Gil's store is–forgive the pun–packed to the gills with constructs. Hundreds of paindne all in slightly varying shades of grey, from all different walks of life, standing around and chatting happily like normal people. People who I'm not sure will survive the completion of this quest. I scan the shop for the one person I need to talk to most, and when I see it, it comes to me before I have to say a word.

"I see things worked out quite well," Click says pleasantly as it sidles up next to Jumble and I. "The day is saved, most everyone will live, and you have control over where this city will reappear instead of the system's chosen one. Yet you seem tense; as if a lingering odour refuses to allow you to bask in your well-earned victory."

A weak chuckle barely leaves my lips. "Everyone here is a construct save for five people. Pearl and I count as one now, and Illumisia isn't technically here, even though she's hard at work negotiating something with Gil and Agathe that she's blocking my awareness from sensing. Is this what it looks like to win?"

I gesture at the room in general with my free arm. Everyone flinches ever so slightly at the motion, revealing that their state of cheery discussion was a complete lie. A lie that my awareness made obvious the second they tried to perpetuate it. There's not a single construct here that thinks things are going to end well and easily for them.

Click follows my motion with its eyes and caps it off with a shrug. "If I die after this, I die knowing I had some part in saving the people of this planet from the system. Yet I can see where you come from; most people here obviously don't share my sentiment. Including those who are… quite honestly… far too powerful for the system to leave unchecked."

"There will be quests," Jumble surmises. "Hunts to make sure they're all dead."

I furrow my brow and turn to look at her. "Explain, please."

"What is there to explain? The system could make quests for people to hunt down all the constructs that get out free, with an extra bonus for taking down powerful ones like Slice or… uh… did we ever name the liquid one?"

"No, you didn't!" the liquid construct calls out from across the room. "I'll accept whatever name my savior chooses for me!"

I sigh through my nose and think for exactly two seconds about the construct's name. "Elsie."

"Elsie? But that's a woman's name," the construct pouts. "Could I have a… more… masculine name?"

Jumble taps my arm. "Why Elsie?"

"Elsie. L, C; liquid construct. Not my best work, but some of my quickest," I chuckle. "How about Sloshua, then? We can call you slosh for short."

Slosh nods vigorously, sloshing around just like his namesake. "I quite like it! Thank you, my beloved savior!"

Click sighs and shakes its head. "With that out of the way now; I understand that you want to save every construct here, Shelby. But the truth is that we don't even know if we're in need of saving at all. The system's quests might not materialize for years, they may not have directions, and if we can create some sort of pigmenting process for the constructs, it won't be obvious at all that they are any different from a normal paindne."

"Or, if we bring them back to Earth instead, it might not matter at all," Clutter chimes in, emerging from the shadows wrapped in Agathe's cloth. "Do you think that'll work? They are technically a part of the city, after all, so why wouldn't they get teleported along with it?"

That's a very good point. If I teleport the city back to Earth–barring the obvious question about where the hell I can put it–then there'll be a lot of non-humans running around. With the Preservation and HuSt most likely galvanized from what I did to them a few months ago… we'll have to keep the city safe from people like them.

I let out a long breath and lean back against the counter. Illumisia rubs up against my legs, and I look down to see what she's trying to get my attention for. She just looks up at me with that same neutral expression that asks 'what the hell are you looking at', and continues to rub herself against me. Which is damn uncomfortable since she's fifty percent bigger than a great dane right now.

"Stop that," I mutter and reach down to rub between her ears. Illumisia freezes instantly, all hackles raised, and looks up at me like I just murdered her firstborn. "Oh. Uh. Sorry?"

She makes a low noise in her throat, then covertly leans into the scratches as she speaks directly into my mind. "Tell anyone that I enjoy this and you die."

Pearl giggles while Illumisia keeps scratching herself on my claw-like nails. I can't tell if she's trying to make me feel better about all this, or if she's just being clingy for absolutely no reason. But I can't delay this any longer; we need to announce something. It's the reason we all gathered here in the first place, my inner circle and Gil's. Because we need to talk about how the resort's going to fit into all of this.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

I shoot a glance at Gil. He casually returns it for the shortest of seconds before turning to the store and clapping his hands to get everyone's attention. Once all the murmuring quiets down he clears his throat, puffs out his chest, and extends a hand towards me.

"Shelby here has something to say."

Once more the attention shifts, falling squarely on me. I nod sarcastic thanks his way, get a sincere thumbs-up in return, and take my turn to clear my throat while I gather all my thoughts about what I can actually do for these people. The more I think on it… the less control I feel like I have.

I hold up two fingers. "With the way everything is, we have two options. Option one; I send this place to an uninhabited portion of this planet and we use Slice's volatile material to blow the entire city to kingdom come. In this option, I have absolutely no idea how that'll affect everyone here."

"I'll die," the Quest states plainly. "So I'm already voting for whatever option number two is. But if option one gets the most votes, I assure you I'm going down kicking and screaming and taking as many of you with me as I can."

Quiet chuckles sparsely eke out from the crowd. The Quest locks eyes with me to pass along a message; it isn't joking in the slightest. I gave it a chance at a life unshackled from the system and it isn't going to give that up without a few hundred bodies littering the floor of an exploding city. Considering it'll probably have complete control of the place right after I finish teleporting it… maybe a few hundred is an underestimation.

"If we're voicing our opinions, then I'm on team option two too," Slice steps up beside the Quest and gives it a fond smile. "No matter what it did to us, and what we did to it, this place is still our home–my home. My material nearly destroyed it once and I wouldn't like a repeat of that."

Jumble gently squeezes my arm. "I know this is terrible to say, since I'm the one that almost destroyed this place the first time, but I'd like to save it this time. There's too much… history here to just let it get vaporized."

Her eyes dart to where Pearl's shell used to be, and where a thin layer of bone-like shellraiser material now sits under my hair. She's speaking up for Pearl on behalf of the fake shellraisers; for the heretic, for the Quest apparently, and… maybe for more of these people than I realize. Hell, maybe for all of them; they just don't realize it yet.

Them or the system.

"I don't care what you do. You're my savior; you can do no wrong in my eyes," Slosh helpfully adds.

"Yeah, thanks for the insight," Gil laughs. "Unfortunately, you're all forgetting one tiny little detail; Shelby hasn't said what option two is yet. You could all be voting for mass suicide and the teleportation of the city into the sun for all you know."

A collective panic seeps through the shop like a plague. None of the constructs are immune to it; not even the Quest, who I was pretty sure heard me say I wanted to bring this place to Earth. I make a mental note that people really listen to what Gil has to say–to an almost skill-like level. He's not wrong, though. I need to clear this up.

"Option two!" I nearly shout, stirring everyone back to rapt attention. "I teleport us to Earth, probably off the coast of the resort. We have no goddamn idea what'll happen after that. All of you might cease to exist, the system might get control of you again somehow, or–just maybe–you'll all be perfectly free from it. Problem is, I can't… guarantee… you anything."

Clutter, Gil, and Jumble all shoot me looks that pierce right through to my sense of 'dumbass, you forgot your own Class'. Illumsia and Pearl have the decency not to, but their silence almost hurts more than the obvious disbelief. I laugh at my own stupidity and pull out a coin along with my Class Card to check the remaining cooldown for my skill.

…There… isn't one. The evolved version of my skill doesn't have a cooldown, but rather, a very ominous line of text that definitely hasn't been there any of the other times I've used it.

Cannot use this while its effects are still active.

Current status: inactive.

Which, if I'm remembering correctly… that means the cataclysm my skill referred to is either inexorably in motion or not going to happen at all. I force a smile and send my Class Card away before anyone can ask why I'm staring at it, put my coin on my thumbnail, and flip it into the air.

"Heads we teleport the city to the planet surface, tails we teleport it to Earth," I say aloud.

Reknit Fate activated.

Options: Relocate to ______, relocate to Earth.

Properties of _______: Greatest chance of survival, greatest chance of system servitude, greatest chance of the system subjugating newly created shellraisers.

Properties of Earth: Greatest chance of prosperity, greatest risk of death, chance for–

Chance for–

Chance for–

Recalculating to factor in previously foretold cataclysm.

New property added to Earth: only chance for Earth's survival.

New property added to Earth: only chance to avoid system subjugation of planet.

New property added to Earth: Cataclysm brought forth.

Choose.

…

Though is it really a choice at this point?

I blink at the last sentence and look over at the Quest. It grins back and mimes the flipping of a coin… even though everything else is utterly frozen in time. But it's completely right. Even though I could make the wrong choice, that isn't a possibility. Giving the system this facility on this planet, even if we utterly destroy it, somehow leads to Earth's destruction. Or, possibly, us having this facility on Earth means we have the means to defend if from whatever the cataclysm is.

Either way, this isn't a choice. I swipe away my skill and bring down my decision with the finality of an executioner deciding a prisoner's ultimate fate.

"It comes to Earth with me. It, and everything inside of it."

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.