Stars Awoken: A LitRPG Apocalypse (The System Apocalypse Book 7)

by Tao Wong

  The Galactic Council doesn’t bother with issues like local welfare, leaving that to local systems and groups. If there’s one advantage of the System, it’s that it’s hard for your “average” citizen to starve—food, Mana, and basic items are dirt cheap. That being said, hard isn’t impossible. Of course, progressing above what is basic subsistence living is more difficult. Even so, to a human from the twentieth century, the “minimum” standard of living of a Galactic is sci-fi cool.

  The vast majority of Galactic law revolves around felonies, specifically violence. Firstly, dueling is not only allowed but recognized. Considering the sheer volume and variety of violent Classes, it’s no surprise that a violent solution to disagreements is acceptable. Since duels have to be acknowledged by both parties via the System, it is possible to turn down duels. Of course, that impacts one’s fame in many cases, unless the degree of fame and reputation between the two parties is significant. After all, a Heroic Class individual isn’t likely going to be bothered by being challenged by a Basic Class Artisan. And a Combat Classer challenging an Artisan of any sort is considered bad form and impacts both reputation and fame.

  Outside of duels, murder is considered bad in the wider galaxy. Once you leave Dungeon Worlds, killing others has consequences. While self-defense is a valid defense, like our human systems, there are courts, jail time, and deductions to Reputation outside of specific circumstances. Like, you know, defending against piracy. If a Justicar, Tribunal, or other law enforcer ends up checking on the incident and rules against you, bounties can easily be placed. In such cases, the Justicar or other law enforcer may use a portion of the deceased’s lost goods and Credits as collateral for the bounty. It’s why higher Classed law enforcers are feared. They can even quadruple the bounty on an individual.

  Outside of death, very few things are considered major crimes. On-going torture, certain kinds of sexual assault, body, mind, and soul-jacking are on that list. Short-term torture and harassment are considered fineable offenses, not even at the level of a full felony—unless it’s an on-going harassment. And even then, punishment is only applicable if a properly designated law enforcement Class is around to act on it.

  Prax law isn’t much better. Oh, there are some details about welfare, training, employment laws, and the like, but it’s mostly useless for someone like me who isn’t a citizen. Caveat emptor covers the vast majority of what I need to know.

  “That’s fine. I don’t intend to cause any trouble,” I say.

  Bug-eyes stares at me for a second before waving his hand over his screens. A second later, I get a notification informing me that my visa for Irvina has been approved. As I walk out of the customs lounge, I find myself bubbling with excitement.

  Soon, very soon, I’ll get to see my first real alien city.

  Chapter 4

  We travel down to Irvina via a beanstalk lift large enough to fit a couple of tour buses in it lengthwise. As we drop down through the bountiful clouds that cover the city, I’m grateful that the planet itself is close to Earth standard. About seven percent heavier, from what I recall, with a single sun like Earth and a sky that shades everything to a darker blue. Perhaps the biggest change is the massive moon that dominates the night and sometimes daytime sky. It’s a bit of a shock, but Prax is a dry planet, with a series of smaller landlocked seas rather than our ocean-ridden planet.

  Once we break through the clouds, the megacity of Irvina spreads out beneath us. The end of the beanstalk comes down near the center of the city, and the city stretches for untold kilometers on all sides. The city itself is strange, with lots of greenery and small squat buildings in the center before being bordered by giant skyscrapers that remind me of downtown Vancouver or New York. Those skyscrapers are so tall that they throw the streets into deep shadow. Walkways connect the silver-tinted buildings while gravtrains carry passengers around. In some ways, the city reminds me of a ball sitting in the middle of a spread silk scarf, a bowl of buildings ringing a single central hall and the stem of the beanstalk. Small moving dots that traverse the open air slowly resolve into flying cars and animals, moving with ordered precision along clearly marked air routes.

  It’s one part Fifth Element, one part Shadowrun, and one part medieval fantasy world. All that’s missing is a steampunk blimp and we’d have a real hotpot of fantasy elements. In fact, as we get closer, I realize that there are even flying figures interspersed among the flying vehicles and creatures. The flying individuals are as varied in their modes of transportation as everything else, some sporting wings, others glowing with telekinetic power or a Skill, and of course, the usual array of weird tech.

  “Do you think Earth will be like that one day?” Mikito says, gazing at the bustling metropolis with wide eyes.

  “Nah. A bunch of harpies or drakes would eat them all,” I say, pointing around. “Most Dungeon World cities try to keep flight to a minimum. Too many flying things with major territorial issues.”

  Mikito makes a face but ends up nodding. Harry’s head swivels slowly while he holds up a hand as if he’s recording with that hand too. He’s not the only reporter doing so. The entire group is busy recording images for their next segment. Some are using Skills, others bobbing tech cameras, and a few even hold up crystals. Next to me, Katherine is muttering to Peter, pointing out various landmarks. I overhear a little.

  “That’s the diplomatic district ringing the main hall, borders the river on that side, and if you follow the river down, it sweeps up to meet the main road. I’ll highlight it for you,” Peter says to Katherine.

  I listen in a little more as they discuss buildings and places, but I get bored fast. It doesn’t help that I can’t see what they’re seeing in their notifications. Or the fact that I’ve never felt a desire to buy real estate. By the time I had enough, the Vancouver real estate market was well beyond my reach. And then, well, I moved up to Whitehorse and things went to hell. I guess I am a landowner now, but that’s just because safe zones are important.

  “Where’s the library?”

  “Highlighting now. You sure you want to go do something so damn boring?” Ali complains even as he lights up the library.

  It’s a huge building, even in comparison to the skyscrapers. It’s a blocky rectangle without windows but a lot of designs along the edges, giving it a bit of a gothic look. Of course, the gargoyles littering the building are strange and scary, parodies of monsters and nightmares. And, on closer inspection, a few of those gargoyles seem to be lighting up in my Status window.

  “I came all the way here to get some answers, no?” I smile grimly.

  All that time on a Forbidden Zone planet has taught me a few things about the System Quest. For one thing, Mana is integral to the entire thing—it’s the source, the fuel for the System. But it isn’t the System, which is another thing itself. A set of rules, a set of regulations, an overarching Big Brother that manipulates and evolves us at its whim. The System is a mystery, even when it is everything for those of us in the System.

  “You and a billion other Questors,” Ali grumbles, arms crossed. “If you end up spending more than a decade in that library, I’m killing the Contract no matter what kind of penalties I have to endure. Got it, boy-o?”

  “Loud and clear.” I hide my smile, remembering how vehement Ali was against the entire thing on the second day. I guess we’ve all changed.

  The rest of the trip down was quiet enough. Katherine arranged accommodations for all of us, and rather than attempt to find a place myself, I’ve gone ahead with it. At least in the short term, this plush hotel is more than adequate. It does say something about Galactic society that among the amenities offered is a fighting arena and personal combat trainers.

  I look around the suite we’ve been given. It’s a little extravagant—a separate living room, a set of three bedrooms, and even a mini-kitchen.

  “Who’d you bribe to bunk with us?” I ask Harry as he comes out of his own room.

  Mikito’s taking her time in h
er own room, depositing a host of personal items. I don’t bother since my Altered Space is more than large enough. Not as if I’m carrying monster parts right now.

  “Katherine. I pointed out that if I’m following you around, I won’t be following her,” Harry says unashamedly. “So. What’s our plan?”

  “I’m going to look around the city.” I glance at Mikito who walks out of her room, running a hand through her short hair. “You’re welcome to join.”

  “Of course. Always good to know the layout,” Mikito says.

  “That’s settled then. Ali, I’ll want you to be perusing the System for places to rent,” I say, rubbing my chin. “If we’re here for a bit, I don’t want to stay here longer than necessary.”

  “Sure. I’ll go look for a derelict house.”

  “Funny,” I say before pausing. “Exactly how much are we looking at anyway?”

  “Buy or rent?”

  After a moment’s hesitation, I say, “Buy.” Might as well get a feel for the place.

  “Two-bedroom place in a respectable neighborhood—say in the third ring—we’re looking at just over eighteen million Credits,” Ali says.

  “What?” My voice goes up a couple of notches. “I could buy a damn settlement on Earth for that!”

  “It’s Irvina. Largest populated Galactic city, longest-running capital. Most of the land here’s owned by corporations, guilds, and the elder families,” Ali says, shaking his head. “If it wasn’t for the fact that the Council set a limit on how much property each corporation can own based off its size and revenue, there’d be nothing for anyone.”

  I guess that makes sense. Even in our world, the problem of corporations growing larger and larger, becoming too big to fail, is a regular occurrence. “Why would the corporations and guilds let them do that?”

  “Do what?” Ali says then answers his own question. “You mean put the regulations in place?” When I nod, he snorts. “As if anyone’s telling the Inner Council what not to do.” As we stare at Ali, he sighs. “The Inner Council’s made up of nine council members, at least five of whom are Legendary Classes. The others are representatives of the major empires and factions. They’re the real rulers, but luckily, they try to do as little work as possible.

  “As for the main Galactic Council, they’re the ones who make the big decisions like the System expansion and Dungeon Worlds. They also try to set up new laws, deal with inter Empire and Faction disputes, and organize expeditions. Also, whine. Really, they mostly whine a lot.”

  I guess it does make sense that even if you have corporations and guilds with members in the millions, a single Legendary Class can make a huge difference. It’s not just the fact that they’re individually incredibly powerful. It’s also the numerous allies and debts owed to them. Add on the fact that it’s really, really hard to lock down even Master Classes in a fight, and you can understand why Legendary Classes are so powerful, they can take out entire planets by themselves. Add Heroic or higher level fleeing Skills, and well, how are you going to deal with them? From what I understand, few Legendary Classes fall to anything but the Forbidden Zone or another Legendary. Even if the guild or corporation has a Legendary of their own, it’s not as if that’s going to stop the destruction.

  “All right. So buying is out,” I say, diverting the topic. Not as if I’ve got that many Credits on me. Even if I sold everything I own, including my investments, I’d probably fall short.

  “Pretty much. You’ll want to consider renting on the third or fourth ring,” Ali says.

  He waves, and a map of the city blooms before all of us. A quick adjustment and the “rings” that radiate from the Galactic Hall are highlighted. The first ring is the smallest by far, consisting of an area barely larger than downtown Vancouver—a couple of kilometers across at best. Each subsequent ring grows wider, with drops in security, cost, and amenities. These rings are mostly created from differences in architecture and System-enabled features, making them difficult to pick out by naked eye.

  “And these are the dungeons?” Mikito says, tapping a gate symbol.

  A moment later, the map highlights all the gate symbols—one gigantic, three large, and another nine smaller gates appear across the map. The gates themselves start at the third ring, which hosts the gigantic gate symbol and radiate outward, with the smallest gate symbols on the eighth—and last—ring.

  “Yup. It’s why I’d recommend the third or fourth ring,” Ali says. “Adventurers and their guilds all congregate around the Prime Dungeon. Not surprisingly, a lot of accommodation there caters to you guys too. There are even rest houses with their own internal butchering yards and repair stations.”

  “Got it.” I shrug. “Well, I guess we should start at the smallest ring and go out for our trip today.”

  There’s a long silence, punctuated by Harry turning to Mikito and saying, “Is he serious?”

  “Yes. John’s not very good at reading the rules.” Mikito’s lips twitch slightly.

  “What?” I say, irritated.

  “The first ring is restricted so that even citizens of Irvina are not allowed in. The second ring is restricted to those with high Reputation and diplomatic statuses,” Ali says. “The third ring is limited to Adventurers and their ilk of sufficient standing. Since you came in on a secondary diplomatic visa, that’s where you can start. If not for your current standing, you wouldn’t even be allowed in this hotel.”

  “Oh.” I pause then decide to ask the question anyway. “And I’m assuming all that was in the document they sent us?”

  “Yes,” Harry says, disappointment tingeing his voice.

  “What’s with that tone?” I growl.

  “Just sad when you learn your heroes have lead feet too,” Harry says.

  “Hero…” I sit there, stunned, while Harry stands.

  His actions pull the entire group to the door. Shaking my head, I move to catch up with them, calling after them even as they ignore me.

  “Hey! What do you mean by that?”

  I never do get my answer, but it doesn’t matter. Once we leave our hotel, the only public transportation we can access sends us directly from the second ring into the third. Only then does it click how annoying staying at that hotel will be for some of us. Of course, the vast majority of the people on Katherine’s visa don’t care. Whether it’s setting up new business networks or talking to other diplomatic groups, they’re going to be working closely with the lady. It’s only a major issue to those of us who borrowed the visas for our own selfish ends.

  High-rise buildings or not, the second ring at least has some greenery. By the time we hit the third ring, the buildings crowd around one another, leaving little space for anything but air. Only a few major roads run through the city itself, and many of those roads are covered by walkways or buildings that run over them.

  “What’s the ground like?” I ask Ali. While I can get occasional glimpses, it’s too dark to make out anything.

  “Varies a lot. From the dungeons to the main guilds, auction hall, and merchants’ quarter, it’s clear of everything but traffic. No one wants to drag a manticore body through a street crowded with beggars and impromptu food stalls. Outside of those areas, the streets get clogged up with enterprising merchants and your usual vagrants,” says Ali. “There’re a few parts, mostly in the fifth ring onward, which have been taken over by nocturnal and other dark-loving sentients. Bottom couple of floors are filled with low-rent shops normally, then you get more expensive—but still affordable—accommodation with the cheapest residence areas in the twentieth or so floors and above before you hit the connected floors.

  “Anything low means you can and will use the public transportation on the ground. Or just, you know, run. Accommodation in the middle has the worst of both worlds—not connected to the gravtrain tubes but not in easy reach of the ground either. Even with hypertubes to move people around, you’re still stuck waiting a lot. Add in vampires, driders, and other dark-loving sentients and well, you have a
portion that’s set-up in near permanent darkness.”

  “Right. So leave the ground alone unless necessary,” I say.

  The group falls silent as the little bubble car we’re in floats along the grav tracks, swinging along the sides of buildings, swooping up and down and missing other cars and busses by inches at times. The first few times it happens, I brace for impact, but soon enough I stop worrying about the matter and just enjoy the ride. I took a look at the schematic details of the grav tracks and the bullet trains and individualized bubble cars when we arrived, and I have to admit, I’m completely lost. I can tell there’s a lot of gravity and electromagnetic forces in play, but the how and why eludes me. There’s a high chance a chunk of that is because much of this was built by Skills.

  “Small windows,” Mikito says, pointing at a series of tiny windows no taller than a pair of fingers put together. The sheer number along the side of the building is quite amazing.

  “Ah, enclave of smalls. Not everyone wants to live in small town. And because of the way architecture works, these are cheaper,” Ali says. When I raise an eyebrow, the Spirit sighs. “Right. Most Galactic cities have a few parts that are meant for non-standard humanoid races. How many and what size varies, but you’ve got small town, big town, semis, quadpedals, and noxes.

  “Small town is where the tiny sentients live. You know the kind—sentient mice, sprites, and fairies, that kind of thing. Bigs are the giants and their kind, of course. Semis are the semi-corporeals who range from sentient elementals to ghosts and some types of spirits. Quad-pedals include any of those with non-standard bipedal figures, while noxes are non-oxygen breathers.”