by Han Yang
Reincarnation Trials: A LitRPG Apocalypse
Systems of Salvation Book 1
Han Yang
Contents
Prologue
1. Starship Hope
2 weeks away from Earth
2. Starship Hope
4 days away from Earth
3. Starship Hope
2 days inside Earth’s atmosphere.
4. Snagglewood Day 1
Location unknown.
5. Snagglewood Day 1
Location Lornsto
6. Snagglewood Day 3
Lornsto to Laro Road
7. Starship Hope
4 days inside Earth’s atmosphere.
8. Starship Hope
6 days inside Earth’s atmosphere.
9. Snagglewood Day 10
Laro
∞∞∞ Entering Snagglewood ∞∞∞
10. Snagglewood Day 10
Laro
11. Snagglewood Day 10
Laro
12. Snagglewood Day 10
Laro
13. Snagglewood Day 10
Laro
14. Starship Hope
7 days inside Earth’s atmosphere
15. Starship Hope
8 days inside Earth’s atmosphere
16. Quadrant 117
8 days inside Earth’s atmosphere
17. Snagglewood Day 17
Laro
18. Snagglewood Day 17
Bewu River
19. Snagglewood Day 17
Bewu River
20. Snagglewood Day 18
Bewu River
21. Snagglewood Day 19
Bewu River - Lornsto Docks
22. Snagglewood Day 19
Lornsto
23. Snagglewood Day 19
Outside Lornsto
24. Snagglewood Day 19
Lornsto
25. Snagglewood Day 20
Lornsto Mines
26. Snagglewood Day 21
Lornsto Mines
27. Snagglewood Day 28
Lornsto Mines
28. Snagglewood Day 28
Lornsto Mines
29. Snagglewood Day 30
Opo
30. Starship Hope
Day 20 above Earth
31. Starship Hope
Day 20 above Earth
32. Starship Hope
Day 21 above Earth
33. Snagglewood Day 32
Opo
34. Snagglewood Day 32
Opo Docks
35. Snagglewood Day 32
Opo Harbor
36. Snagglewood Day 35
Opo Harbor
37. Snagglewood Day 35
Opo Harbor
38. Snagglewood Day 38
Bewu River
39. Snagglewood Day 46
Bewu River
40. Snagglewood Day 44
Lornsto Docks
41. Snagglewood Day 44
Lornsto Docks
42. Snagglewood Day 56
Lornsto Docks
43. Day 53 Above Earth
Texas Federation
44. Day 1 on Earth
Texas Federation
45. Day 1 on Earth
Texas Federation
46. Day 1 on Earth
Texas Federation Outside of Hope
47. Day 1 on Earth
Texas Federation
48. Day 1 on Earth
Salvation Fleet Territory
49. Day on Earth 3
Dominus
∞TO BE CONTINUED∞
Afterword
Prologue
Leeds, North Dakota
Dec 1st 2092
A shrieking roar drowned out the buzzes and pings inside the control room.
“That was a big one,” Jennifer said.
“Sensors are saying it's a seventy-footer. A tier four alpha female. She’s keeping the fifty-footers back. Something has her all riled up,” Ayla said, tapping her controls to watch different angles of the attack. She kept her tone low. “There’s at least six times more of them than we expected by this date. I don’t know if the gate will hold.”
“There’s always hope,” Jennifer whispered back. “If it all goes to hell, I’ll be back with Merick soon.”
Major Jennifer Campbell lost her best friend recently. Ayla figured her family was dead too. With all the fighting, to ensure Leeds Base stayed protected, there really wasn’t time to mourn.
Instead, she watched her station update with news that transitioned from bad to worse.
Her job was to tell the brass when the base’s wall was about to fall. For months, the bio-engineered monsters slammed at the gates angrily, eager to breach the defenses. The outcome was never in question, the timing of the end was.
More importantly, something on Ayla’s sensors changed. Her screen flared to life, and she covered her mouth at the realization of what transpired.
“General, I have a hundred seismic readings,” Ayla said to General Marius. “They’re… it’s bad.”
The clean-shaven man towered over the others in the room. He was a line general, one of the best, and so were all the people in his command tower. This shitty outpost in North Dakota held the key to one of ten chances that humanity might survive.
The starship Tranquility loomed large outside the viewport. The launch sequence, which activated suddenly, had thrown the tower into disarray. Tranquility wasn’t set to launch for another three months, and the majority of its priority citizens stayed in the key fortified cities, waiting where it was safest.
“Report,” General Marius barked.
“Short answer. These readings are saying burrowing variations are weakening the west gate. A breach in the -”
The entire tower shook violently, causing the operators to clutch stations to balance themselves.
In the distance, the entire western gate collapsed. The walls should have held against everything. They were built with burrowing narocks in mind, and yet they crumbled.
A billowing cloud of rubble plumed over the area. When it thinned, towering monsters with rigid spikes on their spines rushed forward. Their feet were big enough to crumple air cars, smash buildings, and kick tanks like they were toys.
These beasts were the downfall of humanity and as the big ones soaked up the human weapon damage, the hundreds of smaller variations flooded into the base. All of these species with the genetic modifications were capable of killing humans.
Ayla knew the base was doomed with the wall falling. Their limited munitions would only go so far. Humanity didn’t kill the beasts at their door because they would run out of bullets before the enemy died. Four years of war did that to species when their infrastructure crumbled.
The true hope was to hide, either by traveling to Alpha Centauri to terraform and colonize a planet within the system, or to go underground.
Her thoughts of her impending doom stopped when tanks lurched as they belched, sending armor penetrating rounds into the massive beasts. The first rows tumbled under the withering fire.
No one cheered. No one slapped high fives.
The walls were supposed to be impenetrable. This base was the home of America’s trip to the stars. In three months.
General Marius slammed a fist into his war table. “She knew. That damn AI knew. I -”
“I’m sorry, General. I warned you.” a disembodied voice said flatly.
Ayla recognized that voice.
It was Darcy. Darcy was the AI that General Marius, and many world leaders loathed. Darcy also happened to be right, almost always. In
this case she rushed production on Tranquility to get the ship skyward. The entire time she removed obstacles that pushed back on the notion it needed to be done sooner.
“You are not leaving without the ship loaded with the right people,” General Marius shouted. “The US Government has selected the best and brightest.”
As General Marius droned on about how the selection process was righteous and fair, a private squelch in Ayla’s earpiece caught her attention.
“Get to Tranquility. If you are hearing this, get to Tranquility. Failure to do so will result in your death,” Darcy said.
Major Jennifer Campbell snatched her arm while yanking her smoothly toward the exit. She trusted Jennifer implicitly, letting her battle buddy lead her. A rare defense droid opened the door for them, and the duo ran down a long winding ramp.
The two of them survived a dozen missions together recently. Ayla was from Israel, a commando with a hundred successful narock battles under her belt. Jennifer had three times as many. Both women could wield a snap rifle with finesse and poise under immense pressure.
This would put them to the test because Ayla saw a shit show of incredible proportions. Soldiers streamed out of barracks, rushing to greet the horde of narocks that swarmed the busted wall.
A behemoth stomped four men as they rushed to enter a hover tank.
Boom!
The explosion blew off the narock’s foot at least. The constant gunfire became drowned out by the increasing explosions. The fighting intensified and Ayla knew the defenders were doomed. Some of the big monsters that lumbered into the base ignored small arms fire as it pinged off their rough outer shells.
“How did you know I got the message?” Ayla asked, sealing her helmet.
Missiles streaked overhead, pounding the towering narocks crossing the debris at the west gates.
“I didn’t, I was just going to take you. Like Darcy gives a shit who humanity picks. If you make it onto her ship, you’re a survivor,” Jennifer said, unleashing three quick shots into the face of a narock that highlighted itself on a roof.
This beast was a mix of dog, bear, and some type of lizard.
“That’s a new one,” Ayla said.
“Another species to add to the kill list, bonus,” Jennifer said.
A missile ripped over their heads, leaving Tranquility.
KA-BOOM!
The command tower blew to bits, the fragments raining down and among the two warriors.
“Holy shit,” Ayla said, realizing the supreme general of the United Northern States had just died.
“I bet Marius was trying to keep Darcy from launching. She called it; it’s over. We lost Earth,” Jennifer said, weaving between tanks. “That damn AI understands. I don’t think I could make the decisions she does.”
“That’s not a good thing, but let’s hope we get the hell off Earth,” Ayla said, trying to stay positive.
The two of them darted through an airfield filled with parked jets. A month ago, these fighters ran out of fuel and munitions, and now, the once mighty weapons of war were reduced to useless shells.
Ahead of Ayla, a burrowing narock busted through concrete. A second later, a dozen hard shelled monsters spilled onto the tarmac. These types she knew all too well.
Bara’narocks. Double-headed hounds with the bodies of mammoths.
“We’re so close,” Jennifer complained. “Well shit, they’re sealing up the ramps.”
Ayla made a decision in a fraction of a second. “I’ll run through them, and you’ll get on the ship at the closest ramp.”
“That’s suicide.”
“I’m a clover, get going,” Ayla said, sprinting into the group of big narocks.
“No one’s that lucky, ah shit, you’re already gone,” Jennifer said. “Good luck my friend, may fortune favor you.”
Ayla focused on the threat ahead of her. These beasts hunted in packs and honed-in on a target. Ayla raised her energy beamer, knowing she could only do so much damage against the bara’narock’s thick hides.
A blue beam burst out of her weapon in a dazzling display. The energy seared an eyeball, bored into a skull, and cooked the brain - all in a split second.
Thud!
The beast collapsed and the other members of the pack howled in anger. Ayla did the most foolishly heroic thing in her life. She ran for the north gate, leading the pack away from the ship and all the soldiers and crew hurrying to board.
For a fleeting second, she glanced over her shoulder, seeing Jennifer leap onto a rising ramp.
Her friend’s mic keyed, “Hey, Ayla, you suck, but I love you.”
“Come back. Do whatever it takes, but come back and save Earth one day,” Ayla said between grunts as she ran.
Heavy engines screamed, exuding their power to lift the massive ship into the air. Tranquility teetered before breaking the tug of Earth’s gravity, soaring into the sky. The liftoff expelled gouts of flaming exhaust into the narocks who sought its occupants.
The force sent her and the narocks hot on her heels into disarray. She quickly recovered from her stumble, admiring the sight of the behemoth.
The endless fighting.
The constant death.
It wasn’t for nothing. They did it. Humanity would persevere.
All around her, Leeds Base fought with a tenacity only known to mankind. There was no next base to retreat to, this was it.
After Leeds fell, the standing orders were to seek shelter and survive. Ayla ran faster than ever before but the pack closed the distance inch by inch. When she felt all hope was lost, raining beams of energy smashed into her pursuers.
A blast wave lifted her off her feet, sending her flying into a research tent. Even though she tucked and rotated, the impact proved too much, and blackness consumed her.
Starship Hope
2 weeks away from Earth
“Theodore Karo, presenting the fall of Earth,” I said confidently.
The bright lights in the tiny room didn’t help ease the tension of the big moment. My first-tier college examination report was being live broadcast across the fleet. I suspected only my parents were watching, but I’d only be able to guess.
A single set of eyes in the back of the classroom watched with interest. Mrs. Jern, my instructor, rolled her wrist forward encouragingly.
I inhaled deeply before saying, “I believe it started in 2041. The Drone Wars ravaged Earth. Struggling nations developed mechanical creations to draw new lines on maps, mainly to control water supplies on an ever-heating planet.
“Those with the manufacturing capabilities and the advanced technology grew stronger. As wells ran dry and rivers shrank, those who maintained fresh water sources had lower mortality rates. The strong survived, and they did so in a ruthless fashion if needed. This period saw a transformation, and the term war, I find, is a bit much.”
I knew this statement might irk some of the viewers on the ship. Any conflict was war, all death was bad, and this remark made it seem like the tragedy of that time didn’t matter. It did, just not compared to what came next.
“The pushback from the first world nations, against the warring factions in Africa and South America, was hailed as a necessary evil. The advent of the bomb type known as the ‘Rustor Mites’ dramatically changed the fighting that became increasingly dangerous.
“Across both continents, the powerful nations attacked, with science on their side. Bombs burst up high, spreading their mites across the winds, and drones dematerialized in the regions. Yes, the initial results caused the modern world to rejoice.
“The tiny robots meant to deconstruct the fighting drones - through the tactic known as Rustor - even stuck to their mission parameters, never harming tools, cars, or other metal objects.
“With the territorial fighting subdued, the world could focus on the main concern. For decades, the Earth fought climate change, fixating on saving the planet they’d destroy in days. They didn’t know that throughout time humanity has always adapted, alwa
ys changed, and always found new ways to create warfare. They should have known, though…”
I paused, delivering the word “warfare” with a humph. At twenty one years old, it was the biggest moment of my life. I could feel my heart regulator calming my nerves while reaching for a glass of water.
Carbon-filled air coated a thin layer on the water’s surface. I gulped down the liquid with a wince. The processor in my stomach would pass the minerals with time.
The starship Hope, my home since birth, struggled to filter the air with its overpopulation. Cybernetic lungs saved our species and allowed our people to continue to recklessly expand, even when life support failed to keep up.
All that had changed. In two weeks, the salvation ships would be over Earth and studying the planet from inside the atmosphere.
The thought process left me awed, and like most of the passengers aboard the last three ships of humanity, I fixated on the future.
Focused on… hope.
I had one last test before I could apply for the Reincarnation Trials as a Citizen with full capabilities, and this speech - on my species’ downfall - would seal my fate. Not wanting to jinx my chances, I continued with confidence.
“In 2079, the advent of the Savo-Water devices altered the fate of the climate. The ability to turn muck into crystal clear water in minutes revolutionized humanity. More importantly, it allowed desalination in proportions never before imagined. This second part held far more relevance than the first. The seas already drowned out coastlines that were in desperate need of retreating tides.