Amazon Apocalypse 2: Chapter 50 (Patreon)

After calming down and eliminating my Mania, Sharky shrank back down to his normal, ghostly shark form. Nowhere else would everyone have been relieved to see a ghostly shark hovering in the air over their heads—but after the show Sharky had put on, they were at the Shelter.

I jumped over the wall using Power Jump, while Bridget and Sakura rode up on Sharky's back. Everyone steered clear of him, and I figured he might be difficult to have around if everyone was going to get all shy around him.

"Go hunt monsters," I ordered my summons. "There's bound to be plenty of weak ones roaming the city, since it's been a while since my last extermination run. But remember, don't eat any humans! Or anyone who is mostly human. Or any goblins. If you spot any Wolfmen, Trolls, or Ogres, though, they're okay to eat."

"NOM NOM," Sharky said before swiftly departing.

Kyle eyed his departing fin warily. "Are you sure that thing understood you?"

"Sharky? Of course he did. He's a good ghost shark—as long as he isn't hungry." I laughed when Kyle audibly gulped.

I knew I had good control over Sharky. Even now, with the ghost shark out of sight, I could vaguely sense what he was doing and dismiss him at any time. If I was a little more skilled, I might even be able to see out of his eyes.

I checked in on the Obelisk to see if the stuff I’d listed last time had sold. A quick glance after flipping through the menus told me it had. It seemed people were quite fond of the gold coins, too. More than one had caught my eye in the hands of various people buying things from the nearby crafters, so I suspected they were being used as currency.

I'd have to avoid dumping too many more on the market all at once, since I wanted prices to remain stable.

Besides the gold, almost everything I'd listed had already sold. The only things left were tools for jobs Earthling's didn't know what to do with. I was sad to see the Theory Crafter introductory textbook hadn't sold yet, since we could have used one of those in Crownhill.

It wasn't a job that had existed before the System, though, so I realized people would have a harder time seeing how it might be valuable. I slashed the price down to a third of what I’d initially listed it at and, much to my surprise, someone immediately picked it up. A moment later, I spotted it in the eager and giddy hands of a young woman. Perhaps we'd have a Theory Crafter in our own sooner than I thought.

All in all, I had several million contribution points. I'd sold so many goods that my listings made up the bulk of transactions for the past week. Hell, I'd made ten thousand points just off of the taxes the Obelisk took out on my products.

The products themselves generated points in the hundreds of thousands, making me far and away the wealthiest person registered with the obelisk. I could clear out its entire inventory several times over and not finish tapping into my reserves.

Rather than doing that, though, I just bought up all the copper, jewelry, gemstones, monster cores, and other items that an Artificer might find useful. No doubt other crafters needed them, too. But this early in the integration, people were still learning the value of things.

Once people started figuring out that I wanted all sorts of metal, monster cores, and other crafting supplies, they would no doubt start hunting it down to list for sale in the Obelisk. After making my purchases, I made room in my Bag of Holding by clearing out the latest batch of stuff we'd received from Themyscira. This involved a lot of swords, shields, and a bunch of blacksmithing equipment. Plenty of people here in the settlement had taken up blacksmithing for their job, but it would be some time before they adjusted to making medieval weapons.

When Marcus, Margaret, and Frank arrived with a few others, we convened an official council meeting. I recognized most of the faces, but a few people were new.

"This is Reginald. He's representing the crafters in town," Margaret introduced a hefty man wearing carpenter's pants with holes in their sides and a soot-stained shirt.

"Smith?" I asked.

Reginald nodded. "Yes, Sir."

"And this is Terrance. He's been the one in charge of keeping the peace. Right now, he's in the militia like the rest of us, but eventually we'd like to reestablish a police force.

Terrance was a lean black man with a southern accent, complete with cowboy hat and the tattered remains of what had once been a police uniform.

"You were a cop before the integration?" I asked.

"Yes, Sir. Never thought I'd make it to police chief, though," Terrance laughed.

"We'll have to make a badge for you at some point. Perhaps there are some left over at the old police department."

Sheriff Drayton and the local cops had put up a good fight for a while, but the Alpha Wolfman and his elites proved too much for them. The wolves ate most of them, and any who survived sped off to who knew where. I knew for a fact that we'd already scavenged anything left in the armory. That gear had outfitted the shelter's militia.

"I'm in no rush. Besides, I think it would mean more to me and the boys if we had our own badges. The world ain't exactly like it used to be," Terrance replied.

I chuckled. "Agreed."

We settled in around the table in a conference room, and a System menu appeared before me the moment I sat down.

You have gathered with your advisors concerning official matters of state.

The following issues plague your lands:

1. The roads surrounding your settlement are plagued by monsters. Issue quests to have them slain and restore order and trade.

2. Neighboring settlements within your domain do not acknowledge you as their liege lord. You will receive no taxes, tribute, or warriors from them until you gain their allegiance.

3. Your settlement has reached the population and infrastructure requirements to upgrade from Shelter! You must decide between becoming a Castle or a Fortified City.

4. A foreign power, Cromwell of the Crownhill County Prison, lays claim to your lands! Defeat him to regain uncontested control of your domain.

I glanced up from the notification to find all eyes on me. Apparently I was the only one who could see the screen before me. Silently, I thanked the System.

I hadn't exactly prepared for this meeting, but I was certain minor lords everywhere were thankful for the instant meeting notes the System provided. I went through the three major issues the System had listed for me, starting with the roads.

"Okay, so we need to clear the roads so people can actually come use the Obelisk. If the crowd gathered outside is any indication, Margaret's radio announcements were even more effective than we’d hoped in getting the word out.”

I looked from one council member to the next. “But most people don't have multiple D-Rankers in their group, so they'll need to have the roads cleared. I know where a few major settlements are, and we'll need to clear the way between them and us."

"And in exchange for that, do we tell them they're joining up with us?" Marcus asked.

A few of the others shifted in their seats. It was the question on all their minds.

I drummed my fingers on the table a moment before shaking my head. "No. We won't force anyone to join us. But do let it be known that we have a lot to offer… and those that get in early will get more than those who get in late."

The shelter really had come a long way. With the Obelisk's food preservation abilities, we'd been able to save a lot of the meat and other foods that would otherwise have long since gone bad. We were probably the only place on the shard where anyone could get a proper burger after the integration.

And the leveling programs we were building with the militia were extremely beneficial to those who were willing to put the work in. And that didn’t begin to account for the slew of supplies I was bringing from Themyscira for the crafters.

In the shelter, we were already rebuilding some semblance of civilization.

The same wasn't true everywhere. Most other groups of survivors were huddled in terror in their basements or fortified manors, too scared to leave their homes for fear a level 2 Cockroach Scavenger might get them. We’d left those fears behind long ago, having replaced them with the ambition to make the most of this new life.

Decision made, I issued some quests. The rewards would come from my own cut of the taxes—not that I minded. I was propping up more than half of the economy already, thanks to my exclusive trade with Myrina's world. I had more points to reward people with than anyone else. And in the end I'd probably benefit more than anyone else.

The people around the city collecting wire would be a little bolder if they knew the roads between the obelisk and the ruins that surrounded the city were safe to travel. With the first two issues settled, I addressed the matter of the upgrade.

"The System says that I have to choose between upgrading the Shelter into either a Castle or a Fortified City." I shared the two options with the council.

Choose your settlement's path!

Fortress:

Advantages:

+70% Defense against raids.

25% faster elite unit training.

10% faster leveling speed for official militia, guards, or military units.

Expanded storage for supplies.

Disadvantages:

-30% trade income and fewer trade routes.

Slower population growth.

Higher upkeep costs.

Fortified City

Advantages:

+50% Trade income and routes.

Rapid population growth.

10% faster militia training and recruitment.

Cultural events and diverse economy.

Disadvantages:

Only +30% to Defense.

Increased crime.

Potential for internal strife.

Unlike the previous two subjects, choosing the settlement's future sparked a healthy debate. Marcus, Kyle, and Terrance were all in favor of the settlement becoming a Fortress. Marcus and Kyle in particular had been in the militia when we'd been attacked, and from what I'd heard Terrance had been through something similar at a smaller shelter before moving here. All three of them wanted the settlement strong enough to stand against our enemies.

Margaret, Reginald, and Frank were interested in turning the shelter into a Fortified City. In the long term, the shelter would no doubt become the beating heart of the shard where everyone came to trade and prosper.

The decision had always rested with me and me alone, as the settlement owner, but I'd hoped the council would lean clearly one way or the other. That would have made the decision easier. Instead, I was the deciding vote.

I sighed, weighing the options over. In the end, I made my choice. "We cannot afford instability at the moment—not while we have enemies at the gates. We must turn the Shelter into a Fortress," I declared.

"Yes! Elite units here we go!" Kyle grinned.

I wasn't sure what the exact classification of an elite unit was, but I was pretty sure all the fighters on the council would qualify. Truthfully, that was the bonus, more than anything else, that had tilted me in favor of designating this place a Fortress.

The additional militia training and recruitment were tempting, but I wasn't keen on just bulking our numbers. It was clear to me now that what really mattered to a faction's ability to overcome another, was the power of its elites. The junior members of any group merely represented their eventual potential. If we wanted to make it in this new world, we'd need a core group of elites to protect Crownhill from all the factions out to get us.

As for building a city, we had no trade routes to speak of—besides the one I'd forged with Themyscira. And population growth didn't matter, not when our upcoming issues were on the scale of months instead of generations like most settlements of the Arcadia Multiverse.

There was a combination of groaning and cheering, but I consoled everyone who'd been on the side of building a city. "I happen to know that it's possible to build a small city outside of the fortress. I wouldn't worry too much about it, now. When the time comes that we want the city bonuses, we'll figure something out."

I pictured Valkyrie's Watch in my mind. We weren't that far away from creating such a place ourselves. Assuming we absorbed the other shelters, we'd be roughly the same size—though significantly more productive, since we were getting some of the old manufacturing equipment together to re-industrialize.

In a decade, we'd be bigger than Valkyrie's Watch.

For now, building a Fortress seemed like the right choice. And if in the future we discovered it wasn't? Well, the System always left a way. I was sure there'd be some method to reverse things and convert the Fortress into a fortified city.

I made the selection, and the process began without much fanfare. A progress bar appeared on what had been my settlement tab, showing that the upgrade would take about a week. Presumably, I'd see what the new Crownhill Fortress could do when the progress bar filled.

I idly wondered if I’d see that before I went to visit Myrina again. A full week was just past the minimum time I had to stay here on this shard before I could visit Themyscira again.

"And now for the final topic of this meeting. This Cromwell character who's been hassling us… tell me everything you know."