Chapter 41.2: You're Welcome, Humanity

Plans had been made, decisions had been decided, and in the end people had been appointed tasks. However, all was not in total preparation for the leadership to wander off and perform extensive training. It would take another two Earth days before Scott and the girls could go hunt to their heart's content.

Up on the roof of his apartment headquarters, Scott sat on an air conditioning unit and did something that he had not had time to do in quite a while. He read the book that Shara had given him nearly two months prior. From that book he had learned the most important lesson that a mage could learn. He had learned to harness the life force of the world in the form of mana. In short, he took life from other living beings to power his spells instead of using his own.

He was still a little leery of using any of the summoning rituals in the book. He had a strong aversion to summoning demons now for some reason, but there were a few other things that intrigued him. The banishment rituals were specifically interesting.

The spirit stat was important for the process. There would come a time when he felt comfortable summoning demons, if for no reason other than to practice banishing them, but for now he had to work on his spirit.

A well-trained mage would have higher spirit than he did before embarking on the joys and terrors of summoning. His draconic nature made it slightly easier to use his spirit for the purposes of magic, but causing a spiritual being of high intellect to appear physically and then obey your commands was a difficult proposition. Even a simple imp would easily devour the soul of a novice summoner.

"What was it that Shara had said...?" Scott thought about it for a moment. He wanted to run the math so that he had a good training plan. "Typical summoners had five magical skills before level forty."

He thought about that for a moment. Level forty was about the range where a dream world summoner started to actually summon. If the rules for proper training held in place, then each of their five magical skills would need to have one hundred sixty levels of skill. "Eight hundred... Is eight hundred spirit what I need to try to safely summon an imp?"

It seemed plausible, and if it were the case then he was close to being able to make the attempt. Of course, banishing them would be even more difficult. That was the problem. It was no doubt easier to get them to come to Earth. Making the little bastards go home again would be the problem. "I'll shoot for twelve hundred. At my rate of growth, I should be able to do that inside a month."

Scott had more than five magical skills and they all grew quickly. He would also gain more stat points per level now that he was at a higher age category.

He read for a while. Occasionally, he would look out over the little refugee camp that he nominally ran. A slight pang of annoyance would wash over him now and then, but he allowed it to pass. If not for having to babysit these people, he could be out becoming stronger. That was the worst part of the situation. He had a strong desire to protect others now, whether he liked it or not.

"Someday... You won't need me." said Scott. A slight smile broke out on his lips. Oh, how he dreamed of that day. He would be able to fly free, unburdened by the needs of a terrified humanity.

Unfortunately, it could not be helped. Without the light of civilization, there would be nothing but death and despair throughout the world. People needed to restart their lives in a way that works with the new world order. The slow-rolling apocalypse wasn't really that bad. He doubted more than half the people on the planet had actually died, even once.

Still, it would get worse before it got better. He was sure of that. The monsters and the stats were simple enough to adjust to; no the problem was neither of those things. The problem was with the system itself and those who administered it. They constantly changed things and were flippant about it. Even a minor change drastically restructured how people had to live. It was like the gods were mean spirited children toying with ants.

A deep sigh escaped his lips, unbidden. What could he do about it, though? The only reason he had any power at all was the very system those assholes used to torment humanity. At the moment, all he could do was his best to help the people around him until he became obsolete. In doing so, he would be free to leave and get back to what he truly wanted to do.

His musings were cut short by the arrival of Ashton and several people. Scott looked over to them and then offered a slight smile. "Yes?"

"These are the people you requested." said Ashton with a smile of her own.

Scott closed his book and slipped it into his bag. This was an important meeting, and one of the few reasons left to forestall full-time hunting. "Ah, the people in town who managed business and banks?"

Ashton, and then the people with her all nodded. All told, there were nearly two dozen people accompanying the foxy one. Strangely, one of them was a fat little man who looked a little like a badger.

He led them down to the conference room in one of the upper floor dayrooms, so that everyone would be comfortable. Once seated and prepared, he began the meeting.

"Do any of you know why you were asked to be here, today?" asked Scott.

A few nods were their response. The badger man spoke up. "Well, sir. You want our money."

"It would certainly help." said Scott. "I'm to understand most banks and businesses don't really keep that much on hand?"

Ashton spoke up. "I'd be surprised if anything in town other than another major department store had as much on hand as Archers did."

Scott nodded. "Makes sense. People would have probably made a run on the banks prior to the apocalypse or whatever, as well."

He moved to the corner of the room and picked up a map. Carefully he placed it down on the conference table, really a simple set of rectangular flake board lounge tables. "This is where we are currently." He pointed at a circled area that represented their current location.

The gathered mass of humanity moved to see. Soon everyone was gathered round the map. Scott apologized for not having a projector or anything similar to work with. Everything was a work in progress at the moment.

"We need to expand the safe zone outward so everyone can have a little breathing room. This will take time as I don't want to steal from people." said Scott.

"Oh, come on..." muttered a man in the back. He wore sunglasses despite being inside.

"Hmm? Problem citizen?" asked Scott.

"Look, there's stuff for the taking all over. It's the apocalypse man!" said sunglasses guy.

Scott looked at him with a flat expression. "If we act like that, are we any better than the looters murdering and raping their way across town?"

That caused a minor hub-bub among the people. No one liked to be reminded that certain rogue elements outside the wall of their gated community would rob them or worse.

"We can expand in a way that makes most people reasonably happy and feel reassured. We just need to remember that despite the game-like elements, our lives aren't games. If we act like human beings who give a damn about each other, instead of self-entitled assholes, we can get through this crisis." said Scott bluntly.

"Easier said than done... with that new rule." said a brunette woman in a sun dress.

Scott nodded to her. "True. The world is a little less safe today, but that doesn't change the fact that we need more room. We need a source of food and fresh water, and a safe place for all of the survivors to sleep."

While they discussed the matter, Shara popped into the room. "Scott?"

"Yeah?" he asked, after finishing up his current part of the conversation.

"Sheriff Ansen is here to see you." said the ninja girl with a smile.

"Send him on up then, if you would. I see no reason not to let him know what's going on." said Scott. Honestly, if he could get the remnants of the police on board, it would go a long way to expanding the area and safe guarding it.

Shara grinned then stepped outside. Sheriff Ansen came right on in, as he was already upstairs. Shara had known that Scott would want to see him the moment he had arrived.

"Sheriff." said Scott amiably.

The sheriff looked at the gathered multitude then back to Scott. "Bad time?"

"No. We're just discussing ethical ways to get monetary support for developing defenses and expanding the habitable area for the survivors." said Scott.

"Ah." said the Sherriff. He seemed to be at a momentary loss after hearing it.

"Was there something that you needed?" asked Scott.

All eyes were on the sheriff now. His group consisted of one of the only other major factions in town. They numbered only around fifty people though, as he did not have a compound that could house as many refugees.

"Could we speak in private for a moment, when you're done?" asked Ansen.

"Sure. This should not run long." said Scott. He then thought better of it. "Or was it urgent?"

"Isn't everything urgent nowadays?" asked the sheriff.

"True enough. We'll get together in a few minutes." said Scott with a nod. Shara led the sheriff out and over to a different dayroom on another floor so that he could wait for his audience.

Scott returned to the meeting at hand. He looked at everyone gathered then started to point things out on the map. "If we can legitimately acquire enough real estate, we can expand."

"Shouldn't you go see what the sheriff wanted? It sounded important." said the brunette woman from earlier.

"I'm sure it is, but so is this. At this rate any newcomers might have to start pitching a tent if we don't expand." said Scott.

"Right..." said the woman.

"How do you legitimately acquire real estate?" asked the badger man. His eyes practically sparkled when he spoke of it.

"We have to systematically search for abandoned structures. We can claim those without permission, but it's noted by the system. Everything else we either have to take by force or through trade and diplomacy."

"You can just take it all, then?" asked sunglasses guy.

"Yes, but we have to constantly occupy it for a month before it can be officially added to our lands. That's a waste of manpower when we can simply buy or trade for things and have it immediately become available." said Scott.

"You will do it, though, right?" pressed sunglasses guy.

"If it's an important structure with no clear present owner, yes. This is especially true for a few of the places we have scouted, since looters or monsters seem to have taken up residence there." admitted Scott.

Badger man broke into the conversation once more. "What's in it for us if we give you access to our money and buildings?"

Scott glanced at him. The tone that the badger man had spoken in might have offended him previously, but he saw it as an acceptance of the situation. "What would you like? Understand that the structures and money we will acquire must go to the Blackthorne faction in order for it to count as expanding a safe, habitable zone."

"I want my house back, fully stocked with food, a handful of people to guard it, and the right to start up my own business through trade."

"Fair enough." said Scott. "Provided you can prove that it's your house, and what you have to offer warrants that level of compensation."

Suddenly, the room exploded with various mini-discussions. The promise of safety, and the ability to return to a semblance of normal life had excited the gathered business and bank owners to no end.

"I run the local Ameri-Trac branch, and own a few rental properties throughout town. I know it's not much, but there was an armored car delivery the morning before we shut down. For legal purposes we only keep a few hundred thousand in the vault, but there are no doubt other items in the safety deposit boxes."

"Is there a record of who owns what is in those boxes, and will you let those rental properties be used for the cause?" asked Scott.

"Yes. If the records are intact I won't care if you check them. As far as my rental properties, as long as I get my house back and guarded I won't care about the others. It's the best deal I could hope for. Though, I would like to keep the bank building afterward for starting a new business."

"I see no issue with that. As long as the building is still part of the faction for security purposes, what you do with it is your business." Scott turned to the others and started negotiations. Most of the people were eager to give up things that had little direct use for them in exchange for greater influence and a chance at a normal life.

Out of all of the deals made that day, Scott was the most excited by the deal made with the badger man and with the few large scale local farmers who had been rounded up. Food production was an important business, and some of them had even agreed to try to grow certain medicinal herbs that could help greatly in the future. Half of the food produced, and two-thirds of the medicinal herbs produced, was to be collected by the faction, the other half would be for the personal use of the farmer. This was to pay for the protection of the faction, and for finding people willing to work a farm in the older back-breaking way since modern farming techniques would be difficult to use for a time.

Ashton recorded all of the deals and transactions. Anyone who was found to be lying about things they offered would not be compensated. The people were made aware of that fact early on, but it did not dampen anyone's enthusiasm. For a brief shining moment, a normal life seemed to be dangling within their grasp.