Survival Bunker System Developer

Survival Bunker Tutorial

It wasn’t in his phone, it wasn’t in his laptop. It wasn’t even in a device so what exactly was the Survival Bunker System meant to be? Caleb tried to recall any useful information about the gift he received but apart from a user manual that he knew in his head, nothing was mentioned about how he could access the system. It was a system, so that obviously referred to ‘software’ or ‘process’. Logically speaking, all software need to operate on a device but he wasn’t given one. How could he use the system if he didn’t know where the software was installed?

It was midnight and Caleb’s efforts didn’t yield any favourable results. He wasn’t closer to finding out how the Survival Bunker System worked or where it was. Jeremy was sharpening his claws and Caleb decided to take a break. He had been on the case for the last six hours and it was proving to be more difficult than hacking CISCO.

His mind continued to spin even when he was taking a shower. What kind of system was it? From what he recalled, the details of its first request were a little odd. Caleb needed to gather resources but he didn’t know what kind of resources he needed. Was it some sort of sacrificial system that converted resources into something else much like factories?

Following this train of thought, Caleb concluded that he needed to gather materials for bunkers. The toughest bunkers were often made from metal forged together. Some of those good bunkers would be able to withstand even an atomic bomb. However, here in New York City, wouldn’t it be too suspicious if a bunker of that sort suddenly appeared overnight in a neighbourhood like his? Caleb rinsed the shampoo and sighed.

“Wouldn’t it be great if that system could be summoned like those advanced sci-fi movies? Something along the lines of getting Alexa to turn off the bedroom lights… “System Activate” would be a good start or even “Control Panel” to bring up some holographic interface…”

No sooner did Caleb start rambling, a miracle happened.

He didn’t know if it was his command for the system to activate or his command to summon the control panel that triggered this holographic interface but there was a blue screen popped up in his vision, startling the system developer badly that he lost his footing and slipped in the shower.

With a groan and a bruised bottom, Caleb got up shakily. The blue window seemed to follow him wherever he went and remained in his direct field of vision. The system developer wasn’t sure what kind of technology this was but he was extremely impressed. The control panel of the Survival Bunker System was rather similar to the overview panel of the software’s functions. Caleb didn’t need a manual to figure out how the software worked but since there was a compulsory tutorial for the Survival Bunker System after he accidentally triggered its activation, Caleb decided to complete the tutorial while he was still in the shower.

[Welcome to the Survival Bunker System. Please click next to continue to the compulsory tutorial.]

Caleb hit the next button and was surprised that there was a solid feel to the panel. It wasn’t just a hologram, the panel before him was solid to the touch even if he was still able to see behind it or pass his hand through the sides of it. The button that contains a function had a solid feel and Caleb was fascinated by how advanced this technology was.

“Where is it being hosted? I don’t see any devices even if it behaves exactly like a program. How does this work?”

The system didn’t respond to Caleb’s questions. Instead, it changed its screen from the control panel to a different tab on the bottom of the screen.

[This is the Resource Panel where you can track how much resources you have collected for upgrading your bunkers. There are two types of resources at Level 1. The first resource is metal to build bunkers. You can click on it for more information after the tutorial. The second resource is ghouls. The more ghouls killed the more features the system can unlock when it levels up.]

Caleb raised a brow. This wasn’t a system. He wasn’t able to program it or tweak it to make it work because there was any coding or servers that he could look at. If anything, the system developer felt like it was a game. If it truly was a system, Caleb would have been able to pry it apart to analyse its code and replicate it for mass distribution to everyone to save themselves when the ghouls appeared. The greater entity that resurrected him was cheating his feelings. Caleb felt betrayed when he understood that this was a purchase upgrade and real-time strategy game. He was a system developer and not a gamer. Why didn’t that omnipotent lazy existence select someone else who was a pro at playing games to save the world?!

With a defeated sigh, Caleb clicked the next button to proceed with the tutorial. If he didn’t complete the compulsory tutorial, he would have to sleep with a blue screen in his face tonight.

[This is the Upgrade Panel where you can select various upgrades to unlock after accomplishing the system’s requirements. You can click on each available upgrade to be unlocked to find out more about the requirements. More upgrades will be introduced as the system levels up.]

Caleb clicked next once again and read through the user functions. The system was only able to create a ghoul-proof space for now because it was only Level 1. The minimum space required for a simple empty bunker was a hundred square feet. Established bunkers can be upgraded and expanded if he had enough materials and Caleb was glad the tutorial didn’t last more than five minutes.

Many geniuses were said to find their inspiration during their shower and Caleb didn’t think it was true until now. With the biggest problem of finding out how to use the Survival Bunker System now resolved, Caleb was able to explore the other functions of this strange technology.

Apart from the Resource Panel and the Upgrade Panel, there was also a Control Panel that he discovered earlier. The Control Panel was an overview of Caleb’s current progress with the levelling system and an inventory overview of what he had. It also allowed Caleb to customise some user options and Caleb found that the most interesting part of the system to look into.

The first thing Caleb did was to enable system notifications as well as the ability to shift the window panel or close it with a special verbal command. Summoning the system’s panel was also the same. Caleb changed the verbal command for summoning the system to something easier to remember. “Activate” was the keyword but it sounded too cheesy for a twenty-seven-year-old man so Caleb replaced that with “Open Interface”. He also tweaked the verbal command to close the window as “Close Interface” and explored the other options.

“To sacrifice materials to the system, touch the object and click on the “Add to System” button on the Resource Panel?”

Caleb went back to the Resource Panel and held his empty beer can to test it out. So far, the system accepted metals of any kind but no other materials. A research function was required but that could only be unlocked at Level 2. To level the system from Level 1 to Level 2, Caleb had to exterminate 100 regular ghouls. The system didn’t specify what kind of ghouls he had to kill and Caleb intended to test it out when he had the time. If killing animal ghouls counted towards levelling the system from Level 1 to Level 2, Caleb would be more than happy to fulfil the levelling requirements to improve the system’s bunker abilities. There were simply too many restrictions with Level 1.

The empty beer can in Caleb’s left hand vanished the moment Caleb pressed the “Add to System” button. However, nothing seemed to change. The number of resources he had was still zero and the progress bar towards being able to afford the basic bunker space didn’t move at all.

Puzzled, the system developer clicked on the requirements to read through what he needed.

[Basic Bunker Level 1]

Description: Provides a ghoul free space of 100 square feet without furnishings.

Requirements: 100kg worth of metals.

Progress: 0/100

After reading the detailed description of the Level 1 Basic Bunker, Caleb decided against sacrificing any more beer cans for now. The progress bar was referring to the metals weighing by the kilograms and Caleb simply did not have a hundred kilograms worth of spare metal lying around. If he thought about it, this was a rather expensive bunker system. A regular bunker didn’t require a hundred kilograms worth of metals unless it was a bomb shelter. Caleb didn’t know what the system wanted to do with so many metals but he certainly knew that he couldn’t afford to experiment on it for now. Even if he emptied his bank account, he wouldn’t be able to afford so many scrap metals to test the basic bunker out. There had to be another method.

Some of the more interesting features the system had were still locked. Caleb as very interested in the system’s ability to create automated assistants. Although he didn’t know what it did because the feature was still unlocked, he knew he had some system quests that he should complete for rewards that would help him. Automation was the gift of the smart but lazy. Caleb was proud to say that he tries to live as efficiently as he could. Apart from work, Caleb didn’t like to do much. Everything he had in his apartment was automated to a certain degree. Alexa and Siri were part of the lazy life he led. Caleb honestly could not be hardworking enough to get up and switch off the bedroom lights every night when he was dead tired. He wanted to be snuggled up underneath his blankets and ready to sleep before he had somebody else do it for him. Unfortunately, his parents passed on early and he had moved out from his mentor’s house to live alone so Caleb enlisted the help of a smart home AI.

The first quest was relatively simple. All Caleb had to do was design a bunker system that was self-sufficient in an apocalypse situation so that humanity can live safely and comfortably. For normal people, this was easier said than done. However, the system developer knew exactly what he needed for the bunkers. If he was given the right to design them from scratch, Caleb wanted to include everything that he didn’t manage to get in his previous life. The hardest part was not having clean drinking water and a stable electricity source after the government cut the resources for New York City. Caleb might have been able to fashion his own water filtration system and power generator using car batteries but they were not a long-term situation. Now that he was given the opportunity, Caleb wouldn’t want to let it go to waste.

He looked at the time and yawned. It was two in the morning and whatever the strange system had to offer, Caleb already understood how it worked. Instead of calling it a program or software, the Survival Bunker System greatly resembled some sick purchase equipment upgrade game that he had to grind resources for in real life. The one thing that made this strange technology different from games would be its ability to give Caleb the free reign to decide what kind of designs the bunker system should have instead of determining what the best kind of bunker was. Still, it didn’t change Caleb’s opinion about the mighty existence who gave him the system and a new chance at life. If they truly were all-knowing like in the bibles, they would already have an answer about what kind of systems worked the best in an apocalypse. All Caleb had to do was collect the resources and execute the plan. The fact that he was required to come out with the plan made Caleb think that God or whatever that was, didn’t have a clue about what they could do with their powers other than assisting Caleb and arming him with an over-the-top technology.

“Close interface,” Caleb yawned and the blue window disappeared. He didn’t know if that blue window could be seen by anyone else seeing as the system was something especially given to him.

The system developer told his home assistant to turn off the lights and tucked in, not wishing to think anymore for the day. He was exhausted after pulling all-nighters to find information about PXE22. Then, the Survival Bunker System wasn’t making much sense and gave him a new task to complete on top of the five big contracts pending for his attention from his clients.

Life wasn’t fair and while Caleb was glad for the second chance, he wasn’t too happy at having to work like a slave without rewards. Oh wait, he had rewards. He would be rewarded with one free basic bunker if he completed the plan. Compared to scrapping a hundred kilograms’ worth of metals and designing an ideal bunker system, Caleb would choose the latter even if he was unwilling.