by Ros Per
“Tilorn, tell me exactly what we are meant to be doing here.”
“Damn, I forgot to share the details with you,” He slapped his forehead, and a notification came through almost immediately.
Attention! You have an offer to take part in the task of clearing the area around outpost No. 5-17-23.
Sender: Tilorn (currently performing the task).
Details of the task:
1. Check the indicated area for any danger to the technicians. If you detect any danger, eliminate it.
2. Install a beacon and wait for the technicians to arrive.
Penalty for failure: none.
Penalty for failure: the task will be assigned to another group.
Awards: 75,000 experience (for all participants), 30,000 credits (for all participants). Any trophies discovered on the site (other than equipment and personal belongings of the outpost employees).
Additional penalties: in case equipment or personal belongings of the outpost’s employees have been concealed: loss of reputation with outpost No. 5-17-23. Additionally, a fine will be levied, amounting to the estimated value of such hidden items.
Do you accept these terms and conditions: Yes / No?
I accepted. “More details, please?” I requested.
“You see this complex of three buildings? Before the breakthrough, they managed to occupy the complex and started delivering equipment there, but during the breakthrough they lost control. We need to check all the floors there for monsters. If you find any, kill them. Then we will bring in technicians and several fighters to cover them and hand over the building to them. We get ten thousand for each cleared building. If we find something serious, we usually retreat and report to the outpost, who pass it on to a group that can handle it.”
"I don’t see the point of clearing them for the outpost’s benefit. After all, we can just go in and grab these buildings for ourselves, and make quite a lot of money.”
“We could, true. And just what are you going to gain by keeping these buildings?”
“I can sell them.”
“Okay, but who would buy them? In the first two weeks these properties were worth a lot. Some successful groups became billionaires immediately, and the lazy ones did fine for the first week, making at least several million credits each.”
“I don’t understand. If the property was worth so much then, what’s the problem now?”
“Um ... Okay, let me give you an explanation, since I see you don't understand the local economy at all. For example, do you know the price around here for an average-quality set of armor for level twenty-five?”
“If it’s a full set, then about half a million,” I said, after making a rough estimate of the current rates.
“Right. That’s despite the fact that at level 20, you can buy a set for a hundred k. Do you know why there’s such a big difference?”
"No, I don’t.” Well, trading in here just isn’t one of my skills.
"You see, this price difference is simply the result of shortages. Take another week or two, and a set for level 25 will also cost about the same – one hundred k or one hundred and fifty k. It’s because most of the players will have crossed that line already and gotten level 30, and will start selling their old armor, thus dumping them on the market and causing prices to plummet. As a result, we’ll get a situation where supply exceeds the demand.”
“But what about real estate?”
“Well, that’s the opposite. While most of the large groups don’t have enough finance and/or human resources to develop and maintain infrastructure, the price is low, but locations which are already equipped or extremely conveniently located have a high value.”
“So pretty soon real estate will not cost anything at all? After all, the monsters are gradually being killed and more and more territories are being cleaned up.”
"Well, in theory, that would be the case, but there have been breakthroughs which disrupt this, and completely change the established habitats of the monsters. Here’s the picture. Before the breakthrough, many players managed to get out to seven kilometers from the outpost. Only when you’re that far out do you find a good number of monsters to provide hunting grounds for many players. Then there was the breakthrough which limited the conditionally safe zone to three kilometers out, and you can move about a bit inside these three kilometers. To clear the zone out to a radius of seven kilometers again would take at least a week. Add to all this that we don’t know when and if there will be another breakthrough.”
“So,” I interrupted Tilorn’s explanation, “it turns out that the zone where most of our outpost’s players are active is virtually not growing. To be more precise, it is growing, but extremely slowly, and it has to be constantly cleared of new monsters. But at the same time, the amount of money available is gradually increasing, which means that all new buildings will soon be owned, all in the same zone. So there will be a gradual shortage of free real estate, and it will start to increase in value?
“Well, something like that,” Tilorn agreed. “You can’t calculate everything by yourself. You’re going to have to find a good economist and build a model of the economy, because even the same positions within a single week can either be worth big money or be sold at cost. Too many factors affect the price. If there’s a well-established economy at the sixth level, as a result of external factors having no influence, then at that level the prices are stable. By the way, as I understand it, many traders are NPCs; they add chaos to the market as well, to earn even more.
“Well, I understand you pretty well now.” I paused, and added. “Okay, let's get down to business, since everyone has now had a little rest. So give us a command, taking me into account, let’s see what we make of it, and then we can do a post-mortem error report.”
"Fine, except that you have no profession, so tell me what you can do and what your specialty is, so that we can come up with some sort of plan at least.”
“Well, let’s say that I am probably an attack aircraft and wagon, based on my current equipment.”
My story took about five minutes to tell, with most of the time taken up with a detailed description of my skills. Of course, I didn’t talk about all my skills, but only about those that I judged to be important in this situation, with the current circumstances. I also mentioned no actual numbers for my skills, too. Of course, I had decided to help them as much as I could, but I certainly didn’t want to tell them everything about myself.
As a result, we made the decision to move forward in the following order: Tilorn leading the way as a tank, and us following behind him and a little to the right. I was to provide cover and control the 12 to 3 o’clock sector. Actually, I was just told to cover and follow on the right side, but when I’m in marching column I am used to navigating “by the clock”.
To the left of Tilorn and a little behind me was Castra, a melee fighter as it turned out, armed with not too high quality impulse gloves, but they were powerful enough to handle monsters up to the twentieth level. The second pair, who were already behind us, were Sargos and Quartz, and they were supposed to be performing auxiliary functions and covering our rear.
When we entered the first building and searched the first floor, which had several fairly large halls, we faced several problems. First, there were two sets of stairs leading upward, located at opposite ends of the building. There were also separate steps leading down to the basement. It wasn’t an option to divide the group now – not only would this significantly weaken us, but none of them had played with me before, either. Tilorn was confused. Apparently, he was not familiar with such a layout and didn’t know how best to solve such a problem.
"Hey bro, it’s a no-brainer, right?” Quartz began to speak, but stopped abruptly. He seemed to be carefully considering what he wanted to say, and then he continued calmly. "Maybe we should block off the entrance to the basement and then move up the stairs in two groups?”
Tilorn disagreed. “It’s a bad idea. If one of the groups
runs into something serious, the second group may not have time to come to their rescue, because they’ll have to go down to the floor below and make their way through it, and this will take valuable time.”
“Why shouldn’t we do it that way? Even if they were trapped between floors, the second group could strike from the back, from the floor above.” Quartz didn’t seem to want to calm down.
“And if there are more monsters on that floor? You suggest blindly committing the second group as well?”
Well, off we went: arguing, discussing options. Only Sargos and I did not participate in this heated debate (Sargos, as far as I could remember, hadn’t said a word since our first meeting). Me, I was just standing there, controlling the space, and didn’t bother giving my opinions. First, democracy in combat operations doesn’t lead to anything positive, and second, I simply did not know enough about the capabilities of the others for me to be able to recommend anything. Of course, I already had a couple of ideas on how to get out of the situation, but for the time being, I was only watching and observing the others. This sort of discussion showed me what they were like quite well, so why not just listen in? To my surprise, the discussion reached a deadlock, and it was decided to abandon the task, and we should pass it over to a bigger group.
“Wait,” said Sargos in a quiet voice, and despite the fact that he could barely be heard, the whole team reacted.
“I must have missed something and we’ve had an apocalypse or something. Sargos just spoke?”
“Quartz, can it! Make sure he doesn’t mouth off, Tilorn. Sargos, if you have something to say, spill it!”
The boy gulped and even seemed to blush a little, but everyone patiently waited for him to continue, and, having mustered a little confidence, he spoke in small staccato phrases, pausing between words.
“Volper. Good one. Things. Means Experience. Ideas. But. Silent.” - The last words were so quietly spoken it was difficult to make them out.
“Indeed, why are aren’t you saying anything, or don’t you have any options to suggest?” Castra, asked me in response to Sargos’ words.
“Well, it’s because in a combat situation, the commander gives orders, and the rest keep quiet and listen,” I shrugged.
“Dude, what's wrong with this discussion? Quartz turned to me, and immediately received a slap from Castra. “What’s that for?”
“Learn to talk normally.”
“Damn it, they understood me. ‘It’s wrong’, ‘it’s not right’, ‘watch your language’, ‘talk normally’,” he muttered quietly to himself while rubbing his bruised face. He was obviously mimicking someone.
Having waited until everyone was silent, I carefully examined the available space again and, not finding any potential danger, addressed the group.
“Right, the first thing wrong with this discussion is that you are now all staring at me, instead of observing the situation around us. I wonder which one of you is going to have time to turn around if a mob comes at us from behind the corner.” Everyone started to turn their heads together. It looked ridiculous. “But straight away, it’s clear that you have at least partially realized this mistake. Therefore, if you want to listen to me, I suggest that you gather in a circle, facing outward and carefully watching the environment. Pay attention to what I’m saying, but only with your ears. Use your eyes to observe.”
Quartz again opened his mouth, obviously wanting to say something, but, seeing how Castra defiantly waved her open palm at him, he closed it again and, turning away from me, began to at least play the role an attentive observer. As a result, everyone settled in place with their back to me, each controlling their side. I didn’t need to turn around, because I had a wall at my back, and there was no danger in waiting there. I was now of two minds. From the point of view of a potentially dangerous situation, this lot were simply stupid, but on the other hand, I didn’t want to undermine Tilorn’s authority in the group. Therefore, I first decided to clarify the matter.
“Tilorn, I understand that you are the main person in this group, and I am only a mystery man who just joined you, but can I express my opinion freely?”
“Yes, that’s not a problem. We are just gaining experience, so you can speak out. If you are afraid that I will be offended or whatever, then don’t worry. I don’t suffer from a swollen head, especially if you’re giving us information that’s useful for the whole group.”
“Very good. So please do not take my words as criticism, but simply as advice.”
“Agreed.”
“Then let me go on a bit more about discussing action. Not only do you become distracted from your surroundings at this time, but you can also attract the attention of monsters or, in the worst case, unnecessary people. In addition, discussions slow down the group, and if you start arguing during a battle, then everyone can die because of a trivial difference in opinions. Therefore, there the rule applies that all decisions, I emphasize, absolutely all, regarding potentially dangerous territory are made only by the group commander and, accordingly, the commander takes responsibility for all the consequences of his decisions. All communication is reduced to the necessary minimum. The best form of communication is just gestures within the group. Another important point is as follows: it is desirable to keep the group commander in the center of the line, so that he can react promptly to any changes in the situation. Is everything clear now?”
“Yeah!”
Quartz again stood out of line, for which he immediately got a slap, because Castra was standing very close to him. The rest simply nodded, showing they understood. I made sure that they continued to listen to me, and went on speaking.
“Now, here’s another point. I am very curious how Quartz and Sargos are going to repel a sudden attack? Tilorn goes ahead with his shield and hammer, so that’s clear, Castra is also almost ready for combat, because the gloves are always on her hands. But your weapons, gentlemen, why are they not in your hands?”
“But we are the support team!” Quartz was indignant.
“Yeah, you are a great support team. In the first few seconds of the battle, instead of helping, you’ll be getting your weapons ready. And if we get attacked from the rear, are you politely going to ask the enemy to wait until the whole group is reconvened to repel the attack?”
“Um ... well, sort of ... really our joint effort…,” Quartz mumbled, and took out a short pump-action rifle, with an integrated energy unit in place of the cartridge supply tray, and made it combat ready.
“And finally, here’s a proposal. We have Sargos here, who’s actually a demolition miner. Can you explain what’s preventing us from demolishing the stairs to both the basement and the second staircase, and the second staircase on each floor?”
After I had spoken, everyone froze. I really couldn’t believe that the thought of such a simple option had not occurred to them I was just shocked by their actions now, wondering how they had managed to survive all this time.
“Um ...” Tilorn said. “The problem is that we haven’t brought mines with us. It’s too expensive for us to carry such weapons along.” Right, and Sargos is in charge of mine clearance and working with explosives. Sigh.
“And grenades?” I asked hopefully.
“What's the point? We have no grenadiers or similar skills in our team, and they wouldn’t really help us here.”
I was at a loss for words. To deprive one of the team members of his main weaponry, and generally to use his skills simply as a banal mechanism for mine clearance is something else entirely.
“Tell me what you were thinking when you decided that. What about directional explosives, mining paths to a position, installation of booby traps in an enemy’s path during retreat and so on? There’s a huge pile of various uses for a miner, and even more so for a demolition specialist.”
“Well, we somehow didn’t think about all that. We selected professions mainly for the needs of our group.”
“I hope I’m wrong. Please correct me if I am indeed wrong, but
I am trying to understand your logic,” I continued in a low voice, “Sargos is mainly engaged in clearing any mines you encounter, and mining obstacles.” Tilorn nodded in reply, which depressed my mood even more. “So, if we follow the same logic, Quartz is basically a repairman for armor and weapons. Probably another one of his skills is the disassembly of interesting equipment for resale and, I suspect, hacking and picking locks.
“Nope, Castra opens the locks for us,” said the red-haired member of the group.
“Well, yes, of course, you still need a saboteur spy, not just to open locks.”
“Actually, I also detect traps,” Castra said, seeming offended.
Honestly, I want to grab a gun and shoot myself. How can they ignore the potential of such skills? This is like a battle cruiser being used as a cruise liner.
“Then I have only one question left, which I want to ask everyone except Tilorn, since his part is clear. What is your goal here? What do you want out of this? How the hell can you disregard your skills, which deteriorate because of disuse, and why aren’t you staying at the social sphere in the outpost?”
My questions clearly stunned them. Either they hadn’t thought about this, or they themselves hadn’t decided on any answers. Castra was the first to answer.
“I don’t want to be weak; I don’t want to get left behind at the outpost.”
Quartz spoke next, looking at the ceiling. “And I just want to be cool: control combat vehicles, robots, and in general I like to feel the power of these mechanical monsters. And to do that, you need money that you can't earn in the outpost.”