Coast on Fire: An Apocalyptic LitRPG (The System Apocalypse Book 5)

by Tao Wong

  “I…” I consider what she said and wave her to continue. Fine. Let’s see how this plays out. If there’s a trap here, I’m not experienced enough to see it. Or I am, but I want to see how it plays out. Because she’s right—avoiding running the city isn’t going to work. And the council is too busy fighting about how they’re going to run it to actually do it. But… “Tomorrow morning, I want it free.”

  “For…?”

  I smile, waving her to continue.

  Hours later, after a number of meetings with petitioners and job applicants, I’m finally alone. One thing I’m grateful for is Katherine having the foresight to order in lunch. When lunch is served, Lana saunters in, glancing at Katherine with narrowed eyes. After a few minutes of soft-spoken conversation, the initial wariness slips away from my girlfriend as she drops into a chair next to me.

  “How’d you make it here?” I say, frowning. One of the more significant purchases I intend to make is the installation of communication arrays in each settlement. Once set up, they will allow for long-distance transmissions between each settlement. “And how’d you find me?”

  “Mmm… your new assistant contacted me,” Lana says around a mouthful of crab. “And I took the boys out for a run.”

  I grunt, wanting to chide her for risking her neck, but decide against it. Lana’s a survivor like me and can handle herself. Anyway, with her pets, in many ways, she is a lot tougher than she should be for her Level. Especially since she’s been focusing on Leveling them lately. Especially Roland. Roland is scary.

  “Katherine?” I say with a frown. I’m really curious how my new assistant knows enough to contact Lana already so quickly.

  “My Class provides me with a number of Skills. A minor Skill in communication called ‘Contact List’ allows me to contact a certain number of individuals within my sphere of influence. Normally I’d need to designate them individually, but with another Skill of mine—Intuit—I am able to access a portion of what would be your contact list. It was a simple matter then to mark Ms. Pearson as a priority individual,” Katherine says. Interestingly enough, she’s also pulled a plate of food to her, though she’s eating with significantly more decorum. I guess the lady has no problem eating in front of her boss. “Now, we were going to speak about your most recent interviews…”

  I sigh, but considering Lana’s here, I might as well make use of her skills and knowledge. At this point, I get a nice surprise as Ali uses his gifts as my companion to flash up images of each applicant as we speak, allowing Lana to view them and, in some cases, watch certain portions of the interview.

  While we don’t have a broad-based idea of the government system that we want in place, we do have the roughest of sketches. Security, legal, education, and city management are the highlights. The last encompasses a lot of things, from city planning for new System-registered buildings to working with petitioners who have their own ideas about what the city needs. We already have a burgeoning homeless problem—System-homeless that is—which needs to be resolved. With pre-System infrastructure slowly falling apart, staying in non-registered homes is fast becoming less and less comfortable for many.

  We talk, debate, and weigh the pros and cons of the applicants for our budding bureaucracy. Of the eight who arrived and passed Kim’s background checks, three are removed from the list for being too skeezy. Another two are put on hold till we can find a proper task for them. And the last three are hired to begin the process of actually putting together a working bureaucracy. Thankfully, with the System and the various Skills involved, the numbers we would require should be significantly lower than pre-System. Never mind that we’ve also got a much lower population. Unfortunately, Security continues to be a crucial gap. Everyone who could do the job has either been deported by the Sect or is a delver and thus tied to the vying political groups.

  “I approve,” Lana says, stretching in her chair as silence finally finds us. “Roxley mentioned that you’d need an assistant soon unless I wanted to be stuck with the job. It was part of the reason why I came down today actually. But Katherine seems to have things well in hand.”

  “Never said I’ve hired her,” I say.

  Katherine doesn’t rise to my provocation, continuing to eat calmly, having already informed the successful applicants. I’ll have to give them their brief tomorrow and get them working on hiring others, but at least this should sort out some of the pressing applications. And perhaps get the city back up and running. Not surprisingly, the Sect took their own form of organization with them, and in any case, the Sect had very different objectives than us—for one thing, we have the entire downtown now available for reallocation.

  “She seems to be doing a good job,” Lana says.

  “Yeah, yeah.” I wave, indicating Lana is correct. Good job or not, I don’t like the feeling of being rushed, even if I can admit that we’re getting a lot done.

  “Lana says to stop being so paranoid. You need the help and we’ll keep an eye on her.”

  “What’s next on the agenda?” I ask, deciding to change the subject.

  “Upgrades,” Lana says.

  “Fair enough,” I say.

  The moment I do, Kim displays the summarized Settlement Management Screen.

  Summarized Settlement Status

  Current Population: 129,308

  Combined Settlement Treasury: 98.93 Million Credits (+157k per day)

  Combined City Mana: 13,309 Mana Points (+298 Mana per day)

  Taxes: 10% Sales Tax on Shop

  Facilities of Note: City Dungeon (1), Mega Farms (3)

  Enchantments of Note: Mana Collection Field

  Defenses of Note: Settlement Shields (III * 1 & IV * 2)

  While it is a summarized information screen about the major areas of concern for the settlements under my control, it obviously misses a lot. Still, considering I need to know the basics, it is a good starting point. Interestingly enough, while Credits could be transferred between settlements without any issue, transferring Mana is actually much more expensive and ends up being a 5-to-1 ratio. The summarized amount shows the Mana we have available if we use it in Vancouver, which would obviously change depending on where we want to trigger the Mana usage. Considering Mana usage is mainly linked to upgrading or changing higher-tiered buildings, it isn’t as much of an issue. Yet.

  One thing I don’t like is the way the defensive notes don’t list the full defenses of each settlement. Then again, as I’ve noticed in Kamloops, anything that isn’t stupidly powerful is pitiful when stacked up against a real assault. Which I guess split defenses into two kinds: those useful against monsters and those that are needed against other sentients.

  “Not sure I’m that confident in spending our Credits on upgrades yet,” I say, frowning at the information. “I know Kyle has specific goals—especially with the Adventurers Guild, whose reps I should meet—but I’m sure the Kelowna council have ideas too now that we’re not on a war footing.”

  “Might be an idea to throw the question at your Vancouver council too,” Lana adds. “There’s nothing that the city needs desperately, so we can let them argue it out and offer their suggestions.”

  “That’s… not a bad idea.” At the worst, it’d give them something else to argue about while I deal with the actual work of running the city. But I’d invited everyone onto the council—or well, acceded to their demands to be included—because they were parties of import in the city and could provide me more information about it. Which meant they might actually be able to provide some real information. “Katherine…”

  “I’ll message the council members and let them know you’d like their feedback on the priorities for improvements to the city at the next scheduled meeting,” Katherine says.

  “Thanks,” I mutter, staring at the screen.

  Perhaps the most interesting thing we have is the City Dungeon. We actually have a natural dungeon forming on the grounds of Simon Fraser University, but thankfully, it’s high up in the mountains and curr
ently still growing. It’s still something that needs to be dealt with, but for now, I focus my attention on the City Dungeon.

  Over the time I spent reading about the System, I’d learnt a little about City Dungeons. City Dungeons are different from natural dungeons. Natural dungeons form from an overabundance of Mana and the fortitudinous encounter with a monster. Or vice versa—an Alpha monster can, through its continued presence, potentially develop a natural dungeon. Depending on the type and volume of Mana, the natural dungeon can be a single-clear dungeon or a multiple-clear dungeon where the System actually forms the monsters from “memory.” In both cases though, these natural dungeons often have a specific difficulty level that permeates the entire dungeon—mostly due to the monster type(s) that inhabit them.

  City Dungeons, on the other hand, are always multiple-clear dungeons. They are formed through the conscious redirection of Mana flow into a specific area, with enchantments, rituals, and Mana engines directed to contain and form the dungeon. City Dungeons are generally structured, with upper levels being the lowest available zone and growing in difficulty as you journey deeper. The most common City Dungeon type is an underground dungeon with each level a new, more difficult zone. The larger the city, the more settlements that feed the dungeon structure, the more powerful and greater the potential difficulty the dungeon will have.

  However, our City Dungeon is slightly different. Rather than an entrance to an actual dungeon, it is spread out across what used to be the University of British Columbia. The grounds are generally considered the basic zone meant for beginners. Faculty buildings and residences are where the actual dungeon levels are located, with certain faculties being more dangerous than others.

  All that information gives me some context when I review the City Dungeon management screen.

  City Dungeon

  Location: Vancouver

  Dungeon Level: Tier III

  Mana Consumption: 218 per day

  Known Spawns: Jackalopes, Evolved Canada Geese, Wolpertinger, Spirits, Kmi Leeches, Medusa, Tikbalang, Mngwa

  Known Loot: Hide (of Known Spawns), Trivial, Minor, Major Healing & Mana Potions, Tier V Beam & Projectile Weapons, Tier IV & V Bladed Weapons, Tier V Explosives, more…

  “Hey, Ali, can you explain the Tier system again? I’m a bit confused here,” I mutter, waving at the Dungeon Level. “We’ve talked about how each Tier V is basically beginner equipment, and Tier IV is up to Level 20 or so. And how the Tiers work on a logarithmic process, so Tier III is roughly what? Up to Level 50? That doesn’t seem to work right, because then Tier II would be the entire Advanced Class.”

  “The Tiers are for tech items mostly. Basically, any replicable that can be mass produced,” Ali says. “Tier I and II items are generally high-level military items, things that are reserved for their use when taken in the larger context. Obviously anyone can buy them, but you get a lot of raised eyebrows when you buy a Tier II spaceship.

  “In terms of Levels, you could consider the tech tiers to cover most of the Advanced Class with Tier II weaponry being basically powerful enough to seriously injure a high Level Advanced Class combatant. As an example, you’ve probably noticed that Sabre isn’t really up to your standards anymore. Mikito certainly doesn’t bother using her PAV half the time. In general, you’d be looking for things in the next section—the enchanted, unique, and legendary items which all have their own tiers.”

  I frown. “So you’re saying most equipment doesn’t really work for Master Level Classes?”

  “No, I’m saying that at that level, they’re playing on a different field. They’re getting unique items custom-made for them rather than picking things up from the Shop or Dungeons. Rather than relying on random drops to augment their abilities, they want equipment that will either buff up specific advantages or deal with certain disadvantages. Once you’re a Master Class individual, specialization matters,” Ali says. “Also, they’ll probably have a couple of sets of equipment to swap around, for social and combat situations at the very least.”

  “And the dungeon tier?”

  “A Tier III dungeon isn’t exactly the same. It’s more an expression of how many Adventurers and the number and types of monsters that the dungeon has than the Level of loot. Tier III means that it’s suitable for Adventurers up to the mid-to-high Advanced Classes, potentially higher if you consider bosses. As a group, that is. It’s rare to see a City Dungeon above Tier III. In fact, if you weren’t on a Dungeon World, it’s unlikely your city would have anything above a Tier IV. But with the excess Mana you guys have…”

  “It’s easier,” I say.

  “It’s almost a given. See your SFU.”

  I grunt in acknowledgement and sigh. “And the list of loot?”

  “Just what’s known. City Dungeons create loot slightly differently. Obviously monster drops are the same, if less, than what you’d get naturally. But you also get equipment from drops in a city dungeon. Just realize that they can be occasionally… umm… quirky.”

  “THE COMMON ADVENTURER TERMINOLOGY IS CURSED.”

  “Yeah…” Ali opens his hands slightly. “There are rules involved. The dungeon owner feeds the schematics for such items—or the actual items, though that’s less effective—into the City Dungeon via your management screen. The System can then generate these items. Depending on the complexity of the item, occasional ‘curses’ can happen. It’s unlikely you’ll get cursed gold for example—very simple to reproduce basic minerals. But an enchanted blade? Yeah, it’s complicated.”

  I frown, tapping my fingers. “There are ways of knowing what might or might not be cursed?”

  “THE DUNGEON MANAGEMENT SCREEN PROVIDES DETAILED BREAKDOWN ON THE LEVEL OF SUBSUEMENT AND THE PROBABILITY OF CURSED ITEM PRODUCTION.”

  Lana leans over, tapping on my screen. Obviously it doesn’t do anything until Ali wills it to, but he knows me well enough to let Lana play around with my views. In a second, the dungeon management screen blooms, expanding rapidly. The summarized information disappears as even more information appears. Everything gets more detailed, including data that was hidden before, like the number of visitors, the declared drop rate of various items, which items have been released, and the like. While Lana browses with Ali’s help, I’m doing my own investigation.

  “As the dungeon owner, shouldn’t I have a proper map of it?” I grumble.

  “CURRENT MAPPED INFORMATION IS PROVIDED BY YOUR DELVERS.”

  “I know, but shouldn’t I get more details? I own the damn dungeon.”

  “YOU ARE THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE DUNGEON. THIS DOES NOT PROVIDE ACCESS TO THE DATA YOU ARE SEARCHING FOR BY DEFAULT. WE MAY PURCHASE SAID INFORMATION IN THE STORE.”

  I groan. Freaking scam of a System.

  “Boy-o, you need to realize that growing a dungeon is more akin to growing a forest than building a house. You throw down some seeds, water the plants with Mana, maybe prune or cut down a tree or two. But you don’t get much say in how the forest really grows.”

  “That’s… insane,” I mutter. “It’s a freaking dungeon and I don’t get any real information on it?”

  “Nope. And you shouldn’t be calling others insane. Your people used to capture predatory animals and make them pets,” Ali says, staring at the quiet, striped orange cat lounging in the corner.

  “Yeah, but those people are crazy.”

  “As are city owners,” Ali says. “Also, you’re forgetting the lure of greed. Mining a City Dungeon is a very, very good way of getting low-tier goods. It’s a stable source of income and attracts a ton of beginner adventurers since it’s a lot safer. In non-Dungeon Worlds, it also helps manage Mana buildup and keeps the zones around a city much lower. Here, it does the same. With, you know, less effect.”

  I sigh, rubbing my head. Lana finally stops swinging the notification screens about and looks at me with a pensive expression.

  “What?”

  “Managing the dungeon’s similar to managing a business, just weird. There’s
a ton of things in here, most of which could bear watching. Where the Mana is going, how much Mana should be going in, what rate the dungeon is growing at…” Lana shakes her head. “And we’ve not even gotten to that entire loot generation section. You need to find someone to manage this.”

  “Great. I’ll add it to the task list,” I say sarcastically.

  After a moment, I look over and see Katherine finish moving her fingers before offering me a knowing nod. Great. I guess I really do have a task list now. Next I’ll be getting a bell around my neck.

  After that, Lana and I get back to talk about upgrades. She’s got her own ideas, from her time in Whitehorse as well as Kamloops, and isn’t shy about pushing for them. I can’t blame her, and unlike the councillors, she’s got an in to get her own views heard. After all, I’m not sleeping with any of the others.

  Yay nepotism.

  Chapter 3

  Wandering the stacks of the library, I find myself running my finger along the spines of abandoned books later that evening. I’m waiting for Lana, who has gone for a “dinner” with Katherine, one that I was pointedly not invited to. So I’m wandering my domain, staring at tomes of knowledge that have been discarded, much like our prior civilization.

  “You’re a morose bastard,” Ali says, floating beside me.

  “Yup,” I agree absently before looking around.

  Where am I? Biology? Rows and rows of books about the biological world that now matters not a whit. After all, the System has replaced and altered our bodies so significantly that I doubt even half of what is in these books matters now. Furthermore, for the low, low price of a few hundred Credits, all this painstaking knowledge could be bought and downloaded directly into our brains.

  “What’s got you down now?”

  “Just the futility of life,” I murmur, shaking my head. All the time, all the expertise denoted in these books, gone. A wave of the System, a snarling face, and poof. All gone.