《Shovels In Spades》B1: Chapter 37: Jesters and Fort
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Daz stepped out into the main living space of the cabin and saw that both Sarah and Ellie were looking at him curiously.
"Bur bair?" Ellie sounded out her attempt at 'your hair'. "Bur buys too," she added as she stared into Daz's grey eyes with her crystal blue ones that hid behind her glasses.
"Did you go blind?" Sarah asked in interest. 'He probably got an upgrade from the system, right? He looks pretty cool now despite his normal face... kinda like a Korean pop-star,' Sarah thought as her eyes lingered on his hair.
"Ah, right, It's a change I got from the system. It's a pretty powerful upgrade, actually. Side-effects included a little visual change though, hahaha," Daz laughed as he approached the girls that were a few years older than he was.
"And no, I'm not blind, but apparently my vision has changed a bit. I need to test out my new skills at some point. Anyway, there's gonna be at least forty-six new people arriving here very shortly. Don't worry, me and Lyle rescued them, but I might have to let a few sleep in here tonight. Depends really, but I thought I'd let you two know," Daz explained briefly.
"Forty-six? That's a lot! You really are becoming a Lord, aren't you? It won't be long before you're 'King Daz', hahahaha," Sarah laughed. Ellie joined her and the two twins painted a pretty picture as they smiled and giggled.
"Make fun of me anymore, and I'll force you two to become my royal Jesters when I do get crowned King," Daz chuckled. He always did have a way with words when it came to women, otherwise, he would have struggled to get his current girlfriend whom he was certain was still alive.
"Please spare us fair Maidens, Your Majesty," Sarah said with an overemphasised bow. Ellie stood up and followed suit after her sister.
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"Hmm, perhaps I shall forgive you, just this once though. One more offence, and you'll be wearing clown costumes for the rest of your lives. Are we clear?" Daz questioned with a false haughty attitude, all the while a smile covered his normal face. 'Fucking around like this every once in a while isn't so bad. I need to lighten up more, or before I know it, I'll go crazy, hahaha!' he happily thought.
"Of course, Your Majesty! Thank you for your leniency!... .HAHAHAHA!" Sarah burst into laughter alongside Ellie at the silliness of their little 'play'.
Daz smiled before he moved towards the cabin's front door. "Oh, right, Ellie," Daz said as he turned around to face the beautiful girl who was still giggling a bit with her twin.
"Bwhat, Bwaz? do buu need bumthing?" she happily asked in an attempt at English. Clearly, she was trying her best to relearn how to speak properly.
"Nah, I don't really need anything, I just wanted to tell you to keep up the good work. I'm sure you'll have learnt how to speak again soon. Seems my points weren't wasted on your hearing," Daz said in a rare moment of praise.
He then exited the cabin, leaving the two young women alone. "Heh, for how much of a weirdo he can be, that was kinda sweet. Do you think he has a crush on you?" Sarah poked fun at her younger twin. 'He is a little bit crazy, but I think he's a nice guy, he saved us and he even cured Ellie's deafness so it's kinda hard to not like him, as a person of course... after all... Sean can't be dead... he can't be...' Sarah thought as memories of the past surfaced in her mind, but she quickly buried them again and waited for her sister's embarrassed response.
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"Bat's imbossible," Ellie said as her face turned a light shade of pink, reigniting Sarah's earlier laughing fit.
Daz stepped out into the base's open air and he smiled. 'This is my base. I won't let anyone steal it from me like Matt wanted to. I WILL become powerful. Powerful enough to stay the ruler of my slice of Earth. I won't involve myself in any conflicts that won't make me, my people or my base grow. I think I'll name this base, 'Fort Skip'. Nice and simple,' Daz declared in his mind.
Confirm name of Tiny Base[Unnamed] being set to [Fort Skip]?
'Confirm, Please,' Daz thought in affirmation.
Confirmed. The name of Tiny Base[Unnamed] has changed to [Fort Skip].
Daz decided to check the base's status sheet now to confirm that everything had changed properly.
[Fort Skip] D-Rank Tiny Base Base Name: Fort Skip Base Owner: Daz Base Type: Storage Base Size: Tiny Base Stats Health: 60,000/60,000 Offence: 5,000(7,000) Security: 200 Defense: 2,000(2300) Citizens: 5 Base Facilities Facility Number Owned Description Bonus D-Rank Storage Container [Closable] 3 A simple steel container with a hatch lock door mechanism. 1 inventory slot per container for citizens D-Rank Storage Container [Not Closable] 8 A simple steel container with an open top. 1 inventory slot per container for citizens Base Walls and Porticullis 1 A circular wall made from stone that surrounds the base and an iron portcullis. 15% increase to Defense for base Training Ground 1 A simple training ground. 10% boost to skill growth for citizens Living space 1 A simple living space designed to house citizens 10% boost to stress relief for citizens Automated Steel Ballista Tower 2 A complex weapon designed to defend a set location 10% increase to Offense for the base
"Mmm, looks good. It's still a bit weird that the screens are all grey now..." Daz mumbled as he walked towards the portcullis. Just as he reached it, he could see Ger and Lyle with the group of forty-six survivors and surprisingly enough, two of Matt's group had stayed behind, the timid man, Dorian, and a young girl who looked roughly fourteen years old.
"It's gonna be a lot of work housing these people for tonight... guess I need to spend all of my base points tomorrow on land expansion and cabins, huh?" Daz said to himself. He was quite happy at how his little Kingdom was slowly growing.
It took some time, but Daz, with the help of Lyle's good coordination skills and Ger's experienced way of dealing with customers, managed to find a suitable place for everyone to sleep and almost all of the survivors went to sleep on the grassy patches that Fort Skip held in its centre, next to the training ground. They each had one tin of soup or beans before they went to sleep on a large pile of clothing.
A few of them had spent points on a sleeping bag, but Daz had urged them to simply endure for today and to not waste their points on something so useless, of course, there were always idiots, but Daz couldn't punish them for thinking about their comfort.
Naturally, Lyle and Ger were shocked regarding Daz's appearance change, but Daz simply explained it to everyone as a power he had bought from the store.
After everyone had finally settled down, Daz went to the outside of the base and walked up to the still sitting Rimmy. "Well, you two, I guess we should introduce ourselves?" he said with a sly grin to the two people that were still sitting in front of the gory mess from earlier for whatever reason.
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8 212The Journey to find the New Golden Emperor
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8 477Sincerely, Broken Girl
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8 437The Girl Who Kept Running
He ran into her at street theater.She was a force of nature, not a casual first time hire.She brought the house down with her performance, literally pulled the audience to their feet in standing ovation.Her performance was too real, unnerving, deeply unsettling to him. He spent all his energy keeping up with her.At the end of the play, she snatched her earnings from the director's hands and ran away, leaving a trail of questions behind her, the most burning one in his mind was:Would he ever see her again?____________________This ongoing novel imagines a world that our younger generations inherit after a series of successive presidencies in the same vein as the current model. There is no need for erecting walls, as the biggest divide created by humanity - that of social class - takes care of a post modern segregation. The poor are literally marginalized into slum-like townships and tend to be of color. The names of these townships would be enough to tell you their story. The rich, well, remain happily oblivious in the big American cities. In this world find a mysterious girl whose identity must be hidden or she would be hunted down and a young street actor who falls for her intrigue. Discover how they survive, born into a society not prepared to give them a chance.For them, the dystopia came without an apocalypse. Copyrighted 2018_________________________________________________Updates every 5-6 days. Currently on hiatus for revisions.Most impressive rank: #87 in dystopia/dystopian #90 in future (17/09/18)________________________________________________________Cover credits: Thanks are due to the amazing New Zealand artist Shane Rebenschied who allowed me to use one of his illustrations on his portfolio at http://blot.com. I used basic photoshopping to add some shades and used the awesome text effects from http://picturetopeople.com
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