The thing about hangovers is that, as unpleasant as they are, the real downside is the amount of time you lose recovering from them. Giving up a day or even half a day just to feel better means losing time you could be spending working, doing self-maintenance, or any number of things. You can’t even properly relax while you recover because you feel too miserable to enjoy anything you’re doing.

This particular hangover seemed worse than normal, and I wondered if it was my body protesting the treatment I was putting it through immediately after healing from my injuries.

I lifted a hand to shade my eyes as I squinted against the harsh beams of sunlight that seemed to stab at my skull, making my head throb. Damien stood next to me looking as bad as I felt. Based on how pale he was I halfway expected him to puke any minute. I took another sip of water as I surveyed the site in front of me.

“Well, what do you think? It should work for our purposes right?” Jacques shouted to me over the sound of the excavator that was digging in front of us. The grinding of the machinery made my head hurt, and I found myself wishing they’d shelled out for an earth mage who could have just directly made the hole. Still, a big company like them didn’t get to where they were by wasting money. Earth mages were typically only brought on for huge projects that would take too much time to complete using machines. This dungeon, in comparison to some, was pretty small scale.

As my head pounded I found myself regretting the amount I had drank the night before. Who’d have known that the approval process would move ahead so quickly once we submitted the dungeon plans. Jacques had called Damien the morning after our ill conceived night out to let us know that, with the plans, they had exercised their own influence and connections with the Office of Dungeon Management to smooth the road and streamline the process. As soon as they got the provisional license, Grainola finalized their deal on a spot for the dungeon and began construction overnight.

I was confused at first about why they would bother digging out the area for the lake, and even marking the edges of the dungeon. However, once we got off the phone with Jacques and I asked Damien he explained that marking the edges of the property was to ensure I could better visualize the area so I would keep the dungeon within the limits of the land they purchased. If the dungeon exceeded the property lines by even a small amount then the owners of the surrounding land could get a court order to have the dungeon destroyed and reconstructed to the appropriate size.

As for why they would dig out the lake, neither of us knew the answer until Jacques explained it to us. Apparently there were laws about how deep a dungeon could go in Asance. I guess it had to do with the stability of the Public Dungeon. The tree’s roots spread for miles below the city, and even beyond its walls. According to Damien, early on there were people who dug too deep and damaged the roots of the tree. They triggered a self-defense mechanism of the dungeon in which it suddenly sent Monsters and Beasts out beyond its borders to attack the offenders. Though the Guardians eventually killed the Monsters and Beasts, the people who had damaged the roots were found ripped to pieces afterwards. Since then, Asance has always held a very firm stance towards dungeon creation.

I couldn’t help sweating a little at the thought. I was very lucky that I hadn’t gone deeper than that when I created the Q&A Jelly dungeon. I hadn’t known anything about the depth limit at the time and could easily have caused a disaster.

Jacques was still waiting for an answer, so I nodded. “This is a good spot. I’m surprised you were able to get it to be honest. I didn’t think there were any spaces as large as this left in the area.” I eyed the surroundings approvingly. Though still within the Industrial District, we were much closer to the Public Dungeon than Q&A Jelly’s factory was.

“There weren’t any. We bought up ten different lots, had them rezoned as a single lot, and then demolished and removed the pre-existing buildings overnight.” Jacques explained. My eyes couldn’t help but widen. They were really investing a lot into this dungeon. Ten lots must have amounted to at least five square miles of land, which was an enormous space for the Industrial District these days. While there were larger complexes that covered 25 square miles surrounding the Public Dungeon, those were owned by the largest corporations like Rust, and had been here since Asance was founded.

I looked out and realized that I couldn’t see the edges of where the dungeon would be. I did notice them marking out specific areas on the edges of the property. “What are those for?” I asked Jacques curiously.

“Those will be the walls we’ll build for security purposes as well as a guardhouse, carport, and collection facility. Ideally we’d have a bottling facility here too, but the cost of adding anymore land was too prohibitive. We’ll simply truck the collected water from here to one of our other facilities.” He explained simply.

“When will construction be finished?” Damien asked.

“Within a few weeks,” Jacques answered. “We’ll hold off on creating the dungeon until the perimeter wall and other facilities are built.”

Damien nodded, and I made a sound of understanding. Having seen all there was to see, Jacques led us back away from the noisy construction site back out to the street. The large size of our dungeon was unique to the Industrial District these days, and we had drawn a crowd of interested bystanders. In order to avoid the crowd, we accepted an offer from Jacques to ride in the company car Grainola had sent to drive him to the property. We had him drop us closer to the university.

After waving goodbye as he drove off, I looked at Damien and shook my head. “You look like crap. You should go home, try to sleep it off.”

He snorted. “You don’t look that much better. Take your own advice.”

“I would if I could, but I have things to do.” After the money came into our account last night, Damien promptly set aside the amount that would be used as working capital and then paid the remainder out as dividends. My bank account, for the first time in my life, had a 5 digit number in it. It wasn’t a lot in the grand scheme of things, but it was enough to cover a few months of rent and groceries. Which meant I could finally leave behind the university.

It was time to move out of my old dorm.

Damien hesitated for a moment, looking torn. I had a vague memory of us discussing apartments last night and him suggesting outrageously priced, but extremely luxurious buildings to me. However, I wanted to make this money last as long as I could which meant finding an affordable place to live.

“Go on ahead, get some sleep. I’ll be fine apartment hunting on my own. If I have any questions about price I’ll give you a call.” I assured him.

He gave in without needing too much convincing. “Call me if something comes up. And don’t sign anything today. If they try to force you to sign today then they’re probably not a very reputable leasing office, and you definitely shouldn’t sign.”

I waved him off, dismissing his worries. The ins and outs of business may elude me, but something as basic as apartment hunting wasn’t new to me. I had to figure it out on my own for years after my parents died. The new government may have given me a subsidy, but they didn’t teach me how to budget or anything. I’d had more than a few mishaps involving finances over the years, but as a result I was pretty confident in my ability to stretch a dollar.

Uttering a brief goodbye, we went our separate ways.