The monitoring wing hummed with a low resonance, the echo of the dormant tombs filling the cavernous hangar. Karl flexed his new fingers again, marveling at the pale musculature that had replaced bone. He twisted his neck until it cracked.

"Goddamn… feels good. Like I finally upgraded from Windows 98 to Windows 11. Only, y'know… without all the bugs."

He chuckled at his own joke, then froze as a familiar prompt scrolled across his vision.

[Milestone Reached]

Autonomous Soul Framework has exceeded operational scope.

Initiating [Necro System V3.0 Update]…

Karl leaned back against one of the stripped-down cerberus husks, lips curling into a smirk. "Well, well, about time. Let's see what kind of corporate bullshit you've cooked up for me now."

[System Rewards Granted]

+2,500 NP

+300 Max Mana

+0.5 Mana Regen/min

Blueprint: [Administration Hall]

Blueprint: [Enforcer's Watchpost]

Feature: [Citizen Suggestion Board]

Karl blinked. Then laughed. "Two and a half thousand NP? Not bad, like finding twenty bucks in your old jeans. Max mana and regen? Fine, I'll take it. Now these blueprints—" He squinted. "Administration Hall? What is this, city hall cosplay? And an Enforcer's Watchpost… let me guess, fantasy police station. Great. That's exactly what I needed. Cops."

The next prompt slid in.

System Advisory:

Karl Leech — The Necro System has entered Domain Governance. Your citizens now live, work, contribute, and consume as part of a structured proto-society. Maintain security and happiness, enforce policy, and direct expansion. Their loyalty is tied to efficiency; their desire is tied to consumption. You are not merely a Dungeon Lord — you are Sovereign of Necro Corp's first society.

Karl's jaw dropped. "...Excuse me? Sovereign? Oh, fuck off. I wanted a company, not to be some dollar store president. Proto-society? What am I running now, Fantasy Sims?"

He dragged a hand down his face, groaning. Then he snorted. "Ah, hell with it. Society, company—it's all the same. Money, people, work. Only difference is one gets to have its own army. Real estate was always on the table anyway. Guess I'm getting my own Las Vegas whether I like it or not."

A massive detailed panel opened in his vision.

[🌍 Territory Expansion]

Domain extends 1,200m radius, expanding +500m per explored sector.

Undead citizen population cap: 1,000.

Non-undead residents must live outside 1,000m core zone; exempt from System restrictions. ]

"1,200 meter radius. Expands with exploration. Okay, so my dungeon is basically Google Maps now—walk around, get more land. Undead cap: 1,000. That's fine, quality over quantity. Non-undead have to live outside the core? Hah! Segregated housing, love it. Keeps the HR complaints down when mortals realize they're sleeping next to guys who don't."

[ ⚒ Citizen Management]

Undead citizens may now view levels & progression.

Base EXP gain reduced by 50%.

Contribution Bonus: +50% EXP when 10% of salary contributed.

Voluntary Donation: +1% EXP gain per 1% salary given (e.g. 80% donation = +80%).

Rest Cycles → +300% efficiency boost on return. ]

Karl's eyes lit up. "Citizens can view levels now, cool. EXP cut in half… ouch. BUT—bonus EXP for donating salaries? System, you absolute capitalist pig. You've literally gamified tithing. They pay me, I pay them, they get stronger, I get richer—it's a pyramid scheme with undead bones. I could kiss you."

[ 💰 Salary & Economy]

All citizens now receive monthly salaries.

Active salary = +300% work efficiency.

Salaries may be suspended via Emergency Policy without penalty.

Citizens must purchase all goods/services, incl. food, drink, housing, entertainment.

Employee Discount: 80% off all dungeon-produced items.

Food & leisure not required biologically but desired socially; drives happiness & morale. ]

He froze, then laughed like a maniac. "Every citizen gets a monthly salary. Salaries = +300% efficiency. And they have to pay for food, drink, and entertainment even if they don't need it biologically. HAHAHA! It's fucking brilliant! They literally don't need to eat, but they'll want to eat. Social need. I can sell imaginary burgers for profit. This is like when video games sell you skins—you don't need it, but you NEED it. Ohhh I'm going to bleed them dry."

[ 📊 Efficiency, Happiness & Security]

Happiness and Security act as baseline multipliers.

Dissatisfaction or unmet security → max efficiency capped at 50%.

Rest + Salary stacking allows efficiency boosts up to +600% peak. ]

Karl groaned dramatically. "Happiness meters. Great, I've got The Sims now. If they're unhappy, capped efficiency at fifty percent. Fine, fine. But—rest cycles give 300% boost? Stack that with salary efficiency… oh, baby, six-hundred percent max output. That's sweatshop efficiency in fantasy form. Gotta love capitalism."

[ 🏘 Zone Governance]

Designated management zones now available:

Industrial

Residential

Entertainment

Commercial

Administration

Military

Logistics

Security

Auto-Layout: Blueprints placed within zones align to pre-organized roads & paths.

Citizens may propose structures & layouts → must be approved before construction begins. ]

"Industrial, residential, entertainment, military—all neat zones. Auto-layout roads? Finally! No more crooked streets like a medieval village. And citizen proposals… wait, wait—so now they can vote? They can make suggestions? Hah! This is perfect. I'll set up the board, let them bitch about food shortages, and every complaint turns into market research. Free focus groups! I can weaponize their whining."

[ 👁 Surveillance Grid]

Domain map automatically expands with territory.

Green: Citizens

Yellow: Non-citizens

Red: Hostiles.

Law & Policy Framework: Create binding rules & policies.

Violations trigger automatic Enforcer alerts, scaled by severity. ]

Karl grinned wide. "Live domain map. Green for citizens, yellow for guests, red for enemies. Basically CCTV on steroids. Law and policy framework—YES. Ohhh I can't wait to draft laws. 'Compulsory Happy Hour Thursdays.' 'No pants Mondays.' Violators get dragged off by Enforcers. It's literally Judge Dredd with corporate branding. Oh System, you spoil me."

He exhaled, lips curling in a wicked smile. "Downside? I've gotta babysit a thousand moody undead, hand out salaries, pretend to care about their happiness. Upside? They literally pay me to work harder, spend money they don't need to spend, and I own the cops, the courts, and the damn city plan. This is late-stage capitalism cranked up to necromantic eleven."

His laugh echoed across the tomb hangar, sharp and triumphant.

"Alright, System. Let's build a society. A ghoul society fueled by greed, burgers, and taxes. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

He slammed [ACTIVATE UPDATE] without hesitation.

Karl waited, muscles twitching as if the system update itself should have manifested into a parade of office clerks and ribbon-cutters. Nothing happened. He exhaled, a long slow puff that fogged in the cool stone air.

I've got a lot of work to do, he muttered, half to himself. Well, they — since I get to sit on my ass and plan while they do the heavy lifting. Still, this is going to be a mess to lay out. One kilometer radius is a good start. Center's commercial, administration, entertainment. Residential and industrial should be far apart. Dungeon stays industrial, logistics inside the core, military out at the rim. Leo can make the first draft of zone layouts. Efficiency is important, but this has to look clean, organized, and actually function.

He rubbed his jaw and paced the hangar, eyes flicking to the stripped cerberus husks and the rows of tombs. Systems thinking, he told himself. Urban planning with necromancy. It would take time, but the interface had already done half the brainwork for him.

Footsteps clicked. Leo appeared on the stair, his immaculate white suit folded over one arm like an errand boy with impeccable posture. In his hands was a folded tie and a spare jacket.

"My lord," Leo said, presenting the suit as if it were an offering.

Karl took it without ceremony, stretching into the fabric. "I didn't think you'd wake up early," he said as he slid the jacket on. "For a second there I actually thought you'd turned into—" he squinted, then laughed awkwardly. "—a female. That would've been a shock."

Leo gave a tiny, unamused arch of his brows. "I can dress as needed," he said coolly.

Karl wrinkled his nose and jabbed a thumb toward his chest. "Ugh… no thanks. Not into femboys," he said, then immediately winced at the mild spite of himself and tugged his tie into place.

"Jokes aside, my lord." Leo said. "There is a problem. A group of bandits managed to unlock the front door and push through to the fourth floor. They used some kind of crystal that disrupts mana flow."

Karl's fingers paused on his knot. "Of course," he said. "I expected something like that eventually."

"You're not surprised my lord?" Leo said, his face registered a microshock.

Karl scoffed, tying the final knot. "Surprise isn't profitable. You have to assume jealous idiots will attempt the stupidest approaches. The notion of a mana-disrupting crystal is not impossible — I've read worse in bad pulp fantasy. The important part is the outcome. That's why I stationed the Cerberus and the Corpse King at the lower floors. Contingency plans. Redundancies. If one fails, another covers the blind spot."

Leo regarded him, impressed despite himself. "Your contingency design worked, then my lord."

"It's not to the point a complete one," Karl said, finally slinging the suit jacket over his shoulder. "Where I come from, governments draft contingency plans for the absurd and the grotesque. Fear drives development. Survival drives war. The unknown scares people the most, which is why I prefer mechanical and electronic solutions in the first place. Magic is a variable. Technology, in many ways, is reproducible and auditable."

He paused, thinking faster than the echo of his words. "But that doesn't mean magic is irrelevant. In fact, Leo, what wins wars isn't just steel or mana. It's information. You can have the best weapons, but if you own the signal—if you intercept, decode, and manipulate communication—you control decisions before battles even begin."

Leo nodded slowly. "Technology."

Karl waved a hand, impatient with oversimplification. "Technology helps in a way, but the real multiplier is information. Consider this crystal: it disrupts mana flow. If mana is being used as a carrier for long-distance communication — think of it as a radio frequency, but in the mana spectrum — then a device that can jam or alter that frequency exposes a whole infrastructure. Interception becomes possible. Decryption becomes a project. Once you can pick up the ambient mana 'noise,' you can try to filter, amplify, and decode patterns. It's the same principles that underlie radio physics."

Leo's eyes sharpened. "So you suggest the crystal was used for jamming a mana-channel, not just opening a door."

"Exactly," Karl said. "Either they were ignorant brigands with a lucky toy, or someone commissioned them to test a method. Either way, this proves several things. One, long-distance mana comms are feasible here. Two, there's a baseline protocol we can learn from. Three, with the right equipment we can intercept and then build a counter-device — a mana sniffer, if you will. Once we have that, we can do passive eavesdropping. We can map channels. We can fingerprint senders. We can triangulate."

He smiled, a thin, small thing that made Leo feel like a temperature shift.

"And of course, we monetize," Karl added. "If we can intercept and sell intelligence — trade routes, caravan manifests, who hires who — Necro Corp can undercut markets, manipulate bids, and preempt threats. The suggestion board will be full of consumer demands by tomorrow, and I'll use that same analytics to monetize lifeblood. Information is currency, and I'm opening a mint."

Leo's lips twitched. "You truly simulate ten moves ahead, my lord," he said. His voice held equal parts admiration and wariness.

Karl shrugged, putting on the last cuff. "I don't plan for war because I like fighting. I plan so I can avoid it — or choose when and where to fight on my terms. If magic is another physics, we study it like a lab. If they're sloppy and centralized in their mana patterns, they become predictable. Predictable equals exploitable."

He glanced at the hangar map glowing faintly in his mind, already imagining roads and zones, watch posts and retail strips. The proto-society system gives him payroll, loyalty scores, and entertainment demand curves. The mana problem gives him intelligence — an information advantage. Both together were a playground.

"Then," Leo said. "I'll draft the zoning layout. Administration and commercial in the center, entertainment pockets near the plazas, residential ringed further out, industrial and logistics inside the dungeon and at the core. Military on the far edge with layered enforcer watchposts. I'll model traffic flow to minimize friction on supply routes."

"Make it efficient and idiot-proof," Karl said. "And then, quietly: Give the samples from their crystal to the research department. If their jamming tech is repeatable, I want two teams: research for interception and market ops to monetize whatever we learn. We buy influence. We sell protection. We tax the tourists. In six months, this place funds its own expansion."

Leo inclined his head. "Very well."

Karl laughed, sharp and delighted. "Excellent."

Leo's expression did not change, but the corner of his mouth hinted at a nearly imperceptible acceptance of the absurd.

They both turned toward the rows of waking ghouls, toward the long work ahead: zoning blueprints, payroll systems, a surveillance grid, and a plan to turn mana into their next cash cow. Karl tightened his cuffs and smiled like a man who had just bought the rights to an idea he planned to exploit.

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