Chapter 330: Nexus Founder: The Tree City

Chapter 330: Nexus Founder: The Tree City

[Title modified: Nexus Founder: The Tree City. Increased and improved Patron options. Increased and improved House options. Presence +2. Small power boost in natural settings.]

Despite the strange feeling of the young tree in his mind, Mason couldn’t help but look at his title and grin.

He walked through the raised bridges and platforms that made up his Nexus and his new ‘Tree City’, surrounded in the glow of blue light. Time was still ‘frozen’, the forest leaves still, no sign even of a breeze.

Mason had eventually decided to stop waiting for the others and began to explore. Turned out the Nexus was already operating. An automated lift took him to the top of closest tree, sliding smoothly up cables that looked like bamboo.

He looked down, shaking his head in wonder at the view of Nassau maybe a hundred feet below.

“Welcome, Patron.”

Mason turned to find a ghostly figure floating slightly above the platform. It was flat-faced and vaguely human, dressed like some androgenous alien from an old and probably low budget sci-fi flick.

“Uh. Hello.” Mason looked over the rail at another platform, searching for the main area with the actual Nexus devices. “Can you tell me where...”

“Would you like a tour of the facilities? Along the way, I am able to impart a collection of limited but useful information.”

Mason sighed, as ever feeling trapped inside the bounds of roboGod’s imagination. This didn’t feel like he had much of a choice.

"A tour would be super.”

“Wonderful! Follow me, please. We have a lot to cover.”

The semi-automated tour guide floated along the platform, looking around as if for the first time.

“You have chosen your Nexus as a raised city in the Great Forest of the Western Continent. This is, if I may say so, an excellent choice.”

Here it looked at him and smiled, then dropped it instantly in a somewhat disturbing transition before it gestured to three rings of maybe houses around their tree.

“Platforms are currently built in three varieties, which you might think of as residential, commercial, and industrial. All have standard facilities conducive to human existence. In each structure you will find fresh water access, a power source, and transportation devices linked to the central hub. Though the different varieties contain different scaling.”

Mason nodded and did his best to listen and comprehend, understanding this was important. He needed to pay attention, despite the urge to tell the thing to shut up so he could go look for himself, or leave someone else in charge of administration.

“What if we want to build more platforms?” he asked, and the alien hologram blinked and smiled.

“All construction and adjustment can be done through the Nexus system.”

Right. Video game. Follow the made up rules. Though Mason suspected it wouldn’t stop them from doing some construction on their own. They’d been able to repair Nassau’s gate on their own, after all, and change plenty of things on the walls.

So he just nodded along and continued on the tour, and his guide happily pointed out the different ‘varieties’ and their differences. It wasn’t so different than any city, Mason imagined. They had bigger areas for a kind of commercial district, then even bigger and more complicated areas for crafters.

“Transportation rules can be regulated,” the guide explained. “All bridges, lifts, and teleporters can be programmed with different access capability and with nearly unlimited possibilities.”

“This is your primary residence,” his guide explained on an area slightly away from the others, with a smaller platform entirely on its own. “Would you like to see inside?”

It showed him the Administration Beacon next, which basically was a central method to watch and control how the city worked. They could shut off all the functions, change permissions, and interact with the...‘guards’?

“Automated defence,” his guide explained. “One guardian per tree. Limited range and behaviors. Modifiable.”

Mason blinked.

“What exactly are these guardians?”

The holographic alien just stared, until another hologram appeared floating above its hand like a humanoid tree. It reminded Mason of the guardian he’d fought in the great tree when Seamus tried to burn its heart. Though he couldn’t tell how big it was.

“There’s one of those,” he asked, “guarding every tree in this city?”

“Correct,” said the hologram. “Size and abilities are determined by Nexus and settlement levels. Guardians can reform if destroyed. Initial spawn time is one month.”

Jesus. Christ. How many trees were there? Had he just gained a whole army of settlement defenders?

“How far can they go? I mean...can I order them? How exactly do they even...”

“Guardian behavior is determined by Nexus level and upgrades. Please follow me to the Teleportation Beacon, and the conclusion of the tour.”

Mason followed, still fighting the thrill at the discovery of the guardians. The more he saw, the safer he was starting to feel. Though a small voice in the back of his mind was already screaming: what exactly is all this defence intended to stop?

His guide finally took him to a square, glass-like box that looked a little like a giant elevator. It moved to a complex panel and held out its hand.

“Teleportation controls are also determined by Nexus upgrades. But initial travel can be made between any willing settlement that contains a teleportation device. And most teleportation abilities can choose the Nexus as a location. Do you have any questions?”

Mason scoffed. He had a thousand questions.

“What does ‘willing’ mean? And what do you mean ‘most’ teleportation devices? What about Wyrdwalk? And how do I know if a settlement has a device?”

The hologram stared as if Mason hadn’t asked it anything, or else it wasn’t permitted to answer. He shook his head.

“The whole ‘please ask questions’ thing is a bit like corporate feedback forms, isn’t it?”

The guide just stared, and Mason turned away. He looked again at the amazing structure, feeling the hungry grumblings of the great tree, the hum of immense power surrounding him. He walked to the platform rail and looked over Nassau, through forest that was maybe his more than anyone else’s.

He realized if he climbed to the top of the great tree he could probably look out over the forest, seeing who knew how far. The thought sent a tingle of excitement through him usually reserved for coming home to his girls. Or for a desperate fight to the death.

“No more questions,” he said quietly, and heard the guide pop out of existence. He closed his eyes as the blue light seemed to settle—as the cool breeze resumed and slid across his face.

This was his now, as his girls were. As maybe Nassau and this whole forest was. To enjoy. To protect. To be responsible for.

“God damn you, Cerebus,” he said, entirely without passion. Then with his ridiculous senses he heard the people of Nassau below losing their minds as they came alive and saw the changes, and the beginning of a tree city now floating above them.

“It’s alright! I’m coming down!” Mason shouted, walking towards the lift before changing his mind. With a grin he ran towards the edge of the platform, then leapt over the rail for the nearest tree.