Demonic Po*nstar System

Chapter 1071: New Unlocks

Kaiden confirmed the purchase, opening Semi-Creation Mode for the thirty square kilometres he had just bought. Light swept across the palace windows as the system began building his design.

On the projection, molten rock poured into the new basins, filling depths that made the old channel look miserably shallow. Melty swam out into the nearest reservoir, her wake spreading across the glowing surface before she vanished beneath it.

Kaiden kept watching for her. When she surfaced farther out, with room to turn her immense body freely, his grin returned.

”Much better.”

A heavy metallic blow reached him through the open doors. Above the trees, black foundations drove into the nearest pass while his lance battery assembled around its suspended barrel.

”I need to see that thing.”

Kaiden rose and offered Aria his hand. Her fingers slipped into his as she joined him, smiling at his eagerness, and the family followed them down the dais toward the doors.

From the terrace, he watched its barrel turn above a mountain shoulder. Dust blew toward the tower and broke against the transparent dome spreading from the pylon beside it.

Kaiden brought the nearest chasm bridge into a shared view beside them. His new slimes were coating its descending shelf, leaving a wet sheen that caught the light until a Nightshroud settled into the cave above them and spread darkness over the stone.

”Can we try it?” Luna asked.

He chose a broad patch well back from the drop and directed the Monolith to brace there, one foot on coated stone, its maul planted on the dry ground beside it. A light strike from the Quakelord sent a ripple through the shelf.

The Monolith’s forward foot slid, and its weight came down on the planted maul with a jolt that shook its arms before it recovered.

”Damn,” Luna breathed, then began grinning. ”That thing’s built like a fortress.”

”It still needs something to stand on.”

Kaiden sent the Monolith back to its landing and stationed it farther from the coated approach, giving its maul more room to brace on dry ground. His own defenders would be receiving some very emphatic instructions about where to put their feet.

Below the terrace, the transit line now reached toward the mountains. A carriage floated out of its housing at the palace steps, coming to rest above the platform on a cushion of pale blue light. Its doors opened onto the seats Aria had admired.

”I’m going to have a look inside,” Luna said, already walking toward it.

The carriage lights came on as she stepped through the doors. She ran a hand along the back of a seat, then looked out at Nyx.

”Coming, Fatty? There’s plenty of room even for your giant jugs.”

”In a minute, bestie. Have you found a seat where your feet reach the floor?”

”Hah?”

Calypso followed Luna in, curious enough to inspect the floating carriage herself. Kaiden could hear them talking about the view through its windows.

Before he could reach the carriage, the interface chimed.

[Domain evaluation complete.]

[Rank 5 ? Rank 6.]

[New development facilities available.]

[Available DMP: 176,050.]

Kaiden stopped halfway down the steps to open the new tab, drawing an amused look from Aria.

”What did you find?”

[Dungeon-Born Evolution Hall.]

[Cost: 60,000 DMP.]

He read the description twice.

”This accelerates their Core Attunement.” Kaiden brought the description closer. ”Their connection to the dungeon is what makes their bodies and magic stronger. These stations can deepen it much faster.”

”Even the people who don’t fight?”

”Yes. Training and work still shape the paths they follow, but this speeds up the growth. They could come back from a raid and keep getting stronger while they recover.”

The preview opened into a long hall lined with glass treatment stations. Black rings moved around the occupants independently, each station drawing mana through its own connection to the dungeon core. Alice pointed to a shield-bearer whose forearms were bright beneath the light.

”Can you open that part? What’s it doing to his arms?”

Kaiden enlarged that station. The flow through the shield-bearer’s Dungeon Vein intensified, thickening its bones and developing the mana channels around them. In the neighboring stations, other bodies were changing at the same time.

He remembered their first shield line crumpling under blows the shields themselves had survived. His people had grown through everything they endured since, and he wanted them stronger still. With groups using the hall between raids and training, the whole force could benefit.

”Could you bring Taigi over?” he asked Bastet. ”I’d like her to see this before I place it.”

The felinid smiled warmly at him, then went to speak to the warrior posted beside the palace approach. The man bowed to her and hurried toward the settlement.

While they waited, Kaiden opened the next facility.

[Fabrication Foundry.]

[Cost: 50,000 DMP.]

In the preview, ore shed its impurities inside a field of light. Refined metal flowed into a mold, then passed to articulated tools that shaped a breastplate around a suspended frame.

”Master...”

Bastet had returned in time to see fine patterns spreading across the armor. Kaiden turned the image toward her and opened the controls.

”Our craftspeople would supply the materials and designs, then direct the tools. Imagine what they could make with equipment like that.”

”I would like to learn too, Master.” Her ears tipped forward as a tool followed the breastplate’s edge. ”Look how fine that work is...”

”Of course. I’d love to see what you make with it.”

She smiled up at him, openly delighted, and he wanted to buy the thing immediately. He liked seeing her this eager to try something for herself.

Taigi arrived with two of her people while he was choosing a site near the expanded settlement. The carriage hovering beside the palace slowed her steps; beyond it rose mountains that had changed the horizon.

”My lord.” She bowed to Kaiden before approaching the shared display. ”We have been watching. The new land...”

”Some of it is for your people to expand into, yes. I’ll show you which parts are safe. And I’d like your help deciding where these should go.”

He brought the two facilities forward and explained what each would let her people do.

One of her supporters reached toward the suspended armor in the foundry preview, but caught himself.

”May I show the others, my lord? When it’s built?”

”Yes.” His eagerness made Kaiden grin. ”You’ll have to learn to use it, but I’m eager to see what you make.”

Taigi was studying the rows of occupied stations in the evolution hall’s preview.

”We could use it between training sessions?”

”Yeah. Could you arrange groups so everyone gets a turn? The supporters too. I’d like all of you making use of it.”

”Of course, my lord.”

Her answer came readily, and she was already comparing the two buildings with the man beside her when Kaiden opened the placement controls.

Together they chose one of the workshop clearings behind the palace, close to the settlement and the transit line’s rear stop. Kaiden confirmed the purchase.

[Evolution Hall: 60,000 DMP.]

[Fabrication Foundry: 50,000 DMP.]

[Available DMP: 66,050.]

On their projection, the foundry rose in the chosen clearing, its machinery descending from overhead rails beneath the forming roof. Next door, bright windows opened across the front of the evolution building.

From inside the carriage, Luna leaned out through the open door.

”Are we riding this thing or what?”

Kaiden laughed and offered Aria his hand again.

”Yeah. Let’s get Taigi and her people settled in.”

...

The carriage carried them around the palace to the new workshop clearing. People were already coming from the settlement to inspect the buildings, slowing as it floated into the station above them.

Kaiden led the group inside the evolution hall. Rows of empty treatment stations waited on either side of a broad aisle, each with its own control panel. He opened the facility’s access settings and gave Taigi permission to operate it.

”You can run this while we’re away.”

She touched a panel, bringing up the instructions, and the two Dungeon-Born who had accompanied her approached separate stations. Their displays recognized them through their links to the core.

At their confirmation, the supports adjusted around their bodies. One set of rings began turning while the other station was still closing, blue light following a different pattern around each occupant.

Taigi looked from them to the unoccupied rows.

”I’ll bring the others, my lord.”

”Please do. And let me know how they get on.”

Through the open doors, he could see residents gathering around the foundry. Bastet had joined them and was examining the controls beside the entrance with a woman from the settlement. Kaiden smiled at her enthusiasm and went to collect his family.

By the time they returned to the carriage, Taigi had people moving between the new buildings. Kaiden took his seat beside Aria and set their destination for the Japanese approach. It took them back past the palace, then turned onto the main line.

Luna stretched her legs beneath the opposite seat.

”Are you finished buying things?”

”For now. I’ll keep the rest for a rain check, I suppose.”

”Good. I’m hungry.”

Yunohana smiled softly beside him.

”I believe everyone at the estate would be delighted to see us return. Shall we have supper when we get back?”

”Yeah. That sounds great.”

Kaiden closed the dungeon interface and took her hand. With Aria warm against his other side, he watched the new mountains pass beyond the carriage windows as they headed back toward Japan.