Chapter 66 – Enclosure

Sal couldn’t help but laugh as he watched the chaos unfold. Their lunch had gone down without a hitch, but afterward, Ioseph of all people had managed to catch Erika’s ire with a simple suggestion. Her screeches at him had become the lighthearted entertainment that everyone needed.

“How many times do I have to explain it to you? This is an expensive piece of purification equipment—you can’t just piss in it!” Erika’s eyes were wide as she stared at Ioseph as if he were an idiot.

It was Ioseph’s uncaring stoicism that made the scene play out all the funnier. He kept replying with the same sentence repeatedly, as though it were obvious: “It cleanses and purifies things. Why can’t I piss in it? It’ll make drinkable water much faster than the current rate.”

He was steadfast that his argument was sound. He just failed to register the revulsion that it caused Erika, who clearly owned the device. Rochelle was trying to explain it to Ioseph, but that just made it funnier.

Sal and Brophy grinned the entire time they ripped apart the duffel bags. The discussion had raised a massive oversight on their part, and they had to dig an area near their camp where they could relieve themselves. Ioseph clearly hadn’t availed of it when he was erecting the barriers around it, because he seemed more agitated by Erika’s insistence that he couldn’t piss on her things.

Brophy acted as though he and Sal never had their earlier conversation. It was a little startling at first to see him slip back into character, but Sal eventually got used to it and decided to leave it alone. All he could focus on doing was ensuring they got through this week without killing one another or getting injured.

“Okay, that’s all of them disassembled. You got a sewing kit tucked away somewhere?” Brophy laughed as he put his hands on his hips and looked at the scattered mess of fabric on the ground. “Should we at least sort it to make it easier for you?” he asked tentatively, as though realizing the task ahead.

Sal grinned as he kept his voice low. “You trusted me with a secret, so it’s only fair that I return the favor.”

Brophy’s brow furrowed, but Sal could tell that he was curious. Bringing his gloved hands into view, Sal threw a surge of essence through them before yanking back on the leash.

Brophy staggered back as Sal’s arms transformed into gleaming black mechanical claws. His shocked expression was replaced with a grin as he moved closer to get a better look. “That’s incredible… It’s from your uniform?”

Rather than answering, Sal got to work on the materials as he focused on making them all one giant piece. His essence and intent did the rest for him as his claws fused pieces together. His Deduction ability created the optimal method for assembly, and it was practically an automatic process.

Brophy watched on in fascination as the materials were expertly folded atop one another, with each new piece becoming a layer. Every so often, the entire stack would rotate and the fused material would be added onto a different area.

Sal didn’t feel much strain on his essence as the scrap had all been turned into a rough tarp. Its quality was understandably low, barely even scraping at the Common grade. With the materials prepared, he brought up the rough schematic on the ground and looked at the tarp in his hands, hoping that it would be enough to activate the Mythcrafter ability. A single flash of his visor caused him to grin.

“Now it’s time for the fun part…but it stays between us, okay?” Sal gave Brophy a conspiratorial wink, which got a laugh from him.

“You have even more tricks to show me?” Brophy crossed his arms as he looked at the tarp in Sal’s hands. “I thought it was done? It looks sturdy enough to handle the elements, and we can use the straps to loop around the top of the rocks.”

He was right, but Sal didn’t want to settle for something adequate when Prestige had challenged his ability to craft a tent. Sure, she was likely goading him, but it worked.

“Let me try this out first, and if it doesn’t work out, we can revert it back to this.”

“Revert it?” Brophy repeated as he watched Sal’s eye turn purple. “You do have two abilities, don’t you? Normally your eye goes silver when you do an Appraisal!”

All Sal gave him in return was another wink. He started to craft the tent, which was by far the largest construct he had ever worked on. But that didn’t matter to the visor or the Mythcrafter ability. It was simply a project that needed to be completed, and they were sufficient to guide Sal to the finish line. He was eager to get it done before Prestige returned so he’d get to see the look on her face.

His essence flowed into the fabric and although it was a trash material, it absorbed it well. One of the surprising factors was that Sal had to physically move over to the location where he wanted to erect the tent. He followed the instruction and laid the material out on the ground in front of the pointed rocks, which was draped over their gathered supplies. Sal frowned as the visor started to add their supplies as potential materials, and he had to hold it back forcibly from continuing the craft.

One of the frayed edges touched the rock and much to Sal’s amazement, it wanted to know whether the rock was able to be used as a material. Sal’s curiosity got the better of him, and he included the pointed fingers in his design, but made sure that their structure and the runes Ioseph had carved into them were preserved. Everything suddenly became a lot more complicated. Sal had to map out his vision with the tarp, reaching up to place the edges of the glowing material against the now glowing rock.

“What is even happening?” Brophy watched Sal in bemusement.

The others stopped their squabbling to watch, with Rochelle getting excited by the display, but Ioseph looked on with a dark expression. Sal could tell that he was worried about the runes, but it wouldn’t be an issue.

Despite the new complexity, Mythcrafter told him that he needed to fuse the rocks and material with his essence. If he didn’t have the ability guiding him, he would have thought that the concept was insane. His plan for a sloping material tarp had ended up getting changed by Mythcrafter, and not even Sal knew what the final result was going to look like. As it hung loosely in the air, Sal moved back to retrieve the straps while still holding one of the edges. He didn’t want to risk finalizing the design before it was done. The metal fixtures would come afterward.

Almost an hour passed with Sal moving to different sections of the glowing tarp, smoothing edges and tracing his mechanical clawed hand over the material in a state of complete concentration. Erika’s demands that he just hang the tarp fell on deaf ears, and Brophy gestured that it was going to be fine. Ioseph’s expression had turned into one of curiosity.

Sal double-checked everything and finally smiled in satisfaction. The runes on the material felt completely unnecessary, but as always, his ability dictated the correct way to do it. He wondered whether his essence would have managed to get it up to the Uncommon grade, but that felt like wishful thinking. He wasn’t Blathnaid by any stretch, and he had awful materials to work with, but time would tell how it worked out.

With a step back, Sal deactivated his ability and watched as the glowing tarp started to lose its luster. He wasn’t able to use Appraise on it yet, so it looked like they were in for a bit of a wait. With that in mind, Sal turned to face the group as he deactivated his armor and returned his hands to normal. It was by far, one of the shortest crafting exercises he’d done, but he imagined it felt like an eternity to everyone forced to watch him.

“Salvatore!” Brophy called as he pointed at the area behind Sal. Everyone’s mouth was agape as the tarp started to rise on its own.

Sal laughed with a shrug. “I was wondering what way it was going to work out, but it looks pretty reliable.”

He watched as the tarp’s creases disappeared. It was straightening itself out and creating a large interior for their sleeping area. Better than that, the material looked to have changed in composition, becoming a wall of slate rock. If their original campsite had looked like a palm of a hand, it now looked like it was holding a gray card in it, with each of the fingertips holding the edge.

“As impressive as this is…how do we get inside?” Erika voiced what the others were thinking, based on their nods of concern.

Sal smiled as he walked to the very edge of the tarp that had pushed itself into the ground. Reaching down, he grabbed what looked like a rock and pulled it upward. What should have sounded like a zipper had ended up clicking and clacking as the rocks separated to grant him entry. That had earned a few gasps, but when he folded the rock back like it was a piece of fabric, they were stunned.

“Who wants to see inside?” he asked before stepping into the interior.

Their wall was still intact, with the shimmering barriers allowing natural light to flow into the space, illuminating everything. It was going to be cramped, but with only four people staying in there, it would have to do. The space was slightly bigger than the workshop room in his dorm.

“Oh wow. This is a fucking vibe.” Brophy laughed as he touched the material from the inside. “It doesn’t feel like rock, but the outside is ridiculously hard? How did you manage this?”

Sal activated his visor and finally appraised the structure, wondering what it was going to tell him.

Name	Rock Enclosure
Origin	Crafted
Age	New
Grade	Uncommon (Low)
Dimensions	Floor Area 85 square feet | Height 7 feet, 45-degree decline.
Materials	Rock | Polyester | Aluminum | Warders Essence | Refined Mythcrafter Essence | Plastic | Clay
Attributes	Harden: Greatly increases defensive capabilities by hardening skin or external surface material.
Abilities	Harden
Power Source	External Essence
Evolution	No
Quality	Perfect
Condition	100%
Value	Est. $1,200.00 – $1,500.00

“There wasn’t nearly enough material in the bags, despite them being huge,” Sal admitted as he gestured to the rocks against the wall. “I didn’t want to damage Ioseph’s runes, so I used the materials in the ground to add to the surface area. The added bonus is that we now have relatively soft bedding areas.”

Ioseph gave a grunt of approval as he walked over to inspect the rune on the rock. It became apparent in that moment how small the space was going to be for them. It could accommodate all five of them at a stretch, but it would certainly be preferable if Erika camped in her tent outside.

Erika had her arms folded as she looked around at the protected space. “I thought you could only craft weapons and equipment. This…this is more like a house?”

Sal raised a hand and poked their roof, which wobbled in response. “I just made a hard tent, which falls into the equipment category. We won’t be able to take it with us though, as it’s fused with the rock.” Sal was actually a little disappointed that he wouldn’t be able to keep it.

“Additionally, the Harden ability it uses for outside isn’t something that switches on and off. It’s going to be like that until it runs out of atmospheric essence.”

Brophy chuckled. “Which would be never.” He placed his hands on his hips and let out a satisfied sigh, a wide grin on his face. “This is going to piss her off for sure.”

Sal’s visor noticed that he was delighted by the prospect.

“Excellent work, Sal.”