” John asked Luna, who sniffed at the planks. In addition to receiving the planks as a reward, he also received the recipe for them.

  Hand-Split Floor Planks Recipe:

  2 Logs + Axe = 4 Floor Planks

  The log wall recipe, much like the foundation, didn’t seem too daunting either.

  Log Wall Section Recipe:

  6 Logs

  2 Bark

  1 Cordage

  He also grew tremendously in his Woodcraft, given that he had just built the first part of his home.

  Woodcraft (+20): lvl 3 (70 / 200)

  His character level also increased.

  Level: 2 (140 / 150)

  John could hardly contain his excitement over having a little home out here. It was already coming together, and now he had the planks to make a little place.

  Although it wasn’t much, it was beginning to look like home.

  Though darkness was soon coming upon Meadowreach, he couldn’t help himself and quickly laid down the wooden planks. Thankfully, they all clicked together like Lego pieces as he set them across the foundation. To keep them steady, he did the best thing he could and wrapped cordage around each end so they were knotted firmly to the foundation beneath.

  The result was, well, a basic wooden floor.

  Once he had finished, and after Luna approved it was safe by prancing all over the top, he stepped back to appreciate all the hard work he had put into the day.

  There before him was the very beginning of his home. Soon he’d have walls and a roof and a door, maybe a cute little window. And, well, it was really endless from there. He could expand, build wings onto the house, maybe a library, a nice porch.

  The opportunities were endless.

  “What do you think?” John asked Luna, who leaped off the foundation and tumbled onto the wet grass below.

  Luna howled happily in response.

  “I was thinking the same thing,” John said, smiling.

  He thought about moving his tent up onto the foundation, but changed his mind as soon as he tried, and part of the insulated tent began to fall apart.

  “Maybe we should just call it a day,” John said to Luna, who gave a sad howl.

  Besides, he wanted to stay close to the fire and not have the fire close to his log house. That would be rather unfortunate if it caught fire. Still, he received his next quest for raising the first of his walls. It was only the coming darkness and the fact that he still hadn’t completed his preserve food for winter quest that stopped him from working that day.

  New Objective: Build the Walls

  Task:

  Build 4 Log Wall Sections

  “I’m looking forward to that,” John said, smiling as he returned to his dwindling fireplace, which was still warm enough. To his surprise, a flopping fish lay next to the campfire.

  “Did you do that for me?” John asked Luna.

  She didn’t say anything, but ran back to the river to play.

  John couldn’t help but feel touched by Luna’s gift. He threw the fish onto the grill, having no strength to do anything more, and ate it as soon as it was cooked.

  Cooking (+5): lvl 1 (75 / 100)

  With a full belly and a very, very exhausted body, John lay down in his insulated tent, content at his upgraded homestead status.

  [ HOMESTEAD ]

  Name: Meadowreach Homestead

  Tier: Common

  Homestead: lvl 1 (45 / 100 XP)

  — CONDITION —

  Structural Integrity: 30 / 100

  Insulation: 30 / 100

  Weather Resistance: 15 / 100

  Storage Capacity: 0 / 100

  Land Stability: 15 / 100

  — PASSIVES —

  Crude Shelter — Your camp now offers basic protection from wind and cold.

  Windbreak Barrier — Wind impact is reduced around the tent area.

  Raised Foundation — Ground moisture no longer seeps into your sleeping area.

  Wooden Floor — Sleeping comfort improved and warmth retained at night.

  Woodpile Rack — Wood drying improves and prevents rot.

  Despite his joy, he didn’t even have the strength to try washing his clothes or journaling. Instead, as darkness fell around him and his eyes grew heavier, he heard the strange, sad music of the soft violin once again. Because the rain was no longer falling, he was able to see a little way down the riverbank.

  John could hardly believe his eyes.

  The young elf, perhaps in her twenties, had golden, tousled hair woven with flowers, tiny forest berries, and sprigs of green leaves. She sat on a rock in the middle of the stream, playing a wooden violin with a calm yet sad expression as water still trickled in the river from the passing storm. Her ears were long and graceful, the delicate curve of them peeking through her hair. A small silver earring swayed from one tip whenever she moved. Her lips were brighter than any of the red flowers he had seen, making even the tears that ran down her pale cheeks starkly beautiful.

  She wore simple traveling clothes beneath her forest green cloak. A fitted bodice of deep red was laced neatly over a soft cream blouse, the sleeves loose. Over her shoulders rested a light leather mantle stitched with subtle curling patterns that resembled vines. The leather had clearly been repaired more than once, but the careful stitching suggested she had done the work herself.

  All John could do was stare, captivated by the breathtaking elf who was so lost in her music. Her watery golden eyes suddenly flickered up to his as she played, her lips parting slightly. But John only realized why she had noticed him when Luna came splashing back in from the stream. For a moment, they just stared at each other, her eyes glancing over to his foundation and then back to him with a worried expression on her face.

  But John only lay there watching her, even as she slowly withdrew from the stream and disappeared into the dark forest.

  12

  WANDERER

  In John’s dreams, he saw the elf again. This time, he was up close, watching her play the violin on a dark rock in the middle of the river. The elf paid no attention to John as the music drew him into the waters and up to her. It was only when he was directly in front of her that she looked up.

  “Why are you here?” she asked, her accent sharp, almost Scandinavian-like, though fluent in English. When John didn’t answer, she stood to her feet and stepped aside, revealing a swirling portal behind her. She gently grabbed his hand and pulled him into the portal.

  As she pulled John into it, he half expected to return to the sterile and pale government building. Instead, he came out into an impressively large crystal cavern. All around him were thousands of giant crystal shards, most of them purple and blue and teal, a few light green. Some were the size of his body, others larger than houses, spread throughout the cavern in a dazzling array.

  John was too captivated to pull back from the elf who continued dragging him toward another portal that sat just in front of him. He wanted to stay and observe the sprawling and twisting crystal cavern.

  But they walked into the next portal.

  Now they came to stretching desert valleys, reminding him of the Sahara Desert, but with giant sandstone statues of what looked like once-prominent elves with billowing capes, now half-buried in sand.

  Once again, he longed to study this part of the world, but she drew him to another portal.

  This time, they came out onto snowy mountains, which always loomed on the far distant horizon. Up here, there were ancient structures. Most noticeable was what looked like a giant tower, which he had not seen before, hidden behind a mountain cleft. It was entirely made of ice.

  The elf looked at it with a depressed glance, as if harboring some old, painful memory.

  She then took him to another portal along the snowy mountain, and out they came to a series of islands much like Hawaii, but with hundreds of them. Many of the islands floated above them, upheld by some invisible magic.

  He looked briefly at the stone arch that had brought them here, mesmerized by the beautiful magic of the place.

  But then, suddenly, the music faded, as did John’s mind.

  John woke up with a start, his eyes taking several seconds to readjust.

  How many biomes are there? he thought to himself as his mind came back.

  He lay in his insulated tent for a few minutes, enjoying the crisp, clean air as he reminisced on the dream and the strange, sad elf. The dream had felt so real, as if he had experienced it in the flesh.

  Was that even possible, though?

  He never understood the reality of dreams, nor why anyone had them, yet he could not shake the feeling that what he had seen through those portals was indeed real.

  As he lay there in his tent, he did not hear the soft tapping of rain or the rumble of thunder. Seeing that the sky ahead of him was no longer dark gray clouds with purple lightning, it meant the storm must have passed.

  Though John was hungry, he could not help but write down his dream in his journal. It was too vivid. He poured all of his thoughts onto the pages, thankfully remembering almost all the details. He wrote of the woman he had seen who had asked him why he was here, as if she were surprised. Along with the biomes, he even drew several of the portals to commit them to memory.

  Journaling (+5): lvl 1 (30 / 100)

  When he finished, he just stared at the journal for a few minutes, lost in wonder.

  Sitting in total quiet with birds chirping around him and the soft river gurgling just beyond, he realized it was too quiet. John looked up, expecting to see Luna curled up by the campfire as she had been, but she wasn’t there.

  For a brief second, John worried that she⁠—

  But then she came splashing up the river with several fish in her mouth.

  “Oh,” John said, sighing in relief. “There you are.”

  Luna ran up to the little campfire proudly, dropping two larger fish at John’s feet before backing away.

  John could not help but laugh. “You really like those fish, don’t you?”

  Companion Bond (+5): lvl 1 (45 / 100)

  Luna shook her crystalline fur, sending water droplets and a crystal-like essence out from her, some of it splashing onto John. He did not mind.

  “Okay, okay, I’m getting up,” John said, standing to his feet as she scattered away to bathe in the water.

  Once up, John turned around and glanced with appreciation at his foundation. It had held, and the logs were not rolled everywhere.

  Everything was in its place.

  John suddenly had the intense desire to add the walls and the roof in hopes of attracting the beautiful elf he had seen the previous night. He just could not get her out of his mind, or why she had looked so forlorn. He wanted to know why, and maybe help her in whatever way he could.

  Having a nice, warm home to give her rest would be the next best step.

  Yet he could not get too distracted, as he still had to preserve food. The cluster of mushrooms and berries in his tent would not last long. He needed to preserve them using his drying rack recipe. It would also help to get more food supplies, just in case winter arrived way too early.

  “So much to do, and so little time.”

  He was not too worried about it, though, as he liked puzzles and challenges like this. That was one of the reasons he became so good at his job. Sales was like a puzzle, even though he hated it.

  The puzzle of building a house and preservation was immensely satisfying for him to try to solve.

  John could do it. He would not be inept.

  John went down and rehydrated himself with Luna, splashing the cool, clear water into his face and scattering schools of fish. As he did so, he could not help but smell the BO stemming from his lumberjack clothes, and he winced in embarrassment. He would need to wash his clothes soon if that elf ever came back, which he hoped she did.

  After getting refreshed, he went back with Luna to his campfire and picked out a block of wood that had been kept dry on his woodpile rack. He had 11 logs left, and he wanted to save at least 10 for his quest. So he would have enough wood for tonight, but he would need to go chopping again, which strangely he was looking forward to.

  Taking the dry block, he chopped it into pieces and started the fire again.

  Hearthcraft (+5): lvl 1 (50 / 100)

  I think I’m becoming a natural at this, he thought pleasantly as the fire roared to life.

  He cooked the two ember fish that Luna had brought. As it cooked, he pulled up the recipe in his mind for the drying rack, which seemed simple enough. He only needed three logs, six branches, and cordage. The three logs he could cut rather easily.

  Once he and Luna had some rather crunchy ember fish, glowing slightly as a result, John’s Companion Bond increased by five points again. He wiped the fish grease on the muddy grass and rose to his feet.

  “Let’s go preserve some food. What do you think?” John asked as he picked up his axe.

  Luna, keeping her distance, danced around in a circle, clearly pleased by the idea.

  Since he was getting better at chopping wood, it did not take him too terribly long to chop down three logs and gather six branches. As he did so, Luna busied herself by chasing a cute rabbit with antlers who bounced quickly away into the woods.

  Woodcraft (+15): lvl 3 (85 / 200)

  Once he had finished and dragged the logs back to the campfire, which was still blazing with warmth, he decided to keep the drying rack near the woodpile rack in front of the windbreak. It would be the best location for keeping things from getting wet from any rain, close enough to the fire for smoke to help preserve it, but far enough to avoid burning the food. It was also within sight to watch for animals that would undoubtedly try to grab a snack from his drying rack.

  First, John took two of the logs, pushing them into upright positions in the ground like two poles, spacing them about shoulder-width apart and stomping the dirt around the bases to secure them. He then took the third log and lifted it across the two upright posts, balancing it atop the forked tops, which he carved with his axe, and tying it tightly using his cordage. Afterwards, he added six branches to his drying rack across the main crossbar, leaving small enough gaps for airflow.

  When he finished, the frame was still slightly wobbly, so he reinforced it by pressing dirt firmly around the logs and wedging small stones around the base.