[D'sP] Not An Earthquake - Chapter 420

Jim was settling some issues with the recent change in the dungeon when the ground moved. The movement was subtle. He felt more when a fully loaded merchant cart would rumble by outside. So subtle that Jim wasn’t even sure he would have noticed it before the system.

He didn’t doubt what he felt, but when the termitekin Frink that was the main receptionist perked up as well, it caught his attention.

Frink mumbles, “An earthquake?”

Jim nods, “That’s what it felt like.”

Frink shakes her head, “A normal earthquake during integration is literally impossible. The system is holding everything in place and stabilizing the entire planet. Weather is mild, volcanoes don’t erupt, and there are no earthquakes.”

Jim sighs, “Guess we should probably bring Ace in on this. Do you have a shot in the dark on what just happened?”

Frink shakes her head again, “Too many possibilities. While there won’t be any natural earthquakes, the act of shaking the earth does not purely come as a result of a planet grinding its plates together. Also, there either hasn’t been a follow up shock or it wasn’t something we could sense. Which, given my racial senses, is highly unlikely.”

Down in the dungeon, Doyle feels queasy.

Ally isn’t doing much better, ‘That wasn’t an earthquake!’

Doyle, ‘Didn’t say it was.’

Ally catches herself and calms her stomach, ‘Oh, don’t mind that, was watching Jim and he thought it was.’

Doyle, ‘Well, I guess the ground did shake, so I can’t blame him. Though it was more like the concept of the planet shook, which wiggled my dungeons entrance. And boy oh boy, dungeon cores are not made for any kind of movement. I rarely got carsick, but it seems that I kept the trait of getting it bad when I do get it.’

Ally, ‘And of course since I’m hooked into your dungeon, I got a bit of second hand sea sickness. Blarg, I hope the town figures it out because I don’t have a clue.’

Doyle nods his core before holding extra still, the nausea not agreeing with even his normal movement.

Of course, the ones who noticed it the most were out on the river. What with the way ended up reacting? No one who saw it wobble would ever mistake what happened for an earthquake. The entire surface seemed to almost stutter.

A guy wearing, of all things, a sombrero, turned to the small time merchant next to him, “Is that normal?”

The merchant shrugs, “As normal as your hat.”

The guy, “Come on, man! I told you already, my eyes are sensitive and this is the only option. My usual sunglasses have all fallen apart, same with any hat that gives enough protection. I bet the only reason this bit of tourist nonsense survived is because some god out there specifically wants to laugh at me.”

The merchant rolls their eyes at this, “Well, you should be able to find a better hat in Wolf’s Rest. They got leather coming out their ears. Maybe you can even get yourself a cowboy hat so you don’t feel completely in a new genre.”

The guy rolls his eyes, “Haha, laugh at the guy with a disability.”

And the merchant did, though by this point they were close to the dock and so separated. This was mostly because the man ended up gobsmacked by what he saw. There were enough settlements out there making use of magic for building that amazing structures weren’t rare.

He was from four towns away and everywhere had at least a couple odd things built by now. This was different, though. Spread out before him was a monstrous wall. He had heard of larger towns towards the center of the community, but they didn’t have walls like this.

More than that, he saw evidence of many structures. A tower, some sort of wood sphere, many buildings that looked like apartments over four stories tall. If instead of wood and stone there was glass and steel, it would seem more like a pre-system town built around a historical wall.

Then he entered the town. Despite the wall, it wasn’t tough, mostly amounting to a promise not to cause problems and follow the rules. There wasn’t even a fee to enter, which was shockingly rare for the place that did have walls. Though those walls tended to be more along the line of rough, wood fences.

Once inside, he almost stopped again, though the traffic made sure he kept moving. It really did feel like some kind of pre-system town. Which was odd.

Oh sure, no one was going out and making medieval hovels. The man had only seen that in one town and those buildings were simply left standing because they didn’t need the space yet. Magic made construction easier than not. However, that didn’t mean people were building literal apartments! He had honestly been joking when he compared the buildings to them, but it turned out to be true!

The man was shocked how familiar it all felt. Then he made his way to the second wall. To pass through required a little bit more, but not in fees or anything. Rather, as a first-time visitor, he was forced to listen to one guard go over the big rules. Though hearing someone go on about religious freedom felt oddly out of place.

Then he was through and quickly pushed to the side with a bunch of other first-time visitors. Was this not just a normal pre-system town? If maybe a little wood heavy, lacking both plastic panels and paint. There were even large plate-glass windows!

Oh sure, without zoning laws it was all mixed up, but that was mostly for locals. Though he didn’t doubt that the literal burger joint would turn away his money. They had actual buns!

Oh sure, beef patties and what not. Other places that would be shocking, but this was the town with the beef dungeon. If anywhere was going to have burger patties, this would be it. But wheat buns? Where were they getting the flour? He had to know, and besides, he was hungry.

One meal later and he had an answer. Seems the dungeon didn’t just have cows for days, but later floors had wheat. As for the fact, they had white buns? Well, magic made processing the stuff into white flour possible even without machinery.

Though even then, the bill had been eye watering, especially since there wasn’t any of the familiar toppings or condiments. While the dungeon did have wheat, it wasn’t on an early enough floor to be farmed. Which felt odd to the man as it meant the bun cost more than the patty.

It was only as he was walking away that he realized another oddity. On entering, it had seemed like a pre-system town, but there was one thing that now stood out to him. Many buildings had at least two stories and the bottom floor was a business of some sort.

The man was actually kind of jealous. Before the system, he had a small flower shop and would have loved it if his house could have been above it. However, zoning laws didn’t like that sort of thing. Here though? Even the tiny grocery store he passed by had a house on top.

It was in one of these shops that the man found a new hat. The hat, however, caused him to cringe at first. Because yes, it was a “cowboy” hat. He simply had certain needs from a hat and this was all they had which filled said need. At least it was would be a post-system item. The leatherworker even claimed it had leather from a deeper floor than the usual six.Not that the man cared about that and was mostly certain the shopkeep has been stretching the truth.

Then the man passed some sort of imaginary line and suddenly he wasn’t in a modern town anymore. Oh, sure, the buildings were still quite “modern” in construction. It’s just that they took on a vibe more like what he had seen many times already. Except for one big difference.

These weren’t buildings thrown up in rough approximations of older style dwellings because no one trusted themselves to make a two-story house or what have you. Rather, they were refined, as if made by someone that had hundreds of years of traditions in the construction of them. Because they did.

While the man saw more than enough of his fellow humans living in the area, it was clear that, like so many “ethnic” neighborhoods from before the system, this was the wolfkins area. Now, the man had seen enough of the kin around by this point that he didn’t make a complete fool of himself. Besides, they were everywhere else. It was that this area had the largest concentration of them.

And with that, night time was approaching, so the man went to find an inn. Or rather as the case turned out to be, a hotel. Seems those apartments weren’t all actually apartments. In fact, many of them were hotels, which made sense after the man thought about it a bit.

The town had a much larger population of visitors as compared to those actually staying. It felt odd that they were called hotels. Most other places didn’t even have an actual place specifically for staying the night. Many just rented space on the tavern floor. And settlements with a place called it an inn.

Even the place upriver, Bennett town, had called their various establishments “inns”. Here though? Going with the theme of seemingly pre-system, they instead had bars and hotels.

The man wasn’t sure how to feel about this. Though he suspects that a general renaming would likely sweep the community, if only because everyone was used to the modern terms. It was one thing to call a rickety building where someone was selling the last of their stock of pre-system booze a tavern. It was another to call a place that looked like someone had taken a big city dive bar and decided to make everything out of wood a tavern.

And more went through the man’s head as he settled into, admittedly scratchy, sheets. Where did they get them? Then, before he was ready, the next day dawned.

Breakfast came and went at a nice little “family dinner” type place, where did they get the variety of food? And he was off to the dungeon. Though he was stopped once again as he entered through the last wall.

The giant wooden dome over the portal entrance was stunning. Each side of the road was blank wooden walls, no one in this inner area needing to hawk their goods. Though he could see tall structures over those walls.

Each of those buildings were odd and unique, even just from seeing the very tops of them. The man had heard less than fifty people lived in this inner area and yet they had so much room. Sure, it was their town, but it felt strange. Then again, gated communities aren’t anything new. Just that this was apparently the community that rules the town. You know, nothing big.

Then the man did something stupid. Well, he had been doing something stupid for a while now. He shouldn’t have been out here alone. Traveled alone. Fought alone.

He should have gone by the Adventurers Guild and registered. But why would he need that? He was strong enough to not need a guild holding him back.

He should have taken the advice of the guards at the dungeon itself. But why would he need teammates when he could obviously kill a cow on his own and that was all he was aiming for?

A real shame, though down in the dungeon, Ally celebrated.

She turned to Doyle, ‘Another mark for that assassin vine! What was that idiot doing alone? The guild practically shouts out the existence of this first assassin vine to anyone who even looks like they’re going to delve into the dungeon.’

Doyle shakes his core, ‘With every new person who dies to that first one, my faith in humanity slips that little bit more.’

Shutting Them Down - Chapter 419

More Shaking - Chapter 421