D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

Chapter 1195 1195 Kress Castle Plans

Kress chapter

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Kress stared at the mirror and spun the shovel in his left hand, bucket held in his right. He was dressed in light, airy clothes and equipped for a sand castle contest. *Iʼm going to look really silly if I rock up on stage with a bucket and shovel instead of weapons and then find out itʼs an obstacle course or something… but Iʼm certain itʼs going to be a sand castle contest and Iʼm willing to steak looking a bit silly on that certainty. Though weʼll probably be provided with digging equipment.*

Kress spun the shovel in his hand a few more times. *I wonder what idea I should go with. Obviously going for a sand CASTLE is a classic and it could let me show off in a number of ways, both with the little details and with the large scale construction. But… it is pretty standard even so. All the people that end up surprised, which I suspect will be most of them, will all just go for castles as well. Iʼm sure I can do it better then most in the sand castle building space…

But if someone manages to come up with something unique then even the best sandcastle might look boring. Still… weʼre going to have a lot of time. What can I do thatʼs suitably impressive? I could probably make like a sand treehouse? But would that be impressive to a dryad? Iʼve got no idea. I could do something suitably… fun like Thyme seems to want… but Iʼm not sure what constitute ʼfunʼ like Thyme seems to be after. I could make a big pool or something? Though making detailed figures to populate it would be a massive pain, bordering on impossible even with the Thyme. 

So letʼs scratch the pool idea. Probably waterslides as well. Fireworks? Hmm… the sand isnʼt particularly colourful here so I donʼt see that working out well. Maybe I should do a sand castle with added sand town around it? That could suitably elevate my castle above anyone elseʼs. Doing little trees might be a pain… and if I added rivers I might struggle a bit… but Iʼve got a lot of time to complete it, so it might be worthwhile. Ok, so put ʼSandcastle and Sand Townʼ on the top of the list. Letʼs keep brainstorming. 

I could do an underwater scene? Coral is a fairly sturdy structure, more so then leaves anyway so doing up little sand coral should be possible… plus depending on the rules I might just be able to use bits of REAL coral thatʼs dried out. I could do a little underwater river and line it with shells… maybe do an underwater town? Hmmm…

Should I expand my sandcastle and town concept to make it an underwater sandcastle and town? Not sure how Iʼd convey it was all underwater instead of on land. I might be making it overly complicated. Though if Thyme provides us with some fancy sand I could coat everything with a layer of blue to imply that itʼs underwater? That might be cool…

If Iʼve got help I might be able to excavate a big gash through the sand and then set the houses into the walls? Make it seem like theyʼre using an underwater trench as the place the town was built. Hmm… I could see it… but maybe I could just pretend it was a normal cliff? Make up little elevators? Not sure how Iʼd make tiny elevators but I could go about it that way… hmmm… so above water or below water? I guess I could just build the thing and then not tell anyone what itʼs supposed to be unless directly asked. I can just say whatever it looks MORE like one itʼs finished?

But wonʼt it look a bit like a mess if I donʼt have a unified vision for it? I suppose that could be the case. Shells here, and there while I make trees or something in other places. Not ideal certainly. Iʼll think about it a bit more in the future. For now Iʼm still locking down ideas. What else can I do thatʼs not just based around a sandcastle?

I suppose I could do a giant portrait? That sounds like a massive pain in the ass though. Iʼd have to be very careful not to disturb it as a moved over the damned thing and made any corrections that are needed. I suppose if I was really careful and worked from a corner outward it would be fine… but what about the breeze? If the wind picks up too much then Iʼd need to go in and fix things and that might be impossible depending on what needs to be fixed. Though… I could see Thyme blocking the wind for the contest. Not sure if theyʼd consider the wind a feature. Thyme might want to keep it around so things are difficult. 

Should I try for like… an underground city then? Dig out a big bowl or even further and like, carve out sections so that it canʼt be blown away? Might be nice but itʼs a fucking SANDCASTLE AND TOWN COMBINATION AGAIN.* Kress threw his shovel up at the ceiling, not particularly hard, just to get some of the anger out. He caught it again on the way back down, and then bounced it over his palm for a few moments, making sure it didnʼt tip over and land on the floor. 

*Right. So letʼs think of something that isnʼt town related then. I could… carve a giant monster? That could be fun. Iʼm not sure I can think of one thatʼs suitably impressive when compared to a more standard fight… but Iʼm sure I could think of something thatʼs at least ʼdecentʼ. I could either go for something longer, like those death worms and have them coming in and out of the ground and go for quantity over quality, or maybe I should focus on one good looking animal that I can get some nice detail into?

Something with scales maybe? Fur would be all but impossible to make look nice just using sand and whatever else is around. A sea monster of some kind might be thematic… and if I wanted to, I could do up some fake waves made out of sand and make it look rather impressive. Yes… I can see that working well. So is that something I want to go for? Iʼm leaning towards… maybe. Iʼm still not sure if the results would be more impressive then a really nicely done town, but at least itʼs different. 

So… anything else? If I donʼt go for giant monsters or for little towns… I canʼt think of anything. I mean, sure landscape stuff but I can show more proficiency by adding a town to it or something. Maybe I should decide if Iʼm better off pretending itʼs underwater or not? Or trying to work out how much time weʼve actually got? Thyme wasnʼt exactly clean but I know itʼs a good few hours. 

What should the process be then? Making a town might be the best way to hedge, because you can build a suitably impressive castle first and then you can work on all the smaller stuff like houses in a slow ring outwards depending on how much time youʼve got left… which seems pretty simple even if itʼll be a bit hard in practice. If I want for a giant monster, or a reasonable sized monster, then Iʼm committing to finishing just the monster and a few background details within the time limit… but not TOO inside of the time limit. 

Yeah itʼd be a horrible use of your time if you finished up like an hour early… but then again, depending on the rules you might get bonus points for finishing early. Iʼll try to remember to ask Thyme about it before the round starts. Perhaps I should also look into sabotage? No thatʼs not a good idea. Iʼm confident that will be against the rules in some way. Hmmm… but what about working together?

Would Thyme put in a rule against working together? Like, I build a nice castle and then Stan builds a giant animal of some kind to attack my castle? Both better together but clearly judgeable apart? Itʼs certainly an interesting idea… but I have no idea how skilled Stan is when it comes to building things together. So even if I can trust him not to screw me over… which is still a bit up in the air, then Iʼd also have to trust him to be good at his job. Which is a completely separate matter really…*

Kress let out a long breath as he glanced out of his window. The day was wearing on. His food was eaten, and their likely wasnʼt much time left before the round was set to start. *Perhaps I should wrap up this musing and start heading outside to the staging grounds? I wouldnʼt want to be late.*

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