They found the doctor alive, somehow. Something in Rory broke a little to see what sort of condition he had ended up in.

Adam had succumbed an arm and a leg to the Dreadraptor’s gigantic talons, both limbs lost somewhere they couldn’t see. Part of his skull had been bashed in, and blood surrounded his whole body, slowly draining away through the holes the monster’s attack had carved into the roof.

“You won,” he said plaintively, his voice so quiet, they’d never have heard it if the battle had still been ongoing. Rory and Dez were still too distant from him. They couldn’t exactly navigate over the Dreadraptor’s burning corpse. “Good job.”

“Thanks to you,” Dez said. “Didn’t think you had it in you, to be honest.”

Adam laughed weakly. Neither Rory nor Dez said the quiet part out loud. As much as it would have been great to save Adam, he was well beyond anyone’s help. Even Evelyn’s.

“I did… what I needed to do.” Adam’s sigh was barely audible. “Save the others. Please.”

Rory imagined the carnage that had occurred in the hospital. The entire building had been broken, everyone within battered and bruised after the attack. Despite their best efforts, so many monsters had gotten in. They were able to do only so much to protect the people here. Rory sighed. All the death and destruction… so avoidable. So unnecessary. So…

A light went off in Rory’s head. There was, perhaps, a way to fix all that. Swallowing, wondering if it would actually work, Rory pulled out the Sigil of A Wish from his backpack.

“What are you doing?” Dez asked as Rory started to walk towards where Adam lay.

“Fixing the mess,” he said.

It wasn’t easy to get to the dying doctor. The whole area was covered with sticky blood, the floor crumbly under Rory’s weight so that every step made him frightened it was about to collapse. Would be just perfect if he survived a gigantic monster only to be killed by falling through a broken roof.

Adam’s eyes barely opened when Rory made it over to him. There was a question there, but Rory didn’t let him waste time talking. He simply held out the Sigil.

“This is a Sigil of A Wish,” Rory said. “With it, you can ask for anything to happen in return for exchanging something of equal value. Do you understand what that means?”

Adam stared at the silvery-white Sigil. There was a long pause as Dez’s flames continued to burn away the Dreadraptor’s corpse.

“I understand,” Adam said. “But… what can I do with it?”

“I don’t know what it’s limits are,” Rory said. “But considering what you can give…”

Adam tried to laugh, but grimaced when it caused him too much pain. “Place it on me.”

Rory lay the Sigil on Adam’s palm. He didn’t clutch or make any move whatsoever, but the Sigil sank into his skin all the same. Adam didn’t look like he was doing anything for a while. Rory wondered if he was making a mistake, considering Adam’s treacherous recent past, but then something strange began.

Adam took a long, deep breath, before exhaling it all out in a soft sigh. A sigh full of satisfaction and relief.

“Goodbye,” he said, and spoke no more.

“What’s happening?” Dez asked, part wonderous and part scared.

Rory wasn’t sure what, but the effects were evident. The black flames burning the Dreadraptor died to embers, its body soon reducing to charred ash on its own until all that was left was one enormous claw. All the smoke disappeared, as did the burning smell of Evelyn’s lava. All the aches and pains Rory had accumulated over the course of the day now vanished as though they’d never been.

He stared at Dez. “Let’s go see.”

They headed downstairs to find the effect of whatever Adam had wished for proliferating everywhere. The lights were restored, and everything was… fine. No more crying patients, no more stressed-out staff, and most importantly, no injuries whatsoever. Rory was amazed, and a bit frightened, to see patients who should have died under their injuries, now perfectly all right.

“What… just happened?” Trish asked as she and Sue walked over, looking curiously at everything just as the rest of them had done.

“I’ll explain later,” Rory said. “The monsters have been dealt with. Is everyone here alright?”

“Looks like it,” Sue said. “No thanks to us, of course.”

Rory nodded. “Then let’s get out of here.”

They got to work. It took a while, but once the patients and the remaining staff actualized that they really were safe, at least for the time being, they cooperated with surprising docility. Well, maybe not that surprising, considering some of them were complicit with Adam’s plan.

Downstairs, they found Evelyn corralling the rest of the hospital’s people. Jesse had a cowed, brittle expression on her face, and meekly followed any given orders. The important thing was that everyone there was in good condition too.

“It’s disingenuous to call them patients anymore,” Evelyn said, with mild wonder.

“What do you mean?” Rory asked.

“They’re all healed. Completely. Not just from the injuries they suffered a while ago. All the conditions that were keeping them hospitalized in the first place are gone.”

Like the others, Rory had to marvel at that too. Whatever Adam had wished for had turned a potential burden into a capable addition to their forces.

Rory did argue with himself a bit for thinking of unfortunate patients as a burden, but in terms of cold logic, they would be a drain on resources without providing any significant benefit. Terrible as the thought was, it didn’t make it any less true. If Adam’s dying wish hadn’t fixed everyone up, would he be actually considering leaving the patients behind just as the people who’d left for Mirrorend had done?

For a moment, all Rory could think of was Dez’s words. Rory was their leader. For better or worse, by strange twists of fate, he was the one responsible for everyone. As such he needed to make decisions based on what would benefit the group overall, not sentiment.

But regardless of all that, there were lines Rory would not cross. This he promised himself. So long as no decision spelled immediate disaster, he would not back down from helping anyone. This apocalypse was not about to change who Rory was and what he valued.

“You should take a break,” Evelyn told Rory, peering at him in concern. “You look tired.”

Rory did his best to moderate his expression. “I’m fine. Just… wondering about things. Can you take care of things here for a minute?”

She looked away to where Dez was ordering people around like a commander on a battlefield. “I think we’ve got things in hand.”

“Good. I’ll be back soon.”

While the others started gathering supplies and figuring out logistics, including how they were going to transport patients who were virtually bedridden, Rory climbed back up to the roof.

The oncoming dusk was peaceful, now that there was no imminent threat of death by Dreadraptor. Rory walked to the edge of the roof to survey the surrounding area. The smoke had cleared enough to reveal nearby deserted buildings and streets, trees lining every street as far as he could see. No sign of any monsters, though. He wondered if they’d been scared off by the enormous Dreadraptor.

Walking back to Adam’s corpse, Rory tried to see if there was a way to get the doctor’s Sigil. It had to be something powerful. He even had a clue what it might be.

Problem was, there was no way to extract Sigils from a dead person. Not for Rory, just yet, though he assumed some sort of process was out there. This system had existed for thousands of years, after all.

Nevertheless, Rory used his Weaving on the claw of the Dreadraptor.

New Sigil!

You’ve obtained a Sigil of the Dreadraptor. Bring in the wrath of flying monstrosities that rule the skies.

[Cerulean V] allows 2 major wing and 1 minor talon evolution for 80 seconds.

Stats

Type: Evolution

Rarity: Exceptional

Tier: Cerulean V [0%]

Efficiency: Medium [40%]

Rory pocketed the Sigil. It didn’t feel right to leave Adam rotting on the roof, so once people were a little less busy preparing to move, he recruited a few former patients on their first job to excavate a quick grave for the doctor. Good thing there were some tools in the nearby shed.

Back outside the building, Rory used his Weaving on the hospital itself next.

New Sigil!

You’ve obtained a Sigil of Healing. You can now perform healing duties. Ah, the rejuvenation. The recuperation. The recovery!

[Cerulean V] allows 15% automatic healing within Area of Influence and establishing medical zones. Improves passively.

Stats

Type: Settlement

Rarity: Remarkable

Tier: Cerulean V [0%]

Efficiency: Extreme [79%]

For just a second, Rory had assumed he had finally received a proper healing Sigil. One that would allow Evelyn—or anyone who used the Sigil, to be fair—to magically heal anyone from a distance with just a wave of their hand or something. He stared flatly at the light-gold crystal coin in his hand. Apparently, it was a Settlement Sigil.

It still made him excited. They were getting closer and closer to filling up the Sigil slots in their Settlement. All Rory needed was a couple more Sigils.

#

By the time they arrived back at the palace, Rory had nearly forgotten about the quest he had received from Leo. Good thing it popped up on its own.

Quest Completed!

Objectives

Rescued 32 patients and 6 staff members

Rewards

Raise any Sigil by 1 Tier

He wasn’t sure how to go about using the reward, but when he focused on it, a list of Sigils popped up in his line of sight. Rory actually staggered. There was… a lot. It was impressive how many Sigils he had gathered one way or another since the apocalypse had begun.

But for now, he found his way down the list and arrived at the Sigil of Quests itself. Raising its Tier would give them more and better rewards, so that was paramount for now.

With that done, Rory turned his attention the Settlement.

“Don’t you need sleep?” Viv asked as she met him at the pillar.

“I need to not delay this anymore than I have to,” Rory said. He smiled at her. “We should get a lot of cool things, hopefully.”

Viv laughed. “You sound like you found an exciting new toy.” She shook her head. “Play around with your Settlement and let me know what you find. I’ll make sure the others are alright.”

Rory was glad he could let her take care of things like that. She had far too much organizational experience from her job at the university.

They had needed multiple trips to get everyone into the palace, just as they had expected. Even after taking the van with them on subsequent trips, there had just been too many patients. It took well over an hour until everyone was safe inside the palace grounds. Thankfully, fate had seen fit to bless them with an evening devoid of any monsters. For the moment.

Content that the others had everything well in hand, Rory focused on the column before him. He Warded the Sigils of Produce and Healing into it, then checked the [Settlement Status].

[Settlement Status]

Belcourt Palace

Type: Camp

Leader: Rory McIlroy

Tier: Cerulean I [60%]

Stats

Population: 43

Area of Influence: 40m2

Treasury: 15,850 Mana, 110 Credits

Defences [Selectable]

Passive Reconstruction [Major]

-

-

Components

Sigil of Shelter: Ordinary, [Argent VI]

Sigil of Finance: Uncommon, [Argent X]

Sigil of Security: Remarkable, [Cerulean III]

Sigil of Produce: Exceptional, [Cerulean IV]

Sigil of Healing: Remarkable, [Cerulean V]

-

-

Rory felt his mouth stretch into a wide grin. There were a lot of things to take note of—like how the population had nearly doubled, but so had the Area of Influence, while Defences reminded him that he still hadn’t picked an Instant option yet.

But for the moment, he exulted in an overwhelming sense of achievement. The Settlement had gone up a Tier into Cerulean.

New Achievement!

Builder! Your Settlement has grown to the Cerulean Tier. Look at you, investing in your home to make it shine.

Rewards

You can now access the System Shop

Rory took a deep breath. He had finally been granted access to this elusive shop. Time to see what it was all about.

He refocused on the [Settlement Status]. There was nothing new at first, but he took a hunch and focused on the Sigil of Finance. Sure enough, a new space opened up just underneath that had the option to view the Shop.

Rory opened it. He was near-immediately overwhelmed by the sheer number of options available to him. There were crazy options to improve their defences by various means, decorations for the Settlement that would make the place unrecognizable, even some options that allowed him to summon living familiars.

Too many, though. Rory was barely able to read the option to hire a temporary militia of automatons before the item swerved away from his line of sight, replaced by the ability to buy a mangonel that threw plague-infected cow corpses. He called it quits when he saw he could get a wax figure that resembled him perfectly.

One thing he noticed was that all the options to buy stuff were exorbitantly priced. At least, compared to the Credits he had, it was too much. Maybe he just hadn’t focused on it enough and was therefore quite poor according to the system.

But there were some rare options that were affordable. The shop’s interface didn’t show any filters or ways to list items according to price, but so far, everything ran according to focus. So, he closed his eyes and imagined only viewing everything under 100 Credits, however few options that left him.

When Rory opened his eyes, he wasn’t at all surprised to see that the vast majority of choices were gone, leaving him with a bare handful of possible purchases.

[System Shop]

Waste not, want not. Credits aren’t infinite. Purchase wisely.

Settlement Perks, Upgrades, and Bonuses

Taxation Perk: Allows Settlement to automatically collect configurable tithes from residents [Cost: 70 Credits] Zonal Configuration: Allows assigning zones within the Settlement, according to available Sigils [Cost: 60 Credits]

Crafting Materials

Minor pack of organic materials [Cost: 80 Credits] Minor pack of crystals [Cost: 80 Credits] Minor pack of organic materials [Cost: 80 Credits]

Sigils

Sigil of the Rogue [Cost: 45 Credits] Sigil of Reaving [Cost: 75 Credits] Sigil of Fire [Cost: 30 Credits] Sigil of Grass [Cost: 20 Credits]

Decorations

One ornamental necklace [Cost: 30 Credits] A miniature, solar-powered streetlamp [Cost: 90 Credits] Smoke-belching fire hydrant [Cost: 82 Credits]

Rory knew what he was going to pick. The option wasn’t anything he even had to think about. Not when the rest were just not worth it. The decorations were useless, and the crafting materials lacked information about their particulars. While some of the Sigils were intriguing, they weren’t really cost-effective. He wasn’t even sure what sort of benefit the automatic taxation was supposed to offer them.

So, foregoing the rest of the options, Rory picked on the Zonal Configuration option.

New Achievement!

Shopper! You’ve made your first purchase at the System Shop! Just for you, here’s a special reward. Come back again to accrue some loyalty and get rewards for purchases.

Rewards

Sigil of Transfer

New Sigil!

You’ve obtained a Sigil of Transfer. Stymied by bad prior choices? Wishing you could redo time and pick other Sigil options? Well, fear not. Now you can switch between Sigils without penalty with this handy little Sigil.

[Cerulean I] allows 3 Sigil exchanges per day.

Stats

Type: System

Rarity: Mythic

Tier: Cerulean I [0%]

Efficiency: Extreme [99%]

Rory stared at the new Sigil. It was pure white and had the image of green arrows circulating after each other’s tail. He smiled. So many possibilities opening up before him.

Things were beginning to look quite interesting.