Scorching Ascension - [Progression Litrpg Apocalypse]

Amanda's POV, 5 minutes ago

Amanda stood under the shade of one of the preserved trees on the west side of New Dawn, taking notes of the updated levels of the team as she resolved to get herself within the next rift that showed up. Considering that the team managed to clear it in only a few hours, she most likely needed to have a few people around to get it done quickly. And safely.

While they didn't look too out of shape, nearly all of them were splattered with blood and were showing multiple bruises, though their injuries have already been healed. So even with a large team, clearing a rift was no trifling matter, and she was no Ethan who could just go in and burn everything to a crisp in barely a couple of hours, shrugging everything that came his way with those overpowered scales of his.

Sharing a rift meant that she'd get fewer levels, but speed and safety were more important at this point, especially with how much she still had on her plate. Still, she was happy to see they'd gotten another tier-2 in their ranks and that soon, they'd have a few more as nearly everyone of them were in the upper sixties at this point.

But did it have to be the cat, though?

Amanda squashed the sigh deep in her chest. Ethan trusted the Ignisra, which meant she should trust her as well, no matter how difficult she could be. Still, she had to admit that the creature looked a little more intimidating now that it had gained a few inches and pounds. She wasn't the size of a bobcat just yet, but she was at least 60% of the way there.

Turning her attention back to her allies, she found like Liz and Audrey still looking into the updated stuff in the pylon, while Amelie peered about, nodding appreciatively at the cleared park Amanda had brought them to. She was a little calmer than usual, with an oddly satisfied glow about her that Amanda assumed was due to the impressive amount of levels she'd earned. She was the one who gained the most levels compared to the other, and she was now sitting at 68 levels. "It's cool that you kept some greenery about. Did you guys have any trouble while we were gone?"

Amanda shook her head. "Nothing aside from a couple of monsters we handled well enough. And thanks. I thought keeping the space here would be appreciated, and it's better than talking near the barracks or the thoroughfare where we would be heard. I'm trying my best, but I'm no city planner, and we'd better find one of those soon or things will get messy as we expand."

Amelie nodded at that, while Gerald looked around. "I can help maintain this a little. I worked a bit in landscaping a while back."

Amanda scribbled that. Gerald might be a little too important to be doing landscaping, but he could maybe oversee whomever does.

"Friend of mine wanted to become a city planner to fix up our neighbourhood. They had him push pencils instead though if we can find him, I'm sure he'd love to work on this," said Diego, still laying on his back as he stared at the sky.

Amanda would actually love that. Maybe with the new upgrades, they'd be able to find the people they know soon? Amanda had plenty of contacts who'd make decent additions to New Dawn, though right now, a city planner or some sort of civil engineer would be greatly appreciated. She knew her current arrangement wouldn't last long. Amanda knew enough to know that she was a little out of her depth on that side of things.

For now, she had divided New Dawn in mainly four quarters. The east side, which had some wilderness and Ethan's cabin. The south side, which would be the residential area and where the current barracks had been erected. The center had the pylon, and Amanda had the area cleared around it and connected it to a thoroughfare that went all the way north and out of the settlement. That area–the north side–would become the business side of the city. Stores, markets, council quarters and all that. As for the west, where they happened to be holding this meeting, it'd be a park. Maybe a training space as well, but they'd need some mighty resilient buildings before they allowed dangerous spells to be used within settlement limits. This was to be an actual city. They couldn't have the equivalent of artillery flying about randomly and hitting innocent bystanders.

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With a wave of her arm, Liz dismissed her interface—Amanda guessed—and sat down before she gave Amanda a head shake. "The detection range is a bit larger, I'm sure of that," said Liz. "But I can't tell if it's the number of integrated pylons that affected that, or if it is the new tier. Also, we still don't have any extra permissions, so Ethan has not changed anything, and we can't see these new integrated pylons. Not yet, at least."

Amanda hummed, tapping her pen against her notebook. She wished he'd come back soon. They were a little stuck without him giving them access, she thought as she turned toward Audrey next.

"Can you see the available upgrades? We got a lot of fragments sitting around. We could start prioritizing if we can see them?"

Audrey shook her head. "Nope. No access just yet."

Well. Amanda hadn't had high hopes there. They just had to sit tight and wait for him to come back. Thankfully, she'd be ready then, especially with another of her tasks being nearly done.

"Tough. But it's fine. Next order of business, I got a list of people for you who're up to be part of the council. There aren't that many that want to be involved, but enough that it'd be better to either vote or cut a few off. And considering that two more settlements might have been integrated, we're going to need to re-think a couple of things before Ethan gets here."

Liz scratched a knee as she looked up, a frown on her face. "How will we handle the meetings when we're far apart?"

Amanda pointed at Liz and smiled. "That's exactly what I was about to get to. I'm hoping the communication module will help us there. But we can't just rely on hope. If the module's not enough, we need to decide on a few alternatives, and I have three options. First, the council members rotate from one settlement to the next. Which can cause some serious security issues and some pretty significant delays. I strongly suggest against it. Second: we have a different council per settlement, and they can all vote on global decisions. A bit awkward, but we have fewer people to deal with and keep an eye on. Third option is that we go with the equivalent of a state-council and a federal-council, which might be best for everyone. Each city handles their own problems and votes on their own issues. I don't know how this will work with the pylon's features, but we can deal with that then. Aside from the city-level councils, we create a higher-order council that deals with the higher-level issues. Spending, diplomacy, laws, etc. And this council stays close to us. And it should be in the capital."

The conversation about governing seemed to interest the Ignisra, as even though her eyes were closed, her ears were standing straight, only twitching and pivoting whenever someone spoke.

"Where do you guys think that would be? The capital?" asked Amelie.

All of them shared looks, then a few shrugged at the same time. "Ethan's call. Probably," Liz said with a grin. "From the new name, it might be this one."

"A little cheesy. But I like it," Amelie said with a grin as she twirled her blue-glowing dagger in hand.

"I thought it'd be a matter for the council, but I'll take this over E-G12 any day," Amanda grumbled as she shoved the notebook in a satchel that hung around her shoulder before she proceeded to crack her neck. "Now we need to settle the council's matter so we can have the module permissions settled. Then we can get moving."

"Lots hanging on Ethan's shoulders," Gerald said, a smile stretching on his lips. "He must be having a lot of fun dealing with one crisis after the next. And the politics of it all."

A few of them chuckled at that, and even Ember bared her teeth and curled her tail back and forth.

Amanda rubbed the back of her neck. "I'm sure he'll want to take a little time off when he comes back, but we should be able to have our questions and requests dealt with quickly enough, then we can be out of his hair fast. Next we… what's going on?"

Amanda stopped talking as all of the vice-administrators went still, their smiles and good mood vaporizing in a second.

"Notification. An intruder. Up, everyone," said Liz jumping up to her feet.

Immediately, the chatty mood died out as everyone put their game face on. Ember's fur was rippling with flames, and they all bolted toward the gateless entrance of the settlement while Amanda summoned her wand and jumped up in the air, aimed at the water, and shot out a firebolt to call the alarm before she followed after them as she wondered.

Was this a monster, or did one of their neighbours finally find them?