Excise: A Post-Apocalyptic LitRPG (Ether Collapse Book 2)

by Ryan DeBruyn

  Derik saw Rocky admiring the tarp and smiled falsely. “I created this tarp to try to keep the rain off and people from walking on our rough map. It would be really great if our esteemed leaders would provide a roof over the heads of the people and maybe some damn paper!” Derik pontificated in such a rude, obnoxious way that Rocky thought he felt his blood begin to boil.

  Dammit, I just praised Derik. At least it wasn’t out loud. Just calm down—it really does look like Derik did a good job. Don’t let him get to you.

  Interrupting his inner mantra, Derik continued, “The places I have marked with miniature mountains denote some of the places we’ve found veins of minerals. I placed a star next to the ones that we’ve only found on rare occasions. The dividing lines I’ve roughly drawn seem to denote areas within the Territory. I can’t be sure, but I think that each species I listed within those lines are most likely to be found in those areas, which could mean that’s where those creatures reside or procreate?” He pointed out each area as he spoke and looked at Smith on occasion, who nodded along. “Finally, Smith marked places where he found some of the more useful plants on the map, and the squares with neat rows are meant to denote high fertility of earth that he believes we could use as farms.” One of those farms was right on the other side of the river from the Territory. Derik looked at Rocky as he finished his detailed summary and was met with an open-mouthed stare.

  Derik stood up and sniffed disdainfully. “Honestly, I knew how useless you seem to be, so I started thinking of things to help the people here. I will continue to do so because I don’t trust you or our little, sadistic, resurrected princess!”

  That was the tipping point; Rocky had punched Derik before he knew it. The man sprawled sideways, luckily not ruining the rough map. Smith reacted instantly, putting both of his hands on Rocky’s chest and holding him back with as much force as he could.

  Honestly, it felt like someone was simply standing in his way. If he wanted to, he could be by Smith in an instant, but he already felt he had gone too far. Derik was a complete jerk without question, and perhaps if he had stuck to insults directed only towards him, Rocky wouldn’t have punched him. However, insulting Sela set him off, triggering his Dark Cloak simultaneously with a thrown punch.

  I’m probably lucky that my sword didn’t materialize. At least I had some restraint.

  Thinking quickly as Derik collected himself out of the dirt. Rocky snapped a picture of his map on the regulated Knowledge Tablet. Then he disengaged his Dark Cloak and stepped back, nodding to Smith, who looked at him to gauge his emotional state.

  Derik stood up, holding his mouth. Rocky was surprised to see what looked like a broken jaw. Grimacing, he cast a quick Dark Mend on Derik and saw his eyes lose some of the pained expression before opening wide in a look somewhere between madness and seething outrage.

  Derik took off, walking right through his map. Luckily, he didn’t mess it up too badly, but Rocky shrugged, knowing he had captured the map on the Knowledge Tablet. Turning to Smith, he sighed. “I will try to purchase some useful items from the shop later today. If you can think of anything, let me know. I also will try to get one of these,” he held up his Knowledge Tablet, “for everyone.”

  Smith eyed the electronic tablet, nodding. Then he grimaced and drawled, “You’re probably going to want to make things right with him; he’s been pretty helpful with organizing and starting projects in your absence. I’m not saying he goes about handling it in the right way, but I am saying he will be a valuable ally to have on your side if you truly plan to make something of this Grotto.” Smith turned to watch Derik walk into the distance and then looked back to Rocky. “Would you like to go hunting with my group and see what we can do? Since Derik doesn’t really hunt as often as us, I should add a theory of my own to the monster areas.” He took another drag of his pipe. “We’ve noticed that as we leveled the people in the gorge higher through controlled hunting and finding safe areas, it seemed the monster levels grew. I’m unsure, but I think that the average level of the people who are living within the gorge has a direct effect on the monsters’ levels. Want to go check that out?”

  Rocky nodded, and together, they moved off to meet the rest of the famous A-Team Sela had told him about. They walked to the entrance of the Grotto in silence. Smith smoked his pipe, and Rocky examined the places in the Grotto as they passed them. At the entrance, Smith pointed his pipe stem at a group, and they changed their course towards them. “This is the lovely Miss Amber.” He’d moved the stem of the pipe from the dark-haired, muscularly built Native American woman to a dark-haired, largely rotund, exuberantly smiling man. “That there is Jack and finally Mr. Pips.” Smith ended on a wiry man whose hair was so blonde it was nearly white. The lanky man was all hard, bony angles, and Rocky wanted to feed him something immediately. After the introductions, Smith looked at the group. “This is Rocky, the leader of the Territory.” He took a deep breath and paused before adding, “We shouldn’t expect Derik, but where is Bart?”

  Amber smiled, which turned her from homely to beautiful and punched Smith in the arm. She quipped playfully, “I don’t know about lovely, Smith! As for Bart, he took out a group of people this morning to help them stay safe. So, he won’t be joining us.”

  Then for the remainder of the day, Smith, Rocky, and the three other members of the A-Team hunted and stored unbutchered corpses in the Territorial Inventory. Once that was full and the group was ready to turn back, Rocky showed them the bag of holding and suggested they continue for a bit longer today. The bag interested Smith greatly, as he had been using the Territorial Inventory to store corpses, but the area he had access to was limited. He wondered if there was a possibility of all the hunting groups getting a bag themselves or if it was possible to organize the Territorial Inventory into a butchering storage and yard.

  Rocky considered this and added it to the discussions for the night. If they created a team of butchers who had access to the same area of the inventory as the hunters, perhaps they could have all the hunter groups dumping kills and the butchers pulling them out. Then the butchers could have another area for butchered meat and prepared foods. He doubted that he could get each group a bag of holding—as his was the only one he had seen, and the circumstances in which he got it weren’t exactly repeatable. Again, that left him thinking of LFD and how the eccentric, curb appeal obsessed Dungeon was faring. Not to mention discussing this whole Cardinal Dungeon business with the Dungeon, LFD was much easier to get along with than Maximus had been.

  For the remainder of the day, the group hunted, trying to stock up on food and plants that would be beneficial for the Territory. As they hunted Rocky asked further questions, “How are the ten job categories?”

  Mr. Pips pointed down at some deer tracks and answered, “Helpful but many of us are unsure how helpful. Bart is in charge of them and he has been adding people all morning who are interested.” Mr. Pips paused for a moment and finished, “I think we have hunting to level three currently which allows thirty people?”

  Rocky opened his territory screen and scrolled the jobs.

  Territory Job Categories

  You are able to have ten job titles total. Ways to unlock additional job titles is currently hidden. Reach Territory Level two to unlock additional information.

  Job titles increase over time as actions and quests are completed that fall under each category, or you can have the job skill level doubled by having it occupy two available job title slots.

  Job titles can be reallocated once per quarter, current job reset counter = one. Counters cannot be stored. If they are not used, they will be reset at the end of a quarter. Current time remaining until next quarter. Five days, fifteen hours, two minutes. Dismissing a job will reduce its level back to level one.

  Job’s Chosen

  Alchemist II – Alchemy, Herbalism, Chemistry, Ether Properties

  Farmer I – Cultivation, Seeding, Crop Fertility, Harvest

  Hunter IV (Doubled) –
Accuracy, Tracker, Skinner, Butchering

  Lumberjack II – Axeman, Planking, Debarking, Lumber

  Builder I – Architecture, Engineering, Materials, Creativity

  Researcher I – Research, Discovery, Progress, Invention

  Crafter I – Tools, Creativity, Discovery, Craft

  Cook II – Knives, Cook, Palate, Ingredients

  Soldier I – Shield, Spear, Training, Endurance

  “It is actually level four currently. How did you guys manage to raise it?” Rocky asked wanted to know why some had leveled up faster than others.

  Smith was the one who answered this time, “If you are a hunter you are offered a daily quest to gather meat for the village. I know each hunting group completes it everyday.” Stroking his chin he continued, “People from other groups show me their quests and they are nearly impossible right now. The quests don’t give us any Etherience, but we think they add to the level of the job category and often give levels in skills as rewards.”

  Rocky nodded and made a mental note about it for later. Then said, “Bart will make sure all job openings get filled for now?”

  Amber smiled, “He has been doing a good job so far, but complains it is harder than it seems.”

  Later that night, as midnight approached, Rocky stood and surveyed the smithy and checked its progress. It would seem that some bars had been created of what looked like copper and possibly tin. However, if that was the case, then the smiths hadn’t yet been able to figure out the process of smelting bronze. He could even see some raw iron and other questionable minerals accumulating in a pile off to the side. He used Analyze to identify some of the rarer ones he didn’t recognize on sight. Aluminum, silver, nickel, tungsten, and cobalt were a few of the ones that he hadn’t been able to identify by sight. However, he stared at the screen of the last piece he had just used his Analyze skill on.

  Arcanium Ore

  A metal that is particularly soft but great at holding Ether or converting Ether to other energy sources.

  There wasn’t a ton of the aforementioned ore, but it was a metal that he didn’t recall ever seeing on the periodic table. He had to assume that smelting and forming ingots of most of the metals that he was staring at currently would require a higher skill level for the smiths or he may be able to purchase them some skills or knowledge scrolls.

  He pulled out his Knowledge Tablet and made a few notes to check prices for knowledge scrolls in the shop. His first priority needed to be a sawmill or something that would help the builders stay on top of the construction of housing for nearly four thousand individuals. While they were all very happy and excited now, that would wear off if he couldn’t keep the rain off their heads. Derik’s mutterings from that morning bespoke an issue that would build rapidly if not addressed. As he left, he noticed multiple buckets filled with nails made of copper. At least they had something to use, but copper nails would bend and flex a bit too easily, he figured.

  Bronze jumped up in priority quite a bit when he saw the copper nails. Yeah, it wasn’t steel, which would be pretty good, but bronze was actually a far superior metal to iron, copper, and tin. It was a common misconception that iron was better because knights in Medieval Europe used it. Rocky, however, had read that the European countries had been blessed with an abundance of the mineral and that was why it was so prevalent in history—not its superiority but its availability. Currently from the stocks he could see on hand, copper and tin were his two most prevalent resources, and bronze was made by mixing those two if his memory served.

  That was pretty common knowledge, and he wondered what the trouble was with just mixing the two. Was the process more complex than he thought, or had the people who were learning to smith just not attempted the mixture yet?

  He made a note to make sure they began experimenting and to have them re-smelt the copper nails back to ingots. If they used the copper nails, those structures would be subpar, and he truly believed in building for longevity where possible.

  That’s when he walked by the cooking area and groaned. The smiths had made some massive copper pots that seemed to be hanging on makeshift erected tripods made of uncut wood. It seemed like this was another problem that needed to be addressed. Someone had cleverly created a large portion of clay bowls and spoons, but there were only perhaps fifty of them in total. Which meant that the initial survivors had been sharing and taking turns while eating. If he wanted morale of his Territory to remain high, he would need to have enough cutlery and utensils to allow everyone to eat simultaneously. Humans are social creatures, after all.

  Unsure what the priority would be here, he added to his growing shopping list and grimaced. He currently had around eight hundred Crystallized Ether, which was the primary currency of this world. Four hundred of the eight hundred crystals were from his group’s personal stores, and the other four hundred was what was left over from Corsair’s Ottawa stores. Eight hundred was actually a ridiculously huge sum for one person to have. Considering that he had stolen near three thousand from Corsair, who’d been stealing it from a hundred thousand and change Ottawa survivors, and the problem became apparent. Rocky would not be able to get this large of a sum again. So, each purchase had to be thoroughly considered.

  Here, in a Territory, the shop came with some pretty awesome functionality. First, you could set up a tax function for every purchase made. The shop would automatically add it to every purchase made within and keep it for collection. Second, the leader could set the shop’s parameters for who could and couldn’t enter. Rocky was tempted to leave it off-limits to everyone, but that was too similar to what the sociopath Corsair had done. He jotted down more notes to try to find a way to safeguard the Territory but allow access to the shop.

  Why not allow everyone access to the shop? Because inside the shop, there were people from all over the Etherverse, and many, if not all of them, would be overjoyed to learn about Gaia. Most just because it would be considered a new, untapped resource, but if they learned the truth that Gaia was one of the oldest planetary gods and that she was currently in a very weakened and vulnerable position… Rocky couldn’t even guess how many expeditions would be sent to capture her.

  Considering his last thought, he looked at a note he’d made on the trek back to his Territory. The note read, “Start Researching Upgrades for Intergalactic Ships.” He had desperately wanted some sort of shuttle or flying ship that could transport survivors more safely. When he’d brought it up to Sela early in the journey, she’d laughed. It would seem that the ships themselves would be available, but they were all base models and absurdly expensive.

  The top tier technology and research available was all guarded by the individuals who discovered it. The base model starship itself was available but out of their price range. The technology to make it safe during travels was jealously guarded by the creators, guilds, or planetary governments to hold an edge if conflicts ever arose.

  This phenomenon extended to any shuttle that could accommodate large groups of humans. With the monsters in the air and on the ground, any shuttle would need to be well defended or absurdly fast. Yet, the technology to make them safe fell under starship patents, which left anything that was purchasable light-years behind even Earth’s primitive jet fighters. Rocky had explained those to Sela, and she had just asked him how the most advanced tech from his world would fare against any of the monsters or golems he had seen.

  Unfortunately, I thought and still do think they would be worth little more than the material they are made from. Not to mention they use an even more expensive resource to fly!

  Of course, he was thinking of oil, which was actually Gaia’s personal Essence and was worth far more than humans had ever suspected. The amount of oil the world had consumed as Gaia slumbered was vast, and Rocky knew now that she was awake finding the substance was going to be much more difficult. After he finished his quick perusal of the camp, he flicked his radio to notify Joe and Zippo of the meeting Sela had set up. “Guys, let’s meet up
and plan a trip to the shop.”

  Joe and Zippo arrived carrying an entire pot of stew between them. Joe smiled at the group. “Only way I could get the kid to come.”

  Zippo still didn’t look happy to be present at the ‘boring’ meeting. However, he sat down with a bowl and sipped away. It was well after midnight, and Rocky hoped that the two had stolen leftovers only. However, to be on the safe side, he dumped all his personal butchered meat from his bag of holding into the Territorial Storage area to make up for anything they might have ‘stolen’.

  Once everyone was sitting, Sela surprised all of them.

  Selaphelia Ardensai would like to begin a meeting and has invited you.

  | No

  Once Rocky clicked yes, a blank window popped up in front of him, and Sela looked pointedly at him. He shrugged his shoulders, not sure what she was expecting, which forced her to sigh. “Just think what you want to put on the screen, and it will share it with the screens in front of the rest of us. If you have anything written on the tablet you can just open it and transfer it over as well.”

  His eyebrows rose. He had been wanting to find some functionality like this, but here, Sela had just displayed a much deeper knowledge of the system so casually. It made him realize he was probably missing huge numbers of opportunities the system had at his fingertips. He pulled out his tablet and shared his spur of the moment shopping list.

  Shopping List

  ● Sawmill

  ● Knowledge Scrolls (Bronze)

  ● Construction tools (For more squads)

  ● Industrial Kitchen Equipment or Dining Establishment

  ● Blueprints as needed

  ● Crops

  Sela smiled wanly at Rocky for the briefest of moments, then disappointedly emphasized, “You have a very utilitarian view on what is needed, Rockland. I agree that we need something to speed up the construction on the Longhouses, and the sawmill is a great start. However, I think that after food or some sort of dining hall, you are really going to need an economy with luxuries that can be purchased and a guildhall.”