A brilliant thrum tore through the air around Alex. Energy poured through his body and churned all around him with enough intensity to make his teeth chatter. It felt like every single bone in his body had suddenly been electrified.
The orb warmed against his palm as streams of smoke swirled out from within it, coiling past his fingers and twisting around his wrist. They wound their way down his arm and up his shoulder. His skin prickled with cold wherever the smoke touched it.
Alex gritted his teeth as the energy around him continued to intensify. He didn't dare release his grip on the orb and risk somehow damaging the town's creation. Besides, he was fairly sure making his own town wouldn't end up killing him. That would be too disrespectful, even for the System.
Rhyss watched on from the side. The gray-skinned monster said nothing as he observed the smoke twist up from Alex's body and curl lazily through the air like strands of seaweed swaying underwater.
Then there was a sharp pop. The pressure in the air changed abruptly. Alex staggered as a wave of force howled past him, ripping out from the Town Hall along with thick streams of coiling smoke.
Darkness pooled at the edges of his vision. The back of Alex's head grew fuzzy, almost as if he were trapped in a state between sleep and awareness. He tried to push the sensation back fruitlessly. It was like trying to shovel the ocean with his hands.
The darkness continued its advance, encircling his head entirely. His vision narrowed down to a point. He gritted his teeth, but a wave of dizziness crushed any final struggles he could have even attempted.
Then black was all that remained.
Alex felt a sharp tug in his chest, as if the floor had fallen out from him and he was plummeting into the darkness. His heart bucked and he jerked in place, only to realize that he wasn't falling at all — he was flying.
Vision returned to him in a snap, but it wasn't what he should have been seeing. Instead of the inner walls of the Town Hall, Alex found himself looking down upon the forest as a whole. At the center of the camp was the hall, surrounding by the milling crowd of people looking in.
Trees rose around them, but they'd taken on a strange, near-translucent shade. Alex could nearly see straight through them. And it wasn't just the trees — he could see through the cabins as well.
"What is this?" Alex muttered.
"You have several buildings that you need to place." Rhyss' voice rang in Alex's ears as if he were floating right beside him. If Alex had actually been in his body, he might have flinched.
"Shit. You could have said you were here," Alex said. He went to shake his head, but he couldn't even do that. It didn't seem like he had an actual body up here. It was just his consciousness.
That, or the System had plucked his eyes from his body and tossed them up into the air. Alex wouldn't have put that past it.
"My voice was announcement enough." There was a definite note of amusement in Rhyss' tone. "But you need to select the locations for the buildings you chose. Boon-granted buildings are formed directly by the system rather than ones you and your town will have to build yourselves, but it needs to know where to place them. If you don't tell it, then the System will decide. Do you like the idea of your sleeping quarters being outside your town walls to increase Challenge?"
Alex grimaced. He most certainly did not like that idea. His town didn't even actually have proper walls yet, but that didn't mean he wanted the System sticking all of his buildings near the edges to make it harder to defend them.
"For now, let's stick the Vibrant Garden over there," Alex said, directing his attention to a spot a few crumbling cabins away from the town hall. The areas directly beside the hall were probably best saved for really important buildings. This was out of the way enough that the garden wouldn't be in the middle of nowhere and open to attacks, but still not right in everyone's way.
"And the Warp Shifter?"
"Put that right over there," Alex said, looking right beside the town hall. It was his most expensive Legendary Boon. It was also his biggest trump card for the upcoming fight. The ability to send people in and out of the fight at rapid speeds was incredible. So long as they could defend the building and keep monsters from getting into the town, they'd be able to use hit-and-run tactics nearly indefinitely.
"Understood," Rhyss said. "The Cultivation Array will be inscribed within the town hall's record room. Should it be damaged, the array will collapse."
"Do I not get to choose the locations it enhances?"
"No," Rhyss replied. "Think of it like a wellspring. It will increase the magical energy in certain areas. You can't control which areas those are, but there are ways to guess at their location. They will tend to be the ones where power can easily pool. Caves, concealed locations, and anything that draws energy to it. Further discussion on this topic can be held later. Choose the location for the Warped Embassy."
"Right beside the town hall," Alex said without a second of hesitation. It was a Mythic Boon. He wasn't about to go sticking it at the edges of his town.
Anything else Alex might have said was stolen from him by a violent yank in the center of his chest. The town screamed past him as he was yanked straight back toward the town hall at the speed of a bullet.
He slammed back into his own body and his eyes snapped open. Alex let out a sharp gasp and staggered back, instinctively lifting his hand from the black orb floating before him. His heart thumped in his chest as if he'd just woken up from a nightmare.
A distant rumble shook the ground beneath his feet. Alex heard yells from outside the town hall, but ones of surprise and shock rather than fear.
"Well done," Rhyss said. "The creation of your town is complete. It is currently forming your buildings. The process will be a short one. You should be getting a notification from the System shortly.
No sooner than the advisor had finished speaking did golden letters twist through the air before Alex. They formed themselves into an extravagant system message, one far more ornate than the messages it had given him before.
Town establishment completed. All Boons have been spent and building creation will conclude shortly.
Your Town has finished synchronization with your soul and desires. Its Town Ability has been finalized.
[Labyrinth]: A twisting maze grows beneath the grounds covered by your town. It will continue to grow so long as the town remains. Magical energy wells within its depths, empowering the monsters that are born within the Labyrinth's halls. The Labyrinth will adapt to attempt to ensure suitable challenge to any who enter its depths.
At will, the town leader can expunge all the monsters from within the Labyrinth and release them to the area surrounding the town.
"Holy shit," Alex muttered. "That's not what I was expecting. The System definitely got the challenge bits… but doesn't this mean I have a literal dungeon growing beneath my own town?"
"That appears to be so," Rhyss said. "How fascinating. I have not seen this ability before. You are truly a unique individual. Only an idiot or a madman would actively want monsters living beneath their town. Congratulations."
"Thanks," Alex said dryly. "I appreciate the vote of confidence and the kind words."
"You should. Town abilities are set to ensure they fit your desires and goals. You wanted this."
Alex's nose scrunched at that. He couldn't deny that the ability sounded pretty badass. Being able to just straight up chuck a whole dungeon full of empowered monsters at his enemies definitely held a lot of appeal to it, even if he ignore the fantastic training elements the Labyrinth seemed to offer.
Can I use this against the Region Boss? If it gets immediately populated with some monsters, that would give me at least something to distract it. I don't know if the Labyrinth monsters would follow my directions, but I've seen them fight each other just as often as the fight humans. A bunch of crazed monsters suddenly popping out around the Region Boss could definitely swing the tides in our favor.
Before he got a chance to say anything else to Rhyss, new words shimmered through the air before him.
You have stablished the first natural town in Subsector 735.
Your standing on several leaderboards has been updated.
Access to viewing Global Leaderboards has been granted according to your standing upon them.
Before Alex could even think, the sentences vanished as new ones swirled up to replace them.
"Whoa," Alex said, blinking at the shimmering words before him. The System had mentioned Global Leaderboards initializing a while ago, but it looked like one had to actually place upon one of them to get a look at what they held.
"Which one am I on?" Alex asked shortly before realizing how stupid that question was. He'd just built a town. It wasn't that hard to guess. He quickly selected the Town Ranking leaderboard.
Global Leaderboard — Town Ranking
The list continued on, but the names were all fuzzed out and unreadable. He barely even cared. His eyes were locked on the number five spot in the list.
His town had set him as the 5th ranked person in the entirety of 274-50. It was just one spot below Invictus, who was the one from Valley Ford — a Hub City. Alex didn't even know what a Hub City was, but the System had clearly found it to be important.
He let out a slow whistle.
"Holy shit. For a town that literally just came into being, that's not half bad."
"So long as it does not collapse in a week," Rhyss said.
"Yeah. There is that little caveat," Alex agreed. He ran a hand through his hair. While he did want to take a glance at the other leaderboards, the whole town was outside waiting for him — and he wanted to see what the fruits of all his efforts had netted him.
"Shall we go take a look at your new town?" Rhyss suggested.
"I would like nothing more."