Renovations to the Cave

Lia was extremely bored today. Lin Ke and Lily had left in order to fix the teleportation array, but she stayed at the cave. For most parts of the day, she painted and she painted.

Since there wasn't anyone to help her distract herself from the sadness of her grandfather's death, Lia turned to painting. She painted nonstop, of the most irrelevant things, sometimes painting a wall, sometimes scenes she would remember from when she was younger, sometimes her grandfather, sometimes scenes of the forest, sometimes other things, sometimes other people...

Each of her drawings, if sold off in Origin City, would probably fetch a price of a few hundred medium grade Chaos Stones. Even the most crudely made, the most hasty, rushed work, would probably still fetch quite the exorbitant price.

However, after painting, Lia simply destroyed the worst looking ones, and stored the ones that looked slightly more acceptable by her standards. Lia didn't really plan on selling these paintings, as they, according to her own thoughts, weren't worth selling.

Of course, she didn't spend the entire day painting. After Lin Ke left, Lia decided to give this place a few soft touches to make it more homely...

When Lin Ke got close to the front of the cave, he froze. Rubbing his eyes, Lin Ke had to make sure that he was seeing things correctly.

The front of the cave, which had been an open hole, was now replaced with a gleaming bright, polished wooden door. It was completely smooth besides a gleaming silver door knob on the door.

Lin Ke moves over to Lily, who was in Lia's arms and gives her a good pinch on the cheeks.

"OW! What the hell?" Lily cries,confused as to what Lin Ke was doing.

"Sorry, I had to make sure I wasn't dreaming…" He replied.

Lily was speechless. "If you want to figure that out, pinch yourself, not me!"

"Oh, right. I'll remember for next time." Turning to Lia, Lin Ke asks. "Wha- How did you manage to get a door?"

Lia blinks her large pretty eyes. "Hm? I had it in my spatial storage ring duh!" She stated in a matter-of-factly way.

'Are you kidding? Normal people keep clothes, valuables, and other things in their spatial storage rings… But you keep entire doors? I wonder what else is in there?

Plus, how am I supposed to know that there's a door in there? Why are you acting like that's super normal???'

Lin Ke was speechless. "I- Uh… My bad I guess."

Lia nods her head, accepting his apology in a very happy manner, as if glad that Lin Ke realized and was willing to admit his mistake.

She turns the doorknob and swings the door open. Lia walks through the door with Lin Ke following suit right behind her.

Lin Ke, upon entering the 'cave' felt his jaws drop.

"Wha- What is this???" He cried out in shock.

The scene that greeted Lin Ke inside the 'cave' was nowhere near the same shock that occurred to him on the outside.

In fact, it was a hundred times worse.

The inside of the 'cave' which had been roughly cubical shaped, was now a perfect square with well defined walls. The rough uneven walls that were hard and made of rocks was now replaced with perfectly smooth rocks. In fact, it was even painted a snowy white color.

The ground, which had also been made from earthen rocks was now covered in a layer of wood with carpets laid out on top.

If earlier, this place was still a 'cave', now it was a one room apartment.

Lin Ke swallowed down the words that were about to come gushing out of his mouth. Instead, he walks over to the sink and turns on the tap. Cupping the cold water in his hands, Lin Ke splashes it onto his face.

"Wake up, wake up! This is probably just a dream!" Lin Ke whispers to himself as the cold water hits him right in the face.

"Hm? Lin Ke, are you sure you're okay? Lia asks, extremely confused and worried about his actions right now.

Lin Ke looks back at Lia. With water dripping down his face and a forced smile on his face, he responds. "Mhmm. I'm fine! Just a little tired from the Inscriptions so I'm washing my face to wake myself up a little."

"Oh, okay. As long as you're okay. Maybe you should try to take a bath to relax." Lia suggests."I'll start preparing dinner so that we can eat when you're done."

Lin Ke nods. "That's a good idea."

From his spatial storage space, Lin Ke pulls out some clothes and steps behind the curtains Lia had set up. Filling the bathtub close to the brim, Lin Ke strips down and steps into the warm bath tub.

A small amount of water gets displaced, and flows down the side of the bathtub. Sighing deeply, Lin Ke relaxes his muscles. Lying in the warm clear water, Lin Ke feels extremely comfortable. He closes his eyes in order to bask in the steamy goodness of the water…

'Soooo…. Comfortable….'

"L-- Ke? -----e?"

Groggily, Lin Ke could barely make out a voice calling him. However, Lin Ke was too comfortable, and decided to ignore it for the moment… Sinking deeper into his sleep.

The first thing Lin Ke notices when he wakes up is the strong tantalizing smell of cooking meet. Then, the sizzling sound of it being grilled. Lin Ke feels the water slowly lapping up against his body. As his mind clears up a bit, Lin Ke realizes that he had fallen asleep while taking a bath.

Today's events were quite draining on Lin Ke, even if the practice chamber could prevent one from getting tired.

Standing up, Lin Ke grabs the towel and wipes himself down. Stepping out of the shower and onto the wooden floor, Lin Ke realizes that right under the bathtub was a drainage pipe around the tub. That was probably what caught the water.

After putting on a fresh set of clothes, Lin Ke walks out of the makeshift bathroom. Lin Ke sees Lia standing in front of the stove, tunnel visioning in on the stove. Lia was wearing a long white apron, tied around her waist as she cooked. Lily was standing on a table next to Lia, watching Lia as she cooked. If one looked closely, one could see the drool glistening on Lily's mouth as she watched Lia cook.

Neither of the two noticed Lin Ke walking into the room, but were instead focused on the powerful mouth-watering stench of the wolf's meat.

Lin Ke couldn't contain his curiosity, and walked up to the side of Lia to look at the meat being grilled on the stovetop.

Looking at the glistening juices on the meat and Lia's delicate handling of it with some kitchen tongs, Lin Ke said, "Wow, you're actually so great at cooking!"

Lia, hearing someone speak right next to her, jumps back a little. Looking over wildly, with her face extremely red for some reason, she wildly flails the tongs.

"L-l-l-l-l-Lin Ke? Wh-wh-when did you finish with your b-b-b-bath?"