Tom's announcement was met with blank stares and one startled face.

  "Oh shit," Duncan said as he pulled out two settlement seeds and a core.

  "Forgot I had these," Duncan said, handing them over.

  "And just like that, Duncan, you are my favorite person," Tom said as he grabbed the seeds and the core.

  DING!!!

  Tom pressed yes immediately, dissolving the core into dust. He had considered using the core to set up a secondary settlement; however there seemed to be dozens of settlements just in the immediate area. Expansion would require them to take over nearby settlements no matter what he might want to do. Regardless, Hopkins was overpopulated, and he could use those points to buy at least an extra floor to the three-story building.

  "Alright, then, let's go over our options for customized rooms we can build. Then we can use the rest of the points to make some improvements to the structure," Tom said as he gave them all access to the structure interface—well, viewing access.

  And just like that, the entire council devolved into a debate on how best to spend the points. Arguments were made, people had their preferences, a few deals were made, concessions were made, a few bribes were pushed, and there were even a few low-key threats as people tried to figure out what magical rooms to add.

  Tom entered the discussion early on, stating that any option below [Epic] rarity and any room that could potentially be dangerous to the settlement, such as a torture chamber, a summoning room, or anything that could go cataclysmically wrong, were off the table.

  When they asked what qualified as dangerous, Tom created some illusions of what the Cauldron of the Demon Lord could have been used for. Then Tom warned him that these were just the low-level options, and it could get worse, a lot worse. After that, they agreed that giving the five founding members a veto on the rooms was acceptable.

  This was one of the easiest options. At the same time, the electricity hadn't shut down yet. Everyone was expecting it to. Also, most of the uses for Demon Lord's blood were bad, so getting rid of it like this was helpful.

  This one had been mixed. No one really wanted to fight. Well, except for Gareth, Abaddon, and Skippy. But at the same time, they didn't see a problem with creating the Arena beyond the fact that it was seen as a waste of points. But Tom knew they needed it. If nothing else, helping people overcome their fear of death would help them stay alive. Tom could see the irony.

  This was one of the easiest rooms to sell to the others. No one had taken a shower, let alone a bath, since the apocalypse began. Penny and Alex had nearly strangled him when he jokingly suggested buying something else.

  The modular workshop was Duncan's baby. He had near total control over the design and setup. He was the only Engineer they had who was also a Noralon craftsman, so no one could really argue against him about this stuff. He also reformated the notification for his benefit.

  Tom had added the dreamer's pillows. But it was Sam who added the Media Center. He was honestly surprised at the result. The entire internet and Wi-Fi thing was new. That wasn't a part of the original Noralon. So, this room was technically a shot in the dark. Nevertheless, it looked good, so it got the vote.

  The cubicle that had been left outside would be converted into the [Premium Menagerie] for the horses. Luke had argued vehemently for those horses, claiming that the animals needed a place of their own. They didn't have any farm animals yet, so Tom just surrendered.

  This room was a bit mixed. It was somewhat useful, as it allowed people to quickly pick up the skills needed to create clothing. But if Tom was honest, he was building this room for one of the original members of Awoken Myths, Midus, who specialized as a weaver.

  The Enchanted Crystal Garden was there to complete the triumvirate of smithing, alchemy, and enchanting.

  They spent hours reviewing the design until Eve suggested they call in some of the larpers who had been taking courses in architecture and civil engineering. That was probably the best idea they had all day, especially as the enchantment that improved Hopkins's durability was based on its base mundane structure, so having that as strong as possible was ideal.

  The first surprise of the day came when he found out that Travis had a major in architecture and a minor in civil engineering. He had been able to point out who else would have the skills for the problem at hand. And despite the heavy roleplay of the lizard wizard, he made excellent points and averted a few problems Tom and Duncan hadn't even considered.

  Once they brought in the rest of the architects and engineers, things got a touch out of hand as the group of college kids took to the task with a religious fervor. Once they had a budget and Travis explained the rules, they immediately started to redesign the entire school. However, they couldn't move away from the school design. If their designs could no longer be recognized as a school, then the point cost would jump.

  Bathrooms were expanded and adjusted for efficiency. Space was created for utilities, and some of the areas Tom had pointed out as potential weak points in the structure were removed or reinforced.

  They needed to make the school large enough to support a large population but flexible enough for their projects.

  Next, they split the school into three sections. Section 1 included the gymnasium, parking lot, football field, theater, and cubicles, which were for training, animals, and entertainment. Section 2 included the cafeteria, tech, and shop classes, which were the crafting area. Section 3 was the primary residential area.

  The first thing they did was expand the residential area. They turned the U-shaped section of the school into a square, closing off the courtyard from the outside. Then, they added an additional five floors, bringing the height of section 3 to seven or eight stories, depending on where you stood.

  Tom found it a bit funny that all the new hallways still had lockers, even though he understood their function.

  They also added a second basement floor to the entire school as a storage space and an extra floor for sections 1 and 2 to give them more room to grow. At Tom's instance, they also made sure to reinforce all of the entrances to the school. What was left were steel doors with a bar they could lower in an emergency. They also altered the windows on the ground floor, adding bars and making it so monsters would have a harder time getting in.

  Duncan's favorite part, the [Modular Workshop], took up almost a third of the bottom floor, or what had been Hopkin's storage room. It needed to be at least that big, especially if it was going to handle all of their industry in the long run. Not just defenses, but even something as simple as furniture would need to be built with skills.

  Unfortunately, since the new workshop would take up the entirety of their current storage space, they needed to add a second basement. A Lot of people were really excited about the library upgrades, and while most people didn't understand the dreamer aspect, but the part about downloading everything on the internet onto a hard drive that they could then access whenever they wanted before the internet went dead made people happy.

  The [Arena of the Ancients] would be placed outside in the corner of the parking lot next to the concrete wall. At the same time, the other rooms would be placed in the crafting section. Unfortunately, they didn't have anything for a hospital, much to Eve's disappointment.

  They also didn't have any combinations for the kitchen staff or the hunters. Instead, they would have to stick with the school's three pre-existing kitchens and one butcher's room. To give them more room, they tore down the wall between the kitchen and the staff room and expanded the kitchen to handle the increased requirements. Even then, it looked like the kitchen was going to have to cook 24/7 just to feed everyone.

  They would also add an extra floor to both the crafting and the gym sections to provide additional housing or crafting rooms as needed.

  But the single greatest expense was the infrastructure. They needed to call in plumbers, electricians, and engineers to help them map it out. They had needed to add in more bathrooms, pipe in the water from out of the [Bathhouse of Cleansing Water], and electricity needed to come from the [Demon lord Generator]. However, waste was going to be a problem they would need to deal with. While the plumbing worked for now, that might not always be the case. Fortunately, They would still have some form of internal wi-fi now thanks to the [Digital Dreamers Library].

  It wouldn't help their ability to connect to the Internet, but it would create a digital library for everyone to use.

  Tom was hopeful that it would stave off the worst of the grumbling, and Alex was already cueing up a daily movie night for the school theater. By the end, Tom had heard so much about plumbing, infrastructure, and construction that he was just sick of it. The worst part was the fact that thanks to [Library of Akashic Records], it was stuck in his head forever.

  "Alright, then. Can we agree to these changes?" Tom asked as they looked over their purchase sheet.

  "I still think we should put some greenhouses on the gym roof," Will said.

  "Yes, and I told you it's a good plan, but we're already over budget," Tom said. This plan is only going to work because we're going to level up the settlement in the attempt. So I ask one more time: Is everyone satisfied with these changes?"

  While most of the people didn't look happy, the plan passed. Tom executed the command code, and the world around them changed. In hindsight, changing the library while they were all still inside might not have been the best idea.

  The bookshelves grew upwards, the aluminum shelves turning into beautiful mahogany bookshelves carved with intricate designs. The carpet under their feet grew upwards, turning soft and inviting them to lie down and take a nap. The ceiling overhead and the walls changed the white popcorn texture to a midnight black as golden lines started to trace their way over the material. Tom realized that the ceiling was turning into a massive circuit board, but it didn't look like a circuit board. It looked like they were staring up at the night sky.

  The desks had been replaced with Kotatsu tables. The chairs had all become beanbags, and the handful of bean bags that had existed before they upgraded the room had been replaced with a pile of stuffed animals. The only thing that looked mostly untouched were the computers, but even those appeared to have received a significant upgrade. But what Tom was most excited about was the council room. It was a large room just above the library that overlooked the now-expanded cafeteria for important meetings. He thought it would look cool.

  "You know," Gareth began as he leaned back on his new bean bag. Whatever you want to say about the system, it's got style."

  Alex looked up, concerned. "If the changes were this drastic, the rest of the school must be in a panic."

  "Infernal Feces," Tom groaned. "Let's go make sure they don't start a riot."

  Tom followed after the council members as Tom checked his last notification.

  DING!!

  Mini-Character List

  Tom (Thomas Bruner): Guild Leader of Awoken Myths, healer, beta-tester

  Duncan: Lead craftsman, boyfriend of Eve

  Eve: In charge of the medical team, [Healer], Duncan's girlfriend

  Travis: Founder of Awoken Myths, Larper representative, the Lizard Wizard

  Alex: Elf wizard, Admin for Hopkins, founder of Awoken Myths

  Hanze: Alex's assistant, lawyer, didn't say anything

  Penny: Member of the council by popular vote

  Luke: A member of the council, Demigod, involved in scavenging

  Sam (Samantha Mato): In charge of scavenging, Native American [Treasure Hunter]

  Gareth: Battle nut is only here for the entertainment

  Skippy: Founder of Awoken Myths, Squirrel man swordsman

  Abbadon: Founder of Awoken Myths, Autistic Lizardman

  Major Adams: Not present

  Will Thawyne: Head cook, oversees food supplies, former restaurant owner, was only here for the kitchen

  Joey Mack: Oversees kids who want to hunt, Skeptical about founding a city left the meeting

  AN: