The atmosphere around the camp gradually relaxed.
The towering Darkstone Wall continued its steady ascent in the distance, but after staring at it for nearly an hour, even sothing as absurd as a wall erging from the earth began to feel almost normal.... Almost.
The resource piles Elias and the others had produced remained stacked near the center of the territory, silent reminders that Velaris had officially entered a new stage of developnt.
For now, however, nobody seed interested in discussing economics, gathering efficiency, or future construction costs.
Dinner had beco a far more pressing concern.
A campfire crackled near the tents as Li Wei and Jin Taejin sorted through the supplies Iris had brought out from her space. Several cooking pots had already been placed over the flas, filling the air with a familiar scent that imdiately improved everyone’s mood.
There was sothing strangely comforting about hot food.
Especially after spending days surviving on hurried als, ergency rations, and whatever could be eaten while constantly watching for monsters.
Caleb stretched out on the grass beside the fire and sighed dramatically. "This is nice."
Nobody argued.
Because it really was the wall was rising, the territory was secured and esources were coming in.
Nobody was actively bleeding, by recent standards, the day had been extraordinarily successful.
Veronica settled onto a folding chair near the fire and shook her head.
"I still can’t believe we’re actually sitting around a campfire."
"What were you expecting?" Benjamin asked.
"Monsters."
"Fair."
"More running."
"Also fair."
"Less sitting."
"Definitely fair."
The group laughed.
The conversation drifted naturally from there.
Nobody talked about anything particularly important.
Instead, they discussed small things.
Things that would have seed completely ordinary back on Earth.
Favorite foods, terrible cooking experiences, family stories and embarrassing childhood mories.
The kind of conversations people only had when they felt safe enough to stop worrying about tomorrow for a few minutes.
Unfortunately, peace never survived long around certain individuals.
Caleb sat upright suddenly.
His eyes widened.
"Oh."
The single word imdiately attracted attention.
Several people looked over.
Benjamin narrowed his eyes.
"That tone concerns ."
Caleb pointed dramatically toward Elias.
"Elias."
Elias blinked. "What?"
"The monster."
Silence.
Then everyone’s expressions froze.
Elias stared.
"The monster."
"The monster."
"The monster."
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then realization appeared on Elias’s face.
"...Oh."
Daniel imdiately started laughing.
"You forgot about it."
"I did not forget."
"You absolutely forgot."
"I temporarily misplaced the mory."
"That’s called forgetting."
"It isn’t."
"It literally is."
The argunt lasted approximately three seconds before collapsing beneath its own stupidity.
anwhile, Veronica looked between them "What monster?"
Elias rubbed the back of his neck. "The one from earlier."
"The one you stored?"
"The one I stored."
"The one nobody ntioned for hours?"
"...Yes."
Caleb slowly pointed at him. "You put an unidentified alien monster inside your storage and forgot about it."
"When you say it like that, it sounds irresponsible."
"Because it was irresponsible."
"It was resource managent."
"It was absolutely not."
The group dissolved into laughter again.
Even Elias looked slightly embarrassed.
Eventually he sighed and opened his storage.
A mont later, sothing large appeared on the grass.
Thud.
Several people instinctively leaned backward.
The creature’s body landed heavily on the ground beside the campfire.
For a mont, nobody spoke.
Now that they were looking at it without the pressure of combat, the creature appeared even stranger than before.
Its body vaguely resembled a mountain goat.
Vaguely.
The proportions were wrong,the limbs were slightly too long and the shoulders too broad.
Its dark hide carried faint patterns that looked almost like veins of stone running beneath the skin.
Most unsettling of all were the twisted horns protruding from its head.
They curved backward in multiple directions rather than following any natural shape Iris had ever seen.
Caleb stared. "Okay."
Nobody responded.
He pointed. "That is not a goat."
"It was never a goat," Daniel said.
"It was goat-shaped."
"Those are completely different things."
"I know."
"It sounds like you don’t."
"It definitely sounds like you don’t."
The argunt restarted imdiately.
Iris ignored them.
Instead, she stepped closer to the corpse.
Curiosity had already won.
If monsters could potentially beco a food source, understanding them mattered.
She activated Appraisal.
A familiar notification appeared before her eyes.
[ Stonehorn Grazer
Classification: Common Beast
Threat Level: Low
Toxicity: None
Consumption Status: Safe
Nutritional Value: Below Average
Description: A herbivorous beast commonly found in forested regions of Eldilon. While safe for consumption, the quality of its at is generally considered poor. ]
For several seconds, Iris simply stared.
Then she looked up. "It’s edible."
The entire group paused.
"...Really?" Veronica asked.
Iris nodded. " it has no toxins, no dangerous contaminants.... Nothing that should kill us."
Caleb’s eyes imdiately lit up. "So you’re saying it’s dinner."
Li Wei raised a hand. "That’s not what she said."
Everyone looked toward him.
" she said the at is poor." Elias ntioned
Caleb shrugged. "Poor at is still at."
Jin Taejin laughed. "Spoken like soone who doesn’t have to cook it."
Unfortunately, curiosity had already won. Within minutes the Stonehorn Grazer was being butchered.
Several strips of at soon found themselves over the fire.
The sll that followed was... strange.
Not bad but not good either. It was Just.... strange.
Like soone had attempted to combine venison, beef, and tree bark into a single ingredient.
Eventually the first pieces were ready. Everyone stared, nobody moved.
Then Caleb grabbed one. "You know what?" He pointed at the others. "If I die, rember fondly."
"You are being incredibly dramatic," Veronica said.
Caleb took a bite and chewed.... Continued chewing.... Then kept chewing.
The entire group watched and finally, he swallowed.
Silence fill the air safe for the constant crackle of the campfire.
"...Well?" Benjamin asked unconsciously holding his breath
Caleb stared into the fire. "It tastes like disappointnt."
The camp erupted into laughter then the others tried it.
The verdict remained largely the sa.
Edible?... Technically.
The texture was tough and the flavor was bland. The at seed determined to fight back long after death.
Even Li Wei eventually surrendered. "I’ve done everything I can."
"That bad?" Benjamin asked.
Li Wei pointed at the at. "So ingredients cannot be saved."
The resulting laughter echoed across the territory.
For a little while longer, the conversation continued.
The fire crackled.
The wall continued rising in the distance as they finally relaxed.
And for the first ti in what felt like forever, nobody worried about imdiate survival.
Night gradually deepened. The forest beyond the wall beca darker. The stars grew brighter.
Then Caleb suddenly looked upward. His expression changed. "...Huh?"
Benjamin glanced over. "What now?"
Caleb didn’t answer imdiately. Instead, he pointed toward the sky. Everyone followed his gaze.
Then froze.
Above them hung two moons.
Not one... Two.
One was larger and silver-white, bathing the world in pale light. The second was smaller. Faintly blue, almost hidden beside its larger companion.
For a minute, nobody spoke.
The sight was beautiful. Unfamiliar. Wrong. And sohow srizing.
"I never noticed that before," Claire whispered.
"Neither did I." Evelina admitted.
Henry continued staring upward. "When exactly would we have noticed?"
Nobody answered imdiately.
Because everyone already knew the answer.
The first day had been chaos, after that ca the forest, then the cave.... Then King’s Territory.
Every mont had been consud by survival. By the constant running, fighting and adapting.
Nobody had possessed the luxury of simply looking up.
Veronica folded her arms. "When was the last ti any of us actually stopped to admire the sky?"
Nobody could rember.
The realization settled quietly over the group. The stars above looked familiar enough... Yet not familiar at all.
The moons alone made that impossible.
This was not Aurilion, not a distant country, not another continent or sowhere hidden beyond the horizon.
It was an entirely different world. The thought should have been terrifying.
Oddly enough, it wasn’t.
Perhaps because they had already accepted it without realizing.
Or perhaps because there was no point fighting reality.
Eventually Daniel let out a breath. "Still feels weird."
"Yeah," Marcus agreed. "It does."
The conversation drifted elsewhere soon afterward.
People gradually returned to eating. Others prepared to sleep.
A few remained around the fire. The peaceful atmosphere lingered.
anwhile, Iris quietly opened her Territory Panel. The familiar screen appeared before her eyes.
Nobody else noticed.
Most had beco accustod to her occasionally staring into empty space.
She began reviewing various nus again.
Buildings, Infrastructure, Defense, Resources.
Information she had skimd earlier while distracted by more urgent matters.
Then sothing caught her attention. A small icon positioned near the corner of the interface.
The icon looked like a gear.
Iris frowned. She did not rember seeing that before. Curiosity imdiately surfaced.
After a brief hesitation, she selected it. A new nu opened.
she simply stared at it... stunned.
Then she sat up straighter.
In this tab there were options for custom structures, custom interiors and even custom residences.
Her eyes widened. Slowly, she began reading. Then reading again. And again.
The implications hit almost imdiately.
Until now, she had assud Velaris would eventually be forced to use standard system buildings. The sa houses, the sa layouts, the sa designs, the sa appearance.
Just like every other territory. Including King’s Territory.
But this... This was different.... Very different.
Iris continued reading as excitent gradually replaced surprise. The system wasn’t rely offering buildings.
It was offering freedom.
The freedom to decide what those buildings looked like. The freedom to decide how they functioned. The freedom to decide what kind of place Velaris would beco. A slow smile appeared on her face.
Beyond the campfire, her family continued talking beneath the twin moons. Beyond the territory, the forest stretched endlessly into the darkness. And sowhere in the distance, the Darkstone Wall continued its steady ascent.
For the first ti since arriving in Eldilon, Iris could genuinely picture the future.
Not rely surviving or enduring.
But building, creating and growing. Velaris did not have to look like every other territory.
It could beco sothing entirely its own. And suddenly, tomorrow could not arrive fast enough.
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