Chapter 77: The Merit Ledger

“Why are you all looking at me like that?” Ember asked. “If you want to know, ask her.” She pointed to Adrienne.

“I don’t know what this is!” Adrienne exclaimed, her voice high.

“Let’s just call a meeting. We might as well tell everyone at the same time,” Aiden said calmly.

Alex watched Aiden’s face with suspicion. “You already know what it is.” It wasn’t a question.

Aiden nodded. “Don’t worry about that for now. We’ll call a meeting, and everybody can hear about it. I don’t feel like letting Em repeat herself for those who aren’t here.”

Adrienne sat, staring at the screen. To everyone else, it looked as if she had zoned out. What she was actually doing was checking the different functions of the merit system. She also took a brief look at the inventory Ember had sent to her.

Seeing everything made her already comical expressions even more so.

The ones who were already sitting there actually laughed when they saw her face. Alex chuckled softly while patting her back, trying to bring her thoughts back to the people in the room.

When Adrienne realized what she had done, her face blushed a little in embarrassment. “I hope when you see it, none of you look shocked. If you do, I’ll laugh in your face.”

With his authority, Aiden sent out a mass message. The message went directly to everyone’s merit system.

When Adrienne saw everyone’s face in response to the message. She let out a chortle. She said nothing. Only folding her arms. Her face was smug. She knew exactly what they were feeling. But after being laughed at, she wouldn’t express anything other than smugness.

It didn’t take long for everyone to rush in. The excitement of seeing the message and knowing that such a thing existed brought a sense of joy to everyone involved. Even Ivan and Cassia, who were still wet from the hot tub.

When everyone got comfortable, Ember started speaking.

“So we all know that we need to contribute to running the base and all that. Well, that contribution can be turned into base points. The contract you signed can help you keep track of your merit and allocate points. The points are then used to buy food and other things.”

“We haven’t started using them yet because we’ve been relaxing, but soon everyone will need to use them. There are a few ways to get points. The first is every day stuff. Cooking, cleaning, maintaining the hydroponics bay, just daily life.”

The second is for people with specialized skills. Things like engineering, management, so on and so on. You can get rewarded for creating songs that lift the spirit, creating new weapons, which you can do in the Forge. You’ll learn about that later.” Ember shook her hand to stave off questions.

“The third,” Aiden continued, ” is compassion. Healing the sick, mentoring newcomers, the list goes on. The fourth is valor. This is the dangerous part. Fighting those monster plants and the flesh wall are some of the examples of valor. There are also scouting opportunities.”

“It depends on what you want to do. You can do all of the above or just settle for doing one. Oh, and when you have enough contribution points, you can upgrade your room. Check your individual merit systems for that. Anyway, we have a long way to go.”

Eleven people who were sitting comfortably at first leaned forward as they listened. Hearing the different ways to gain merit points interested them. They were also amazed that the already good places to live could be upgraded.

When they were finally dismissed, everyone ran out of the room to check their merit systems.

[RESIDENT’S NAME]

[Current Merit Points:0]

[CONTRIBUTION CATEGORY]

[Contribution: 0 MP]

[For day-to-day tasks]

[Creation: 0MP]

[To specialized skills, innovation, and artistic endeavours.]

Compassion: 0 MP]

[For acts of healing, teaching and emotional support]

[Valor: 0 MP]

[For dangerous missions, defending the base and fighting its enemies]

[ACTIVITY LOG]

[MILESTONES & REWARDS]

This was the system everyone was looking at. Since the merit system was activated after the base was activated, unfortunately, none of the creatures they encountered could be used for merit points (MP). Still, they were excited to learn that there would be points they could use like currency for their daily lives.

As they watched everyone scurry away, they both couldn’t help shaking their heads. They knew this might lead to a wave of merit farming. If only to see if it actually worked.

Right now, though, there was one person who did have merit points, not including Ember and Aiden. That was Adrienne. Because she asked for the inventory information, she actually gained merit points from the start.

Aiden and Ember walked leisurely back to their private wing. They took in the sights and spoke softly to each other. They were still in vacation mode. Anything else that needed to happen would have to wait until then. Today was already enough work for them.

Aidn sighed, “It’s a good system, but as more people come to the base, there will definitely be people who try to cheat the system.”

“I know, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, we can only focus on what we can control.”

Ember flopped down on the bed. She closed her eyes briefly, opening them when she felt the bed sink beside her. She saw the look of worry on Aiden’s face.

She pulled him down, kissing between his brows.

“Don’t think about it. If you think about every little thing that could go wrong, you’ll get grey hair. You’re already older than me. Do you want people to think you’re my dad when they see us together?”

The look of horror that dawned on Aiden’s face made Ember laugh.

“Don’t worry, you don’t look a day over 40,” Ember said, soothing his hair.

That statement only made things worse.

That night, Ember learned what it meant not to tease an old man with too much stamina.

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