Chapter 14: CHAPTER 12

Ray

The laughter cascaded over Ray like a cool stream of water. It was refreshing with its kindness, something that he had not experienced many times in his life. Staring at her as she hopped off the desk, Ray realized that the woman was taller than he was. By almost a foot. In fact, her head nearly scraped the eight-foot ceiling tiles.

She walked over to him and looked down. Coking her head to one side she said, “I am certainly no undead. Thou first guess was most correct in its nature. Mine name is Gale, a general advisor, and counselor. While I have most enjoyed your physical efforts, a question arises. Why hast thou not utilized the System to complete these labors?”

Ray stared at her for a moment, off-put by her archaic way of speaking. He was having some difficulty understanding her but did get the gist of her point.

“What do you mean use the System?” He responded, a bit confused. "Use it for what?"

Gale brought up a blue screen in front of her, one that Ray could see as well. Spinning it so that he could see what she was doing she rapidly navigated the interface to show him the Development tab.

“Thou world and System art interesting. They both differ greatly from others where the System reigns,” the Drakling began. “An average world may be granted a development system, allowing entire complexes to be purchased by NEX. However many art not, thus requiring greater manual actions to take place. Thy world … is unique among the many I have been upon.”

Turning to him she gestured, bringing up a map of the area. A massive grid system of hexes surrounded them, every single one of them pitch black. That is, except for one. The one that they were in.

“The System is uniform in application and purpose, but differs in utilization based on environment,” Gale explained, “Thou is now upon a world with a unique environmental application of the System. One I have never been privy to or seen prior to this moment.”

Ray nodded, having become accustomed to her archaic dialect. “And what does that mean for me here? I don’t understand how this ties into having the System complete work for me,” he said.

“The System upon this locale, as thou art observing it, works within a section-based map. A hex, as thou may observe within thine map. Each hex can be developed as thou see fit, for a price of NEX of course. The cost can be lessened by actions or materials present, however, full buildings may be rendered outright. Be thou wary, however, as any System intervention or service has a cost,” the advisor warned.

Ray thought about that a bit. The System sounded, for all intents and purposes, like the most realistic game he had ever heard of. Full dive games with haptic feedback were a reality in his previous life, but this was on an entirely new level. While the System seemed to govern reality, what it really sounded like, at the very essence of things, was a way for individuals to better govern themselves.

Shaking that thought from his head, he forced himself back into the present. Looking at the patiently waiting advisor he asked, “So I live in a hex, and I use NEX for everything? Or I can at least? Buildings, materials, services, slaves?”

Gale shrugged, “Yes and no. The System governs not what is possible, but what is plausible. Thou will never be capable of, as an example, creating fire from water. But thou may be able to create water from the fire.”

“That’s confusing as shit, can you just tell me what’s going on with this map and hex?” Ray said in frustration.

The advisor sighed, “Thou will be more difficult a client than most I suppose. But I was desperate in mine gambits. Very well. Let us focus solely upon thy hex,” she said in an almost depressed manner. “Thy world has been divided into many hexagons, a grid if thou would. Thou may claim a hex through combat or, possibly, through purchase by way of the System. Then thou may develop each hex in whatever way thy will sees fit.”

That made much more sense to Ray than some esoteric crap about possibilities. He didn’t know why the System existed, just how to use it. Before he was killed by something or someone that was more proficient than he was.

“Got it. Thank you for being direct,” Ray said.

Gale cocked her perfectly proportioned face to one side, “If I had been any more blunt with my dealings with thou, you may have received a concussion.”

Ray snorted at that. Pulling up the development tab, he was once again assaulted by thousands of options. Filtering them by price, he realized that not only did each option have a cost in NEX but also in time. But there was an option for everything. As he was looking at the options, however, Gale suddenly hissed in what he suspected may have been fury. He looked up to see her glaring at him.

“Lies! Thou have been untruthful with me,” she said, rising to her full height and drawing a massive bastard sword from literally nowhere. “Thou shalt pay for this deception with thine life!” she raged.

Ray immediately held up his hands and took a fetal position. He was under absolutely zero misconception that he would be able to even slow her down in a fight.

“Wait! Wait!” he cried, raising his hands.

Gale paused, “Hast thou any last words?” she asked.

“Yeah, I do!” Ray said quickly, “Can you explain?”

Whatever the Drakling woman had expected, that question wasn’t it. Lowering her sword she stared at Ray intently for several minutes. Eventually, she hopped back up to sit on the countertop where he had first seen her.

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“Abilities are a focal point of advisors. Mine abilities may discern truth from falsehood. Thou doest not speak lies, however, and this confuses me,” she explained. “I will now ask questions. Thou wilt explain. If thine answers are less than acceptable, I will simply take thine life.”

Ray nodded quickly, “You got it!” he replied enthusiastically, sitting up.

“Dost thou know of the core that has been placed here?” Gale began.

Ray thought about that for a moment. “Do you mean the node? The grey node that I placed?”

“No. Thou did not place a node, thou placed a core,” responded Gale, narrowing her eyes. “However, thou wouldst not have known this if thou wert unfamiliar with the System,” she muttered to herself. “Curious. How did you come about possessing a core?”

Ray decided that he would just tell her the entire story. Leaving nothing out. He went into a rapid-fire telling of the events leading up to this point. The more he spoke, the wider the advisor's eyes became. When he finished the last bit leading up to the point they found themselves at currently, Gale held up her hand.

Sighing deeply she said, “I now believe what thou have explained. I … apologize for mine hasty actions.”

“Don’t, uh, don’t worry about it. We all make mistakes I guess,” Ray said cautiously, although most times those mistakes didn’t involve decapitating him. “But I have to admit, I’m more than a bit curious about why you were so angry?”

Gale nodded, “Indeed. I am sure thou art. I will explain. Nodes are used on worlds to expand the Systems Presence. Not all worlds receive a node. Not all worlds are part of the System,” she explained. “However, cores are different. Cores are placed upon worlds that are rich in unintelligent life. Over time, they transform all beings, plants, and animals upon the world they are placed upon into monsters.”

Ray sat down on a nearby office chair, “So basically, I’m fucked is what you’re saying. I am going to spend all this time, effort, and blood surviving and working on getting my species back in control of the planet only to have some thirty-story squirrel Godzilla eat me.”

“I do not know what a Godzilla is, but this is a common occurrence on other core worlds to die horribly. However, thou doth have a … unique world here. As I said before,” Gale reiterated, “This core doth not exhibit the power surges that result in such extinction events. It is … odd.”

Ray leaned back in the chair as he spoke, “So what do I do now? Survive? I get that. The planet is still overrun with the undead. How do I bring humanity back? I can’t really have enough kids to repopulate the planet either. Besides, there would be serious issues after a while there. I doubt anyone else on the plant is alive either,” he lamented.

“Hast thou checked?” inquired the advisor.

Ray sat up quickly, his eyes wide. “I can check?”

The dragon woman nodded, “Indeed. Thou hast control of the sector with the node within its confines. Thus, thou hast the ability to check the overall status of the planet the node is located upon,” she explained. “However, the unique nature of this node seems to block out visual access to all regions, my apologies, all hexes, that you have not claimed or explored.”

“Fog of war it is,” Ray muttered as Gale looked at him quizzically. He pulled up the map and, with his advisor's guidance, got the filters to the proper settings. Then he hit accept.

The information that popped up was a detailed summary of every creature on earth in numerical format. The only thing it didn’t seem to show were the counts of insects if that was even possible. However, the important figures were there. Ray leaned forward to take a deep long look at the chart In front of him:

 

EARTH SENTIENT POPULATION

FILTER SET: CUSTOM

SENTIENT POPULATIONS AS DEFINED BY FILTERS

HUMAN – 233,411,902

UNDEAD – 11,411,708,101

DRAKLING – 1

SOLIAN – 2

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