I Built This City Chapter 52: Chapter 52

Read chapter 52 of I Built This City by ThePudding on NovelPedia.

Village Ellen Ellen didn’t wake up in her own bed. That alone was a relief, even if it disoriented her. She stared up at the ceiling for several long moments, fighting back the wobble in her vision and the nausea she felt. The back of her head throbbed with a dull ache, and her right hand shared a similar ache, but she wasn’t in any sort of real pain. She closed her eyes again, waited for the nausea to fade, and took a breath. When she opened her eyes once more, she felt more steady. It was still chilly, but no more than was normal for the winter, so she was pretty sure she was okay. The Level Up notification still pulsed silently in the corner of her vision, so she knew she wasn’t a new Ellen. Not to mention she remembered the moments before what could have been her ‘death’ pretty clearly, though they were somewhat jumbled by her concussed state at the time. Ellen could still remember the strange messages about a failsafe, though. What had it said? Failsafe activated prematurely ? Words that she sort of knew the meaning of, but taken together they didn’t make much sense. She could only surmise it came about because she had almost died. Hadn’t it said something like that? “Something about persona death?” The question in her own voice sounded unnaturally loud in the quiet room. She flinched, worried she’d make her headache come back… but no such thing happened. Whatever had happened to her had hurt, but she felt like she could move. She’d just take it slowly, just in case. She’d hit her head a few years before and tried to roll out of bed without preparation, and had ended up vomiting on the floor. She’d prefer not to do that. Taking a low, steadying breath, Ellen lifted her right hand to inspect it. The ache was still there, but looking at it was a relief. Someone had wrapped a bandage around her hand, after cleaning it up. She wiggled her fingers and thumb and winced as it sent a painful jolt through her hand… but it was the pain of torn, healing flesh complaining of the movement, not the deeper ache of a broken bone. Could have been a lot worse. She closed her eyes again and sighed. It also could have been much, much worse if it had been someone without Steady Mind that the stranger had attacked. It made her stomach tighten as she thought about it, though. In some ways, it was lucky that he’d gone after the Townsaver that could resist the mental influence… but that hadn’t really mattered when he’d awakened. It was just her luck that out of the entire village, she’d gotten attacked instead of… Ellen’s eyes snapped open. “Why me?” The whisper left her lips at the same time she pulled up her Class description. TOWNSAVER The Townsaver bolsters the heart of a community. Through both body and soul, this Class provides comfort and safety to all who dwell within. A community with a Townsaver can weather many catastrophes, for no matter what ill befalls them, it must always face the Townsaver first. She stared at the description. The System could be strangely literal with everything, and she’d foolishly chosen this Class. Now the answer was right in front of her. It must always face the Townsaver first. It wasn’t descriptive. It was prescriptive . Ellen groaned softly and resisted the urge to swear under her breath. These were unknown Classes, they all should be more careful! No, no. It could have been coincidence , she thought to herself. She doubted it, because what were the odds? But it could have been. The System was tied up tightly with Fate, though she’d never heard of it outright manipulating events like what would have been required. “Might as well get my Level.” Carefully, she sat up and looked at her Ability options. Choose an Ability Townsaver’s Sanctuary (Upgradable) Purify Water (Upgradable) Assess Needs Rally Population (Upgradable) Those were… less crazy than she’d feared. Purify Water was one she’d expected, even. Rally Population was more of a leadership Ability, so she didn’t know much about it other than the name,