Enter System, page 43
part #1 of Natural Laws Apocalypse Series
“Well, that was anti-climactic,” Marc said.
The group practically jumped out of their skin.
“Marc, how?” Rob asked, glancing at the front door, then back to Marc.
“Root cellar. It's where I buried the core. I used those steps to get back out rather than trust the house.”
“Good, I thought you might've been taking lessons from Jeff in Stealth, and that would be just too much,” Rob said.
Marc grinned and shook his head.
“Nope, just didn't want to go through the house again. I thought it was going to collapse on me more than once going in.”
“Okay,” Jeff said. “Are we done now? Can we head back?”
“Yeah, but let's try to determine the most direct route and leave blazes to make it easy for people to find, right? We'll need to check this place every day or two and see when the kobolds start showing up though,” Marc said.
They did as he suggested, although he was pretty sure they hadn't managed to find the most direct route. Even so the trip would still be under an hour, if he was estimating correctly. That was good enough. If it was popular and there was a much shorter route, he was sure someone would find it and mark it.
* * *
They didn't make it back in time for lunch so Marc sprang for lunch for everyone from the shop. The help pads were still selling consistently. He was creating and listing twenty-five a day. He'd do more, but that was as many as the master pad could handle at a single time and he wasn't willing to do it more than once a day. So he had plenty of silver, although at a hundred to one conversion to gold, it didn't add up to very much in gold.
Although we've got the gold from the ogres and those coins from Old Man Taggert's stash to auction, plus the others I had from before so gold is available if we, well if I, take the time to list it. Wait, I'll get Felicia to help. I bet if she writes up the auctions they'd pull in more. Later though, right now lunch, then see if we've got the wood for the Wildlife Preserve. I think we've got a lot more than we need to even make a decent one of a thousand acres, but I have to check. I don't want to slow down expanding to make it. If we've got enough wood though, I won't have to slow down at all.
After they ate, he headed for the build pedestal. Pulling up the build screens he checked the materials total the Safe Zone currently held.
Resources:
Wood: 1783
Stone: 932
Metal: 459
Sand: 7
Designated power source for Safe Zone:
Monster Core – common – poor (2/3)
Monster Core – Rare – Excellent (1/5) (+4 power slots 2/4))
The current power source will sustain five expansions from the original power source.(1/5)
The Rare-Excellent core was highlighted and Marc figured that the bottom line of the readout would change if he selected the common-poor one instead.
But there's certainly enough wood to build the Wildlife Preserve and still keep us pretty close to on schedule. I'll do that in a few minutes, first I want to see how close we are to the next expansion.
He pulled up the build screen.
You have insufficient resources to increase your Safe Zone.
Resources required:
Wood: 1783/3000
Stone: 932/3000
Metal: 459/1400
Designated power source for Safe Zone:
Monster Core – common – poor (2/3)
Monster Core – Rare – Excellent (1/5) (+4 power slots 2/4))
The current power source will sustain five expansions beyond the original power source.(1/5)
Then he started working with the wireframe. Once again it wouldn't allow him to put one hundred percent in the direction he wanted to go. Maybe eighty-five or ninety percent could go in the direction of downtown while he had to add the rest in different directions from the keep. So he expanded the wireframe straight down the road towards downtown until it wouldn't take any more.
The spur he'd created that way was just a little wider than a football field was long, the minimum width the System allowed him to use. The rest of the added area he used to expand the borders on the other three sides of the keep equally. Then he glanced down at the totals and froze.
You have insufficient resources to increase your Safe Zone.
Resources required:
Wood: 3000/3000
Stone: 3000/3000
Metal: 1372/1400
Designated power source for Safe Zone:
Monster Core – common – poor (2/3)
Monster Core – Rare – Excellent (1/5) (+4 power slots 2/4))
The current power source will sustain five expansions beyond the original power source.(1/5)
What's up with all the materials from the expansion? he wondered.
Digging down a couple of menus found him another diagram that showed where things were coming from.
Oh, the sewers and underground lines for everything start just beyond our current Safe Zone walls. That must include the concrete and metal from those as stone and metal. Plus, there are probably thirty houses in the area I'm trying to claim, which probably accounts for the wood. It's a shame I can't do that right this moment, but we're still shy a bit of metal. The recyclers aren't back from today's runs though, so maybe after dinner?
When he left the build pedestal, Marc found that Ron had already returned for the day.
“So, how'd it go?” Marc asked.
“Well, Bill can't Scavenge survivors directly, but he can indirectly. Instead of searching for survivors he uses a technicality and looks for Systemized items. Most of the people who survived have at least a couple of those, so we found five more people today. Two singletons and a group of three.”
Marc grinned.
“Now we just have to figure out if he can teach his class to other people, or even just that skill. If he could, we could find a lot more people. Assuming they're out there.”
Ron frowned.
“They are. In addition to those five we found two more people who'd probably died within the last day or two. I don't know why they just don't come here.”
Marc shrugged.
“They might be to scared to go out at all and haven't seen the signs, or they might've read the message from the System about humans being dangerous also and are going by that. We almost didn't get Natalie's family because of that.”
“That's just stupid,” Ron said. “Why would people believe the System over other people? And they don't have to have seen the signs. We've been calling out like your group did when you found us.”
“I don't know then, Ron. Like I said though, if Bill can train anyone to the class or the skill, then we can put even more effort into saving folks. So I'm hoping he can. Oh, hey, is Reggie around?”
“Yeah, he's trying to teach one of the people we found today how to be a Mage. He said he saw how you did it and wanted to try. The kid he's trying it on is his age, he even knew Reggie before all this, and agreed to try.”
“They in the auditorium?” Marc asked.
Ron nodded.
“I think so. Gotta go though, gonna find Al to talk to the new folks. If you're going to the auditorium, warn Reggie that there will be more people there shortly.”
“Will do, Ron. Thanks again, great job. I feel like crap that I didn't get my group out to hunt survivors today, but we're planning a way to get the people with combat classes a boost to levels and skills.”
“Hell, that'll do then. That'll help the people we do find stay alive longer,” Ron said. “Besides, you guys have brought a lot in on your own. It's our turn to help out for a while and it's something I enjoy doing.”
“Great. I'm going to go track down Reggie.”
“Warn him like I said, okay?”
Marc nodded and headed for the auditorium. Rather than announce himself, he just listened for a few minutes.
Reggie's hopping around a bit much for the other guy to get it. He's close though. I guess I'll step in and help, plus warn them about Ron.
“Hey Reggie,” Marc called.
Reggie startled and spun around.
“I think you skipped a step there,” Marc said. “Plus, Ron wanted me to warn you that he was going to bring the new people you found here for Al to give his talk.”
“Ah, crap,” Reggie said.
“We can try more later,” the other boy said.
“Or Marc here can do this and you'll learn a lot quicker,” Reggie said. “Marc?”
“I don't know if we have time, but we can try.”
The other boy nodded so Marc settled in to teaching. Several of the steps had been explained adequately by Reggie so it went very quickly. Marc was just finishing up as people started filing into the auditorium.
“So that's how you do it. Give it a shot, target that chair,” Marc said.
The other boy, who Marc had found out was named Gregory, pointed his finger and a Mana Dart shot out and struck the chair. Gregory gave a cheer after he was successful.
“Sorry, I gotta go now,” Gregory said. “Mom and dad said I could try until we got our introduction talk and it looks like that's now.”
Wait, the kid just got here today and Reggie was trying to teach him? I guess they really must've known each other before, Marc thought.
“Hey Reggie, any interest in bumping up the schedule on our spell trade? I've got a couple of hours to kill right now if you aren't busy.”
The two of them spent the next hour and a half teaching each other their respective spells. Marc actually had a harder time learning the Water Jet spell than Reggie had the Fireball. Something about being an Elemental Mage made the elemental spells easier for Reggie to learn, and learning it from the scroll Marc had prepared made it easier still. Despite the longer time Marc took to learn Water Jet they still managed the exchange before dinner.
Marc knew that as soon as he used his current skill point he'd be at his maximum skills and spells again, but Water Jet was a strong enough spell that he'd thought it worth the attempt.
Plus, there's a lot of variables I can alter on it so who knows what I might be able to do with this one, Marc thought.
He was satisfied when he went down to dinner and when he saw the recyclers at a different table, he knew what he was doing right after he ate. Conner saw him and came over to sit at his table to eat with him.
“Hey Marc, I don't really like asking, but could you do something for me?” Conner asked.
“What do you need?”
“Well, the walls are only ten feet tall. I can't really get a good look at the surroundings from that height, especially with the constant expansion. Any chance we can get a watchtower or something at some point here?”
“Ah crap, we'd even discussed putting one in before, but I forgot to look for it in the build table. If there's one listed there that we can afford, I'll do it on the next expansion, okay?”
“That would be wonderful. Thank you. Those spooky looking guards are yours too, right?”
Marc nodded.
“Yeah, they don't really fight well, but they're supposed to alert the entire Safe Zone if there's an attack that gets to the walls, so I picked those as kind of an alarm system.”
“Good, they're freaky to be nearby, but if it's just an alarm system? I'm all for extra protection for the Safe Zone.”
Then Conner turned his attention to his food. Marc did the same, moving to the gym and the building pedestal when he'd finished eating. He pulled up the build screen again.
You have sufficient resources to increase your Safe Zone.
Resources required:
Wood: 3000/3000
Stone: 3000/3000
Metal: 1400/1400
Designated power source for Safe Zone:
Monster Core – common – poor (2/3)
Monster Core – Rare – Excellent (1/5) (+4 power slots 2/4))
The current power source will sustain five expansions beyond the original power source.(1/5)
He grinned. The recyclers had come through again. They could expand and now they'd be getting more materials with each expansion. The amount would increase as they got closer to downtown, which they'd be very close to after this expansion.
Then he stopped, left the pedestal, and found Felicia.
“We're expanding again,” he said. “Want to come along and help with the picks for buildings?”
“Already?”
He nodded.
“We're getting into the area where there are lots more houses, plus it recycles the sewage systems and other pipes underground. So there's lots of stone and metal also. Metal has been the bottleneck so far, so more of that is speeding things up.”
“Good, maybe we'll find more survivors in the expansion again. Let's go down.”
“I already promised Conner I'd put in a watchtower if they have it there. He wants a better view of the area,” Marc said. “Allan wants more fields still, but I had four additions to select last time so if I put in one field along with the watchtower that leaves two more selections.”
When they hit the gym the first thing Marc did was buy five units of fertilizer and stack it outside the door, knowing he'd need that for the field. Then he stepped up to the pedestal again and started reading off options to Felicia.
They ended up choosing two more non-powered buildings. A butcher, since they remembered seeing that on the list of peoples' skills, and a chicken coop. The description for the coop stated that once it was in existence in the Safe Zone, live chickens would be available for purchase from the shop.
Conner's watchtower was in there as well, several layers down in the wall selections. Marc was surprised to find it needed sand until he found out that it came with a mounted telescope.
His selections made, he almost hit the build button, before remembering that he needed to warn anyone on the walls.
“Any chance you saw Amy around?” he asked Felicia, without looking away from the pedestal.
Felicia chuckled so Marc turned around. Amy was standing with Felicia.
“I saw you going back here right after dinner, so I followed along in case you needed me,” Amy said.
“Well, you know the job, interested? Warn those on the wall and those along the road that we're about to start building so they have to watch out for the moving materials.”
“I'll be back as soon as I warn them,” Amy said. “Four copper, right?”
“Five now, you have to run farther to get to the walls,” Marc said, grinning.
Amy sprinted for the door and was back in under fifteen minutes. This time she wasn't even panting.
“Wow, that was fast.”
“I got a class,” Amy said. “Junior Courier. I carry messages. It gave me bonuses to a few things plus the Run skill so I can do it quicker without getting out of breath.”
Junior? I wonder if that means she'll upgrade whenever she gets to the age normal classes can be chosen. We think that's fourteen, because we haven't seen anyone younger get one, but now Amy has. The Junior prefix makes me think it's not quite the same as the other classes though. Well, we'll check it out later, Marc thought.
He selected the build button, then turned and handed Amy six copper.
“The sixth is congratulations on getting a class,” he said.
Amy just broke into a huge smile as she stared at the coins in her hand.
“Mom's gonna be so happy. Now she can buy the needles she wanted from the shop and work on getting the Seamstress skill like Lisa,” Amy said.
* * *
Chapter Thirty-Two
Marc didn't have a thousand wood left after the Safe Zone extension, but he still had a lot left, more than eight hundred. Rather than put off creating the Wildlife Preserve, he went ahead and created it, just at seven hundred and fifty acres instead of a thousand like he'd originally planned.
After all, I can upgrade it, which I assume means size, he thought.
He headed to his apartment with Felicia accompanying him. He wasn't that tired, but it was late and he wasn't sure exactly how much sleep he needed any more. He thought back and decided that somewhere between four and six hours was what he needed, depending on how tired he actually was.
They settled into bed, no frisky business this time since Felicia was tired, and were soon sleeping.
Marc had no idea how much time had passed when a noise woke him. He stayed still, lying in bed, listening.
There it is again, it's a scratching noise and it sounds like it's coming from outside. Like something is trying to come through the window, he thought.
He rolled out of bed, pulling his short sword from his inventory. With a quick cast of Arcane Armor, he started looking through the windows, unsure which one the noise was coming from. When he finally found the disturbance, he relaxed.
There was a raccoon, admittedly a rather large one, sitting on the window ledge and scratching at the glass. When the raccoon saw him, it rocked back on its haunches. Its front paws, which had been scratching at the glass, went up into the air and took on the classic begging pose.
Marc's eyebrows went up.
What the hell? I thought these things were more skittish than that. It's a lot bigger than the one I saw at the store though, so maybe they get less skittish when they get larger? What's it want?
Felicia's voice, still half asleep, broke into his thoughts.
“Oh, he's so cute. It looks like he's hungry. Do we have anything to feed him?” she said.
The raccoon, almost as though it had heard and understood her, straightened slightly. Its torso stretched higher from its rear legs and the extended paws started swaying side to side slightly as it kept its eyes locked on Marc's.
“I carry around some stuff in my inventory for when we're out adventuring. I'm sure I can find him something,” Marc said.
As Marc looked through his inventory, Felicia went over and opened the window. The raccoon shied away from her for a second, but once she stepped back it slipped into the room. Once in, it turned back to Marc and took on its begging pose again.
