The hum of the shelter's power cell faded into the background like a heartbeat—steady, quiet, alive. Cael sat cross-legged beneath the sloped dome, his fingers swiping through the translucent interface that floated before him like a ghostly blueprint.
Lines twisted into form: a crude boxy structure with vents on its sides and a funnel-shaped top.
[Blueprint: BASIC WATER COLLECTOR – Tier 0.5]
Function: Low-efficiency water harvesting via condensation
Materials Required: Stone (8), Copper (2), Manasalt (1)
Estimated Output: 2.3 liters per Spark
Note: Caution—Output may be contaminated in non-filtered air zones.
Not perfect. Not elegant.
But it was his.
He selected the collector and hit "Queue." The panel blinked once, then adjusted to show a countdown timer—1.7 Sparks.
With no fabrication golems yet active, everything had to be assembled manually. The only automations were what the 3D printer could handle.
Cael leaned back and rubbed his eyes.
One Spark... about twenty-four hours. Not quite, but close enough. Underground, time was kept in Sparks—each one a full cycle of energy generation from the geothermal vents. Six Sparks made a Spiral, thirty Sparks a Cycle. And after twelve Cycles?
A Deepturn. A full year, by old surface reckoning.
Cael had lost count of how many he'd slept through.
He stood and grabbed the scanner, toggling it to Material Sweep Mode.
A soft pulse lit up the room. Red lines etched into the rock around him, revealing pockets of fragmented stone and faint mineral signatures. Copper was close, but not close enough.
He exhaled.
[Optional Subtask Unlocked]
Locate Material Node: Copper Vein Fragment
Distance: 43 meters | Zone B-Delta
Hazard Level: Moderate
That would mean leaving the shelter.
The air was still thin out there, still dry and hostile. But without water, survival would stop being theoretical and start becoming urgent.
Cael grabbed his jacket, flicked the glowshard lamp on his shoulder to max brightness, and cracked open the shelter's door.
A soft hiss of pressure escaped as filtered air met stale cave draft.
Outside, the dust had settled, but the silence hadn't. Every step he took echoed down the corridor like he was walking inside the ribs of some sleeping beast. His boots crunched over shattered stone and broken tiles.
It wasn't just a tunnel—this had once been a subway line.
That explained the layered flooring and faint magnetic residues. The copper wires would be in the old electrical conduits along the wall. Still a 43-meter trek... with structural collapse all around.
[NEW SYSTEM TIP]
"If it's been buried for a century and still hasn't killed anyone... odds are, it's due."
Cael sighed and moved forward.
Fifteen meters in, he spotted something. Not copper. Not stone.
A mark—a symbol—burned into the wall like a brand.
Three concentric circles. Faintly glowing. And freshly drawn.
His breath caught.
No debris disturbed near it. No boot prints, no fingerprints. Yet the wall around it was warm.
This hadn't been made years ago. Not days.
Hours.
He reached for the wall scanner—hand trembling—and pointed it toward the sigil.
The system flickered.
The UI glitched.
And then—
[UNIDENTIFIED SIGNAL DETECTED]
Core Compatibility: 63%
Signature: Unknown Architect-Level Access Point
The light overhead dimmed. The tunnel behind him exhaled dust, like something massive shifting in the deep.
And somewhere—far down the corridor—
something knocked.