Rhen was quiet on the way back, thinking through his speech. He had a lot to apologize for, but apologies wouldn’t win them over—a plan would. He had that, but how to present it… especially when it relied heavily on Wyland’s machines?

Maybe he should let his actions do the talking, first? No, that would be weird. He had to tell them what he was thinking.

They arrived just before dark and Rhen called them all down into the control node chamber. Jakira, Barrek, Joseph, and Eli, famished from waiting so long to eat, were digging into the food they’d brought while Rhen gathered his courage to speak.

“Rebuilding the inn won’t work right now, we don’t have time. I’m sure some of you have been hearing Jakira, Aki and I talking about the raid, and that it’s important… time dependent. It’s not just a nexus node. It’s an unexplored realm.”

Olliat gasped. “How do you know this?”

“I divined it while, eh, accidentally under the influence of goddess fruit.”

Aki fluttered confidently. “I am very sorry about that, but also not sorry at all because of the discovery.”

“The potential discovery,” Rhen corrected.

He sighed, this wasn’t really going the way he’d hoped. He had to stop avoiding the awkward emotion and just do it. He messed up, he yelled, he was rude to everyone, and what he’d said wasn’t even true.

When he’d started out, he wanted to delve the dungeon alone, but Aki and Jakira changed everything. He loved having teammates who weren’t fluffers, and sitting around the firepit after a long delve, exchanging stories and laughs was amazing.

“I’m sorry. I’ve been rushing everything, everyone. There’s nothing more I’ve ever wanted in my life than to found a new realm… but seeing our homes destroyed reminded me of who I’m doing this for. What would I do alone in my own realm? I want a place like this… like the home we made. We share, and we help one another without thinking about getting paid back because we know we will. We laugh and enjoy one another’s company”—Rhen looked between Joseph and Wyland—“mostly.”

“Anyway, I’ve been pushing us to this node, but it hasn’t been about the discovery, or the fame, maybe a little bit about the fame, but it’s about making a safe place for us, all of us. For everyone who isn’t a fluffer like Welsh, or Desedra.

“It’s not safe up there,” he said, pointing toward the dungeon exit. “But I can make it safe for us down here.”

With that said, he placed his hand on the control node and filled his mind with the idea of an inn made of dungeon stone. After a quick sensation of falling, Rhen opened his eyes to the control center of the dungeon. He floated weightlessly in that space and watched as the inn took shape.

It had twelve rooms, and a nice big kitchen with a stove and a chimney running to the dungeon entrance. There was a sitting area right outside the kitchen where they could eat and relax, with three big tables crafted from the dungeon floor.

But it was so dark. Without anything to light the area, they’d have to use a lot of torches. Unless…

Rhen envisioned windows overlooking the rainforest and the location of the inn shifted. The tunnel leading down to the rainforest chamber widened and three stories of rooms cut themselves into the rock on either side. The tunnel into the chamber had a passageway right above it that connected the left and right sides of the inn. On the left side of the first floor was the large kitchen and dining area. On the right he made two more rooms for crafting, both designed sort of like Wyland’s workshop.

The windows were mid-way up the wall inside the rainforest chamber; too high for a terrocken to jump, he hoped. Maybe he could get Wyland to craft some barriers on the windows to keep bugs out. Oh yeah, and the insane hexawraiths.

As he thought it, sheets of thin, clear glass covered the windows. Well, he’d want them to be able to open in case people wanted to let a breeze through. Again, the windows adjusted to become double pane with a divide down the middle and a track the panels could slide on.

Fantastic.

He adjusted little details here and there, adding closets to all the rooms, a nice pantry for the kitchen, some kitchen layout adjustments for several workstations, and other quality of life changes.

Quality of life…

Aki…

While he didn’t really need a place to sleep, Rhen wanted him to feel like he had his own space within the inn. Rhen imagined a recessed room near the bottom of the inn that pooled with water from the river above. More changes took shape and Rhen realized he could create those bathing rooms too! Maybe he was getting ahead of himself. Nah, he was going for it.

Beside Aki’s space he carved out two more similar rooms with walking areas around wide circular tubs. He envisioned a heating element below them, and a way for the water to flow out of the bathing rooms and back out into the stream above. He got a negative buzzing in his ear for that adjustment and text appeared over the inn view.

[Alteration not possible without {Power Gem: Corraphine}]

“Is there Corrapine within the dungeon?”

[Corraphine likely within the {Aquatic} chamber.]

Hmm. Well, the baths would have to wait until they took out gigafish, then. He removed the bathing rooms, then zoomed out and spun the view around. Not bad at all, and built in a fraction of the time of a real inn.

[Dungeon Editing]

Cost for current adjustments: 45,500 anima points

Current room allotment: 15,300

*Warning, to complete this change, you will need to siphon anima from other dungeon chambers. Select chamber to siphon from: Mastery Node {32,450}, Resurrection Node {240,042}.

-----

Rhen choked when he saw the cost. Good thing he hadn’t put those baths in…

He didn’t want to risk throwing off the balance of the rainforest, so he stole from the mastery node chamber, setting them back in abilities. It was fine, they had the time to make it up if they worked hard.

[Dungeon Editing]

You are about to create {Zephitz Inn} chamber outside of {Rainforest} chamber using 30,200 anima from Mastery Node and 15,300 from Control Node. Are you ready to accept these changes?

{Yes} | {No}

-----

Rhen selected yes and he was released from the control center. The room shifted underfoot, much of the open space being redirected down to the inn. Rock ground against itself and metal in the walls whined.

“What’s happening?” Jakira crouched, holding tight to her bowl of stew.

“Layout adjustments!” Rhen yelled over the noise.

Finally, everything settled.

Rhen grinned, giddy. “Let’s go see our new home.”

He led the way down the tunnel to the Rainforest chamber. After a few dozen feet, the tunnel widened to a brand-new chamber, the inn. There were windows on both sides of the inn, and light from the rainforest shone through.

“It’s beautiful!” Olliat ran toward the building carved into the walls and Eli followed fast behind her.

Joseph slapped Rhen on the back. “Good work, Deo.”

“Ah, I see there’s a spot right here for my work,” Wyland said, moving right toward the crafter’s room. Rhen had tried to mimic the design of Wyland’s workshop below his store, but he was sure he got some of the details wrong.

“I’ll make some blankets and pillows for now,” Leslie said, picking through the supplies in the boat-cart.

“I have some feathers we can use,” Bort said, holding up his bag.

Barrek grinned. “We’ll have this inn furnished in no time at all.”

The three of them gravitated toward the other room, pushing the boat-cart along full of supplies as they chatted about what to work on first. Everyone smiled while they explored the inn. Rhen sat outside, watching them through the windows. Aki plopped down into a little watery bauble beside him, as if to sit.

“You have made everyone very happy.”

Rhen tutted. “Like buying a kid candy after screaming at them…”

“No. You did not placate their sadness with gifts. You showed them your heart, and they love who you are.”

Rhen chuckled. “You certainly have a way with the common language.”

He wondered if it was true. Did they like him for who he was? Or did they just like that he had a profitable dungeon?

“You worry too much.”

“Worrying is how I’ve survived.”

“Or maybe worrying is preventing you from living.”

Rhen scowled. How did that work?

“Come.” Aki blooped himself back up into a man-shaped body. “Show me my room.”

Rhen climbed to his feet, and they entered the inn. The walls of the living room were smooth, laced with bits of sparkling Celinom. Rhen could feel his boots pulling extra energy from the magical stones, chasing away his weariness.

Jakira was in the kitchen, checking out all the features he’d installed. A double oven for baking bread, a stovetop for sautéing or boiling, and a big spit for roasting large animals. Her face glowed when she saw him and she charged, arms open.

She gave him a huge hug and kissed his cheek. “This is the best thing ever!”

“I’m glad you like it.”

“How much did it cost?”

Rhen grimaced. “A lot. Those new abilities we were gonna get are on hold until we can farm some of those crystals out of the aquatic chamber.”

“I can help with that,” Wyland yelled from his workshop.

Apparently, noise traveled in here… He’d have to fix that later.

“How so?” Rhen called back.

“You’ll see. Give me three days!”

Rhen counted down in his mind. That would leave them with sixteen days to farm crystals for the mastery node, level up, craft enough gear and weapons for every delver… all the while someone had to be making food for everyone, and Rhen really needed to get on with finding a good apothecary. They’d gone too long with in-combat potions that could really make a difference.

Not to mention, he really needed to find a way down into the aquatic chamber and spar with a few of the smaller fish to get a feel for their abilities. He didn’t want the whole team going in there blind.

So much to do.

Aki slapped him on the back the way he’d seen Joseph do it. “We are here to help you, Rhen. Share the work.”

“Yeah, how can I help?” Jakira asked.

Rhen thought about how he could divvy up the work. “Okay, here’s what we need to do.”