Apparently elves didn't have a word, or even have the concept of an 'open air, group cook out'. When Mason explained they'd all stand around drinking and cooking meat, Naya looked like she'd eaten something that disagreed with her.

"We elves...don't eat much meat," she said. "Will it be...in something?"

Mason laughed and told her to get dressed, lingering a moment to watch. But when she noticed and smiled shyly, bending over with a bit of pink in her face to pull up a layer of silk, he knew it was leave quickly or screw up his schedule.

That the beautiful elven woman was now officially his continued to screw with his brain. But with all the madness of this new world, he knew he just needed to accept it and behave accordingly.

It wasn't the only thing. As he crossed Nassau—players, civilians, and beautiful elven women were giving him something more and more like a bow.

There'd always been friendly nods or smiles, but ever since he'd made his 'House' he definitely noticed a slightly different...tone. Something a lot closer to servility, or maybe hero worship, or maybe good old fashioned boot licking. He wasn't quite sure, but he definitely wasn't comfortable with it.

He gripped the Nexus Stone for the hundredth time, feeling more than knowing what to do with it. He had no obvious options. All he could do was 'add it' to the settlement, and he expected the system would take over after that.

People were already out in the town square, setting up chairs and benches, the smell of smoke and roasting meat reminding him he was hungry. The wolves were howling, and he knew they'd start going crazy unless someone fed them. He spotted Hank and Billy in the center of the cooking and chaos and went to them.

"Morning." The old angler smiled as he flipped what looked like hamburger patties. Though there definitely weren’t any cows around. Mason stopped and stared, and Hank grinned. "Pretty soon you'll start howling like those impatient bastards. We’ll feed them, but I'm sending Rosa, by Christ, the last time I delivered 'em, one of your good boys almost took off my finger."

Mason winced, forcing his eyes off the food. It took most of his willpower to not just pull the uncooked meat off and start gorging himself right there.

"I haven't seen any cows, chef. So what exactly is..."

"Wild pig," Hank said with a grin. "Kiaan there showed us a few good spots. And Garet's actually quite a hunter with that spear of his."

Mason noticed the scout standing nearby, the goblin crouched beside him like a frightened dog. He nodded and walked over.

"Settling in alright?"

"Yes, Patron, thank you. Haley found me a place to myself. The settlement is far above what I'd expected. And I thought Cliknik might enjoy it out here as well, unless you object."

Mason glanced at the creature and frowned. He still fully intended to search around its brain as soon as Blake came back. But it seemed like that might be awhile.

"As long as he behaves," Mason said, staring at the goblin. It looked up at him and cringed slightly, trying and failing to smile like something…cute.

Mason sighed and walked to greet others, always meeting more pairs of staring eyes, shaking more outstretched hands. He did his best to remember names, and to make smalltalk.

When he saw most of his players, at least a dozen elves, and Haley coming with his other girls, he decided it was time for whatever the hell counted as a speech. He stood on a sturdy chair and cleared his throat, preparing to shout for attention or maybe whistle. But the moment he rose up into view, everyone stopped and stared in anticipation. He definitely still wasn't used to that, either.

"Things are about to change again," he said, pulling the Nexus cube out of his pocket. "I'm sure you all heard the 'announcement' a few days ago. Well, it meant we won."

Some people smiled, a few cheered, and a quick laugh swept the group.

"I don't know how the hell it works." Mason stared at the thing and shrugged. "You know what? I hate speeches. So to hell with it. I'm using this, and then we're just going to figure out what happens next. Sound good?"

"Alright!" Carl yelled, his mouth half stuffed as he walked closer to take a look. Sylvie shook her head, and he looked around at the gathered Sanctuary girls with a shrug. "What? It's exciting!"

Stolen novel; please report.

Mason dug his fingers into the cube, and it sort of clicked then opened, the sides falling until it lay flat in Mason's palm. He stared, eyes unfocused, as a blue energy appeared and started expanding. It consumed his hand, then his arm, then exploded outward in a flash until it seemed to surround Nassau in a dim shield of translucent light.

"A pretty cool start," Mason said with a grin, then looked at the others and blinked...they were completely still.

They all stood staring just as before, their faces locked, their eyes unmoving. Mason had no idea if they were all paralyzed or if somehow he was outside of normal 'time', or what. But it was freaky.

He looked back at the square, and a cascading series of 'windows' opened up with text and options.

[Congratulations, Patron. This is the Nexus installation menu. If you are seeing this, it means you have successfully used a Nexus Stone in a suitable location. You must choose an initial layout from the available options. Please note, options are based on several factors, including, but not limited to: availability of a settlement, settlement size, location, patron characteristics, and many more. Would you still like to employ the Nexus here and now?]

Mason selected ‘yes’ with his eyes, and the box closed with a satisfying blip. A new menu centered.

[Nexus options determined. Please select from the list.]

The list wasn't very long. In a flash too quick to follow, Mason saw maybe fifty options wink out in grey before he could see them, leaving him with three. Though as he started reading, the ones that remained were pretty damn good.

Option One: The Fortress. It looked like a medieval castle mixed with semi-modern, semi-fantasy defences. He saw two layers of walls, ditches and moats, ramparts and towers. What looked like ballista and catapults rung the inner layer. Inside all that murderous defence he saw an open square with several of the 'objects' he'd seen in the desert. A huge teleportation device. Some kind of arcane defensive beacon. A construct control? He had a 'feeling' but couldn't exactly tell.

Option Two: Tree City. Robin Hood would have been jealous. Buildings were constructed into the trees, linked with roads, lifts, and maybe even some teleporters in a ghostly canopy. Mason saw glowing symbols that looked vaguely Gaian, he saw soldiers with cloaks and bows surrounding the platforms, loosing arrows at some invisible foe. In the center was a large platform with the Nexus devices, resting on what looked like their great tree sprouting through the Gaian temple.

Option Three: The Grove. A dark mist that reminded him of the Nymph's tree seemed to cover everything, including Nassau. Mason saw some kind of attacking army searching for it, utterly lost and terrified, vanishing one by one to grasping plants and near invisible defenders. The Nexus devices sat in a circle much as they had in the desert, hidden in the mist, like a new Stonehenge obscured entirely by natural magic.

All he could think was: I want them all.

But he knew it didn't work that way. The options remained, practically blinking in his face with impatience. His instinct was the fortress. Back on old earth he'd been studying how to build a good bunker. But he supposed it was instructive that it wouldn't have helped him, in the end.

The hidden grove was obviously incredible...but it made him think about stealth powers and the reasons he hadn't gone that route in the beginning. Sooner or later, something was going to find you. And if you based your whole defence on staying hidden and suddenly lost that advantage, you were utterly vulnerable. Not to mention probably surprised.

Good, static walls were incredibly effective, as long as you had defenders. On the other hand, they'd already seen things like the damn goblins had cannons, and all kinds of impossibly destructive tools. So maybe relying too much on walls was just as much of a mistake. It might make them complacent. Arrogant. Weak.

A raised city was probably as good as walls. The enemy could chop down your trees, of course, or try and burn the whole forest. But Mason suspected he had tools to stop that. And it was hard to chop down trees when your enemy was dropping rocks and shooting the shit out of you. And even if you chopped down a tree and collapsed a building or two, they had plenty more.

You could cut the bridges, too. Each tree would be like a mini fortress on its own. They could probably even build several buildings on the larger trees, and make more than one layer of tree city...

And the people inside would still feel...exposed. Without walls, maybe the players of Nassau would remember the only true protection was strength. They would have to defend their city from their enemies. They couldn't rely on some barrier holding them off.

Mason made his choice, and watched the blue light flare with something more...solid.

[Thank you, Patron. The Western Nexus is now forming. Please stand by.]

Mason stared in open awe as the world began to re-shape around him. Trees were changing, moving, growing. The temple of Gaia creaked and groaned, and the small, familiar voice of Mason's sapling great tree was crying out. It sounded confused. Afraid. And then...hungry.

The child-like voice grew. The earth itself seemed to growl, to laugh, calling out in joy at its own expanding power. Stone cracked and broke like nothing. The temple roof ripped like paper as the great tree ripped through it and expanded, towering above until it dwarfed the trees in every direction.

Mason had the urge to fall to his knees, but resisted. It was like witnessing the birth of some new god. He heard the voice again, loud and clear, some alien intelligence awakened for the first time.

Hungry it whispered in Mason's mind. Rocks. Like rocks. And crystals. And gems! Oh, so hungry. So big. Who you? Who I? Oh. So much hungry.

Mason blinked as the Nexus energies slowly dimmed, the trees all around Nassau now filled with buildings not so different than the Nephalai's lake city.

Mason 'felt' the almost juvenile, maybe slightly masculine thoughts of the 'great tree' bouncing around his brain, mostly centered around food. He put a hand to his face. His new god was possibly a giant tree toddler.