Incursion Master (Unique): Close or conquer incursion and protect base from denizens of other alignments for 3 months. Reward: 5 E-Grade Nexus Crystals, outpost upgraded to town, status upgraded to Lord. (0/3)
There were references to some sort of base building in two of his quests, and it seemed important, almost like the main quest of the area.
“Outpost,” Zac said, hoping for some sort of prompt that could guide him further.
[Requirements met to create incursion outpost. Create now?]
This time, he heard no robotic voice; only a prompt showed up, still looking like an old RPG window.
So there was a function like this. Once again a tinge of rage flared up at the System for its chronic inability to properly explain what was possible. How many other things did he not know about due to the System not teleporting him to a Tutorial village?
Zac didn’t immediately answer the prompt, leaving it hovering. He was unsure whether this was the correct choice. Was creating an outpost a onetime thing? Would it make him even more stuck to this area? Would it make a loud noise, attracting curious beasts?
Then again, he wasn’t sure if he had much of a choice. It was either creating an outpost and hoping that it would somehow help with his situation, or essentially going out into the woods and grinding for levels by killing demons, hoping that he would grow strong enough before getting himself killed. Seeing as his state was pretty pathetic after just one encounter, it didn’t feel like an option. What if he met a pack of the demon dogs instead of a lone scavenger?
Gritting his teeth, he decided he just had to go with the flow this time and decisively said, “Yes.”
He stood up, eyes fixed on his surroundings, waiting for something to happen. Maybe a medieval town would sprout up around him? At least some rudimentary battlements? He was hunkered down with his axe at the ready, ready to flee at a moment’s notice. But the only thing greeting him was the vision of a lush forest and the sounds of birds and insects.
Confused, Zac sighed and was getting ready to try some different commands to create his outpost when a voice suddenly appeared from behind him.
“What are you doing?”
8
Abby the Eye
“What are you doing?” a pleasant, decidedly female voice sounded from right behind him.
Zac, whose nerves already were frayed from the past days’ events, shrieked in a higher- than-desirable octave and jumped away from the sound before registering the words. Somewhat embarrassed, he turned around while stuttering, “Sorry about tha–” before once more shrieking and falling back after seeing the stranger. His fight-or-flight instincts also failed spectacularly as he dropped the axe while falling.
What had entered his sight was not a beautiful female, as the voice had indicated. His dream of at least having a pretty girl to share this harrowing experience with died as fast as it had flashed to life. In front of him was a floating eye larger than his torso.
At least, he assumed it was an eye. It looked as though a part of the cosmos had been taken and put into an eyeball. The pupil was a black hole, seemingly sucking in Zac’s soul as he was looking at it. The monster had no iris, but rather a slowly rotating cosmic cloud, looking like it was slowly being absorbed into the pupil in the middle.
The sclera was not white as with a human, but black studded with shining lights. It looked like the stars in the night sky. Surrounding the eye was purplish-tinted skin and an eyelid. It, however, had no mouth, making Zac confused how it could make any sounds.
The thing was beautiful and harrowing all at once, and certainly not what Zac expected after hearing the pleasant voice.
“Rude,” the eye muttered. “I am lucky enough to get an assignment at a newly initiated world and I get to work with this rube. By the way, you smell.”
Zac was still sputtering. Unsure of whether to run, get the axe, or bow down to his new ocular overlord, he compromised by simply staring dumbly with his mouth ajar.
“Oh well. It makes sense that there were no Stargazers on your planet before the initiation, human. We usually only appear where the System sends us. My real name is a bit tricky for you to say with vocal cords but sounds something like Veth-Abarak. I am here to assist you in your endeavors regarding your outpost. You are welcome,” the eye continued, somehow making a haughty expression with only the help of an eyelid. “I am sure you have some questions, though the Tutorial should have explained most of what you can do.”
“Um… Hello, my name is Zac… er, Zachary Atwood. What do you mean assist me? And how are you talking without a mouth?” Zac responded, still having some problem adjusting to the situation.
The eye, or Stargazer as it called itself, gave a long-suffering sigh, already seeming to have labeled Zac as a mental invalid.
“Did you not listen to the pixies during the Tutorial? I am the assistant assigned to you when you chose this… trailer? Why did you choose a trailer? Anyway, when you chose this trailer to be your outpost while assaulting the incursion. I will help with answers regarding the choices you make, to get the ball rolling, so to speak. As for how I talk, magic of course,” the Stargazer answered, a flash of what looked like cosmic mist grandly surrounding herself to accentuate her powers.
“What choices? And no, I didn’t listen to any pixies or fairies because the stupid System never sent me to any Tutorial. It left me in this crazy demon forest three days ago while it teleported my friends away.” Zac was staring to feel a bit peeved at being looked down on by a floating eyeball.
“Oh, you didn’t go to the Tutorial. I guess tha… THREE DAYS? This world was initiated only three days ago? Don’t you mean months?” The Stargazer started shaking, the pupil shrinking to a… well, not pinpoint, but from a basketball to a baseball in size. “Stop joking with me. How would you be able to create an outpost after only three days, even if you skipped the month-long Tutorial?” Veth-Abarak shook and hovered closer to Zac’s face, the grand mist surrounding it disappearing.
Zac, who had somehow started to get acclimatized to talking with this odd being, sighed and briefly explained his experience, starting when the world turned dark. The eyeball seemed harmless enough and appeared to be on his side. Furthermore, he really needed someone to talk to, both to unload and to make sense of the situation.
“Oh wow, I got assigned to a Defier. I guess I have some good karma after all! No returning in defeat for Abby!” The Stargazer suddenly seemed quite a bit more amiable, virtually shaking with excitement. It almost felt like the creature would start rubbing itself on him if he weren’t still generally caked in grime.
“What’s a Defier? It doesn’t sound great. And wait, Abby? Wasn’t your name Veth-something?” Zac questioned, growing more and more confused the more the Stargazer spoke.
“Now, now, don’t be so formal. Just call me Abby,” Abby answered. Gone was the slightly haughty attitude, replaced with the mild pleasant tone from the beginning. “And I guess some explanations are in order. As you have figured out, some people of your world have been moved to Tutorial towns after your world was integrated into the Multiverse. However, others have some sort of deficiency where they can’t naturally absorb Cosmic Energy, and the System deems them worthless. It doesn’t bother with these people and leaves them where they are. These people mostly die sooner or later. They are essentially defenseless at the beginning as the System generally vastly increases the danger of the surroundings.”
“And these are the Defiers?” Zac interrupted, a bit anxious. “Is it genetic? Do you think my family is stuck somewhere as well?”
“Being a Defier isn’t something genetic; it’s more like a title. And those left behind aren’t all Defiers. These people are generally called mortals. Please let me finish. We have limited time. As far as research shows, it is essentially random who can take in Cosmic Energy and who can’t when a world gets integrated. However, in worlds with lower-class energy, mortals are more common.
“The higher the energy, the more c
ommon it is to be able to absorb the energy. On B-rank planets and above, almost everyone can absorb Cosmic Energy naturally, from what I’ve heard. Families with strong genes also have a lot better chance of being naturally endowed.”
“When I was in that black space, the System said Earth had sub-F-grade energy, and after the merge, a low D-grade,” Zac chimed in, hoping for some additional information.
“Well, sub-F? That’s the lowest of the low. I doubt there were people who could fly or use magic before the merge, right?”
Zac nodded affirmatively.
Abby shook her eye and continued, “From what I’ve heard, only 5–10% of the population turn out to be cultivators in a world like that. And most of those people are younger, as their minds haven’t turned too rigid yet. Of course, this is for you humans. The Multiverse consists of myriad races and civilizations, and many races have natural advantages compared to you humans, who are notoriously average.
“Cultivators are what they call those who can naturally draw the cosmic energies into themselves, by the way. They can be divided further into many types depending on class and skills, but that’s for later. D-grade energy is pretty good for a new world, even if it’s at the low stage. Most planets end up at E-grade. So, to recap, the world is populated by mortals and cultivators. This might mean your family is safe for now.”
“Safe how?” Zac questioned testily. “It sounds pretty bad to me that my family are probably stranded somewhere with monsters spawning just like me, but without the titles.”
“Well, if they all are mortals, they haven’t been split up. They are probably together in the city you lived in. Also, even if they are mortals, there is strength in numbers. Even if the monsters are normally impossible to kill one-on-one, they should be able to kill the easier monsters using teamwork. And while they can’t just get continuously stronger through cultivating, they still get stronger from killing monsters and leveling up like you did,” Abby explained patiently.
While not completely comforting, what she said did make some sense to Zac. He could only hope his family was being careful and safe right now.
“Anyway, that brings us to Defiers like you,” Abby said. “In extremely rare cases, a mortal gains power far above what’s expected, either through luck, some odd talent, or hard work. There is no strict definition of them, rather a ‘you know it when you see it’ attitude. The name comes from the fact that the System essentially has deemed you trash, but you defy the System and fate, and become strong. Your situation is extreme even for Defiers. I mean an incursion leader spawning on top of you and you get some weird lottery opportunity? Stealing a bunch of exclusive titles? Crazy. It must be the System experimenting with some new functionality.” Abby seemed to get excited just thinking about it, happily bouncing up and down in the air.
“Have you never heard of it happening before?” Zac asked curiously.
Abby rolled her eye in response. “No, but what do I know? I’m just a tad better off than you in the grand scheme of things. If it’s some experiment the System is running, it might have created the same situation on a few million planets.”
“What? Millions of planets?” Zac blurted.
“Oh, right, you missed the Tutorial. Suffice to say the Multiverse is almost infinite, with endless worlds with life on them, most far larger and more populated than your Earth. It has existed for billions of years. And in such an environment, it is still extremely rare for one person to get such a huge head start at the point of an integration. Makes you an aberrant even among Defiers. You, and by extension me, have truly hit the jackpot. “
“So how does it help me?” Zac asked. “I understand that I have a leg up on others with all these strong titles, but I still can’t absorb that Cosmic Energy you mentioned. What is that, anyway?”
“Cosmic Energy is the building block of the Multiverse. It is energy, it is magic, and it is life. It is everything. You couldn’t really see the effects of it earlier, as your world had so little of it, but you will soon see the effects of it on everything around you,” Abby said, almost having a reverent tone mentioning it.
“See how?”
“Some things in nature will be unable to take in the stronger energy and die out. But many things will be like the cultivators, naturally absorbing the energy. Essentially, things will grow big. Both the beasts and nature itself. Many things will also change in unpredictable ways. A tree might gain the properties of metal and be almost unbreakable; a mouse might grow wings and fly or suddenly be able to spit thunder. It’s quite spectacular.
“Not being able to cultivate will impede you somewhat, but not as much as you think. You have a massive advantage in the form of titles, strength, and your newly created outpost. In any case, there are so many things to go over, but unfortunately, we are running out of time. I will be summoned back in ten minutes.”
9
Forced to Fight
Zac was gobsmacked.
“You’re not here to help out permanently?” he inquired hesitantly. While it took some time to get used to talking to an eyeball, he was pretty unwilling to be stranded alone in the forest again. Besides, there were so many things he still didn’t understand about what was happening.
“Unfortunately, no. The System only summons an administrator such as myself for a short while when creating an outpost. Also, we only get summoned the first six months after initiation. Something like an add-on Tutorial. But we got a bit sidetracked here and need to hurry up with your outpost,” Abby explained, seeming a bit embarrassed she’d gotten sidetracked from her duty.
“Outposts will evolve into full-fledged towns if you complete certain missions. The difference between a System-sanctioned town and a normal mortal town is that the city leader of a System-sanctioned town can use the System to summon buildings, tax the population, and connect to other city leaders, for example. The difference between an outpost and a town is that an outpost is temporary. Either you manage to turn it into a town by completing your quest, or the incursion over there will stabilize and turn to a town owned by the invading general. And then A LOT more demons will spawn, and unless you’re already dead, you will likely die then, titles or not.”
Zac nodded, a better picture of forming in his head. Remembering the three-month deadline in his quests, he realized that what Abby described would happen in roughly three months. Still, there were some things he was unsure about.
“But do I really need to care about creating an outpost?” he asked. “My goal is to find my family. I can just leave before the demons arrive.”
That question managed to elicit a full-body eye roll from the eyeball.
“And go where? Couldn’t go to the Tutorial town, so you can’t learn skills or choose classes, making you quite weak compared to what you should be. There are monsters everywhere, so you aren’t safe anywhere. An outpost can help you get stronger through its facilities, and having a town would be the most effective way to look for your family, compared to manually looking everywhere like a vagabond. You will soon learn just how vast this new planet of yours is.” The Stargazer snorted.
“Besides, being the first to create a town has amazing benefits, just like with the titles. The System likes the people in the forefront,” Abby added as she went into lecturing mode.
“And if that’s not enough, I can also tell you that the System hates cowards. You only get one shot at creating your outpost. If you fail, the System deems you unworthy to be a Lord in the future. If you not just fail, but abandon the mission, the System will also punish you. It would range from crippling you to outright killing you depending on how bad it judges your performance.”
“WHAT?” Zac shouted, aghast. “You mean I must complete this quest and kill all the other boss demons or the System might kill me?” The little goodwill Zac had been building toward the System during Abby’s explanations was thoroughly erased.
“Well, yes. So, I suggest you improve your outpost as much as possible in order to have a chance at survi
val,” Abby nonchalantly explained, as if risking life and limb fighting demons was completely normal.
“Well, shit. So what do you suggest I build?” Zac hoped to get some guidance in order to create a good foundation for the outpost.
“I’m sorry, I am not allowed to guide your choices of buildings. Building a base properly is also a test from the System. I am only allowed to provide information. The System doesn’t want to give too much direction or tips to newly initiated civilizations, as it wants to test their ingenuity.”
“Yeah, the System is a real asshole, isn’t it?” Zac muttered. Abby’s pupil enlarged and looked around nervously. Apparently speaking ill of the System seemed like some sort of blasphemy, which Zac guessed made sense, as the System essentially was a god. Maybe speaking ill of a being that could spawn portals that puked out demons was a bad idea after all, he reflected and vowed to try to keep a lid on his mouth.
“Er… Anyway. If you imagine the words ‘outpost base,’ a menu will appear with your options. Most of the options are unavailable at the start, but more and more get unlocked as your outpost grows into a town and further. You use the Nexus Coins you have to buy the upgrades, and you can get more coins from various sources. Nexus Coins are the official currency of the Multiverse, and the only one used when trading with the System,” Abby said, seemingly eager to change the subject.
This answered the question Zac had about the coins in his status screen. He still wasn’t sure why he had 5,100 of them though.
“Wait, is there some connection between Nexus Coins and Nexus Crystals?” Zac asked, remembering the rewards from his quests.
“Not really. Nexus Crystals are a staple cultivation resource in the Multiverse. Both cultivators and mortals can absorb Cosmic Energy from them. The higher the grade, the more energy it contains, and the faster you can absorb it.”
Defiance of the Fall: A LitRPG Adventure Page 5