Ray
The world came back into existence through fits and starts. Honestly, Ray felt more than a little like he had when he was quasi-dead. Right after he had planted the core that is. Gasping, throat as dry as a desert, he opened his inventory and retrieved a bottle of water. Downing half the bottle he laid the rest of it on the … floor?
He cracked open an eye or tried to at least. Either the room that he was in was pitch black, or his eyes had been taken along with his … ah yeah. He waved his stump in the air. He could tell that it had been perfectly bandaged, but the feeling of his hand was still there. Even now, the phantom fingers and wrist were moving as his mind told his body that they were still there.
That sucked.
As his mind came back online fully, he could hear sounds from below him. Ah, he realized where he was now. He was in the barracks on the second floor of their base. Probably in a vacant bed.
Sitting up, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and onto the floor next to the water bottle he had dropped. As he did so, he stepped on a sleeping Goblin, who promptly woke up, looked at Ray in confusion, then began squawking loudly as it raced around in the darkness bouncing off bunks and various objects.
The response to the commotion was immediate, as he heard multiple sets of feet start coming up the stairs to this level. As the door opened, Grok, Gale, and Josephine walked into the room. Each of them was holding a candle as they moved over towards him. The extra illumination told him that he could, indeed, still see.
As they came closer, dozens upon dozens of notifications flooded his vision. He dismissed them all for now, as he had more important things to discuss with his … group. Mainly, that they were still alive. Squinting into the candlelight as they sat down around him, Grok remained standing, of course, he quirked an eyebrow.
“What’s with the candlelight vigil? I’m not dead yet,” he rasped out, picking up the bottle and downing the rest of the water.
Grok grunted as Gale responded for the group, “Thou hast been asleep nearly two days in recovery. It is no wonder thy body feels as if it were one of the undead,” the Drakling quipped.
“Oi, I can seez ya liked mah, alarm Boss,” Grok grunted out, grabbing the still screeching Goblin and tossing it over his shoulder and down the stairs. “Annoyin buggah.”
Ray gave a short chuckle at that, then turned his attention to Josephine. “Glad you could join us, you certainly showed up at the right time,” he related thankfully. “Good to see you up and amongst the living.”
Ray was about to ask something else, but a sudden thought stopped him cold. “You seem … to be much stronger than before,” he started cautiously. Then, lacking the ability to organize words at that moment in time he simply blurted, “Why?”
Josephine bowed to him deeply at the waist, “My apologies, Savior,” she said in a nearly panicking tone. “I was presented the opportunity to choose a class when you resurrected me. This made me significantly stronger,” she explained while holding the bow.
“Just uh, stand up please?” Ray said as the woman went from bent at a ninety-degree angle to ramrod straight. Then what she said clicked. “Oh shit, you’re a Resurrectionist are you?”
Josephine nodded as Ray put his face in his hand and rubbed his tired eyes. Resurrectionists showed up nearly a decade before his first death. It was an immensely popular, and highly prevalent, set of spiritual beliefs that revolved around reincarnation. Recent innovations in technology had allowed the transfer of a human consciousness from one body to another to greatly expand the human life cycle. However this came at the immense cost of time, money, and resources many didn’t have. However, those who had gone through the process viewed it as akin to a religious experience. Hence the Resurrectionist Religion was born.
The biggest issue, however, was that Resurrectionists tended to be hardcore fanatics. When sponsored by someone and brought back, they were loyal to that person or organization to the death. Many times the death of others. This had sparked several wars in the past, as well as made the religion nearly illegal in many countries.
“Ok. Fine. Don’t kill anyone without my explicit permission. That’s my first edict,” Ray said. He was intimately familiar with the religion. Although having never followed it himself, he had been friends with many who had. Including one of the Resurrected themselves. Acolytes were common and served under the Resurrected. Sometimes in very large groups.
“Consider it done my Savior,” Josephine said seriously.
Knowing their relationship would probably never be the same, or normal in any way, Ray simply accepted what was happening. She had become his first Resurrectionist. Knowing what he did, he now had zero doubts that more would end up this way. He only hoped that it wouldn’t be too terrible in the end and that they could, and would, live normal lives.
Grok and Gale seemed unsurprised by how she was acting. So either Josephine had explained everything to them, or they had experience with something like the Resurrectionist movement in their lives. With the vastness of the cosmos that had been opened up, Ray had zero doubt there were many kinds of religions out there.
Shaking himself out of those deep thoughts he spoke. “So what happened when I passed out? You said that I have been asleep for two days? What’s the situation outside?” Ray asked in rapid succession.
Gale laughed while Grok snorted in amusement. Even Josephine cracked a small grin.
“Thou hast not to worry. Mine curiosity is greater in regards to the rewards the System has bestowed upon thee,” Gale said.
Grok grunted and Josephine explained, “We all received notifications and rewards. Even those little green … Goblins? Yes. Goblins. Even they got rewards. But it specified that you got something special,” clarified Josephine.
Nodding, Ray turned to his notifications. There were … a lot.
NEMESIS INCURSION DEFEATED
EVENT REWARDS: 50,000 NEX
EVENT AWARD: +3 TO ALL STATS
UNDEAD KILLED: 1,606
ITEM AWARDED: ADVANCED MATERIALS CONVERTER
ITEM AWARDED: HEX CLAIM BEACON X2
ITEM AWARDED: WAR CHEST
“Well, that doesn’t seem so bad!” Ray said, giddy as he felt his body, mind, and soul expand. He was also immensely happy that the System had given him the opportunity to claim more hexes. He moved on to several red notifications and cursed when saw what they said.
WARNING
YOUR NEMESIS HAS SOMEHOW SURVIVED. IT NEARLY DIED IN ITS MISGUIDED ATTEMPT TO KILL YOU AND CLAIM THE CORE. ITS NEXT ATTEMPT WILL BE MUCH MORE DEVASTATING
WARNING
THE NEMESIS INCURSION HAS ENDED, HOWEVER, ITS ACTIONS HAVE GARNERED THE ATTENTION OF SOMETHING MUCH MORE DANGEROUS NEARBY. BE WARY.
“Shit, that thing survived? Something much more dangerous? What the fuck?” he spat, outraged. Turning to the three near him he explained the messages in detail. Once that was complete, Gale urged him to check the other notifications. So he moved on to the orange-colored ones, quickly realizing there were yet more red notices mixed in.
ATTENTION
A HEX HAS BEEN CLAIMED BY ANOTHER ORGANIZATION
ATTENTION
A HEX HAS BEEN CLAIMED BY ANOTHER ORGANIZATION
ATTENTION
A HEX HAS BEEN CLAIMED BY AN INDIVIDUAL
WARNING
A HEX HAS BEEN CLAIMED BY A HOSTILE FOREIGN POWER
ATTENTION
A HEX HAS BEEN CLAIMED BY A HEROIC-LEVEL ENTITY
WARNING
A HEX HAS BEEN CLAIMED BY A HEROIC-LEVEL UNDEAD
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“What the hell is a Heroic level entity?” Ray wondered aloud, turning to Gale.
The Drakling was pale. “Heroic? Thy world is … not a safe place to reside Ray. There are tiers of power to be claimed by those who accumulate enough levels,” Gale explained. “The Tiers are simple enough to understand. Basic, Advanced, Heroic, Legendary, Mythic, and Ascended. Mine own Tier is but Advanced, while thou is but a member of the Basic Tier.”
“Grand, I’m a basic bitch, eh?” he grumbled as Gale looked at him questioningly and Josephine laughed. “How do you grow through the Tiers?”
“Thou must reach level ten to advance from Basic. Thy level is then reset to one before thou must grow to level fifty. For Heroic it is level one hundred. For Legendary it is level five hundred. There are no known records for Mythic and Ascended, however, the System has revealed that it is possible to attain those Tiers.”
Josephine cleared her throat, garnering the attention of those around her. “I … uh … I am Advanced,” she admitted with some trepidation. “Level two.”
Ray looked at her in confusion as Gales's jaw opened, revealing her long incisors. “Impossible,” she muttered. “Thou hast nothing to advance! Thy life was recently returned to thine body. There is no way!”
“Well, jokes on you. Cause that’s what it says!” Josephine responded with a snarl. With no hesitation, she opened her screen and spun it around to make it visible to everyone.
JOSEPHINE SANCHEZ
RACE
HUMAN
CLASS
(A) MYRMIDON
NEX
CALCULATING
LEVEL
2
PHYSICAL STATE
EMPOWERED
MENTAL STATE
WORRIED
ATTRIBUTE
BASE
CURRENT
NEX TO INCREASE
STRENGTH
18
18
180
AGILITY
21
21
210
POWER
4
4
400
WISDOM
17
17
170
LUCK
10
10
1000
Everyone poured over the screen in shocked silence. Even Grok seemed stunned, and not much slowed down that mouth of his. Around them Goblins observed in quiet contemplation, sometimes whispering among themselves in that odd high-pitched guttural language of theirs. Ray had never seen them so surprised. As odd and interesting as that was, it was what Gale said next that really caused him to swivel his attention back to her.
“Mine own knowledge retains nothing of this Myrmidon Class,” said Gale, looking up at Josephine in curiosity. “What doth it provide you?”
Josephine nodded and her eyes moved side to side as she read off of something that, even with her stats visible, only she could see. “The System says it is a Legendary Class of warrior that served under someone called Achilles. He was apparently a human, but I haven’t heard of him before.”
“He was a King in Ancient Greece,” said Ray, startling everyone. He shrugged and said, “I loved history. There's lots to be found in history. Lots of neat stories, and tales. Particularly the Trojan War, and Homer's Illiad.”
Josephine nodded in thanks and continued, “As long as I am within a certain range of my sworn liege I gain double physical stats. I can also accept something called a Direct System Quest once a month from my liege and be rewarded for it as if it were a System Quest in its origin.” She looked up, “I don’t know what that means.”
Gale sat heavily on a bed nearby. “Thy humans may be … one of the more dangerous races to have been discovered. Thou shalt let no one know of these things or any class or bonus that you receive. I absolutely tremble at the thought of thee getting your class Ray,” she said with nervous trepidation. “Thy world ... thy world may grow to be immensely powerful in the future if thou race survives.”
“I don’t know what’s going on, but it sounds like Josephine got a good roll from the RNG god,” Ray said with a chuckle, much to everyone’s confusion. He waved away their questions, “Never mind, never mind. Before I go on, tell me what you have been up to.”
“Yes my liege,” Josephine said immediately. “The Orkin and Goblins, under Grok’s leadership, have continued gathering materials. The bridge has been heavily fortified for any future incursions,” she summarized. “The three of us have been talking and we now have enough resources for several buildings. We need you to make that decision, as well as decide if this is where you want the core to remain.”
Ray blinked at that, “I thought the core couldn’t move?” he asked, turning to Gale.
Gale shrugged sheepishly, her wings rising with the awkward motion. “Thou is both correct and incorrect. Nodes may not be moved, as they are fused to their location within the Mana Grid. The core … the core may be moved until the World Integration happens.”
Ray shot up, “That changes everything!”
His three companions looked at one another uneasily. Eventually, Grok spoke up, “Uh, Boss, whatcha thinkin?”
“What I’m thinking is that we move our entire base to Governor Island,” Ray said excitedly. “It has a full Renaissance fortress and enough farmland to be self-sustaining for a decent population. Not to mention it would place us in the center of the area to claim more of the lower portion of Old New York as well as the industrial areas. If we can get those, even if the entire planet resets we will have enough space and resources for years.”
Gale sighed and shook her head, bringing Ray back to reality. “It is … not so simple. Thou simply cannot pick up the core and move it. There are … conditions to its relocation. One of which requires thee to have in your possession a HEX Claim Beacon. Any territorial claim beacon is immensely resource intensive to construct.”
Ray grinned and withdrew a bowling ball-sized orb from his inventory. “The first, and hardest step, is complete. What's next?”
Gale just stared in wonder. “Thou never ceases to amaze. Mine ability to predict your actions at this time is non-existent. Wouldst thou happen to have two by any chance?”
Ray nodded happily and retrieved the second bowling ball-sized orb. “The System just so happened to have awarded me two.”
Gale went back to shaking her head. “Absurdity. This is all absurdity. Very well then. Thou must use a single orb to remove the core, and a single orb to replace it.”
“No. We need to prepare first. We have enough raw materials for two full buildings, and I have an advanced converter in my inventory now,” he explained as Gale simply threw back her head and laughed. “So we need ships. Preferably one large one and a couple of smaller ones. Which means we need sailors. In order for that to happen we have to resurrect some people. So let's build the level one shop then go get us a new fortress home.”
“Thou certainly art ambitious, Ray,” muttered Gale as Josephine shook with mirth.
Ray grinned ferally, “You have no idea Gale. I am going to take back as much space as I can. Resurrect my people in droves, and reclaim my damn planet. Then we can start looking at expanding into the stars once more. I may not see success in my lifetime, but I will sure as fuck ensure someone will succeed.”
Gale looked at the determined man in front of her. The Draklings heart beat a little faster with each word. She only hoped that he was able to do as he said. Because even she knew that they were running on borrowed time. The moment someone else found this world after its integration, the real fight would begin.
And none of them would come out of that unscathed.
***
RAYMOND ‘RAY’ FINNEGAN
RACE
HUMAN
CLASS
NONE
NEX
CALCULATING
LEVEL
1
PHYSICAL STATE
WORN
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
JOSEPHINE SANCHEZ
RACE
HUMAN
CLASS
(A) MYRMIDON
NEX
CALCULATING
LEVEL
2
PHYSICAL STATE
EMPOWERED
MENTAL STATE
WORRIED
ATTRIBUTE
BASE
CURRENT
NEX TO INCREASE
STRENGTH
18
18
180
AGILITY
21
21
210
POWER
4
4
400
WISDOM
17
17
170
LUCK
10
10
1000