Lieutenant Baker watched the civilian Adam disappear. She’d come to accept that he was special but the fact that he’d just shimmered and vanished put him on a whole other level. That is until she heard his voice from the air around her.
“Lieutenant Baker, Adam here, well not here where you are but I am talking to you,” Adam’s voice said.
“Yes, Adam, I can hear you,” Lieutenant Baker said to the air.
“I’m back at my base of operations east of your position in the mountains. In the next 30 to 40 minutes, I’m going to begin opening portals to my underground bunker up here. I need that long to get the portal mechanisms up and running. When I do I need everyone there ready to start flooding into the bunker and to bring as much of the food I just created with you. Yes, I’ll be able to create more but I had not expected to need to house 15,000 or more people so I need to continue to expand this base while we get people into it. We need to try to do this as quickly as possible.”
There is no way we move 15,000 people through a portal in 20 minutes,” Lieutenant Baker said.
“There will be more than one portal and I’ll create more as we go. Just get with your superiors, tell them what I told you, and get everything ready. I’ll be watching what’s going on down there so if you run into any issues I’ll make an appearance by opening a portal to shut down any arguments. I’ll have the prototype done shortly. I’m going to sign off for now. Please get this done, The type of event The SYSTEM is about to initiate is probably the equivalent of a big game safari to Africa.
Lieutenant Baker nodded before she realized she didn’t know if he could see her and then said, “I’m on it!” She looked around, saw MSgt Nelson, and walked toward him. One thing she had come to understand over the last day, if Adam said he could do something or asked you to do something, He could do what he said and needed you to do what he asked. This had been readily apparent when some airmen ran in frantically looking for ammunition. It seemed that the base had gone through most of their stockpile. Adam had taken a break from making food and had created ammunition, enough ammunition to last for at least a couple of days.
Lieutenant Baker walked up to MSgt. Nelson and told him to start prepping everything for immediate movement. Next, she went to her commanding officer and told him what Adam had said before he vanished.
“He just vanished?”
“Yes, Sir. He just disappeared. He contacted me a few moments later and gave me the information I just relayed to you.”
“And he said he’s watching you, even now.?
“Even now,” Adam’s voice confirmed from the air around them.
“I see,” Captain Clarkson said. He was the highest-ranking officer over on this side of the base. Lieutenant Baker knew he had runners that kept him in contact with the General and executive staff but if what Adam said was true, the Captain did not have time to get permission. Also, ultimately it was his job to keep people safe.
The Captain looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, “Everyone would have seen the message that we did. In approximately 40 minutes something new is going to happen so, spread the word that we will be preparing for an emergency drill for all people to fall back into the hangar with the food. Get the children and their families as close to the hanger as you can and make sure everyone knows that they are to bring only what they can carry and also grab anything else they can carry from inside the hanger to help us get the food through. If Adam can create the portals, we’ll get the people through them to safety.”
“Yes, Sir!” Lieutenant Baker said.
“Dismissed!”
Lieutenant Baker turned and left the Captain's makeshift office in the corner of the hangar and went to work.
***
It had taken Adam almost 35 minutes to create enough nanites under his control to continue expanding the facility while also creating portal prototypes so he could test which technologies worked with this SYSTEM. Luckily one of the SYSTEMS he created previously worked just fine and he started producing the portal generators and power sources for those portal generators. He also had his nanites removed and returned the surface to the way it was so there was no evidence that a structure had been placed where the base was buried while he did create an emergency egress system that led further east into the mountain range that could be opened the inside with little or no effort but was undetectable from outside.
Making the space for the people wasn’t that hard. Building materials under the limits that the SYSTEM imposed just meant that it would take him time and chaos that he replenished with mana to create the nanites with Mold Chaos and to replace the Chaos he was burning to do so with Chaos Conversion. It wasn’t an issue because his mana regeneration was well above 1000 per second.
At the 40-minute mark, he used Sense of Chaos to see where everyone was at the base and opened 10 portals as the nanites he’d left in the area, which were all still within his Area of influence which was now 50 miles with the 20% efficiency boost to his attributes.
Adam opened 10 portals that could allow up to five people to step through side by side. He was able to create one more portal every minute for the next 20 minutes which meant that he had 30 portals open into the giant cavern he’d created at the bottom of his base where more than 15,000 people were huddled under about a mile under the mountain.
When the hour that the SYSTEM had stated was the time limit was up the last of the survivors from the base were making their way through the portals, which Adam shut down as a SYSTEM Message filled all of their vision.
SYSTEM Message! Your world has been purchased by the Xeli Confederation and all appropriate taxes and fines have been paid for the opportunity to hold an event on a newly integrated non-Dungeon world and hunt the remaining 6,997,168,8562 members of the homosapien species as of the time of this message as well as any spawned monsters that have appeared or will appear over the next 200 days.
The Xeli Confederation has chosen to activate a Safari-style event that will occur in two Stages. The first stage will allow Tier 1 individuals to purchase the right to participate in a Hunters Event for the first 100 days of the Event. At the end of 100 days, the Tier 2 restriction will be lifted, and the Event will continue for an additional 100 days.
Pillars are being placed randomly around the globe. The pillars are 1 mile high and should be visible from miles away. There are three types; Green, Yellow, and Red.
Green (Mercantile) Pillars act as a teleportation beacon to enclaves of Merchants, Crafters, Trainers, Inns, restaurants, and any other services that might be required. Each Pillar will lead to a unique location that is not on Earth. Barter and Credits are both welcome. These locations are Safe Zones and no combat is permitted while in the Safe Space of a Green Pillar. Please note that you must pay 1 credit per hour to a maximum of 4 hours unless you purchase a room and rest for a full day. A timer will let anyone in a Green Pillar know when their time is up. If you do not have the credits to pay, the Green Pillars will not activate for you. Please Note, while anyone inside the Mercantile area of the Pillar is in a Safe Zone the area immediately outside of the Pillar is not a safe zone unless made so by purchase at the closest SYSTEM Shop.
Yellow (Transportation) Pillars: For 1,000 Credits you can teleport to any other yellow or green pillars on the planet. Hunters can teleport to Red Pillars that they have visited.
Red (Safari) Pillars: These Pillars will be located in areas of high population density 1 million or more for obvious reasons.
New Quest, Survive Stage 1
This Quest cannot be declined.
Duration: 100 Days
Hunters from throughout The SYSTEM have been invited to compete in a competition to cull the indigenous people and monster populations of a newly integrated world.
Rewards: 1,000 Event Points awarded at the end of Stage 1. 10,000 Event Points awarded at the end of Stage 2.
Event Points can be used to purchase unique Titles and Equipment at the end of the Event.
Rules: Survive
Alternate Quest: Hunter, Stage 1
This quest is automatically accepted if someone with the Quest “Survive, Stage 1” kills someone with the quest, “Hunter, Stage 1.” Or has arrived on this planet from Off-World.
Rewards: Event Points can be used to purchase unique Titles and Equipment at the end of the Event.
Rules:
Any creature on the planet that has earned a class and has levels that are killed will earn the Hunter Event Points equal to their Rarity modifier multiplied by their Class Level. Basic Classes have a multiplier of 1. Scarce Classes have a multiplier of 2 and Rare Classes have a multiplier of 3.
Hunters may also be targeted and are worth Event Points based on their Class Rarity Modifier and Level and upon death transfer any earned Event Points are transferred to their killer.
Red Pillars act as Yellow Pillars for Hunters until the end of the Event.
Adam read the notifications and watched through Sense of Chaos as everyone took in the information and some started crying and moaning. Adam had brought everyone from Holloman AFB into the bunker and continued expanding it so people would have a safe place with plenty of room. The power stations and portal machinery were about five miles away, but it wasn’t an issue for him to get back and forth between places he needed to drop off more nanites to continue the expansion.
Adam was running all over the place with Chaos Step and using Mold Chaos liberally as he created more space and even started having the nanites create blankets and pillows. He would need to provide proper beds and housing in a bit, right now his senses had caught the appearance of a Yellow pillar and one armored individual at the base of the pillar. Adam watched as light refracted around the humanoid and it disappeared which didn’t impede his Sense of Chaos at all. It didn’t look like a predator, but it was stealthed and moving toward the warehouse.
Adam appeared beside Lieutenant Baker, Captain Clarkson, and General Duvall who were talking quietly. Adam interrupted their conversation by addressing them, “General, Captain, and Lieutenant,” Adam said as he had a holographic screen with the image of the hunter appear in front of them that showed them the flight line of Holloman and the humanoid creature that was moving across the flight line toward the warehouse.
“What am I looking at?” General Duvall asked.
Adam rewound the image and replayed the appearance of the pillar and the creature and then how it had become invisible.
“What is that and how recent is this,” Captain Clarkson asked.
“That is one of the Hunters who looks to be armed with Stealth Camo and an energy weapon of some sort,” Adam said as the image shifted to real-time, “That is a real-time image of the hunter as it makes its way toward the warehouse. They all watched as the alien came into the warehouse looked around and then pulled out a device as it started to hold it up in various locations until it was standing right next to one of the portal locations that had evacuated everyone into the bunker.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
“Well, that’s a problem, “Adam said with a laugh.
“What kind of problem,” General Duvall asked.
“It would seem that they have a sensor of some sort that can detect quantum entanglement as well as energy fluctuations. It looks like I’m going to need to go have a ‘chat’ with that hunter.”
“Are you sure that’s wise?” Lieutenant Baker asked.
Adam smiled, “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Also, In each of your pockets is a credit card that has an automatically updated map of the facility. The map is a screen and can be adjusted, just like you’d adjust a map on your smartphone. It will be updated as I get things fixed up in here and prepared to house the survivors we currently have as well as the survivors that will be joining us.”
Each officer checked their pockets and pulled out their maps with a look of surprise on their faces before they could ask any questions Adam continued, “I’ll explain how I’m doing things later, or I’ll drop a file with the information on how I’m doing what I’m doing for now just listen. There is a set of stairs on each end of this cavern that lead up into an area that will house up to 2,000 comfortably with running water, generators, and food that should last for about a month. Use that area for bathroom breaks and to get the children and elderly settled.”
Adam paused for a moment as he considered what they needed to know before he continued, “The addition that everyone is standing in was just made and needs to be fleshed out so that everyone can get comfortable. Unfortunately, I need to take care of that problem, “Adam said as he pointed at the image of the hunter,” before he pinpoints where I’ve brought all of you. Once I’m done there I’ll head back.
“How long will it take you to get everything fixed up here?” General Duvall asked.
“Talk with Lieutenant Baker, she was with me for the last day while he created all the food for everyone,”
“Speaking of the food,” Lieutenant Baker said as she interrupted Adam, “Are we going to get the rest of the food into the facility?”
Adam nodded as he said, “Yeah, shouldn’t be a problem after I make sure the coast is clear. As for how long it’ll take to make the rooms, beds, blankets, and such? I estimate it will take me about 3 days to upgrade this facility so that people are comfortable and there’s enough food to last a while. Of course, as we find more people that timeframe will increase. I’ll be working on that issue while I open portals to all the survivors near us and bring them here.”
General Duvall looked thoughtful for a minute before he said, “You know, you’re claiming that you can do a lot of things that seem impossible?”
“I know, right?” Adam said with a grin. Adam’s attention was drawn to the Hunter as his nanites at the base picked up the new device the Hunter had pulled out that was sending out energy pulses. Adam looked to the three officers as he said, “Just watch the screen, I need to go see what our hunter friend is doing.”
Before the officers could react, Adam vanished.
***
The hunter continued to look around the building for his prey. He’d paid over 100 million credits for the location of a group of at least 10,000 humans in a remote location that other hunters were not going to be near next to a yellow pillar. Most hunters would be appearing near the red pillars because they would only be placed in locations where at least a million bounties could be collected. The bounties were worth way more than the Event Points after all. The Xeli Corporation was paying 1 million credits per unique human native that was killed.
The Hunter had wondered why there was such a high bounty on a newly integrated world, but the rewards made it, so he didn’t care. To get ahead of the other hunters he’d purchased information for a group of bounties that had banded together and only had a few creatures worth event points. Where he’d appeared should contain over 15,000 bounties with only a few that had activated their classes. It was one of the best things the Hunter loved about the SYSTEM. If you knew what type of information to ask for, any information could be purchased. His favorite thing though? His favorite thing was that in an almost Infinite Multiverse culling events like these were possible and encouraged when multiple shadow planes of the same primary reality popped into existence and some religious fanatic, science incorporation, or group decided that they needed to purge all of the false copies from existence. When these events were bought and paid for and then an additional incentive was offered, that was when the real credits could be made. Of course, there could be another reason for the culling event but he'd put his money on this being a shadow plane because this area looked familiar.
The Hunter's thoughts were brought back to his scanners. It looked like there were at least 30 different quantum signatures in the area but the only creatures around him were insects and rodents. All the bounties that had been in this building were nowhere to be seen. It looked like someone had moved the bounties whose information he’d paid for.
The hunter wasn’t worried though, He would open one of these portals and track down the thief. The Hunter pulled out another device, set it on the ground in front of the location where one of the portals had been, and activated it. It would take a few minutes for the device to analyze the quantum signature of the portal which should then allow him to reopen the hole through space time. His sensors picked up something that solidified into a human man walking into the hanger through a door at the opposite end. The human came around the corner, saw the Hunter, and waved.
The Hunter double-checked his sensor log and noted that no portals had been opened near the human which meant that there was something weird going on outside of the door and that it might not be related to his missing trophies because his sensor log showed no activity in that area of his scan until just moments ago. Since the human wasn’t shooting, the hunter raised his hand in a sign of greeting as he started walking toward the man. In common the hunter called out, “Hello there, have you seen anyone else around?”
“What is that you’re wearing,” The man asked in common as he came closer, and then as if he’d just heard the hunter answered, “Nope, haven’t seen anyone.”
The hunter had expected the man to answer in English, the language native to this area. He’d even purchased a translator to help him understand bounties if he needed to. When the man answered in common the hunter reacted instantly by bringing his weapon, a very powerful particle rifle level, and aimed it at the man’s chest as he asked in a menacing tone, “Who are you?”
“Whoa there partner,” The man called out as he held up his empty hands.
“Increasing his menace the Hunter asked again slowly, “Who…Are…You?”
The man dropped his hands to his side and quirked his head and smiled as he answered in common, “Not so slow on the uptake, good, I’m Adam. If you would like to talk we can talk, if you attack, only one of us will walk away from this encounter.”
The Hunter activated his scanner which returned Adam’s SYSTEM event data “Value 300 Event Points” he said, “This is a Ferison Magla Particle Rifle, If I pull the trigger it will put a hole clean through you.
“As I don’t know who Ferison or Magla or Ferison Magla is, I’m just going to go with, not impressed.”
The Hunter laughed, “You are unarmed. I have a particle rifle leveled at your chest and even if you somehow pulled a weapon, my armor would stop anything you have
“Still not…”
The hunter lined up on Adam’s heart and pulled the trigger.
THWUMP
The hunter looked down at the hole in Adam’s shirt as Adam lifted the shirt and poked a finger through the hole in it. That’s when the Hunter noticed that the skin below was completely unaffected and looked back up at Adam’s face as Adam met his eyes and then said, “Rude.”
The hunter started backing away slowly as a white beam of energy extended from Adam’s right hand. He wasn’t too worried about an energy blade, be it magical or technological as his armor was rated to withstand both. Even so, he continued to back away as Adam spoke.
“I guess you didn’t want to talk. Well, I do. This here blade in my right hand, it’s what’s called a Chaos Blade. It can cut through anything.”
***
Adam watched the General, Captain, and Lieutenant as they watched him on the screen. Most of his attention was on the idiot in front of him but he was paying attention to what the officers were doing as well. Adam watched them watch him enter the hangar. The humanoid in Armor asked something in a language that none of the officers understand so Adam added words scrolling across the bottom of the image to let them know what was said. They even watched as the humanoid pulled the trigger on his particle rifle and then watched as Adam pulled up on his shirt and poked his finger through the hole in his shirt.
“Did he just get shot?” The Lieutenant asked.
The General and the Captain ignored her question as all three watched Adam extend a pearlescent white blade from his right hand and his image shimmered for a moment.
The Lieutenant brought her hands to her mouth as she exclaimed “Oh” and the humanoid fell to the ground in two halves. The hunter had been split cleanly down the middle from the groin to the center of his head. The blade in Adam’s hand vanished as he moved over to the humanoid and his equipment started vanishing, including the device that had been where one of the portals was.
The officers continued to watch as portals opened where they had been except they didn’t open into the base. Instead, they opened to the location of other portals. This went on for another three minutes as the Captain said, “I think he’s trying to scramble where the portals led to by making new false trails.”
Adam vanished from the screen and appeared in front of the officers as he said, “That’s exactly what I was doing.”
All three Officers flinched but the General recovered quickly and asked, “What do you need from us?”
“I need your help to keep this place functional with all these people in it. Once I get everything settled here I’m going to leave you in charge and head out and see if I can help other people and even send more back here,” Adam explained.
“You are just one man, “Captain Clarkson said.
“You would think I’m only one man,” Adam said as he pointed to the screen. So did that hunter. “
A portal opened behind Adam as he turned and walked into a spacious office and motioned for the three of them to follow him. Once the Lieutenant was through Adam closed the portal and waited while they looked around.
The General looked around for a moment, took in the décor and setting, and then asked, “Are we in one of the rooms upstairs from where we were?”
“Yes,” Adam said with a nod.
“What can I do for you Adam,” The General asked with a voice that hinted at fear but also respect.”
“I wanted to show you the office you’ll be able to use to run things and give you a quick tour of the facility before we get back to work. Housing for over 20,000 people, will take me most of today and tomorrow to get upgraded,” Adam explained.
“Where will you be doing that upgrading from? Also, will you need any help?
“I’ll be moving throughout the facility as I drop off resources in areas I need to build up. As for helping. We need to get the rest of the food from the hangar into the storage areas. I can make more food but right now I need to focus on improving our living conditions. I do plan to set up recreation facilities and entertainment areas to help people pass the time, but I need you to work on getting people ready to work on leveling by taking on low-level monsters. I should be able to set up an area where we can draw monsters into a room with a group of warriors so they can kill and earn experience.
“How are you going to do that?” The General asked.
Well, go over that later. I figured I should show you around these upper levels so you can get your support staff up here. Also, the map I gave you earlier will be updated as I make changes throughout the facility so be sure to check it at least every 15 minutes or so. Once I get started it should go relatively quickly. The only thing is that it will take time,” Adam said as he stood and motioned for the three to follow him.
For the next 15 minutes, Adam walked with them through the facility while he continued to create nanites and put them to task. The facility had a central circular ramp with stairs that could be used on all four major compass points. The facility had gone down much further than Adam had initially wanted it to, but he was also expanding it sideways in all directions. Additionally, Adam let the General know that he’d incorporated various technologies that made the detection of everyone below the surface with technology a very hard proposition. Not impossible, just hard. Then Adam explained how magic could be used to find them. But that shouldn’t prove a problem.
Once Adam was done with the tour he left the General to do his thing and went to work as he pulled up his notifications and reviewed his gains from the combat he’d just had.
Congratulations You have killed a Rare Level 1 Doppelganger. XP Awarded 45,000. Treasure awarded after conversion to credits, 570 credits.
Congratulations you have Earned Level 1 Agent of Chaos. All Attributes increased. You have 20 free Attributes.
Congratulations You have earned 300 Event Points
One Kill for one level. Nice! Adam thought. Next, he looked at his Chaos attribute which had increased to 110. That was right, he received 10 points for his Chaos attribute at every level as part of this class. Could he put his 20 free attributes into his Chaos Attribute? He hadn’t tried to do that as a Mentalist but now that he had a class that relied on Chaos and it could increase each level, could he increase it more?
Adam opened his Status Screen and put all 20 free attributes into his Chaos Attribute and thought Yes when asked to confirm. It worked! Now that his Chaos attribute was 130 he could create 2,860 (130 x 22 pounds per point of Chaos) pounds with Mold Chaos. Also, since he was going to use the Skill more, it should continue to level.
Since they had all just arrived those Event Points were solely from one asshole which meant that he must have been a level 100 rare class. That was pretty much the same level as he was before he’d gained the level from killing him. Adam wondered if killing that hunter was going to bite him in the ass and then decided it didn’t matter, he’d shot first.
Adam put that idiot out of his mind and went to work. Once this place was set up he’d head out and see if he could acquire some more Event Points on his way to Albuquerque so he could purchase the ability to turn this location into a safe zone, which was at the top of his list of things to do after he finished upgrading the base.
Adam began upgrading the base while simultaneously extending his sensor net. Because of The SYSTEMs reaction to nanites, Adam had to go old school and put up self-sufficient sensors to watch for survivors. He also had to create something that could house an artificial intelligence that could monitor everything for him. Because of his past experiences in this area, a simple use of Mold Chaos to recreate the framework was all that was needed, With a semi-intelligent Artificial Intelligence to help him things went much quicker. Granted, it wasn’t another Thor, but it could definitely monitor his sensor net, run the base, and contact him with pertinent information.
As was normal for the tech items Adam created, everything was linked at the quantum level and shielded from mana. This allowed him to save everyone from the small cities and towns within 150 miles of Alamogordo. His ability Sense of Chaos and the Portals made it easy for him to find people. rush to their location, open a portal for them, and get them to safety. Once they were inside Racoon City, the name they’d give the facility, General Duvall had them processed and assigned quarters.
One good thing about using Mold Chaos as much as he had been, he’d increased its level through all 10 Rare levels and had just reached Advanced Level 1 which allowed him to create 50 pounds of material per Chaos Point spent. He was now creating 6,500 pounds of materials every 10 seconds. Things began to move a little faster after that. He had a communication device that would allow the General and the A.I. to contact him if there was an emergency or he needed to come back and expand the facility. He’d also created a training area of sorts where beasts could be targeted with portals and brought inside for teams of people to kill them, unlock The SYSTEM, and earn experience points.
While Adam was gone it was the General's responsibility to continue getting everyone trained up and ready for this new world. Any monsters that the General deemed too hard would be sent to the middle of White Sands. Far enough away that they shouldn’t be a problem.
After eight days, Adam decided that he should probably go check on El Paso and see how the people down there were doing. There was a military presence, gangs, the cartel, and other organizations that should have made any single hunters who showed up think twice. Of course, anyone with magic and such would be able to make things tough for the people down there, but Adam was pretty sure that the types of people that were running things could handle a few hunters who were far too overconfident. Well, they might have a problem with the hunter Adam had run into, but Adam doubted all the hunters were going to be at the absolute pinnacle of Tier 1.
Adam headed south until he was 40 miles north of the city and let his Sense of Chaos Spread out for the next 5 minutes. When the information made it back to him he smiled. He didn’t need to worry about El Paso at all. There was a Green Pillar and it seemed that someone had made the whole city into a Safe Zone.