The path back to Hearthcore felt longer than he remembered.
Part of it was the silence—ten chapters ago, he had crawled these tunnels alone, wounded, scavenging for metal. Now he returned changed. Upgraded. Not stronger. Just... seen.
And the Deep had started watching back.
The glowshard lamp cast soft light on the familiar tunnel edges. Cracks he'd measured. Support beams he'd welded himself. It felt smaller now. As if his own growth had outpaced the very walls he'd built.
[SYSTEM NOTE]Zone Hearthcore – Environmental Changes DetectedLifeforms Present: 11 (Non-hostile)
Structural Additions: UnauthorizedMorale Index: Unstable
He stopped.
Eleven people.
His shelter was designed for one.
He moved quickly, rounding the final corner to the platform zone where Hearthcore's outer hatch had been installed. It was still there, still running—but the surrounding chamber looked… different.
Makeshift bedding made from tarp and broken panels. A half-built fire pit using broken conduit pipe. And people—real people—gathered in a circle around a cracked energy relay, trying to boil water over weak heat lines.
They looked up as he entered.
No one reached for weapons.
But they all stared.
A woman stood slowly. Older than him. Wrapped in industrial cloth and coated in travel grime. Her voice was cracked but sharp.
"You the builder?"
Cael nodded, blinking in disbelief.
"We followed the pulse," she said. "Your system's light. Lit up a whole sector for half a Spiral. Thought maybe—maybe someone had made it work."
So the Corelink trial had cast a signal wide enough to draw survivors. A side effect? Or an invitation sent unintentionally?
He scanned them—no obvious weapons. Malnourished. Two children. A wounded teenager. A pregnant woman. They weren't a threat.
They were a problem.
[POPULATION CHANGE DETECTED]
Shelter Capacity: EXCEEDEDMorale Status: Critical Risk
Suggestion: Expand housing or risk psychological degradation
He exhaled.
"Okay," he said aloud, stepping into the center of the fire circle. "Then this is the deal."
The crowd tensed.
Cael activated his system interface. Glowing lines of light appeared behind him—blueprints projected into the air: Housing Grid Tier I, Mosswall Engine, Community Vent Stack.
Their eyes widened.
"I'm Cael Veren," he said. "Architect-class. System-linked. This place is Hearthcore. It was mine. But now... it's going to be ours."
They didn't cheer.
But they listened.
That was enough.
[NEW SYSTEM STATUS]Hearthcore Population: 12Shelter Type: Transition Phase
Authority Level: Undeclared
Suggestion: Establish Governance Type
And there it was.
He could still build walls. Still lay pipes and shape tunnels.
But if he didn't start shaping trust, everything he built would eventually fall.
Behind him, one of the children pointed toward the projected Mosswall blueprint.
"Is that... real?"
Cael smiled.
"It will be."