“One thing I can tell you is this.  The people… the beings running this ‘system’ as they call it, are cruel.  They gave us three days to read up and prepare for the stabilization period and warned us that they were going to kill off 90% of the human race.  Fair enough.  But then they drop the equivalent of a nuke on our little town just a few days in.  That titan was two or three times the level of any of us here, and resistant to all of our weapons.  You just don’t massacre all the newbies in your starter zone!  You have to at least give them a chance to…”  His voice drifted off as he noted the puzzled looks on several faces.

With a sigh, he said.  “That thing was overkill.  In any fair system, we should have had much more time to get stronger and learn how to live within this system before something like that wandered into town.   The octopoids, canids, the other things roaming around at night, those were even a bit of a stretch.   We should have started out fighting fluffy horned bunnies and angry mutant frogs or something.”

Now he was getting nods of agreement.  “In light of this, I think we have to push ourselves harder than we have been.  I’m talking boot camp combined with midterm cram sessions combined with trade school.  All at once.  We need to build our bodies and our skills. We need to craft, or buy, better weapons and armor.  We need to get ready for whatever nasty surprise they send us next.  And the one after that.  And when our year is up and the stabilization is over, we need to be strong enough to go find those dicks and get some payback!”

He slammed his fists on the table and looked around.  He didn’t get the rousing cheers of agreement he hoped for, probably because his Charisma only had one point.  But most were nodding their heads and slapping the table.  Nancy was giving him a dirty look, her hands over Chloe’s ears.  Chloe was giggling.

Attribute level increase! Your Charisma attribute has increased by +1

Allistor waved away the notice.  “I’m sorry, Nancy.  I’ll try to watch my language.  But I’m afraid in this new world, Chloe’s childhood is going to be much shorter than any of us would like.”   Lilly put an arm around Nancy’s shoulder, giving a quick squeeze for support.

Then she spoke up.  “In case you folks who were outside didn’t notice, we have electricity!  And the crafting hall.” She pointed to the new building.   “Both will go a long way toward helping us grow.”

Meg chimed in, “Then let’s get outside and start rounding up useful items.  Appliances, medical equipment, tools.  We’ve got lots of space down here.  Let’s grab what we can while we can!”