It had been just over a week since anyone had last seen Grant or Naea, the fairy which shadowed him, and tensions were rising. The issue, as Tom saw it, was growth. Both too much and too little, depending on the angle you viewed the problem. When it came to population, Ascentown was growing wonderfully. When it came to infrastructure, though?
“Move, dickhead!” A labourer’s shout from behind Tom’s back, causing him to flinch, duck and scramble in that order. Being the de facto leader of the town meant nothing when you were physically in the way. The man shook his head at Tom, who nodded heartily in agreement with his disdain. Quickly extricating himself from the path of the actual honest workers, he turned to find Stephanie smirking at him.
“What?” He asked sheepishly. She’d definitely seen him making an ass of himself, but what had she taken from it? The beautiful councilmember of Newtown brushed her hair behind an ear as Tom approached, her snow coloured skin visible in a low-cut top. Tom gulped and kept his attention on her sapphire blue eyes instead. It wasn’t very difficult.
“You. You’re a mess.” Tom winced at her words, even as she laughed again. ”It’s sweet, Tom. You’re just such a powerful fighter but any social situation can turn you into a sponge. It’s cute.” He looked up from the ground into a face full of acceptance and joy. Tom thanked her for her input and asked if there was anything he could help with. “Actually, there is one thing…” Stephanie said, a touch of excitement in her voice.
An hour later, Tom found himself standing in front of a computer. “Is it weird that this feels antiquated?” The world had essentially been taken over by an omnipotent supercomputer which had permanently activated an augmented reality system. That was one of the ways Tom’s mind had found to explain the insanity of life now. Although, he had long discarded that explanation in favour of a more simple explanation. “Magic” worked well enough, these days, especially for Tom.
“I get it, there’s basically no point in them now.” Stephanie nodded but gestured for him to sit anyway. Computers had their place, but they were now very much just the machine and nothing more. Where the computers still worked, they were being used for bookkeeping or calculating, but not a lot else. While there was still not much known about the Shift and its effects on the planet, the changes had at the very least stripped us of the internet. If the planet was larger now, it should have more gravity, so that could have explained what happened to the satellites.
Alternatively, “magic.”
Maybe somewhere still had access to a version of the world-wide web, but Tom doubted it would ever come back in the way it was before. There was just no need with the System filling most of its roles and more importantly, most of everyone’s time. When there were potential levels to chase, a deferred wage to collect and actual monsters lurking around, keeping people motivated to work was simple. The idea of sitting at a computer was a little bizarre.
Still, he did as he was told. Stephanie turned the machine on and it whirred to life. Once the computer had booted up, Tom sat back as the Newtown rep clicked around a few times. She leaned over his shoulder to get closer to the screen and her perfume sent Tom’s head spinning. “There we go,” she said after a program loaded up. It was little more than a barebones bit of code waiting for an input. “Grab the mouse, and put some mana in.”
Tom raised his eyebrows but again followed the command. Instead of burning up with energy as he expected, Tom was surprised when the mana was absorbed without issue. The computer reacted quickly, and the program began to change. As soon as his magic began flowing into the machine, the code on the program began to explode. Dozens of lines were being written a second, though Tom only knew enough about coding to know what it was, not what it did.
Awkwardness set in after about thirty seconds but the drain wasn’t bad, so Tom turned to Stephanie. Her face was rapt with excitement at the screen, a mask of pure delight. “So, what is this doing?”
“No clue!” Stephanie answered quickly and without shame. “A woman named Vanna has been working on this thing since the System dropped. She was a game designer before all this, I think? Either way, the Aspect of Technology appeared in front of her nearly as soon as the Shift happened. Since then, she’s been working on this, though she’ll tell you herself she doesn’t know how it works. According to Vanna, it needs higher level information than she had. Dao stuff. Aside from Julz who is really busy, your group are still the only people with a Dao, and your aura is the only one that feels beautiful, so you were the only choice.”
Tom didn’t bother trying to hide the massive smile that came to his face. “You think my magic is beautiful?” There was a teasing tone in his words, an offer for Stephanie to turn her own words into a joke. Instead, he gulped again, harder this time as her eyes bore into his own. Tom was suddenly acutely aware that they were alone in the building which housed the special computer.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“It is, Tom.” Her voice was husky, wasn’t it? He wasn’t just imagining it, as she maintained the close distance between them. “This changed world keeps throwing up new challenges and every day is terrifying… Well, it was.” Her hand grasped his free one, working her fingers between his own as Tom watched in wonder. “Then I met you.”
“Me?” He asked, dumbly.
“You are ridiculously cute, Tom.” His thoughts froze as time slowed to an absolute crawl. He had a powerful Mental stat, which with achievements and boosts sat at around an effective four hundred attribute points, and all of it was being used to memorise Stephanie’s every movement.
The approach of her lips towards him, a slight upwards curl at the edges. The way her eyes flickered between his own and lower, towards his immobilised mouth. The hot breath from her nose and the way it brushed against his skin. There was a final permission asked and given as his face tilted upward and they met in our first kiss. Tom’s shock left quickly, and he decided he very much needed his other hand for this, letting go of the computer mouse.
Tom certainly wasn’t as petrified for their second kiss, which was much more mobile and active. There was a chance they might have even gone onto a third kiss, but of course, the System couldn’t let people enjoy a single moment. Cursing the System for interrupting, Grant for leaving him with the responsibility of The Ascent, the other members of the guild for being useless and lazy and just about everything else in the world, Tom opened the System prompt.
Population Threshold Reached For Ascentown
The community known as Ascentown has reached the needed populace to become an Outpost. As the location of Ascentown contains a Guild Hall, permission must be granted by the Guild Leader to upgrade.
The Guild Leader is unavailable. You are designated second-in-command, and as such, the choice is your’s.
Accept? (Cost 500 gold)
Tom groaned, which caused Stephanie to wiggle her eyebrows. Tom laughed, kissing her again gently before pushing away from the table they had fallen across. “Got a System message,” he began to explain.
“Did you just get an achievement for having your first kiss?” Stephanie asked, her face a picture of genuine, innocent curiosity. Tom snorted and stuck out my tongue while straightening his collar.
“Hardee har, hilarious. I wonder if there’s an achievement for some other things…” Both of them bit their lips in near unison, clearly on the same wavelength. Before they could get carried away, Tom needed to get back to Ascentown. “Oh right, did the computer do something? Or was that just a clever way to get me alone, Ms Carmichael?”
“I’m devious, but not that talented. Look yourself.” Tom struggled to move his eyes to the computer screen, because Stephanie pointedly kept her blouse unbuttoned. At first, he thought it had cycled onto one of those old visualiser screensavers, but that wasn’t it. The program which had just been black letters of code on a white background had gone through a complete version shift.
“What’s that going to do?” Tom asked, a little afraid of the potential. Two slender arms wrapped around his chest and pulled him in. Since the System was making everyone stronger, she easily kept Tom still as she planted a kiss on his cheek.
“Again, no clue. We’ll have to come back and check as soon as you’re done with your silly System messages. No one ever comes in here.” Stephanie winked before following me out. Tom explained what the System prompt was, and she in turn talked him through what to expect. An Outpost was the stage before a town, which is where Newtown was now. It was another large leap in population until you could create a city. Instead of paying gold like Tom had to, Frederick had been given the town upgrade as a quest reward, and was working towards the city quest.
“I like that… but should I even mess with the outpost? It’s not really my place.” Tom wasn’t displeased with the level of control he had, but it was daunting to make such a large choice. At the same time, he had system currency to spend and nowhere to spend it. He wasn’t the only one. Luke was the member of The Ascent who had made the most, heading out of civilization and becoming something of a trapper, and he complained that he couldn’t upgrade his house with Grant gone.
Stephanie said nothing, but Tom knew what the following shrug meant. Buck up, Tom. Firming up his resolve, he accepted the System prompt, and let himself feel like the one in charge of The Ascent for the foreseeable future. Grant was gone, and while he had some roots here, it would probably be easy to set up elsewhere, too. He might not ever come back, though Tom crushed the thought as soon as he had it. Grant wasn’t like that. There was just lots to do in a short time, so Tom could see this as taking the load off Grant’s shoulders. That’s what he wanted Tom to do, anyway, right?
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With Ascentown now officially an Outpost, the growth problems were once again switched. New options, including a tax on loot, were available and the coffers began to grow slowly. The wages which were offered to early settlers were given out and it was possible to see the vision for what the place could be. Already, an academy was being built along with a slew of other, more industrial-leaning properties.
Homes were built, camps and resource operations were started in the surrounding areas, using Grant’s map and plans. A vein of slightly mana-rich copper had been found, a few new kinds of herb were being farmed, trade was becoming possible between Ascentown and Newtown. With both places now creating things the other did not, an economy was beginning to form.
The days turned into weeks, and weeks into a month. The difference between what was essentially a bare plot of land with a few buildings on it and the burgeoning town it had become was like night and day. It could fill one with confidence, so long as they didn’t know about the cracks in the foundations.