Enter System, page 46
part #1 of Natural Laws Apocalypse Series
“Yeah, you got to go past the library to get to where all the other materials that weren't recycled are stored. I figured no-one would want the desks and other stuff and they'd just clutter the place up, so the basement is now half library and half storage. Just go down the steps and you'll see the library doors.”
Other stuff that wasn't recycled. This is something else that might've been nice to know sooner, Jeff, Marc thought.
He didn't say anything out loud though. Jeff had been very helpful in figuring out the wireframe and construction properties of the Safe Zone. So if he hadn't mentioned a few little things at the time? Well, at least he had now.
Marc went down and checked it out himself. The library was not as it had been when the place was a school. Instead, there were a series of pads placed on desks, with chairs in front of them. He took a seat and turned the pad in front of him on. The screen showed a listing of book genres on boot up. After choosing a genre, he went down several more menu choices before finding a listing of books.
What he eventually figured out was that the Safe Zone had an electronic library. All the books from the high school library had been entered into it and could now be accessed through the pads in the library room. The pads could not be removed from their desks, but if someone purchased their own pad they could access the library's books from anywhere in the Safe Zone at no charge. The simple two silver pads he used for the help files would work just fine for this purpose, although he wasn't sure how many of the readers would have their own silver yet.
Even so, it's here. They can read down here, although the pads have to stay here, and if they get motivated and make some money, they can buy their own pad and read anywhere in the Safe Zone, he thought.
After dinner Marc was eager to get to the build pedestal and see if he could do the next expansion for the Safe Zone. Instead, he waited near one of the doors and continued asking people exactly what they'd like to see added.
His persistence was paid off in more ways than one as he got to spread word of the library in the basement and how to use the pads in it. He also got a message that left him grinning and knowing he was on the right track.
Your skill, Research, has increased in skill level (1->2).
Damn it, this means I'll have to tell Jeff he was right, Marc thought.
When the cafeteria had finally emptied, Marc headed for the gymnasium and the build pedestal. As soon as he reached it, he pulled up the build screen to check. The wireframe was still set for the expansion to include the hardware store, so if they'd recycled enough wood over the day they should be able to expand.
You have sufficient resources to increase your Safe Zone.
Resources required:
Wood: 3500/3500
Stone: 3500/3500
Metal: 1700/1700
Designated power source for Safe Zone:
Monster Core – common – poor (2/3)
Monster Core – Rare – Excellent (2/5) (+4 power slots 2/4))
The current power source will sustain five expansions beyond the original power source.(2/5)
Okay, it looks like we're good for expansion, Marc thought. I'm going to need to warn everyone, so I'll need Amy. I suppose I could use the Wired Comms, but that would only alert the people on the wall, she'll let the people along the road know too. So, use her and get some more coins into the population. I'll also need Felicia to help me decide on what to build. Definitely another field, Allan's got lots of people working under him now, but beyond that? I'm not sure.
He looked around the gymnasium, noting that there were quite a few people in there now. They congregated at the tables primarily and he was positive that some form of entertainment was going to be a very good thing when they got it. Amy was actually in there, she was looking at the help pad on its pedestal, skimming through it for something. So he walked over.
“Got a bit of a harder job for you if you're interested,” he said as he approached her.
She startled and turned around.
“Sorry, I was reading some of the help stuff. Some of it's kind of interesting, you know?”
He nodded.
“It is, and it can be helpful, like the name implies. I've got work for you if you're interested though.”
“What do you need?” she asked.
“Well, I'll pay twenty-five copper this time if you want the job. It's in two parts. The first is to find Felicia and ask her to meet me at the build pedestal. The other part is just like normal. Warn those on the wall and anyone you see along the road that there's going to be another expansion tonight. I'm paying more though because I've got no idea where Felicia is right now.”
He knew he could find her with the Safe Zone screens available to him, but somehow that seemed like more of an invasion of privacy than just sending someone to find her.
“I'm on it,” Amy said. “It'll take longer than before since I'll have to find her first though.”
“That's fine. I just want her input on what to build with this expansion.”
Amy got a wistful look on her face.
“What is it, Amy?”
“Oh, nothing. I was just wishing that you could build some sort of play area for us kids. You know, swings and slides and the like? But I know that's not important enough. We need stuff to help us stay alive.”
“Well, there are some things that can only be built when we're expanding the Safe Zone,” Marc said. “Those are the most helpful for survival. But I bet I could find a play set, or something to act like one, that we can build anytime. I'll see what I can find after we do the expansion and I know how many materials we have left.”
Marc had wanted to build the kids open fields to play in, but a play area would be even better. There were ten or more kids in the Safe Zone by this point. He thought of under fourteen as a kid since fourteen was where they could get a proper class. Those kids would probably seriously benefit from somewhere to play and not think about things. A lot of them had lost family members, two had lost their complete family and been taken in by others, so even if it cost a few materials, he thought the idea had merit all on its own.
He went back to the pedestal, having to prevent himself from trying to tweak the edges of the new expansion to see if he could get more materials anywhere.
I'll need those materials for the other expansions. We might be able to get all of the downtown, so leaving those materials where they are will help with that, no need to try to grab them all now.
Ten minutes later Felicia came into the gym, following Amy.
“I'll go warn the wall and the others now,” Amy said.
“Amy told me you were paying her a lot just to find me?” Felicia asked.
Marc shrugged.
“Twenty-five copper for finding you and bringing you here, then to go warn the wall and everyone along the road. Sounds like a lot to her, but for us it really isn't that much.”
Felicia nodded.
“So, what are our options this time?” she asked.
“I don't know yet, I was waiting for you before I triggered the expansion. I'll do that now, we can pick, then I'll finalize it when Amy gets back,” Marc said.
“Okay then, what are you waiting for?”
Marc triggered the expansion, then started reading off options on additional buildings that could be created during the expansion.
“Huh, it looks like we opened up more options here. Maybe because this is our fifth expansion?” he said.
“What new stuff is there?” she asked.
Marc started reading them off, two of the buildings sticking in his mind. Once he'd read down the list, he started listing his own preferences.
“Well, we will want more fields, so another one of those,” he said. “I've had to expand our little corridor leading to downtown enough that I can probably put another field in behind an existing one. Beyond that, the Town Hall and the Crafting Hall both caught my attention.”
Felicia nodded.
“What's the Town Hall do?” she asked.
Marc pulled up the help on it.
Town Hall:
This building will provide a central authority for a Safe Zone. It will ensure that edicts, laws, and rules are all understood by the populace. It will not ensure that they are obeyed, but all inhabitants will be aware of them. The presence of a Town Hall will have a positive effect on the morale of all inhabitants of a Safe Zone.
The Town Hall will contain digital records of your Safe Zone and its inhabitants, accessible by those granted authorization by the Safe Zone controller. General information, such as name, age, gender, health, and class will be available as well as their role in the Safe Zone.
The Town Hall will open up new purchase availability. Buildings, technologies, and other miscellaneous items will be available to be purchased for the Safe Zone with System coinage.
Build Pedestal will be moved to the Town Hall.
“So, that looks like it makes some of the things you can do with the Safe Zone available to others?” Felicia said.
“Yes, plus a few things I can't do. Although it'll be nice for others to be able to verify what jobs people are doing.”
“I wonder what technology stuff will be available for purchase?” Felicia asked.
“Doesn't matter. I'm sure we won't be able to afford it for a while,” Marc replied.
“I'd say it's a yes though, even if just for the morale bonuses. The rest is nice and we haven't had morale problems yet, but I can see it happening. Especially if we don't get an economy started so everyone can have some coin in hand.”
“Okay, so Town Hall is the second option. Let me look at the Crafting Hall.”
Crafting Hall:
Crafters are the backbone of a Safe Zone's economy. There are only so many spawns to kill and profit from, yet people will always want goods.
The Crafting Hall will contain ten worktables and a variety of basic tools for crafting. It is invaluable for people learning crafting skills since the chances of learning a crafting skill or class are enhanced inside of a Crafting Hall.
The Crafting Hall will provide the basic needs for learning the following crafts (and associated skills/classes): Metalworking (smith), Woodworking (carpenter, woodcarver), Sewing (tailor, seamstress), Weaving (weaver), and many more. More advanced workshops will be required to achieve the best results from each profession.
“Well, I think that we'll want the Crafting Hall also. Here, look,” Marc said, sharing the help screen with Felicia.
A minute later she nodded.
“Yeah, definitely. Not that we can do much with some of those yet, but I bet Allan could dedicate a field to cotton if we can get the seeds and that could give us some cloth for weaving. Plus if the two guys that have been messing around in the smithy spend some time there they might actually be able to start doing something in the smithy for real.”
Marc chuckled.
“Yeah, I feel kind of stupid for making that. There were people who wanted to smith though, so I did. Little did I realize that they had no idea how to smith. So, one more thing beyond those three. What do we want?”
“Do we need more food stuff?” she asked.
Marc shrugged.
“Until we know how long the cycles on the greenhouses and fields are, I've got no idea. Although here's an addition that wasn't available before. It'll enlarge the pond and create a stream leading away from it also. It says something about this option being upgradeable as well.”
“Will it increase the amount of fish in the pond?” Felicia asked.
“I assume it will. Whether it will increase the amount in there right now or just the maximum amount, I don't know.”
“Well, do you get to create the stream bed, as in control where it flows?”
“It looks like it. I'll assume it's a within reason type of deal though and I can't get it to flow back uphill or anything.”
“That sounds like a good idea. It'll increase food production, eventually at least, if it just raises the maximum and I'm sure that the stream is not just a decorative thing, it'll probably have a use eventually. Has anything the System's offered for the Safe Zone been decorative only?”
“Not on the things that show up with an expansion, so I bet you're right. Shall we take this one for the fourth slot then?”
She nodded.
“I hope I know what we'll be able to do with it eventually, but I don't want to say anything in case I'm wrong,” she said.
He picked his choices, then denoted the path he wanted the stream to follow.
“Done then, now we just wait for Amy to get back,” he said.
When she arrived fifteen minutes later, Marc paid her, then accepted the new expansion. He led Felicia outside to watch with him since he'd determined that watching the Safe Zone expand was very relaxing for him and he hoped it would be for her as well.
* * *
Chapter Thirty-Four
Watching the wall move in the moonlight had been entertaining. Watching the watchtower, which was far more visible, was almost spooky. The whole thing just slid forward away from Marc, as though it were riding down a river, even down to the slight bobs it made as though it were being affected by waves.
Marc had to close his eyes and shake his head to clear the vertigo watching it had induced. Then he looked around at the other things that were still forming. The Town Hall was down close to the area the wall had just moved from. The Crafting Hall was on the other side of the street from it. The pond stretched out to the side, away from the road, then a tiny thread of water burst from it, spilling across the ground on a path close to the one Marc had designated for it.
The final field was right alongside where the stream ran, but it had formed quickly, before the stream even started threading its way out of the pond. In the end, the stream ran out into the open area in front of the wall, then headed back towards the back wall and the Wildlife Preserve. A tunnel formed under the wall, blocked by a grating, where the stream left the Safe Zone.
We'll need to build a bridge for that, Marc thought. Maybe even a couple so it's easier to access the area between the stream and the wall. That'll be good practice for the guy who got the carpentry skill. Maybe he can make it in the Crafting Hall in sections and move it out? I think he picked that as what he'd be doing here, I saw a Carpenter on the list at least.
“Well, that's that,” Marc said. “Do we want to check out the Town Hall now, or first thing in the morning?”
“I'm not very tired yet, how about you?” Felicia asked.
“Let's go then,” Marc said.
The two of them walked down the road, then entered the Town Hall. There was an entry foyer with one door and one hallway leading off of it. The door led to a closet just large enough for hanging coats. The hallway led deeper into the building and had doors on either side, as well as one on the far end of the hall.
The first door he opened led into an office. On the desk that was central to the office was what looked like a desktop system.
“Is that a computer?” Felicia asked.
Marc shrugged.
“Let's find out.”
He sat at the desk then hunted for the power button. When he found it, the screen lit up. It loaded to a menu that contained several options.
1 - Any Port Inventory
2 - Any Port Inhabitant Information
3 - Any Port Laws
“Okay, well that's fairly self-explanatory,” Marc said.
He pressed '1' and a list popped up. So far the primary things listed were food stores, of which they had a large amount. He was intrigued to note that the food he'd brought back from his house, his dad's stuff, was part of the list. He'd determined that he was going to give it to the Safe Zone, but he'd stored it in the apartment with the guns for the time being.
The guns from the apartment were on the list as well, under weaponry. Once again, although they were going to the Safe Zone, Marc hadn't announced them at all yet, so it was interesting to see them on the list.
I have to remember that the System runs on intent. That must've been enough to get those things on the list, he thought.
There were other entries under the Inventory menu, but he ignored those, backing out of the menu and opening up the Inhabitant Information menu instead. He was about to dig into that when he heard a shout outside. Shutting down the computer was easy, so he did so as Felicia headed for the door. He was outside just a few seconds behind her, but she'd already stopped next to Conner.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Well, once the watch tower finished moving, I went back up. I thought I'd be able to see farther out across the city now with its new location. I could, and there's something out to the east of town. There's some sort of encampment alongside the highway to the east, and they have campfires, a fort, and everything,” Conner said, the words spilling from his mouth as quick as he could manage.
“Well, let's go take a look,” Marc said.
He'd intended to check out the watchtower before now, but hadn't gotten to it. He thought that this was a perfect opportunity to do so while also allowing him to see what had Conner in such a state.
The watchtower was forty feet high, and he appreciated his stat gains immensely when he made it to the top of the switchback stairs without getting out of breath. Conner gestured towards the telescope and Marc saw that it had been locked in place. Marc had to stoop slightly to look through it, but when he did he saw exactly what had Conner freaking out.
The encampment wasn't overly large, not by the standard of their current Safe Zone size. It wasn't even as large as the initial Safe Zone had been before expansion. It was, however, apparently designed for defense.
Wooden walls surrounded the encampment, and encampment it was. Marc wasn't going to use the term camp for the tiny fort with wooden walls and sharpened stakes jutting out of ditches near their base, it was definitely an encampment. The campfires burning inside of it made the light flicker, casting shadows outside of the walls which were only lightly illuminated by the moon.
