Enter System, page 28
part #1 of Natural Laws Apocalypse Series
Marc nodded.
“Yeah. I don't know what these ones are good for. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one that had received one before I mentioned it to anyone else.”
“Oh, yeah. I see what you mean. That might've caused some problems if they hadn't gotten one, wouldn't it?”
Marc nodded.
“I still don't know if everyone got them, but with both you and me getting them, I'm leaning towards everyone in the fight getting one.”
“Why don't you track down Reggie and ask him. To hear him babble on, you're like some sort of archmage or something. I bet he'd be happy to talk with you.”
“You know, I just might. Do you know where he is?”
“Yeah, Ron said he and his crew were going to take rooms in the barracks. Reggie and his sister were going to share one of those barracks rooms with Ron himself. So I think they're out there. But they were going to come look for food soon, they said, so maybe just intercept him in the cafeteria?”
Marc had set some of the barracks rooms up more as suites in case there were families that had to stay out there.
“Good plan, Rob. Sorry to have broken up your impromptu question and answer session there.”
“Don't apologize. I just kinda got roped into talking to a couple of them and then more and more showed up,” he said. “I'm glad to get away since I'm kind of hungry myself.”
When they got to the cafeteria it was easy to find Reggie. Marc heard him as soon as he stepped in, talking and talking, going through the fight with the troll and pointing out all the different things people had done. He was sitting with Ron and his sister and the two of them were rolling their eyes, Marc could see it from here even.
I'm sure I'm going to regret this, but...
Marc walked over.
“Hey, Reggie. Can I steal a few minutes of your time?” Marc asked.
Ron looked over at him, gratitude evident in his face.
“Ellie and I don't mind if you want to go talk to him,” Ron said. “I know you were talkin' about maybe trying to learn some of his spells.”
“I can?” Reggie said. “Sure, where do you want to go, Marc?”
“For the moment, just another table. I need to eat too. Once I've eaten we'll head somewhere quiet to talk for a bit. You already got a room, right? So you know where to go back to later on?”
Reggie nodded.
“Yeah, I got one. I got a bedroom to myself and Ron and Ellie are taking the other bedroom in there.”
His older sister, Marc surmised that was Ellie, winced at Reggie's words and looked relieved as her little brother followed Marc as he went to get food.
“So, Rob was saying you're good at math too. Do you think that's why we got our Mage classes?” Reggie asked.
“Well, I'm only partly a Mage. I got a weird class called Arcane Bulwark. It's like a Warrior-Mage, where the spells it provides focus on defense. I can learn other spells though, I just don't get them from the class.”
“Then where'd you get the flame arrow and fireball spells? Those sure aren't defensive,” Reggie said.
Marc took his food to a table well away from Ron and Ellie to give them a bit of a break from Reggie, then sat down and started to eat. Between bites he continued to talk.
“Well first, flame arrow isn't that. It's just like Doug's Mana Dart, except it's aspected to flame. That's all part of that other skill I was talking about. The Mana Dart spell came from a scroll I got when my party cleared the school. The fireball spell came from clearing the middle school and rescuing some people there. The kobold casters had the Fireball spell and a curse and we found scrolls for both.”
“Yeah, that's right. You said I might be able to learn about that other skill you used?” Reggie asked, apparently unable to stay on a single topic.
“I made a bit of a discovery. Magic with the System is math based. It's just another division of math to learn, but most spells that you find are kind of plug and play. If you know the right symbols, you can alter the spells. The skill is called Mana Manipulation and lets me discover new spells, or alter existing ones in some ways. Ron said you were good at math, so tell me honestly, how good is good?”
Reggie bit his lip, lost in thought. When he replied he seemed focused as though trying not to jump around on the topic any more.
“I know calculus. It's the most recent math I learned and I did it just because someone told me I was too young to do it. So, obviously, I know everything necessary to get to that point. I'm a math geek, pretty much that and computers was all I did and I don't know that there'll be much computer stuff going on any time soon.”
“Actually, that might not be true. There are pads that do some of the same things computers do, they're available in the shop. I don't know if they have any that are like regular computers, but I know that they can duplicate a lot of the functions tablets had,” Marc said. “But, that's not what what we were talking about.”
He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, thinking.
“You might be able to learn it, Mana Manipulation that is. I'll try to teach it to you, but it's going to have to wait a while. There are lots of things that need to get done around here and it seems like I'm always doing something. It's more important to me to try to rescue any other survivors from the area than it is to spend the time to teach you that right now, okay?”
“Alright, how about spells then?” Reggie asked.
“Now that takes a lot less time, at least it did with Doug. We'll get to some spell trading in the next few days. I saw your Water Jet spell, did you have others also?”
“Yeah, I got a minor curse spell too, plus a melee range offensive spell. Kinda like burning hands from the old games?” he said.
Marc nodded his understanding.
“What's the curse?”
“Um, It's called Dehydrate and gives a penalty to the target's Agility for the duration. I haven't used that much since I got the Water Jet though. Direct damage just seemed to be better for the situations we were in.”
Marc nodded.
“I get that. I'm sure the curse will have its place, but I learned a Curse of Weakness and used my Mana Manipulation to convert it to the Blessing of Strength I used on Rob when we were fighting the troll. I just had to, essentially, reverse the sign on the symbol that represented the Strength change in the spell.”
“Oh, that's cool. Life Hacks for Magic and all that,” Reggie said.
Marc wasn't quite sure if that was a good thing or if he'd just been insulted.
“Anyhow, come with me for a bit. I'll explain some of the basics of Mana Manipulation and if you understand them, then I can teach you the rest of it later on. Better to know now if you're going to be able to learn it or not. First off though, check your inventory. Did you get a System token for the troll fight?”
* * *
Marc determined that, with some extra tutoring in math, Reggie would probably be able to learn Mana Manipulation. He also found that Reggie had gotten a token as well. Once he'd left the boy to head back to his room he began to wonder if teaching Mana Manipulation to him was advisable though. The boy was all over the place, unable to stick to a topic for more than a few minutes before bursting out with a statement or question about something totally unrelated.
That's a decision for another time. It'll take a lot of time tutoring him before he can learn the skill, if I'm guessing right, and that's time I don't have to spend on that for now. So I can put that decision off for another time. I don't remember though, was I that bad when I was only fourteen? Marc thought.
He had several other tasks for the evening, although the next two were the ones he was most concerned about completing. He had to check the sales on the help pads and replenish them if needed, then he wanted to check the material levels for the next expansion of the Safe Zone.
Stopping by the shop, he grinned. Now there was a kiosk style building instead of just the pedestal. There were three windows along its front, each with its own attached pad for browsing the shop. One was in use when he got there, so he simply stepped up to another. He'd checked his notifications on the way here and the pads had sold out again, so he ordered a new batch and then withdrew the coins for the others' shares of the profits.
He slumped against the wall as he started to download the data to the new pads, the master pad resided in his inventory except for when he was doing this, but he'd discovered that he could do the download simultaneously to all the pads he was preparing so the whole process only took about five minutes. Then he stepped back to the window and listed the pads for sale.
There were other things he wanted to look for in the shop, primarily a decent quality short sword that wasn't too expensive, but first he needed to check on the expansion possibilities.
He walked over to the building pedestal. As always the wire-frame drawing showing the Safe Zone as it currently was shone above the top, and there were some people who were just looking at it, as though they had nothing else to do.
I have to figure out a way to get everyone with tasks. I mean, they'll still get down time, but these people just look downright bored, he thought. Ooh, I wonder if I could write up the different tasks that need to be done, using my Creative Writing skill for them, then post them on the board. That would give me practice with it, and everyone else tasks to do with an added chance of success.
Dismissing the idea for the moment, he opened up the build screen.
You have insufficient resources to increase your Safe Zone.
Resources required:
Wood: 1783/2000
Stone: 1884/2000
Metal: 659/1100
Designated power source for Safe Zone:
Monster Core – common – poor
This power source will sustain three expansions from base.(1/3)
Well, it looks like we're well off the next totals still. Probably wood and stone could finish out tomorrow, but I don't know about the metal, he thought. Maybe I'll ask them to focus more on the metal tomorrow? Get at least one or two houses, then everything else as cars or other heavy metal items?
Knowing that he was probably at least two days away from the next expansion still made him a bit happy. If he could expand three days after the last expansion, and the last expansion had taken most of the surplus materials, then he might be able to extrapolate the amount of time it would take him to make his goals of getting the Safe Zone to start including parts of the town itself.
Except, I won't do that because I don't know if there's a specific pattern for the upgrade costs and how much they go up. Also, if I want to build non-standard stuff to add in, then I'll need other materials for that too. Speaking of which, I have to ask Felicia if she wants to work on her Alchemy skill. She said she got it way back at the start and now we've got what I bet are ingredients for either healing or health regeneration potions. So, ask her if she's interested and build her an Alchemy lab if she is?
He let his thoughts wander, trying to pick out the other things he ought to make buildings for. If he wanted to support some of his residents as crafters then he should make it as easy for them as he could. The list he made started with Felicia's lab, then he thought a smithy would be needed.
Assuming we've got someone that wants to be a smith, he thought. As a matter of fact, I think I'll ask people what they'd like to do and if it would benefit the Safe Zone then I'll create the buildings for them if I can get the materials. Then I can write out orders for them to man the buildings appropriately and maybe help them achieve better levels of success?
That idea went into the notes file Felicia had showed him before, along with a few of the other things that he'd been thinking about. Then he remembered that he'd wanted to talk to Felicia tonight, hopefully clear some things up between them. He thought they were both interested, but he still wasn't a hundred percent positive so he wanted to tread lightly.
When he got to the hallway outside of her room though, he heard her talking with another woman, one whose voice currently sounded on the edge of a crying jag, so he changed his mind about knocking and simply went into his own room.
Setting up his MP3 player on random gave him an appropriately eclectic set of music and he settled in to reading more of the new mathematics text he'd bought a couple of days prior.
* * *
Chapter Twenty-One
When Marc woke the next morning he was feeling more rested than he had in days.
More rested than since before the System change, I think. If nothing else, having the Safe Zone is good for not worrying about sleeping, he thought.
He went down to the cafeteria after a quick shower and realized that although it felt like he'd slept in, it was still somewhere in the middle of the time that they served breakfast.
Standing in line to get food, he noticed first that the pretty young girl that had been serving at the counter now had company. Two dark-haired girls that were within a few years of her age were assisting now. As he got closer to the counter he found that the cooks now had some more help as well. He recognized one of the other men in the kitchen as one of the ones they'd rescued. Looking closer he realized that the two other women at the counter were part of that group as well.
I guess Ron wasn't kidding when he said they were all hard workers. Some of them jumping right in to help with the kitchen work almost immediately after they got here tells me he was right.
There was a wider range of things available to eat now as well. In addition to the breakfast items that the original cook, Marc couldn't remember his name, had been offering there were now also a wider range of breakfast burritos, with varying degrees of spicy available.
Claiming a pair of moderately spicy burritos Marc went and found a table. Rob and Felicia were both at tables surrounded by some of the new people, speaking with them as they ate, and Marc soon found himself with a group around him as well.
They were asking about things that needed doing, talking about not wanting to take charity, and telling him the skills they had that they thought might help contribute to the Safe Zone.
“Wait, wait,” Marc said. “I'm never going to remember all of this, but I've got an idea. You guys haven't had Al's class yet, have you? He's going to teach you about the System and how to work with it, things like that.”
A series of negative answers greeted him.
“Then here's what we'll do. I'll make sure Al has a stack of paper and writing utensils. For those of you with skills you're offering, I'll have you put your name and the skills down on a list. Then we'll see about getting you set up to work with those skills, okay?”
He got a bunch of relieved nods out of that.
What, do they think I'm going to kick them out if they don't start helping out immediately? Marc wondered.
“As for those of you who were suggesting things we need here, come talk to me after that class. I think it'll give you a better idea of what's possible. As far as I can tell, anything within reason is possible. We will need materials for anything we want to build though, so I'm going to see about increasing our ability to gather those before I act on any more suggestions.”
That left almost all of the remaining people nodding and gave Marc a chance to finish eating his breakfast.
“Now, Al's talking to you all later on today, right?”
“Yes, sir, we're supposed to have that class before lunch,” one of them answered.
“Okay then. I'm going to go make sure he's got the stuff he needs for you to make the list of your skills,” Marc said.
He beat a hasty retreat then, depositing his dirty dishes in the area set aside for them. That area was being manned by one of the newer young women that had been near the counter earlier. Then he went to where Felicia was sitting.
“Hey, Felicia, can I talk with you a moment?” Marc asked.
“Sure, what's up?”
“I had a bunch of people volunteering their skills and wanting to work as soon as I sat down to eat.”
She gestured around her.
“Yeah, same here.”
“Well, they haven't had Al's class yet. Can I get a notebook or something from you? Along with some pens or pencils? I'll get those to Al and they can pass it around while he teaches, writing down their name and the skills they think will help. I'm never going to remember all of them and I'd hate to forget stuff like that.”
Felicia looked at him and grinned.
“You know, I was just trying to jot it down in my notes interface. I like your idea better though, then we'll have a master list to work from. Go tell Rob, will you, I think he's been trying to do the same.”
“Not Jeff?”
“Haven't seen him this morning,” Felicia said.
She pulled out a stack of paper and writing utensils from her inventory.
“Sorry, no notebooks, just loose paper. It should still work though,” she said.
Marc collected the items she provided, then went over to Rob to tell him the same. Once he'd done that, he headed out to track down Al. Finding him and Lisa talking in the auditorium where they'd be holding the class, he went up and told them about his idea, handing over the paper and writing utensils.
“You might want to do the same with the people who were already here too,” Al said. “Some of them are pitching in and helping, but I know some are just slacking and taking advantage of the free ride.”
Marc knew of at least one person that fit the category Al had just described.
Because complaining and claiming that the complaints are meant to help improve things doesn't count as helping. Especially when she just complains about something but doesn't offer any ideas on how to improve it, he thought.
He took back two of the sheets of paper and a pencil. Then he returned to the cafeteria. They were just closing up on serving breakfast.
“Hey, Alice was it?”
She nodded, smiling prettily and making eye contact.
“I don't really want to give you more work, but I've got a problem. I need to find out what skills everyone has to offer to help the place stay running. Now, I figure everyone has to show up here to get their food, so do you mind if I post a sign and a sign up sheet for people to give their name and what skills they have to offer or are willing to learn?”
