The Galactics. &$￡^$” pests, &@$CF%$￡ pirates that will ravage your beloved home! Shaped by the ^%*%￡$ System to feed on new worlds, an obvious consequences of the respawn conservation. Trained from birth to devour you, to look at you as *&^%$ upon whom their people may feed, unless you prove yourself too dangerous to domesticate.

How to deal with such a calamity? Read on for my advice...

- What you need to know to survive the Voidbound System, by &*%:”%^%

  “The first thing to be aware of is the 57 worlds.” Bob began. “The worlds where the System was actually set up properly. They have curated adventurer zones – typically in regions that were wastelands or deserts – where they can level, restrictions to make sure become an Adventurer is an informed choice, even copies of the various guides and briefings available for free. Veritable paradises compared to the tens of thousands of worlds that did not get their Briefing Teams to set things up for them.” the bitterness in his words was quite evident: as was the anger, even rage, bubbling in the background.

“The second thing to know is about how the System creates dungeons. Any inhabited world – like this one – the dungeons are set up for a maximum level of one hundred and twenty. That's what you should expect from the final bosses at the very top of the dungeons. All the dungeons for higher tier content? Form in the depths of space and on uninhabited worlds, the other two planets of this system included. So it was intended, when it opens up your planet to galactics, in order so that training groups – one-twenty or less – can enjoy a variety of content, and learn to mix and deal with other races, other concepts. Which was their idea of diplomacy – and to their credit, I gather it was a good one.

What actually happens, as I gather you're aware, is that the high level galactics – and there is no upper cap, descend to harvest more respawns – a currency for them – so they can survive the harder content and continue to level. The best of them will essentially set up your planet like a farm – where you're tithing a percentage of your population to be killed for fresh respawns. In the worst case? They'll terraform the planet to suit their needs, giving themselves fresh territory, and all the respawns of every thing that has them on the planet. There are only a few monsters that would do that, though. “

This was not news, though it was no less disturbing. “so we're dealing with high levels. That's why we need everyone to fight, right?” Francine asked.

Bob nodded. “True, but you need a good grasp of what to expect. If you hadn't realised it? Your attributes are rated out of twelve – with twelve being the theoretical maximum of the creator's species, if nature held true. So on the galactic scale? Your people are rather weak to begin with. Compounded to that is that at every class evolution, the calculation to generate things like your mana and health? Your innate resistances? Changes. Upwards, typically by a factor of four. So when you're dealing with, say, a level 276 Firemaster from the..” there was a high pitched noise that made the room wince, “you can expect him to have a health in the millions. The rest of it's swarm will be comparable.

All of them trained to work together, with personal perks – likely having been trained by master instructors since their majority. Every choice spent on perks – compounding stackable perks for maximum effect – and taught magic through their peers, mentors, and verified spell books. When I had my final death? My health score was well over forty-six thousand points.” the ethereal figure leaned back, a chair materializing for him: Multiple people in the room realised how he was doing it, to: there was a perk in Creation magic that was the likely culprit.

“Now, I didn't have the benefit of a Fortification that was dungeon-close from day one. You got a lots of points to build this place purely because of how close you are – and if you can hold it, which is going to be very difficult, then you will be in a very good spot indeed. It will let you level faster than anyone else. Give you a secure bastion, and if it comes to it, a way to evacuate when the galactics come. If you can build more?” he shrugged.

“Well, Galactics will come here in one of three ways. Teleportation, via space magic or artifice: You can ward areas you control to present that. Spacecraft, which you can develop the means to shoot down – or even launch your own, though I wouldn't advise it: or through personal travel – the right combination of spells and perks lets you travel between the stars at a reasonable speed purely under your own power. Those are the hardest to stop, the ones you cannot avoid fighting. Do all that? And with a little luck, you'll be accepted with minimal suffering. You need to be sharp enough to deter – but not so much they decide to wipe out your planet rather than deal with you. The bookies are giving you seven hundred and twelve odds to one against, but it's early days yet.”

looking at the faces around, Jonathan decided to chime in. “From looking at the way this place is set up, and from what Jeeves has said, if we can establish more fortifications, we can link them together and create a genuinely safe zone. What would happen..” he looked to Bob, “If we put them in a ring around the dungeon?”

The spectre blinked at that. “that.. Is a good question.” he looked to Larry. “you have some smart friends, boss.” blowing out some metaphorical air, the translucent one considered. “Well, you'd be getting swarmed every cycle, so you'd need a lot of people. Like, a few million, on the walls, every time the fortification cycles. How often is that, by the way?”

“Every twenty-seven days.” Jonathon replied with a sigh: Bob winced.

“That's a bit of a jam. I'd expect the walls to be swarmed by monsters in the teens to high twenties - imagine that at all of your fortifications, and if just one is taken, you lose the entire set up.” he paused. “On the other hand, the dungeon is the source of all monsters up to the interface with the next dungeon. So in theory, you should be able to wipe all of them out and create a huge safe zone – build widespread teleport jammers, and.. hmm. The question is, would the neighbouring dungeons take over the empty space? That, I do not know. I don't think anyone's ever been mad enough to try it before.”

That got a laugh. “how much was a spike again, Jonathon? Something like ten grand?” Shawn asked: Jonathon nodded as his boss looked to Bob. “I presume we can get more SMU's from the dungeon?”

Bob nodded. “From any monster kill, there's a chance of a credit, not to mention anything you can loot from or make out of the corpse, and sell in the store. Dungeons were intended to be where you tested yourself – the lands outside were for casual play: The dungeons for hardcore, experienced adventurers. The monsters on the first level will be the same sort that swarm you – on their home ground.”

“Right. So we need to train ourselves against what's outside first, right?” Francine said. “On that note – Jonathon? We've hit a problem. While we've all learned to use the nanofabricator, and got some skill points – we need plans, which I'm hoping you can find on the shop?”

Shawn nodded. “It would be appreciated, if you want that armour.” he stretched. “But. This meeting is to discuss what we're going to tell everyone who respawned. I saw that you issued the guide fortification-wide, Jonathon – that's likely a good start: But we can't assume everyone will read it. So we should draw attention it, as well as that we're recruiting for our Gang. Thoughts on how we can incentivise that? I assume by growing our numbers we can level it up?” this latter thought was directed to the air; as they were beginning to expect, Jeeves shimmered into existence. “Indeed! You will reach level three when you have twenty-seven. Levelling on each power of three until you hit level nine.”

“Wait, we hit level two already?” Jonathon asked, bringing up the sheet – and sure enough, the gang had ranked up.

“Yeah, happened last night just before the respawn.” Michelle said, kindly. “You didn't get the alert?” Jonathon shook his head.

“Which is the other thing we need to address.” Shawn said. “But we'll come back to that at the end. Incentives for joining? With the understanding that this is a gang that will be defending this fortification and eventually exploring the dungeon, meaning people will be fighting. We have custom classes. What else?”

Frank gestured to Jonathon. “Brand new bodies? I Could work with Jon in the temple, amplify the spell to affect a crowd.”

Shawn nodded. “That works if you're agreeable?” Jonathon nodded, and Shawn moved on. “Anything else? I was thinking training – most of us have instruction at this point, right? And you could restrict access to the training rooms?” he gave Jonathon a hopeful look.

Jonathon snorted. “I can, yes. Make ourselves the only game in town to boost your skills safely? I have..” he looked up. “Jeeves. I can restrict specific skills, right? Not just a blanket block?”

“Jeeves nodded. “Indeed, Jonathon.” the disembodied head replied. “Do you wish to do so?”

“Do we want to restrict it at all?” David asked – Michelle and Lawrence were nodding along as he spoke. “This is a matter of fucking survival, after all. Let's not be greedy – from what I recall there's a maximum capacity for the training systems, yes? So we're going to need to arrange times anyway: give gang members – or those who contribute to the defence of the fortification – priority. And we hammer in how bloody essential the trait is you get from our gang – without saying what it's called, because sooner or later someone will come up with the idea to make their own gang and compete with us, yeah?”

Michelle nodded. “And focus on the fact we'll be attacked in a few weeks, rather than the galactics in a year's time – we don't want people thinking it's not urgent.”

Shawn nodded. “Valid. Can you do that, Jeeves?” he asked, looking to the AI, which nodded in response.

“Certainly, if Jonathon approves.” Jonathan did, and the conversation moved on.

“So. Our trait, new bodies, priority training, anything else?” Shawn asked, looking around: Michelle nodded.

“Well, a few of us have instruction, right? We can offer personal training in the Instruction facility to gang members.” she said, thoughtfully, glancing to Larry. “I'd quite like to do that, actually.”

Larry nodded. “I wouldn't mind, either. At the very least, the guys and I have a good number of guns we'll want those with skills to use. On that note, Shawn – if we give you one, can you copy it with the nanoforge?”

Shawn nodded. “I.. Think so, yeah. That would work. So we can offer weapons as well. I like it. Anything else?” there was a pause as everyone thought, and after a moment, he nodded. “Right. Onto second order of business: We levelled up the Gang. Which apparently means we get to select a new perk with respect to our gang – Magical awareness – apparently because we have a Temple to Maskeline, we'd get the full effects: so not just seeing each other's mana levels, but also getting an awareness of magical fields: I'm leaning towards that. Life sense, which I gather gives us all health bars for one another, or Find a Friend – which will give us an awareness of where we all are at all times, and is apparently repurchasable.”

Garcia pursed her lips: she'd been silent up until now. “Life sense would be helpful, but anyone with life magic can pick it up, and I'd imagine that's going to be a core perk all our medical team will end up buying. I will be getting help, yes?” her tone was a bit pointed. “Since I imagine you want multiple teams with medics with them when you're out hunting?”

Jonathon nodded. “I certainly hope so. I'd say we want Find a Friend or Magical Awareness – though Magical Awareness is available for many different magical schools. It would be a good draw if we had it...”

They debated it for another ten minutes, before settling on Magical Awareness – and just like that, Jonathon knew how much mana everyone had at their disposal.

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Then – then the conversation focused on Jonathon. “So. You bastard rat-fink, you jumped ahead and got a class before any of us. Tell us what we're looking forward to?” David asked.

Jonathan gave a brief run down of his selections, fishing out his notes from a pocket. “If we're all going the custom class route, it's best to plan ahead.” he said, passing them to his friend. “Going by what we were told yesterday, I imagine my Omnimage class will be available to you, if you want it. I was very tempted by one of the traits – Demigod – but without any further information on what it did, and given the price cost, I skipped it.”

Jeeves gave an amused sound. “That particular Trait is the third in an upgradable series that starts with Scion and ends with God – In essence, it is setting you up to join the local pantheon when you run out of respawns, or give you a great deal of System control when you're incarnate on this plane. If you wish to know such things, you have but to ask, Jonathon.”

The AI's words made Jonathon twitch. “You said Scion... Like, say, Scion of Maskeline?” Jeeves nodded.

“Indeed, that would be one example, Jonathon. Though one such as that would be setting you up to be a subordinate of Maskeline, in a mentor to student fashion, I believe, upon attaining.. I think the best translation is Demiurge level? The Creators had quite an involved theology regarding ascension in their more primitive era, and it is reflected in the exciting game systems they have gifted you with. Jonathon.”

Jonathon successfully avoided facepalming. That would explain why Maskeline didn't tell him more about the damn trait... happily, by then it was time to go to the 'Social Gathering Area', and address those whom had gathered.

Entering into the room was an undertaking itself. The room was vast – multiple football pitches long and wide, with tables and chairs covering the floor, filled with people. Pillars stood here and there, and the ceiling – perhaps fifteen feet up – was a scintillating, frankly hypnotic pattern of colours that cast a strangely soothing wave of light over the room: more than one person was just looking up at it, mesmerized.

And what of the people? There were hundreds, thousands, but as they made their way through the room – looking for a place to address them from – Jonathon couldn't help but notice a few groups.

There was a huge number of students, clustered together in one corner, with that teleporting kid – David? And his girlfriend talking animatedly at the front, as their mother looked on: She gave him a smile and a polite wave as they passed, and he gestured them to join them: she demurred with a little shake of her head.

There was a group of elderly people – youngest he'd guess was in their seventies – sitting together, and talking incessantly: Perhaps a bus load? He didn't have the slightest idea how they'd managed to avoid becoming seeds, but suspected they'd be prime candidates for the gang – they'd have had a lot of skill points to play with, and would likely find the idea of being a fit twenty-something quite appealing. They paid the group no attention whatsoever.

There was even a group of men in fatigues – he didn't recognise the uniform – standing in loose formation, watching everything: they tracked his group as they passed, noting how they stood out, but made no move to interact.

Finally reaching the middle of the room, it was becoming obvious there was no stage or other way of addressing everyone: After a sigh, there was one obvious solution to this issue.

“Jeeves? I want us to be able to be seen and heard by everyone. Can you give us a stage, and amplification?” Jonathon asked.

“I can do better than that, Jonathon. Activating the address system for your group now, Jonathon.” As the AI spoke, the air around them shimmered – and in front of every person they could see, an image of their group formed. This caused more than a few sounds of alarm, and a smattering of laughter – but Shawn stepped forward before it could get out of hand.

“Good afternoon, everyone! My name is Shawn Lawrence, a member of what I regret to say is called 'Gang Earth Three', this System's equivalent of a gaming guild. My colleague, Jonathon, is the owner of this Fortification and the most powerful life mage on the planet!” reaching out to place a hand on Jonathon's shoulder, who looked ever so slightly uncomfortable at the attention.

“It is thanks to him that we – and every member of our gang who desires it – look the way we do: He has a spell that restores those he casts it upon to their prime, as if they'd lived their best possible life. It is due to his largess that we have these delightful living conditions, and nice thick walls to defend.” he waited a beat for that to settle in, and let the smattering of applause die down.

“You should also find that, thanks to his generosity, you all have access to a guide that we found on the store, that tells you how this System works, and what we should expect. That's the good news. Now the bad? This sick 'game' designed these places to be bases for adventurers. So to keep things interesting – every twenty-seven days, The local dungeon – which is about half a mile away through monster infested territory – will try and capture it, and we need to defend it.” he let that hang for a beat.

“So our Gang is recruiting for those who are willing to help step up and defend it – We're going to form adventurer teams to farm the monsters outside, and get the experience we need to level, until we have nothing to fear! Reclaim our home from this system with a network of fortifications just like this one!” as he spoke, his posture shifted just a little, becoming more resolute, more imposing: His words rang with energy, and Jonathan could almost hear faint, martial music rising in the background: He was feeling increasingly gung-ho.

“If you join us, You'll immediately gain the ability to identify everyone in the group, You'll be immune to most hostile attacks that might permanently alter who you are – such as trapping you in a static respawn point, to be slaughtered over and over – and you'll gain an innate ability to see magic!

Jonathon will be working with Frank – who is set to be the high priest of one of the System AI's – to give you the same youth we have, You'll get priority training – we have several apprentice instructors amongst us, courtesy of the store – and favoured access to our training facilities: We even have custom classes!

We'll provide you with equipment, once we have some made, to help you level and fight off the monsters out there. I will not lie, we are in a tough spot - the monsters out there are levelled in the teens – but we can defeat them if we work together. Let's take our home back!” There was definitely background music to Shawn's words, Jonathan would swear: His former boss certainly seemed a lot better at working up a crowd that Jonathon remembered, and his words received a chorus of applause, and shouts of support.

At that point, Jeeves spoke up again. “There are a number of people suggesting they want to field questions. Shall I enable the relay, Jonathon?” Jonathan thought for a second, before Shawn gave him the nod. “Do it.”

And with that, the face of someone in uniform appeared before them, utilizing some similar holographic trick as to the one Jeeves used. “I am Colonel Mitchelson of the United States Army. Do you have any contact with the government, and are you willing to cede control over this facility if required to do so?” The man appeared to be in his late forties, his expression stern – though Jonathon detected a trace of uncertainty in his eyes, there was none of it in his tone.

'Shit.' ran through Jonathon's head, and he stepped forward before Shawn could reply. “I have been in touch with my cousin in New York – He's still got contact with civilisation. A Dungeon formed in Washington, apparently – one of nine, including ours, spread all over the country. I think we can use our communication centre to get you in touch with your superiors, however, so you can learn the state of play – I'm sure we're all eager to know. Regarding the Fortification? The way the System is set up, I can't. I can only sell it – for SMU. Over Twenty thousand. Might I suggest we find out what's happening? There's hundreds of miles between us and any other spark of civilisation. We can't get reinforced – there are apparently dragons taking out aircraft – and we're on our own here. We'd love any help and advice you have, however.” He did his best to keep his tone even, projecting co-operation rather than aggression – and to his great relief, the Colonel nodded.

“I'll take you up on that, son. As soon as this meeting is over.” With that, his image was replaced by one of the elderly – a woman who looked like she should be on life support, the early side of ninety.

“We're in.” she said, flatly. “If we'd wanted to retire, we'd have stayed in that penny-ante afterlife. Give me a gun, sunny!”

Shawn smiled at this more positive response. “Certainly, miss?”

“Don't be fresh. Call me Sue, sweetheart.” she croaked with a laugh, before her image faded out, leaving behind the impression that they'd have a genuine devil on their hands, when the spell was done.

The next face to appear was the man Jonathon had run into in the hallway. “You said you bought this place in a store? What store?” there were shouts of agreement, questions throughout the room, and Jonathan realised that not everyone knew. Larry was a little quicker on the uptake.

“Focus on the word 'Help'.” the necromancer said, firmly. “It'll take a second to calibrate, then you can see how to configure the system to your needs, access the store, and everything else. The files are pretty comprehensive.” a series of murmurs spread around the room as some people found this for the first time. “We can get SMU – to spend in the store – by killing the monsters. Which is another reason to join us in defending this place. Any item you buy just appears in front of you – it's actually a pretty good system.”

Sensing the distraction as the majority explored the commands, Shawn stepped in. “You can ask Jeeves – that's the local AI – for further information, such as where to find us, and what services are available here. If you want to join up, though, I think Frank and Jonathon will be in the temple for the next few hours...” giving them a look to make sure they would, “Where they can join you up, and they can cast the spell to renew your bodies. Give us that fighting chance we need to survive!”

The AI cut the transmission at that, and Shawn flashed a smile to Jonathon and Frank. “I'd hurry before you get swarmed.” he noted, with a grin – and the two quickly made their way out, sliding between the people as they made their way to the door – to be intercepted, of course, by the colonel.

He was escorted by three other men, all in uniform: But Jonathan couldn't help but notice that while they had holsters, and the other accoutrements for holding their equipment – they had none of the equipment he'd expect to be in said holsters. “The communications room, son?” The colonel asked, drily.

“Ah yes.” he glanced to Frank. “Want to go on ahead, and get everyone organised?” even as Larry came up behind them, looking over the soldiers with a slightly bemused look.

“Where's all your gear?” the question had most of them looking a little bit pissed.

“After the Event, our base was swarmed by... Teleporting Zombies.” the colonel said, practically spitting those last two words out. “Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. When we respawned, we had our uniforms, but none of our weapons – not that most of my troops still know how to USE THEM.” this as clearly a sore point for him, going by his glare at his escort – who had the grace to look abashed.

“If it helps, colonel, I did buy the needed skill for using rifles – and I'm also one of the instructors. So I can help them regain that ability, if your orders are to cooperate with our gang.”

Jonathon shot him a look, even as he called for Jeeves. “Jeeves? Can you direct us to the new communications centre?”

“Certainly, Jonathon. Just follow the indicator.” one of the neon blue orbs appeared, and Jonathon directed the group to follow him before Lawrence pissed the colonel off even more: He did not appear to appreciate the sales pitch. This did not deter Larry, who trailed after them.

Once away from the masses, Jonathon gave the soldiers a terse smile. “One of the things we did not focus on in there? In roughly one years time, the System will allow interstellar travel. This was apparently supposed to let us test out other 'newbie dungeons'. What actually happens is that hordes of experienced Galactics descend upon the planet to harvest us for our respawns. It's covered in the guide I gave to everyone – and according to our other sources of information, Our only shot is getting powerful enough to deter them – but not so much they decide to wipe us out.”

Colonel Mitchelson stopped, rubbing at his temples, biting back some swear words, it seemed. “Of course. Is there anything else I should know about our situation, before I report in?” he started walking again.

Jonathon thought for a moment before answering. “You've got the guide.. You can see the help system.. We told you this place is going to be raided every twenty-seven days – and will level up and become more powerful for every raid we repel: as it stands, we have a good medical suite, though I gather we could use more staff: We have a map room and sensors, to show all the monsters out to something like four hundred miles, the fortification should be producing drone defenders as well, and a teleportation system – Something like a thirty mile range at the moment, to teleportation anchors we bought, but we hope to upgrade it once we have more fortifications set up – it will let us travel between them safely.” His words took them to the doorway, and the colonel was deep in thought as he was led within.

The room itself was spacious, with numerous mirrors spread around the room: There was no obvious communications gear that he could recognise, however. “Jeeves? How does this work?”

The Neon green form shimmered into being. “Simply touch one of the transmission portals, and give it your requirements, Jonathon.” it replied, drily. “It can accept any communication method your planet uses.”

Jonathon nodded, gesturing for the Colonel towards the nearest. “We'll wait outside until you're done?” he said, putting action to word and heading for the door.

“Appreciated, son. But you have an appointment in your... Temple? I'd like to see it myself. So we will rendezvous with you there.” Jonathon nodded moving off towards the temple, even though part of him yearned to stay and hear what was said: But he had a job to do, so off he went to do it.

In the Temple he found Frank waiting, with dozens of others – including all the elderly – gathered neatly before him. Moving to his colleague, he gave him a tense smile – then began the work of turning all their new recruits into movie star versions of themselves, as soon as Frank granted his blessing: This promised to be tedious.