Apocalypse: Regression

Nick stared at the large squat rack with the gym heart in the middle, unsure of what or how to proceed as he put a hand on one of the marble pillars that composed the heart’s frame. As soon as he did so, a series of system messages and menus appeared in front of him.

They had the city name, which was currently blank, the number of essences and building material available, the available building designs, several grayed-out options such as “Medical Buildings” and “Production Buildings” and the like, and then one white bold-lettered option: “Defensive Structures [5].”

“So there are five different defensive structures, or do we have enough material for five?” Nick wondered aloud as he clicked the button, revealing the list.

“Looks like it’s five different options, though I’m not sure if any of those are particularly great . . .” Seo-ah said, looking at the list with him.

Walls

Turret [2]

Hanger Bay

Tower

“And two of them are different types of turrets,” Captain Eizo noted, reaching out and clicking on the menu. The turret submenu opened up, proving the interface wasn’t usable only by Nick.

There were several different types of turrets. While the majority of options, such as the laser and flak turrets, were grayed out like the other buildings above, the top two options, “Sniper Turret” and “Machine Gun Turret” weren’t. But in a world where most people were using spears and swords to fight giant monsters, Nick hadn’t exactly expected such a modern feel from the base weaponry. He had half expected everything to be made of stone and the turrets to be arrow or ballista options.

“Sniper turret sounds cool, but what if we place it and then the walls, and it can’t shoot over the walls? We should place the walls first,” Arnold advised, hitting the back button and clicking the walls.

There, a number of options were generated as well, but like the turret section and the menu before it, most of them, like the steel-reinforced options, weren’t available. What was available was a concrete walls option.

“That’s ridiculous, why should we waste a free building on walls? We can build walls on our own. We should check out the other buildings instead. What about the hangar bay and the tower? What do they do?” Elizabeth said, making the most sense to Nick so far, as she switched over to the hangar bay option while the rest of her family ignored the entire base building part, went to work with Landry to help him dismantle the corpses after finishing to patch themselves up.

There, he could see the very top option in big bold letters looking incredibly tempting: “Gun Drone Bay.” He could also only imagine Allen’s excitement at the prospects of a hangar bay that would automatically launch gun drones, but as excited as he was, Elizabeth had already backed up from the hangar bay option and gone to the tower one.

There, at the top, was the only visible tower: “Scout’s Tower.” As he clicked on it, just to see what it did, it generated a picture of a tall tower, several stories high, with built-in light beams, scopes, and a place for someone to sit. It really was just a simple tower meant to help someone view the land around it.

“Well that’s disappointing,” Nick grumbled as he backed up, returning to the hangar bay.

“I would still vote on the wall,” Landry grumbled as he continued to hack bodies apart for essences in the distance.

“That’s just because you’re too lazy to build,” Akiko laughed at her companion’s choice.

“Yeah, we don’t need to worry about walls. That’s an easily solvable issue. The people who built our headquarters back at our guild can build the walls here. I’m with Elizabeth on this one, but I think the hangar bay is the right choice. When it comes to a tower, we have ViVi, and we can get other methods of detecting encroaching enemies. We don’t have the spare manpower to leave someone sitting atop a tower just to spot an incoming enemy,” Seo-ah commented, laying out several good points as she clicked through the menu and selected the gun drone.

The more specific details on the gun drone bay were that it would only house up to four level 1 gun drones at level 1. The drones would fly up to 200 feet from the hangar bay, require 18 hours of charging time to fully charge, and could remain airborne for up to 6 hours per full charge.

“Wait, what does it mean, ‘charge’? Are we going to have to power the building? Do we even have a power facility over here?” Topaz asked. “That’s . . . Hold on, it says right there: ‘1 power needed.’ It only needs one power, but . . .” She hit the back button and dragged her finger up and down the main menu until she found the “Power” category. Clicking on it revealed a dozen generator options, but the first and easiest to construct used steam power.

“All this talk about needing power, and those walls ain’t lookin’ so bad now, are they?” Landry sneered at Akiko. “At least with walls, we wouldn’t have to set up a bunch of other buildings just to get it to work.”

“Ten essences. The first power facility will produce five power for ten essences . . . though it looks like we need some magic items and stuff for the other higher-tier facilities. Still, five power is a lot, right?” Seo-ah noted, reaching forward and clicking on the button. However, as she hit the “buy” button, the screen didn’t react. She jammed the button a few more times as everyone watched, but still nothing happened.

“I think it has to be Nick,” Topaz offered, nudging Nick, who leaned forward and hit the button instead. Sure enough, as soon as he touched the button, it displayed a new message.

Current Essence Count: 0. Please insert 10 Essences in order to access this building option.

“Landry, you got ten yet?” Akiko asked, looking over at the barbarian that was hacking through the giant rodents on the ground like he was mincing onions on a cutting board. He looked back at her and nodded. He tossed the essences over to Akiko, who then pushed them into the heart. Sure enough, the heart accepted them, and they disappeared into the strange floating orb, creating a very tiny red puddle at the bottom.

“Well . . . that’s nice,” Nick thought, as he hit the button again. This time, an image of a large building that looked exactly like the steam power plants from earth appeared in front of him, ethereal and floating slightly, and a map of the base was generated as well.

Nick was actually amazed by the details that went into the steam plant. It had the cooling towers, the iconic cylinder that had later come to be associated with nuclear power plants, the even taller smokestack on the side, and what Nick guessed were the turbine hall and boiler building connecting the whole set. It also had a giant outlet, and Nick assumed a cord could be plugged in there.

“Okay, put it over there. We’re going to want it at the center of the base. That way, we can start running electricity to the buildings we’re making without having to put in much effort. Also, we don’t want it near the walls because if one of those rock-fur bastards knocks out our power grid, it’ll be the end of the defense buildings hooked up to it, and we’re probably going to have several of those attached,” Seo-ah advised, pointing to a spot next to the rift but just far enough away that it wasn’t on top of the rift, but it was close enough to be practically in the center of the base.

“So we’re putting the woman in charge of design? Seems a bit backwards,” Landry laughed as he continued to work, and while the others looked over at him, he just ignored the judgemental gazes.

“Maybe some stereotypes exist for a reason,” Nick replied, shrugging. Following Seo-ah’s advice to the letter, he then dropped the building right where she had suggested on the map and hit the “Confirm” button.

“WAIT! THERE WAS STILL A DEAD VERMIN THERE!” Landry suddenly screamed.

Nick cursed himself as he saw, beneath a little bit of snow, a tail sticking out. The next instant, the tail vanished along with the snow, and in the place a small steam power plant, occupying only a single twenty-by-twenty-foot space, appeared. He didn’t get much time to be mad at himself for wasting an essence before the interface displayed a “1” in the total essence counter.

Not only that, but right beside the building, there was a neat stack of materials. It had the fur, meat, bones, and organs of the creature sitting there, hovering a few feet above the ground, surrounded by a small blue glow. This caused Landry and the Walters to stop what they were doing as they all stared at the perfectly dismantled and harvested monster.

Still sitting and recovering in whatever pelts they could gather, Lou looked over at Nick. “Uhh . . . what just happened?”

“I think placing a building clears out all the obstacles . . . but also doesn’t destroy any of the materials . . .” Topaz answered while Nick just stared at the pile and then looked over at the others.

“Wait, stop what you’re doing and pile all the bodies up here,” Nick said, pointing to a spot next to the power plant.

“Oh! That’s a great idea! And a good placement choice for the drone hanger too!” Elizabeth said excitedly as she went over and grabbed one of the corpses closest to the rift and ran to where Nick had pointed.

“The brain truly is the most important muscle in the body,” Mr. Walters, also figuring out Nick’s plan like everyone else, said as he grabbed several of the corpses near him and just tossed them across the area to the spot Nick had pointed out, reminding Nick exactly how strong the old man’s other muscles were.

“Haven’t been in this realm for even a day, and you’re already figuring out exploits, kid?” Arnold chortled as he joined his father in the enemy-corpse-launching crew, hurling one body after the other like he was shot putting them in the Olympics. “That’s our new brother for you.”

“Well, if we’re going to win this war, we’ll need to exploit everything like a seasoned speedrunner,” Nick replied with a nod as he clicked over to the defense page while waiting for the bodies to all finish getting stacked up in the empty spot next to the power plant.

When they had finished stacking up the dead monsters, he hit the button. Just like with the steam power plant, the hangar began to build itself. When it was finished, he used Omni-Trainer’s Insight on the structure.

Gun Drone Bay

Level: 1

Building Type: Defense Structure

Dimensions: 20 ft x 20 ft

Capacity: 4 Gun Drones

The Gun Drone Bay is a compact, cylindrical steel structure designed to house and deploy automated drones for perimeter defense. The low-profile design belies the firepower contained within. Equipped with a launch system, the bay ensures that drones can be deployed instantly to respond to threats to the base.

Insight Note:

The Gun Drone Bay provides a crucial early defense against intruders. However, the drones’ limited range and prolonged recharge time necessitate strategic deployment and rotation to maintain consistent base protection. Upgrading the bay will increase the number of drones and enhance their capabilities, reducing vulnerabilities and expanding defensive coverage.

The building looked to be exactly the same width and length as the steam power plant. However, it was only as high as Nick’s torso. It seemed to be a simple steel-walled cylinder that, as Nick looked over the side of it, opened up to reveal a single drone sitting atop what looked like a small spring-loaded launching device. There were also three drones on similar platforms to the side of it, lined one on top of the other like they were candies in a Pez dispenser ready to be pushed onto the center platform. All four looked ready to take off at a moment’s notice.

“It worked!” Elizabeth said excitedly, her hand pulling on Nick’s shoulder as she drew his attention to the stack of meat.

Sure enough, as the building had generated, all the bodies that had been on the ground where the new structure had been created were now fully dismantled and placed to the side, floating like items in an old video game.

“That is wild . . .” Topaz noted, wide eyed, as she reached out and grabbed one of the cuts of meat that was stacked up next to the new hangar. “I wonder if it also purifies it of parasites and germs. Like, if you ate this straight away, would it be clean? Is it safe for tartare?”

“There’s only one way to find out,” Seo-ah replied with a grin as she grabbed a piece and pushed it toward Topaz.

“What? No, you try it,” Topaz insisted, her face scrunching up as she backed away and turned her head from the offered meat.

“I’ll try it,” Elizabeth said, pinching a piece off and biting into it before Seo-ah could retract her offer. “Hmm. It’s definitely safe. Needs to be cooked. Recommend butter or avocado oil on a cast iron, but I can see baking it.”

“Amazing. That was very handy. So now, how many more buildings can we build?” Mr. Walters asked as his attention shifted from his daughter trying the fresh protein back to the Heart of the Gym.

“Wait . . .” Nick took a couple seconds to read a prompt notifying him that he needed to connect the power to the hangar bay in order for the building to operate, and he needed to create a schedule for the drones as well.

To his pleasant surprise, the connection of the two buildings wasn’t that difficult. The system did all the work for him. He just had to use the large map on the Heart of the Gym to drag a wire out from the power plant, then under the ground, then up and into the little hook-up spot on the side of the hangar bay. Once that was complete, he went to the drone menu to set the schedule.

“Looks like we have a few options,” Nick began, about to read out the contingency and time-based methods they could use to generate a flight schedule for the drones.

“Launch one right away!” Elizabeth demanded when she saw the system test flight button on the drone scheduling options. “We need to see what it looks like!”

“That’s a good point. It’d be nice if we could get it to fire at something too so we have an understanding of its power in battle,” Topaz added in her two cents.

“Agreed,” Captain Eizo said.

Nick sighed and selected the gun drone, its information popping up in front of him.

Gun Drone

Level: 1

Type: Autonomous Base Unit

The Gun Drone is a compact aerial defense unit designed to patrol and secure the immediate area surrounding the base. Equipped with a lightweight automatic firearm, it can engage with low to mid-level threats within a 200-foot radius of the Hangar Bay. These drones are designed for base defense and are capable of providing suppressive fire or eliminating small hostile entities that come within range.

Range: 200 feet from the Hangar Bay

Flight Duration: 6 hours per full charge

Recharge Time: 18 hours to fully charge

Automation: Fully autonomous. Patrols designated areas and automatically engages targets within range. It can be programmed to follow specific flight patterns or respond to threats detected by other base defenses.

He hit the “Test Flight” button. During the session, he was able to generate a holographic target for a combat demonstration.

With that, a holograph of one of the gulo gulo appeared a good distance from the group as the hangar bay roof opened, and the drone, which had six rotor blade arms, each extending three feet from a cylindrical body, and a snub-nosed gun sticking out from its base, was thrown into the air by the spring-loaded launch pad. The moment it was airborne, it flew over to the target, firing on the gulo gulo before it even got close, raking over the monster with bullets before turning around and returning to the bay.

“Well, that’s . . . something,” Nick noted as he blinked, taking in both how fast the drone moved and how quickly it had eliminated its holographic target.

“Can you see why I told you to build the heart first? Now, with those drones, small skirmishes won’t be the death of you,” said the Black Witch’s voice in his mind.

Yeah . . . they won’t. Four of those, at the very least, means four gulo gulo dead . . . and that’s just with how strong the heart is now… if we had enough time to build multiple hangars and multiple other defensive buildings, this place might be impenetrable, Nick thought, and then as that thought entered his head, he remembered the last apocalypse back on his world. There had been strange structures and deadly magic abilities surrounding the rift as time went on. Nick had just assumed, as far as he could remember, that they were only dwellings of the monsters that had broken into the world, but now he was starting to think that maybe, they had built the same type of thing on Earth.

“Forget your homeworld. They would have built a heart where you stand, and you would be facing their version of defense. Though, I must admit, your technology is certainly giving you an advantage over us when it comes to structures. We were offered only ballistae, trebuchets, and the like. You have flying machines. It seems our lack of advancement is a disadvantage we are still paying for—though with your help, one we can correct,” the Black Witch told him, dripping little details about her world with every sentence.

“You know, it seems to me that the buildings each occupy a four-by-four grid of these little squares on the map the heart projects. Each of the squares is only five feet by five feet. Why does this feel like a DnD map to me?” Lou, snapping Nick out of his conversation with the Black Witch, asked as he kept playing with the map menu by the heart.

“You play DnD?” Nick raised an eyebrow as he turned his head to the giant ball of muscle that was the boxing specialist Lou.

“Of course. I’ve had a game going with Arnold and a few friends for years,” Lou answered.

“Tch, see how long that game is going to last if you hit me with one more fireball,” Arnold grumpily shot back, but as mad as the words sounded, the big grin on his face told Nick it was a “no hard feelings” jest between the brothers.

“Well, DnD, RTS, RPG, 4x games . . . a lot of systems use grids like this . . . but what’s clear is that it is drawing from our world, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it did that on purpose,” Nick noted as he went to look back on the menu.

“Right, this system is very much rooted in creating things using our world as the model,” Topaz agreed with Nick while going back to the menu, “but what else does it have?”

It was at this point that Nick remembered how confident the Black Witch had seemed about how his class-specific buildings would be the best for the base’s and guild’s long-term chances, so he started to cycle through the list of available buildings now that there was power. It didn’t take long until he found one such building that he knew was for his class: “The Gym,” a simple, two-word building title with no specific level even attached to it. It was right above a second building that he figured would also be class specific: “The Training Grounds.” He clicked the gym, bringing up the menu and a new status message explaining it:

The Gym

Level: 1

Building Type: Training Facility

Dimensions: 50 ft x 50 ft

Capacity: 10 Trainees at a time

The Gym begins as a barebones, empty building that will increase the training rate of individuals within it by 10%. However, The Gym can be leveled up to increase the buff and specialize it for more targeted growth to better unlock the potential of the trainees by purchasing specialized rooms and facilities within the building.

Cost: 25 Essences [initial purchase will come with 2 equipment upgrades]

Power Requirement: [1]

The possibilities for the gym combined with the static bonuses to skill and stat gains given by the heart of the gym meant that his guild and anyone else who used this base could progress faster than anywhere on Earth. Not to mention, it could be combined with the special sap, Nick’s Training!! ability, and other effects to boost the benefits even further. The Black Witch hadn’t lied: this building would be a game changer.

However, it was a game changer he’d have to wait for. The hundreds of essence shards they’d collected from the arctic creatures that had attacked them had only combined to twenty-four essences, ten of which they’d spent to build the Steam Power Plant. Which meant, even though he wanted to, they couldn’t afford the gym right now, and he definitely would have to wait before being able to buy the training grounds, which apparently would cost him fifty essences.