Universe's End

As Rory awoke, something felt off; several seconds passed before his brain rebooted.

Oh. Oh right. I'm home. Sorta home. Whatever.

So used to living in the volcanic region or otherwise traveling through the Deep Chambers of their mountain home, Rory found himself momentarily off guard about the fact that he could hear birds chirping and the sun shining in from a crevice in the bark wall that amounted to a window.

"Another day in paradise," Rory yawned as he sat upright. "Or so I tell myself."

It was a strange feeling to be back in Ehkorrus, but the reality was that it wasn't the Ehkorrus of his memories. Gone were the days of the small, slower-paced village of fifty people. He knew less than 1% of the total population, and based on what Violet and Apostolos had told him, odds were that he was unlikely to be treated as just another person.

Still, I have things I should tend to while I'm here.

First on the list was that the walls needed proper inspection. A good chunk of the reason that Ehkorrus had nearly fallen was that the walls were no longer up to snuff against the level of threat they faced.

Tier seven monsters, they need to be able to handle tier seven monsters.

The current iteration of the walls drew upon the pneuma reserves that the city had available, as well as incorporating latent sunlight concepts, keeping the sunlight turrets and walls constantly charged. The problem was that they didn't have enough firepower to discharge without wrecking themselves in the process. It wasn't something that should have been Rory's problem to solve in the past. Still, having been busy doing his own thing, he hadn't returned before the problem reached critical mass.

Alright, options are feed them more pneuma, increase their efficiency, add to their arsenal… or all of the above.

Doing something he hadn't done in decades, Rory flicked open the Sovereign System, imagining a puff of dust appearing as he did.

Oh wow, look at all that.

Quite a bit had changed under the interface that he had been unable to access ever since he'd left the area.

Municipal affinity: Renweal. I'm not familiar with that concept, although I have some ideas that I'll need to verify with Irene, as she's responsible for planning all this out. Legal charter… Yeah, laws, no surprise - oh, God, literal tax codes, gross. Authority: 6th Stratum. Wasn't it only the third Stratum when I left? Node level: 8.8. Interesting, if I recall, node was based on the tier of the core being used as the settlement heart, and, uhh, the quality of the pneuma available? I think? Fabrication materials: lots.

Having caught up fairly quickly, one thing stood out like a sore thumb.

"What the fuck is 'Ortus La Fama?" Rory blurted. Tapping on it, his answer was given a moment later.

Oh.

Put simply, it was just a fancy name for a super special perk made available when both Authority and Node pushed past rank five, ten, twenty-five, forty, and finally, fifty.