TAKE ON ME [Survival LITRPG Apocalypse]

The shout from outside thundered through the thin stick walls.

Tess's eyes snapped open.

"Hell yes, Donald! Now that's how you do it!"

Her father's voice boomed across Foundation. Instead of the usual edge of anger, it carried something almost foreign: approval.

Tess exhaled in relief.

Pale morning light leaked through gaps in the makeshift walls, painting thin stripes across Finn's sleeping face. Her mother hadn't stirred either: Hana had stayed up through most of the night with the other [Tool Makers], churning out as many [Crappy] tools as they could. Soon they would transition to creating [Basic] tools, but first they needed a [Basic Tool Shed].

So much work to get through. Time to get started.

Tess left her Shack and headed toward the Town Hall.

"From top to bottom, this looks great! Damn good job!" Bo's voice boomed across the hill again.

The previous night, Donald had been on the receiving end of one of her Dad's legendary tear-downs. But, by now, everyone knew Bo Robinson did not hand out praise willy nilly. Yesterday, Donald looked like he wanted to kill Bo; today, he looked like he was ready hug him.

Tess recalled the dinner conversation from the previous night as she walked down the frozen path between Shacks.

They had told Dusty about the town's decision: that Raintree would take in the refugees, and that they would stand and fight. The guy had actually teared up.

After they had sent Dusty off to find some new clothes and take a freezing dip in the river, they had huddled around the campfire and speculated about the massive creature with the club. Sure, size did not always equal level—some of the Level 2 Headless Marauders were huge—but the way the other monsters gravitated around it suggested something else entirely.

Amber had hammered that point home at least twenty times during dinner. "That thing could be Level 25 for all we know! We need to level, and we need to do it fast!"

The morning plan was set: Dusty would be given supplies, and he would run out to reconnect with the nearest refugee group. Tess and the rest of Team One would head into the Deep Woods zone. Not just to grind experience—though, as Amber had pointed out, they seriously needed it—but to understand what kind of nightmare sat on their eastern border. If a big group of people had stumbled in there and triggered spawns . . .

Tess rounded another corner just as Amber emerged from the Damascus family's [Crappy Shack].

Loo stumbled behind her older sister, her eyes barely open as she squinted at the brightening sky.

"I don't know why you're making me do this," Loo whined, her voice thick with sleep. "I told you, I'm a support class. I'm not supposed to fight."

Amber's grip on her sister's wrist didn't loosen. "And I told you, you need to learn to defend yourself. You're Level 5, and if you were attacked by a Level 1 'anything' right now, you'd probably die."

The memory of the Spider Dungeon flickered in Tess's thoughts: the moment when Loo had been attacked by the Wolf Spider swarm.

"You scared the heck out of . . . everyone in there. Plus, you need to figure out how to continue your poses even if you have to dodge an attack or something. You can't mess up and drain everyone's mana again."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Loo's cheeks flushed.

Amber noticed Tess and brightened immediately. "Hey, you want to come with us? We're doing hand-to-hand training down in the new zone your Dad set up. Terry the [Monk] is going to run a class. I bet a lot of people are going to be there!"

"You can have my place," Loo grumbled, trying unsuccessfully to pry her sister's fingers loose.

Tess shook her head. "If there's time before we head to the Deep Woods, but I want to check on a few things. Don't train too hard and tire yourselves out. And don't be late!"

Tess knew time wouldn't really be an issue, as they were headed into a time-dilated area. It was still super early, and they weren't supposed to meet for the Deep Woods for two more hours. She watched them go. Amber practically dragged Loo down the path toward the training grounds, then turned toward the Town Hall.

The makeshift streets were already stirring with activity. Construction crews gathered tools, guards changed shifts, and somewhere a forge rang with the rapid time-dilated ping of hammer on metal.

Tess rounded a corner near the lumber processing area, and found her father shaking hands with Walt. The man looked like he'd been carved from the same Boldheart Cedar they harvested: mid-fifties; tanned and weathered skin; and giant hands like leather gloves. Tess knew him vaguely as a [Monk] who fought in Team Three alongside Bridget. Her Dad knew him as Sam's second, but he had promoted Walt to head [Lumberjack] until they figured out all the Guild rules and Kingdom contracts.

"Thanks for the hard work." Bo clapped him on the shoulder with genuine warmth. He seemed to be in a good mood.

Walt nodded, businesslike but pleased. He glanced to Tess and inclined his head. "Good morning, Lady Tess."

She smiled and gave a small wave.

Walt headed off down the path, leaving her alone with her father.

"Ben has the construction crews already up and working this morning," Bo said. "He's managing multiple crews on multiple projects. We need extra Boldheart Cedar urgently for the [Blacksmith], [Tailor Workshop], [Bowyer Workshop], and the new [Lumbermill]. Now that we're upgrading everything to [Basic], we're burning through the stockpiles.

Bo's jaw tightened. "Thank God Sam had the foresight to set aside so much of that special lumber. Walt's got teams looking for more now. The expeditions to upgrade the Quarry for sandstone and the Mine for Tin are headed out shortly. Non-combat volunteers mostly, but they'll need an escort. You got a team ready?"

"Yep, we have plenty of teams now." Tess mentally ran through the combat rosters she'd been helping to organize.

"Good." Bo frowned a little less: his version of a smile. "The admins worked out some pretty decent schedules for people to get both training and crafting time daily. Soon as we get these crafting buildings operational, we can start pumping out upgraded [Basic] armor and weapons."

They walked together through the growing bustle of Foundation, stopping to address a dozen minor crises: a shortage of nails here, a dispute over Training Zone allocation there.

The time blurred past, and it wasn't all bad.

Tess allowed herself a little pride as she watched the battle masters she'd helped train now instructing their own teams. Even more surprising were the kids—some barely teenagers—explaining combat formations to groups of adults with patient authority.

They rounded another Construction Zone, and found Tom shaking hands with Charlie.

"I'll try to have it done for you," Charlie said.

"Thanks again." Tom dropped a pouch into Charlie's waiting hand. The Coins inside clinked.

Tom joined them as they crested the hill toward the breakfast fires. Lord Richard and the rest of the families had already gathered, attempting light conversation over bowls of veggie porridge. But the forced cheer couldn't mask the underlying tension; well, tension from everyone except Amber, who practically buzzed.

After a few last bites of breakfast and one last gear inspection—weapons sharpened, armor secured, supplies distributed—they headed east toward the cool Sun.

*****

They had walked for about twenty minutes further east than the normal patrol route.

The air changed the moment they crossed the invisible boundary. It felt thicker: heavy with the scent of rotting vegetation preserved beneath frost.

A prompt appeared in Tess's vision. Some prompts had a 'weight' or a 'feeling' to them; this prompt felt like the Headless and Spider Dungeon prompts: dangerous.

[You have entered a Deep Woods zone. Wave 1 will begin in 15 minutes, or you may trigger it now. Would you like to trigger the monster wave now? Yes or No.]

"Everyone hit no," Tess said quickly.

The prompt faded, replaced immediately by a flashing update to their tutorial panel.

[Deep Woods information: One monster spawned per person per wave. All monsters must be destroyed, or they are free to leave the zone. Ten waves total will reset on a rolling 24-hour period.

Warning: Deep Woods Bosses and rare creatures may randomly spawn during each monster wave.

You are allowed to leave the Deep Woods safely before Wave 1 begins, or after the successful completion of each wave.]

One per person, just like Dusty had said. Today, they would be fighting waves of ten creatures.

The tutorial information continued, displaying details about Deep Woods monster themes and their random daily rotations. Today could be Cursed Turtles: tomorrow, Dark Tree Nymphs.

The level of the monsters was explained as well: average group level minus five levels for Wave 1; plus five for Wave 10.

The tutorial provided a second tab with an example.

[If the average level of your group is 25, Wave 1 would consist of Level 20 monsters. Wave 2 would be Level 21. Wave 3 would be Level 22 . . . ]

Each finger on Tess's hands extended as she worked through the wave information.

[Wave 5 would be Level 24. Then Wave 6 would jump to Level 26, skipping the group's average Level 25 entirely. Wave 7 would be Level 27, up to Wave 10 at Level 30.]

The tutorial gave another example, this time specific to their situation. Since the group's average level was 5, Waves 1 and 2 would both spawn Level 1 creatures—the Universe would not spawn level-zero monsters. But Wave 10 would end with . . .

"Level 10 monsters," Tess breathed. "Since we're all Level 5."

No way we can handle that. Not without casualties.

But the early waves? Those they could farm for experience.

"This is gonna be awesome!" Amber bounced on her toes in a half-dance, spinning her Daggers. "As long as it's not spiders . . . "