Out of the Whispering Bog and back to my room, I lifted the newly acquired key before me. A prompt came up asking me if I wish to open a portal to the Nexus. I selected ‘Yes,’ and the key began to hum. I waited. And just when I was about to ask Bob why it was taking so long, a portal appeared before me. Unlike the Void Dungeon portals, this one had an iron frame, but was of a similar bedroom-door size.
I walked through and found myself standing in the center of a circular island about a 100 yards across that ended abruptly. Nothing lay beyond it, and nothing above but a blank canvas of starless gray which created light about as bright as twilight. The ground underneath my sandals was solid, rough-hewn granite. I didn’t know if it was a gentle wind, or whether the entire thing was moving through space.
I did, and this time the previous prompt for the portal had an additional option: ‘Administrator Menu.’ I selected it, and was presented with an interface showing the layout of the island, number of inhabitants, Nexus points and options to Build, Edit, View, and Help.
The build menu presented a further sub-menu of categories: Noble, Residential, Commercial, Access, Defenses, and Misc. I scanned through the categories and the structures that I had access to. It included buildings like houses, barracks, workshops, temples, roads, walls, and towers. Along with magical floating platforms, lights, shields, and gravity plates.
The interface and the place felt a lot like a colony builder. Every item required Nexus points in order for me to construct them, ranging from as little as one, and up to 200. There was a lot I wanted to build, but unfortunately I started with only five hundred ‘Nexus’ points.
I took out a typical gold coin out of my purse, and did as Bob instructed. Instantly, the coin vanished, and I was presented with a prompt, One Nexus Points granted.’
I groaned.
With this exchange rate, twenty coins were enough to build one of the cheapest structures, a [t1] House, which seemed like an amazing deal. None of the options had anything to do with water, or food production, which sort of made sense. Nothing made in the Void was edible, and the water was undrinkable too. Thankfully, the air was breathable.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Except the light in this place looked too dim to grow anything. Was there any option to fix that? I checked the Edit sub-menu and found what I was looking for. Unfortunately, it cost 50 points to unlock the light control and another to control the temperature. I assumed the dirt in the void wouldn’t be suitable either, and I would need to haul it from outside too.
Maybe this place wouldn’t make for the best farm, but it would work as a safe haven for the next Dark Night. Even if the entire village is destroyed, I could relocate them here, to the Nexus. I took a few minutes to flip through the menus to see what I could build, control and adjust.
I didn’t care about ruling the world. Instead, I wanted a safe, quiet and peaceful life. The Nexus could provide near-instant travel across the world and become the most valuable trade hub in existence. I could tax the goods and travelers coming through. Money could buy a lot of things, including peace. The potential was immense. But for that I would need to secure this place.
At a hundred yards across, every bit of land on the island was valuable. The Edit menu had an option to increase the size of the island, but it didn’t come cheap. For residential buildings there were three versions of houses ranging from 20 to 60, then larger row houses from 80 to 160, each one increasing in square footage in proportion to their cost.
I only had 501 points to use, and didn’t want to waste it somehow. My purse contained enough gold for another 500 points, but did I want to convert it? I had plans to purchase some amazing gear or skill books with it. I needed to think long and hard about it. The Nexus had potential to be a lot more important and lucrative than some magical gear for myself.
Right now though, I had a more pressing issue. I had to figure out how to provide Moorhaven villagers with access to this place in case of a looming threat. Under the Access menu, I was presented with two types of options.
* Anchors:
* [t1] Portal Anchor
* Current: 10
* Cost: 10 points
* Permanent:
* [t1] Portal - Sustained [3x6 feet]
* Current: 0
* Cost: 20 points
* [t1] Trade Portal - Sustained [18x12 feet]
* Current: 0
* Cost: 90 points
It made me realize that each portal anchor could be used to flood a horde of people into the Nexus at any time and from anywhere -- as long as there was an available portal anchor not being used. And right now the Nexus had ten anchors, evenly spaced around the outside perimeter. A better option was to set up a permanent portal to the outside world.
I didn’t like that. If a Brutalorg could destroy it, then everyone inside the Nexus would get stranded and die of starvation. Also, a portal out in the open could get used by bandits, or some army hell-bent on capturing the Nexus. I had to hide the portal, or put it down in a secure spot, but where?
If that were to happen, just about anyone could pop up in this place and cause trouble. No doubt they’d try to kill me for my first key so as to take control of the Nexus.