Monster Mansion 2 by Dante King (best way to read ebooks .txt) 📗

confident that we would soon see a population of magical creatures and terrifying monsters in the grounds.

It would create a whole new section for adventurers to fight in, I thought, and attract those who were keen to collect monster cores as well.

“Now all we need to do is wait for Belinda’s call,” I said.

Kyrine took a breath, but at that moment my phone rang. “Good timing!” I said as I answered it. It was Belinda.

Night was falling swiftly around us, but Belinda sounded alert and cheerful.

“I’ve hiked up into the mountains a good way,” she said as we walked back toward our portal generator. “I’ve found a good spot where several animal trails converge on a stream, and I’m ready to open the portal whenever you are.”

“Good work, Belinda. We’ve set up the grounds ready for the new residents.”

Kyrine and I reached our portal generator and I knelt to activate it. The gleaming doorway opened as before. It was an opaque white. I wondered suddenly what would happen if one were to step through it now, before its sister portal was open. Would a person who stepped through just appear on the other side? Or would something worse happen?

Before I could think any further on that, Belinda activated her side of the portal, and we saw through to the thick and wild Blackwood forest.

“Nice,” I said, stepping through. Kyrine remained back on the mansion side. She did not seem keen to touch the portals, and I wondered again what would happen if she tried? I’d have to ask her about that later.

The Blackwood forest smelled rich and fragrant, with the blackwood trees, their hoary bark as dark as their name, stretching up all around us. They were needled trees, with a rich scent like pines, growing tall and straight. On the ground, as Belinda had said, there were several animal trails converging on a wide spot in a stream.

“This looks great,” I said. “And it’s nice to have a route out to these mountains, too.” A thought struck me. “What about the chances of discovery by people?” I asked. “We don’t want randomers stumbling on this portal and walking through into the mansion grounds.”

“Oh, I thought of that,” said Belinda. “This spot is pretty far away off the beaten track. The ground rises sharply all around here, and anyone hiking through the mountains would likely pass this dell by. Anyway, if anyone did get through, Kyrine would detect them straight away.”

“That’s true,” I said thoughtfully. “I have to say I don’t like the fact that we’re creating a backdoor into the mansion, but I guess it can’t be helped if we want a steady supply of monsters. Well, thanks, Belinda. You’ve done a great job. Are you coming home this way?”

She shook her head. “My bike is at the bottom of the mountain. I’m going to walk down a little way and camp overnight, then drive back to the mansion in the morning.”

“Okay,” I nodded. “See you tomorrow then.”

I stepped back through the portal.

Kyrine was staring at it thoughtfully.

“What is it?” I asked.

“I was just thinking,” she said. “I wonder if I could travel through the portal? I would like to see these Blackwood mountains.”

“You could try if you like,” I said.

She shook her head. “It would transport me instantly far away from my core in the mansion. That could be… unpleasant, and possibly dangerous.”

“Not just yet, then,” I said, smiling.

Developing Kyrine’s ability to leave the mansion’s grounds was something we were both interested in doing, but now was not the time to find out if we could do it. The process of creating new spaces and stuff throughout the grounds had taken it out of both of us, and I could tell Kyrine was ready for a rest.

“Come on,” I said, linking my arm through hers. Together, we made our way back up to the mansion.

Belinda returned in the late morning of the next day, looking refreshed. She immediately wanted to go look at the work we’d done on the monster area, but I had to stop her from hurrying in there straight away.

“The fact is,” I said, “it’s been more successful than we could have hoped.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. Overnight, fifteen creatures and one monster came through, and they’re now all getting settled in the wild area.”

“Fifteen?” said Belinda in amazement. “That’s great!”

Kyrine had woken me with the news. Her awareness of everything that happened in the mansion and the grounds had shown her the new arrivals as they appeared. There were bears, wolves, lynx, and even a big buck and three deer. All except the deer had magical abilities, and we had spent a part of the morning expanding the wild area until it took up almost the whole back half of the massive mansion grounds.

Belinda was laughing as she made her way back to the mansion. “This will open up a whole new set of things to do in the mansion,” she said.

“That’s the idea,” I replied.

It was Selena’s idea to create an observation platform overlooking the ‘wilds,’ as we had taken to calling the area we’d created for the monsters. I was able to tap into my dungeon awareness and float over the area, observing the creatures, but the others didn’t have that ability.

Kyrine was able to create long beams and planks of wood, nails, and tools, and we spent the rest of that day constructing a tower platform where we could look out over the wilds.

The women were all delighted with this, and they spent the evening sitting up there watching the new wildlife. I was pretty pleased with myself.

The Howling Wind Wolves were my favorites. They were bigger than regular wolves, and they had a magical wind-based elemental ability that allowed them to blast a powerful vortex of swirling