The two of them had been busy all day, and perhaps because their health had improved a lot, there had been no disturbance from the shadowy figures.

At night, there was no blood tide of insects either.

According to Little Grace, the blood tide usually comes every three to five days. Each time, only with enough light can all the insects be kept at bay.

The blood tide relies on light, while the shadowy figures fear the luminous stones.

These are the survival rules that people here depend on.

The next day, the two continued following Henry Clark's plan: sawing wooden strips, making movable sealing bars, and thoroughly sealing the remaining gaps in the doors and windows.

The movable sealing bars can be opened during the day and lowered at night.

The sealing bars were simple—just an experiment by Henry Clark. The more he learned from Little Grace about the dangers and troubles here, the more he wanted to create a base that could guarantee his basic safety, or rather, a safe house.

But Little Grace's house was far from meeting the requirements.

Not to mention the shadowy figures and insects—even the mold stains clinging to every corner and the foul, stagnant air would shorten the lifespan of anyone living here for long.

There was also the issue of water, which was a big problem...

He thought that if he kept drinking that dirty water, he probably wouldn't live long either.

Night fell.

Inside the house, Little Grace and Henry Clark stood together. Little Grace held a candle high in her right hand, its flickering light dispelling much of the surrounding darkness.

Hiss, hiss—

The faint sound of crawling insects kept coming from outside the doors and windows, but thanks to the sealing bars, the remaining ventilation gaps were much smaller than before.

These black insects simply couldn't get in.

"It works!" Henry Clark exclaimed with delight, surprised that his casual attempt had actually worked.

Little Grace grinned foolishly with happiness beside him.

Because she noticed that no black insects were getting in, and even if a few slipped through, they were quickly melted away by the candlelight.

This way, the candle would burn more slowly, so she wouldn't have to keep going to the candle shop or spend so much on candles.

This made things much easier for her.

Just as the two were feeling successful—

Creak, creak—

Suddenly, a faint gnawing sound came from outside the wooden sealing bars.

Whether it was the sealing bars at the gaps or the wooden doors and windows, they all began to make the same gnawing noises.

"Something's wrong! Since these insects can't get in, they're starting to gnaw on the doors and windows!!" Henry Clark realized at once.

He grabbed a wooden stick, rushed to the door, and forcefully lifted the bottom sealing bar.

Crash!

With a muffled sound, a mass of black insects surged in like a tide, rushing toward the two of them.

Hiss.

The black insects rushed into the candlelight and were quickly melted, evaporated, and vanished.

But the candle also began to burn faster.

In the bright yellow candlelight, Henry Clark watched the scene before him, and the joy on his face slowly faded.

"If they can't get in, will they just gnaw away at the outer walls of the house?"

He finally understood why, even though Little Grace's house was known to have black insects, her parents never sealed it up.

"Did we... fail?" Little Grace asked cautiously from behind.

"Not a complete failure," Henry Clark shook his head.

The night passed without further incident.

Early the next morning—

Henry Clark left the village and headed to the woods at the foot of the hills.

He circled around the trees in the woods, knocking here and there with a hammer from time to time.

Little Grace, with nothing else to do, began gathering the few herbs and pigment plants she recognized for making ink.

The items she relied on for bartering were luminous stones marked with symbols.

According to her, the luminous stones marked by Little Grace worked even better than ordinary ones.

With the sun shining brightly, Little Grace collected plants while occasionally glancing up at Henry Clark, who was busy with his mysterious activities.

"What are... you doing?" After watching for a while, she couldn't help but ask.

"I'm choosing wood, picking a location, and getting ready to build my own safe house," Henry Clark replied.

"Build... a house yourself?" Little Grace couldn't understand.

Could a house you built yourself really be sturdier than a stone-brick house?

Chapter 9: Action One

"Not entirely building it myself. I plan to use wood as auxiliary material, but the main material will still be stone. Since I can't find stone bricks, the only way is to look for a natural cave," Henry Clark explained.

"Oh." Little Grace didn't really get it, but seeing Henry Clark's confident expression and calm demeanor, she figured he must be quite capable.

"I'll help you!" she said, patting her chest. "I know... a hunting cave!"

"A cave?" Henry Clark's eyes lit up.

He had long wanted to leave Little Grace's place. Not only was it unsafe, but more importantly, he couldn't freely experiment with his black mark to determine its effects.

Touching the third enhanced white stone—actually an enhanced luminous stone—in his pocket, Henry Clark quickly made up his mind.

"Can you take me to see it?"

He urgently needed a place to live alone to test the specific effects of the black mark.

He wondered, if he reinforced all the doors and walls, what would happen?

Luminous stones could be strengthened to a jade-like material, and their effects seemed to improve—so what about other things?