The sound of typing filled the empty workshop, my fingers gliding over the keyboard of a laptop. I’ve been working on this laptop for the past two weeks, doing nothing but typing one line of code at a time, building an operating system for our use. I had barely left the workshop, only ever being dragged out by Sheep who ensured that I stayed well fed and had a shower.

Oracle, the language that I’d been given the knowledge of, had many similarities to Python and Java, the two languages I had learnt while studying Computer Science. Programming an entire operating system however wasn’t just about typing code, there were so many more functions I had to write as well as making sure it’s compatible with the hardware of various laptops and desktops.

Finishing yet again another session of debugging, I sign and connect the laptop to a network switch as I attempt to deploy the operating system to a second laptop, which would be the standard for now across the base and start compiling it. I watch as thousands of lines of code execute, holding my breath and hoping that this, the tenth attempt, would finally be it.

Error! Error!

“Fuck, just tell me where the error is!” Slamming my fist down on the table, I began the work of formatting the second laptop once again and then turned to the development laptop. “Where the hell is the problem?!” Once again, I start going through the coding once again, determined to get the operating system operational.

Hours flew by when I focused like this, I knew it wasn’t helpful but with Sheep organising the teams for exploration I knew I could spare a few more days until we started exploring the sites Cass and Geralt had shared with us. During one of the times that Sheep dragged me out, he had told me that they returned to the town and had managed to start bringing everything they could back. Only about a quarter of the town had been left, including one petrol station and with them emptying the fuel, they had started on dismantling anything that could be useful and started stockpiling it all.

Aerith and Lemon started work on three buildings. A headquarters of sorts with five offices, a storage warehouse and housing for a server room. Finishing yet again another debug session, I deployed once again and watched as I heard the door open and footsteps coming towards me. Seeing a cup be placed next to me along with the smell of coffee, I smiled as Winter pulled up a seat with her own coffee, not saying a word as we both watched the deployment.

Around the time where it had been failing for the last three times, I leaned forward in anticipation of having to try and find the error again, but this time it went through smoothly. Holding my breath, I watched as the operating system finally started to boot, the interface finally showing up. Just as it started loading though, it all disappeared as a blank box sat there.

Critical Error!

“Well, it made it further than before.” With a sigh, I stretched as I loaded up the code once again and Winter giggled.

“I understand none of this but seeing that you can load something means you’re close, right?”

“Argh, don’t remind me. I’m not even close even if it’s loaded with an interface.” Gesturing to the pile of papers, I sighed. “Out of all of that pseudocode, I’d estimate I’m about just over half done once the interface actually loads.”

“Really? What else is there?”

“Too much. Networking protocols, base programs, user level access, security and so much more. Then there are the servers, custom programs and so much more. We’re not going to have computers everywhere for a good few months yet.”

Feeling a hand on my thigh, I looked at Winter as she gave me a rather sly smile. “How about a distraction?”

Grabbing the hand that had been slowly working its way up my thigh, I giggled and shook my head. “Shower first.” Standing up and helping Winter up, we walked towards the door but stopped short when the System suddenly flashed two screens at us.

Warning: World Shift One approaching.

In 89 days, 23 hours and 59 minutes a World Shift will occur, bringing far more dangerous enemies to this world.

Warning: Nexus Event Two.

A Nexus Event will occur in 109 days, 23 hours and 59 minutes.

Staring at these two warnings, I felt my heart skip a beat as I looked at Winter. Her lips pursed as she looked at me.

“Seems like things are about to get busy.” I sigh while shrugging. “Let’s worry about this after a shower and that distraction.”

“I don’t think the others are going to let us do that…” Just as Winter says that, the radio from my desk sparks to life.

“Everyone, report to the campfire, I repeat, everyone report to the campfire.”

“Now even the System is getting in our way and of course it’s Sheep summoning us.” Winter facepalms while sighing. Changing our destination, we walk towards the campfire and see others coming as well. Sitting down, I wait for everyone to arrive before looking at Sheep and giving him a nod. With that, he starts speaking.

“As you all saw, we’ve just received two warnings from the System. Thankfully it’s given us a lot more time compared to the first Nexus Event, but this time it seems we’re having a ‘World Shift’ first, which honestly I have no clue about.”

“Perhaps it’s just more types of Husks coming?”

“I highly doubt that, new types of Husks have been arriving for a while now and the System hasn’t mentioned them at all. No, this appears to be something new.” Turning to answer Lemon’s question, I then looked around. “We’re going to shift our priorities. The plan to head to the town remains the same, except we’ll separate into two teams to be determined later. One team will assess the town while we send another team to one of the locations given to us by Cass and Geralt.

“Aerith, I also want you to start a draft of defences for the base. Once we secure more parts, I will work with you to build some of the blueprints we learnt in our world. We’re in an awkward phase where we’ve just gotten the base off the ground, so when it comes to our defences we need to focus on either delaying a potential flood of enemies or forcing them into one chokepoint. I’ll leave it to you, let us know what and who you need.”

“Got it, I have preliminary plans that I worked on with everyone before they left. I’ll start with those, they helped us think over many different scenarios.”

Turning to Diana and Melissa, I looked at the ones who brought them to this world. “You two, we’re going to need you to start getting those quests done. For Jobs, I’ll discuss it later with you two and same deal when it comes to Classes. You both, out of all of us, have no experience so I’ll partner you both with someone who can both teach you and ensure your safety.”

“Got it.”

“I’ll listen to you, Ruby.”

Turning to Winter, she nodded and spoke before I did. “I’ve gotten weapons ready for everyone and can make more once we have more parts. As for ammunition, we’ve used all of the materials we brought back and have far more than enough, roughly around ten thousand handgun rounds, four thousand shotgun shells, five hundred sniper rounds, countless arrows including some explosive arrows and finally two thousand minigun rounds.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“I’ve also got an assortment of healing draughts, mana potions and various powders for different ailments.” Melody confirms as my attention went to her.

“Good, sounds like we’re already ahead of the game there. I want Dawn, Melody and Winter to organise ration packs for our trips. Ration out our food, water, ammo, potions and handguns. Ensure that it fits into a backpack and can last one a week at least.” Seeing the three nod, I then turn to Sheep. “I’ll leave the two teams to you, you’ll be leading one of them while I lead the other. I don’t want the teams to be focused on combat, I want them focused on exploration.

“After a week, we’ll meet here, report our findings and then decide what to do. Any sightings of new types of Husks that we are not already aware of must be prioritised, for those at Lvl 2 we’re only roughly about one hundred points from Lvl 3 and it’s now a priority for us to reach that before the next Nexus event. If being Lvl 3 means we stomp the shit out of these new enemies then all the more reason to reach it quickly. Any questions?”

“When do we begin?”

“In three days. Those that haven’t been assigned to do something help the others, whether it’s with Aerith looking over the plans for the defences or with Winter packing ammo, the more hands the better."

Seeing everyone get up and start moving, I grabbed Sheep and Jupiter and headed to the headquarters…the now unused campervan and sat them both down. Together, we discussed the teams as well as any needs we needed to fulfil before heading out.

The team heading to the town would be Sheep, Melody, Jupiter, Lemon, Diana and Silver. The team heading to the apparent military camp will be myself, Winter, Melissa, Ghost, Dawn and Aerith. Both cars had enough fuel for the return trip, which is vital since the military camp is about sixteen hours from our location compared to the twelve hours that the town was. Happy with the teams, we worked out the priorities for both and deciding that the upper limit will be one week, we made the decision to allow combat in the case we believed we could overwhelm the Husks and take over an encampment.

After our multi-hour discussion, we parted ways to assist the others and finding no one slacking around, we ensured that we finished the work needed within ten hours with the cars packed and ready. Seeing a form of preparedness coming from everyone, I realised how much we had accumulated in this world, making me rather happy.

After showering and finally getting that distraction, I rested along with Winter before getting up and getting myself prepared. Each backpack had been labelled and tailored to an individual, and along with preparing my weapons, I also took the composite bow I had received at Lvl 1 since arrows were very basic and easy to get.

“Sheep.” Walking over to Sheep as everyone started to climb into one of two cars, I looked him up and down. “Don’t die.”

“Tsk, Ruby, do I look like the sort to just up and die? I should be saying that to you.” Giving each other a strong gaze, both grinned and walked away from each other. This would be the first time we were separating into two separate teams well away from one another, but I trusted Sheep with my life, so I knew he wouldn’t just dive first face into danger.

Getting into the driver’s seat, I turned and saw Melissa of all people sitting next to me, with Winter in the back. Internally screaming at the thought of this flirt occupying me the entire drive, I started the engine and with Melissa giving the route, I started our first expedition out. Unfortunately it seems Melissa’s nerves were through the roof, leading her flirting to become a lot more…intimate. Although I played along initially, I couldn’t keep pace with her due to concentrating on driving and she claimed it as a victory.

Fortunately she also drifted off to sleep after half a day, giving me time to recollect myself from her various flirting techniques, much to Winter’s amusement. The hours pass by and just as we’re closing in on the military base, my vision catches a sight on the horizon. Slowing down slightly, I use Hawkeye to see what exactly is awaiting us. Expecting another swarm, the sight that entered my eyes surprised me heavily.

About ten people were stumbling down the road as if injured. They wore a mix of armour made from leather or metal and they appeared unarmed. At first I felt hesitant, it’s a strange sight to see people randomly out here and after checking around them, I eliminated this being an ambush of sorts.

“We have about ten people, most likely injured, just ahead of us. Get ready you guys, we’ll approach them and see what’s happening.” Looking at everyone in the back, I saw them all quickly get themselves ready as I slowed down a bit. Keeping my eyes on the group as we approached, I saw a few of them glance up at us. I couldn’t make out their expressions, but seeing them come to a stop, I knew it wasn’t an ambush.

Shaking Melissa awake, she too got ready, though only by making sure she stays in the car. She wasn’t armed since she still wasn’t trained with guns. Being careful, I pulled up about twenty metres from the group as we all exited the vehicles. We didn’t point our weapons at the group, but we kept ourselves ready as both sides slowly approached each other.

Both sides stop about ten metres from each other. Up this close I all but confirmed they weren’t armed, nor was this an ambush, the surroundings were visible, no tall grass to hide in. A woman in a mix of leather and chainmail armour stepped forward while looking at us carefully. She had dirty and messy blonde hair but sharp, determined eyes that made one feel like bending the knee to her.

“My name is Trinity of the Focused Lotus. I never expected a group to come along this road but I implore you to turn around.”

Stepping forth while holstering my handgun, I looked at the woman named Trinity carefully. I saw wounds around her body, scratch marks and bruises from what seemed to be a strong grip. Her armour was mostly intact but parts of it were still shredded.

“I am Midnight, leader of the Unity of the Lost. Why do we need to turn back? What is it that you’re running from exactly?”

Trinity looked me up and down before turning to those behind me then behind herself, looking at her own team before facing me once more.

“Up ahead is a military site. We’ve been walking for the last two days. There, my clan is trapped, all four hundred and eighty two of them. A swarm two thousand strong hit us during the night, trapping all of us in a fortified building. We spent nearly a month trapped in that building before we decided to have a team escape in an effort to find a large clan to help us, though it’s unlikely to find one all things considered. We left out of desperation, the Husks were still trying to break through…I lost ten people just breaking through them and escaping the place.”

Hearing Trinity’s words, I crossed my arms and frowned as my thoughts ran through questions that I had.

“Why did you come to that military base?”

“We needed to escape Haven. Even though we successfully did so, we’ve been driving aimlessly for nearly a month before arriving at that military base and running out of fuel.”

Even more questions came to my mind before I looked back at Winter, who simply nodded once. Turning back to Trinity, I looked past her for a moment, down the road.

“If we were to rescue your group, would you be willing to join us?”

Trinity just looked at me, dumbfounded. She wasn’t the only one, those behind her looked speechless while staring at me. Trinity recovered first as something dawned in her eyes.

“Oh, I see, you’ve got a large clan!”

I slowly shake my head before pointing a thumb behind me. “No, it’s just these guys. We’re all Lvl 2.”

“Y-you’re all L-Lvl 2?!” Trinity looked shocked while the others behind her whispered amongst themselves. A bit shocked at this reaction, I tilted my head.

“Yes, is that strange?”

Trinity shook her head before looking at us. “Yes, frankly it is strange. Even in Haven, only ten Lvl 2s exist but they’re able to control the thousands that reside there. Reaching Lvl 2 is believed to be an extremely daunting and difficult task…”

I understood why she said those words, it’s a problem we’ve discussed as a group before. Having too many people makes it harder to safely hunt and pick off Husks and if what she says about this Haven place having thousands it means the only way to gain Class Points would be to hunt large groups outside of the safety of a town.

In theory, a larger group would make it easier to hunt swarms, but since we started with next to nothing, reaching Lvl 1 through the quests became very difficult in a large group, never mind getting the Class Points for Lvl 2 since you’d need to hunt swarms.

“Well, let’s just say we’re able to help out depending on the situation. I don’t know anything about this Haven, but as I mentioned we can provide assistance, to the point of at least getting your guys out.”

Trinity looked me up and down once again. “If you can actually save my clan and get them all out alive then you have a deal, we’ll join you. On one condition.” I gestured for her to continue. “You must treat us like people, not like tools for your progression.”

“That’s easy, we have water and soon renewable food which we won’t restrict anyone from, though it will be rationed.” Seeing Trinity nod, I turn to my team. “Give them a healing potion each and treat their wounds. We’ll go on foot. Ghost, take the car and Melissa and head back to Lux, meet up with the rest and inform them of the situation, we’ll need fuel, water and whatever food we can provide.”

We didn’t have much food left, in fact if it wasn’t for the fact that Ghost’s farm is nearing harvest season I would’ve likely been in an awful position to say yes or no. Turning back to Trinity, I give her a soft smile.

“We’ll have you guys rest up for a few hours before making our way back. Get your wounds treated and tell me the full situation.” With sending Ghost back, it left four of us to fight. I knew it would be impossible to fight two thousand husks between the four of us, but with Ghost heading back and a few day trip, we should have the others arrive a day or two later if we couldn’t do anything.

“Got it.” Leading Trinity to the side of the road and handing her a healing potion, she started to explain the situation at the military base while I closed my eyes, taking every scrap of information in and thinking of a plan to get nearly five hundred people to safety.