[D'sP] More Shaking - Chapter 421

More time had passed and Doyle was ready to start his next floor. Both Ace and Jim had returned to the last floor with their teams multiple times at this point and he was getting antsy. Not because they were coming close, Doyle actually wanted them to see his core.

No, rather, they weren’t advancing fast enough. Who knew that a dense forest would be the perfect environment for his kobolds to really bring the pain? Though the massive number of them certainly didn’t hurt.

Then Doyle was seasick again. ‘Oh, damn it!’

Ally, who was nearby, wobbled in the air as she felt it as well. Another not-a-quake had happened and this one was slightly worse.

As the two straightened themselves out, boom, a much weaker secondary quake happened.

It takes Doyle a good bit of time to recover from this, but when he does, he turns to Ally. ‘Is this going to keep happening? Did Ace and friends figure anything out?’

Ally, now laid out on her bed, groans, ‘Well, they figured out it wasn’t an earthquake.’

Doyle, ‘Well I guess we should welcome them to the party. Was there more?’

Ally shakes her head, ‘Took them long enough just to realize it wasn’t a normal quake. They have a bit of a blind spot when it comes to the river itself as apparently anyone who was there noticed right away.’

And speaking of Ace, he had been in the middle of a small meeting with Jim when the not-a-quake had hit.

They both sigh and Jim is the first to speak up, “Welp, guess it gets to be an actual problem. Did we get messages back on the matter?”

Ace nods, “Got a pigeon from the most distant place we can talk to right now. As far as can be determined, the quake happened at the same time everywhere.”

The meeting continues as normal after that brief exchange. Though before it has a chance to wrap up, Kelly bursts into the room, “My sensors picked up something!”

Ace rubs the bridge of his nose, “I’m glad to hear that. Now, we’re almost done with this meeting and I’m free afterwards. So, would you kindly leave?”

Kelly rolls her eyes, “As if this is more important.” Though she does leave.

Down in the dungeon Ally boos, ‘Come on, Ace! That meeting wasn’t as important as getting us a clue of what’s happening.’

Doyle, ‘Eh, the quakes stopped and nothing is broken. If anything, continuing with the regular activities is a good way to project confidence. Keeps people from panicking.’

Ally, ‘Bah, a panic would do them good. Help shake up things a bit. Ace has been dragging his feet on inviting more of the kin into the inner circle. They have more than enough space for people to live there.’

Back with Ace, the meeting drags on and goes a bit over time. There was a reason he had scheduled it so there wasn’t anything after. Though finally, the meeting ends and before everyone can exit the room, Kelly forces her way in.

Ace just waits for the last of the others to leave before turning to her. “So, do you know what we’re dealing with? Once is an oddity, twice means it isn’t a freak one off. When will the third happen that turns it into a pattern?”

Kelly shrugs, “I can’t tell you that yet. Need the third one still. What I can tell you, is a theory. This is related to the density of world energy on the planet.

“To put it simply, our planet is hitting some kind of bottleneck. The world energy is still increasing, but for some reason it is being stopped.

“Though this is half a guess. The equipment I set up can’t give me exact numbers, but the world energy before the quakes is greater than after.”

Ace raises an eyebrow, “I figured with how you rushed here you had something more.”

Kelly, “The thing is, while I can’t give you a number, the jump is significant. Those quakes really moved the needle.”

Ace, “Okay, but if you know about the density beforehand, can’t we now predict when the next quake will happen?”

Kelly, *We don’t have the data from the first quake. I almost didn’t have a sensor before this quake either so we can’t really know if it is happening at the same point. All we can do is keep an eye on things.”

Ace sighs, “I don’t like being this in the dark, but not like I can do anything about it. Anyway, I haven’t been out to check yet, did the stronger quake cause any damage?”

Kelly shakes her head, “Not that I heard. Like, maybe some idiot had a pre-system glass figurine balanced on a table and it fell? The quake wasn’t even to the point of rattling anything.”

Ace nods, “Good to hear. I never actually experienced an actual earthquake so I don’t really know how to react to this.”

Kelly shrugs, “We’re lucky. Our buildings are all newly constructed and of a high enough quality that a quake isn’t going to bring them down. Who I worry about are those that built their settlement among the wrecks of pre-system buildings. If the quakes get stronger, those places are coming down, especially since the quake seems at least partially magical in nature.”

Ace grimaces, “I guess we better pass that onto Bennett. Though I have to assume she already knows that.”

Kelly nods in agreement. While Bennett town wasn’t quite built among skyscrapers, they had more than enough tall pre-system buildings kicking about.

Down in the dungeon, Ally is looking through her various sources.

Doyle, ‘So, is this new information enough to pinpoint what is going on?’

Ally doesn’t even look up from the screen to respond. ‘No, but maybe yes. Quakes can happen during an integration for a number of reasons. Even with the system holding everything together, sometimes local events will mean a slight quake is better than the alternative. The problem is that most of those tend to be one time things and people rarely have equipment set up to monitor things.

‘After all, why set up something to monitor earthquakes when they aren’t happening? The fact Kelly managed to kludge together an atmospheric world energy density sensor is kind of amazing.’

Doyle, ‘Not much of a sensor. Seems to use a rabbit of some sort.’

Ally waves that off, ‘Oh sure, she didn’t make a fully mechanical sensor, but it works. It isn’t like she is depending on the reactions of the rabbit itself.

‘Anyway, the fact there have been multiple quakes like this narrows the problem space by a good bit. Including in the fact it has to do with world energy actually does less than that.’

Doyle tilts to the side, ‘Why does the world energy bit not matter as much?’

Ally shrugs, ‘Most things, after a certain scale begin to use and move around world energy. An earthquake can temporarily shear a leyline and produce a gush of the stuff. Or, it might pull in a bit and cause an extra magical effect.

‘On top of that, the system right now is holding things together and it will use world energy to ease its own expenditures. I’m sure that the area around a number of ‘supposed to be’ volcanoes is currently quite barren of world energy. In fact, advanced enough civilizations can manage this sort of thing as well.

‘Most don’t, mind you. At that point, it is both easier to just protect people from it and more profitable. A natural disaster that happens without meddling actually produces some interesting things with that world energy it draws in. A volcano in particular can end up spewing out a number of magical ores and gems.’

Doyle, ‘I guess that makes some sense. Now, what’s your guess for these quakes? You’ve stopped flipping through pages so quickly and I have to assume that means you found something.’

Ally pushes away her screen. ‘Not so much that I found something, as it is that there isn’t anything else to find. Without proper monitoring, there just isn’t really a good way to figure out what the system is doing unless you’re right on top of what has changed.

‘This could be any number of things and then some. I see examples of the system continuing to adjust a world during integration, worlds breaking through a density threshold and growing in size, as well as a bunch of local phenomena which we can’t sort out. This might be limited to the local community for all we know.

‘I trust Ace to be able to at least get news from all four corners of the community, which did help. Otherwise, there are some hyper local possibilities that might be going on. As time goes on, there will be local system events to ease people into how the world will work and some of that needs setting up. If just Wolf’s Rest and the nearby towns felt the quake, we might have been dealing with the system setting up a small cave system that would need clearing.’

Doyle, ‘Why would a small cave need multiple quakes? Or even a quake at all? After all, that wasn’t actually an earthquake, but rather something more all-encompassing.’

Ally shrugs, ‘Well, like I said, it isn’t that. Though why this sort of quake? It isn’t like the system is literally digging out the cave system. Instead, it would swap in a pre-constructed cave system matching what it wants. The first quake was the removal of dirt and the second when it swapped in the “new” cave.

‘This isn’t the most efficient manner in which to pull the change off. However, it allows the system more leeway. This planet doesn’t have any sort of magical ores or what have you. So instead of force infusing things, just swap in an area that already has the ore and other magical bits and bobs you want people to find.’

Doyle sighs, ‘So we have no clue still.’

Ally shrugged, ‘Not like the system left us a blue screen to explain itself. Which I will note, is not out of the question. In fact, if it was messing with the ground and we were a normal dungeon, digging around down there as well? Chances are it would have sent me a warning of some sort. If only to make sure we didn’t dig into whatever it was playing around with.’

Doyle nods, ‘That makes sense. Though I have to ask.’

Ally tilts her head to the side, ‘What?’

Doyle, ‘Well, I was doing something before this happened and I can’t for the life of me remember what it was. The nausea drove all thought from my mind.’

Ally, ‘Huh, you know what? I don’t remember either. Even the second hand sea sickness this time was pretty gnarly.’

Doyle, ‘I hope this is the end of them or at least that they don’t get worse.’

Ally, ‘Seconded!’

Doyle, ‘Anyway, whatever it was that I was planning on doing must have been spur of the moment. I’m sure I’ll remember it if it is important.’

Ally, ‘Eh, we’ll figure it out. Anyway, I wonder how Bennett town will react to having to do something about the pre-system buildings? I’ve listened in on more than a few conversations and they seem to take pride in how well they’ve taken care of some of them.’

Doyle, ‘Well, for a while there they were using them as hideouts. Probably have some important memories from the time of the council over there. Though unlike Ben, Melonie seems to have a good head on her shoulders.’

Ally nods, ‘True, I’m sure she’ll make the right choice. The biggest wild card will be how her people react. After all, not only do the buildings represent their resistance, they represent pre-system life.’

Doyle sighs, ‘At the very least, I don’t see them doing anything drastic unless another, stronger, quake hits.’

Ally shrugs, ‘She’ll probably force something through for the buildings closest to the town.’

Doyle nods, ‘We can only wait to find out.’

Not An Earthquake - Chapter 420

A Little Housekeeping - Chapter 422