Broken Anomaly

When the five returned, there was a celebration going on.

The food was limited to whatever they had gotten out of the dungeon, which admittedly was quite a bit. Instant noodles, various meats and vegetables, a variety of chips, and beverages. They had everything to throw a proper celebration, except alcohol.

The five friends returned at a leisurely pace, only arriving as the sun was setting. They grabbed their food and sat down near a campfire.

“You would think that the incursion had terrorized them for years by how they're acting,” Eric said, taking a good chunk of noodles with his fork.

“Can’t you tell?” Alex asked, pointing at the celebrating people with a piece of overcooked meat. “They’re all on edge. We’re the odd ones for being so unfazed by everything that’s going on.”

“Wasn’t it the system doing system things?”

“No, or at least it’s not enough to explain our attitude,” Stella answered. “I wasn’t sure before, but I am now. We’re definitely the exception and not the rule.”

“Even I could tell,” Marcus added as he finished preparing a more elaborate noodles dish and handing it to Stella. “These two went into a room full of liquified people and look at them," he added, gesturing at Anna and Alex.

Eric’s interest was piqued. He glanced at Anna and gestured at her sword; she nodded in response.

“Everyone here wants to leave and find their families and friends, but they can’t—they’re terrified of the monsters,” Stella said, her voice full of empathy. “From what David’s told me, they feel safe here. I don’t know if it’s the effects of the safe zone or something else, but they chose to stay.”

“David?” Eric asked, grabbing another cup of noodles he had prepared beforehand.

“Focus Eric. David isn’t the main point,” Stella said sternly. “Point is, we can't fail them. We have to make this the best place possible. Not just for you, but also for them and for their families that might come here later.”

“Feel like you’re skipping a couple steps there. Why would they come here? I doubt we’re the only safe zone around, and if we are, how would they know to come here?”

“We left after we finished clearing them, so he didn’t notice,” Alex said with food in his mouth. He swallowed and continued. “Just like the other safe zone, monsters are attracted to this one as well, just less. So, if people encounter other safe zones, they might notice that there’s one here.”

“Eat real food,” Stella said sternly as she yanked a bag of chips away from Anna and fed her some cooked meat from her noodles. “Speaking of safe zones, what about that crystal? How do you use it?”

“Oh! Right!” Eric rummaged through his pockets and took out the small hub crystal from the incursion.

You have activated a Hub crystal.

This zone is already under your control.

Would you like to expand your area: Yes/No

Would you like to level up your Hub crystal: Yes/No

He once again chose to level up his hub, but this time it didn’t do so. Might need more, he thought.

The conversation continued, covering various topics, from old memories to new ones. During this, Eric took a moment to think about what his friends had said to him, specifically on one thing that Alex said. We’re the odd ones, Eric repeated in his head.

He remembered how scared Hilda and the other three survivors that were with her had been when he found them. He took a look around, seeing students and school workers laughing and enjoying themselves.

Then, he noticed that while that’s how they appeared on the surface, there was some tension in the way they moved. His new stats and his better understanding of his skill allowed him to notice certain behaviors and subtleties that he couldn’t before.

He saw one of the tree cutters fidgeting with his fingers. He saw the woman who had given him directions to find Stella in the morning occasionally glancing at the forest. He noticed the redhead stealing glances at him. He remembered that she was the one that yelled at Stella; her eyes, then and now, weren’t of anger. They were the same eyes that Hilda had, they were of fear.

We’re the odd ones, he repeated.

Time passed, and eventually Eric and Anna ended up alone near the fire, as the others left to get acquainted with some of the other survivors.

“Ok, spill, what’s up with that eye?” Anna asked, pointing at Eric’s eyepatch.

“Straight to the point, huh? Let’s see. The first time I cleared that dungeon,” Eric began, pointing at the nearby building, “there was this weird spider. It marked me or something. When we cleared it again, some creature that the system called an outer god came and took my eye. But to be fair, it didn’t work—the spider had already messed it up.”

“The way you tell it, it makes it sound way more casual than it is.”

“What can I say? I suck at storytelling,” Eric said as he stoked the fire and added a piece of wood. “Now talk. What’s up with that sword? And who’s that Ed guy who keeps glancing at you?” He pressed his palms against his cheeks as if in shock. “Does Alex have competition?” he said with feigned astonishment.

Anna grabbed a small rock and threw it at Eric with some force, some discomfort present in her face. “Like I said, it was a gift from my grandfather, Abe,” she said, grabbing her sword and pushing it into the ground before her, making it stand upright. “And apparently, he and all our parents are waiting for my cousins, siblings, and me.”

“Dead grandfather Abe?”

“The one and only.”

“And the concept,” Eric started, gesturing if he could grab the sword, “you got it after you grabbed this for the first time, right?”

“Basically.”

“Hmm.” Eric examined the sword in his hands and felt nothing. He could tell that despite its simple appearance, it was something great. “I got nothing,” he said after examining as much as he could and then threw it back to her.

“What were you expecting?” she asked, a tinge of seriousness clear in her voice. Before Eric could respond, she dropped the topic herself and moved one. “Oh! And Ed is…”

Their conversation went on for a while, Anna going into depth about her ordeal, and Eric telling her what he went through. Each mocking or reprimanding the other for doing something stupid.

----------

“See that girl,” Stella said, pointing at Diana, “Keep her away from Eric.”

“You already told me this,” Marcus said, puzzled.

“I’m telling Alex, not you,” she said, turning to Alex. “Got it?”

“Why?” Alex asked, equally puzzled.

“Just because.”

Alex gave Diana a good look, eventually focusing on her hair. “Nooo,” he exclaimed with a light chuckle, followed by full laughter.

“I don’t get it,” Marcus said, more puzzled than before.

----------

“That reminds me, I’ve been wanting to do this since we got the hub,” Eric said to Stella as he brought up his Citizens window and tried to give her a different role, but the System brought up a different window.

Name your settlement.

“Settlement?” Eric asked in surprise. “Hey guys, our base doesn’t have a name,” he said to the others who had returned.

“Aguilar capital,” Alex said jokingly.

“No,” Eric shot him down immediately.

“What do we want this place to be?” Stella asked, glancing at everyone.

They all took a moment to think. Eric only wanted a place that could make up for his shortcomings. But he also wanted a place that his friends would want to be in, if he only did what he wanted, then they might leave, and he would have to do everything himself. He shuddered at the very idea.

He first defined his objectives. First, increase dungeon level, considering my titles, my growth will be the best inside. Second, find a proper cultivation technique, I can’t risk my core much further. And for that, I need to level up the hub, so that I can unlock new items in the store. He took this chance to open up his hub menu.

Hub Level 2

Store

Class

Management!

Credits 2768

He never gave it a thought before, he assumed it was just there to show the level. However, with the recent system message, he thought of another possibility. He focused on the top row, and another window opened up.

Hub (Settlement)

Level 2/2

Crystals 1/2

Population 5/500

Seeing that he needed people, he included that in his objectives. Having a clearer idea of what he needed, he turned to the others, noticing that they had also finished considering their objectives.

Marcus only wanted a place where he could work, and a place that was able to provide him with resources. Alex wanted a place that could protect those that couldn’t protect themselves, like children, the elderly, or classes that focused entirely on crafting. Anna didn’t really want anything, her only objective was finding out where her grandfather was. Finally, Stella wanted a place that others could gather at, where normalcy could be regained, and where the fear of monsters was mostly forgotten.

“How did this help us pick a name?” Eric asked.

“Now that we have our objectives clear, we can pick an appropriate name,” Stella said, a bit irritated.

Various names were thrown around, like bulwark, stronghold or fortress, because it gave the image of somewhere that was well defended. They were ultimately shot down because it conflicted with Stella’s vision of normalcy. After some more back and forth, they decided on Solace.

Eric mentally opened the window that asked him to pick a name and entered “Solace.” He then opened the hub menu noticing that the word “Hub” was gone, replaced by “Solace.”

Solace Level 2

Store

Class

Management!

Credits 2769

He then went and changed Stella’s role, this time succeeding, and a window appeared before her.

You have been appointed Administrator of Solace. Accept: Yes/No.

Having done all that they wanted, they relaxed and continued until one by one, everyone went into their respective sleeping area, whether it was a cabin, a shack or just a badly made tent. Soon, nobody remained, and the crackling of the embers was the only noise that could be heard.

----------

Morning came and while some had stayed up late celebrating, others had gone to sleep at their usual time. They were up and about, doing various tasks. From cleaning some of the trash that gathered from the previous night, to continuing to do their usual tasks.

Alex and Anna had gotten up early and patrolled the immediate surroundings, killing any monster they found. Near the workshop was a pile of all the monsters they killed, ready for Eric to sell them.

Stella’s place was near the workshop, and she got up due to the noise that Alex and Anna made while stacking the bodies.

Seeing the bodies and remembering her new role, she started to investigate her new system menus. She made a rough outline of how Solace would develop. She tweaked various settings that Eric had ignored or not seen due to him being focused on other things, and thoroughly made notes on all of them.

Marcus woke up due to the increasing sound from the outside and saw Stella muttering to herself while taking notes. He sat up carefully, so as not to disturb her, and he just watched as she did whatever she was doing.

Not much later, the four were near the same campfire from the night before, drinking coffee in silence.

Alex and Marcus tried to start the fire but failed miserably and turned to Stella for help. She conjured a fireball, with a much more defined shape than before, but also weaker, and threw it at the fire.

“We’re starting in earnest today,” Stella said.

“Finally putting the store up?” Alex asked

“Exactly! I did the math, that I want you to check, by the way, and if we do it right, Eric can make enough credits to give us a good head start.”

“Really? That’s great, I’ll check it after he wakes up.”

“Speaking of Eric,” Marcus interjected, “did any of you see where he went last night?”

“Weren’t you guys keeping a watch on him?” Stella asked with a serious expression. “I told you to watch him.”

“No, you said to keep Diana away from him.” Alex said, correcting Stella.

“She was just the main one, it—”

“Is that Diana?” Anna asked, her tone a bit sharper as she pointed at Eric’s cabin.

Diana exited Eric’s cabin as stealthily as she could. Once outside, she turned to see if anyone was around. To her surprise, there were only four people nearby. Unfortunately, most of them knew who she was by now, and worse, they were Eric’s friends. She adjusted her clothes and posture, and, trying to appear indifferent, she walked away, her movements incredibly tense.