November 2, 2022
Day 13
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Daniel and the others waited patiently for Ivan and Rahul to finish their discussion.
Everyone had been running on anger and focusing on retribution the whole day, not daring to have an idle moment in between, afraid where their thoughts might wander off given the chance. But they knew they could only keep it up for so long.
So, when Rahul and Ivan had found the opportunity to have a heartfelt conversation and lighten some of their burdens before reality came crashing in, no one interrupted them.
In fact, something told Daniel that this was only the first of many such conversations that his team members would be having among themselves before this day was over. Everyone would cope with the massacre of their friends and colleagues differently, but there was really no way for a bunch of software engineers to be prepared for death and carnage at such scale.
But no matter how they dealt with the trauma, he would be there for each and every one of them.
He knew this new world was a ruthless one, and they all needed people they could count on to have their backs no matter what. By saving them from certain death, Rahul had already laid a strong foundation of trust between them. Their experiences today would forge a bond that would grow to perhaps even last a lifetime.
Daniel would make sure they all came out of this tragedy together, and stronger than ever.
But it was not time to come to terms with what happened, not yet. They couldn't go into shock, they couldn't crash, not before they tied up all the loose ends, figured out all the unknowns. Not before they knew what Mark had been up to. They had to be sure that they could sleep safely in the castle tonight.
So they rode the high of defeating the albatrosses and went over the spoils of war, letting it distract them. They discussed at length what they could do with the baffling stock of settlement points that Mark had managed to accumulate, and the small but still significant amount they had added to it.
When they ran out of ideas, they discussed their levels, their skill progression and what they would do for their class choices.
When that was done, they found other things to distract them.
They knew they could outrun the pre-integration Usain bolt easily now, but would they be able to beat him while skipping on one leg?
They discussed anything and everything under the sun, because the alternate was just too horrible.
157 of their friends and colleagues had died. Really died. As in, they were dead, they would never come back. They would never meet their families again. The parents of many kids in San Fransisco would never return from their company retreat. Many elderly would never see their sons and daughters again. Many would be without their spouses, their siblings.
This could have happened to the eight of them as well. They had barely survived. If Rahul had not saved Daniel, his son would have had to grow up without a father.
No, Daniel wouldn't think about that. He knew it was only a matter of time, but he would do everything he could to prolong the inevitable.
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Rahul was speaking to Ivan as they climbed the stairs and started to emerge onto the roof.
"Thanks for sharing this with me. I still feel bad for how we always make fun of your 'made up origin story' as you called it. If we knew, we would never have brushed it off so casually, leave alone laughed at your expense. "
Ivan's reply was emphatic
"For the last time, you don't need to feel bad about that. It's really ok. I know it you don't see it, but the humour, dark as it may be, is my way of coping with everything that happened. The best thing you can do for me is not act awkward the next time I tell that absurd story. Honestly, I'd really appreciate it if you played along with the joke as usual."
Rahul was still unsure, but as they walked towards their waiting team, he nodded at Ivan sincerely as he spoke.
"Knowing that it's not a joke will make it a lot harder, but I'll play along if that's what you want. "
Then, as he noticed Helena's intent gaze focused on the little panda on Ivan's shoulder, his expression turned sympathetic as he wished him luck. Ivan was gonna need it.
After all, nothing could separate girls from cute pandas.
Or guys for that matter, Rahul admitted to himself. He and Ivan had spent at least 15 minutes of that last one hour doting over the cute little panda and trying to talk to him. But that, like everything else that happened in that room in the last hour, would stay strictly in what they called 'need-to-know basis' in the corp world.
And no one needed to know.
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“Where did that cute little baby come from”
Helena said, immediately rushing towards Ivan the moment she noticed the panda, coming to a stop uncomfortably close to him.
And before Ivan even had a chance to reply, she whispered, not wanting to wake up the softly snoring Panda.
“He’s sooooo cute” .
Again, without giving Ivan a chance to answer she leaned further in and looked at the Panda up close and spoke .
“And how come he's transparent. Cute cute cuteee. But what's his nameeeeee.”
Then, realising she had started squeaking towards the end, Helena covered her mouth with her hand and waited for a few moments, afraid she had woken up the little thing.
Those moments of hesitation gave Ivan a short respite from the constant barrage of questions. He made the most of the opportunity and took a very subtle step back, regaining some semblance of personal space.
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Then he spoke.
“Everyone, meet Inertia. He appeared on my shoulder out of nowhere while I was talking to Rahul. We tried talking to him, but he didn’t seem capable of speaking and most likely couldn't understand us either. He fell asleep soon, probably bored of our unintelligible blabbing. “
“How self aware of you Ivan! I wish I had the liberty of falling asleep during your unintelligible blabbing in meetings. "
Helena quipped, in a visibly good mood. Then, with a visibly exaggerated sigh and mock disappointment all over her face, she asked.
"But why did you name him Inertia? That’s such a dull name. “
Playing along, Ivan raised his hands in surrender as he spoke.
“I didn’t name him. A system message told me that the high accumulation of my intent caused my presence to be born into the world. When I checked my status screen, a new section called “presence” showed up on my status screen. That screen shows his name as Inertia”.
Character Overview Name Ivan Antonov Race Human (F) Class N/A Level 9 HP 290/290 MP 220/220 Stamina 250/250 Strength 28 Endurance 25 Dexterity 19 Vitality 29 Intelligence 22 Presence
Name Inertia Level 1
As Ivan went over his character stats one more time, Helena shot back
“Well, that’s no good at all, we need to think of a cute name for him. Who wants to be called Inertia. ”
Ivan saw no point arguing and conceded.
“Okay. But we don't need to do that immediately, do we? Let's name him after Martin sheds some light on what presences are. Who knows, maybe he knows a way for Inertia to talk and then the little guy can choose his own name. “
That seemed to have placated Helena.
“Fine. But in the meantime, don't call him Inertia, or that name will end up sticking. “
Then, as she noticed the rest of the team crowding behind her, waiting their turn, Helena stepped aside magnanimously.
Maya immediately took her place and over the next few minutes, Ivan was accosted by the entire team one by one.
Daniel had waited till the end to get his turn, and tried his best to look all business-like while he ‘inspected’ the panda, but he had fooled no one.
When he was done doting on the cute presence, he spoke to the whole team, clearly overcompensating by taking a rather formal tone.
“There is no point speculating about the notification Ivan received and the whole intent accumulation business. We will definitely know more about the presence once we call Martin. For now, Rahul and Ivan need to be brought up to speed on the battle results. "
Then, focusing his attention at the two of them, he continued.
"Nothing noteworthy really happened after you left, and the battle reached it's end within 15 minutes. Right after it ended, I got a series of notifications, some of which you two must have gotten too, in your capacity as council members. But I'll be thorough and go through each one of them, as I did with the rest of the team. "
Then, remembering something, Daniel added.
"Also, we figured out a way to project any notifications or status screens I have access to, so this won't take long. “
Battle Overview
Battle Name
Laysan Bastion conquest of Laysan Rookery Bastion
Casus Belli
Tutorial Quest : Consolidate Your Domain
Victory reward
Laysan Rookery Bastion becomes available to be claimed by Laysan settlement
Victory condition
Defender surrenders OR Defender retreats from the island OR Defender is annihilated
Defeat condition
Attacker is annihilated
Forfeit conditions
Defender and attacker both fallback to their bastions and agree to disengage
Battle result
Laysan Bastion was victorious. Defender force was annihilated and Laysan Rookery Bastion can now be claimed by Laysan Bastion within 30 days.
After that, the bastion will be available for anyone to claim.
Daniel spoke as the battle overview screen hovered in front of him
“As expected, we won. However, the Laysan Rookery bastion didn’t automatically fall to us. I believe it’s simply a matter of walking to the nest and claiming the bastion, but I’ve still held it off for after we consult with Martin. Just in case. “
Battle statistics
Attacker strength
208 (8 humans and 200 sentinels)
Attacker casualties
163 (157 humans and 6 sentinels)
Defender strength
11355
Defender casualties
11355
The screen changed to battle statistics, and Daniel continued speaking.
“There isn’t much to note in the battle statistics. Our remaining strength consists of the 8 of us and the 200 sentinels. Our casualties add up to 163, 157 humans and 6 sentinels. There were a little over 11,000 birds and we annihilated them all. As for the rewards“
Battle Rewards Consolidate Your Domain Quest advancement reward +1000 SP 2311 level 10 hawks killed +231 SP 1923 level 11 hawks killed +211 SP 860 level 12 hawks killed +103 SP 306 level 13 hawks killed +39 SP 3661 level 10 albatrosses killed +366 SP 2161 level 11 albatrosses killed +237 SP 403 level 12 albatrosses killed +48 SP 157 casualties -157 SP Bastion representative died in battle -100 SP Enemy bastion annihilated +100% to total reward Total 3956 settlement points
The screen shifted and Daniel continued after a pause.
“It isn’t much compared to what Mark had already managed to accumulate, but considering we only earn a 1000 settlement points a day, I’d say it’s still quite a windfall. What’s interesting is that out of the 3956 points we gained, 2000 is courtesy the quest objective we met. Makes me wonder what the reward might be for completing the whole quest. ”
Daniel sounded wistful as he said the last part, and projected the quest update notification he received.
Quest Updated : Consolidate Your Domain
Eliminate, claim or subjugate every independent bastion in your settlement domain to upgrade the settlement from unranked to barony rank.
Progress - 2/26 bastions eliminated
An unranked settlement can only be associated with a single bastion
At barony rank a settlement can be associated with a single bastion called the barony capital and at most 100 other lesser bastions.
“Not much to see here, except that the progress has been updated to 2. That basically covers all the battle related notifications. Apart from 3956 settlement points we earned, we also got 1000 more points about an hour ago. The daily SPs I assume, though I can't figure out why they are being awarded in the afternoon. "
Daniel said the last part with clear confusion.
"About an hour ago? That's around the time when the tutorial started, isn't it " Maya asked.
Daniel thought for a second, his eyes moving upward as he jogged down the memory lane. Then he nodded.
"You're right. That explains it. We must be getting the 1000 SPs every 24 hours from the tutorial's start. Now, let's look at all the expenditure. The sentinels cost us just 1 point each to create - a total of 206 points. The defensive shield cost 250 points to setup, though it too, like the sentinels, doesn't have any maintenance cost. We can keep both the sentinels and the shields in perpetuity. Finally, the health potions were 50 points each, and apart from Rahul, we each took one. That's another 350 points. "
After a pause, he said.
"All in all, we've added 4956 SPs to the 23,000 Mark left behind, and spent 806. As you can all see in the settlement details, that leaves us with 27150 settlement points, and I believe it's time to call Martin. Unless you guys have anything else to discuss.“
They didn't, and so without further ado, Daniel paid the 1000 SP and Martin appeared in front of them instantly.
He immediately greeted them in a gleeful tone which was completely at odds with the contents of his statement.
"Wow, only 8 of you left. That's a surprise and a half. No matter, it's nice to see you guys again! "