Rachel spilled her guts and with my Wolf Senses I could tell she was being honest. Because she is an inductee, the guild didn't really give her much information or background in regards to why they targeted Linqs. As far as she knows, they are just a specific group of people Lord Bertrand needed taken care of quietly. As she talks, my mind wanders on to her choice of races, being half human and Avian Faunus.

"I, like, really thought I'd get wings, or something, you know? So I could fly? I'd love that. I was thinking maybe going full celestial, but other than wings, I didn't like the stat bonuses. They're mostly defensive, you know?"

"There are spells you can learn that can give you flight. I'm sure I saw one in one of my previous pool of spells, so its not too late."

She drops her head at my words, "You're sweet, but, you know, wings are like that symbol of freedom to go anywhere. They would be a part of me and I would be able to use them whenever I wanted to. Um, so, like, in real life. IRL. Um, I'm… par… I can't use my legs."

Breathing stops. Erratic noises of wood on rock. Clopping of hooves to stone and dirt.

In the wagon, this blindfolded woman has all of our attention. Though Gorm and El have no idea what IRL means, the rest they understand. They empathize. She continues, "There was, like, a car accident seven years ago. Drunk driver. Not me though! I've, like, never had a drop of alcohol, like, ever… And now I can't…"

My mind fills in her last words. Look at the stuff. Dance. Be in a car. Ride a bike. She doesn't say. She doesn't have to.

I take off her blindfold, even though we're still a few minutes away from the cave. Her emerald eyes flutter open. They're red and wet, but they're smiling.

She looks over at the orc first. He waves with his half arm.

Elsbeth signs (Hello. I'm Elsbeth). Even though I don't think she signs, I can tell Rachel understands why Elsbeth does. Then she looks at me.

"Most of Linqs will understand your IRL situation. And I'm truly sorry for what happened to you. Here, we are free to be who and what we want to be. There are few limitations in Arc. We'll find a way to get you in the air, Rachel. We'll get you your wings."

The driver informs us that we are approaching the cave. I make sure the doors are wide enough for the wagons and the panel seemed to shut down when it opened as far as it could. I call out to Sonny with my thoughts.

[I can sense your approach. The door had a limited source of energy and will no longer function. I have informed Lady Dawn and Lady Victoria of your arrival and they told me to tell you that you took long enough and you've been dodging the real work.]

"Tell them of course I was and that we'll be there shortly."

[Of course. Good to have you home, sir]

"Good to be home, Sonny. And please, just call me Ardy like the others?"

[Of course, Ardy. Hee hee!]

Now she's giggling. I'm not sure if that's good or bad, maybe too much time with the girls. I smile to myself. Rachel is back in good spirits and asking a hundred questions by the time we reach the others. I'm not sure if she expected any answers at the rate she was asking, but I don't think I could've responded if I wanted to. I dismiss the rope binding her and help everyone down, including Gorm who stuck his massive pinky out as he took my hand. He bellows his signature fang baring laugh and slaps me into a building. A building!

I'm dusting myself off when the others find us, "What the hell? Already got one up?"

Dawn is all smiles, "Hey there, Co-Mayor! Who's your friend?"

"Everyone? This is Rachel Lovegood, former Thieves Guild initiate and fellow traveler. She'll be joining our little settlement."

She giggles and bows lightly to everyone, "Thank you for having me! I'll do my best to help out! Ardacen is such a sweet guy for keeping me around."

Victoria suprises me by picking me up from the side, setting me down, kissing me, and holding my hand. Her calculating look takes a fraction of a second, but I caught it, "Emperial eagle?"

"Oh my God, how'd you know!"

"I used to hunt them." Her veiled threat is either ignored or completely misses it's mark,

"They're gorgeous aren't they? I love the gold and silver feathers!"

I clear my throat, "So, Dawn, any problems clearing out the rubble?"

Rachel and Kona find each other and they become best friends forever, walking off in another direction, saving us the headache of their word hurricane. Gorm thanks me for the safe journey and goes off to find his stew pot. Dawn walks Elsbeth, Ramona, Victoria, and me into the new building.

It's made from the same dark grey stone that used to be the remnants of the ruins. It's a couple of stories high and several times wider than it is tall. Two wings separated by a large hall in the center. In one of the corners of the hall, there's a great pile of stuff which looks to be all the loot we've saved so far. I carefully place the newly acquired stuff right next to it. Compared to the hall, however, it reminds me of a pile of laundry on a chair sitting in the corner of a bedroom.

As Dawn speaks the hall echoes her words, "So, the first thing we did was clear out this main living area where the ruins used to be. Sonny sorted all of the usable material and put anything either too weak or too dangerous to use for building in a completely separate pile. Thank you, Sonny."

[My pleasure, Lady Dawn]

"There was quite a lot still usable, and still is even after we made a few buildings. This one is the Town Hall, it acts as a multipurpose building: storage, temporary housing, office rooms, you name it it can probably do it. There's also an option in one of the rooms to create the Inter-Dungeon Auction Access Panel, which I assume works the same as a player auction market."

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

"The second building we constructed is a cafeteria or a mess hall. Sonny showed us a back door passage that can be opened and locked with a password, 'Dawn of a new age', by the way."

I roll my eyes behind my mask and she doesn't catch me.

"We can send out hunters and foragers for food until we set up plots for farming."

"Farming? How are we going to do that in here?"

[That's my queue, isn't it? If you access your Dungeon Master interface menu and follow along, Ardy… For now, my diameter is only about 1.25 feet which is considered on the small side]

"Oh, you've grown a little since I last saw you, though!"

[You are too kind, Ardy, but yes. As I continue to absorb the ambient mana in the dungeon I will continue to grow. My form is actually a Dungeon Core. I may be used to create things specifically for this area such as a Radiant Energy Source and Continuous Water Generator for growing crops in the dungeon. The soil itself is rich in mana and nutrients.]

"But what about monsters and traps?"

[Traps we can also do for outsiders, but monsters are only found in unclaimed dungeons. They are meant to be claimed and settled, by any means necessary. They may even be taken from other settlements if one so wishes to do so. My limited size equates to about 11,000 Energy Points, or EP. Dungeon specific buildings, those created through the DM interface, use a continuous amount of EP. My suggestion is to use the amount I can output sparingly until I grow to my maximum size, in about one week if you use as much EP as you can. You can also force grow the core by feeding it other cores]

Dawn looks apprehensive about the last statement, "Are other cores sentient like you, Sonny?"

[No, as far as I can see in the data stream, I am the only one, though I cannot tell you why I am the way I am]

"Don't worry, Sonny, " I try to reassure her, "I'm pretty sure a lot of us can say the same thing about the way we are."

[Thank you, Ardy. With the newest addition to the population, we are at 75. I suggest we start with 3 of each Air Purifiers and Continuous Water Generators because each can handle the demands of 25 people. If you would like to put the farms on hold, we may also use some surplus mana for a Blacksmith Forge, an Alchemist Lab, and a General Workshop. Their EP cost is a paltry 700 each, though I'm afraid we don't have any advanced tools for them yet]

Dawn nods her head and smiles. "We'll go along with your suggestions, Sonny," she's already scrolling and poking through her menu screen, "As for tools, I'm sure we can use our travel tools and whatever we have lying around for now."

[Wonderful! You can find the latter buildings near my core in Spindle's former lair. You should see the purifiers above you and the water near the center where the Town Hall is located]

We all head outside to watch the light show. Amber specks of magic begin swirling around above us and just in front of us. When enough specks form together like pieces of a puzzle the swirling stops and wells materialize in front of us. Above us we can barely make out pinwheel shaped fans inside grey cages. I'm astonished to watch one of them start sliding across the ceiling to one end of the cavern and a second going to the other end. The last one positioned itself above the Town Hall. I look over at Dawn who is using a map to put them in their optimal spots.

She is moving two of the wells closer to the wagons when she speaks, hardly looking up, "I'm also going to get a public bath house going, if that's okay. It can handle about a hundred people and it'll only cost us twelve hundred EP, but it looks like it needs it's own water generator…"

I look around at the others, "Er, okay. Sounds good?" More swirls of magic and Dawn places the new buildings nearer to the Town Hall since we so much space for now.

[In total, we are at 6100/11000. If you wish to keep me at this level, I can reach my maximum size in three days instead of a week. That is, of course, only if you do not have anymore buildings you would like to add Y/N?]

Dawn closes her menu, "No, no. That's it for now. Most of the other things can be built, but for now we have enough toys to play with. Can you do us a big favor, Sonny?"

[Anything, Lady Dawn.]

"Would you be able to make an organized list of everything stored in the Town Hall including everything inside items of holding?"

[Already done and waiting for you]

"You're the best, Sonny!" Dawn says, placing her hands on her hips, "Okay, it looks like it'll be evening soon. I suggest everyone get something to eat and stake out a spot in the Great Hall or wherever for bed. Ardacen, you and I both know we're too excited for sleep and we're gonna want to make use of the workshops right away."

I shrug my shoulders sheepishly, "Well, if it's that obvious." I summon my three bed rolls and pads and give them to Elsbeth and Victoria, "Sorry I only have three for now."

Victoria kisses my cheek, "You worry too much. Besides, we still have a bunch of wolf pelts if you don't plan on using them just yet."

I nod, but the image of her fully nude and laying on a pelt stops my brain and I don't move for a while. She gives my butt a light kick, and winks at me when I regain focus, "You imagined it, didn't you?"

She summons two sets of bedrolls and pads of her own and smirks at me. Wow, I totally forgot she had the skill and it's already at level II. Victoria and Elsbeth place the sleeping gear near the door and head to the mess hall.

I slide my mask up and notice Dawn staring at me. "You think they'll focus on your relationship when they stream us? Like some virtual reality show?"

I smile and shrug, "Dunno, but I don't care. She's a beautiful bad ass and I really do like her. I mean, if they do, then they're really going to miss the best part of the show." I raise my hands to her and spread them out to everything around us, "This is going to be nuts!"

Standing in front of the inventory screen slack jawed and wide eyed, Dawn and I cannot believe how much stuff we accumulated. Without looking away from the screen, she leans in toward me, "So, Victoria told me that some of the more able bodied citizens would hunt with the equipment you made and they collected all sorts of loot and the herbs. But this… this is really a lot."

Currency [1110*copper, 400*silver, 120*gold, 2*platinum]

Alchemy [280*Red Herb, 110*Blue Herb, 90*Green Herb, 170*Yellow Herb, 7*Black Herb, 3*White herb]

Craft [Tailor's Kit, Blacksmith's Kit, Tinkerer's Kit, Alchemist's Kit, Leatherman's Kit]

Material [37*boar hide, 32*gray wolf pelt, 37*gray wolf fang, 12*green cobra fang, 14*green cobra scale, 7*giant lizard scale, 7*giant lizard spine, 150*shadow carapace, 6*shadow poison sac, 27*shadow scythe, 8*shadow wing, 6*shadow claw shell, 1*shadow tria stinger, 15*drider silk spool 450*lumber, 1200*brick, 50*iron ore]

Consumable [22*unknown spell scroll, 3*Lvl5 Life Crystal, 1*Lvl6 Life Crystal, 40*wooden bolt, 60*wooden arrow, 42*boar meat, 47*wolf meat, 6*cobra meat, 3*giant lizard meat, 87*leafy greens, 2*potatoes, 17*carrots]

Equipment [5*journeyman rucksack of holding, 8*minor amulet of keeping, 3*simple leather glove, 4*simple leather vest, 3*simple leather bracers, 3*simple leather greaves, 3*simple iron handaxe, 2*simple iron dagger, 2*simple wooden crossbow, 2*simple wooden shortbow, 6*blank Blood Quartz, 2*Spindle's Shortsword, 6*Ankh(Faith), 2*Minor Orb(Arcane)]

"Okay," sighs Dawn, "I suggest we load a rucksack with material we're going to need first. They're journeyman level which means they hold a whopping nine by nine foot cube worth of stuff."

I let out an impressed whistle. "I know right? Just one of those bags at this level is a game changer. We really lucked out with that main quest." As I pick out alchemical and improvisational material I reply, "No, we were the only ones to respond Sonny's request. We weren't even the first of ten."

"Oh. Well, let's get some gear crafted and get ready to defend Linqs. We'll show our gratitude to everyone, including Sonny, with an overwhelming victory." A large grin spreads across my face.

[If anyone should show gratitude, it should be me, Lady Dawn. The trinkets you found in Spindle's chambers were a small portion of things she collected. There used to be weapons and armor, but time erroded them making them useless. The only thing left behind of them is their data]

"Yes! Data! Blueprints!" I excitedly yell out, "Send them to the appropriate workshops, please?"

[Of course! I'm glad their memory could at least be of some use. If I find similar information I shall inform you and send them to the workshops.]

Dawn pumps a fist and grins widely, "Yes! This is like Christmas and a birthday all rolled into one!"