Maria was the last to come in, and murmured an apology as she sat down. Karl nodded and looked around the table.

“Good morning, everyone. Thank you for coming to this meeting. Duncan, thanks for filling in for Kat. Do you need introductions?”

“I think I'm good. Thanks, Sir Karl.”

“All right. As usual, let's go around the table and hear reports, then discuss our next steps. Paul?”

Paul took a deep breath. “I would like to train everyone in Endurance in archery.”

“Wait, you mean make it mandatory?” Duncan interjected. Paul nodded, and they were off to the races.

“How are we going to enforce that?”

“What about people with no class? Will they have to become Archers?”

“Why do we need everyone? We can't all fight at once.”

“Are children exempt, I hope?”

“How long would that take? How high a level do they have to get?”

Karl held up a hand. “Hold on, please, people. Let's hear Paul make his case first before we shoot him down. I assume you have arguments and a plan?” he asked his Defense Commander.

“I do. Thank you, Sir Karl.” Paul started counting off items on his fingers. “First, both Spawn and Junior age groups would be exempt. Second, no one has to get a class to learn the Archery skill. It costs one skill slot but I think it is a very worthwhile investment for anyone. Anyone who actually is trying to get the skill is offered it within the first few shots they take with a bow. Training it up to level two is a matter of minutes, an hour at most. I trained six people yesterday as an experiment and six more this morning. It wouldn't take long at all to get everyone at minimal proficiency.

“If we had over a hundred people with Archery at 2, Endurance would be a lot safer. As for enforcement, I would leave that up to the council and the sheriff to decide. We don't have a Town Charter yet. No official rules or laws. Ultimately Sir Karl is the controller of the Safe Zone, so as far as the System is concerned, what he says goes. Technically he's the absolute ruler.”

“That will change as soon as Kat organizes elections,” Karl said to reassure everyone. For some it had the opposite effect.

“Uh, Sir Karl, begging your pardon but you're doing a bang up job and I'd feel a lot more worried if someone else were running the show,” George opined.

“We're still a couple of hours shy of one week under the System. I think it's far too early to be thinking about elections,” Paul offered.

“I'd say it's time for elections when more than half of the residents say it's time,” Duncan countered.

“That's perfect.” Karl nodded. “If you can prove half the residents want an election, that will show that you have the infrastructure in place to hold an election. Speaking as the Safe Zone controller, I will pass that control on to whoever wins an election for Mayor, on condition that they swear to do the same.”

“That's...totally fair,” Duncan conceded.

“Until then, if I have Evil Overlord powers, I'm going to use them to cut red tape. Paul, I am saying no to mandatory training. However, I am happy to have you encourage archery in various ways. A payment in coin for people learning, or Archery competitions with prize money. I'd rather have ten willing archers than thirty reluctant ones.”

Paul frowned, but nodded. “Yes, Sir. I've already offered a bounty for any guns or rifles people can salvage. If we get them here, they stop decaying, and then when we can generate enough tokens to Systemize them, we'll have superior range defense. At the moment we just have Chad's and mine working.

“Also, I'm reporting again that the egg has hatched, and Letisha is effectively our Falconer with the hatchling. I don't know when or if the hawk will become a military asset, but I'm keeping an eye on it.

“And finally, I'm trying to work with George to get a better idea of what threats we face around here, but aside from the known marsh folk problem, we don't have anything definitive. That's all I have to report at the moment.”

“Any word on Terry?” Karl asked.

“Not yet, Sir.”

Karl nodded. “All right. Jake?”

Jake blinked a couple of times. “Right. Okay, the food situation is drastically improved. Even with over a hundred and fifty people, we should be good for a least a week, more like two, but these are all rough estimates. I'm sure we can stretch it if people eat a lot of oatmeal and pasta. And Jo, Tabitha, Christine, and Jim are out escorting a dozen volunteers back to the Supermarket Safe Zone for more. Food is still a problem long term, but it's less dire in the short term than it was.

“Our next expansion is likely to be a few days away, depending on how the recycling team does. I know we already need more lodging, and that can be added for much less than an expansion, but will also delay expansion. We can add up to four more stories to each lodging building, although the original apartment building Letisha and I designed can't be expanded any more. We didn't really have a good handle on what was possible at the start.

“I'm also concerned that more options haven't opened up in the expansion menus. We may have to build some of the other things available to us to unlock further advancement. Honestly I think a second recycler would be a good idea if we can find teams to work them and protect them. That's all I have for now.”

“Thank you, Jake. Maria?”

“The town treasury currently stands at 22 gold, 20 silver. There are no high value auctions currently up. Our first payment of one gold on our debt to Jim Bradbury will be due next Sunday.

“In personal news, I was offered the Accountant class, as I mentioned, but I held out for a better one. I am now a second level Financier class. As such, I gained abilities and skills that will improve my work as Treasurer. And I admit it feels very good to finally be leveling.”

“Congratulations, Maria.” The sentiment was echoed around the room. “George? What news from Intelligence?”

“The big news is, I have statistics on Earth's population.”

“What? I thought you couldn't get at those!” Jake objected.

“Mrs. Whittaker came up with a workaround. Basically she pretended to be an alien looking for investment opportunities on Earth. In order to lure in business, investment firms will often provide information if it makes their products look more attractive. Some overall statistics on the human race were part of the information packet. It makes for grim reading.”

Karl braced himself. “What do you know?”

“The world population is at 500 million as of this morning and falling rapidly. The business projections include estimates of an eventual surviving human population of 25 to 50 million.”

No one spoke for a few moments.

Karl cleared his throat. He had to do it twice to work up the nerve to resume the conversation.

Finally he managed, “Well, that's actually a bit better than I had feared. In just the first few hours, it seemed as if three out of four houses had no survivors, and I assumed it would get worse. We're one week into the apocalypse. Did you find anything about population numbers of spawns?”

“No, Sir Karl. We did find a company doing early booking for safaris to Earth to hunt the 'mythical' and 'legendary' spawns once our year of isolation is up. We're speculating that some of the spawns will be unique to Earth, and some aliens will come for the opportunity to hunt new big game.”

“Wait...so that means that the System updates itself?”

“We think so.”

“I have some evidence for that myself. A little while ago, Mandy came to me and asked me how to become a paladin. In the course of both of us poking at the System, I mentioned that 'Sir' was not a real title—but now it is.”

“What?” Sarah asked confused.

“When Mandy and I were talking, I mentioned to her that I hoped to one day find a way to earn the honorific 'Sir', you know, as some sort of System Title.” Karl filled them in on what he and Mandy had learned.

“So, according to the System, I earned the title days ago, but it and its reward were only granted to me just this morning. Which suggests that the title did not exist before this morning. So I'm wondering if the System was trying to do me a favor, or if it is still fine tuning classes and titles and such even now.”

George rubbed his chin. “I would assume the latter, Sir Karl. No disrespect, but I don't think you're important enough to the System for it to bother creating a title just to make you feel better. I think maybe your questioning the System about the title prompted it to finalize its decisions in that area, or drew its attention to something it forgot or procrastinated. I think the System is still dialing in the details. It's not just us adapting to the System; the System is adapting to Earth as well.”

System message: You have discovered an important fact about the System.

With each new world absorbed into the System, there are additions and edits to existing features, including creation of new classes, titles and spawns. This process is ongoing until all new spawns have been created on the new world. Experience +200

“Oh!” Maria exclaimed. “I just leveled again!”

“Did everyone just get that?” There were nods all around, except Maria, who was staring off into space.

“Both into intelligence,” she murmured, then blinked.

“Congratulations, Maria.”

“Just a moment, Sir Karl,” George interjected. “I understand that you have Renown now?”

“Yes. Four points. One for the Sir and three for getting a second title.”

“So the aliens might be watching you, and therefore all of us, right now.”

Karl nodded. “I don't know what might be added later, but I know from Tabitha and Jo's feed that times before the second title were granted are included. So I assume everything that has happened to me since the System arrived is fair game. However, I expect it will only bother with interesting or exciting moments. So far all it has for me is a short combat clip. I think a Town Council meeting is not going to reach the level of excitement necessary for it to go into the Earth channel feed. So we're probably safe at the moment.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Probably,” George conceded reluctantly.

“All right, next question. Do you have any idea where Terry might have gone?”

“I spoke to her parents. All she said was something on the order of, 'this is taking too long' and not to worry if she was gone for a while. When she departed she was heading east on Post Road. That's all I have.”

Karl frowned and nodded. “I guess we'll just have to trust her to find her way back.” Karl reminded himself that on Thursday he and his group had disappeared overnight unexpectedly as seen by those left behind at the Sanchez house; but they had been fine, just too burdened down with food and small children to make good time.

“Any reports of uncommon or rare spawns nearby?”

“Not at present. There were a couple of uncommons between here and the supermarket yesterday, but the closest was miles away from here.”

“Good. Anything else to report?”

“Yes, you asked about food production. It looks like farming is a significant part of the System, just as it was on Earth before the industrial age. I think, if we are going to have food security, we need to start planting fields, as soon as possible.”

Karl groaned. “I hope we have some farmers. If people are going to have to grow crops, how much time is that going to take away from doing everything else?”

“Can we grow crops outside the town walls?” Sarah asked.

“They'd get overrun with spawns, if not regular critters.”

“Does anybody know how much land we need to support people?”

“Isn't it something like two or three acres per person?”

“Shit,” Maria commented heavily. “We have ten acres and about 150 people.”

“In a world covered in monsters.” Paul drummed his fingers on the table. “Do we need to clear out all the monsters?”

“What, you mean everywhere?” Jake asked, startled.

Paul nodded. “I'm imagining us walking in a long line slowly, driving monsters before us.”

“That's impossible.”

“We live in the System now. Impossible is on extended vacation. We need to figure out what the System allows us to do. Anybody else notice the exponential way things ramp up?”

“Each level requires twice as many experience points, you mean?”

“Plus the difficulty of each type of monster...and other things.”

Karl had an idea. “Jake? How much does the Safe Zone expand each time? Is it five acres per expansion, or does it increase?”

“It definitely increases. More like doubling, but I'm not sure it's quite that simple.”

“So possibly after our next expansion we'll have twenty acres, then forty, then eighty?”

“Right, but that's all we can expand. The hobgoblin core you looted can only handle four expansions and we've already done one.”

“Is there any way to keep expanding beyond that?”

“I'm not sure...” Jake took out his pad and stared at it for several moments. “We can use System tokens for upgrades but not expansions. Upgrades don't increase the area, they just improve structures already in the Zone. As for expansions...” Jake frowned for a while. “We'd need another monster core, and compatibility might be limited. So it might have to be the right kind of monster core.”

“And we've only found two so far, and Jim sold the other one,” Sarah griped.

“Well, it was a bear core, so compatibility might have been poor anyway. Let's keep an eye out for more elite hobgoblins, war chiefs or lords,” Karl said. “Also, it will probably take a few days to gather materials for each expansion, so it'll be nearly two weeks before we feel the pinch. We found two cores in the first week, so maybe it's not so bad as all that.”

“I still say we should get another recycler,” Jake argued. “Seven gold is enough for 140 metal, but a recycler could gather that much metal every day.”

Karl considered it for a moment. “I think Jake is right. Let's get free of this pinch as quickly as possible. Maria...oh, this isn't my money this time. Perhaps we should have a vote. I vote we get another recycler. Opinions?”

It turned out everyone was in favor. Maria nodded and said, “I'll buy it right after the meeting, so a crew can get it out there for the rest of the day.”

“All right, thank you. If that concludes the intelligence briefing for the moment, let's move on to the deputy sheriff. Duncan, anything to report?”

“Very little. There have been a couple of fights, nothing major. Some people have taken to demanding more food from the kitchens. They've been providing it so far, but...”

“But that isn't fair to everyone else, I see. Are these the people who are bulking up, like myself?”

“Some of them are. But some of them are just...well...people who want to eat more, and want more sweets and so forth.”

“Jake? Opinion?”

Jake looked at them. “I think we should make food available, but maybe make it not so appetizing, you know, like trail rations. People can have them all they want, but for the better food they have to wait like everyone else, or buy their own at the Shop.”

“Sounds like a good solution. Does the larder have locks?”

“I think you can authorize them, and say who has access.”

“All right. System,” Karl said aloud so people knew what he was saying, “Authorize Patty Wilcox to set authorizations for access to the kitchen resources.” He got the notification. “Okay, it's done. Somebody tell Patty she can lock the food up and give other cooks access.”

“I'll do it,” Jake said.

“Anything else, Duncan?”

“The kids. Some of them want to run around and play, and some of them want to leave the town.”

“They can't level, so they'd be sitting ducks. No, they can't leave without a combat class escort. Inside the town, however, they should...oh right, the mews. Duncan, feel free to put the fear of God into them to keep them safe from the hawk and vice versa, but consult with Bethany before doing anything drastic.”

“Yes, Sir Karl. Oh, and congratulations on getting the title for real. That's all I have for now.”

“Thank you, Duncan. Okay, Sarah, you've been waiting patiently for your turn. Go ahead.”

Sarah took a deep breath. “People want escort trips to their homes, since we only managed it for five unclassed people the other day. There are another twenty or so who are still waiting. A lot of the new groups have come from far enough away that it isn't an issue for them, Kat's group and Pam's group in particular.

“There are a lot of people who want a way to make coin so they can buy things at the Shop. I've been asked whether the town can pay them for various tasks. Defenders, for example.

“I've asked the people with crafter classes to advise the unclassed about how to get their classes, and whether there is work for them. Apparently we have a tailor now; someone brought in sewing supplies and Dave Fox decided to start altering clothing and making simple bags and such. But he needs raw materials: cloth and thread and more needles.

“I've had three people ask to become mages, but we don't have any scrolls for them.

“All that said, there are still about twenty people here who simply...aren't doing anything. They are sitting around, kind of shell shocked. One or two seem genuinely lazy, but most of them, I think they are hurting. I don't know what to do for them.”

Karl digested that. “How to get an economy going is something I've worried about. There are a few signs of one starting; I have ordered bookcases from the Carpenter. I noticed the information bounties and that's a good idea. Paul, I'd like you to figure out how many people are going to be regular defenders of the town as their primary occupation, and what you'd like to pay them. That will come out of our military budget when we have one.

“Which brings me to another issue. How does the town get an income? I'm currently almost broke because I haven't gone out leveling in a few days.”

“Sir Karl, if I may,” Maria spoke up, “I think some of that is my department, or I'm willing to take that on. I have auctioneer Skill that I will be using to the town's benefit, but of course I need looted or donated items to auction. I'll point out that with two recyclers, we may end up with excess materials. Some can be used by the carpenter, but we can also potentially sell our excess stone and wood to others. I have a few other ideas that I am working on as well.”

“Excellent, thank you, Maria. Now, Sarah, as to your other concerns: Chenelle is our highest level healer. Please check with her and with our druids to see if they have any spells that benefit mental health. We also may need to find someone to take on the profession of therapist. In fact, a list of professions that there is demand for—”

“I already have one. I'll keep updating it. By the way, we have a hairdresser and a massage therapist who want to pursue their old careers, but so far no one has coin to pay them.”

“All right. I will try to bear all of that in mind. Thank you, Sarah.” Karl nodded. “Now, let's talk about our plans for the day and going forward.”

Paul said, “I'm continuing with archery lessons, and hoping to get high level people to escort groups for leveling again today. I'd also like to start archery contests, and prize money would help.”

“Maria, I think another gold for defense is a good idea,” Karl stated.

"Objections?" Maria called. No one responded. "All right then."

“Jake?”

“We've already got one recycling team out today. After Maria buys another recycler we can hopefully send a second team out. Maria?”

“I'd request valuable items to auction. I'll work on the economics issues. Capitalism is wonderful but we need to prime the pump a little. Sir Karl, I hope you will spend your coin in town when you get more and set an example.”

“Noted. George?”

“I want to take on another couple of researchers, but the information bounties will do some of that. Plus I still can't pay them anything because any budget I get is still going towards our basic infrastructure like more pads and information purchases from the Shop. We'll keep digging into any sorts of information we can get.”

“Maria, another gold from treasury for George's department, please, if no one objects.”

“That puts us down to thirteen gold.”

“Noted. Duncan?”

“I think I'm covered with keeping the peace, and the other issues are addressed.”

“Sarah?”

“Escorts to homes, more housing, mental health, and people need money to get started.”

“Sarah,” Maria spoke up, “I think in the evening you and I should host a large meeting to talk about demands and jobs with everyone, and get some more brainstorming going on.”

“That sounds like a good idea. I'd be grateful for your input.”

Karl looked around the room. “All right. It sounds like we have plans. Thank you everyone.”

People scattered to their various projects for the day.

* *

Barbara and Murray Williams returned to town early in the afternoon with three fairly desperate people who had each managed to survive a week alone without a Safe Zone. All three were rogues of one form or another. Mandy joined the couple as they went out for more, with her expressly stated goal of working towards the Hero title by finding and rescuing fifty people.

Karl led a group of five second level people and got them all up to third level in a few hours; they even brought back some meat. Doug and Chenelle escorted a group of near neighbors back to their houses on Post Road. They managed to thoroughly loot five ownerless houses and also to rescue items for six more residents. One recycling team processed the empty houses; the other team started up Walnut eating all the cars and garages specifically, going for a high metal count.

The first archery competition got several people up to third level in the skill. Kat returned as a fifth level rogue, with two of her companions leveling as well. A group of eight level threes decided to go north to the Zip-E-Mart and returned with a nearly full load of food and a couple of hundred metal shelves. Sadly, they had lost two people when they fought a BBD with eight wolves escorting it, but the six survivors had all reached fourth level, and expressed determination to go back out as a team.

George's group had a breakthrough when they found that the town had a library. It turned out that all of the books Karl had brought back, as well as those of others, were all available in digital form. But the treasure was when Mrs. Whittaker looked up the Yellow Pages; the others had forgotten that such a thing even existed. All the researchers were using it and working to construct that map of businesses near Endurance that Karl had wished for so badly.

Jo and Tabitha's group came back with another load of food from the supermarket and sadly explained that there would be no more trips, as monsters had taken over the Zone and had to be defeated before looting. Much of what remained had already been destroyed. They had gathered the rest.

The big surprise came an hour before dinner. Karl heard the watchers on the wall sound the alarm, and headed out there to see for himself. The people approaching were on horseback. There were four of them, and one of the ones in front was Terry. She waved up at Karl happily. A tightness in Karl's chest finally eased.