A few days later, Damion received word from Garrett Caplan, the name of the old Water mage. The plans were ready to be reviewed. This would be his opportunity to request changes and find out how much his new home was going to cost him. After making his way back to Calm Sea, as James Picard, Damion sat down with the A Rank Water mage to review the plans.

Before him was Mage Caplan's tablet displaying a three-dimensional layout of the proposed structure. When Damion gave them the dimensions of 25 meters by 25 meters, he did not think they would make use of the entire footprint, but they had tried. Looking over the designs, Damion found a few things that he wanted change, mostly because he did not need a traditional house.

Overall, the design was simple, yet elegant. Not that Damion cared if his home was elegant or not. Each wall was magically reinforced and had enchantments to keep Ferocious and Demonic Beasts away.

"A boxy design is fine, possibly more suitable for my needs," Damion told the Water mage. "There is no need for the sloped roof or exterior windows and only one exterior door is fine."

Mage Caplan nodded at Damion's comments and took notes so he could alter the designs later on.

"Make sure the walls, roof and the exterior door are reinforced."

"With the change in roof style, would you like a second floor added?" Mage Caplan asked.

"That would be acceptable."

A second floor really was not needed, but it would not hurt to have extra room. The main things Damion was worried about was a cave in. He wanted to make sure that his house would be able to withstand the pressure and weight of dirt and stone should his magic-made cavern collapse on his house. Since he was building underground, he had no need for windows or a roof that would let rain flow off. If not for the fact that he could not open a portal to somewhere he had not been before, he would not even need a door.

"Is there a separate artifact for water and air recycling?"

"Yes. Here in the floor of the structure," Mage Caplan said, highlighting a section of the design. "Used water and waste will flow to this holding tank and then is moved to a purifying tank. The purifying tank will destroy any solid waste and make the water useable again by destroying any impurities. From there, the water moves to the third tank for storage until needed.

"As for the air recycling, each room has an independent enchantment that will remove toxins and refresh the air to keep it breathable. In addition to the recycling factor, I have included a climate control feature on the enchantments as well. Each room can be set to a specific temperature for idealized comfort."

"Excellent," Damion said, pleased with the plans so far. "Will you be able to supply suitable appliances, stove, refrigeration unit and the like?"

"Yes. I will include the very latest of our home appliance artifacts for you. I will update these plans and have a new design for you to review tomorrow. Can my family offer you any accommodations for the night?"

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Not needed. I have other matters I must attend to."

Damion did not linger in Argentum after leaving Calm Sea. Instead, he used Portal to take him back to where Phil was waiting and the two continued their exploration of the area.

Despite having found a few Breaches early on, they had yet to locate another one. Instead, most of their time was spent killing aggressive Ferocious Beasts and Demonic Beasts they encountered while exploring.

What Damion was quickly realizing he that he was needing a way to process Demonic Beasts for their materials. Most materials he had no use for, wanting only the cores, but that did not mean he wanted to let the materials go to waste.

The more creatures he killed the larger his stockpile grew. Most of the Demonic Beasts and Ferocious Beasts he and Phil encountered were only D Rank and below, but he had a growing mountain of carcasses in his personal storage space that he needed to get processed.

"Maybe I should have asked for a special room to process all the beasts I'm killing," Damion commented to Phil as he pulled a group of D Rank Ferocious Beasts into his space.

'Food room.'

"Yes, there is a kitchen and dining room. And the ceiling is high enough for you to come inside with me if you want, but I doubt you will like living underground. "

'Prefer sky.'

"Me too buddy. Maybe next time I will ask them to build me a flying house. Then all we have to worry about would be random flying beasts. But I'm sure you can take care of those."

Phil let out an affirmative chirp at that and then returned to eating one of the Ferocious Beasts they had just killed.

A few days had passed since Damion had reviewed and approved the final plans for his artifact house, but it was not yet ready. A few more days and Mage Caplan should have the structure built, Damion just hoped the Magic System Inventory would not disappoint him. Given that he had already stored enormous Demonic Beasts and even a large cargo container, he was fairly certain the Inventory would let him store the house. However, he would not know for sure until he tried.

When Mage Caplan finally contacted Damion with the news that his home was completed, Damion excitedly headed to Argentum to pick it up. He did not mind living out of a tent, but having a house, where he could cook, sleep and bathe in comfort was too appealing.

The thought crossed his mind that with the size of the house he was buying he would be able to move his family into it with him. But he held himself back from making them that offer. If he asked, they were likely to agree to live with him, but what kind of life would it be? He did not mind living underground, with no windows, on recycled air and water. But how could he ask his family to do that.

Bethany needed sunshine and to socialize with other children. His father, Caleb, loved his job too much and would go stir crazy living in an underground bunker, even if he was working to design an entire city and school for Damion and Mage Teft. Sharon would not complain, she would be happy to be near her baby boy again, but he knew she would not want to impose this prison on others of the family.

Then there was Elicia. As her pregnancy continued, she would need to get checkups to say nothing of when the baby was actually born. Damion knew a little about healing and field dressing wounds, but that was a far cry from a qualified midwife.

No. For now, Damion had to be content with the occasional visit to check up on them. His private bunker was fine for himself, but he could not force his family to live a solitary life. Even if they were already in hiding, hiding in plain sight was a lot different than in a bunker on the edge of a Red Zone.

"So, this is it," Damion said.

He was standing in front of a large grey box with a single door in front of it. It did not look like much, but then Damion had not expected it to. The purpose of his new home was to hide in luxury. Once he deposited this in his underground cavern, he could return to it every day and relax before he headed back out to explore.

"Would you like a brief tour?" Mage Caplan asked, opening the thick front door from Damion.

"That would be wonderful."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.