“Cade! Wake up!” A feminine voice pierced through my sleep, jolting me awake.

I quickly sat up as the pounding continued on my door. Hanna’s urgent voice reached my ears. I had fallen asleep in my clothes after our watch, and my groggy mind told me it was too early to be getting up.

More knocks followed. “Wake up! Goblins have been spotted.”

Whether or not I liked it, my eyes shot open, and I swiftly threw back the covers, swinging my feet onto the floor. “I’m awake. Just give me a moment.”

Hanna swore under her breath. “Hurry up. We’ll be outside.”

Adapting to her urgency, I grabbed my gun belt and fastened it around my waist. Then I grabbed my rifle. The non-incorporated ammo lay on the small nightstand, its stock rapidly depleting within the past couple of days. With a sinking feeling, I opened the can containing the incorporated ammo for the Sharps rifle. I eyed it dubiously.

Nonetheless, it was worth a shot. I levered the breech and slid a cartridge in, muttering, “Infuse mana.”

A thread of light snaked from my hand and into the rifle’s breech. Something within me instinctively knew that the weapon was now ready to fire. I stuffed a couple dozen rounds into my pocket and headed out the door.

Outside, I found Hanna, Jayden, and Sarah positioned between the inn and the eastern part of the neighborhood. One of the houses at the edge of the neighborhood was engulfed in flames. Creatures I’d never mistake for anything other than goblins scurried back and forth, illuminated by the flickering firelight.

Wesley joined us, his shotgun slung over his shoulder. “Sorry, guys. I had Tasha take the kids next door.”

I glanced at his shotgun. “Is your gun incorporated into the System?”

He shook his head. “No, I’m trying to keep it working, but the System tells me it’s only ninety percent effective. Maybe after we deal with these vermin, I can find a suitable weapon for a paladin.”

As he spoke, a figure came running down the middle of the street. Unlike the goblins, this was clearly a person. A terrified scream escaped his lips as he caught sight of the goblin mob, hot on his heels. Despite his frantic sprint, he was still a couple hundred yards away from us. Even though he ran with all his might, he wouldn’t be fast enough to outrun an arrow launched by the goblins.

He hadn’t covered even half the distance when his arms splayed out, and he fell. It was too dark to see the arrow sticking from his back, but I knew it was there. A few heartbeats later, the horde descended upon him. Perhaps he was already dead when he fell, as no further outcry reached our ears.

As I watched the goblins swarm over my dead neighbor’s body, their swords rising and falling as they mercilessly mutilated him, something inside me snapped. The distance between us and the goblins wasn’t insurmountable, especially not for my rifle. Without hesitation, I threw the Sharps to my shoulder, took aim at one of the shadowy figures, and fired.

The rifle’s kick caught me by surprise. Having grown accustomed to the recoil of firing seventy grains of black powder, this time it barely registered. However, as the gun spent the mana, it wasn’t nearly as loud as I was used to. More like the muffled sound of a .22 being fired.

Though I couldn’t see if my shot had hit its mark, the goblins turned their attention towards us. I had no idea if goblins possessed enhanced vision, but a shout went up, and they raced towards our position.

With the goblins closing in, I fired again when they were under three hundred feet away. One tumbled and fell. At two hundred feet, I fired once more, knocking another off his feet. I added another to my kill count at one hundred feet. A couple of seconds later, the booming blast of the shotgun claimed yet another goblin.

And then they were upon us.

I stepped back, drawing my pistol as a sense of heightened awareness consumed me. Jayden’s sword sliced through a goblin’s neck, while Hanna skillfully dodged a blade, her knives poised for retaliation. Wesley’s off hand expertly racked another shell into the shotgun’s chamber.

Sarah frowned as she moved behind me, muttering, “How the hell does this work?”

A goblin managed to evade Jayden’s lethal sword and Hanna’s sharp knife, lunging towards me. Reacting swiftly, I fired my pistol into its face just before it crashed into me, throwing us both to the ground. As I pushed the lifeless body off, my eyes caught a flicker of flame in Sarah’s hand. By the time I regained my footing, her hand shot forward, launching a small ball of fire that slammed into a goblin engaged in combat with Hanna.

The goblins, seemingly unfazed by knives, swords, and bullets, suddenly faltered as the fireball made contact. Fear overcame them, and they turned and fled towards the burning house, where more of their kind awaited.

Thirteen goblins lay dead, their bodies strewn across the ground. We knelt to search them quickly for any valuable items when a screen abruptly flashed in my vision.

Congratulations

As a party, you successfully killed [10] goblins.

You are awarded 75XP

Finally! We’d knocked out the first quest we received.

Combat successfully completed.

13 goblins killed

130 party experience points.

Your portion of damage—38%, adjusted for level [3].

You are awarded with 30 experience points.

I holstered my pistol and checked to ensure my rifle was ready. As a level three, I had noticed that the experience gained from killing goblins seemed to have diminished. At level one, I earned ten experience points per kill, but this morning, each monster I defeated only granted me six XP.

Jayden voiced his frustration, “I thought they were worth ten points. I didn’t get that much.”

Hanna playfully smacked his arm, “That’s because you’re level two, doofus. The System adjusts the experience based on our level, assuming we’ll find them easier to defeat as we grow stronger.”

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Before I could inquire about Sarah’s class, the other members of the village watch joined us. Mr. Lowe, still carrying his hunting rifle, approached with a smile. Steve Jr. proudly displayed a gleaming short sword in the torchlight. The rest of the group carried an assortment of firearms and looted weapons.

Mr. Lowe commented, “That was quite a defense you put up.”

Wesley shook his hand, replying, “Whatever keeps our families safe.”

Scratching his unshaven cheek, Mr. Lowe added, “Agreed. Now that you’ve, as my son calls it, ‘stolen our kill,’ what’s the plan to earn some experience?”

His wry humor struck a chord with me. It was true that only our group had gained experience so far, and for the village to survive, more people needed to level up.

Wesley pointed toward the distant fire, saying, “We just pushed them away. It seems they need a harsher lesson. Did you receive the quest to kill ten of them?”

It took a few minutes to organize Mr. Lowe’s party. Some of them were unfamiliar with accepting quests. With eleven people armed with swords and guns, our group looked more formidable. It was then that I realized Mr. Lowe’s group consisted of more than five people.

As we walked toward the end of the street, I fell into step beside Steve Jr., and admired his sword. He chuckled and revealed its origin, “Turns out there’s a demand for rare Yu-Gi-Oh cards. I sold a few and used the money to buy this System sword for a few silver.”

“Good for you. By the way, how did you guys recruit six people into your group?” I asked curiously.

He nearly stumbled in surprise, then quickly recovered, “Damn, I hadn’t even thought about it. Dad kept sending invites to everyone who was part of the watch. I wonder what the upper limit is for a group.”

Although I was pleased with our team, especially now that Sarah could cast fireballs, knowing the potential size of a party could be useful. However, before I could run down that rabbit hole, we’d been noticed by the horde of goblins.

Mr. Lowe took the initiative, firing into the mass of goblins, followed by the other member of his team with rifles. As much as I wanted to join in the battle, I refrained from stealing any kills until the other group completed their quest.

Observing the second party, I learned something valuable. Everyone in the group received quest credit for kills, even though only those who inflicted damage would gain combat XP. This made it easy for Mr. Lowe and the other shooter to complete the quest for the entire group, but it did little to help the others gain actual combat experience.

Despite being one of the youngest, I felt a strong desire for them to grow. Instead of offering direct advice to Mr. Lowe, I approached Wesley. In a low voice, I said, “Now that they’ve completed the quest, maybe we can assist their melee fighters gain some actual experience.”

He smirked in agreement. “They may consider the seventy-five XP to be real, but you’re right. Everyone here needs a chance to develop and unlock their class choices and skills.”

Wesley called out, “Let’s gather all our melee fighters together. The ranged fighters will provide support from the sides. We can mop them up and be done before breakfast.”

Following Wesley’s advice, Mr. Lowe encouraged his group as we reformed our formation and advanced toward the burning house. The goblins screamed and yelled at us as we approached.

Wesley’s voice rang out, “Jayden, don’t break ranks. Stay even with everyone.”

Jayden let out a dramatic moan without diverting his gaze from the oncoming goblins, “Aww, Dad, you take all the fun out of it.”

Though the tension remained high, a few chuckles broke through the seriousness of the moment.

When we were within a dozen paces of the goblins, they finally reacted by charging. Jayden stepped forward, swinging his longsword with all his might. Two goblin heads were sent soaring toward the burning house as the battle commenced.

On the other end of the melee line, Hanna displayed her improved skills, deftly evading a sword attack. The goblin looked bewildered as Hanna skillfully avoided being impaled, only to meet his demise as she swiftly struck him from the side and back.

Meanwhile, the four members from the other group appeared somewhat clumsy and less experienced than the goblins. When one of them suffered a dagger wound to his side, Wesley hurried to his aid. He performed a Laying On of Hands, using his paladin abilities to save the wounded man’s life.

Even Steve Jr., wielding his shiny new sword, showed little aptitude as he clumsily attempted to stab at a goblin. It was painful to watch, knowing that their lack of experience could cost lives. With Wesley occupied healing another injured villager, I took charge and shouted, “Let’s end it! Open fire if you can!”

Having grown more familiar with infusing mana, I swiftly channeled ten mana into my weapon, allowing me to fire with increased speed. I shot, reloaded, activated mana infusion, and fired again.

Once again, the goblins broke formation when Sarah’s fireball engulfed one of them in flames. We charged, abandoning our ranks and the goblins fled. Jayden chased after a couple of them, his sword swinging with deadly precision, decapitating more of the creatures. Steve Jr. finally claimed his first kill, driving his shiny new sword into a goblin’s back.

The other melee fighters started to find some success, earning their first combat XP as they took down a few goblins. Soon, the only sound that filled the air was the crackling of the burning house. It may not have been a pretty victory, but we won. Three members of Mr. Lowe’s group had sustained injuries, and Wesley’s hands were stained with blood, but everyone had survived, and that was the most important thing.

Once Wesley had finished tending to the wounded, he sought out Mr. Lowe. “Your team performed well for their first time.”

Mr. Lowe glanced at the injured members of his team, contemplating their performance. “I suppose so. It could have gone better, though. Without your healing abilities, we would have been in far worse off.”

Wesley patted him on the back reassuringly. “Perhaps later today we can set up some training. Figure out what classes people want to take.”

As I gathered a few dozen copper coins and added them to my pouch, I remembered I had disabled the vision alerts from the System auction house during our watch last night. Now, as I pulled up the alerts, I was met with a long list of successfully sold items. I scrolled through fifteen pages of completed auctions, each page containing twenty entries.

I was so engrossed in checking my auction sales that I missed Wesley and Mr. Lowe inviting the Garza, Huerta, and Campbell families to join our village. I didn’t meet any of the thirteen newcomers until we began training sessions to help them unlock their classes.

Upon returning to the village, I made a beeline for the gatehouse and discovered the “Claim all auction sales” option on the kiosk. With a simple selection, the System condensed the settled auctions into a neat sum of fourteen gold, thirty-eight silver, and forty copper, which it deposited into my coin pouch. I couldn’t contain my excitement.

I navigated back to the System store and found the System Resource Excavator. Without hesitation, I spent five gold to acquire it. Little did I realize the size of the excavator and the challenge of finding a suitable place for its delivery.

A box appeared in my vision, flashing from blue to red, showing an error. The Universal Development System (UDS) Store Item was too large to fit into the allocated store space. The UDS sought a solution and confirmed the delivery to the nearest available space. Just as I finished reading the message, a panicked voice called out from below.

Descending the dark stairwell, I stumbled through the guard-room and into the open air and froze at the sight of the colossal System Resource Excavator. It was much larger than I had expected, measuring four feet wide, ten feet long, and four feet high. Thankfully, it sat on a wheeled chassis, otherwise I’m not sure how we could have moved it.

Steve Jr. stood nearby, holding a box of trading cards, and his jaw dropped at the sight of the excavator. He blurted out, “What the hell is that, Cade?”

With a smile, I leaned against the side of the excavator and replied, “This, my friend, is a System Resource Excavator.”

His eyes widened, as if he could hear the capitalized letters as I spoke. “I’d ask what it does, but I’m guessing it’s in the name. How does it collect resources?”

Having already read the help file, I explained, “You simply roll it up to the side of a non-integrated building and turn it on. It should handle the rest.”

“Cool. How much did you pay for it?” Steve Jr. asked.

A tinge of embarrassment colored my face. Five gold was a considerable sum. But a little bragging wouldn’t hurt, right? I replied in a dry tone, “Just five gold.”

“Holy shit!” he exclaimed. “I’ve been selling anything I can find from our old home before it crumbles apart,” he nodded toward the excavator, “or gets excavated for system resources. I’ve made less than sixty silver, even after buying the sword.”

He managed to persuade me to wait before trying out the excavator so he could post some more auctions of his card collection.