Karl woke up in the barracks on the early side; the sky was barely beginning to lighten. He enjoyed showering, and more specifically having soap and towels. Once he was dressed, Karl stepped out and watched the last stars fade. Sunrise over the hill to the east took a while, so he made a quick tour of Endurance, checking on the leftover Supply. There was enough lumber there for Madeleine to make a start on projects. Karl reminded himself that plenty of lumber would come from demolishing garages and houses thanks to the recycler.
In the cafeteria, Karl struck up conversations with people. That was unusual for him, but he needed to know these people. It was the job now. Most people were happily recounting how they got actual sleep in an actual bed in actual safety.
He noticed that a memorial wall had also been started. It was already a hundred names long; many people had died in the first few minutes of the System, and most of the people here had lost family and close friends. He spent a while studying the names, trying to put faces to them and sometimes succeeding. He spotted the ones he knew: Emma Cook; Clarissa Jones, heroically saving three children from the kythar attack; Tam Dent, lost at the hobgoblin fort.
There was a separate section labeled 'Fallen Residents of Endurance', which had only four names so far: Ben Hawkins and Joan Phillips, lost on the northern market run; Ellie Murray and David Chalmers, lost from the wall of Endurance when the dinosaur attacked. Karl deeply appreciated the perspective. Well over a hundred people had come to Endurance; four of them had died yesterday. Far too many, and yet it was a far, far better record than most of the world had.
When everyone else had come in search of breakfast, he started talking to the high level fighters about plans for the day but he found a small rebellion on his hands. They wanted a day off from protecting everyone else, or at least part of one. In particular, they wanted the opportunity they had given several other people the day before: a chance to go get personal possessions from their own houses. It was hard to argue against; they were powerful enough to travel solo or in pairs, and so could deal with several houses at once.
Karl informed Paul of their decision. The defense commander didn't look happy about it, but nodded his acceptance. “It's only fair. You've all been working hard and your houses are nearby. Mine is over four miles away, in comparison. Morale in the elite troops is important too.” They didn't need Paul's permission, of course, but it helped to have his understanding.
They still decided to depart together: Karl, Terry and her parents, Doug and Chenelle, Michael and Jake, Jo and Tabitha. The Wallers asked to tag along just until their house, and to have just a minute or two of guarding. Cindy Waller wanted to come too but her parents were insistent that she stay behind and Karl explained that this was a high level, high speed run.
As they were about to leave, Jo asked, “Hey, did everyone buy bags?”
“What do you mean?” Chenelle asked.
“From the shop. To expand your inventory.”
“What?” The sentiment was repeated several times.
“For two gold, you can buy a bag that gives you twenty more inventory slots. I went hunting for it because my own inventory is damaged.”
This caused a delay in departure as almost everyone headed back in to buy bags. Karl just barely had enough left for one out of his own funds.
“Two months of Shop dining,” one of the onlookers in the cafeteria muttered.
Karl froze, thinking fast. Speaking in a normal tone, so that that person would be among those who heard him, he asked, “Who wants to make some coin?” That got immediate attention. “I'm going to hire Madeleine to build a few things and I'm sure she'll need helpers.” A few people's interest clearly faded, but others were getting more interested. “If you want, go find Madeleine and tell her I will be ordering several bookcases just for starters. We need to get some crafting going so people can make money. I'll talk to people about this more later. But for now I've got to run.”
The group met back up; nearly all of them had bought bags with their troll reward money. It was an obvious good investment. Together they headed for Walnut Street.
The Wallers were the first to break away; Chenelle and Karl took a couple of minutes to help them check for spawns in and around the house. Once that was done, they left the Wallers to pack and make their own way back to town, and the group headed onward.
Jake and Michael stopped at their house next. Karl remembered the battle with the boars on their property, and meeting Michael as he saved their lives. A few houses further up, Doug and Chenelle split off, and then at the end of the street, Terry and her parents waved goodbye.
Then it was Karl's turn, as his house was nearer than Jo's. He watched the couple go onward: Jo on foot and Tabitha on her Systemized bike. Someday maybe I'll ask about their stories, Karl thought, not for the first time.
There were no giant squirrels awaiting him this time. Karl let himself in, spent a couple of cathartic minutes killing all the imps in the house, and considered what to bring. He started with the library, and found that books stacked in inventory to ninety-nine, which meant he could fill his new bag with nearly two thousand books, and did so. Someday we'll have a town library, he thought.
He passed Jane's workshop, and paused. What would she want? He walked in slowly, and took in her fabrics, needles, thread, and embroidery. She would want these to be used. Sniffling a little, Karl packed up everything he could fit into the empty suitcases he had brought along. The cases took up two of his regular inventory slots.
He'd already made one trip back here and grabbed most of his clothes and the most useful items, so it was a bit slower going to decide what else to rescue. He passed by the synthesizer, which he'd barely touched in years due to arthritis, and which was now a useless brick. Even though Endurance had electrical power, the synthesizer was far too delicate and complex an object to survive the decay inflicted on it by the System in six days. He'd have to spend a System token to...Hm. Maybe. Karl loaded it and its accoutrements into inventory.
The only other things he found that seemed worth taking were Jane's gardening tools and seeds. She had meant to plant lots of wildflowers on their new property, but had fallen ill before getting very far. Karl had done some of it for her, to cheer her up, but he didn't have much of a green thumb. Still, maybe someone could find some use for it.
He headed back to town at a rapid jog. He kept an eye out for the others, but the timing wasn't right so he got back to town alone. He went to his first apartment rather than the barracks; he needed room for everything. With over a hundred apartments and a hundred and twenty-eight residents, there was plenty of room. Karl got a pleasant surprise when he found a mattress and a pile of folded sheets and towels in the hall outside his door. Looking down the corridor, he saw that several of the others had similar. They made extras! Well done, engineers!
Karl made his bed, tidied his apartment, and unloaded his books in a neat pile. Then he checked his coin and went looking for Madeleine. It turned out that she was happy to have work, but tools and supplies like nails were a problem. They checked the prices in the Shop, and Karl frowned.
“I'm pretty tapped out at the moment. I can afford the tools and materials, but I won't have anything left over to pay you until I go kill something or auction something off.”
“What if I take the tools as payment?” Madeleine suggested.
Karl considered, then nodded. “If that works for you. I'll tell you what I want, and you tell me how much of it you will do for the tools.”
A few minutes later they shook hands on the deal and Madeleine headed for the mews with her new tools to get lumber for Karl's bookcases. Karl headed to the meeting hall and looked at the piles of possessions. Mrs. Whittaker's full head of white hair was very obvious as she bent over her pile. She was picking up small items and vanishing them into inventory.
“Oh, Sir Karl? I was wondering if you could help me? This inventory thing is wonderful, but I still can't put anything in it that is too heavy for me to lift.
“Certainly,” Karl said with a smile. “What's your strength, if you don't mind my asking?”
“Two.”
Karl leaned closer and whispered, “A week ago, so was mine.” He started picking up her larger items and stashing them in his inventory.
“I have to say, I don't want to go get myself killed fighting monsters, but it would be nice to be stronger.” After a pause, she asked quietly, “Do you think it's making you younger?”
“I've been wondering that myself,” Karl replied in an equally quiet voice. “I'm much stronger and feel healthier, and less fragile, but my hair isn't changing back to brown and I've still got all my liver spots. Then again, my vision is back to 20/20, and at least some of my vision problems were age related. I guess it's too soon to tell.”
“What about...” Mrs. Whittaker lowered her voice even further. “...virility?” Karl shook his head with a smile. “Well, shit,” the woman said in a louder tone. “Guess I'll have to be a cougar.”
Karl burst out laughing as they started walking. “You want to start with constitution then. To make sure you survive your adventures!”
“Maybe some agility too!”
“You'll have to tell me if the System offers you a class for this, Emily.”
Now it was her turn to laugh. “Oh, I'm sure there are a few classes set aside for these sorts of things. I bet the black girl has one. Nobody's that pretty naturally.”
Karl's brain tripped up for a second. The black girl. Karl cast his mind back. Good grief, how could I not notice that? Letisha is still the only black person in Endurance, and she was just passing through. There are no Asians, almost no Hispanics...I never realized how very white New Hampshire is. I guess I had the luxury of not noticing.
Oh.
That's part of what she meant when she said she might not be popular. I'll have to keep an eye out. He cleared his throat.
“Letisha.”
“Sir Karl?”
“Her name is Letisha. She's already saved the town once; probably a good name to know.”
“Hm. Letisha, huh?” Karl nodded. “And what were you thinking about?” she asked.
Karl shook his head. “Sorry, just woolgathering. I'm constantly thinking up problems we might have so I can fix them before they become big problems.”
Emily patted his arm as they walked. “And that's why I go along with the 'Sir' business, Sir Karl. You look out for all of us. People can feel it just looking at you, sometimes. We can tell you mean well.”
Karl nodded acceptance. “It's also very handy, knowing when people are lying to me.”
Emily Whittaker stopped short and put one hand over her mouth. Uh-oh.
“Emily? Have I upset you?”
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“Oh, no. No,” she said, waving her hand in denial as she resumed walking. “I just wish I had time to follow you around. Seeing people get caught in their lies would be hilarious.” She was grinning.
Phew. Karl escorted her to her apartment and unloaded her things, taking a few extra minutes to position furniture just so, as she wouldn't be able to do it herself later.
“I do appreciate you taking this time to help me,” Emily said.
“Well, don't spread it around too much. I don't have time to do this for everybody and people will get jealous.”
“My lips are sealed. Thank you, Sir Karl. I'm just going to put a few things away before I get back to studying the aliens.” She sighed. “Do you suppose...?”
“What?”
“Well, could I get stronger just by studying? It doesn't make sense that reading and writing would add to my Strength. But you have a point about constitution. That Cindy makes me feel tired just looking at her.”
Karl smiled. “Talk to the crafters! They might have some good information for you about leveling up without a combat class.”
Emily smiled. “I think I might just do that. Maybe we've gotten a new lease on life, eh?”
“Indeed.”
* *
Doug and Chenelle had gone right back out for another load. Jo and Tabitha had not yet returned. Karl told people about the crafting supplies, used his Lesser System Token to Systemize the synthesizer, checked that it worked, and left it in a common space in the community center with a note. Then he was undecided about what to do next. He wandered outside, and found Paul with half a dozen people Karl didn't know, all with bows and quivers.
Paul spotted him and waved him over. “I'm training up a defense force. Michael and Christine are so powerful, we will be much safer with a dozen archers ready to man the walls in case of a rare attack. These guys can level up in Archery without even leaving the Safe Zone!”
“Excellent!”
“Sir Karl, if you're at loose ends, I have a favor to ask...”
It turned out that several of the level two warriors were asking for an escort so that they could go out and get combat experience. Karl agreed to lead them, with Valerie and Annie along for healing support, and Christine for scouting. There was an easy source of experience: the marsh folk, which continued to be a growing presence beyond the southern wall of the town.
The expedition was straightforward. They got into a routine, where Christine would scout and locate a group of up to six marsh folk, then point them at it. Karl and Christine hung back and let the others do the fighting and get the experience. Christine stepped in only once, to take out a marsh scout. In a couple of hours of almost nonstop fighting, all of the second and thirds leveled. Josh and Annie were thrilled to be fourth level. Valerie was close to fifth. Karl took her aside and warned her about upcoming emotional stress to expect upon hitting fifth level.
The newly leveled people were eager for more, but even if the System claimed they were all back up to “full” Karl had noticed brain fatigue setting in and warned them about it. He ordered them back into town, and advised them to rest up and think carefully about their leveling choices of stats and skills before committing. “Just because I had to level like a maniac dancing back and forth down to a single hit point, does not mean that it is a good idea. You have the advantages of a home base and support. Use them.” Privately he thought he would check on how they were doing, and if they actually did seem well rested, he might take them out for another run before dinner.
Come to think of it, I got to seventh level in three days, and haven't gained another level in the three days since. His experience had risen to about two thirds of the way through the level, but the 16,000 experience mark needed to hit eighth level was still a fair ways off. Too busy holding meetings and giving speeches, I guess. And escorting people through things dangerous for them but not for me.
When he got back, he learned that Doug and Chenelle had been roped into the same task. They returned a half hour after his group. They had taken eight first level people, and carefully broken into houses until they found ones with just a handful of imps or land crabs or goblins, and then let teams of first levels have pitched battles with them, with Chenelle standing by in case of an unlucky critical strike. All eight survived and reached level two. Two were previously unclassed, and one became a mage when they looted a scroll of Mana Dart, while the other became a healer using a goblin staff.
As a result, fifteen levels had been gained for the town in two two-hour long expeditions. If there weren't a hundred other things that needed doing, Karl would have been very satisfied with that. But nobody had even taken out the recycler or foraged for food! That was worrisome. Karl was willing to wait a few days for the next expansion, but he knew it would be needed and didn't want to fall behind the curve. The scouts had been reporting that the numbers of common spawns in each group were increasing. He made a mental note to ask George to look into the possible exponential growth of opponents. It might actually be dangerous to stop leveling the highest level people.
Karl sat down with Paul and discussed options for leveling groups.
“We have to balance safety versus leveling, but leveling itself makes people safer,” Paul pointed out.
“If they make it that far,” Karl countered.
“I think we should send groups of six or eight level fours together with no backup. You can't be everywhere.”
“Too risky. Think about the horrific cost if they found something too big for them to handle or escape.”
“It's certainly possible for a group with fours, threes and twos to survive for days if they avoid rare spawns. Kat's group is proof enough of that.”
“They lost people.”
“Karl, that's always going to happen.”
“In a necessary battle, sure. I've learned to accept that. We had to attack the hobgoblin fort before it was finished, for example. I now think it was a mistake to bring anyone still first level into that fight, but that's with hindsight; no criticism of Chad's battle plan meant. But people don't have to die when we can choose our battles.”
“Karl, I'm going to tell you a little known fact about the Army: there are always deaths. Even in peacetime, even on home bases. People are working with deadly equipment, and all but one in every group is not the smartest one there. Accidents happen. Can we slow things down so much that we painstakingly and safely bring every level one up to level two? Probably.
“But can we afford the time? I mean, look at us, we just ate an entire day out of our food supply without boosting it at all. And what was the total coin gathered today? A few hundred copper? And we didn't use the recycler. Plus there's the bigger problem.”
“Spawns getting worse over time?”
“Exactly.” Paul put down his water glass and brooded for a moment. “We need more intel. We need more scouts. Hell, we need more of everything. I hate not knowing how bad things are getting in the heart of the marsh. Those marsh folk have multiple square miles of their favorite turf to settle in. We know they have organization. Are their commanders having the same debates about leveling?”
They both stared at the updated lists of levels available in Endurance for a while.
“Karl, we've got to take more risks. We don't have time not to. Think about how much the world has changed in a week. We can't spare a week to get everyone up to third while carefully shepherded through danger. Even leaving aside the lack of food, who knows what level the threats will be by then? What if the next kind of spawn shows up tomorrow? It took almost all of our firepower to bring down a rare spawn of three Hill Trolls. At the moment, we don't stand a chance against anything tougher. Our only hope is that those things live up to their name and only show up rarely.
“We need you to level. And Terry. And Doug and Chenelle and all our other heavy hitters. Hell, I'm worried about sitting here at level three, and I know Kat is climbing the walls. She went from being the big fish in her pond at level four to almost getting lost in the noise around here. She's worried about not being tough enough to bring in a criminal who's higher level than her.”
“Speaking of our heavy hitters, did Jake and Michael Cook come back in?”
“An hour ago. They looked as if they had had an argument. Jake's with Letisha in the mews and I think Michael is talking to the Bowyer...um...Vernon? ...and Madeleine.”
“What about Jo and Tabitha?”
Paul shrugged. Karl frowned. “It's starting to get on towards late afternoon. What about Terry and her parents?”
“Oh, they came in maybe half an hour after you went out with your training group. Terry went right back out again after dropping off her stuff. She didn't say where she was headed. Typical rogue.”
Then they heard a sword banging on a shield, and ran out of the barracks. It was a lookout on the north wall. In a minute Paul and Karl were up there beside him. The lookout pointed west. A lone figure in red robes on a bicycle approached; it could only be Tabitha.
Very shortly she stopped her bike in the road in front of the gate and shouted, “Hordeslayers!” Then she waved.
“All right people, let's get that gate open!” Paul shouted down to the small crowd that was forming. Quickly they moved aside the stone blocks buttressing the gate.
Karl was the first one to step out into the street. Tabitha hadn't moved, and she was smiling. “Hordeslayer Tabitha,” he said with a slight bow.
“Sir Karl,” Tabitha replied with a bow of her own. Karl blinked. Tabitha had barely used a dozen words in the time he'd known her. This was certainly the first time she had said his name. Maybe she can speak more when she's in a good mood? Tabitha gestured proudly to the west.
Coming around the bend in the road, Jo was approaching with a lot of other people. They were making quite a bit of noise, and it took Karl a moment to recognize what he was seeing. Nearly everyone in the group was pushing a shopping cart, and most of them were completely filled with boxes or cans.
Oh my God. Thank you, God. Thank you, System. Karl had to take a moment to regain his composure. This was a lifesaver. He watched a fortune in food slowly roll closer.
Karl took another look at the people. Most of them looked singed or blackened with soot. They were gawking at the north wall of the Safe Zone as they pushed their carts.
“Tabitha...” Karl asked in a teasing tone. “Did you scorch some new friends?” Tabitha held up her thumb and forefinger an inch apart and grinned. Karl snorted. He turned and shouted into the Zone, “We've got what looks like a couple of dozen people coming in with Jo! With supplies!”
A minute later, in what was starting to become familiar routine, Jo walked up with the leader of the new group, a warrior woman with light brown hair roughly chopped short.
“Sir Karl!” Jo called out, smiling. “We come with friends bearing gifts!”
“Welcome back, Hordeslayers! Hello everyone!” Karl called out. “Welcome to Endurance Safe Zone! Are you visiting, or would you like to become residents of Endurance?”
“Residents, please,” the warrior woman answered for them all. “Are you the Safe Zone owner?”
“I have that honor. Karl Hausman, seventh level paladin.”
The woman smiled. “Pamela Stillwater, fourth level warrior. Former owner of the Bradley Supermarket Safe Zone. Call me Pam.” She held out her hand. Another Safe Zone? Former owner? Karl wondered.
“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Pam. They call me Sir Karl around here but if you find that unbearably stuffy you can just call me Karl.”
He took her hand and found himself in a contest of strength. Raising an eyebrow, he matched her pressure and her grin until they both were straining slightly. “Call it a draw?” he asked finally. Pam nodded and they let go. “First time I've ever been in one of those,” he commented, flexing his hand.
Pam snorted. “Thirteen strength?” Karl nodded. “Same here,” she continued, looking him up and down. “I think you'll do.”
“Glad to hear it. System, please register Pamela Stillwater here as a resident of Endurance Safe Zone.”
The others were registered without challenge, stating their name, level and class as if familiar with the procedure. There were twenty-six newcomers in all, with a mix of levels, from six unclassed people up to Pam.
“Okay, everybody, most of you will probably be sleeping in here at first,” Jo shouted, pointing at the barracks. “Over there we've got lots of apartments and that's the community center. We're going to have dinner in the cafeteria on the first floor there.”
“Is that where you want the food?” Pam asked.
On seeing Jo's nod, Pam clapped loudly and shouted to her people, “Okay, everybody, five minutes to use the bathroom and kick the tires and then let's get to the kitchen and unload our inventories.” Most members of the group were gawking at the ten acre space enclosed by twelve foot stone walls, but after Pam's announcement they rapidly streamed into the barracks.
It was a fairly efficient process; the newcomers worked well together, and shortly they followed Pam, Jo, Tabitha and Karl into the cafeteria and back to the kitchen. News spread quickly and the cafeteria was already filling up with spectators.
All three kitchen workers were rapidly overwhelmed by the huge amount of food coming in. A few new people offered to help, and once they got used to the kitchen inventory were soon unloading things smoothly. Karl stayed close to Pam.
“So, would you like to start telling your tale, or would you rather hear ours first?” he asked her.
“Well, it was a long walk with the carts, and Jo was kind enough to answer our questions for hours. I think we've got the gist, although nothing beats seeing it with our own eyes and actually talking to people. I expect you have...” Pam looked around the cafeteria. “Wow, a lot of people who want to hear our story. So I guess I can talk.”
“Right this way.” Karl led her to the wall where he stood to make his dinner speeches. The cafeteria was nearly full of people all talking at once. Then he clapped loudly for attention and bellowed.
“EVERYONE, QUIET!” Knowing that wouldn't be enough, he kept talking so that curiosity about what they were missing would help people shut up. “The leader of our new arrivals would like to introduce herself and them! Please give her your attention if you don't want to hear the exact same thing fifty times!” The crowd quieted down and many of them found seats, while the line of shopping carts snaking through moved very slowly forward.