Monster Jousting Book 3 - Chapter 21 (Patreon)

Returning back to his house through the tunnel, Noah spotted some new wildlife when he resurfaced into his living room. 

Outside the windows, strange squirrel-like creatures dashed around the grass, darting up the trees when they noticed Noah leering at them. They had bright white spots on their back, and their bushy tail wasn’t as fluffy as he remembered. Spikes hid between the fur. It was a reminder that no matter how cute these animals seemed, they all had a method to kill, or defend themselves from predators.

It seemed that with the Hallowed monsters gone, new wildlife was making itself known. It was like something he had read from a book one time – as rare as that was. If one took out a predator from the area, other wild-life would take its place. But of course, that also brought with it problems of its own. What if the squirrel was an invasive species? What if they shit on his roof, or nibbled at his gutters. 

They better not. The System worked hard on this place. Besides, it costs me every time I want to repair it, thought Noah as he was reminded of his dwindling Grace Coins. 

Speaking of, it was time to see what he could create. The moment he opened his Building System, he was met with some new notifications.

[Hallowed] Unique building unlocked - Hallowed Defensive Perimeter: As a harbinger of the Hallowed, you have the power to command it at will. Empowered by your Home, from the foundations of your building, once the Hallowed is activated, will exude the Hallowed Mist from within, expunging it outward. The monsters hiding within its veil will attack and defend anything that targets your Home.

| Grace Coins: 50,000

Noah nodded. If it was anything like what his personal power was like, then it would be a good deterrent for anything that decided to attack. It was a far better defensive option than what he currently had available, anyway. 

Right now, he had mounted wall ballistas, natural defence such as motes, hills, pits. They weren’t good. Looking further in the list, the upgrades weren’t much better, either. It seemed that unlocking the good stuff was all down to one’s Achievements, and the Pathstones/Profession that they acquired during their travels. Just like reaching the Level-limit, or so the manual had said. Although he hadn’t reached that ceiling yet. He must have had enough achievements to blow past the Level 100 mark. Thankfully.

The Hallowed Defensive Perimeter cost 50,000. It was a lot. That, and the fact that the description said it would be empowered, led him to believe that it was a stronger version than he had.

The current him had just over 100,000. He had gained a lot during the castle brawl, and the journey of getting there. 

Before committing to a decision whether or not to buy the defensive perimeter, he moved onto the next option that he had gained. This time, it was from his Profession.

[Ethereal Grabbing] Unique building unlocked - Fishing the Stars: Ethereal Grabbing is the act of fishing the universe, and so, water is not always needed. Creates a vast sky on the ceiling of a new room, which you can pluck the fish out from the vast expanse of the nothing above. The amount of fish created is based on Level. For every 100 Levels, 25 fish will spawn.
| Grace Coins: 500,000

Noah’s jaw hung open at not only the description, but the price at which it cost to build. 500,000?! He’d have to sell an arm and a leg if he wanted to afford that!

And fishing the stars out of the sky in his own personal room? Noah couldn’t help but sink into his thoughts. If the room was capable of that, then was it a clue as to what he may be able to achieve in the future?

He hadn’t received a Skill from the new Profession, which was strange as it broke the rules he had learned so far. Did it mean he had to do something to unlock it? Or receive it from a rare fish? The only thing he could do was wait and see.

But even if he could afford the building, wouldn’t it be a death sentence? Although he was pretty strong now, was he even capable of defeating fishes from the stars? That was pretty crazy, and magical. He couldn’t see that happening. Yeah, nope.

Thankfully, there was another option from his new Fishing Class.

[Ethereal Grabbing] Unique building unlocked - Grabbing Workshop: Create a workshop to turn your Fishing Rod into Grabbing Gauntlets. Some fish don’t bite bait. These require a more personal touch.

| Cost 25,000

Oh, that’s a good one! He didn’t really know what grabbing gauntlets were, exactly. But he knew that bare hand fishing was a technique used back on earth to hunt for monkfish. Yeah, he couldn’t imagine bare-handing otherworld fish with crazy sharp teeth. That didn’t sound fun. But with a gauntlet, that would be much better.

Noah couldn’t figure out how it would work. Turning a fishing rod into a gauntlet? It didn’t make sense. But he was eager to find out how it would work.

The next one was something he definitely needed.

[Father of Monsters] Unique building unlocked - Mole Tunnel (Expanded): Step inside the tunnel, close your eyes, and you will be at your destination. Just like the power of the Space Mole.

| Cost 50,000

And that was it. There were no other buildings as of yet. 

Noah had to think. He wanted all three of the ones he could afford, but he could only afford two of them. IKn the end, he decided upon Mole Tunnel – which he absolutely needed – and Grabbing Workshop. 

He received a prompt that he had bought them, now he needed the materials to actually craft the new rooms. Well, he didn’t need anything for the Mole Tunnel, which was nice. But the Grabbing Workshop needed a high Level fishing rod – which he had obtained from the Master Fisher – and wood and stone.

Thankfully, there were a hell of a lot of trees outside that could be cut. Thraz had the Chopper Profession which would make quick work with that. But stone was different. No-one had that Profession. Yield would be lessened, it would be tougher. 

And apparently they needed a stone named - Kronite. What the hell was Kronite? So, Noah spent the entirety of that day going around both on the island where his house was located, and the island where the castle was. That meant Noah had to go back into the tunnel. With the upgraded version, the moment he closed his eyes, he reappeared on the other side. It was strange. He had literally teleported. 

There’s a mole species that can teleport within their tunnel systems? It sounded awesome. That would be Krall’s next evolution, definitely.

Krall was hard at work with creating the other tunnel towards the mainland, which cost Noah around 20 thousand or so, so that meant he didn’t have his number 1 excavator for finding stone. After all, he was under a time constraint. He needed to get back to the mainland to see how the kids were doing. He could have swam, but the sea monsters resided within. It was a miracle he made it here in the first place.

In the end, he couldn’t find the Kronite stone he needed on the two islands. 

There was another island closeby, but he doubted it would be there. It looked identical to the one he was on. 

No, it was time to wait for Krall to finish creating the tunnel, and head into the mainland once again.