The next few days passed in a blur for Marcus. Moving in with Goddess Morrigan and two other women came with its own challenges. Clarice the Familia Captain as he had guessed turned out to also be a mage, her one spell Purge Lasair was incredibly versatile. It could be used as a wide area attack spell single target attack spell and even used on wounds sickness and or curses and corruption. In essence anything she deemed that needed to be cleansed and or purged could be targeted. Which made her one of those sought after more for the utility than her combat power. Marcus was already thinking of how they could team up and work together him with his Corpomancy and here with Purge Lasair. Lilliana seemed to only care if he had recipes or food ideas from his home world, that girl really only thought of food. Clarice had since not really avoided him but her glare followed him every time he entered the room. The Goddess said she would take care of it and to not worry but it was now the third night after he moved in with the group and she still seemed to distrust him. Marcus sat in his small room on the ground floor just under the staircase, he had laughed to himself and said if a large half giant showed up to take him to a magical school he would totally accept, this had confused everyone who of course had no clue what he was talking about. The house would need to be expanded to be comfortable, he had plans for this Familia after all. Looking down at the paper in his hands he read over his status again.
Status
LVL 1
Strength: I0
Endurance: I0
Dexterity: I0
Agility: I0
Magic: S900
[Corpomancy] Instant Cast Manipulation Magic
-Control and manipulate biological organisms down to the cellular level.
-Substitute magical energy for growth and nutrients.
-Modify Genetic and cellular material.
[Teramancy] Instant Cast Manipulation Magic
-Control and manipulate earth and stone.
-Strengthen matter
-
[Astromancy] Instant Cast Manipulation Magic
-Control and manipulate space
-Teleportation and Portal construction.
-Passive Awareness of space and surroundings.
[Magical Soul] ??
The group had of course been shocked at his status. He had all three of his magics unlocked and a skill right from the get go. His magics were unheard of, Clarice had grilled him on the specifics of each. They had ended the night with Morrigan telling everyone to keep this a secrete, telling the group that if any of the gods or goddesses heard of this they would issue a war game on the spot. Marcus had asked about his skill but Morrigan said she didn't know, and it was most likely due to the nature of his arrival on Genki.
"hmm" He hummed as he put the paper over the candle he had in his room. The paper caught flame and soon was completely ash. Morrigan had requested he burn the page after he was done just to be on the safe side.
Stretching his arms Marcus stood from his cot and looked around the small room. He was going to expand the house today, he had been practicing his magic the last couple days after getting Falna and had noticed a massive increase in his abilities. He no longer needed near as much energy to do what he could before.
Significantly raising his level of abilities.
Stepping out of his room he looked around the ground floor noticing Liliana over at the bar near the kitchen he walked over.
"Hey Good Morning. You see the Goddess yet?" he asked as he sat down next to the elf.
Liliana just shook her head and continued reading the worn out book sitting in front of her. Leaning over Marcus looked at the current page she was on and finding that it was just something about cooking from the eastern countries. Shaking his head he grabbed loaf of bread and some cheese that was left out on the counter Marcus headed for the stairs.
Goddess Morrigan was sitting in her room going over paperwork with Clarice they were discussing the upcoming plan to train their new member and what direction their familia should start to move toward. The last few days had been trying and she was finally making some progress with the stubborn woman sitting in front of her on the subject of their new member.
"It's just he would have had no problem lying to us if he could have gotten away with it. Not exactly someone who you would want to watch your back in the dungeon." Clarice reiterated for the umpteenth time.
"I understand my dear but think of it from his point of view he only lied about what he viewed as personal while most of what he told us initially did turn out to be false he did come clean and with his abilities and magic he could have his pick of Familia, all of whom would bend over backwards for him." the goddess consoled.
"I know… I am working on it, it's just after… well you know…" Clarice was cut off at the sound of knocking at the door.
"Knock, Knock"
"Come In" Morrigan called out after sharing a glance with Clarice.
"excuse me Goddess but you said today we could work on the house expansion." Marcus said as he entered the room. He locked eyes with Clarice and noticed less tension the gaze before his attention was drawn back to his Goddess.
"Yes I did and I have already discussed it with Clarice on what we would like to do. As long as the basement expansion looks stable and we approve of the work we can continue and add the two floors, we can't go any deeper without guild approval so for now that will work. Again I ask are you sure that there will not be any issues with digging out the foundations like this? The last thing we need is for our home to collapse, while the house is on the rougher side it is all that we have at this time." Goddess Morrigan said as she eyed the young man in front of her.
"Yes I'm absolutly confident in my abilities my Goddess, I will fuse the lose stone together and strengthen the entire buildings foundations with it and as you said two floors with be more than enough to start with." Marcus replied with determination
"Time to earn your worth Marcus." he thought as he gazed back at the two women.
"Sigh. Well you do seem to be confident don't you." Morrigan sighed as she responded back.
"So it decided then but we both will be there during the work to supervise and prevent any mishaps." declared Clarice as she added her two cents to the conversation.
The group headed downstairs following a now slightly nervous Marcus as he headed for the hallway next to the stairs that lead to his temporary room and the small mudroom that lead to the enclosed backyard. The houses ground floor had been constructed from a mixture of large stones and brick and mortar making what he was about to do easier. He had tested his abilities on both and found no large difference when manipulating their structures. Taking a breath he began shaping an entryway into the wall that expanded out and down into the courtyard.
"grmmmble" the earth rumbled slightly barley shaking the windows as stone and earth moved like water flowing up and around creating an entryway with a set of stairs leading down.
With impressed and stunned faces the Clarice and the Goddess followed after Marcus as he walked down the forming staircase. The ease at which he used his magic and the fine controlled amazed the mage captain as she gazed at his back interspersed with wide eyed staring at the surrounding earth that moved and formed into solid stone walls.
Marcus continued molding the stone and after reaching the edge of the small courtyards boundaries he turned the staircase the other direction taking them down about ten or so feet below the ground level. He was able to sense the areas that supported the building above getting a sort of feeling of heaviness and weight pushing down with his magic, he strengthened these areas creating solid stone columns that ran tens of feet deep from the base of the house. The room at the bottom he expanded out taking up roughly the same floor space as the building above but adding a couple of rooms off to the sides. One would be his the other he was thinking of making a sort of workshop.
The two women followed him around Clarice carrying a small light emitting stone as they marveling at the feat he had performed. Clarice seemed to have gotten over her clear dislike and now looked at him with an almost hero worship that creeped him out. The Goddess had a wide smile on her face as she explored the new rooms that took less than half an hour to make, already thinking of the potential such an ability had. As he finished adding his final touches on the first level he decided stop there for now and work on the back yard additions he absolutely could not live without.
Walking back up the stairs he turned and walked out through the back door into the small ten square foot courtyard that was attached to the back of the building the domed roof of his new staircase cut down on the available space a bit but that was ok. At the back of the yard there was a small iron gate leading into an alley that would allow for what he assumed would be deliveries like firewood and such. While winters in Orario were mild it did still get cold enough to require heating. The more affluent merchants and guilds and such used magic stone run heaters and stoves but that was not the case for the poorer Familias and larger percent of the populace.
Gathering his power he started searching through the ground arranging the stone and dirt to allow for what he had in mind. With the new underground rooms he just built he didn't want to weaken the surrounding foundations of their neighbors but thankfully there was more than enough to work with if he took it from a larger area. The stone and dirt again started to flow rising up and creating walls and then a sloped roof the world darkened as he was enclosed in.
Using his new earth senses he continued building in the dark finishing up the large tubs before a light bathed the area.
"Ahhh" shocked gasps left both Clarice and the Goddesses mouths as they took in the new bath house. Two sections one for men and one for women with four shower stalls and two large stone tubs greeted the two as they walked through the new addition to their home. There were also open cubbies with stone hooks and shelves for hanging of clothing and toiletries storage. This was beyond what the Goddess and Familia captain had expected when he brought the idea up a couple of days ago. Looking at the shower stalls Morrigan thought of an issue and turned to her newest child.
"Mmm Marcus how will we use these we are close to a well but it is still a street over?" she asked as he finished up with the last stall.
Marcus turned and grinned at her before pointing upwards.
"Simple I built a reservoir on the roof and there is a pipe that runs down the side, I am going to build a pump system that will allow us to take water from the well and fill the reservoir when its empty. I also was able to sense the sewers when I was building the basement out. They're not that far and will connect the drains here with them."
Morrigan frowned as she thought through his answer. "While this is amazing and greatly appreciated we do need to get aprroval before we do any of that, the guild may be lax on property rules especially with Familias they still heavily regulate the city wells and sewer systems both of which would be disastrous if anything detrimental were to happen."
The excitement he was feeling fled him as Marcus paused and realized she was right this would be pointless if the guild tuned them down.
Slumping his shoulders Marcus asked "Yeah that checks, so I guess I'll hold off on finishing this until we hear back from the guild then>"
"Yes that would be for the best" Clarice cut in while she inspected one of the shower stalls.
"Well I guess that's ok while we are at it can we ask about connecting up some sewer lines for the new toilets I would like to make also?" he asked as he reviewed what he wanted to get done for the house renovations.
"I will ask it would be very nice to have something better than the local outhouse to use and these baths look far better than the ones at the guild." Morrigan said as she inspected the new tubs. While she could use the Devine bathhouse it was on the other side of the city and there were only a few of the Gods and Goddesses that she got along with well enough to even want to share a bath with. After Zues's foul influence of peeking at the bathhouse came to light she had not been back. Thankfully that pig of a God was gone from Orario.
"Well now there is only some finishing touches to add and waiting on approval so that leaves furniture and such. Do you know a place for that?" Marcus asked as he molded a motif of flowers and tree knots like the ones in Morrigan's crest that was now on his back.
"Yes I do and we can stop by on our way to the guild this morning." Morrigan said as she marveled at the design he made.