Broken Council: A Space Opera Post-Apocalyptic LitRPG (The System Apocalypse Book 10) Read online

  “Well, that was fun?” I say and look around once more.

  Hundreds of members of the Erethran armed forces scurry around, some in robotic movers, others physically hauling away the beasts. Others are making roads, marking down locations for buildings, and tossing nanite formers. And in the distance, a familiar figure.

  As Brerdain makes his way over, the Chief of Staff glances in the direction of where Ito has walked off to with a frown.

  “Did you have to make my work more difficult?” he complains to me, but I notice he’s not making any moves to speak with Ito either.

  “The Empress bargained for five planets cleared and cleansed,” I say. “She never said a word about me being polite or dealing with idiots.”

  “Some Paladins might consider that part of the unsaid requirements.”

  “More pity to them,” I say.

  “You do know your attitude carries over to the Paladins you trained. And they are training even more Honor Guards,” Brerdain says, his voice chilly. “Your attitude is—”

  “Perfect. I know.”

  Brerdain fumes for a second before he points upward. “In two hours, we will be ready to depart for the next planet. Make sure you’re ready.”

  “Aye aye, sir!” I salute lazily, making the Chief frown. I guess his cultural download package didn’t include Earth military salutes. Erethran salutes are different.

  “We will be ready, Honored Strategist,” Bolo says, cutting off any further discussion. “We are truly grateful for this opportunity.”

  I snort. The Empire is gaining as much, if not more, with this expedition in retaking lost planets in the Restricted Zone, but I can understand Bolo buttering him up. Most Heroic—or Master Class—individuals would find it difficult to find empty, uncontested planets on which to conduct such an attack. Politics and prior claims mean that most Heroics have to tread carefully and not just blip in and do what they want.

  On top of that, this planet is the easiest of the lot. Most overrun locations have a mixture of monsters, including flying and magic-wielding ones. Elemental attacks, flying monsters, and gravitic implosions all make just hovering above the monsters and killing them without any major risk a non-starter. And let’s not forget the fact that it kills your experience gain.

  Without aid from the navy, without the benefits of boots on the ground to help quell rogue dungeons, retaking planets would be a fool’s errand. Even blasting apart the swarms of monsters for pure experience becomes an issue when you don’t have places to rest, to recuperate when a battle goes bad.

  Never mind the long, long list of enemies waiting for your usual Heroic to waste their Mana, to lower their guard for a second. It’s why such purges are rarer than you’d think. At least, on a Galactic scale.

  “If we only have a few hours…” Bolo falls silent, looking around.

  I snort and wave him away, letting him loose. Having gained his Levels the hard way, Bolo’s got to grind a lot more than me to get anywhere. And while we might have taken out the main dungeon finally, there are still a ton of monsters constantly spawning.

  Once Bolo rushes away, kicking up dirt and blood in his wake, I’m left alone. Alone, without monsters trying to kill me, in a charnel house of corpses and the collapsed end of the city dungeon.

  ***

  While I wait, I look over my Character Screen. It’s the first chance I’ve had to look at it since the battle ended. Even with all the death and destruction, I only got a couple of Levels.

  More interestingly, that weird feeling about experience gain jumps out at me, displayed easily for me to spot on my Status Screen. If I wasn’t so aware I’m in public view, my jaw would have dropped as I stare at the information.

  Status Screen

  Name

  John Lee

  Class

  Junior System Admin (Grand Paladin)

  Race

  Human (Male)

  Level

  1 (4)

  Titles

  Monster’s Bane, Redeemer of the Dead, Duelist, Explorer, Apprentice Questor, Galactic Silver Bounty Hunter, Corrupt Questor, (Living Repository), (Class Lock)

  Health

  5450

  Stamina

  5450

  Mana

  5140

  Mana Regeneration

  459 (+5) / minute

  Attributes

  Strength

  385

  Agility

  458

  Constitution

  545

  Perception

  324

  Intelligence

  514

  Willpower

  559

  Charisma

  220

  Luck

  171

  Class Skills

  Mana Imbue

  5*

  Blade Strike*

  5

  Thousand Steps

  1

  Altered Space

  2

  Two are One

  1

  The Body’s Resolve

  3

  Greater Detection

  1

  A Thousand Blades*

  4

  Soul Shield*

  8

  Blink Step

  2

  Portal*

  5

  Army of One

  4

  Sanctum

  2

  Penetration

  9e

  Aura of Chivalry

  1

  Eyes of Insight

  2

  Beacon of the Angels

  2

  Eye of the Storm

  1

  Vanguard of the Apocalypse

  2

  Society’s Web

  1

  Shackles of Eternity*

  4

  Immovable Object / Unstoppable Force*

  1

  Domain

  1

  Judgment of All

  6

  (Grand Cross)

  (1)

  System Edit

  1

  External Class Skills

  Instantaneous Inventory

  1

  Frenzy

  1

  Cleave

  2

  Tech Link

  2

  Elemental Strike

  1 (Ice)

  Shrunken Footsteps

  1

  Analyze

  2

  Harden

  2

  Quantum Lock

  3

  Elastic Skin

  3

  Disengage Safeties

  2

  Temporary Forced Link

  1

  Hyperspace Nitro Boost

  1

  On the Edge

  1

  Fates Thread

  2

  Peasant’s Fury

  1

  Combat Spells

  Improved Minor Healing (IV)

  Greater Regeneration (II)

  Greater Healing (II)

  Mana Drip (II)

  Improved Mana Missile (IV)

  Enhanced Lightning Strike (III)

  Firestorm

  Polar Zone

  Freezing Blade

  Improved Inferno Strike (II)

  Elemental Walls (Fire, Ice, Earth, etc.)

  Ice Blast

  Icestorm

  Improved Invisibility

  Improved Mana Cage

  Improved Flight

  Haste

  Enhanced Particle Ray

  Variable Gravitic Sphere

  Zone of Denial

  I’ve gained enough Levels as a Grand Paladin that I’ve acquired a new Class Skill point. I can even add it to my Grand Paladin Class—or what acts like my Grand Paladin Class. But I don’t actually have any experience for my Junior System Administrator Class. Like, at all. Which makes no sense.

  Unless the System Administrator Class doesn’t gain experience via the destruction of monsters or sapients. Which would be incredibly rare. Not unheard of—there are Classes like Pacifist or Fellow of the Universe that can’t gain experience via murder—but they’re truly rare. Like, I can recall maybe a dozen off the top of my head—and I’ve got the Questor’s library in my head. Hell, even Artisan Classes get experience for kills.

  Still, here I am, a ton of kills, an entire planet murdered, and I’ve received a portion of the experience and…

  Nothing.

  If that’s the case, then the Administrator Class must be even more interesting than I thought. Considering I have the entire goddamn library of the Questors—a group so obsessed with the System, they went down some dark roads, and when they ran out of dark roads to go down, they cut down the trees, blasted the mountains, and paved whole new ones into the abyss—that’s saying something.

  It’s saying something even more that over tens of thousands of years, there’s no record of this position ever. Then again, the fact that the moment I gained the Class the Galactic Council went after Earth is more than sufficient evidence for me to scream cover up.

  But…

  My System Quest hasn’t ticked up. Even as more and more information washes over me from the library, even as my new Administrator Class wields the System’s gifted Intelligence to rip apart the library and provide the knowledge in bite-sized chunks, nothing. The silence, the lack of Quest updates is disturbing. Silence, as if I’ve hit a dead end.

  But I don’t know why.

  I blow out a breath, shake my head, and glare at the Class Skill point I have to use. I have no access to the System Administrator Skill tree—if it even has one. So I’m forced to choose from the Grand Paladin Skill tree.

  GRAND PALADIN SKILL TREE

  As usual, I don’t have to worry about the second tier for
a long time. I’d have to hit Level 26 to gain access to it. While I gain Levels at a decent rate, especially for a Heroic Class, there’s only so much grinding even I can do. Especially when said grinding involves taking out entire planets’ worth of monsters.

  All that means that each Class Skill point is ever more precious. And it’s not as if I can afford to buy a Heroic Class Skill. Never mind the issue about off-loading activation since I’ve got the damn library in my head, it’s also incredibly expensive. Like, not even our budget from the Erethran Empire is enough kind of expensive.

  And this is the kind of budget—drawn down over decades of negligence, admittedly—that is taxed over multiple solar systems and billions upon billions of Erethran citizens. It’s the kind of budget that let me spend on building up the newbie Paladins without much concern.

  And a single Heroic Class Skill would wipe out the budget for the year.

  I guess it makes sense. Each Class Skill is so powerful, continents get shredded with their use. If the System made it cheap, it’d be forced to constantly expend more Mana to trigger the effects of the Skill than it would have gained by forcing said Heroic Class to grind for the Credits. So the System has to make the Skill exorbitantly expensive, such that even wiping out a whole planet’s worth of monsters is insufficient to buy a single Skill.

  It’s a logarithmic increase in Credits, such that a Heroic Class might grind for a decade or so before they could afford a single Skill on the first tier. Which means, in that period, he’s pulled forth thousands of points of Mana and even more has been recirculated through the System, making it a net surplus.

  And that assumes the Heroic even cares to grind. There are other ways to earn Credits of course. For example, just by existing on a planet, a Heroic is often sufficient deterrent against most kinds of shenanigans.

  But none of that really matters, not to me. Right now, I’ve got to choose what kind of Skill to pick.

  Grand Cross is powerful, and I know with a little push, I could expand the tens of kilometers the initial Skill range has set wider. Of course, it’d weaken the Skill further, but it’s a great mass stomper. Even more powerful than Judgment of All in sheer damage, plus it works against environmental obstacles. More damage per Mana spent, and more focused damage.

  But I don’t need more damage. Not anymore. The ability to concentrate the attack on a single individual via Grand Cross is important for me, but if I’m punching my way through a fight with the Council, I’m already twenty kilometers from the nearest shelter in a Yukon winter in my pajamas.

  Which is why, while I eye Defense of the Fallen, I decide against it too. It’s definitely on my list of things to pick up eventually, because unlike my evolved Penetration Skill, there’s no warmup required for its shielding properties. It’s actually a permanent Skill, increasing my overall tankiness.

  But… again, if I’m punching my way out of the problem, I’m on the wrong route. There are literal Legendary Classes in the Inner Council. I can’t even hope to beat them.

  The only good news is that because they are Legendarys, they won’t take action directly. After all, the President of the United States doesn’t come out to visit a rabble-rouser in a city just because they show up in the president’s briefing reports. The president has better things to do—like dealing with other heads of state.

  But that advantage only holds so long as I manage to stay far enough below the radar. Once I make too much noise, they’ll likely take direct action and smack me around. And then it’ll truly be over.

  So back to Skills, since I ain’t buying Defense of the Fallen, I definitely can’t get the linked Skill. Burden of the Worthy is an interesting Skill that basically dumps damage onto my doppelgangers created by Extra Hands. It makes me much more unkillable.

  And unlike most Skills, the doppelgangers in Extra Hands are real. Not ghosts like the ones that Hod makes, not semi-solid constructs or even shadow copies with a portion of my Skills. They’re real.

  Extra Hands (Level 1)

  A Paladin can never be everywhere he needs to be. But with this Skill, the Grand Paladin can certainly cover more ground. Mana Regeneration reduced by 5 permanently.

  Cost: 5000 Mana per duplicate.

  Upkeep cost: 5000 Mana per day per duplicate. Must be paid by original Skill user.

  Effect: Creates maximum two duplicates of the user. Duplicates have 90% of all (unboosted) Attributes, gain no effects from Titles, and may not equip Soulbound weapons but have access to all (non-purchased) Skills of user. Each duplicate has their own Mana pool but regenerates at 50% of normal regeneration levels. Mana levels take the place of health points for duplicates.

  Original Skill user has a nonverbal connection to duplicates at all times. System will provide a download of duplicate’s memories upon their destruction or cessation of upkeep costs. Fidelity of memory download dependent upon Skill level.

  Note: This Skill cannot be used by duplicates.

  My eyes narrow at the significant number of conditions in the Skill, but even then, having multiple versions of me is useful. I do recall the cautionary words passed on by Ali and Roxley about the System duplicate attempts though, so before I make my choice, I get to asking.

  “How does the System create these duplicates? I thought you said it doesn’t read memories?”

  “It doesn’t. The duplicates are Mana copies of you based off the System’s best guesses,” Ali says. “Keep them around long enough and they’ll even form distinct personalities from you. It’s why most individuals with such Skills dismiss the doppelgangers every few days.”

  “So when you say best guesses…”

  “Everything you’ve shown the System, it’ll show. In your case, they’ll eat a lot of chocolate, obsess over the System, and piss off everyone they come into contact with.”

  “Funny.”

  “But true.”

  “Go watch your reality TV,” I say to Ali and turn back to the floating notification window.

  It sounds as though Extra Hands isn’t the best Skill if I want long-term help. Memories and studies brush against my mind, offering further details about similar Skills.

  The more data the System has, the better. The level of fidelity to the original increases for individuals who aren’t as devious, while schemers and liars have difficulty with such Skills. The more you live with your heart in the open, the easier it is for the System to create people like you. Individuals who play multiple angles, who have significant mood swings or mental issues, or have spent significant periods in the Restricted Zone are all known to receive divergent doppelgangers.

  It’s one of the most often quoted examples of how the System isn’t omnipotent. More than one Questor has even explored the possibility of using duplicates to further their System Quest by rereading the same information with duplicates themselves.

  Sometimes it even works.

  And we won’t even discuss the truly disturbing research some have conducted on their very own duplicates to prove the difference in System-made duplicates and the original.

  On the other hand, this is the only Skill that offers additional tactical and potentially strategic possibilities. I just need to make sure whatever—whoever—I create doesn’t mess things up.

  As I’m about to explore my newly acquired Skill, I’m interrupted by a cough. I frown, looking up, and realize I’ve been standing here for over an hour. Mikito’s back, and with her is Brerdain.

  “If you’re ready, Grand Paladin…” Brerdain says, gesturing at one of the many attendants with him.

  “Yeah, let’s get to it. More planets to cleanse, more experience to gain.”

  And hopefully, gain the backing of the Empire. Or at least their neutrality as the Council comes after Earth and me.

  Chapter 3

  Interstellar travel with the System is weird. You can teleport anywhere with the right Skills or enough Credits. You can even take entire fleets if you have the money to do it. Credits are a power in themselves and can make even a small but prosperous organization lethal.