As I looked at the windows from the System, I selected the one that mentions the Job I had just completed.
New Job: Machinist.
Ready for collection: 2x Basic Blueprints, 2x Job Points and 1x Toolkit.
Collect?
Yes No
Selecting Yes, a Toolkit and two blue scrolls appeared in front of me. Another message showed the Job Points.
+2 Job Points
Planning to figure out Job Points later, I heard a loud clatter and looking up I saw a pile of farming tools appear in front of Ghost as his face pales. Without a word, we stood and left the room, taking position near windows and doors, looking out to see if anything had been attracted by the sound. Seeing nothing coming from the front, I waited with Winter for another five minutes before hearing a gunshot by the Glock from the other side, followed by another gunshot from the Colt.
Moving over to the otherside, I cleared my way there with Winter next to me and arriving I saw Sheep looking outside with a serious face as he continued to look out the window. Looking towards the door that led outside, there were two husks dead just outside of the doors with Ghost and Lemon covering each side of the doorway. Handing my Deagle to Winter, we waited to see if anything would be attracted by the gunshots.
After a ten minute wait and seeing nothing, we moved to reclear all of the rooms once more, and upon finding nothing, we left Winter to keep watch while we returned to the meeting room. Ghost worked on clearing the tools with an embarrassed expression. Taking our seats once more, with Winter returning again, I sighed and shook my head.
“From now on, collection of items will happen in the interrogation room with the door shut.” Sheep had collected his, a toolkit like me, so the noise hadn’t been bad, but Ghost’s farming tools had caused it to loudly ring out. Picking up the two blue scrolled pieces of paper, I found I couldn’t unfurl them and frowning, I wondered how to use these blueprints.
“Perhaps you need to use the System?”
Thinking over how to use it through the System as Winter suggested, I decided to try a few System Calls.
“System Call: Learn.” Nothing.
“System Call: Unravel.” Nothing.
“Maybe Use? It might provide knowledge like before.” Looking at Lemon who had spoken up with a bit more confidence, I nod and focus again.
“System Call: Use Item.” This time, the blueprint glowed blue before disappearing, knowledge then filled my mind once again, but this time a lot smoother and easier to digest. As the information flowed through my mind, I became excited as I stood, nearly pumping my fist in the air. The blueprint had been for a low-noise generator!
“You’re awfully excited, what did you learn?” Turning to Sheep, I put my hands on my hips and held my nose up.
“Low-Noise Power Generator!”
“No shit? Quick, learn the other one!” Grabbing the other scroll, I used it and closed my eyes as the soothing feeling of learning another blueprint came into my mind. This time it’s for a…
“Water Purifier!” Shouting aloud, I found myself excited at learning a blueprint that could help us, but I needed materials. I also knew I couldn’t use the System to create these machines, I had to build it myself. Thankfully I had the tools and basic knowledge, but I needed the materials, which meant I needed Sheep’s help. Looking around the party, I could see they were all equally excited, a solution to one of our problems had been resolved.
“Lemon, the credit for this goes to you. If you didn’t remind us of the quest, we may have not done it till later, good work!” Giving Lemon a nod, he blushed as he waved his hands.
“N-no, I didn’t do anything…”
“Don’t reject her praise, she’s right. We weren’t in a position to learn the System without committing to it. Your reminder of it has led us to this sliver of hope.” Sheep spoke as he pats Lemon’s shoulder while Ghost smiled at him. Winter looked at me with a frown.
“We need gasoline to power the generator, don’t we?” As if a mirror had shattered, the atmosphere turned deathly quiet as reality set in. She’s right, we did indeed need a form of fuel for the generator as per the blueprint. The water purifier also required power, not only that but I had to construct the machines too. Just like Winter, she’s the type to point these details out and drag us back to reality.
“Well, we’ll figure out a solution later. For now, let’s see the rewards for completing the Survival Basics quest.” Selecting the quest, I saw there were indeed rewards pending.
Prime World Survival Basics: I - Completed.
Rewards for completion: 1x Survival Backpack, Party System and Clan System.
Collect?
Yes No
Leading everyone to the interrogation room as it is the most soundproof room, we closed the door as Ghost, Sheep and I accepted the reward. A backpack landed in front of us, mine a basic purple, Sheep’s a blue and Ghost’s a black backpack. Opening the backpack, which is simple in design with two partiants, I felt relief wash over me as I saw the contents.
Pulling everything out, we found cans of food, two one litre bottles of water and bandages. In total, eighteen cans of food, six one litre bottles of water and nine bandages.
“Oh thank god, I’ve been starving all day!” Ghost spoke with excitement and before he reached over to grab a can, I stopped him.
“Don’t worry, we’ll eat soon.” Giving him a soft smile when he shot me a look of confusion, I looked at the food. “There is only enough here for a few days at the very least, and if we include what we can gain from Winter and Lemon’s share, we’ll have enough for about a week at most. We can extend this by at most a fortnight if we ration it correctly, so we’ll do that until we can secure a renewable source of food.”
“Ah, that makes sense. Sorry, I got a bit overexcited.” Ghost scratches the back of his neck.
“Nah you’re fine, even I want to dig in right now, I’m starving and thirsty myself. Before we ration it out and get some food into us, let’s get Lemon a Job and have him complete his quest as well. We have a lot to figure out, especially the Party and Clan Systems we can now use.”
After a short discussion, we landed on the best Job for Lemon, another long term Job that would benefit us in the long run and worked well with everyone’s Job, Tradesmith. A well-rounded Job that incorporated Electrician, Carpenter and Plumber, providing the basics in all three. They were also separate Jobs, and we gathered from the information Lemon told us that he now understood the basics of each, meaning if he were to choose one of the main jobs he’d have more advanced knowledge, however with our small group the allround option is the best.
We also settled on the best Job for Winter during this time, which would be Weaponsmith. From the description alone it’ll work very well with Machinist and Dismantler and being able to craft weapons will be a big boon to us. While exploring the Crafting System, I found that I could craft machine parts that were needed to build into the machines I knew, such as hinges, basic wiring, crankshaft and so on.
Lemon also received the backpack and the same amount of canned food, water and bandages, and with that we rationed everything and sat down to finally eat and drink. We gave ourselves enough to fill up and slowly ate, feeling bliss at the weird taste of the food as our stomachs slowly filled and thirst quenched.
“It’s terrible but so good. Man, I’d go for a burger right now, I wonder if there is any livestock around?” Looking towards Ghost as he sat back with a satisfied smile, I couldn’t help but smile as well. The mood had been delicate for the last two days, I knew everyone here had been anxious, scared and with hunger and thirst it had greatly brought the mood down. Being isekai’ed into a world that had experienced an apocalypse really did not help either.
As the others started talking amongst each other, with Winter and I just sitting next to each other, I decided to try the Party and Clan functions.
“System Call: Party”
Party: 0/4
You can invite up to four people maximum to a party. While in a party you can monitor their health and if they are within fifty metres of your location.
“So to invite…” Looking at Winter resting her chin on her hand and looking at me, I smiled slightly at her. “System Call: Party Invite.”
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Winter’s eyes shifted away from me as a finger pressed in midair.
Entity Winter has accepted your Party Invite.
One of the four blank images on my HUD showed a portrait of her face with a green bar underneath it. It didn’t show anything else, meaning either there were no other functions or we didn’t know them. Doing the same for everyone else in the room, the slots filled quickly and now a portrait of each of them rested below my own health.
“It’s very similar to a group in an MMO setting, but why?” Muttering to myself, I tried other Party related commands and found that I could remove someone and reinvite them back. “So other than telling me the health and if everyone is within range, it doesn’t have any other functions right now. I had thought perhaps we could communicate with the help of this, but none of the commands worked.”
“Midnight?” Looking up at Sheep, he had a slightly serious face. “It’s about midday, we should head out and attempt to loot those cars to see what else we can obtain. If I can get some cover I can attempt to dismantle a car and perhaps with some luck find gasoline or oil.”
Deciding to try the Clan function later, I focused on the now. Technically we could rest and relax for a bit, though with the time of day left we could still head out and get more done. Looting cars and potentially dismantling them would be a massive help to us, but if we were not in peak condition an extended stay outside could lead to our demise.
“How are you holding up, mentally and physically?” Looking at Sheep, he pondered for a moment and looked at me.
“Mentally I’m not good. I’m still anxious and terrified of our current situation, in addition I’m mentally drained from last night’s watch. While I can handle a trip outside, perhaps an extended trip may push me to the limits. Physically I’m okay, no wounds or strains, a bit of muscle fatigue related to being up for watch.”
Checking with everyone else, they were in similar states. Winter, Lemon and I were well rested physically but mentally were similar to Sheep. Ghost, who had been on watch until the morning, also matched what Sheep said. Tapping my finger on the table, I shook my head.
“We’re mentally drained, which can cause a lapse of judgement from any of us. For now, we’ll work within the limits of the property, collecting wood, stones, loose metals, any broken technology that we see and spend the evening relaxing. Tonight, we’ll go with roughly four hour rotations, Lemon I’ll pair you up with Ghost and Sheep and they’ll show you what to do while keeping watch. Winter and I will take the first watch and wake you three when we believe four hours have passed.
“Tomorrow, we will eat and drink, recheck our conditions and then make a call as to what we will do. I want to avoid a situation where we may be placed in a situation that is unfavourable for us, after all we still do not understand this world, Husks might not be our only enemies, after all the lore text alluded to more enemies, otherwise it would’ve said just ‘Husks’. We’ll need to figure out our priorities right now, including getting Winter a Husk kill and her Job unlocked.
“This is only the start, remember that. We have gotten some relief, but our biggest problem is still food. Without a renewable source of food, we will eventually run out of food. We can not reliably trust the canned food we find as it may have rotted, like the food we found yesterday and how it stank out the room. While we do have Ghost’s Farmer Job and the seeds that came with it, we still need to find suitable soil, install a working watering system and build around it to protect the plants.”
Everything fell into deep thought. I knew that we had all been excited a moment ago, but we needed to remind ourselves of the reality of our situation. While there is hope now, this is only the beginning, we have a long way to go before we could truly start to relax and become self-sustaining. I hadn’t even mentioned the problem about water, fuel and the horde at night.
“Let’s get started on gathering what we can from around here. Sheep, dismantle all the appliances left here and get what you can.”
“Should we spend these Job points first?” I nod at his question.
“Let’s figure that out first. System Call: Job.”
A new screen showed up, with hundreds of dots showing and looking closer I found them to be similar to nodes of a talent tree. My eyes widened as I pushed my thumb and index away from each other, finding that it zoomed in and saw that it is indeed a talent tree! Scrolling to the top, I found I couldn’t see what these nodes provided but at the top a single node that wasn’t greyed out sat, the entry nod. Clicking on it, it came up with information.
Machinist Talent: +1 Basic Blueprint
Cost: 1 Job Point
Accept node?
Yes No
This node had three links that ran to three more nodes, and upon accepting the talent I saw a blueprint appear in front of me once again. Surprised that I had received another one, I first looked at the newly unlocked nodes.
Machinist Talent: Mechanical Parts are crafted 1% faster
Cost: 1 Job Point
0/3 Upgrades
Accept node?
Yes No
Machinist Talent: Machinist Parts gain 1% more durability
Cost: 1 Job Point
0/3 Upgrades
Accept node?
Yes No
Machinist Talent: Machinist Parts require 2% less materials
Cost: 1 Job Point
0/3 Upgrades
Accept node?
Yes No
“Holy hells, it’s a fucking MMO.” Looking at Sheep as he made that comment, I couldn’t help but agree with him. Talents, of all things, for our Jobs that increased how strong they were? That unsettling feeling rose once more, if we were being given these types of upgrades and power ups, just what the hell would we be facing? Why not just give us this power at the start? Frowning, I touched my nose and remembered the nose bleed. Is it giving this power to us slowly because we’d collapse if it’s done all at once?
Now the question for me is, speed, durability or less materials? In terms of meta-game building, speed would be top tier, being able to pump out machinery faster would mean we could be restocked quicker, but this is with the mind of a PvPer. While speed no doubt makes things easier, a mere 3% increase wouldn’t really have an effect right now, we weren’t PvPing and we needed to consider the long-term.
Durability or less materials? Both had their advantages, while the durability would only be 3% it would also mean it lasts just that little bit longer. Less materials would mean saving the odd bolt or steel plate here or there, allowing more freedom when constructing machine parts, perhaps letting me build one more machine.
Speaking with the others, they had a similar talent tree, but theirs were a lot more simple. Sheep’s opening talent reduced the durability loss of what he dismantled, while he only had one path to follow. The second node gave him a 1% chance to be rewarded with an additional piece of whatever he dismantled, though it would be a random piece. For example, he might get an additional spring if he dismantled an item that had a spring in it, or maybe an additional screw.
Ghost’s talent tree is similar to Sheep’s. His opening talent gave +1 to seed knowledge, according to him it gave him knowledge on a new basic seed for a fruit, and the linking node gave him the chance to receive one additional seed of whatever he harvested. It could also be upgraded three times, meaning it would become 3% chance.
Looking over mine, I ran through the pros and cons of either durability or less materials. If I could see the next row of nodes I would be set, each of the three led to a one. I couldn’t see the links past that and the nodes were all darkened out. If it’s so set on making us strong, why hide the information from us? Feeling a bit frustrated, I calmed down and made my decision.
Tapping the “Less Materials” talent, I found myself slightly excited at the prospect of gaining more Job Points. Lemon’s decision had been rather difficult, because of his allround Job he could select to have faster crafting for Electrician, Carpenter and Plumbing parts. It implied that the later talents would improve those respective crafts, and deciding that we’d leave his choice until we understood what we required the most, we left it at that for the Jobs. Of course, from what I saw of my Job Talent Trees we didn’t get locked out from the other choices, but we may need to focus on one line rather than multiple, especially if the cost increased.
Sheep took Ghost and Lemon to hunt for nearby wood and stone, find any patches of ground to grow seeds and leave a message by using a sharpened stone onto the side of a wooden fence just nearby. Winter and I went around the building, collecting and storing anything that could be dismantled into an office, sorting them out into piles so that Sheep can get started later. I also hunted for anything that could be used to start crafting the generator, though most things would need to be handled by Sheep.
As nighttime rolled around, I once again sat near the window I had the previous night, a bit worn down but filled with motivation now that I had food in my stomach and my thirst had been quenched. Holding the newly acquired blueprint, I used it and upon learning what it gave, I smiled lightly. It’s for an electrical oven, a basic small oven with one hot plate and oven itself. It had no use for us now, unlike the generator and water purifier, but would find use later.
Winter came over and sat down in the chair next to me, holding my hand and interlocking her fingers with mine. We watched as the sun set and as expected the Husks started to reappear once again, emerging from the ground, houses and from underneath cars. Why are they coming from the ground and not returning to it? Were their numbers increasing because of that? Where did they go during the day? Getting up, I shifted over and sat on Winter’s lap and laid against her as she put her chin on my shoulder while holding my hands.
Tuning the sound of the Husks out, I closed my eyes as I enjoyed my fiance’s warmth. I found myself happy that I wasn’t here alone in this world, and that she is here with me. If she hadn’t been isekai’ed as well, I may have very well ended my life. Suddenly, the sound of the Husks is interrupted by a new sound and though it had been faint, I knew it had been a gunshot, followed by another one ten seconds later. Winter and I stood up and looking out the window we couldn’t see anything. The sound had come from far away, and turning to where the sound had originated from, I pursed my lips. There were other people here.