Loud noises spread across a 300-meter radius—sounds of falling rocks, collapsing walls, and explosive smashing echoed nonstop. It lasted all night until dawn.
The rays of sunlight illuminated the Elsis Ruins. John sat atop the pile of rubble from the abandoned house he had dismantled.
With practiced movement, he took out a chicken leg from his inventory, roasted it instantly, and began to eat.
While chewing, John tried to probe the mysterious house nearby, but he only gathered a little information.
When his senses crossed the fence, he discovered the house was enveloped in a barrier. The fence served as its boundary. At a glance, it appeared to be just a normal house. But if you used probing techniques, you'd uncover secrets hidden in plain sight.
From a bird's eye view, the house looked like it was inside a snow globe, thanks to the barrier and the surrounding fence. When I sent my senses past the barrier, I discovered the space within had a scale of ???—larger than this planet by ??? times. The house at the center shared the same vast scale.
The distance between the house and the fence/barrier was ???, while the scale of the house itself was ???. Standing in that space, I could clearly see the unimaginably massive house. Wherever you are in the barrier, you would always see the house at the center.
I tried to probe the house interior, but I couldn't. The house itself was blocking me. Then the human form of the house appeared, placing a finger on her lips in a shushing gesture. She looked like a beautiful girl with long twin-braided black hair, blue eyes, circular glasses with a black frame, fair skin, a busty figure, and wore a black school uniform with a short skirt.
her image.
Seeing her, I smiled and waved in greeting. She smiled brightly and waved back. We exchanged hand signs, talking about random things—our names, hometowns, favorite foods, hobbies, and more.
While we chatted in sign language, a thought occurred: why were we using hand signs? We could've just spoken, even across this unimaginably vast space, and we'd still hear each other—thanks to her.
Well, whatever.
We continued exchanging signs and conversation until the next day.
When morning came, I said goodbye and explained I had something to do—building my house.
She nodded in understanding and said she wanted to visit. I agreed.
With a joyful laugh, she vanished.
"Now to the next step," I said, standing up from the rubble.
With a flick of my fingers, undying flames erupted beneath my feet, devouring the entire pile of rubble in seconds—consuming it until nothing was left, not even ashes.
I dismissed the flame after it served its purpose. Only the exposed basement and bare land remained.
Now I needed materials to rebuild. What should I do? Take out materials from my inventory, exchange some gold for valis, or earn money in the Dungeon and buy them?
If I did the first, it would be too fast and easy. The second—same case. The third is time-consuming, a bit bothersome, and honestly foolish—especially given what I already possess.
Still, I'll take the third way. It's more fun that way. But I can't enter the Dungeon right now.
I thought, glancing at the Babel Tower, where the entrance to the Dungeon lay.
The Dungeon's exterior size was around 10,000 meters, shaped like a massive pyramid with a square base. But once inside, it was a different story. Expect a scale of ???—and that's only for the deeper floors. And by deeper floors, I mean trillions.
Bustling Streets of Orario
I walked through the crowded streets, looking for a supplier. Along the way, I found many structures that gave off the same feeling as the Pantheon.
Out of every ten buildings, at least one gave that same distinct aura. All of them had something in common—they were subordinate companies of the largest business organization in the world: the Red Way Association. A massive business entity under the Merchant Guild, they led the global economy, controlling 50% of it—or so it appeared. If you dig deeper, you'd find they actually controlled the entire economy.
Their main industries? Hospitality and accommodation.
Almost every structure that gave off the Pantheon's feeling was residential or lodging-related. Every one of them was the same kind of building as the Pantheon.
I kept walking, discreetly observing those structures.
After a while, I finally found a good supplier. A company offering low prices but high-quality goods.
It was a hardware store. The building was quite large—each floor was 50 meters long and wide, with a height of 4 meters. The building had five floors in total.
Clang!
"Welcome to Urba Hardware Store," said an old man with a cigarette in his mouth, wearing flip-flops.
He looks so professional, I thought, slightly amused by his outfit.
He reminded me of veteran construction workers from my home world. He even wore sunglasses to complete the look. My mind wandered, reminiscing about my homeland.
"What do you need, kid?" the old man asked again when he noticed my silence.
"Building materials," I answered, pulling myself out of my thoughts.
"Follow me, kid," the old man gestured, then shouted, "Ema, come here and look after the store!"
A childish voice shouted back, "Coming!"
After that, the old man led me up the stairs. We ascended several floors until we reached the fourth.
There, he introduced me to various materials—cement, bricks, roof tiles, wood, and many more.
I browsed through the selection and picked out the items that caught my attention—only the highest quality. After gathering what I needed, I purchased them and stored them in my inventory.
When the old man saw the materials vanish into thin air, his expression twisted in confusion and surprise.
"Where did the materials go?" he asked, looking around, bewildered.
"I just put them in a safe place," I replied calmly.
"Kids these days... full of surprises."
I waved a hand as I walked toward the door. The old man returned to his chair and quickly fell asleep. His granddaughter attended the store. When customers entered, the little girl would bonk her grandfather's head with a thick book waking him up.