Everyone at the settlement waits for a few minutes as Jimmy is inside doing whatever needs done. For the first bit there are just sounds of him hitting something, but soon there are strange light phenomena coming out of the doors and windows. Then to wrap it up Jimmy starts cursing and he runs out of the front door while colorfully telling everyone to get back.
On the building itself, the strange lights start to cover every surface and takes on the rainbow look of oil on water except completely opaque. Once the building is fully covered, the oil slick colors balloon outwards into a sphere that keeps expanding well beyond the original building. So much so that even after having backed up a good distance everyone has to continue backing up even more until the sphere has covered enough space to fit a few city blocks.
While that is happening Jimmy is bustling around and getting people off of a path only he can see. Though it is soon clear to the others, this path is in line with where the two gates will eventually be for the settlement. Before he can fully get everyone out of the way though, the sphere stops expanding and a blue screen pops up for everyone, though Jimmy ignores it for now and redoubles his effort to move everyone out of the way.
{You have been detected as being a part of a newly formed system town. There are 34 sapient beings detected within the new town and through system polling the leader of the town has been registered as Ace.
For being a part of the first system town created on your planet, since its introduction to the system, you have gained access to the Pioneering Settlers path.
A dungeon has been detected within the boundaries of the town. Town type changed to Dungeon town. For being the first locally created town on your planet, extra starter buildings have been created based on new town type.
Starting Buildings: Town Hall, general store, smithy, leather workshop, system well, gruel dispensary, butchers, basic road, basic dock, deliver supply store, soul lamps unlimited, and reinforced dungeon containment}
As people read the message, they almost miss the sphere as it starts to shrink back down, though not completely. There is still a bit of it left on the ground at first. Though the further the sphere pulls back, it becomes clear this is where the road will be. Then more hold outs appear as multiple building shapes stick around.
Once the sphere has shrunk back fully into the town hall, the end of the oil slick road extends outward into the area Jimmy was guiding people away from. Once between the dock and the dungeon entrance, the path splits, one heading towards the dock and the other the dungeon complex.
As the oil slick touches the two structures, it once again expands outward into spheres, covering the entire dock and an area around the dungeon equal to the inner wall the settlement had set up. And once again the spheres pull back like the first, leaving behind buildings seemingly made of the oil slick.
Everyone gathers around Jimmy to ask what is up, to which Jimmy can only shrug. “I don’t know how the system makes stuff. Give it a little more time to work. From what I can figure out the system shouldn’t take more than an hour to finish but my architecture skill is putting some hefty error bars on that estimate.”
Ace sighs, “Well, at least we didn’t have anyone delving the dungeon. Who knows what would happen to them if they ended up coming out while the dungeon is still covered. Anyway, the stuff we have been building isn’t being changed at all. While the usual way in is a bit covered at the moment, everyone should be able to go over the walls so there is no reason to be standing out here like a lemon. Until the system finishes up we can work on making sure we have actual homes to stay in.”
As everyone in the newly christened town gets back to work, Doyle is focused on a certain system message. Because even Ace missed an important detail, the system said there were 34 sapients in town when the settlement only had 32 even with the four new ladies. Doyle and Ally were, of course those extra beings.
From Doyle’s side the oil slick covering was just as opaque, though twice as worrying. As it covered the area around his portal, the stuff was actually able to push back his influence until all that was left was the thinnest of space directly around the portal. Though Doyle wasn’t too worried, as some part of his dungeon instincts told him it could have pushed all the way and closed the portal. So since it left him some space it wasn’t there to hurt him.
Doyle can only mentally shrug as he turns back to the system messages. The first message was identical to the one everyone else got, including the path which after a quick check, Doyle finds to be a five pointer. This sticks out as being a bit odd to Doyle as it feels more like an achievement path instead of a normal one. But it isn’t like he can change anything about it and so he turns his attention to the other blue screen he got.
{Your dungeon entrance has fallen under the control of a system moderated land control module. Forced negotiations will be opened up with the local module admin.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
External Aura detected and parameters added to negotiation options.
Use of dungeon produced bones detected in the module control center. Bones now drop at a higher rate.
Unique structure, Reinforced Dungeon Containment, detected as part of land control module starting structures. Additional connections created to provide local module admin with information on conquered floors.}
Yeah, Doyle didn’t like any of that. ‘Hey Ally, take a look at this and tell me how screwed we are.’
Ally sighs, ‘It seems that no matter how much you want to give me some distance to work through things, the system keeps throwing out stuff that needs me. Anyway, if your worry is about keeping your status as an awakened dungeon hidden none of this should cause any problems.’
Doyle tilts to the side, ‘But it is practically all about negotiations. If I start negotiating with them it won’t exactly be hidden, now will it?’
Ally nods, ‘If it was setting up normal negotiations that would be the case. In this case when the system talks about forced negotiations what it really means is that Ace will be getting a control panel for the town and part of it will allow him to tweak some of the parameters related to how you interact with the town. He won’t be able to stop you from doing stuff in the dungeon proper.’
Doyle’s core dims, ‘That still feels a bit annoying.’
Ally shrugs, ‘Honestly it will be pretty limited. You haven’t really done anything outside of your dungeon so likely the only thing he will be able to tweak is your energy well. Which I am sure Ace will be thrilled about. Having such a landmine just sitting there out of your control must have been eating at him. Now at least he should be able to remove the effect from the corridor used to enter the portal. Though I have to ask. Until now I’ve mostly gone with it, but why do you care so much about not letting them know?’
Doyle sighs, ‘You should realize how messed up humans can be. As it is, they think the dungeon is a bit nasty but otherwise does not care. The second someone figures out I’m people, as it were, everything becomes personal. It isn’t a friend dying against some monsters. It is a friend dying by my hands.’
Ally shakes her head, ‘You won’t be able to keep this up forever. All it will take is a single person visiting a normal dungeon for it to become obvious something is up. Right now you’re getting away with it because they only have experience with awakened dungeons from the tutorial. Far as the settlement. Well, I guess it’s a town now. But yeah, as far as the town is concerned, you are just a normal dungeon. While dungeons aren’t exactly common right now, the system won’t let you be the only one within a reasonable distance.’
‘Right now the areas with humans are vastly out weighed by areas without humans. There might even be entire continents void of them. Nevermind we don’t have a clue what the system has actually done to your world. It’s rare but not unheard of for the system to just squish planets together with other planets while depending on newly magical ores at the core to keep everything stable.’
Doyle groans, ‘You’re going into tutorial mode again.’
Ally coughs, ‘Anyway, the dungeons will mostly be around human settlements. So while the world isn’t overrun with them, it will seem like it.’
Doyle nods, ‘I just need to keep it going long enough. Going by how strong Ace and friends are they could probably beat my boss if they had a healer along with them and really tried for it. With a few more floors though? I think I will be ahead of them.’
Ally shrugs, ‘You do realize that there is no end? Once you get those few more floors they will have also gotten stronger?’
Doyle sighs, ‘Yeah, but I feel that they have plateaued recently. Not that I think they’ve reached any sort of bottleneck, but rather managing the whole town creation mess has stopped them from reaching as hard. I don’t need to get to a point where they can’t reach me. I need to be just that bit ahead of them.’
With that, everyone settles down both outside of and within the dungeon. All there was to do was wait for the system to finish its work. And while no one could see what exactly was happening there were signs of work being done. The various building shapes shifted in form and size. Though with time the shapes take on shapes more in line with the town hall that Jimmy built.
Doyle is the first to notice when the system finished. One moment nothing was happening and the next his entrance portal snaps into the shape of a hexagon, flat side down. This instantly attracts his attention. Just in time for him to see the opaque oil slick recede, leaving behind a frame of giant bones with oddly still runes.
For the people in the town, the first thing they notice is the road. A stark white expanse that is revealed almost instantly stretching from the dock to portal. Of course this doesn’t hold their attention long as the system has soon pulled back from the center point, revealing what has happened to the dungeon and their protective infrastructure.
It took a lot of work to fully enclose the area and so they are happy to see all that work hasn’t gone to waste. Though the three absolutely massive rib bones holding up the near black wood that now makes up the dome is a little creepy.
Ace, now a bit worried about what the rest of the buildings will look like, rushes out to see what has happened to the town hall. Though the first thing to attract his attention is the dock. The structure had been one of the first new buildings put up. Originally cobbled together from a bunch of small plastic docks it has been fully revamped. So much so it makes Ace question if the system really understands what a basic dock is.
Instead of plastic, bones, or treated wood the dock is constructed out of a single living mangrove tree. A sight which makes Ace sigh in frustration. Sure, it should be able to fix itself, but how to add on to it? The system probably has something set up but not having full control over such an important feature is more than just a bit frustrating.