Chapter 9: Forced to Fight

Chapter 9: Forced to Fight

Zac was gobsmacked.

Youre not here to help out permanently? He inquired hesitantly. While it took some time getting used to talking to an eyeball, he was pretty unwilling to be stranded alone in the forest again. Besides, there were so many things he still didnt understand about what was happening.

Unfortunately, no. The system only summons an administrator such as myself for a short while when creating an outpost. Also, we only get summoned the first year after initiation. Something like an add-on Tutorial. But we got a bit side-tracked here, and need to hurry up with your outpost. Abby explained, seeming a bit embarrassed she got sidetracked from her duty.

Outposts will evolve into full-fledged towns if you complete certain missions. The difference between a system-sanctioned town and a normal mortal town is that the city leader of a system-sanctioned town can use the system to summon buildings, tax the population and connect to other city leaders for example. The difference between an outpost and a town is that an outpost is temporary. Either you manage to turn it into a town by completing your quest, or the incursion over there will stabilize and turn to a town owned by the invading general. By then A LOT more demons will spawn, and unless youre already dead you will likely die then, titles or not.

Zac nodded, a better picture of forming in his head. Remembering the 3-month deadline in his quests he realized that what Abby described would happen in roughly 3 months. Still, there were some things he was unsure about.

But do I really need to care about creating an outpost? My goal is to find my family, I can just leave before the demons arrive.

That question managed to elicit a full-body eye-roll from the eyeball.

And go where? Couldnt go to the tutorial town so you cant learn skills or choose classes, making you quite weak compared to what you should be. There are monsters everywhere so you arent safe anywhere. An outpost can help you get stronger through its facilities, and having a town would be the most effective way to look for your family, compared to manually looking everywhere like a vagabond. Besides, being the first to create a town has amazing benefits, just like with the titles. The system likes the people in the forefront. Abby one more went into lecturing mode.

And if thats not enough, I can also tell you that the system hates cowards. You only get one shot at creating your outpost, if you fail the system deems you unworthy to be a Lord in the future. If you not just fail, but even abandon the mission, the system will also punish you. It would range from crippling you to outright killing you depending on how bad it judges your performance.

You You should really try to complete the quests within a month, or at least within two months. That would She didnt get any further before a heavy pressure suddenly bore down on the camp. Abbys pupil dilated and red squirming veins appeared all over the eye. And suddenly she was gone.

Zac wasnt sure, but it didnt feel like this was how she was supposed to disappear, as she appeared completely without him noticing. He had been able to sense something that could almost be anger in the pressure that descended. Had Abby been punished for what she said at the end?

Complete the quests within a month he mumbled, trying to glean any hidden meaning. Something obviously happened because of those sentences. If the system punished her for lying it could only mean Abby wanted him to run to his death like an idiot. But if it was for unduly helping it might be an important clue to help him stay alive. That meant something likely happened to the world or the incursion after a month had progressed. Something that was bad for him.

He just couldnt figure out why the Stargazer would just help him like that, even risking the wrath of the system, as she had already explained it didnt like her giving undue guidance. Zac couldnt figure out any real reason for that yet, and could only put it aside for now. Instead, he followed her instructions and mentally thought Outpost base.

Suddenly a new window popped up in front of him. But while it still had the blue background and white borders, it rather reminded him of a web store than an old school RPG game. There were multiple categories of buildings and add-ons to choose from to the left and a seemingly unending number of products in the main window.

Zac took a bottle of now tepid water from the cooler the demonling had been rummaging through earlier and retreated to the camper. The suns were starting to set, which was a relief to Zac, as it proved that at least the daily cycles remained in the world, giving some normalcy.

Unheeding of the bloody mess inside, he cracked open a tin of beans from the cupboard. Luckily they had stocked the camper well before the trip, as they had planned to spend a week on the road, and most of it was non-perishables. He still had food and water for at least two weeks unless he gorged himself.

He sat down at the small dinner-area, and while slowly eating his beans he started mentally browsing through the shop. Zac noticed that the prices were denominated in Nexus coins, which he had 10100 of now. He had gained 5000 coins during the day, likely from creating the outpost.

If he was going to survive in this new world, it seemed the first step was getting the most out of this outpost of his.