Day 2

Okay, that took much more time than I would have expected, mainly because I ran out of mana halfway, but I reached my goal, a T-junction! Left, or right? Left or right? Let's not think about it too long. And I will have to explore both directions anyway. So right it is. What? Should I explore both directions at the same time? Well, I could do that, but it would take twice as long to get to the place at the end of the first tunnel, or something like that.

But first, it's time for some experiments. For this, I have claimed one meter in both directions. So that the whole intersection is in my territory. And now let's close off the path that leads to my core room with a thin wall, just enough to cover the said pathway.

After the fake wall was finished, I immediately lost sight of the other side. And I could feel my mana slowly running out. I guess that was to be expected. So I reopened part of the wall in the size of a door and reinforced the rest to create a real wall.

Okay, let's think about this. I know there is a system in this world, so there must be specific rules. If I lock myself in, I can't see what's happening outside, which makes sense, but I had to test it. The other drawback is that I lose mana when I do that. Which means that either I'm not able to take in mana from outside, or it's a rule of the system to prevent it. Probably the first one.

First, let's make some stone door hinges. I guess it's gonna sound horrible if someone tries to open it. And now the actual door, of course also made of stone. Because that's the only resource, I have at the moment. I made the gaps as small as possible so that it is more difficult to discover my secret corridor. And this time I can still see my beautiful T-junction.

I also tried to lock the door with a simple bolt, but I lost sight of the other side again. So, in the end, it's still a limitation of the system. This problem can probably be solved by adding something to unlock the door from the other side.

I can even open the door myself with mana, but since I had no reason to do so, I closed it again immediately after the test. And the crunching sound of the stone hinges was not even as loud as I would have expected.

"New Blueprints acquired! Wall, Door added to [Interior Design]."

There we go, more Blueprints are always welcome. 

This saves me a little from the risk of unexpected visitors. I even added a second door right behind my trap. Although people might think that a trap at the end of a tunnel is there to protect something. I can avoid this argument by adding traps at every dead-end corridor I will create in the future.

Now that all my preparations are complete, I am ready to go. Or rather to expand my territory further. Which took me several hours to reach the end of the tunnel. Where I discovered an L-junction on the right side. So I diverted my expansion efforts and claimed more territory.

This time I was rewarded for my efforts. First, I found the end of this tunnel after only a few meters. Second, this seems to be a storage room for a creature of unknown origin. And third, I got a new blue panel!

"Skill Level increased! [Claim Territory] 2 added to the skill list."

I don't know how this will affect my further expansion plans, but what I do know is that this room smells terrible. Okay, to tell you the truth, I'm not capable of smelling. But just looking at what's in this room tells me that it had to smell really bad.

This storeroom is filled with half-eaten carcasses of various animals, and in one corner, I even found waste. This means that this room probably also serves the function of a toilet. Or this creature doesn't even care about such things.

After some brooding about what to do with my new find. I realised that I still had an unexplored resource. Biomass, what else could it be, then remains of various animals. Since I had no other way to collect them, I tried to concentrate on it, just like I had "dug" this pit for my trap.

And indeed, after some time and much mental effort, the remains were absorbed by the ground. And once again I was rewarded by my best friend, the blue panel.

"New Skill acquired! [Absorb] 1 added to the skill list."

"New Materials discovered! Pelt, Meat, Bone."

"7kg Biomass absorbed and added into Inventory."

Inventory? Great, now I also know what happened to the eight cubic meters of stone from my pit. And why I was able to create these stone doors out of nothing.

"Inventory!"

It looks like I used half of the excavated stone to create these two doors. That also means I'm not capable of creating things out of nothing. So I have to plan my resources accordingly. At least with the use of my mana I can recycle everything.

Although I discovered Pelt, Meat and Bone, I only received biomass, which probably also means that I can use magic to transform it back. I should perhaps try this...

Before I could make a plan for the necessary experiments, I heard some steps coming from the other side of the former T-junction. How do I even hear? Maybe I can feel vibrations? On the other hand, hearing works primarily like this. Let's stop thinking about useless stuff.

Soon after I finished my ramble, I saw two small, ugly, green creatures entering my newly claimed territory. The beloved critter of every fantasy tale, goblins!

Both wore a simple and dirty loincloth. And while one was armed with a deformed wooden spear. The other was armed with a wooden trunk that could be described as a primitive club.

They passed my hidden door without being suspicious. So they are either too stupid to remember this tunnel. Or the last time the goblins went into their storage room, there was no entrance to my core room.

As I thought about my arrival in this world, the goblins reached their destination. This time, they showed some emotion. Neither of them had expected to find an empty storage room. And after some shouting, they turned and ran back to where they came from.

I hope I hadn't invited myself to big trouble just because I had taken in some biomass. At least I stole it from some stupid goblins and not from a more intelligent being. Well, maybe if I'd found a real storage room with shelves or something, I would have been more careful.