Chapter 10 - The Neighbor's Request

Before James could go near the forge, there was a message from house' consciousness.

The house could not converse verbally, but it could relay its thoughts to James easily, which was convenient.

It had made a request of absorbing the newly produced metal bar from the forge.

The house itself didn't knew the reason for this immediate craving of absorbing the metal bar, but it had a premonition that it would become stronger after absorbing it.

These thoughts were flooding in James' mind one after other that made him mutter softly, "Really!?"

At first thought, James asked the system.

There was only one reply, "Host, After having a consciousness of its own, the house can find its source of evolution and mutation easily. The changes will be unpredictable but helpful to the host."

It was the second request ever made from the house, and it had relayed its emotion very clearly.

James went forward to his mother for the metal bar and asked, "Mom, Do you have a use for this metal bar?"

James had already thought that his mother would definitely have a use for the metal bar, so he had already given up halfway and offered his condolences to the house through his thoughts.

His mother replied, "No, I only created it to test out my skill, so there is no use for it."

James had now discovered a trace of hope for house.

Before he could place his request, his mother said, "Oh! Yeah, I was wondering if you could use it to enhance the house. I mean, you have enhanced it thrice with your skill already, so I thought you could combine it with a piece of this metal bar?" with a considerate look.

James was now in a daze and spoke, "Uh… Yeah. I can enhance it with the metal bar. Looks like our thoughts are the same, mom." and placed the iron bar on the floor of the basement.

James gave the house an order to absorb the metal bar.

A dozen small roots gushed out of the basement floor surrounding the metal bar. The roots wrapped the metal bar and started breaking it into smaller pieces.

A single root was formed when the small roots gathered the pieces together. The root started inflating, and the bark patterns were now visible with their gaps, filling them with the newly broken down pieces of metal bar.

The metal pieces were engulfed in the bark gaps, turning back into their original shape after the metal pieces were devoured inside the root.

There was a surge of painful emotions from the house' consciousness, and there was a message that could be spelled as 'I will be fine in a moment.'

After he got the message from it, James didn't worry about the house's condition.

He went forward and looked at the roots underneath, moving and overlapping each other through the hole created by the huge root.

No matter how much he looked at it, there were no visible changes. He stood up and took everyone upstairs.

His mom and dad had a meal and went straight to their bedroom for a sleep to relieve themselves from the fatigue. The felt asleep really quick right after laying on the bed.

James and the neighbor were left alone in the dining room. Alita was sitting in front of him, hesitating to ask for something.

She gathered the courage and spoke softly, "Um… James, can you accompany me to my house?"

James was shocked at first to listen the sentence before listening the rest of her sentence.

"I…have not been able to change for the past week. I promise I will be done in a couple of minutes." with a bashful yet innocent facial expression.

James didn't say anything and gestured her to tag along to her house. Her house was at a walking distance, and she hurriedly went inside.

James stayed outside as he remembered to prioritize her privacy and has a thought revolving in his mind, "Just how many people are able to change their clothes after this crisis has befallen on them?"

This thought never came to his mind in his past life after the apocalypse had befallen. He remembered that it was months after he had changed a single set of clothes.

James didn't let his thoughts cloud his present. Since he got a new chance, he would try to give everything to the people around him. Thus, building a shelter was the first step.

To protect the people, a safe haven is the essential step, otherwise they would have to be on alert even during their sleep.

James had experienced it, as the citizens in shelter would always be told to do the labor, and they could get hardly any peaceful sleep if they ever had one after the apocalypse.

These thoughts were now turning into a resolution that he wanted to conquer at any cost. He only had one thought in his mind.

'Protect everyone around me!'

There was a new set of instructions from the system.

*Ding*

"New quest acquired.

Quest Details – Shelter construction

Quest Requirements -

(1) A building of level 3 or higher.(Acquired)

(2) An E-rank hunter.

Time – 2 weeks

Reward – Awakening of the shelter inhabitants.

Failure – The house will be demoted to level 0."

James was now confused to read the quest in series for the first time with a deadline.

Taking the time in consideration, it won't be hard to enhance himself to the E-rank. There was only one thing that bothered him, which a hundred zombies who were needed to reach the E-rank.

He had to kill the zombies with his own strength. He had thought of the nearby crowds outside the neighborhood, which was a nice choice to ensure his safety.

James was busy creating a plan in his head, but little did he know that Alita was beside him in a black and blue household clothes with two red suitcases in both her hands.

She was not afraid anymore, but there was still a trace of distortion in her mind of the recent events. After being saved by James, she had a respectful and trustworthy impression towards him.

She didn't dare to disturb the currently 'mastermind' James and stood there behind him for at least 15 minutes.

After a few calculations of his plan, James came back to his senses and turned around to look at the neighbor's house door.

He was shocked to see that she was asleep on the floor of her doorstep with the support of her two suitcases.