Dwelling Cube

I can see the soldiers cautiously looking around for any movement around us as the horn that was blown is not the horn used by humans and the soldiers started taking defensive formations under the orders form their commanders ready to face anything that comes towards them.

I look at Jack who is sanding casually looking at the soldiers running around to form a defensive circle. He looks at me and smiles as if there is nothing wrong happening in the place we are currently at.

I look at Vimal and Tariq who are standing next to me, they just shrug looking at me not knowing what we are going to do as we are not getting any orders from our 'Lieutenant' Jack who is still looking at the soldiers.

After a few minutes, unable to control his excitement, Vimal asks Jack "Hey Boss, what are we doing?" To which Jack smiles at him and replies "Nothing".

This makes me wonder if we are going to do anything before reaching the dungeon gate, but I know we will be ordered to join only if things gets out of hand for the defense corp.

The only thing that makes me worry is, 'How did the monsters got through the defense crop blockade?' In a way I know it is not that easy to break through their blockade, but it doesn't mean it is impossible.

Realizing this I look at Jack with a serious look which he notices and smiles at me with a nod which confirms my guess. This is not a real battle, but just to keep the soldiers at alert before reaching the dungeon.

I noticed the commander of the defense corp looking at us every few minutes and frowns before he continues barking orders to the soldiers. Fortunately, he can't give us any orders as we are not part of the defense corp or volunteers who came to help them.

HORN HORN

The 'drill' went for about fifteen minutes, only then the 'All clear' horn signal was heard. I could see a lot of soldiers smiling and sighing in relief as they didn't get trapped into an ambush as they expected for a one-sided fight with the Pigmen when they heard the monster horn.

It only took like three minutes for the soldiers to start their march to the dungeon again, now with cautiousness and no one made a slight sound and focused on their surroundings. Only sound I could hear is the marching, not even the sound of the wind or the bustling leaves and trees in the forest.

The extra caution reduced our marching speed and it took us the whole day to reach the dungeon. We reach the perimeter blockade created by the defense corp only after the sunset and decided unanimously by the commander and the squad leaders to start the raid in the morning.

The soldiers used the tents that was given to them by the defense corp for the raid. I am getting a little worried as I didn't get a tent as I didn't know about the requirements for this mission which is my 'assessment' and there was no shop at the village for me to get one.

I look at Jack who seems to know what I am thinking and took out a small yellow cube from his holowatch. It is a dwelling cube which has a house shrinked to a small size that can be fit in an adult's palm and is stored in it.

I am not surprised to see it in Jack's possession, but surprised to see he is taking it out to use it in a place like this where an attack might happen anytime and the price of this dwelling cube is not cheap. The lowest dwelling cube price starts at 100000 credits.

It does have the self repair capability as long as it's durability doesn't go less than 35%. But, if it gets below that, then it can't be repaired automatically and has to be disposed or recycled for other materials by the crafters or the factories.

He casually presses a button on the cube and throws it on the ground a few meters away from us. It opens and a dwelling similar to my house's size, with two floors enlarges from it.

I stare at it with admiration as it also has a protection shield that can be activated once the key holder is in and activates it using the beast crystals found in the monsters. It will take at least five hours for a few High-F graders to break the shield to make any damage to the dwelling.

"Let's go." Jack says which brings me out of my stupor. I look at him with an awkward smile before following others into the dwelling. The ground floor has a large living room with a few chairs, two large sofas in L-shape with a glass table at the centre. It also has a kitchen, a storage room and a common washroom. 

"Your rooms are in the first floor, there are a few rooms, feel free to choose any one." Jack tells us when we are adoring the interior of the dwelling. "Mine is at the top floor. If you need anything, just knock on the door, but DO NOT GO OUTSIDE." He says with the last few words in a stern voice.

I look at Vimal who rushes to the first floor as if his back is on fire. I smile at his childish behaviour as it reminds me of a cute little girl with whom I trained. Tariq looks at me and gestures me to choose a room for myself to get the much needed rest to prepare for tomorrow.

I go to the first floor and see Vimal who is looking at all the rooms trying to see which is the best of all the rooms. Looking at me, he just shrugs and says "All the rooms looks the same. Why do we have to choose one?" To which I shrug back at him and enter the room closest to the stairs closing the door behind me.

The room has a cupboard, a small study table with a table lamp and a bed at a corner. It has a large space in the centre which I can use to practice when I want to, but now is not the time as I need to get some rest and relax my body and mind for tomorrow.