To my pleasant surprise, after I saved them, using 250 units of Mana in the process, almost all of the Humans had connected to the system, with only two refusing to connect.

That's right, of the ninety-three humans, ninety-one were now Classed! Raising my daily generation to one hundred and ninety-one points. The two that haven't connected with the system, were the two oldest of the community, both in their seventies. However, I am betting they would be quick to join if they found out they could regain their youth through the system and increase their lifespan. Though it was also possible that they would become even more adamant in refusing to connect to the system, Humans are such fascinating creatures in that way. They can be illogical and...'insane,' but Humanity has proven time and time again that they are a species filled with determination and ingenuity, and will fight the universe itself if it gets in the way.

Sure, Humans can be cruel, apathetic, deceptive, and downright horrible creatures, but they are also empathetic, kind-hearted, compassionate, creative, and wonderful people. They were both destroyers and creators.

Without realizing it, I already began imagining worlds, some were seemingly ordinary, where humans went about their days trying to survive, others were so dangerous and filled with perils that it was a wonder how Humanity survived, let alone lived long enough to thrive.

A universe filled with strife, an ancient Imperium led by a dying god sitting on a golden throne, worlds with hive cities so large that planets could have billions upon billions of people living in one city among dozens if not hundreds of cities.

Another world was one where Humanity was on the brink of collapse, a religious alien threat wielding advanced technology, the only hope being supersoldiers trained from childhood to become the best humanity had to offer.

Focusing back on the situation at hand, I observed the people camping below the Obelisk.

The night had already passed, and hiding the Guardian in the Obelisk was simple enough.

I wondered if they would set up some kind of defenses around the portal to prevent another surge of Staff from overwhelming them, but they were too afraid of entering the portal and returning to that IKEA to grab anything.

They had enough food and water to last another day or two at the most, meaning if they didn't want to starve or die of dehydration, they would either have to enter the IKEA and scavenge for food, or go scavenging in the biomes.

Of the two, traversing the IKEA was vastly safer, though they did not know that.

Hmm...I suddenly had an idea.

In several worlds that I knew, there existed something called 'Quests.'

These were essentially tasks that would reward the quest completer items, currency, or experience points. Through the system, could I create these...'Quests?' If I could, I would be able to influence the humans to a much greater degree, and even direct them a bit. Oh, perhaps I could fashion a quest that would have a human exploring the story of my dungeon environments and earn rewards based on what they learn from the evidence I provide?

So much I could do with my dungeon, and I had all of eternity at my disposal. However, I was still vulnerable. I can be destroyed. I may be ageless, but that does not mean I am immortal in the true sense of the word. The Guardian which I created at the cost of 250 units of mana, would be able to deal with most mortal threats, however, it would be easily beaten by a good number of armed mortals or entities of great strength.

A small army of a few hundred mortals armed with modern weaponry would be able to take down the Guardian. I shouldn't have to worry about anything coming through the IKEA portal that my Guardian shouldn't be capable of destroying. Though I may have to worry about 'When Day Breaks' or some variation of the SCP Foundation or other organization tossing an SCP into the IKEA, treating the dimension as some kind of 'Thaumiel' SCP, where they can get rid of or 'contain' troublesome SCPs.

For example, Dr. Bright. There probably existed countless versions of this man, woman, or something else that could have somehow ended up in the IKEA. This Dr. Bright was certainly an Ex-SCP Foundation Scientist, though he was reluctant to talk about his past, and even when alone he didn't talk about his past life from before he ended up in the IKEA or even use a journal. Who knows what could have caused this Dr. Bright to end up in the IKEA? His world could have faced a K-Class end-of-the-world scenario, or he could have just spent a Saturday evening furniture shopping and ended up in the IKEA.

So while I had no doubt I'd eventually have something come through that portal that would give my Guardian some trouble, due to the way I created the Guardian, I could always forcefully upgrade and improve it since it's mechanical in nature, and not a biological organism.

I certainly didn't want to deal with a loose SCP-682 that was thrown into the IKEA simply because it was convenient. Due to the way the Omniverse worked, there was an infinite amount of possibilities, for all I knew, there could be multiple Infinite IKEAs.  

Focusing back on the situation at hand, I wondered how I should make these...'Qeusts.'

Should I go the typical Quest Board route? A simple Quest Screen? Or perhaps should I take on a form and give out quests as an NPC of sorts? 

[Poll at the end of the chapter]

Deciding to come back to that later when night falls, I focused on the remains of the land outside of the dome.

To make the Guardian, I had to recycle a bit of the land I created, causing a minor setback. However, I was still making progress with the Ruins of Victus, having created a block of the city.

So far, the design I was going for was that of an ancient yet still intact modern city with clear signs of advanced technology.

Ruined hover cars, holographic signs, buildings made of gleaming silver-ish metal. Clear signs of panic and struggle, as a hovercar was shown to have arrows pierced through the windshield and straight into the driver's seat where a skeleton could be seen. The car was planted straight into a wall, and the hood smashed with the front of the car buried into a wall of a building.

Another car showed similar signs, as the driver was also killed and the car crashed into a lamp pole.

As I created, I came up with a story in my mind of what was happening.

Most human skeletons would have deteriorated with the amount of time that had passed, but outlining the skeletal bones was some kind of metal, making the humans when they were alive tougher and more durable. The metal grafted on their bones made their skeletons far more resistant to normal deterioration by the elements, meaning it would take far longer for the bones to deteriorate in the open air and exposed to natural elements, littering the streets with their remains from a time long past.

Overgrowth had already begun taking over the city, vines grew along the sides of buildings, and grass covered the roads, and skeletal remains. Trees grew sparsely in the area, their roots breaking apart the roads and sidewalks. 

Oh, how I so enjoyed creating the story of the Ruins, shame how I had to stop so soon due to a lack of mana.

I do wonder, what would my creation look like once I was done. Would it be as magnificent as I expected it to be? Only time will tell.