Fist Full of Credits: A New Apocalyptic LitRPG Series (System Apocalypse - Relentless Book 1)

by Craig Hamilton

  My earlier estimations of the Gribbari’s size based on the corpses I’d found in the tunnel proved accurate. They were of a similar height to the gnomes, standing to mid-thigh on me. Their bodies were scrawnier than the more rotund gnomes, but their heads were larger and much less human. A sharp chin knifed down and forward beneath a wide mouth filled with yellow teeth, and a pointed nose jutted out from the center of the goblin’s face. The base of the creature’s ears was nearly as large as the goblin’s entire head, but they stuck straight outward from the head in a nearly triangular shape that narrowed to a thin point at the end.

  The bruiser gave me a questioning look when it noted that my hands were empty, unlike everyone else who carried monster loot in through the gate. The alien’s gaze flicked to the weapons holstered on my belt and it cocked his head, as if confused by my armed appearance. Still, the guard waved me inside when it saw that I was holding up the line.

  A notification appeared when I stepped through the gate.

  You Have Entered a Safe Zone (Rivers Casino Pittsburgh)

  Mana flows in this area are stabilized. No monster spawning will happen.

  This Safe Space includes:

  Village of North Shore, Pittsburgh City Centre

  A Casino (+1% Credits Gained from Wagers)

  The Shop

  In addition to the notification that appeared as I passed through the walls, I almost didn’t recognize the area under the wide, multi-lane awning that covered the space where the old casino entrance had been. When the next person in line stepped through the gate after me, I moved off to the side, out of the way of the traffic that flowed through the personnel gate. Once sure that I wouldn’t draw attention to myself from my spot beside the outer wall, I examined the area.

  Only a single lane of clearance remained open through the former valet and drop-off zones under the covered portico that sheltered the space outside the casino entrance. Beside that single lane blocked off for vehicles, most of the space was filled with tables, where humans were exchanging monster parts or whole carcasses for goods. Beyond the organized chaos of the tables strewn across the trading floor, I saw another of the wrecker truck contraptions at the end of the cleared traffic lane, and a squad of armed goblins kept any gawkers from the trading area clear of the vehicle.

  A slight commotion nearby pulled my attention from my inspection of the surroundings. I watched as one towering man in full hockey pads dropped an entire Razorhorn deer carcass onto one of the wide tables. The goblin behind the table looked over the carcass carefully then nodded before it vanished into the goblin’s Inventory. In place of the dead monster, the goblin pushed a knife across the table toward the tall man in the Pittsburgh Penguins jersey.

  I focused Greater Observation on the knife as it sat alone in the center of the table.

  Tier V Knife

  Base Damage: 4

  Durability: 25/25

  Special Abilities: None

  Cost: 50 Credits

  The man glared at the goblin and spat something ugly in what sounded like Russian before he scooped the knife up from the table and stormed off toward the gate.

  I couldn’t blame the man for being upset. The knife was trash.

  The goblins appeared to be doing the same thing to humans that European explorers had with natives the world over during the Age of Sail. The colonists had traded cheaply made, mass-produced goods like blankets, beads, and knives to the natives. In exchange, they’d received raw materials like furs or spices that were far more valuable back in their home nations.

  I’d learned from the gnomes that the monster parts were raw materials with high value, just like the animal pelts in Earth’s past. With Earth as a Dungeon World, the products created by the monsters that spawned here were in high demand out in the galaxy. Every bit of a monster that could be harvested was a valuable commodity that could be sold through the Shop or transported in bulk off world. Trade and transportation hubs were lucrative businesses across the other Dungeon Worlds, and competition would be fierce here also.

  That was one of the reasons the Pharyleri had risked, and sacrificed, so much to get their foothold in at the starport. Goods, like the ones these Gribbari had to be amassing with their exploitation here, would soon flow out into the galaxy through the Pharyleri’s starport.

  Beyond the organized chaos of the tables strewn across the trading floor, a handful of guards stood at the main entrance into the casino itself. The Shop had to be inside, so I worked my way through the throng toward the doorway. Only once, on my way through the crowd, was I forced to bat away an attempt from grabby hands that attempted to slip one of my pistols from the holster on my hip. The would-be pickpocket grew wide-eyed when my reaction to their fast fingers was faster than theirs, and the grubby kid scampered off in a panic when I glared at them menacingly.

  A notification after that interaction informed me that my skill at Intimidation had increased.

  I reached the casino entrance shortly without any further incident and found my path blocked by a stocky goblin with a tiny rifle strapped across its chest.

  Gribbari Goon (Level 27)

  HP: 210/210

  The goblin ignored me at first, seemingly intent on a conversation with one of the other guards and unwilling to acknowledge my presence or let me pass. I folded my arms across my chest and affixed the tiny creature with the same dangerous gaze I had used on the sneak thief.

  The goblin finally glanced at me from the corner of its eye. Then its head snapped around in alarm, and it half raised the rifle toward me, my clearly armed and armored form recognized as a threat that stood out from the other humans milling around the trading area.

  “Whatchyowant?” the goblin spat the shrill words in a rapid-fire cadence.

  I nodded toward the door behind the goblin. “I want to go inside.”

  “Why?”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Why do you think?”

  The goblin looked nervously at the other guards. None of them appeared as threatened as the goblin in front of me, but none of them seemed interested in speaking up either. They looked back at it and shrugged one after another.

  “The trade area is out here,” the goblin finally replied.

  “Do I look like someone who trades out here?” I asked.

  The goblins all looked nervous at that.

  “No,” the goon in front of me muttered.

  I tapped my foot impatiently. “Well?”

  The goon sighed and lowered the rifle. Then it turned around, pulling open the door and holding it for me.

  I raised my chin and snorted imperiously as if my valuable time had been wasted before I passed the goblin, stepping through the door and into the casino. The creature quickly let go of the door, allowing it to swing closed behind me and sealing out the noisy commotion of the trading area.

  Inside, the casino entrance had been renovated in a completely different manner than the ramshackle appearance of the walls outside.

  Chandeliers still hung over the circular basin-like flower beds that stood waist high and bordered the entryway that funneled arriving guests into an interior security checkpoint manned by an additional half dozen or so goblin security guards. Besides the goblins, the largest change to the space was the floor-to-ceiling wall behind the stone planters that separated this new lobby from the gaming floor. The wall matched the marble and red stone of the planters.

  And those chandeliers overhead were lit, indicating that the goblins had a System power source.

  The goblins at the checkpoint were even lower Level than the ones outside and paid even less attention to me as I walked inside. I caught a bit of side-eye from a couple of the more alert goblins when I passed through the checkpoint, but they made no move to stop me.

  Beyond the checkpoint, the gaming floor remained largely untouched by the arrival of the System and the change in casino management. Row upon row of gilded and brightly lit slot machines filled most of the available space. Many of the machines were oc
cupied not just by goblins or humans, but by species I didn’t recognize in the slightest beyond a few that seemed straight out of standard fantasy fare.

  Gnomes and goblins were real. I shouldn’t be surprised by the appearance of dwarves or elves.

  Beyond my casual appraisal of the casino patrons, I noted that even the humans inside were finely dressed—far better than the bedraggled people outside. Even my System-made, Shop-purchased adventurer’s armor felt shabby in comparison. I only relaxed after I saw several people in what appeared to be tracksuits.

  I wandered past the slot machines and the table games as I looked around for any sign of the Shop. I managed to circle halfway around the casino’s main floor before I reached the cashier window for patrons looking to cash in their chips. There I found the Shop crystal up against the wall, off to the side, and with its own waiting line sectioned off from the cashier by gilded stanchions and burgundy guide ropes. Several people and a handful of aliens were waiting in both lines.

  The sight of the alien species queued up and casually interspersed with the humans seemed entirely surreal to me despite my experiences with gnomes and goblins so far. My steps faltered, and I halted as I forced myself to look away from the strange figures who waited in the various lines.

  When I turned to avoid staring, my gaze found itself drawn to the wall beside the cashier window. A number of portraits were posted there on single sheets of paper, standing out from the otherwise fine decor of the casino. I stepped over for a closer look at one of the postings.

  A picture of a spectacled man took up the top left corner of the page. To the right of the image was listed a number of personal details like name, age, height, weight, and hair color. Beneath the picture and description, a short paragraph explained that the man had stolen a number of casino chips and that a reward was offered for his apprehension, with a bonus for the retrieval of the purloined chips. The fine print detailed the poster of the bounty, the location where the subject was to be brought if captured, the amount of the base reward, and that the bounty status was public.

  My eyes focused on the five thousand Credit reward. That was a fair number of Credits just to bring in a subject.

  A glance at the other pages confirmed they were also bounty postings for a variety of misdeeds. The offenses ranged from petty theft, as on the first sheet I had read, to breach of contract, where the subject had fled from their indentured service.

  My brow raised at that last one. I hadn’t known that indenture was a thing under the System, but it seemed to be the highest paying bounty on the wall. The status of that bounty was different from the others though. Instead of public, that bounty had a status of “limited.” Nothing on the sheet itself defined the status, so I figured I needed to get more information on System bounty hunting.

  On the heels of that thought followed another.

  What if I got into bounty hunting?

  In fact, it sounded like the perfect next step on my Quest. If I went back to utilizing the talents I had been using prior to the apocalypse, perhaps I would be able to make some contacts that could lead me to more information about the Krym’parke.

  With that goal in mind, I stepped away from the bounty wall and slipped into the line that waited to use the Shop. Once I saw that no one had reacted when I joined the line, I turned my attention toward the strange sentients who shared the line with me. I focused on not examining them too obviously and instead subtly extended my awareness with Greater Observation, so gently that not even the typical name and level were displayed.

  The first alien in the line was a massive humanoid with the head of a bull and towered over everyone else in line. The eight-foot-tall creature was thick with muscle and took up the entire width of the lane roped off between the stanchions. Greater Observation informed me that the creature was from a species known as the Yerrick but provided no further context. However, the massive two-headed battle axe strapped across the Yerrick’s back was a clear enough signal that the giant minotaur was not to be messed with.

  I shifted my focus to the next alien, a creature of average height that looked like a three-legged mushroom. A pair of scrawny arms stuck out from above the tripod legs, just below the conical cap that was a third of the creature’s overall height. The gaps between the plates of light armor worn by the creature revealed pale, off-white flesh, but the mushroom head was a deep red with yellow spots. After my examination, my Skill filled in the species name of Frulegur for the fungus-like creature.

  The final alien in line was a lithe elf with pointed ears, midnight-black skin, and silvery white hair. The luxurious platinum mane was streaked with hot pink that reminded me of the gnome's neon-hued hair. Amber eyes filled with hate stared out of a sharply lined face with rather bitter features, but it was possible that the elf’s face had contorted into that harsh expression. It was only the intensity of the Truinnar’s glare that revealed I had missed an alien in my initial evaluation of the crowd.

  The subject of the dark elf’s ire was another elf in the next line over, though this one had blended in with the humans at first, due to its milky white skin and golden-blond locks. The light-skinned elf had to be aware of the vitriol directed its way, but it ignored the intense gaze and deftly flipped a casino chip from fingertip to fingertip. The elf’s other arm carried a rack full of chips as it waited in the cashier line.

  I wasn’t the only one who noticed the tension between the elves. Several goblin bouncers by the cashier’s window nervously glanced between the two elves as if they expected an altercation to break out.

  From the evidence, I’d say Mana Bleed had ensured that our fantasy stories of bad blood between the various elven races held more truth than fiction.

  With my look over the various aliens completed, I turned my attention to the others waiting in the lines near me. Like the light-skinned elf, those at the cashier window carried trays filled with casino chips from the blackjack and poker tables. Conversely, pretty much everyone who waited in the Shop line seemed to be mostly empty-handed.

  Both lines moved fairly quickly, and it wasn’t long before I was next to access the Shop. I stepped forward and touched the Shop crystal. My fingers grazed the surface of the orb and reality dissolved around me as I was transported by the System to my Shop.

  Chapter 19

  The long, museum-esque hall of the Shop materialized around me, and the expected voice greeted my arrival.

  “Greetings, Adventurer Mason,” Ryk stated. “Welcome back. I had worried I might not see you again as it has been some time since your last visit.”

  “Good day to you, Shopkeeper Ryk,” I replied. “No, my travels just kept me away from a place where I could access the Shop for a while.”

  The Bariadur nodded at my words.

  Only then did I realize I had picked up the actual species name for the ram-like creature, in addition to finally getting a read on his emotional state. On my previous visits, the shopkeeper had been a blank slate due to how far his level outstripped my own. While my levels had only increased slightly, Greater Observation seemed to gain synergy with Keen Senses and the two abilities were combining to give me a greater awareness of everything in my nearby surroundings.

  “Do you have any goods for trade today?” Ryk asked.

  “Only a few,” I said.

  I really only had the recluse corpses as loot, since I felt reluctant to reveal the goblin corpses that remained tucked away within my Meat Locker.

  The shopkeeper and I quickly haggled through an exchange for the giant spider parts. When we were done, I was ready to have myself a nice shopping spree. I felt pretty flush with Credits after unloading all of my harvests onto the gnomes for the last two weeks. I wouldn’t be purchasing a Settlement anytime soon, but I had significantly more Credits now than I had at any point previously.

  Ryk left to sort out the gooey spider bits, and I turned toward the console where most magical, Class Skill, and information could be purchased. After several searches, I selected
the items from the mental list I had assembled since my last trip to the Shop.

  Welcome to the System

  This etiquette primer provides an introduction to the commonly followed practices amongst Galactic civilizations. This handbook is highly recommended for newly assimilated species as they integrate into the System and Galactic society.

  “Four out of five spears up”—anonymous Galzon reviewer

  The Book of the Species of the System

  This cultural and physiological guide provides a high-level overview of major species and their factions. Only generic details are included and specifics will need to be researched separately in focused guides that specialize on individual species in order to receive more detailed information. For the subject of this book, major species are defined as those who have elected membership on the Galactic Council. Note: This directory does not include Sects, Guilds, or Corporations.

  Fundamentals: Pharyleri

  This book gives a detailed look into the Pharyleri species. Their physiological and psychological composition are examined, as well as a species history from System assimilation until the present.

  Fundamentals: Gribbari

  This book gives a detailed look into one of the variant goblinoid species. Their physiological and psychological composition are examined, as well as a species history from System assimilation until the present.

  Fundamentals: Krym’parke

  This book gives a detailed look into the depraved Krym’parke species. Their physiological and psychological composition are examined, as well as a species history from System assimilation until the present.

  I started with a generic System etiquette handbook, followed by a cultural guide for the most major Galactic groups that would likely have an interest on Earth. Then I purchased more detailed information on the factions I had encountered so far: the gnomes, goblins, and the Krym’parke.