After three weeks of being followed around by orbeyes, they all finally fell into a normal routine. Rhen had discovered that the broadcast doubled as a hiring platform when he mentioned casually over dinner that they really needed more metal workers, and two days later his doorstep was bursting with people eager to share in the profit of Zephitz dungeon.

He also got a lot of join requests from people seeking the limelight. Aki was invaluable to that effect and became the de facto hiring manager. He grilled the prospective delvers and turned away seventy-five percent of more. But those he kept, Rhen knew would be great additions.

The viewership had slowly grown over the last three weeks, and they were sitting at a stable four thousand. It was impossible to tell from the local panels which were individuals, and which were taverns, but from the bank account statements Rhen could see that a good thirty percent was taverns.

This alone had already put them well above Rhen’s debt. He breathed a sigh of free, fresh air when he woke up every morning. Now he just had to finish the nexus transportation, and everything would be right in the world. And if he failed, he’d lose his dungeon… but at least he wouldn’t be going to Everest II.

Rhen sauntered down to the tavern and walked back to the progress board. Arannet had updated it that morning with two big exclamation points and a, “We need to talk” scribbled at the top. Rhen’s pleasant mood shifted to one of worry.

He poked his head into the kitchen. Patti was stirring some creamy porridge in the extra-large pot, and the crafting orbeye was getting a closeup of Jakira’s quick knife work on some fresh berries. The orbeye glanced up at Rhen, though the women did not.

“Seen Arannet?”

“She’s topside with Wyland,” Pattie replied.

Rhen grimaced. He’d come to learn that whenever Wyland and Arannet were in the same place—other than the tavern—something was wrong. This combined with her note spelled serious trouble. But he didn’t want to bring the mood down on the orbeye broadcast, so he grinned mischievously.

He activated Swift Twitch and surged forward, grabbing a spoon off the counter. He went for the pot of porridge but Jakira was quick too, parrying his wooden spoon with her oversized carving knife. Patti stepped back with a yelp, holding her own gooey spoon up for protection.

“Just because,” Jakira said, parrying another attempt, “you’re the dungeon owner, does not mean—”parry—“you can double dip the porridge whenever you want!”

Rhen smiled and stopped his assault against the pot. He came around the counter and pulled Jakira into a big hug, then rotated her away from the pot as he dipped his spoon into the porridge.

“Oh, you!” she howled, reaching for the spoon.

Fortunately, Rhen was taller, and his arms longer, so he held it just out of reach. He blew on the gloppy porridge twice and then shoved the spoon in his mouth. It was immensely hot, but seasoned well with honey and hakir salt. Paired with the berries, he bet it would be absolutely delicious.

He set Jakira down and grinned. “Mmm, fanks. Berry hot, bu so good.”

She snatched the spoon away and tossed it into the sink with an amused roll of her eyes. “You better go get to work.”

He saluted. “Roger.”

She shot him a glare and he beamed, then hightailed it out of the kitchen.

Alex, Ulecks, Eli, and Olliat were working on their archery in the training room, sweaty from the effort. The four of them were extremely competitive with one another but cooperated perfectly when in real combat. They were the shining example of a good team. Rhen loved it.

Tsu’me and Derk were lingering up at the Mastery node, scrolling through the most recent additions for spells. Defender’s Cry had a bard companion spell called Champion’s Chord that she was staring at. She’d already gotten the first level of it, but was apparently considering a second to increase the duration and radius of the spell’s effects. Rhen gave them a little wave as he passed by, not wanting to intrude. Derk gave a big wave and a loud, “Hi!” back that put a smile on his face.

The sounds of hammering metal, grinding stone, and heavy machinery filled the corridor up to the top. They’d carved out a wide set of stone stairs with a sloped ramp on the left for wheeling materials up to the surface. It had a much more respectable look than a bone ladder. Rhen took the steps two at a time and hopped to a stop at the top.

“There you are,” Arannet said with a loud, exasperated sigh.

Rhen swiveled toward her and beamed. “Here I am. How can I be of assistance?”

“We’ve got a design problem,” Arannet said, grabbing him by the elbow and leading him to the design problem in question.

There was a small crowd of delvers around a pit in the ground. Wyland, Bort, Joseph, and Aki were all chatting in low voices. Wyland was bent over the pit, and as they got closer, Rhen could see it was full of water. Inside was the same hexagonal setup that protected the Resurrection node in the rainforest chamber, but much smaller. Fish from the river swam around inside lazily. There was a blinking panel about the size of Rhen’s hand with a wire running into the small pond just to the side of it.

“Ah, finally,” Wyland said as he noticed Rhen. “Okay, ready for a demo?”

“Sure. Is this the protection for the Nexus node?”

“Indeed. Watch.” Wyland flipped the only switch on the panel, then pressed and held down the button. Anima flowed down his arm into the construct and lit up the crystal serving as the node down in the water. The plate projected up into the air and sparked with white anima. The fish that were swimming lazily went into a frenzy, surging toward the node.

The first fish on the scene swallowed the projection plate in a single gulp, ending the projection spell. The fish went on about their business as if nothing had happened. After a moment, the fish regurgitated the plate and swam away.

Wyland stood and slapped his hands off on his pants. “So you see, we’re gonna have to do some working around this.”

Rhen shrugged. “No big deal. We’ll have a cephaloraid ready to defend.”

Wyland sighed. “I wish it were that simple, sonny.”

Aki blobbed up beside them. “The reason the fish are disturbed is because the anima is discharging into the water and connecting with the fish, not with the conduction rods. It is hurting them.”

Rhen grunted his understanding and grabbed his chin thoughtfully. He whipped the dungeon owner’s map from his back pocked and laid it out, then activated it with a burst of his anima. The map focused right where he’d wanted, displaying a three-dimensional perspective of the nexus node.

“Aki, how big of an air pocket do you think you can maintain at that depth?”

“Twenty feet in diameter perhaps.”

Rhen looked at the model at the bottom of the pond. If it was to scale, that wouldn’t work. They’d need at least sixty feet.

“What about in Mega-Aki form?”

“Perhaps up to sixty feet. It would not leave us with any room for error.”

Rhen scowled at the map. “What about using corraphine to direct the flow of water away from the node? We could make sort of a reverse whirlpool and pull air down through the transportation tube we’ve got running up to the top already.”

Aki bobbed up and down. “Yes, this might work, however…”

Joseph crossed his arms. “The west mines are all dried up. No more corraphine, no more magnite.”

Rhen pulled in a deep breath. He knew there was more in the chimeti cave, probably lots more… but were they ready to take it on? With just four weeks left, it didn’t matter at this point. They had to try.

“How are we on the transport carts?” he asked, looking to Wyland.

“Two done, which’ll be slow, but enough. We can hold off on makin’ any more until we get the rest of this figured out.”

Rhen looked around the construction site. They had a good fifty delvers now, more than a third of them were combat experienced, but Rhen hadn’t been in combat with them all. They’d need time to learn coordination and to work together as a larger group, and they’d need a good plan.

But he also needed to keep the topside inn progress moving. It was a good-sized three-story structure so far, but it wasn’t finished.

“Arannet, does the inn inside the dungeon count towards our requirements?”

“Technically yes, though it’s up to the discretion of the Nexus Review Board.”

He grumbled. The nexus node needed to be protected, and that solution was top priority, over even the inn. There was nothing to be done for it, they’d have to run it close, yet again.

“Can we test the theory really quick? Aki, Wyland?” Rhen asked, gesturing to the pond.

Wyland stepped into the water barefoot and collected the miniature plate, resetting it. He checked the connections, then got out. Aki’s tentacles glowed yellow and a bubble of air pushed into the water, then held stable around the fake Nexus node.

Wyland flipped the switch and pressed down the button again. The contraption lit up with anima and the plate shot off the platform, zapping with anima. The strikes hit significantly more times on the conduction rods, but still struck the water around it. The fish twitched and surged toward the plate. The first one crossed the bubble and flopped onto the ground inside the air pocket.

None of the fish got to the plate, but they did still try.

“We’ll need human conductors on those rods like with the Resurrection node, so I think we’ll have even fewer strikes to the water around it, but then comes another problem. When the barrier is up and properly functioning, it might shock anythin’ that gets too close. That could cause a fishy frenzy as seen here, or maybe scare’em off, I don’t know.”

Rhen scowled, dredging up all the thoughts in his brain that he could muster. “If we infuse the conduction rods with corraphine, could you somehow keep a small air barrier around it? Or am I grasping at straws here?”

Wyland rubbed the back of his neck with his mechanical arm. “With so little time left, I’d feel a bit nervous changin’ my design. No time to quality test it. No, I wouldn’t risk it.”

“What about if I just buried the node? I know we can’t move it, but I could cover it in a thick layer of rock or something to protect it, make a dome so we can still get to it, then we siphon the water out.”

“The pressure at that depth is great, it may cause the rock to collapse,” Aki said.

Wyland hummed. “If you made the dome of corraphine, we could convert that pressure into energy by cyclin’ the water across the surface. Could use that energy to help power the lift instead of usin’ the Nexus node anima.”

“That’s a lot of corraphine,” Bort interjected.

Wyland nodded. “But it would solve another problem. We’ve known we can’t rely on the Nexus energy to power the lift long-term. Once we’re supportin’ inter-realm travel for everyone, it would exhaust it.”

“Can you get a design drafted up for the pressure converting dome?” Rhen asked.

“Yeah, gimme a day or two to get the math worked out. Gonna need Aki’s help with some tests.”

Rhen nodded. “We’ll give you whatever you need. I think this is the right way forward. Let’s call everyone who’s willing to raid down to the dining hall for some berry porridge brunch and talk strategy. We can get through this.”

Rhen trotted off toward the broadcast tower. Xander was inside with one of the newer delvers Rhen didn’t know yet. He was giving the yellow haired woman instructions on how to operate the orbeye, moving the view around in the inn. When Xander noticed Rhen, he paused.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to plant a thought in your head sooner rather than later.”

“What’s up?” the Sephine asked coolly, crossing his arms.

“I was hoping I could get a portable control panel for taking an orbeye into the new realm. Not right now, of course, but when the first inspection takes place. I think that would be a record-breaking tune-in if we could make it happen.”

Xander hissed thoughtfully. “There are handheld units. Might need to head back to Desedra for materials. A prebuilt would be better, but expensive.”

“We can probably afford something with the funds in the feed account. If you and Arannet could make that happen in the next few days, maybe meet up with Felicity and let her know to make some different post-its?”

“Can do.”

“Thanks.” Rhen turned to leave then paused. He didn’t want to get in the habit of walking away from a delver whose name he did not know. He didn’t want to become the type of dungeon owner who didn’t know who was in his employ. It was going to get more difficult as the dungeon crew grew, but he had to do his best to keep Zephitz dungeon the place he wanted it to be.

“There’s an all-delver meeting happening in the inn, if you’re interested in joining, Mrs.?” Rhen put his hand out for a shake.

The woman smiled and took his hand. “Just Greta, but if you must, it’s Ms. Thorne.”

“Nice to meet you, Greta. We’ll be discussing a large forty-person raid in thirty minutes. If that interests you, please be there.”

“I will,” she said with a bright smile.

“Delver meeting in the tavern in thirty minutes to discuss a raid!” Aki’s voice cut straight through the noise of the machinery and into Rhen’s head. He cringed a little, as did everyone in the area.

“Sorry…” Aki said, significantly softer.

Everyone stepped-to a little faster, trying to wrap up whatever they were in the middle of. Rhen noticed on his way back into the dungeon that Tsu’me and Derk had made their choices, since they were gone. He mentioned the meeting to everyone in the training room, then popped into the crafters rooms to let them know too. It was just Leslie working on some more bedding material, and Gwhan, finishing her sixth bow.

There were already a fair number of delvers gathered when Rhen arrived, but still fifteen minutes to go. He spent that time circulating among the groups and getting to know the people he hadn’t had a chance to meet yet. Many of them were Yu lifers, but a few had come from Desedra, and one even journeyed from Shin’Bara.

The room was getting loud and full, so Rhen took a step up on the Bard’s Stage—which he’d installed in the last round of inn upgrades. He waved at the group, quietly getting their attention, and the chatter died down. The inn orbeye floated over to Rhen, taking a wide-angled shot to get him and some of the crowd.

“I’ve been made aware of a few different problems in our path. Firstly, the west alpine mountains are dry. We’re going to have to take on the eastern mountains where we know there’s a large supply, and a node, though of what kind, we’re not sure. There’s a very large boss monster inside that nearly wiped our party of seven a few weeks ago.

“The second issue is we’re in mighty need of a lot of corraphine to finish the Nexus protection building. We’ve located three spires in the alpine chamber, but that’s not enough with how infrequently they shed their tops. We don’t want to harvest them outright and potentially upset the balance, so we’ll need to time their blasts and be ready to recover all of it. This might mean a lot of razor whisker fighting.”

Olliat’s lower lip puffed up in a pout. “But they’re so cute.”

“I know, and I know it feels bad, but… this is our livelihoods on the line.”

Olliat nodded.

“So, the plan is that we’ll get two teams together; the Resource team for corraphine retrieval—which we might use some of Wyland’s harvesters for—and another for the Chimeti raid to get access to the magnite. I think we’ll need at least twenty for the Chimeti and its swarm. Both teams will be working hard, but on completely different objectives. Raid team, you’ll be training with bows and expanding your anima level. Resource team, you’ll be hunting down corraphine crystals, timing their cycles, and farming appropriately.

“I’ll post sign-up sheets next to the hearth for Resource and Raid. Please sign up for only one. Questions?” Rhen’s mouth was dry from so much talking.

Wyland’s hand shot up. “Oh! I’ve got somethin’ actually. Just hang on!”

The old man took off down the tunnel to the crafter’s room. He returned a moment later with a rolled-up schematic. Rhen helped him onto the stage and unfurled the sheet. The drawing was an upside-down teardrop shaped balloon with a cart-shaped basked suspended at the bottom that had a circle of fans surrounding it.

“This is a modified hot-air balloon. The fans’ll help move you around the space. It’s so cold in the alpine chamber it won’t take much heat at all to get ‘er goin’ up to speed. You’ll be able to cross long distances without runnin’ into any monsters—”

“Non-flying monsters,” Rhen cautioned. He knew the Chimeti could fly and didn’t know what else in there could, too. They’d seen so little of the massive chamber.

“Right, right,” Wyland went on. “It’s got an enon storage floor that can load up to two tons of materials and store it for six hours. Max speed is thirty miles per hour. Takes a few minutes to gain and lose altitude, though.”

Eli and Ulecks’ eyes were bright with desire. Rhen knew what team they’d be signing up for.

“That sounds pretty great, Wyland, but when can we expect a prototype?”

“Right now. Just need to get the components out to the alpine chamber and set ‘em up.”

Rhen scowled. “When do you have time for all this?”

“I never sleep!” Wyland laughed. “No, this is just an old design. I grabbed it from my workshop in Yu.”

“Well, that makes things a lot easier, thank you Wyland. Alright, but are there any actual questions?” Rhen asked the crowd.

The delvers looked at one another with shrugs and head-shakes.

Joseph spoke up. “Seems pretty straightforward so far, but what’s your plan for the raid?”

“I’m so glad you asked.” Rhen grinned as the wheels turned, harvesting all the resources he had at his fingertips. Not only was it a good plan, but it would look incredible on the orbeye broadcast. “Here’s what we’re gonna do.”