6 – Reflections

Andy made it about three steps away from the table before Violet called out, “Hey, Andy! Are you going to check out the System node?”

“Oh, right.” He sighed and turned back toward the park. Violet stood near the node with Eduardo and a few others, so, with a slightly pained glance at Lucy, who just smiled and shook her head, he walked over there.

As Andy approached, Eduardo said, “We were wondering about the boon points, too. Hoping there are some new options now that we leveled up again.”

Andy smiled, reaching up to brush his hair back—he’d need to get someone to cut it soon. “Yeah, I was too. Just a lot on my mind, right now.”

“It’s been nonstop,” Violet said, smiling over the top of the faintly glowing orb of the System node. “You should take some time to relax.”

The words hit a nerve, and Andy paused, frowning. He really had been running around, going from one emergency to the next. Wouldn’t it be nice to sit down and relax for a little while? He needed to take stock of so many things…

“You okay, man?” Eduardo asked, jostling his shoulder.

“I’m good.” Andy put his hand on the node, letting the warm, faintly pliable surface mold into the crevices of his palm. “Just a minute.”

Settlement Menu:

Settlement Name: Sleepy Saguaro Trailer Park

Leader: Andy West

Successor: Violet Ruiz

Active Effects: --

Settlement Level: 3

Citizens: 104

Boons:

System Node

Freshwater Spring

Natural Bulwark

Forager’s Bounty

Boon Points: 2

Boons Available:

Settlement Alliance Link (Free)

Hearthflame Ember

Whisperwood Grove

System Trade Beacon

Deep Veins

Quests Available:

1. Restore Order to the Settlement

Objective: Disorder and damage threaten your settlement. Rebuild and adapt your infrastructure to restore stability and healthy living conditions. Threats: Morale will decline as long as needs go unmet and disorder continues. Reward: Temporary increase to natural production and inspiration for craftsfolk.

2. Explore the Tunnels Beneath the Settlement

Objective: Newly discovered tunnels stretch beneath your mesa! Explore them to ensure the safety of your citizens and uncover what lies within. Threats

: Unknown dangers lurk in the depths. Exploration may be hazardous. Reward: The tunnels may yield treasures, resources, and opportunities for growth.

He noticed a few things right away. The System was clearly counting the people from Grace Refuge in their tally of citizens—nothing else could explain how they’d gone from fifty-something to over a hundred. Also, the boons were largely the same, but the “veil of stillness” option was gone, and they were being offered a few new ones, including the promised communication link with Grace Refuge. His eyes were drawn to the “Deep Veins” boon, though, and when he focused on it, the description appeared:

Deep Veins – The mesa holds more than hollow stone. Beneath your settlement, mana has kindled hidden channels rich with potential. Ores and minerals of worth may lie within, awaiting discovery by those with the courage to delve and the skill to harvest. Beware—the depths could hide danger as well as reward.

“Oh, wow…” he said, as he processed the words.

“What is it, Andy?” Violet asked, eyes eagerly searching his for an explanation.

He smiled, gesturing to the node. “You should be able to see it. I think everyone who’s a citizen can, right? That’s how people know about the quests…”

Eduardo shook his head. “I can see the name of the settlement and the quests, but that’s it.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yep.” He pointed to Violet as she placed her hand on the node, then stared into space. “She can see more, though.”

“Well, she’s the successor, I guess.” Andy frowned. “Wonder if there’s a way to give more people full access.” He touched the side of the node, and this time, when the settlement page appeared, he stared at the leader line.

***Do you wish to designate a new leader or alter the governance style of your settlement?***

Andy arched his eyebrow, but didn’t respond; he didn’t want to get stuck in a menu where he had to pick a new leader or something. Right then, it was enough to know that he could change it if he wanted to. “Pretty sure I can change that, but it’ll take some thought.”

“Well, no hurry,” Eduardo said. “We need to vote on an advisor council and all that. Can you just tell me what’s new on the menu?”

Several people standing around echoed the request, so Andy nodded and read off the various boon options and the quests. “Personally, I think it kind of bumps exploring the tunnels up in priority.”

“I concur,” Violet said, her eyes refocusing on reality. “Cleaning up the park, working on the plumbing, and exploring those tunnels should be our top priorities.”

“What about the dungeon, Andy?” Bella’s familiar voice asked from behind.

Andy turned to see not just Bella, but Jace and several others who’d approached. He shrugged. “We’ll get there, but maybe not tonight.”

“Well, are you going into those tunnels?” she asked, frowning as she glanced at Jace.

Andy wanted to tell them he didn’t know—that he’d do what he felt like after he had a little rest to contemplate his damn improvement points and the System’s cryptic clues about combining his classes. He took a deep breath, though, and reminded himself that Bella wasn’t aware of all the other things weighing on him. Looking around, he saw a good twenty faces nearby, all looking toward the node, eager for news, and wondering what would happen next. He decided it was a good opportunity to clear the air a little.

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Raising his voice and taking a step back, so he stood beside Violet and people weren’t behind him, he said, “We might as well talk a little bit about what’s next. I know it’s irritating to feel like you’re in the dark. Well, the System gave us some boon points for the things we’ve done recently, and we have some options, but before I select anything, I’m going to meet with Lydia from Grace Refuge. If you haven’t heard, she’s the leader chosen by the survivors from Construction City. She’s here, right now—arrived with a big supply wagon, you all saw—but she’s outside the fence setting up to stay the night.”

“We know, Andy—” Jace started to say.

Andy pointed past him to a group of trailer park residents who were standing quietly, listening. “Not everyone knows, man. Anyway, we’ll pick our new boons later tonight or in the morning. I have a feeling we’re going to do at least one resource boon and then, maybe, the System Trade Beacon thing. I’m not an expert, but as a guy who’s played a lot of games, I have a feeling that it’s a prerequisite for things further up the improvement tree.”

“I mean, trading is good, right?” a new voice asked, and Andy turned to his left to see Jace’s other sister, the quiet one with the human-looking daughter. Her red skin stood out against her denim overalls, as she nervously clutched her daughter’s shoulders, holding her tightly against her. She had a funny expression, and it took Andy a second to realize she was embarrassed—mortified that she’d spoken up.

He smiled, trying to put her at ease. “Yeah, it is a good thing. I’d much rather trade with other settlements than go to war.” He turned back toward the bulk of the crowd and continued, “Anyway, there are also some quests being offered—new ones. We need to clean up this park and work on things like plumbing.”

“We were looking into a way to get the spring to feed the water tank!” Jordan, the man from the ranch homes whose trailer they’d used, called out.

Andy nodded at him, pleased to see he was fitting in. “That would be cool. If we did that, would the toilets and whatnot work?”

Jordan gave him a thumbs-up. “Yep. But, now that civilization is pretty much gone, we need to explore new ideas to deal with the septic system.”

Another man, one Andy recognized as a park resident, but whose name he couldn’t remember, said, “Magic, man. Magic! Lots of stuff is possible now!”

Andy held up his hand, chuckling. “A very valid point, but let’s save that conversation for tomorrow. I just wanted to let you all know the kinds of stuff we’re working on. Right now, though, I’m going to go and do some serious thinking about my improvement points, my class, and the things I’ve learned about the System. I haven’t had a spare minute to do something like that, and I think we all should be taking a little time out of every day to really think about this System stuff—classes, magic, skills—all of it!”

He paused, unsure if he should say the next part with kids around, but he decided it wasn’t doing anyone any good if he sugar-coated things or, worse, hid the truth. “We’ve got about a month before aliens start showing up, which will be a whole new pile of worms on top of monsters and mutants. We need to be as strong and knowledgeable as possible before then.” Looking around as he spoke, he saw Jace’s face and felt like an idiot. He felt like he needed to reach up and pull his shoe out of his mouth. Why did he have to say mutant? “I didn’t mean—”

Jace shook his head. “Forget it.”

Awkward silence followed the exchange, and then Andy was saved by Violet when she asked, “What can we do, Andy? Do you want volunteers to explore the tunnels?”

Bella was quick to add, “I can get people together to go check out the dungeon and maybe get a look at the ranger station to see if any former Hardheads are there.”

Andy’s instinct was to tell them no. He wanted to be involved in both those things. Was that crazy, though? He couldn’t be a part of everything, right? Hadn’t he just been complaining that he hadn’t had a spare minute in the last few days? “Bella, if you guys want to scout things out, that would be cool. I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t go in yet, or get into any big fights unless—”

“We won’t,” she said, cutting him off. “We’ll see if anything’s there, then let everyone know what’s up.” She grabbed Jace’s wrist as she spoke, dragging him away. Andy thought about calling her back, a sinking feeling in his stomach making him feel like he’d made a mistake.

Once again, Violet helped him out, speaking softly, “That was smart, Andy. With strong-willed people, it’s always good to let them feel appreciated and to give them purpose.”

“You think so?”

“I do. You can’t be everywhere at once. No, go on. Get some rest. Do some thinking—all that important stuff you said you needed to do.”

Eduardo added, “Hey, be sure to tell me if you figure anything out.”

Andy nodded. “I will.”

It seemed like Jace and Bella’s departure had taken the steam out of the impromptu meeting, and Andy seized the opening to slip out of the gathering and make his way out of the park. To his relief, no one accosted him on his way. When he got there, he was startled to find a package on his kitchen counter, but then he remembered what it was: the scorpion stinger. It was a reminder of yet another task on his plate: he wanted to help James with that crafting quest.

He stretched his back and leaned his spear against the wall, took off his belt, and sat down on the couch. Then, he stared at his status screen for several minutes, trying to think, trying to find some new insight, when he stared at his “notable” abilities. All that came of that, though, was the discover that, if he focused on what he wanted to do, he could manipulate the status screen almost as if it were a document on a word processor. He could rearrange skills on the list, highlight certain abilities, and hide others. Moreover, when he closed and reopened it, everything returned to normal, but he could, with a thought, reapply his preferences—like it remembered the template.

After a while, he realized he was wasting time; he didn’t need to stare at his skills right then, he needed to think about the clues the System had given him. Of course, he hadn’t written the words down, but he remembered the gist of them. Essentially, he needed to consider how his two very different classes seemed to share common ground, complementing his fighting style. He’d made some progress along those lines already, combining Shadow Lance with Kindlebrand to create the Smoke Lance spell.

He had a feeling that combining the classes would follow that same motif: the System seemed to see smoke as the representation of fire and shadow. “Or is that too simplistic?” Andy wondered aloud. Was “smoke” the same as “fire plus shadow,” or was it more like smoke was a product of fire, and like shadow, it would allow him to move unseen? Andy continued to talk to himself, “How would that work, though?”

With his Umbral Reaper class, he had the ability to slink through shadows, which could be found anywhere that light didn’t directly shine… Smoke, though? He couldn’t very well sneak around in a cloud of smoke. People would see that coming—

Andy shook his head, growling. His mind kept doing that—spiraling down rabbit holes. The only conclusion he felt like he could make was that “smoke” wasn’t going to replace all of his “shadow” abilities. Maybe, if he combined his classes, he’d lose some of those abilities… Or maybe, he’d keep them. Who was to say that his class changing would alter all of his skills and spells? After all, he doubted he’d lose his “spears” skill.

“Okay, so back to the original question.” Andy pondered the most recent message from the System—something about how his two classes had begun to “resonate” and how he should reflect on their “shared rhythms” or something like that. He thought back to the way he’d fought over the last week or so, and he could only come up with more of the same: both of his classes helped enhance his spear fighting.

That wasn’t all, though, was it? What had he been fighting for? He supposed most of the fights boiled down to him trying to protect the settlement. The insight didn’t spark anything new, so he tried to dig deeper. Was it more about his style? When he was in his Umbral Reaper class, he fought very differently, right? He snuck around, surprised his enemies, and finished things quickly.

When he was in his Pyroglyph Invoker class, things were more out in the open. Or were they? He frowned, thinking about his various fiery abilities. He could create traps—not exactly out in the open. He could snare people—he’d use that to catch that desert spear-fighter by surprise and score a critical hit. Other than the weapon enchantment ability that he’d already combined with his shadow enchantment, that was it. The conclusion, he decided, was that both of his classes allowed him to control the fight, to—

***Congratulations, Andy! Your deep reflection has revealed harmonies between your two primary classes. The System has recognized these connections and offers you a new path: merge Pyroglyph Invoker with Umbral Reaper to form an undiscovered class. Warning: this merger is unprecedented and cannot be evaluated beforehand. Do you accept?***