The Cost of Survival: A LitRPG Apocalypse (The System Apocalypse Book 3) Read online

  The Cost of Survival

  An Apocalyptic LitRPG

  Book 3 of the System Apocalypse

  by

  Tao Wong

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite eBook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  The Cost of Survival

  Copyright © 2018 Tao Wong. All rights reserved.

  Copyright © 2018 Sarah Anderson Cover Designer

  ISBN: 9781775058762

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Epilogue

  Glossary

  Erethran Honor Guard Skill Tree

  John’s Skills

  Sabre’s Load-Out & Other Equipment

  Author’s Note

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Regrets are a part of life, one that we all bear in different forms.. Words that should never have been said, punches that should never have been thrown, anger that should never have been swallowed. Actions and inactions can lead to regret, making your entire world nothing but pain and disappointment over things you should have done or not done.

  Right about now, I’m regretting getting out of bed and making this meeting.

  “You going to help?” I snarl as I snap-kick a weird snake-cow hybrid away from me, then shoot the one that follows it in the gut. Standing in the middle of a monster swarm in the Carcross Cutoff, surrounded by Hakarta who are barely bothering to do anything, is not happy making. It really isn’t. Of course, if I’d known the swarm would happen while we were talking, I would never have come out but some things you just can’t control.

  Major Labashi Rukar, the space-marine mercenary Orc and my erstwhile semi-employer, grins at me in response. Labashi flicks a pebble with his off-hand so hard that the impromptu projectile pierces a Snow Caribou in the head, dropping it instantly. The major and most of his people out-level the swarm of monsters around us by a significant amount. Which would be great for me if they decided to actually help. Instead, Labashi seems insistent on continuing my debrief.

  “This is the fifth swarm then?” Labashi says in that System-given upper-class British accent of his.

  Another of the deer swerves rather than rush him, heading in my direction. Behind it, even more monsters cluster and charge over the snow, the swarm running, jumping, and flying away as they abandon old zones for newer, less dangerous ones. Monster swarms are part and parcel of our life since the System designated Earth as a Dungeon World. Mana begets monsters who vie for control of mana-rich zones. Leave the monsters alone in any one zone too long and the most powerful eventually drive away the lower-level ones, kicking off a giant domino effect.

  I sidestep the deer whose head butts up against Sabre’s—my mecha-cum-motorcycle—shield before I snap off a shot with the Inlin machine gun at another threat. “Just about.”

  “Just about?”

  Beside Labashi, the rest of his squad are taking bets and fighting bare-handed in a casual display of strength while they wait.

  “Yes. The fifth! Things have been a bit busy lately,” I snap as I shoot the next three deer in quick succession. High-explosive projectile rounds from the Inlin tear holes into the monsters, sufficient to deter their advance. “The swarms are coming faster and faster.”

  “Not surprising. Your defenses?”

  “Improving. The first were ultra-low levels. These guys,” I snarl and catch the Level 24 wolverine before it can clamp its jaws around my helmet. A powered-armor-assisted throw sends the monster flying into the distance to be gored by another as it lands. “Are a bit more of a challenge than the last swarm.”

  “Your hunters leveling?” Labashi continues with his questioning about the city.

  Months ago, I ended up with a System-enforced Contract with the major, forcing me to feed him information about Whitehorse whenever he wants it. I do get paid in Credits, but even if everyone knows I’m spying for him, I still feel a little dirty about it all.

  Above us, Ali sits cross-legged in his usual orange jumpsuit, holding a bowl of popcorn and staring at a System screen only he can see. I’d ask what my brown-skinned System Companion is watching, but it’s likely some cheesy reality TV show. The last time I checked, he was into house hunting and renovations, but I’m pretty sure he’s moved on by now. I’d be annoyed by his antics if I wasn’t so damn used to them. Actually, never mind. I am annoyed.

  “Decently. Most are in their mid-30s now and they’ve gotten pretty serious about training. The displacement has made it a lot easier to find level-appropriate monsters.” I duck beneath a magpie that’s literally on fire. “This swarm might be a bit of a push, but they should be able to handle it.”

  That also explains why I’m doing my best to kill, maim, and otherwise redirect as many of them as I can before they reach Whitehorse. The fewer of these monsters there are, the fewer the city will have to deal with and the easier they’ll have it. Especially since in monster swarms, the damn System reduces our experience gains while it’s happening, so no one is leveling up from this. On the other hand, the system-generated quests for safeguarding the city can compensate for the loss in experience—if I had been in town.

  Ten months since the world changed under a series of blue System notification windows and we’ve lost nearly ninety percent of the human population and all our electronics. The earth had plunged back into the early 1900s, since delicate electronics don’t mix well with high levels of Mana—unless they’ve been specially constructed. I’d been caught up in the change while I was camping in Kluane National Park and, luckily, ended up with a few additional System-generated Perks due to my location.

  Without electricity, without most of our machinery, and with monsters spawning all across the world, staying alive became a mad scramble for everyone. Unfortunately, keeping as many people as possible alive meant making some deals with people I shouldn’t have.

  “What are you doing here anyway?” I say as I spin and chop the head off a monster, my soulbound sword appearing in my hand. One of the nice things about my Class was I got to bind a weapon to me. It levels as I level, giving it greater strength and sharpness. It also appears and disappears on command, which can lead to some really interesting fighting techniques.

  “I’m out of those Belgium chocolates.”

  Bullshit. Considering I buy my chocolates from the Shop, he could get some just as easily as I do. Which is trivial, so long you have enough Credits. Heck, you can buy anything in the Shop—and I do mean a nything. Secrets, Classes, Skills, equipment, and more. I’ve even heard that there are sections in the Shop that include sentient contracts. Serfdom, if not slavery.

  “Bullshit.”

  “Again, I am not Yerick,” Labashi says, referring to the minotaurs that have taken up residence in the city. “And your other visitors?

  “Xev and Sally?” I play dumb, not that I expect it’ll work. Xev’s a giant arachnid that makes grown men cry, and Sally’s a tiny cheerful gnome with a very sharp tongue. Both Galactics are well known to Labashi and his employer.

  “No. The Kapre.”

  “Oh. Them.” I sigh.

  The Kapre are recent immigrants, another race of disenfranchised aliens who have been ground under the System’s heel. Unlike the Yerick, they never had a whole planet of their own—they were one of four races on their home planet. When their planet integrated into the System, they spread across the Galactic core in a desperate race to remain relevant and level up. All of the Kapre are tall—like, a good seven feet tall—with elongated faces and brown bark-like skin. Weirdly enough, they all have beards and are, at least to human eyes, male. All of them.

  “They’re doing well. I think. Hard to tell. They’ve taken over the hills along Long Lake behind Riverdale and don’t mix much with us. Humans aren’t excluded from going in, but we’re not exactly welcome either.”

  “Us?”

  “The city.”

  “So you have become an us,” Labashi muses, absently holding a tiger-like monster by its face as it attempts to claw him. Razor-sharp claws just bounce off his armor, which is impressive, considering most armor takes damage from attacks like that. I have a feeling a Skill of some type is being applied to increase the armor’s strength and durability. Might be something for me to look into.

  “Yeah.” I flick my blade wide, calling forth a Skill of my own and sending a wave of power flowing forward in its wake, cutting through monsters and throwing the tougher ones aside. Blade Strike, my anime-inspired—or really, the other way around if I understand how this works—System-generated Skill.

  “Interesting. Well, I believe this is all that we needed,” Labashi says then raises his hand. Light plays along it for a moment, then he calls down the sky.

  Lightning flashes from clear skies to destroy the swarm. My helmet automatically flickers, compensating for the overload of light, and by the time I’ve stopped flinching, the Hakarta are already walking away.

  “Oy! Boy-o, they’re still coming,” Ali shouts, and I bring myself back to the present.

  The monsters that were present are dead, giving the Hakarta more than enough time to wander away without harassment, but more are coming and I know what I need to do. I call my sword back into my hand and I wait, smiling at the monsters as they come. Time to get back to work.

  Two hours later, the swarm is finally gone and I sigh, triggering the mental command that retracts my helmet into a black ring around my neck. The cold air is bracing and pleasant as I lean against the wooden wall of my fort. Well, not mine, since the Council has finally taken it over. Funny thing—once the General Council in the city was ratified by Lord Roxley, the people they sent out to take control of the fort made it part of the city. I didn’t even know you could do that—and neither did they. The Council also made it clear to me that they would like me to not take the structure back, which is more than fair enough. I don’t really have the resources to make the fort all it can be, all it will need to be.

  It takes a single mental command and Sabre comes apart, switching back to bike mode. I step away from it, staring at the clear winter skies before taking a deep breath of the crisp air. It is -20 Celsius—cold enough that I should feel it. However, I don’t and I won’t. Just another damn gift from the System. That and the ability to kill and kill and kill without thought or hesitation or regret.

  I lean back, watching the sky and glancing occasionally at Ali as he loots the bodies for me, pulling System-generated loot then dumping the corpses into my pocket dimension. I lean back and try to figure out when I stopped feeling anything for the monsters I killed. My hands move, pulling forth a chocolate and popping it into my mouth. I barely even taste it as I stare into the sky, body and soul numb. Silence descends over the fort. It’s a brief moment of peace that I know won’t be here long, because with Labashi’s appearance, matters are definitely coming to a head.

  Chapter 2

  “Your boss in?” I ask Vir, the lieutenant of the guard who glares at me as I stare around the blue, utilitarian waiting room just before Roxley’s office.

  The black-skinned, white-haired Tuinnar in his silver-and-white guard uniform glares at me and I wonder what has him playing receptionist. Or did I just catch him while he was coming out? It’s possible that Vir was just finishing up his report over the swarm.

  “Lord Roxley is busy. You may tell me what you wish to tell him,” Vir answers coldly. I get the feeling he’s not a big fan of mine, especially not since learning about my involvement with the Hakarta.

  “Well, I could. But then I’d have to go into exhaustive detail about the tongue hockey we did,” I say, grinning.

  Vir stares at me before his face goes even flatter than normal. “Adventurer Lee, do you actually have anything relevant to say?”

  “Fee fii foo fum…” I stop, shaking my head. “Sorry. I’m feeling a bit silly right now. Might be the swarm I was fighting in in the outskirts of town. Or the talk I had with Labashi.”

  “You spoke with Major Rukar?” Vir says, interest piquing his voice despite his best efforts. “Directly, I assume?”

  “Face to snout.” I nod. “Wanna see?”

  “I…” Vir tilts his head for a second before he steps sideways, gesturing to the blank wall that hides the door to Roxley’s office. “Lord Roxley will see us now.”

  “Figures,” Ali mutters, flying alongside us as we enter Lord Graxan Roxley’s, current holder of the Key to Whitehorse and Baron of the Seven Seas, office.

  Virtual reality software, floating blue screens from the System, and the ability to share information directly means his office mostly consists of a series of really comfortable chairs and a single black marble desk. The man—dark elf/Tuinnar—stands there relaxed, smiling with the left side of his face slightly higher than the right in that endearing way that he has, all muscley and good-looking and…

  Mental Influence Resisted

  Right. I push my hormones down and my lustful thoughts aside as the System reminds me of Roxley’s affect. I’d be annoyed, but he doesn’t even do it on purpose. He just has a series of Skills, Stats, and modifications that makes everyone more susceptible to his charms. Lucky for me, my Class comes with extremely high level resistances, so I’m pretty safe from the direct affects. It doesn’t stop me from wanting to jump his bones, but that’s more personal.

  I think.

  “John,” Roxley says, and his voice is like dark chocolate rubbing over my skin.

  “Wakey wakey. Stop drooling. Lord Roxley. Perhaps you’d care to see this?” Ali slides in while I get myself under control as he projects a video of our meeting in a series of blue windows.

  “Thank you,” Roxley says.

  Vir steps closer, both of them falling silent as they listen to the edited video.

  “You edited this?” Vir says, looking at Ali.

  “Yup. Left the relevant points in. No point watching John get his ass kicked.”

  “I would like the unedited videos for my files,” Vir states.

  “And I’d like a Nymph,” Ali answers.

  I glare at Ali and the Spirt snorts, waggling a finger, which I assume is him sending it on. After that, the pair stays silent till the video finishes.

  “So it begins,” Roxley finally says, exhaling slightly as he turns to me.

  “Do you think it’s time for you to explain what it is?” I answer.

  Vir and Lord Roxley exchange a look before Roxley speaks. “You know most of it. Duchess Kangana owns much of the land north and to the west of us, the area that you once called Alaska. It is our belief that she intended to purchase Whitehorse as well, creating a monopoly in this region. We do not believe she has given up on those plans as yet.”

  “But why? That’s the bit I don’t get.”

  “High-level zones in a Dungeon World are extremely lucrative if well-managed. In your parlance, they’re a high-risk, high-reward location. High-level monsters have more mana-dense bodies and loot, which allows the creation of more durable, powerful, and expensive equipment. Control over a single staging area is extremely valuable, and wars have been fought in established Dungeon Worlds for such locations.”

  Well, that explained the why. Especially if she could get a monopoly and build out. It also explained why the Duchess decided to go for the larger cities rather than our tiny town. On the other hand…

  “Why hasn’t she or someone else come yet? If it’s so valuable.”

  “Why did your big companies not go into smaller developing countries?” Roxley asked rhetorically. After a moment, as he saw the blank look in my eyes, he added, “Too much risk during the initial development stage, for too little gain. While the returns can be high, until the flow of loot and resources have increased, the risk of losing one’s capital entirely is too great. Most of the major players are already dedicated to other, more established regions. When the Dungeon World is established, when the flow of loot has increased sufficiently, then the largest groups step in.”

  “What’s her play?” I ask as I digest the tacit admission that Roxley is considered a small fish in the Galactic pond.

  “Unknown. She has the military resources to crush us, but that reduces the value of the city. It would be more optimal for her to win this without fighting, but we have no word on her plans as yet. However, I do not believe she will hold off much longer.”