Shovels In Spades

'Beyond disappointing.' Daz could only sigh after seeing the list of facilities for the city. 'Literally everything is broken, and with Mofolo in Hamson, the city's core is gone, so I need to replace that before anything else for it to all work at any efficiency, let alone maximum efficiency.'

His eyes wandered over to the distant illusion that he couldn't physically see but that he knew was there. 'Even that will soon collapse before long now that Mofolo's soul isn't supplying it with any power.'

Daz would have run his fingers through his hair in frustration were he not wearing a helmet. 'Well... At a minimum, a core big and powerful enough to supply such a large city with energy would cost me 100,000,000 merit points. There's no way I'm paying for that. There's just no reason.'

He glanced at Mofolo. The former king quickly noticed his gaze and smiled sadly in response. 'It is a lost cause, no? I suspect most 'mythical' cities on Frila are in similar states. Perhaps the ones ruled by the Children of Men fare better than Atlantis, but I suppose only time will tell.'

Reika puckered her lips in thought. 'So we wasted our time by coming down here? And Daz wasted his token?'

'Perhaps. While he thinks, why don't we get to know each other better? I expect we shall have to work together in the future, so knowing about the other may help with our teamwork,' Mofolo suggested.

Ignoring his spirits and their ensuing conversation, Daz continued to think. 'Maybe someone out there has found an artefact that I can use to replace the core? If I can get that, then I can start turning this place into a wondrous city. It's a hub and a research city, so I guess I could make it a highly defendable place for the greatest minds on Earth to gather and, well, research stuff?'

It was a plan that Daz wouldn't regret spending time and some resources on. Of course, he'd need to make it accessible to normal people, which meant a teleportation relay as well as some sort of airlock system separating the city from the ocean floor.

'Hmm... Well, for now, I guess I should get back to Rose. I need to figure out how to tell that admiral that only the head remains of the body they wanted too... He gave me a week to find it, so I guess I'll put that big brain of Rose's to good use in the meantime,' Daz decided before he swiftly left Atlantis' protective illusion and then used Hamson to ascend at a rate slow enough to safely allow his body to decompress properly.

"Dry me, please, system," Daz requested.

The system asked for confirmation which he happily gave.