“This spot looks amazing….” I was standing deep in the forest, midway up a mountain that had a large boulder sticking out of the side of a slope. The reason I say it was amazing is that, on my way here, I took a quick peek at my list and found a skill called Earth Manipulation. 

It would allow me to do whatever I needed with ease. I would no longer need heavy equipment. I would only need metal to build the shell on the base. And because I have metal manipulation, I could also fuse the stone and the metal together to form a tight bond.

“Ai, are you sure this place is good?” Jen seemed to be doubtful. 

    “If I am correct, we will not even need to use tents tonight. Just give me a minute.” I quickly opened my menu and purchased the skill I needed. The skill itself cost five points, but it was well worth it. 

This would also be my first time using any of my skills, so I can only hope that it works as I imagined. I placed my hand on the stone rock and imagined a door-like shape being dug out of it. A flash of purple light filled my eyes, and not even a second later, a large chunk of the rock disappeared, and a three-foot indent formed that was shaped like a door. It actually worked just how I imagined!

Although it did take 10 nano to do it, but it worked. This was all that mattered. Jen stood at my side in a stunned daze, which made me smile. I would have been the same if I were not the one doing it. But most importantly, just standing there for over ten seconds allowed me to fill my nano back up. “It works!” 

Feeling a bit excited, I hugged Jen and bounced around, making her bounce with me. “Jen, we will be sleeping in our new base tonight! We will not even need to worry about being seen either.” 

I quickly went to work and dug a large section of the rock out to make an entrance. I then began digging down, making stairs as I did. Instead of worrying about my depth, I just kept going until I ran out of nano and sat down to rest. After one hundred seconds, I went back to work. I made multiple levels as I went down. After digging almost a hundred feet, did I stop. I ran into a bunch of water levels, but I sealed them up. While I was now one hundred feet underground, I still planned to go another fifty feet for the true base. This section would be a false base. I wanted to create a section where we could store useless things and then have the living area way below that.

But since it was already getting dark, I decided to stop for the time being. “Let’s collect some firewood. I will make a section of the rock near the entrance to be our campsite tonight. I will make sure there is plenty of ventilation.” 

I planned to just seal up the entrance and have many air holes for use to use. I would also make a fireplace so that we did not get smoked out as well. This was all quite simple with just a wave of my hand. When I was done, we had a nice little area that even had a stone bed. I laid out a futon I stole and some pillows along with blankets so that we could sleep comfortably.

Jen had barely said a word this entire time. She seemed to still be in a state of shock. I looked at the girl standing there as I busied myself, stood up, and walked over to her. “Jen, if you stay silent, I might kiss you.”

Still nothing. I could only see her purse her lips. I smiled and stood on my tiptoes, and kissed her lips, which seemed to snap her out of her daze. She looked at me in shock while blushing. “Ai!”

“I warned you!” I gave her a teasing smile.

“That was my first kiss!” Jen pouted. I grinned, pulled her hand, and pushed her to sit in front of the fire I had going. 

“Was it so bad to share your first kiss with your bestie?” I asked. I did not think it was worth mentioning. I only gave her a peck.

“It’s not that I just wanted my first kiss to be memorable!” Jen complained. But her complaint sounded more like she was not mad about the kiss but because I did it on the spur of the moment.

“Then this kiss won’t count, and I will give you a better one at another time,” I said jokingly. But my teasing grin froze when I heard her say: “It’s a promise then….”

I am not sure she understood the meaning of her words, but well… If it is an invitation, then I will make sure to follow up on this promise later on. I leaned down close to her ear and said: “Then, my little wife, I will be sure to uphold this promise in the near future.”

I watched as Jen’s cheeks turned red and silently nod. I never thought that Jen swung that way, but now that I think about it, she has always been very clingy to me. Any chance she got, she would hug me. I won’t rush things, though. Although my heart is beating fast, I have plenty of time to make Jen truly my wife.