[D'sP] Why The Low Attendance? - Chapter 374 (Patreon)

Ace gathered his council together, though even this early on he felt the gap caused by not having representatives from the deerking and raccoonkin. He also realized that this feeling was coming from his connection to the town as the official leader. A connection he has thought was more one-way than this. Though that would be something for later.

Once everyone quieted down, Ace sighed, “I guess the good news first. With the information we have gathered, the actual quest event should be easy enough to handle. Is there anything specific to look out for?”

Kelly, “We already know that the quartz bricks are of interest. Except for the more expensive looking locations, they are about the size of a cinder block. Though even the smaller, more refined looking bricks were made of larger pieces of quartz. You would expect sand, but the smallest particles seemed to be about the size of kosher salt and it only got bigger from there.

“More interesting to me though is how those bricks felt. It is safe to assume that the more residential locations have some sort of coating, but even the cheapest examples of the bricks still felt like a single piece instead of something like cement or sandstone.”

Camila, “Besides that, those magic cables are important. Even if we can’t replicate them quite yet? If we figure out how the material can contain Mana would greatly benefit our attempts at rituals.”

Kelly nods, “And smelting mithril.”

Besides that, a number of other things are brought up. Though most of it is more along the lines of making sure they snag enough magic toasters, instead of deeper subjects. Ace’s nods through it all, most of it having been gone over already, but it did let everyone calm down and settle into the meeting.

However, all good things must come to an end and the spotlight is back on Ace. Another sigh, “Well, now the more gloomy part. There were too few people there. At least, it felt like there should have been more people trying to invite the refugees. While I am happy with how many we managed to recruit, it was many times what I even optimistically expected.”

Jim, “But you did have us prepare for that many and then some?”

Ace nods, “I figured we could use the extra material for some sort of project without making it feel like it was being forced. Sort of an ‘Oh hey, lots of extra supplies. Shame we couldn’t get more people. Let’s build something nice to make up for!’ type of deal.

“While the system seemed to prevent me from getting an accurate count of how many people like me were there, it was in the mid to high thousands. Which seems like a lot, but isn’t really if you consider who could show up.”

Sammy, “Was there multiple groups or a secret condition to join?”

Camila, “I wouldn’t say a secret condition, but I suspect that when the system wanted people who could support the refugees, it didn’t just mean shelter and food. I suspect that if a kind-hearted person wanted someone to help around the house, they wouldn’t have been allowed in if their neighbors planned to enslave the refugee and the person couldn’t stop them.”

Ace nods, “There is that, but even if the coming of magic decimated the world’s population, we’d still have hundreds of millions of people out there. Let’s say over half the communities out there can’t support even one more person, thousands is still too few.”

Sammy, “Could it be that the system restricted how many people could invite them?”

Ace shakes his head, “That wouldn’t make sense with some of the people that were there. One guy I personally talked to during negotiations was literally just looking for a girlfriend. If the system was to limit things, I would expect the first condition would be how many people you want to invite.”

Camila, “Or it might be off of sincerity. That man truly just wanted a girlfriend and we truly just wanted to grow our town and provide good lives for them. Even that one bigoted settlement that managed to get a representative in, sincerely wanted people to help with their settlement, despite not quite wanting anyone that wasn’t human.”

Ace sighs, “On the other hand, we just had one community fail and they were just the first. We do not know how many are close.”

Jim, “Don’t borrow trouble that isn’t ours. Ace, I know you’re down on how well we’re doing as a whole, but no one has even managed to find another community. Hell, we don’t even know how many people are in our own.

“We had hundreds, Bennett town had over a thousand if not two by this point, and the pop count only goes up the closer to the center of the community you get. Another question just came to me as well, how many settlements are there? Most places don’t have names so our counts are certainly off. Some places might get counted multiple times or not counted at all.”

Ace nods, “We should probably do a consensus of some sort. And I guess if there are a ton of people in each community, that might cut down on how many showed up.”

Camila, “While I talked to others, it did feel like most communities only sent a few people in general. Our community is just odd since we’re the strongest settlement, but we haven’t really tried to take control.”

Kelly, “Also of note, I suspect no matter if the communities have more or less people in them, there are fewer than you would expect. First is the fact that we all have dungeons. With us having two so close together, chances are until our world matures more, there isn’t another for quite a distance and the same would count for other communities as well.

“And second, is the fact that many places are now too dangerous to place a community. Just look at the fallen community. They were on a river, but from what I’ve heard, it isn’t like the ocean was nearby. Yet they fell to oceanic monsters. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a giant band around every ocean shore that lacks any communities. With that in mind, there are certainly many of the smaller island locations where the whole place is a danger zone. Even some of the bigger islands might have been left unpopulated.”

Ace, “It still doesn’t feel right.”

Jim shrugs, “Eh, not every dungeon is going to be pumping out steaks. There probably just wasn’t that many places with food figured out.”

From there, the conversation gets a bit circular. Though Ace does eventually get around to asking about if the new kin had representatives that could be trusted like they had Camila. This ended up taking the rest of the time for the meeting.

All the while, down in the dungeon Doyle turns to Ally. ‘So, I figure the ocean is basically a death sentence, is what they’re saying about islands and such true?’

Ally shrugs, ‘I wouldn’t say the shores are That dangerous. However, they are dangerous enough that you wouldn’t put people who are newly integrated there. The settlement that fell might not have if more people across the entire community had gone and got combat experience.

‘Though yeah, any previously inhabited islands are going to be no-go zones for a long time. I’d even say that if there was a smaller continent, it might be free of communities even if there is more than enough space. Those kinds of places are designated danger zones.’

Doyle, ‘Is that to push people to get stronger or to concentrate the population?’

Ally shrugs, ‘Those are decent enough reasons, but not the main one. See, when the wave front of magic arrives, it isn’t just a weak draft of magic. That wave of magic represents reality rewriting itself at one of the most basic levels. There is a ton of magic trapped in that wave, which is why the system doesn’t just instantly place people back down after the wave has passed.

‘Even if someone managed to complete the tutorial within a day, they wouldn’t be released. Magic needs a chance to settle. However, if it was just allowed to make waves equally across a planet, chances are there would be no safe place for people to live. So instead of letting magic do what it wants, the system siphons the extremes off of places where the planet’s inhabitants will be placed and into the places they won’t end up.

‘For a planet like yours, most will end up in the deepest parts of the ocean. Except if too much magic is bouncing around, it will also use smaller landmasses. Because no matter how much oceanic creatures prefer staying in said ocean, after a certain point of power, that doesn’t always hold true. Better to make a small continent into a danger zone than to make the entire ocean a no-go zone for the rest of the planet’s life.’

Doyle, ‘What about the poles?’

Ally, ‘Oh, those were screwed from the get go. Your planet has too many interesting ideas and mythology around what lives on them. Be thankful the system won’t allow actual mythos type stuff in. Though expect a melange of fell fae, phrenic monstrosities, and twisted spirits. While those places aren’t without life, they certainly have enough lifeless locations.

‘Also, in case I gave you the wrong idea, these aren’t the only danger zones. There is a reason this community is on the edge of a forest and not the middle of one or further into the plains. Any extreme location will naturally draw more power to itself. The middle of a mountain range, the depths of a forest, or even just the center of a plain.

‘This is because the world energy becomes more and more aspected in those locations. Though instead of pure monsters, places like that tend more towards beasts. Still really dangerous, but more territorial. A magical lion in the middle of a savannah isn’t going to make a trip to the edge of said savannah to mess with a human town. It might not even mess with a human town within its territory if it hasn’t been given a reason to. Things more on the monster side tend to be less forgiving. Though the terms are quite loose when you get down to it.’

Doyle, ‘Well, that’s interesting and makes me happy that I don’t have to deal with it.’

Ally, ‘Eh, you live with it. Even in your country, there were places where people just had guns because a bear might show up. While there are certainly places that have completely removed all natural threats, even then some things slip through the cracks.’

Doyle, ‘I lived in a place where that kind of stuff basically wasn’t a concern, so I guess I can’t really understand it. Sure, we had a poisonous snake or two, but those stayed out in the wilds. Though bears weren’t unheard of, they certainly weren’t a going concern.’

Ally, ‘Well, unfortunately, that isn’t an option anymore. If there is one thing magic makes sure of, there is always danger. Not because it causes danger in and of itself, but because it causes change. What might have started as a harmless slug could suddenly mutate to have acidic slime.

‘Cities and other heavily populated locations are somewhat insulated from this. The chaos inherent in sapients tends to take up the slack. This doesn’t eliminate the chances of nonsense, never explore an abandoned building by yourself, but pigeons aren’t going to suddenly breathe fire in the middle of the town square.’

Doyle, ‘So that place up river is going to be very unfortunate to have all those empty buildings?’

Ally shrugs, ‘That’s hard to say. In a normal situation, it would probably be better to completely abandon the town if they can’t knock the stuff all down. However, the system might be suppressing some of these type of things in the various settlements. At least until everyone has their feet under them.’

How They Became Refugees - Chapter 373

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