Ray
Over the next four days Ray and his motley crew of barely sentient monsters, and Gale, fought off three more incursions. Gale recognized early on that there was a pattern of one per day, as that was the number of Hexes that bordered them access-wise to the north. The other two Hexes had destroyed bridges, preventing them from getting over into Ray’s territory. Probably for the better, as each incursion grew slightly larger than the one before.
During this time, Ray made several discoveries. First and foremost that he was heavily limited in the number of slaves that he could buy. He was limited both by infrastructure, food and potable water, and weapons and armor.
Population types other than slaves also required consumer goods, something he produced zero of. And while he had been instructing the Orkin and Goblins to gather materials and place them into the converter between waves, they were short the actual NEX to outright build new buildings. This brought Ray to a nexus of choice. Hire some temporary workers with his small amount of wealth and build some ramshackle buildings to upgrade, or purchase a specialty slave for nearly everything he had and hope he could build some slightly higher quality buildings.
Gale stared at her employer in mock disdain after having been presented with his two ideas. “Thou art an idiot Ray,” she said, causing him to choke on his water. “Thou hast come up with several ideas that, while not the worst choices overall, art some of the poorest thou could have chosen.”
“Well then, as my advisor maybe you should advise me then?” he said. “It's not like I am a master of the system by any means.”
The Drakling snorted in amusement, “Of that, we are agreed.” Before Ray could quip back she pressed on, “Open thy contractors tab. Go to the very bottom. There art two options there that may be of interest to thy plans.” With that, she went back to meditating. Or napping. Whatever Drakling's did that is.
Doing as Gale had instructed, Ray navigated to the very bottom. As soon as he got there, he slapped himself in the face. ‘For fucks sake, really?” he groaned as she smiled in amusement, eyes still closed.
“Music to mine sweet ears. Now, make thy choices and let us progress,” Gale responded cheerfully.
Rolling his eyes Ray moved his attention back to the two tabs in question:
*IMMIGRANTS*REFUGEES*
“I should have explored them all before trying to lock myself into a choice,” he grumbled.
Gale nodded, opening her eyes and looking at him, “Indeed. Thou may use a hammer to pound nails, but fishing with one is most difficult.”
“Right. Metaphorical bullshit. Gotchya,” Ray said offhandedly as Gale rolled her eyes and huffed at him. He opened the Refugees tab first, expecting those to be the easier options for gaining anything resembling skilled labor. Boy was he wrong.
“What the fuck is up with these requirements?” he complained loudly. “These fuckers have nowhere to go, and they need more than a small army of slaves or mercenaries do!”
Gale nodded as Ray looked up at her. The Drakling’s expression was grim, and he swallowed wondering just how he had fucked up this time.
“Indeed, thou hast noticed such stringent requirements. When thou hast nothing, thou must provide. None who have lost everything are willing to settle for nothing. Tis a rare group seeking refuge who will risk their loved ones' lives after surviving such horrible events,” Gale explained grimly.
He stopped to think about that for a moment. While he did, his advisor continued, “Mercenaries bring their own lodgings and equipment. Slaves are but slaves. Thou art limited by infrastructure, certainly, but they require little in the way of amenities.”
Ray sighed, “Got it. Your point is made. Now, what do I do? If the refugees are this demanding then just how bad will the immigrants be?”
“The same. In actuality … there are no differing in requirements,” she admitted, “However, hope is not lost. I have done research prior to mine suggestion, there are but two groups that fit thy needs well. However, thou will need to … negotiate heavily with them.” She flicked her fingers in his direction and an icon popped up in his vision.
Ray was growing frustrated. He wanted to bring back humanity, not introduce new races to his home world. He had expected the Goblins and Orkin to die fairly quickly, not survive. They were a stop-gap measure really. But now … now he was bringing even more sentient competition to Earth. And he said as much to Gale.
“Indeed, thou art bringing in possible issues to your doorstep in the future. However, thou needs this, or thou wilt perish and humanity will remain wilted and dying,” she said bluntly.
Pissed off he whirled from her and opened the blinking informational icon. Immediately two screens popped up. Both describing races right out of a fantasy novel.
DWARFLING CLAN
POPULATION
21 ADULTS
9 CHILDREN
SKILLS
LABORERS
MINERS
BUILDERS
CRAFTERS
WE ARE SEEKING A NEW HOME AFTER OUR HOLDING WAS WIPED OUT DURING AN INTER-CLAN WAR. OUR NEW HOME DOES NOT HAVE TO BE SAFE BUT REQUIRES THE POTENTIAL TO DEVELOP INTO A POWER CAPABLE OF SUPPORTING THE CLAN AND PROTECTING OUR FUTURE PROSPERITY
Ray grunted at that. This one seemed pretty straightforward. Accept them in, get them housing, food, and supplies, and protect them. In return, they would build, craft, and probably invent new things for him. How long that relationship would last, however, he was unsure. Not to mention he didn’t know if he was bringing enemies to his doorstep by accepting the survivors of a war.
Gale seemed to read his mind by saying, “Indeed. Thou art correct. There are those who may come looking and demand you remand these beings into your custody.”
Nodding thoughtfully at that, Ray opened the second icon … and his thoughts flatlined.
DRAKLING NEST
POPULATION
4 ADULTS
27 SERVANTS
11 GUARDS
112 EGGS
SKILLS
MAGES
INVENTORS
WARRIORS
WARNING
CLAN CONTAINS A MATURE FEMALE DRAKLING
WE SEEK A NEW WORLD TO EXPAND OUR NEST INTO. THE CONTRACT SHALL BE WRITTEN IN BLOOD FOR ETERNITY WITH THE LANDHOLDER. THE MORE FIGHTING THE BETTER. ANY OPPORTUNITY TO RESEARCH MAGIC AND BUILD A TREASURE HORDE WILL BE HIGHLY VALUED AND REWARDED
Ray turned to Gale, raising an eyebrow. The Drakling had the audacity to purse her lips and look away without responding.
“Are you fucking kidding me? I have zero doubt if I asked them to come here they would fucking eat me,” he quipped. And what does having a Mature Female Drakling mean?”
Gale looked back at him coyly, “It means that thou may be busier than thou expected. Mature females of my species have voracious … appetites.”
“Yeah, definitely going to end up being lunch,” he grumbled. “Why should I pick the Draklings? What does each species bring to the table outside of their little advertisements?”
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“Dwarflings are hardworking, and industrious, but have little loyalty to any but their own royalty. They art low maintenance, but can be temperamental at the worst times. More than a few fledgling settlements have fallen due to their stubbornness.” Gale explained. “Draklings, however, art difficult to maintain, picky, but will never betray those that they swear loyalty to. This loyalty doth extend to their offspring as well. Eternal contracts are … all-encompassing. Mine and mine race’s combat and magical abilities are, simply put, second to none.”
As he thought over his options, something Gale said to him ran through his mind. A massive epiphany exploded in his brain, stunning him for a moment. He then turned to the Drakling, “No,” Ray said, startling Gale. She stared at him in surprise as he navigated away from that and to the resurrection tab. Opening it he was hit by a list with more than nine billion names. As the total loss of mankind slapped him in the face he went pale, realizing just what they had lost through their hubris.
Swallowing to moisten his dry through, he tabbed through the filter, setting it for laborers, engineers, and specialists. Eventually, he had it narrowed down to a few hundred thousand. Unable to decide, he simply selected the top person on the list.
DERRICK VAN HALEN
RACE
HUMAN
CLASS
N/A
NEX
N/A
LEVEL
N/A
PHYSICAL STATE
DEAD
MENTAL STATE
N/A
ATTRIBUTE
BASE
CURRENT
NEX TO INCREASE
STRENGTH
3
3
-
AGILITY
2
2
-
POWER
0
0
-
WISDOM
14
14
-
LUCK
6
6
-
“I fucking knew it,” he breathed out, looking at Gale briefly in frustration before turning back to the screen. “I can start bringing them back. I can bring them all back!”
Then his breath caught in his throat as a single name ran through his thoughts … Josephine.
He searched her name, finding her near the very top of the list. Quickly he tabbed open her screen and, without thinking, paid the NEX next to her information. Immediately a timer started:
REVIVIFICATION TIMER
00:59:58
“Yes! It worked!” Ray cried out. Then he swiveled to Gale angrily. “You were going to let me use all the NEX I have accumulated and blow it on these rando refugees when I could get started bringing my people back from the brink of extinction. You better have a damn good reason for doing that or I swear I will terminate our contract now and send you packing. And yes, I have read the damn cancellation clause. And Yes, I will pay the fucking fee,” he raged.
Gale was taken aback to the point the large lizard-like woman took a full step back. Raising both her hands to chest level, she put them out in front of her placatingly.
“Thou art angry, I know. I understand. I have been less than clear with mine instructions and I apologize profusely. I shall be honest with thee … I am a rank one advisor,” she said nervously.
Ray just stared at her. Gale stared right back. The silence between the two was thick, almost suffocatingly so. He was about to answer when Grok walked through the door. The pair turned to him.
“Ah, Boss, Iz sorry. I uh … Iz will just come back later,” the big Orkin said, beating a hasty retreat.
Turning back to Gale, Ray demanded an explanation. “Explain or get the fuck out.”
Gale got down on her knees and went into a deep and formal bow, placing her forehead on the cold concrete floor. “I apologize to thee,” she said, surprising Ray. “I am but a novice advisor. My greed to help mine own people overshadowed my duties to assist thou with thine own. I have had but a single contract prior to this. It did not end well. Please, give me another chance to me and I will prove my worth.”
Ray stared at the Drakling woman intensely for a moment. Finally, he came to a decision. “Fine. But you need to do two things immediately. The first being never tell me a lie or omit a truth that can help. You know my goals, so stop trying to fuck with them,” he demanded as Gale looked up from the floor and nodded. “The second is that I don’t mind helping others, particularly others that may be important to you. But I need the full picture. All the details. Now stand the fuck up and start talking.”
Gale shot to her feet in a way that made Ray feel as if she were much younger than him. He didn’t have to wait long to get confirmation on that either.
The Drakling advisor spun a tale of intrigue and betrayal. How her species had their own world at one point and it had been taken from them through a series of savage wars. As powerful as they were individually, they could no less fight an entire empire by themselves than a sword would forge itself.
After their defeat, her surviving clan members used their remaining wealth and magic to place their entire group into stasis. The entire group save one individual who would search for their new home.
The more Ray listened, the more he sympathized. Gale had decided that advising would be the best route to go, as very few entities lived as long as Draklings did. The Matriarch of the clan was nearly two thousand years old and only considered to be middle-aged. Gale herself was nearly a hundred a fifty, young for her species but still old and expendable enough to seek new opportunities.
She had taken her first contract and immediately been screwed over. Imprisoned, she had been harvested and healed for her scale's unique properties. She spent the entire year of her contract being experimented on. As soon as it was up, she had been removed by the System and placed back in the queue. While she could choose which contract to accept, she was forced to fulfill the fifty years of service the System had required of her before freedom and her reward would be given.
Eventually, she stopped speaking and the two sat in silence.
“Dat is a fukkin hell-uva story Boss,” grunted Grok, causing the two to jump. “Iz come from a world dat-“
Ray waved the Orkin down, “One … one origin story at a time bud.” He returned his attention to the, apparently, young Drakling. Who seemed more embarrassed than anything. “So you tried to pull a fast one, failed because I decided to be a bit smarter than the average bear, and gave in.” she nodded. “What else have you lied to me about?”
“That is it. I swear upon mine magic,” Gale said, drawing a glowing X in the air as Grok hissed.
Ray turned to the Orkin who explained, “Dat be a big swear Boss. Da Drak coulda loss all her magicz.”
“So that was a big deal?” he asked to the nods of the other two. “Got it. Future reference, don’t do anything that will make you an invalid,” he said towards his advisor who nodded more emphatically.
Ray sat there and thought about everything for a while. He went through some menus, learned more about the development options for his Hex, and marked some pages for future exploration. The System was far more extensive and complicated than any fusion-powered flight manual he had ever read. Thankfully he had the patience to go through everything one page at a time.
Eventually, he ordered his thoughts enough to respond to Gale’s tale. “Alright. Here’s what we can do. Invite your people here,” the Drakling squealed but he held up his hand. “There are going to have to be some compromises. My people come first. Period. I need to retake this world from the undead, the monsters … and whatever else the fucking System throws my way.”
Ray felt a distant pang of disappointment for some odd reason at that last bit, but he forged on. “I am going to revive a few more people. Resurrection seems to be limited by the System too, oddly enough by infrastructure. So that’s what we will focus on first. Once we have enough to generate food, gather materials, and survive the constant attacks we can invite your clan here.”
Gale nodded happily and was about to respond when a bright red notification flashed across everyone's vision:
WARNING
MAJOR INCURSION
1,377 UNDEAD
12 ADVANCED UNDEAD
1 NEMESIS
YOUR NEMESIS COMES FOR YOU. DEFEND YOUR HEX
After everything else that had just happened, Ray wasn’t really surprised this was happening now. Why not? After all, things couldn’t get much-
WARNING
1,590 UNDEAD
16 ADVANCED UNDEAD
1 NEMESIS
“Oh for fucks sake!”
***
RAYMOND ‘RAY’ FINNEGAN
RACE
HUMAN
CLASS
NONE
NEX
CALCULATING
LEVEL
1
PHYSICAL STATE
HEALTHY
MENTAL STATE
DETERMINED
ATTRIBUTE
BASE
CURRENT
NEX TO INCREASE
STRENGTH
5
11
50
AGILITY
3
9
30
POWER
0
3
100
WISDOM
4
9
40
LUCK
2
5
400