[Lodestone access point created! Would you like to set up your inventory for your private market?]
Yes! Logan fist-pumped the air, his excitement through the roof. He felt like dancing, swaying on the balls of his feet, his mouth in a wide grin.
Everything he’d just done had been an experiment, a shot in the dark, but still, he’d figured out how the skill worked and also made crafting advances. Before this, he never would have thought that fire could be used to combine elements and strengthen material.
If he could magnetize a sheet of metal and craft it into a lodestone, what did that mean for [Mimicry Armour]? He’d always suspected that he could use something other than sandstone to craft better armour, but now, he knew that he could, he just had to find the right material. Rusty nails wouldn’t be an option, since his Logan exoskeleton only worked because he had access to a massive pile of sand. To make the same thing work with higher quality material, he’d need buckets full of the stuff.
Still, that was a problem for another day. For now, he needed to figure out how to create a private market.
Logan mentally hovered over the [YES] choice.
[Please select the items you’d like to add to your private market.]
Suddenly, Logan was looking at the contents of his spatial storage collar. He swallowed, his mouth dry. So. A private market was just that. It didn’t give Logan access to anything other than what he could create himself. That meant that he’d have to transfer items from his own spatial storage into the market, effectively losing them.
Fuck. He had a massive ton of crap inside of his collar, volume wasn’t the problem, it was that to make the private market attractive, he’d need to give up things he’d rather keep.
Logan ran his hand over his chin, scratching his stubble as he considered a way forward.
The True Grit Ring he’d earned in the trial dungeon was going to Lara. It was his rarest item, something that could only be earned from almost killing himself in the attribute trials. He’d also nabbed four Silverdagger Clan spatial storage bracelets, rarities from E Grade to B Grade. He wanted to give one to Lara and the kids, which left one remaining, but he’d rather reserve it for Jack and Tasha.
Wait a minute.
He’d killed fifty people in Pied’s Kingdom, and he’d thrown their corpses as well as their belongings inside of his spatial storage. Fifty people had to have a ton of good shit, and hopefully not a ton of cursed skill rings.
Logan mentally rummaged through the contents, grimacing at the list of corpses, before scrutinizing…
Shit. He’d managed to gather twenty spatial storage bracelets! 20! Not to mention the weapons, armour, and food. None of the weapons were above C Grade, but they’d have to be better than weapons most people could find in their kitchens or on the street. If he was right, Pied’s agents only received them due to their relationship with Pied.
All in all, once he’d sorted through everything, he had over 100 weapons that he could add to his private market, not to mention as many frigging green beans as he wanted since he could always get more.
If Logan concentrated on each item, he could set a KarmaCoin price, whatever price he wanted. And if he toggled through the options, he could….
[Would you like to turn on the option for auction buying?]
Logan blinked and then grinned, bouncing on the balls of his feet. According to this, he could either give the item a KarmaCoin cost, or he could auction it within a set time period, allowing people to put in bids. Holy crap, was that ever kickass!
Logan tried not to feel greedy, but he’d been tempted by the empire building description of his [Fabled Creation] class for just that reason. Finally, finally, he could make something of himself, exceed Lara financially, hell, even exceed his shitty boss, Sarah!
There was the question of how this worked, though. Logan had only received KarmaCoin by growing trees and reducing carbon. With the Tree Fridge, he’d tried to convert currency for KarmaCoin with no luck.
KarmaCoin may not be widely in use yet, which would limit who could buy items from his market. But still, he was convinced that it would become the major currency; the only viable option when the internet no longer worked. People weren’t going to cart around their life savings in physical bills; he was convinced of that, which is why he’d been so excited when he discovered the serpent queen’s hoard in the cavern. That meant that although he would have limited customers to start, eventually, KarmaCoin would become routine for everyone.
But for his private market to be successful, he’d have to continuously add new items. With everything else already on his plate, stocking inventory would be challenging. Oh well, it’s not like Logan couldn’t table that problem. To succeed at his Build an Empire quest, he needed to craft ten lodestone access points and sell 100 items. He already had the lodestone, now, he just needed to pick the spots. Preferably spots with a lot of people.
Once that was done, he’d succeed at the quest and then leave restocking his private market for another day.
***
[Countdown: Day 12 of Day 365 before species culling. Only the worthy survive.]
[Current rank: 2 out of 6,000,015,197.]
[You are currently in the 1%.]
This time, rather than waking up halfway through a nightmare and jumping to his feet in startlement, Logan had a tough time blinking awake, his eyes crusty, his limbs sluggish. He’d stayed up well into the night, inventorying everything he could into his new private market. There was only so much [Undead Stamina] could do, and a lack of sleep was starting to catch up to him.
Stretching, Logan climbed to his feet and then cracked his neck, before looking around at the others. After he’d called it a night, he’d stretched out on the ground close to Lara and the kids, trying to keep them within reach in case they needed him.
Lara seemed worse off than Logan, rubbing her bloodshot eyes, her mouth in a grimace as she stretched and scowled up at the smoggy sun. The heat persisted, that constant, dry heat that hardly decreased in the night. The System had also woken Hunter and Sawyer, but rather than getting up, they glanced around them and then pulled their blankets over their heads with complaining grumbles and grunts.
But everyone had received the same System wakeup call to various effects. Many of Brooke and Chase’s group let out cries and jumped up, staring at their surroundings with wild eyes. Logan couldn’t blame them. For days, the daily wake up call had announced another cut to the world population, and being reminded that you were ranked outside of the one percent couldn’t be a confidence boost.
Logan pulled Lara to the side, lowering his voice. “I need to go back to Jack’s cabin and make sure it’s safe for you and the kids. I’d take you with me, but I left a whole group there, and according to the last text message I received from Jack, there might be a problem. It’s not safe. Not yet.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Lara bit her lip and stared over at Hunter and Sawyer with a worried frown. “If you leave us alone who’s to say it’ll be safe here?” She gestured to Brooke and Chase’s group. “I don’t trust them. They could have XP harvesters.”
“I don’t think they do. Lara, do you remember Sarah, my boss?”
Lara looked thrown. “The devil woman?”
Logan snorted. “Yep. She’s here, part of the group. She may have been a horrible boss, but I don’t think she’s a horrible person. Or someone who would hang around a group that would participate in murder. Either way, I’ll ask Ernie to stay and protect you while I’m away. He’s level 70; these people aren’t going to mess with you, not with him watching over you. Plus, I’ll be gone and back before you know it.”
Logan had no idea what had happened to Matt after he’d left, but although Logan suspected that he was a psychopath, he was a teenager, all knobbly knees. There was no way he would be any match for Logan.
Logan ran a hand over his head, then winced and tried to straighten his hair. It was standing on end, and with his stubble, he really did resemble a mountain man. “And if worse comes to worse, Ernie has a skill that will allow him to portal you out of here. He’ll take you to the cabin. You can trust him, Lara. I trust him with my life.”
Lara blew out a breath. “This is so messed up. Talking octopuses, monsters, rats. I don’t like not being able to keep my kids safe.”
“I’ll keep you safe, I will. But first, I need to secure your home.”
***
Logan got Ernie up to speed and made sure that he was gathering the octopuses who wanted to leave. Ernie’s outlook on life had done a 180. He was no longer muttering about Pied and skill rings; instead, he was enthused about his growing army, his horns jumping up and down like whack-a-moles, his pale Liche colors fluctuating. He was a bundle of energy, his tentacles dancing up and down, his mouth gaping, his eyes alight in pleasure as he inventoried each additional minion.
“Remember,” said Logan, slightly worried that Ernie would be too distracted to take in anything other than his growing army. “Watch them. Watch them with your life.”
Ernie paused, his tentacles stilling as he grinned. “Pfft! It will be child’s play, Logan! With my mighty army, I could create a wall of monsters, circling your brethren! No one will touch them! For I rival all.”
Logan winced as he thought of Lara’s reaction to being surrounded by undead zombies. “That’s not necessary. Just keep them close to the shore and monitor the area. Lara will let out the alarm if there’s a problem, but hopefully your minions will be able to stop anything before it gets to that point.”
Shoot paced up and down the beach, her tail swinging from side-to-side, green flowers blooming on the end. She reminded him of a cat, desperate to get to her owner, but unwilling to get her feet wet.
“I can help too, Mother!” she chirped. Clawing the ground, she bounced, digging in with the sand and making it go flying. “I will stay close to the little ones and jump to Ernie if there’s a problem!”
Right, Shoot also had a teleportation skill.
On top of that, Shoot had the ability to level just from gaining acceptance from others. If she cozied up to Lara and the kids and charmed them, she might jump a few extra levels.
Logan strode out of the water and up onto the beach, his wet feet soaking the sand. Even in the morning, it was already close to a hundred degrees, making the sand feel like burning coals.
Peering down, he deployed [Mimicry Armour], not bothering to take sand out of his spatial collar since it was all around him. In seconds, he’d managed to shift the sand underneath his feet into solid sandstone, sculpting the material and giving himself a pair of boots.
Logan crouched and gave Shoot a gentle look. “You’ll protect them? Protect them with your life?”
Shoot panted, her tail swaying. “Yes, mother!”
Logan nodded. “I know you’ll do a good job.”
Logan had one more thing to do before he left, and that was to make sure that he spread the word about his lodestone so that he’d at least make one of the requirements of his Build an Empire Quest.
“Ernie,” he said, turning to the water. “Give me ten minutes and then I’ll take your brethren away.” Already, offshore, there was a massive swarm of tentacles that danced together as the octopuses of assorted sizes gathered. Dozens of eyes blinked at him as waves passed over their heads, the water glinting orange underneath the smoggy sky.
Logan pinched the bridge of his nose and blew out a breath. He felt pulled in different directions with too many priorities to count. Right now, the most important tasks were to take care of Ernie’s octopus transportation side quest in the quickest time as possible, make sure Jack’s cabin was safe, and then tackle his Build an Empire quest.
That meant time was ticking.
Striding up the beach, Logan made his way to Brooke and Chase’s group. They’d piled together, sleeping on blankets and towels. Half of them were already awake, rummaging around in backpacks and bags, looking for food, while the others were trying to sleep, pulling blankets over top of their heads to block the light.
Brooke along with another man Logan didn’t know had stood guard for the rest of the night. They looked weary, their shoulders slumped and dark circles underneath their eyes.
The man had thinning hair, and he was sweating in the heat, scalp shining red, his shirt pulled to the side, his collar torn. His stubble had grown out of control, giving him a small beard, but it had grown in unkempt; his lip bare, his chin full of scraggly facial hair. He had a round nose and thin lips, his brown eyes bloodshot.
Strands of hair were exploding out of Brooke’s braid, her pants filthy with dirt and blood. Huh. The next time he found an abandoned home, even a store, it might be worth picking up a selection of clothes that he could add to his private market. Creature comforts were something that had taken a backseat to monsters and death, but eventually, people would crave normality.
Logan scanned them with [Idiot’s Inspect]:
[Brooke Fisher: Level 25. A human being.]
[Highest Stat: Intelligence. Characteristics: An analytical mind. Hidden name: Brooke.]
[Frederick Nedtuck: Level 15. A human being.]
[Highest Stat: Agility. Characteristics: Not what he seems. Hidden name: Fred.]
Brooke had leveled up twice in the fight with the rat army, but other than that, she was the same. But he didn’t know what to think of Frederick’s characteristics. It reminded him of the [Charlatan] class that let you hide your level. Logan scrutinized him, opening his senses and scanning his aura, but it was what he’d expect for someone level 15.
Either way, he bore watching.
“I have to leave,” said Logan.
Brooke’s eyes widened.
“Only for a few hours, and I’ll be back, but I’ll be gone for the morning. My bonded—”
“Hold on,” said Brooke as she flagged down Chase, gesturing for him to come over. The man looked groggy, having only went to bed halfway through the night, but as soon as he saw Brooke, his face paled, and he scrambled over.
“What is it?” he said. “Are we under attack?”
Sarah trailed him, her face full of worry. Logan was so used to viewing her as his boss that it was difficult to reconcile this version of her. His boss was steady, no nonsense and demanding. This version of Sarah didn’t compute. And even worse, her gaze kept drifting to his chest and shoulders where his shirt clung to his body. Logan felt an uncomfortable sensation trickle through him, making him want to retreat. Or put on his armour.
Sarah had two bright spots of color on her cheeks, although her lips were bloodless and chapped. Clenching her fingers anxiously, she glanced from Logan to Chase. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing is wrong,” said Logan. “I just have to leave for a few hours.” Come to think of it, he’d never asked if they wanted to come with him to the cabin. “I have a friend who has a cabin on Okanagan Lake. It’s large and powered by solar panels. It’s not big enough for everyone, but there are properties along the shoreline that could house the rest. Or I guess… you could camp out on the property line in front of the beach?”
It would depend upon their comfort level. But Logan had already cleared out the neighbour’s property, and that thing was massive. “Is that something that would interest you?”
“Is it secure?” asked Brooke.
“That’s why I need to leave. I’m going to make it that way. Secure for my sister and her kids. I went to Pied’s Kingdom to rescue them and find them a safe place. I wasn’t there for you, but I feel responsible for you now. If you want to come, you can. Or if you want to go your own way, I’m okay with that as well. It’s up to you.”
Brooke and Chase looked at each other, communicating silently.
“We have nowhere else to go,” said Chase, his voice gruff. “If we go on our own, and he leaves, how long until we encounter another monster or XP harvesters? I say we go. I trust him.” Chase worried his lip and gave Logan a serious, solemn look. “He has my loyalty for rescuing us and taking us out of that prison. While others were left imprisoned, he negotiated for our release.”
Brooke studied Logan, her eyes piercing. “I don’t like this idea of having to be ‘saved.’ Yeah, you helped us, but I’m no helpless woman. I can fight. I can kill. If we go with you, does that mean we’ll be coddled? Not given an opportunity to level up?”
Logan raised an eyebrow. “Hell no. I want people to get into the one percent, and you won’t do that by sitting on your ass. Those that want protection, have it. Those that want to level up have free rein to go after monsters.” He cleared his throat, thinking about the undead fungi and mushrooms that might be making their way out of the lake. “You’ll have enough opportunity. Maybe too much.”
Brooke blew out a breath, lifting a strand of her hair in the air. “Then yeah, I’ll go. We’ll go. I can’t speak for everyone, but I can’t imagine anyone will want to be on their own. Where we go, they go.”
That was one thing taken care of. Logan wouldn’t have felt good about taking Lara and the kids to the cabin and then abandoning these people.
“Then I’ll go, make it safe, then come back for you once it’s clear.” Logan glanced towards Richton’s Tomb. “There’s just one thing I want to show you before I go.”