Okay, as promised, here's a little meatier chapter. 3300 or so words. It may surprise no one for me to say that we're still not done with this scene. I anticipate at least one more chapter on the "boons" and then we're going to get into Andy doing some skill planning and experimentation, which might take more than one chapter. Just a heads up :)

Thanks for reading and for all the support,

Plum

37 – Points Well Spent

The meeting went a little differently than Andy had imagined. The choice to meet outside in the fountain courtyard proved to have some pros and cons; on the positive side, it was a beautiful evening, and when random citizens began to gather, listening to their discussion, it made for a very open, transparent process. In Andy’s mind, nobody would be able to act surprised down the road, nor say he was ruling the settlement with a heavy hand.

The negative aspect to the transparency was that there were a lot more questions thrown out than he’d counted on; he’d thought the somewhat reduced council would have a quick discussion, maybe someone would point out a flaw with his plan, and they’d settle on something else. In reality, the meeting dragged on for over an hour because there were some folks gathered around who were far more interested in details—or, as Bernice called it, minutiae.

“What if the citadel pushes the land around somehow? What if our housing plots are messed up?” Pauline Nguyen asked. She’d been a CNA in the old world, and after working with Frank Dunlap, had picked up a generalized Healer class.

“Well,” Eduardo said, holding up his hand as he stepped forward. “The System is careful to describe the process as using spatial magic. It’s my opinion that the site of the citadel will expand magically, without impacting the surrounding environment.”

“And if it doesn’t?” someone asked, a voice from the crowd that Andy didn’t recognize. The council members were, for the most part, seated around the largest fountain. There was a bench around its basin, and on either side, stone benches lined planters. Andy was standing, though, and he moved forward, nodding to Eduardo.

“Eddie’s right, I’m sure, but if we’re wrong, we’ll make sure nobody gets shortchanged. If your plot of land gets squished, we’ll figure out a way to make it right. None of us are looking to screw anyone over.”

“Trust Andy,” Jace said; he’d been in the bathhouse when the meeting started and had come over to listen to the discussion. Grumbles of agreement sounded in the crowd, which made it hard for Andy to keep from smiling as he nodded toward the big, red fighter.

“What about the port, Andy?” Tucker asked. “I agree we need the defensive stuff, and we’re going to need space, but maybe the port is more important than the Trade Beacon thing.”

“Tucker!” Lydia said, sighing. “We went over that! If the Trade Beacon lets us access auctions, maybe we can buy more things that’ll make our life easier! Maybe it’ll allow us to buy defensive magic or treasures. Imagine what we could do with more dimensional containers or translation devices? What if we could buy Codex pages? New classes, new abilities, new—”

Tucker waved his hands in surrender. “I get it, I get it. The thought just popped into my head.”

Those sorts of questions and answers took up most of the meeting time, and it might have kept going, but Andy heard Lucy’s stomach growl and realized he was hungry too. When Violet finished answering a question about the Domain Expansion for the second time, he stepped forward and said, “Okay, folks. I think we’ve talked this out. I’m going to get some food and then I’m going to make the purchases. We could really use your help spreading the word so people don’t panic.”

As the crowd began to break up and the council members broke off in twos and threes to talk among themselves, Jace approached Andy and Lucy. Jace held out his fist, and Andy gave it a thump, saying, “Thanks for the support.”

“Was just speaking the truth,” he replied, glancing over his shoulder. He seemed to spot what he was looking for and started off. “Talk to you later.” Andy watched him go; something about Jace’s body language told him he was up to something, but not necessarily anything bad. Still, he was curious. Then Denise was there, distracting him.

“So? You ready for some advice from a nosy friend?”

“Well, I mean, we’re kind of hungry—”

Denise glanced at Lucy and smiled. “Wanna get dinner while we chat? Miriam and the others are serving green chile, and I saw her making fresh tortillas earlier.”

“What?” Lucy stuck her nose in the air. “I knew I smelled something good! Where are they?”

Denise grinned. “The central square.” She jerked her head in the direction of the lane and said, “Come on!”

Andy, caught up in the pull of Lucy’s hunger, followed along, wondering what kind of lecture he was in for. Denise had made it sound like she had ideas about his class, but it almost felt like she’d thought he was doing something wrong. “Cue the advice,” he muttered, watching as Denise strolled along, leading Lucy as the two chatted.

“What?” Lucy asked, looking over her shoulder.

“Nothing.” Andy cleared his throat. “Have you seen Bella? Is she back yet?”

Denise slowed to let them catch up and said, “I haven’t looked for her, but Bernice mentioned something…pretty sure she’s still on her vision quest thingy.”

The square was busy. Andy knew Miriam, the first in the community to earn the Cook class, made at least one publicly available meal a day, but he hadn’t been to the square to eat in a while. The outdoor kitchen looked almost permanent, complete with a big wood-fire stove and smoker made of adobe. His eyes only lingered there for a minute, though, because he saw the bones of the tavern and brewery behind the busy cook area. Tucker’s crew had already laid out a foundation and built up the frame of a substantial building.

While he waited for one of Miriam’s helpers to dish him up some green chile, he asked, “Is Miriam going to move this operation into the tavern when it’s done?”

The teenaged boy who handed him his stew said, “Yeah, that’s the plan. Here.” He passed Andy a small package of foil-wrapped tortillas. “Be sure you save the foil—just smooth it out and put it in that box.” He pointed to a cardboard box at the end of the serving table.

“Right. Will do.” Andy smiled at the kid; he had no idea what his name was, but he was pretty sure the freckled, bespectacled boy had come over from Tanque Verde. While he followed Denise and Lucy to a small table in the corner of the square, he said, “It’s good they’re not all in the Militia, I guess—the kids from Tanque Verde, I mean.”

“They definitely aren’t. I’ve seen some working with Lydia, too,” Denise said. They all sat down and started eating, and Andy got lost in the spicy flavor of the green chile and the chewy, fatty goodness of the pork. He wrapped some in a tortilla and ate it. Then something struck him, and he said, “Wait! Is this pork or javelina?”

Denise arched an eyebrow, shrugging as she deferred to Lucy, who was mid-bite. After swallowing, Lucy said, “I think it’s javelina. Doesn’t it taste a little gamey?”

Andy shrugged, wrapping some more in a tortilla. “Can’t tell—too good.”

As he ate, Denise said, “Listen, Andy, I was thinking about your class, and, of course, I’ve had some thoughts since seeing you in action in the city. The thing is, I’ve kind of kept my mouth shut because you’re doing better than any of us when it comes to levels. The strength of your classes and abilities speaks for itself. Still, when you mentioned that you thought you ought to explore what your, um, axiom class could do, it got me thinking even more.”

Andy grunted, nodding for her to continue as he chewed.

Denise looked around, ensuring nobody was lingering close and eavesdropping before she said, “It’s just that I’m pretty sure you’ve already bought two Evolution Points, right?”

He nodded, licking some chile off his thumb. “I kind of had to buy the second one to boost my Perception enough to learn Axiomancy.”

“So,” she held up two fingers, dropping them one by one as she said, “Speed and Perception?”

“Yeah.”

“Honestly, that’s a really strong combo—in my theory-crafting brain. Still, think about that; you’ve dropped twenty-four Improvement Points into EPs already.” She waved her hand, shaking her head. “Wait, I’m getting off the point I was trying to make. I’m just saying, the System kind of modeled its interpretation of mana application to us from games we play. It said as much to people back in the early days. It was a way to, I don’t know, hook and encourage us. Well, in most games, it doesn’t pay to try to generalize too much.”

“Jack of all trades, master of none,” Lucy said, nodding. When Andy looked at her, she shrugged. “Not sure where I heard that—probably Steve.”

“That’s an old saying, but it’s definitely something RPG players have said since the beginning. Most people will agree that some specialization leads to greater power…eventually. It might be better to be kind of strong in lots of ways early on, but if you want the spell that lets you blow things up like a volcano going off, then you need to specialize.”

“And,” Andy replied, nodding along as he swallowed, “if I want to be able to bend the universe to my will, I might need to spend some points in my Axiomatic Pathfinder class.”

“Well…” Denise shrugged. “Maybe? I mean, like I said, you’re doing pretty well, and if you think you want to buy another EP, who am I to say that’s the wrong move? It’s just, Speed and Perception are already pretty awesome. Have you capped them again?”

“Speed, yeah, but I haven’t checked if I’ve hit the cap on Perception. I just took as much as I needed to learn Axiomancy.” Andy saw Denise get ready to speak again, but he wanted to say something, so he quickly continued, “I’m not dumb, though; I’ve had thoughts like this plenty of times. Especially as my main class continues to climb in levels and I seem to gain…well, very little, in the grand scheme of things. Sure, I got the Cinder Hawk transformation, but I can’t help thinking that if I’d spent more of my points on my abilities, a lot would open up—that’s not even mentioning Axiomancy.”

“That’s all I’m saying. Also, since you broke your ceiling, it wouldn’t hurt to see how far you can take Perception. By the way, what’s it like? Having a superhuman Perception rating, I mean?”

Andy smiled and shrugged. “I noticed it a lot more when I first got it. I can see better, hear better, feel more. I notice things I might have missed before—like how your left eye squints almost imperceptibly when you’re questioning something.”

Lucy looked at him aghast. “What? Do I have little things like that?”

Andy smiled crookedly and nodded. “Lots of them.” He knew it was coming his way before it happened, so he leaned back, taking the playful slap on his shoulder.

Denise leaned forward excitedly. “Did you just move really fast, or did you see something that told you she was going to do that?”

“Oh, I knew it was coming. The way she shifted her weight, tensed the muscles in her shoulder, glanced away from my eyes… Honestly, there are too many little tells to list off.”

“And then you reacted so quickly that it looked like Lucy had always meant to hit your shoulder.” Denise looked at Lucy. “Did you?”

“I was going for his cheek, but I wasn’t going to hit him hard—just a tap. Honestly, I didn’t really think about it. It was a reaction.” Lucy’s eyes widened as she thought about how quickly Andy had avoided her playful attack.

“Perception and Speed are like this,” Denise said, crossing her fingers and holding them up. “I think it’s a great combo, but maybe it wouldn’t hurt to focus on advancing your class abilities a little. Think about how powerful your—” She frowned. “What was it called? Axiom magic?”

“Yeah, close enough,” Andy said, scraping his last piece of tortilla around in the bottom of his bowl.

“Think about how much that kind of magic could help during a war. I mean, sure your other class is amazing, too, but what if you could teleport the enemy away—”

Andy looked up, interrupting her. “Or convince the universe that the ground under their feet was really water. For a short time, I mean.”

“You can do that?” Lucy asked.

“Not yet, but that’s what Axiomancy is all about—altering the rules of the universe, even if just briefly.”

Denise opened her mouth, then closed it. Then she narrowed her eyes and tried again: “So you aren’t really teleporting, are you? That’s why we had to kind of walk through the weird tunnel you made?”

“Yeah. I’m convincing the universe that a passage exists between two points.”

“I think you should experiment with that class, Andy. Level it.”

“Yeah,” Andy sighed. “I agree, it’s just that I tend to earn experience when I’m in my Brimstone Stalker class. Anyway,” he said, smoothing his square of tinfoil out on his thigh. “I’m going to buy those boons. I’ll give this some thought.”

“Right. Sorry if I came off as a know-it-all. I don’t think you’re stupid, Andy.”

“He doesn’t think that,” Lucy said, jumping to her feet and holding out her hand. “Here, give me your foil. I’ll go drop it in the box.”

Andy and Denise handed it over, and as Lucy jogged off, Andy said, “She’s not wrong. I appreciate you chatting with me because I’ve been having doubts for a while. I was going to do some serious thinking before I bought another EP.”

Denise nodded, smiling almost imperceptibly. “It’s one of those things. I know you’re not used to a purely spell-casting class, but with sorcery, a lot of the strength of the spell school didn’t start to come together until I’d learned some spells that synergized and formed stronger ones. Of course, your school might be different.”

“It might not be, though.” Andy saw Lucy returning and waved briefly to Denise. “Talk to you later, especially if I learn anything cool.”

She nodded, and Andy had the feeling her eyes lingered on him and Lucy as they walked back to the lane and away. Lucy leaned on his arm as they went, and for the thousandth time, he reminded himself that he was a very lucky guy.

“I’m glad you don’t act like it all the time,” Lucy said.

“Like what?” For the briefest moment, Andy thought she’d read his mind or that he’d spoken aloud.

“Like you’re some kind of superhero. You don’t show off your perception and speed when you’re not fighting or doing something important.”

Andy chuckled, shifting his arm so he could pull her against his side. “I’m not trying to be normal; I’m just a goofball at heart.”

Lucy giggled, and they walked in silence through the community. It was like a magical place, thanks to the glow of the lamps and the overhanging canopies of the mesquites. It was quiet, with voices drifting from around corners or between trees and shrubs—people laughing, kids giggling or yelling as they played games, and even music and singing here and there. The idyllic nature was wonderful, but Andy knew it was fragile, too, and it solidified his conviction to buy the defensive upgrades.

When they reached the System Node, he didn’t dither around; he opened the Settlement Menu and selected the first of the new boons: Settlement Domain Expansion. “I wonder how noticeable it will—”

Andy’s words stopped short as the System Node’s soft blue-tinted glow intensified and changed in hue, shifting toward yellow and then deepening to red. It grew brighter and brighter, and Andy stepped back, lifting his hand to shield his eyes. Just when he thought he ought to look away lest he damage his vision, the light flashed and seemed to wash outward, bathing him, Lucy, and the entire cavern in its glow. In just the span of a second, it was gone, and the node returned to its normal, soothing glow.

**Congratulations! Mesquite Mesa has advanced to tier 2, which will allow it to grow beyond level 10.**

“Oh, nice.” He glanced at Lucy. “Did you see that message?”

She shook her head. “The settlement is tier two now, and I guess that was necessary to advance it past level ten.”

“Didn’t you say it was level seven now?”

“Yeah.” He reached for the node. “Gonna buy the next one.” He returned to the menu and then selected the upgrade for Natural Bulwark.

**Attention! Upgrading your Natural Bulwark will not remove your current defenses but will enhance defenses around your expanded settlement perimeter. Do you wish to continue?**

“Yes.”

As soon as Andy uttered the word, the ground began to shake. It was a big quake—nothing bad enough to crack the stone of the cave’s walls or make anyone fall over, but there was a definite vibration in the soles of Andy’s feet. Lucy looked at him with wide eyes, and he smiled, shrugging. “I guess there’s something happening at the new edge of our settlement. We’ll go look when I’m done here.”

She nodded. “What’s next?”

Andy touched the stone and selected the option for the citadel. Once again, the floating node flared brightly, but this time only for a second, and it didn’t change color. When the light faded, something hit the ground with a thud. Andy looked at his feet to see a small gray figure.

“What’s that?” Lucy asked, squatting to peer at it. “It’s a little model!”

Andy stooped to pick up the thing—it was a heavy metal figurine shaped like a small castle. As soon as he picked it up, the System sent him another message:

**Congratulations on purchasing a Basic Citadel Boon. Place this in your settlement and it will take root, expanding to life-size proportions!**

“Guess we need to place this one, and it’ll grow. Like the watchtower, I guess.”

“Oh, neat!” Lucy held out her hand. “Can I look at it?” Andy handed it over, and Lucy peered at the little carved figure. “I wonder if it’ll look like this or if it’s just a representation. It’s kind of what I pictured, though—a central building with a wall around it.”

“We’ll find out. I guess I’ll spend the last Boon Point before we head out.” Even as he said the words, Andy navigated to the menu again and selected the option for improving the Trade Beacon. “Here goes.” After he’d confirmed the selection, Andy let go of the node and stepped back beside Lucy.

They didn’t wait long—maybe two or three seconds—before the node pulsed with blue light, and then a new point of light appeared about three feet to the left. “What’s that?” Lucy asked.

Andy started to answer, but stopped short as a new System message appeared:

**Congratulations, Andy! You’ve upgraded your System Node’s Trade Beacon. The System is currently integrating it into the Auction House network serving the local System-governed worlds. This process may take up to two standard days. Integration will be complete when the Trade Beacon manifests its physical form.**

“Well,” Andy said, “it’s starting, but I guess it won’t be ready immediately. It might take up to two days.”

“What’s starting?”

“Oh, the Trade Beacon.”

“Ah! Right. I forgot about that one.”

Andy held out his hand, and when Lucy took it, he tugged her toward the exit. “Let’s go see what the new natural bulwark looks like.”

“Right!” Lucy squeezed his hand. “Then we’ll plant your castle.”