CHAPTER 23_HEX - A Zombie Survival LITRPG

Ray

Leafing through the requirements as the tingling of his strengthening wore off. As he reviewed all the options and possibilities, he couldn’t help but cringe. He knew that there were restrictions and requirements, but some of these were outrageous! There was a group of slime people whose home world had been destroyed in a cataclysmic war. Ray felt for them, really, he did. But having homes made of uranium, with sulfur baths were not within his means to do. At any time!

Ray wasn’t sure if it was the groups themselves who set the requirements or the System. But he had a handy source of answers for those kinds of questions, so he asked.

“Hey Gale, who sets the requirements for refugees and slaves?” he wondered aloud, not looking up from his screens.

The Drakling advisor wandered over and looked over his shoulder. Ray made the screen visible for her and waited for her response. He didn’t have to wait long.

“The groups themselves set requirements for their own acquisition,” she said. “If their requests are not enough to meet thy Systems minimum requirements, they may be increased regardless of their input to meet their basic needs.”

Ray nodded at that. Basically, if a group was desperate enough they may put nothing down. If they were to do that the System would essentially slap their hand and set up the most basic requirements to survive possible. Apparently, it wouldn’t allow a group to go from one potentially fatal situation to another.

Somehow this made him feel a bit better about an omniscient System that could make or break him.

“Grand. Here's a short list of people I may be willing to hire going forward. Take a look and let me know what you think,” he said, spinning off a screen to Gale.

The Drakling jumped, staring at the screen with wide eyes, then moving her gaze over to Ray. “Ray, does thou know what thy have just done?” she asked in wonder.

Ray quirked an eyebrow in confusion. “Uh, no?” he responded, curious.

“Thou hast issued me a quest. One with a NEX reward,” she said quietly. “This is something only thy System has done previously.”

Ray laughed, “Must not be much of a question. And I did mean to give you something for it. Color me curious though, how much is the reward? And do I pay you?”

Instead of responding, Gale spun the screen around to him. This allowed him to see the request in full. Ray whistled at that.

ADMINISTRATIVE QUEST I

REVIEW THE REFUGEE CHOICES FOR YOUR CONTRACTOR. DETERMINE THE BEST FITS FOR THE SITUATION AND ENVIRONMENT AND ADVISE HIM OF YOUR CHOICES AND WHY.*

REWARD: 20 NEX

“That’s interesting. It still doesn’t say who pays you,” Ray said slowly. “But if I do, then maybe I can submit paid quests to everyone? That would be helpful.”

“Thy damn System keeps … working outside mine confines of knowledge,” grumbled Gale, while Ray laughed at her. Even Josephine cracked a quick smile before going back to observing the surroundings.

“Everything changes, it's just how we cope and adapt to those changes that matter,” Josephine said quietly, all eyes turning to her. “Change will always happen whether we want it to or not. Change is inevitable, as one breath to the next is. Even in death, we change. Trying to hold on to what we know without adapting and learning is to stagnate. To stagnate is to ensure nothing of humanity will remain.”

Ray didn’t quite know what to say to that. No one had any idea what to say to that.

“Right. So, quests. I can … issue them? Or at least something like them. Maybe,” he said. “Also, I think it's time that I let you all know I have been getting odd phrases in my System notifications.”

Gale focused on him with an intensity that made him sweat. “Describe these … odd phrases,” she said with enough feeling to nearly be described as a bloodlust.

“Uh, right,” Ray stammered. “It almost feels like someone is mocking me. But with a purpose. When I received the event notification for those Death Slugs, the last bit told me to watch our backs. We didn’t, and we got hammered and nearly killed because of it.”

Gale cursed in a language Ray didn’t understand. Flicking her eyes back to him she said, “Thou art aware of beings greater than ourselves, yes?” she asked. Ray nodded his confirmation so she continued, “Gods, what many perceive as divine entities. They doth manage some aspects of the System. Some. Mine words cannot convey nor stress that word enough. They are but caretakers of minor aspects of the System. Mine suspicions are applied greatly to the idea one such divine may be interfering here. Why? I know not.”

Ray held up a hand, “No. No God talk yet. I can't wrap my head around it right now. I get there are things greater than us on a massive level. Cool. But let's focus on getting established before we go on a crusade for information that we can't apply yet. I’m not saying never, but the snide remarks seem to be aimed at helping us, at least a little. So let's leave it at that for now.”

Gale nodded, “Very well. Why thou art ready let me know. It is wise to focus on survival for now anyway. With the integration coming, thou shall be immensely busy. We know not what the future holds past that point. These past days and weeks have altered mine perception of the System, and you.”

Ray was once again caught flat-footed on how to respond. He rubbed the growing beard on his face with his remaining hand, wondering just what would come in the future.

Derrick sauntered over to the group, “Hey guys! And gals, and uh … Draklings? Sorry,” he chuckled. “Some news already. We are getting ready to set up the shop, however, we keep running into an issue. The System is saying that we haven’t claimed this set of buildings yet. Can you do something about that boss?”

Grumbling about owning the damn Hex, Ray swapped his interface over to the territorial view. Seeing that the buildings they were in were lit green, he reviewed the building's layouts. Opening the screen so everyone could see it, he took Derrick and Gales's advice and made some modifications to the structure.

Using most of the materials within all three attached warehouses, the structure resembled nothing like it had before. Sitting back, Ray reviewed their changes.

STANDARD OUTPOST

BEDS

200

KITCHENS

OFFICES

EXPEDITION ROOM

CUSTOM ADDITIONS

INTEGRATED SHOP

WAREHOUSE

REINFORCED WALLS AND ENTRY POINTS

COMMANDER QUARTERS

THIS IS A FULLY EQUIPPED STANDARD STRENGTH OUTPOST WITH CUSTOM FEATURES. BOASTING REINFORCED WALLS, DOORS, AND WINDOWS, IT WOULD TAKE A CONCENTRATED EFFORT BY A SUPERIOR FORCE TO TAKE THIS BUILDING. CONTAINS A LEVEL 1 INTEGRATED SHOP

“There, I would say this would do it,” Ray boasted while Derrick nodded. “Do we have to leave for the changes to take place?”

Gale smirked, “Indeed. That would be wise. Unless thou wouldst enjoy viewing your new abode from the interior of a reinforced wall.”

Gale ushered all of them out of the building and towards the dock. When they were far enough away, she asked Ray to accept the changes. So he did.

The entire building slowly melted into a puddle of goop. There was no other word for it. Moments later the goop seemed to come alive and spread out in the foundations of a single large square building. It was as if he were watching a structure being built, but with no people doing the building itself.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The goop that made up the main building put walls, doors, and windows into place. Once those had hardened it stretched across the top to form a roof. That made up the primary structure two-floor structure.

Once the main structure was up, two long, single-story rectangles came out from two sides of the structure. One had no windows and a single large opening on the far side pointing towards the road. The other had windows evenly spaced along its sides with a single set of double doors on the side not connected to the main building. These must have been the warehouse and barracks buildings.

“That … was fucking awesome to watch,” drooled Derrick. “Just imagine the architectural and manufacturing capabilities we can take advantage of with the System!”

Gale shook her head, “Thou should temper thy expectations,” she said, also watching the building assemble itself. “Construction and creation through thy System is far more expensive in terms of material and NEX than completing it thyself. Notice, none of the materials present in the building prior to its reconstruction remain.”

Derrick nodded at that then froze, “Fuck! We didn’t take the vehicles we found out of the warehouse!”

Ray laughed at that. While Derrick lamented, practically in a state of tears, it didn’t bother him at all. They had the barge behind them and plenty of stuff to scavenge over the next several weeks before the integration began. He wasn’t too worried.

All in all the reconstruction of the building took thirty minutes. The Orkin and Goblins patrolled the perimeter for threats, occasionally dispatching a wayward basic undead. There was no noise, so nothing was really drawn to the area to investigate. Ray liked it that way. There were definite perks that were given through System construction, even if the cost was outlandish compared to doing it yourself.

All too soon the building solidified, and Ray found himself looking at a nondescript grey building.

“Well, should we head in and check it out?” he wondered aloud.

“Onee if ya wan stayz out in da cold boss,” said Grok in his broken language as he meandered up from the dock.

Gale laughed, “No. Thou wouldst not enjoy me being cranky from the damp air. Let us go inside and explore your newest creation.”

Nodding at the group they headed inside the main structure. Approaching the door, Ray pushed it open, noting how thick the entrance doors were. Nodding in appreciation he led the group into the first floor. It was open and lit by the afternoon sun through windows placed high on the wall.

The main room was a kind of meeting room, complete with a central table, several tables with chairs, and ringed with the offices listed on the System summary. On the far side, next to the door to the barracks, was a kiosk with a sign above it that said, ‘Shop’.

“Well, we know where the shop is now. Good placement boss,” Derrick said, heading that way.

Rolling his eyes, Ray and the remaining entourage headed for the second floor. It contained a kitchen, a small meeting room, and several quarters that the System had apparently deemed the Command Quarters. Most likely Officer level rooms.

Heading back downstairs while Grok and Gale checked out their new digs, Ray headed over to the shop.

“We are going to need more people,” he said to Josephine, who nodded in silent agreement. “Anything you would like? We should probably invest a bit in some troops with more training and equipment.”

He quickly checked his NEX balance:

NEX BALANCE

92,811

“Just shy of a hundred thousand. Ok. We have two hundred beds so … let's get another twenty Orkin and fifty Goblins. That puts us right at a hundred used,” Ray said, moving around the interface quickly. “What else should we look at?”

Josephine thought for a moment, then perking up said, “We need scouts. And a ranged troop. Gale and I did a lot of damage using those spears. If we can get some kind of bowmen or javelin throwers that would be ideal,” she said.

Ray didn’t fault her for that. Ranged fighters were a must here, and just the two of them had wrought immense damage in their last fight using impromptu weapons. He wasn’t sure how effective they would be against the undead, however, he couldn’t say no outright.

Looking through the list of slaves, he found dozens of species he didn’t recognize. And he found a few that he did, or were similar enough to legends and media he had read or seen that he could draw an approximation to them.

Pausing in thought, thought brought something back to the forefront of his thinking. Just why were all the races so similar? Of course, there were many he didn’t recognize, but it almost looked like everything he had ever heard of from myth and legend, or even from made-up media, was personified in the list of creatures and people within the System. It was almost like everything that he knew was all drawn out of one large database of some kind.

Shaking the thoughts away, he refocused his efforts on finding some beings to fill in. Orkin and Goblins were, as he previously found, very cheap. Life didn’t mean much apparently unless it was directly relatable to those holding it. No, Ray wouldn’t throw away their lives unless there was no other option.

As he scrolled through the list, he set aside different groupings in a side list to look at. Eventually, however, he came across something that froze him in his tracks.

In front of him, identical down to a T, was a human being. Listed as a slave.

“Gale!” he yelled, startling everyone around him. His advisor ran over to him from the barracks where she had been, moving just as fast as if she were in combat conditions. “What … the actual fuck is that?” he asked, pointing to the person on his System display.

Gale looked at it briefly, then relaxed. “Ah, I see thou hast found the Thymians. They art but an approximation of a Human, not Human in origin. Thou will find many races within the Systems confines that resemble one race or another. Tis how the System works, and how life evolves,” she responded, watching as Ray relaxed. “Thymians are powerful spell casters in tune with Mana. You wouldst do well to hire a dozen or so. They are expensive but worth the price.”

Expensive was an understatement. A squad of four cost twenty thousand NEX. But he wasn’t about to gainsay his advisor. He purchased the squad, then picked up a group of twenty-five Aelvin archers. They reminded him heavily of Wood Elves from one of the popular online games he had tried once. With their lengthy tied-back hair, pale complexions, and long pointed ears, it was like they came right out of the media itself.

Almost instantly the central room went from having less than a dozen people, to nearly two hundred. Ray set a personal reminder in the System to do this in a far large place next time. Grok burst into the room at the dull roar, battle axe at the ready. The new Goblins scattered as the huge Orkin approached and immediately took charge of them and the newly purchased Orkin. The Thymians and Aelvin, however, remained in the neat rows, waiting to be approached and spoken to.

“Grok! Take the Goblins and Orkin to the barracks. Get them situated,” Ray shouted over the chaos. His green companion nodded and quickly rounded up the curious Goblins and ushered the entire group into the barracks. Once the doors closed, Ray turned his attention to the other two groups.

The leader of the Thymians stared at Reeve, then he said, “You … aren’t one of us.”

That got the attention of the Aelvin as well. Ray responded quickly enough, however. “Nope. Not one of you. But I bet we evolved similarly on our respective worlds. Our languages are close enough to understand each other as well, so there’s that. I still can’t understand the Goblins.”

The Aelvin leader snorted, “No one can understand them. Their language is below the first stage in its development.

Ray looked at the haughty leader closely. The sneering Aelvin glared back, unashamed of his hostility.

Yeah, this was going to be a problem.

***

RAYMOND ‘RAY’ FINNEGAN

RACE

HUMAN

CLASS

NONE

NEX

CALCULATING

LEVEL

PHYSICAL STATE

GOOD

MENTAL STATE

ANNOYED

ATTRIBUTE

BASE

CURRENT

NEX TO INCREASE

STRENGTH

AGILITY

POWER

100

WISDOM

LUCK

400

JOSEPHINE SANCHEZ