Hours later, with some vigorous love making and a healthy nap under my belt I found myself lying in bed with Junipher sound asleep in the crook of my arm. Though I was on the clock in regards to killing the Gnoll leader I didn’t feel particularly rushed either. In fact, I had a feeling that issue was going to be something of a pushover. So I spent the last half hour silently discussing with Veep where I wanted our future perimeter and what kind of defenses I wanted installed.

My current position placed me at the east side of town where the college use to stand. Where a lot of shit used to stand til my settlement core absorbed it, or dungeon monsters wrecked it. I currently owned everything within a five hundred meters of that point. The land between that point and the former Flying J was empty, always had been, but I couldn’t claim it because the Gnoll’s inconveniently took up residence in the nearby highschool. Which will hopefully be resolved later this morning, the question is, will I use the mini mass destruction pistol, or the monster hand cannon of doom. Decisions, decisions.

I had already received notice that the Elementary school situation had been resolved. It seems that group of asshole turtle lizard things were sending out attacks on the Indian Health Center to the west which apparently had a large group of survivors. The surviving Native Americans seemed to be falling back on their mystical roots or taking up ancient primitive arms in many cases. Though a good percentage also were embracing the easier more modern arts of war. Regardless of the chosen professions, it all seemed to balance out with the System in place.

I studied the map as Junipher shifted slightly where she slept on top of me. I shifted to accommodate her. I nodded silently to myself satisfied with what I had planned. Following the I-40 to the West it made a long gradual hump shaped loop towards where the Walmart sat less than 3km away. When I had it all under control the new wall, much thicker and taller than the last, would extend roughly 500 to 750 meters from the North-ish side of the I-40 and follow it all the way around to swallow up the Walmart and an empty area further behind that.

From there the wall would swallow up a small housing area at almost 5 kilometers from my position. At that point it would cut sharply South some 4km to encompass the airport and train yard. From there it would meander back in the direction of my current position staying just north of the 99 and the Eastern border would stop shy of the quickly growing flood plain on the other side of where the old Nissan dealer used to be, before it closed a couple years ago.

This would create what I was cheekily referring to as the Great Wall of Winslow. It would stretch a total of 20 kilometers, be 30 meters tall and 10 meters wide. Construction would be poured concrete reinforced by steel beams and rebar. The design allowed modular mounting points for various types of reactive armor plates to adjust the damage resistances as needed. Anywhere a major highway entered the wall a 10 meter wide gate would be placed, flanked by large towers that extended an additional 10 meters above the regular wall with a pair of small pill boxes attached to the base on the outside of the wall where the gate guard would conduct their business. These gate houses would also be armed with mounted machine guns that everyone regardless of weapon proficiency would receive training on. Atop the towers would be automated anti-air emplacements.

Every gate would then be supported by a larger WWII D-Day style bunker placed roughly 500 meters on either side with overlapping long range fields of fire. Behind the bunkers would be light artillery pits. These bunkers were just a sample of what sat at each cardinal corner of the wall. Four fortifications akin to a revolutionary war fort would stand with a sweeping field of fire and, hopefully, the most devastating weapons my meager budget could afford.

The total land area protected by the walls would be a fraction of what I actually possessed when this was over, I’d have to spend roughly 140000SP to add 14 square kilometers to what I currently possessed. Which on the surface didn’t sound like much for a city that formerly held 10000 people, but when I checked the internet I found that what the city claimed as its own was a misshapen 'q' that included lots of undeveloped land. I was only claiming the parts of the city that were already built up. And then I’d be tearing it all down to remake it. I chuckled lightly at that thought and felt Junipher stir on my chest.

She sleepily leaned up and kissed me then settled her head on my shoulder and looked into my eyes. “Is it time?”

I kissed her forehead and allowed her soft leafy ‘hair’ to tickle my nose as I took in a deep breath of her intoxicating scent. “I think it is. Let’s go kill that dirty Gnoll Lord or whatever the fuck he calls himself.”

“I’ll find us breakfast and let you get ready.” She smiled and wiggled her ass at me as she left the apartment. I audibly groaned at the display and decided to hop into the shower before heading out to get dirty. I dressed and armed up before I left the apartment in my full battle kit. I stored the heavy plasma weapon in my inventory alongside the AK and shotgun that had kicked off this adventure and stepped out to find Eli and Johnny sitting with Junipher at the fire and eating some eggs and bacon, a plate sat on the wood bench next to Junipher waiting for me.

“Good morning, Sir.”

“Karl.”

The two men greeted me in their own ways as I sat and scooped up the plate of food. “Morning, just the men I wanted to see before I take off.” I mentally directed Veep to share my plans with the men as I ate. A holographic display of the city map appeared and then details on what I planned to do slowly cycled in the air.

“This. Will cost a lot.” Johnny was the first one to comment.

“We also don’t have the manpower to secure a perimeter that size, hell, we don’t have the manpower to secure our own wall.”

“So, according to Veep we are sitting on roughly 325000 SP. That’s almost twice what’s needed to claim the land when it comes available. The wall and fortification construction will be roughly 3.5 mil in SP. Arming and equipping it will be another matter. Though I think from what you showed me last night, we should be able to swing that with the income from the Dark Iron sales. Which reminds me, we need to renegotiate Shubin’s contract and see what other dungeons are out there to claim and profit from.”

“I think I’m getting in over my head.” Johnny looked at me apologetically. “And we still need to build more farms or we won’t be able to properly feed everyone.”

“Veep, what other administrative positions do I currently need to fill?”

“You currently only have one position remaining, the Treasurer. With a Treasurer you can adjust tax rates and set quest payout thresholds. The system tends to be a bit stingy starting out. The Treasurer would also be able to properly manage funds and allow your Administrator and Guard Captain an appropriate budget to hire assistants.”

“You mean I actually get paid for this mess?” Eli joked with me.

“You can each currently hire one assistant, an expansion of the admin building would provide for an additional assistant, though is only available once you reach Village rank.”

“Alright, Johnny, here’s what you do, hire us that Treasurer, and get yourselves assistants.” Then I turned my attention to Eli, “Don’t forget, in less than three days we will have the manpower. As soon as Freya’s representative arrives, you request what you need. This isn’t going to happen overnight, so don’t sweat it. And Johnny, if you need help, just ask, you’ve served me well so far and I won’t forget that.”

“Aye, sir.” Eli nodded and stood to leave.

“Yes, you are right, I’ll find us a treasurer and me a helper.” The old man smiled and left me alone with Junipher by the fire.

“You handled that well. Your people are more resilient than they know.”

“I suspect they will need to be.”

“Shall I gather the team?”

I looked at her with a toothy grin, “Nah, let them sleep, I think I’ll handle this one myself.”

Kaia sensing my mood padded over from the kennel where I just noticed several more Coyotes and Mountain Lions lounged as the morning sun began to peek over the wall. Huh, wonder where they’re coming from? And who’s letting them in?

I pulled myself up onto Kaia’s back then looked down at my sexy plant lady, “Care for a morning ride?”

She beamed happily at me and took my hand and allowed me to pull her up to her spot in front of me, then we rode over to the gate and waited for the guard on duty to open it for us and we headed out for the highschool.

The school sat less than half a mile from the settlement walls, which after yesterday’s battle, we now had a clear view of the occupied building in question. I mean, we did pretty much level the housing development. We approached across the field and I guided Kaia around the debris of several houses and we stopped in front of a bridge that crossed the wash that had turned into a muddy raging river.

We stood less than a hundred meters from a park which stood in front of the school. A crude wooden wall crossed next to a collapsed public awning. A similarly crude gate blocked access to the interior of the park and ultimately the school. Across the front of the wall were spikes set in the ground adorned with human skulls. Thick black smoke rose from within the confines of the rickety wall and the faint glimmer of fires was visible through the gaps. Other than that there was no movement, or any sign of gnolls within.

“This is all rather cliche’.” I muttered.

Junipher chuckled, “Monsters be monsters. The low level ones like these don’t have very high intelligence attributes, they function largely on instinct and tribalism. Should we go up and open the door?”

“Meh, I have a remote.” I smiled and drew the automatic rail pistol and flicked it to burst fire.

“Is that…” Junipher looked at the extended weapon with immediate concern. Kaia picked up on her emotions then gauged mine and decided it was time to crouch down. I would later acknowledge that this was a good decision on his part.

I pulled the trigger and felt the weapon hum in my hand, I remember three quick snaps of electricity and the faint blur of the rounds hitting atmosphere at ten percent the speed of light. My vision went white and the world went quiet as the first round struck the wooden gate. I don’t know what happened after that because all three of us may have tumbled down the road from the resulting massive explosion. I’m not actually sure we didn’t just get teleported away from the impact site. All I knew was pain. Lots and lots of pain.

Some time later I was able to see again as Courtney stood over me as she exhausted her mana on healing my various wounds. I looked around and found Junipher was receiving healing from Choox’il and the rest of my team, as well as Eli, Alyssa, and Lulu were staring in the direction of the High School. Lulu was comforting a whimpering Kaia and all I could do was wonder, What the fuck just happened?

Courtney saw the recognition in my eyes and hollered out for Eli and Samantha, then looked at me with a big smile, “Hey, big guy! So, everyone’s still alive, they’d also like to know where you got a miniature nuke? And why you chose to set it off while standing on it?”

“Nuke? What?”

Eli walked up and looked down at me with a big grin, “What in the bloody hell did you do, boss?”

Junipher snapped up on my left and looked around in concern, “KARL! Karl, where’s Karl!?”

“Here, I’m here.” I grunted and rolled myself up to my hands and knees.

Eli reached down and helped me up and steadied me as another wave of dizziness and nausea rolled from my head to my stomach. Junipher stumbled over to me with help from Choox’il and leaned on my shoulder.

“Where did you get that weapon?” She said with concern writ across her face.

“What weapon?” Eli and Samantha said in unison.

“Oh, I picked up an automatic rail pistol from the System Kiosk, said it was good for use in a vacuum, seemed useful.” I said as we stumbled forward and crested the bridge that somehow survived the destruction I was now witness to.

The wall was simply gone. Like it never existed, gone. Bleachers for a baseball field. Gone. Outdoor swimming pool. Gone. Indoor swimming pool building. Gone. Skate Park. Gone. Everything that would have made up the totality of what was formerly known as Vargas Park was vaporized. A crater 200 meters across was quickly filling with water from the nearby river. A second crater opened up some 200 meters further out where one of the rounds struck a house. The corner of the High School had collapsed inward, though the rest of the building somehow remained standing. Ash, smoke and dust drifted in the air and filtered the sunlight.

WHERE THE FUCK IS THAT GUN!? I started panicking and looking around frantically. Samantha was the first to notice my eyes darting about the ground, “What is it, Karl. What are you looking for?”

“The pistol. We absolutely cannot let that fall into the hands of some kid! Holy FUCK!” Everyone began looking about and Eli was the winner of the holy shit this thing literally was a weapon of mass destruction in pistol form hunt.

“Found it!” Eli held the weapon gingerly, ejected the magazine, and flicked the selector switch to safe. Then he examined it and whistled.

Junipher stepped over and examined the weapon too, “Gods above and below, Karl. This is a mythic class weapon. It shouldn’t have even been available for purchase til you were at least at the end range of your Legendary class advancement. How in the…” She trailed off.

“So… I can’t have it?” I asked sheepishly.

Everyone stared at me incredulously then Junipher walked over and hugged me tightly then began laughing. “My big, pink skinned brute, you can’t use that ON the planet.”

Choox’il stepped forward and added, “Technically, you can use it in an atmosphere, though, you can see the results. These weapons are largely designed for those beings that are so strong they can only fight in space. And these are the types of beings that would shrug off the force of 2.5 Kiloton explosions like you wiping dust from your eye. It’s a nuisance but is no significant threat.”

Alyssa spoke for the first time, “People can get that strong?”

Choox’il considered her then responded, “Yes, Challenger, beings can get that strong, and even stronger. The real question is why that was even available, it should be centuries before any member of humanity reaches the level that this would be offered on the kiosk. And by that time they would probably have specialty crafted gear that does much more damage than this.”

“Indeed, Choox’il, that is a very good point.” Junipher added without letting me go.

I stared at the wonderful toy in Eli’s hand and only partially listened to the women talk, “So… you’re saying I can keep it, but only use it in space. Right. Veep, add a spaceship to the shopping list.”

For the second time in several moments everyone looked at me like I sprouted a third eye. “Sir, I think I am going to lock this up and throw it in the bottom of a deep hole.”

I stared hard at the man for several long and tense moments. He didn’t back down an inch, and I finally relented, “Fine, you don’t have to hide it from me, just keep it locked up. Who knows when we’ll need to turn something into a crater.”

Then I stalked off towards the High School’s collapsed wall to go kill the Gnoll Leader. Kaia followed next to me looking like he’d been through a hurricane. “Sorry bout that, bud.” He responded by licking my face as we walked.

“Karl, what are you doing now?” Samantha asked when no one else followed.

“Still gotta kill this fucking Gnoll Leader and I now have alotta frustration to work off.”

As I said that the aforementioned Gnoll Leader stumbled out of the opening the rail gun had made in the wall of the school. He looked at me with hate filled eyes and roared. I didn’t even bother analyzing him for his information. I pulled the new 20mm Hand Cannon from its thigh holster and took aim at his stupid looking head. “Crack Shot. Vital Aim.” I muttered and pulled the trigger.

The weapon bucked hard in my hand and the heavy round exploded out of the barrel, the sound echoing across the now empty field. With my enhanced perception I saw the ash and dust swirl about at the rounds passage and then the ugly Gnoll’s head exploded and a loud thunk echoed from behind him as the round continued on til it buried itself in a tree another hundred meters distant.

I let my arm hang at my side still gripping the cannon in my hand. Then I turned back to everyone gathered and holstered the weapon, “Well, that worked as intended.” And I proceeded to walk back to the settlement.

“Veep, could you deliver a message to management?”

The AI stilled suddenly at my question and her orb narrowed like she’d been caught. That’s right, I suspected someone was watching, now you just confirmed it. “Uh… maybe?”

“Tell whoever’s in charge that I am not a happy camper at all.”

Congratulations! Mana saturation has reached 100%! Your planet is now connected to the Universal Mana Data Network! Universal trade is now available.

Universal travel is still restricted until Solar System Mana Saturation is at 100%.

Estimated Time until Solar System Mana Saturation completion: Approximately 96 days.

Be advised, once Solar Saturation is complete, Universal Immigration will be enabled.