“There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.”

~Alfred Hitchcock

POV - Tad

There is something wonderful about a fresh new morning. It holds so much promise. Potential. What will the day bring forth? I revelled in the luxury of anticipation. The mists had lifted and the sky was wide eyed and guileless.

We had a saying in our family when there was just so much to look forward to. Where we would deliberately dispel the clouds of worry and anxiety and fear and focus on the vast open horizon of uplifting possibilities. Both real and imagined. In fact the unreal was so much more important. That was where we unleashed our imagination and enthusiasm. And it was time to make the most of it. It truly was a ‘blue sky day’.

I had finished [Basic Cultivating] my Imagination. This had completed my trifecta of Mind attributes and unlocked Mana. With the additional Bonus Stat in each of my Mind attributes it had boosted my MP to 141.69. I was now able to learn Magic. That was absolutely fantastic. No wonder I was feeling especially optimistic.

Now to work out how.

I knew where the Shop was. I could head back there and see if there were any Magic Skill Books or Tomes of Learning. Or I could see if the Mage Guild had also survived the multiple millennia of decay. Hmmmm. Decisions.

Or I could check out a bit more of the city. What would be involved in regenerating some of the infrastructure? My campfire had been good, but not ideal. There were still roaming monsters throughout the city. This would need to be remedied. Before making a choice on where to go, I would check out the interface with my city. See if there were some low lying fruit and try and prioritise.

And then Magic.

If this anticipation was thrilling, what would the actual experience be like?

I could hardly wait.

Opening up my Solo Menu and selecting Administration I perused the screeds and screeds of damaged structures. Hmmmm. Could I filter this? Maybe in order of disrepair? Aha. The list reordered itself. But I felt no wiser. How did one repair these damaged structures? Some were 100% destroyed. The four Shops had 100% integrity. But they were the only ones. The Bank was at 95%. That was the next highest. Sadly the Mages Guild was way down the list at 25%. That ruled out that already slim possibility.

I scanned the list looking for anything that jumped out at me. Oho! There was a Teleporter! ‘Beam me up Scotty’, I smiled, this was excellent. Oh, and a Landing Pad. The Teleporter was at 40%. But the Landing Pad was at 75% integrity. That sounded promising. If I could get this working then maybe others would come. Of course, I reigned in my enthusiasm, these might only be InterCity Teleporters, not InterLevel ones. It would be exceedingly disappointing to repair the Landing Pad and then discover it would be useless without a working Teleporter in another city. Especially since I wasn’t in that other city. And neither was anyone else for that matter. I would need to do some more research. However, if it was InterLevel then this would be near the top of my list.

What about Security? City walls? Ahhh. Yes, here they were. 65% integrity. That was better than I expected. But eight City gates were each at 0%. That would totally compromise the walls even if they were at 100%.

With a frown I tried to quantify how to repair the structures. A percentage was all well and good. But a percentage paid in what? If it was in EXP then I would be in big trouble. If it was in Gold then I would be in even more seeing I had none at all.

With a start I remembered that I did have some. The hem of my trench coat was weighted with gold coins, hidden in a cunning secret pocket. I wondered how many were stashed there. I suppose I could count them? But surely the System would have inventoried them for me already? I concentrated and pulled up my Banking Character Sheet.

NAME:

Tad

Blank

SPECIES:

TIER:

UEID:

Human

G

16,879,426,007

BALANCE:

Gold:

Silver:

Copper:

2864

0

0

LOANS:

Gold:

Silver:

Copper:

0

0

0

And that was a lot more than I expected. Mr Stiff had been loaded. Once again I was thankful for his generous bequeathment to my cause.

But was Gold what I needed to repair these buildings? I queried the repair cost of the Landing Pad.

100 Platinum.

Hmmmm. So the total cost of the Pad was 400 Platinum. Aha, another column added itself to my interface. Convert the repair cost to Gold. 10000 Gold. 1:100 again. I was just over a quarter of the way there. I would need to go adventuring and clear some ruins and pillage some treasure. Or I could go [Prospect] and [Mine] some. I nodded, there was a plan. I would [Delve] for treasure first though. That would also help build up my attributes and Skills.

I checked out some of the other costs. Each gate was 50P. The walls were at 65% of 800P so I would need 28000G to repair the walls and a further 40000G for the gates. Ouch. This was going to be a slog.

What about the Teleporter? Currently at 40% integrity with a structure value of 600P that meant a repair cost of 36000G. This was adding up fast. My windfall of Gold from Mr Stiff suddenly didn’t seem so large after all.

I put the challenge of rebuilding to one side. Gathering up my stuff and clutching my trusty spade, I set off for the Shop once more.

Everything was so much less threatening in the fresh light of the morning. The mists had left a heavy dew and the overgrowth was lush and flourishing. Oreol was certainly a much wetter climate, with a heavy tropical tone. I looked at the sky. A beautiful clear blue, yet with the imminence of a thunderstorm. The very air was charged with static anticipation. It was both refreshing in its clarity and exciting in its freshness. As I revelled in the newness I came face to face with a flock of sheep.

Twelve of them. The same aquatic sheep I had seen yesterday. And they didn’t act like any sheep I had ever seen before. They charged me. Not just the three headed ram. No, they all did. I had time for a quick [Inspect].

CREATURE:

River Monster

SPECIES:

StormSheep;

LVL:

1-4

HP:

Varies

DESCRIPTION:

Entry level omnivorous Monsters, Stormsheep are found in and around the wetlands, typically in small flocks of three to four Sheep.

With no sense of self preservation Stormsheep have no natural predators and a flock will attack stronger and more capable foes without hesitation. Recommend avoidance.

While weak each Sheep has a high proficiency in Air Magic while the three headed Cerberams are also skilled in Fire and Lightning Magics.

[Improve proficiency to view more and unlock deeper insight]

I had barely finished scanning the report and they were upon me. They were monsters, not animals. They used air magic to travel quickly across the saturated ground and overgrowth, skimming over it rather than sinking into it and getting their lovely fluffy fleeces caught in it.

[Crack]! A lightning bolt flashed out from the Ram who was trailing the rest of the flock ever so slightly.

[-10HP]. Ouch. But that hardly hurt. I readied my spade. They arrived pretty much all together. But rather than bite at me they crowded me. The air was super charged. I had no time for a moment of dread.

They exploded.

Not quite all together but so close it was a very brief rolling thunder that shook my world. The ram had sent a spark of a fireball and the other sheep had blown up, in a fast cascading series of bangs. Each had hit me for between 30 and 50HP. [-462HP]. I was dazed and deafened. And then the ram hit me. [-30], [-10], [-10]. I was down a total of 522HP in just a few seconds. The ram was coming back at me. The left head shot a firespark at me. I [Dodged]. And then another lightning bolt from the right head. I flung myself away. It followed me, [-10]. As it charged in again for another series of headbutts I swung my spade with a [Penetrating Blow]. The crazy monster exploded as well. [-60] Arrggghhh! That was unreal. How on earth could such a species survive?

The air was still. The thunderstorm had passed. I looked at my Character Sheet.

NAME:

Tad

Blank

SPECIES:

TIER:

Human

G

XP:

EXP:

169247

16797/16925

LVL:

1**

CAPPED**

MINION:

Nige

[Expand]

CON:

631.05/1223.05HP

[Expand]

WIS:

141.69MP

[Expand]

KAR:

1059.74E (1% Reserved)

[Expand]

LUC:

0.6

+0.05 on Loot/Drop rolls

Unassigned Stat Points:

Total Stat Points:

0

201.87

0 +6.66

SKILLS:

(Unlocked) (Hide]

Rage

Deception

(Active) [Hide]

Dodge

Advanced Meditation

Observation

Inspect

Basic Cultivation

Run

Dream

Mana Sight

[Hide All] [Proficiency]

[Novice]

[Apprentice]

[Novice]

[Novice]

[Novice]

[Novice]

[Novice]

[Novice]

CLASS SKILLS:

Prospect

Delve

Mine

[Novice]

[Novice]

[Novice]

ACCOLADES:

Exemplar

PATHS:

SOLO

NPC

PERKS:

Gallifreudian Slip

TITLES:

Pertinacious

Black Swan Survivor

Audacious Pioneer

AWARDS:

Atelophobia Award

Precocious Award

Pestiferous Award

One run in with just 12 monsters and half my health was gone just like that. This was unbelievable. I was in so much trouble. I quaffed a Health Potion to supplement the one in my iAPD. That would return me 200HP over the next two hours. While I was thinking about potions I sculled an Energy one as well.

Any normal Level 1 Participant would have been totally wiped. In fact I think that would have wiped Dom and he was at least Level 7. This was unbalanced. Obviously the extreme length of time Oreol had been abandoned had significantly increased the danger levels, but even just three or four of these menaces would have killed a Level 1.

I would need to rethink just waltzing my way through here. And I needed range. There was no way I would let these crazy kamikaze critters near me again.

I pulled up the Combat Report. Thankfully it was complete.

COMBAT CONCLUDED

Combat Summary

You have dealt 200HP damage.

You have suffered 592HP damage.

Current reward due: -392XP

You have defeated [7] Monsters your own level. No Level adjustment. Pay per kilo +0.01% to XP.

You have defeated [3] Monsters one level higher than you. +1% to XP. Pay per kilo +0.00% to XP.

You have defeated [1] Monster two levels higher than you. +2% to XP.

You have defeated [1] Monster three levels higher than you. +3% to XP.

Total 6.01% Bonus to XP

TOTAL XP TO BE ALLOCATED: -368XP

Arrggghhh! Negative XP! It only credited me for hitting the Ram. The others all exploded with no help from me. And it docked me 37 EXP as well. That was just insult on injury. Obviously losing battles was a bad thing. I didn’t need to be told this anyway. Stupid System.

With a lot more care I cautiously continued my trek to the Shop.

My shopping list had grown.