Grinning from one pointed blue ear to the other, Reggie gave Alan one final nod of appreciation, and then vanished. He took along with him both of Alan's old Storage Rings, as well as any reason Alan had to continue delaying his long-awaited nap. As far as he knew, the planning phase was done. Now they had just over sixty hours to decide whether they were going to smash the tower, or wait and take the Trials.
It took him another five minutes to sift through, and then store the last of his possessions. It would've been faster had Su'ong helped. Yet the moment the Wraith disappeared, she stated her intentions of getting the lay of the land. Waving off Alan's offer to accompany her, she assured him that she would remain within the Lakeside area, turned on her heels, and strode off towards the far side of the lake.
Having been cooped up for so long, it was no wonder to Alan that she was eager to go out and do some exploring. He would've preferred to accompany her, if for no other reason than to watch her back. Yet when he thought back to how handily she had overwhelmed him, Alan had to admit that she was capable of handling herself just fine without him hovering over her shoulder like an overprotective chaperone.
After ensuring that he hadn't missed a single Lotus Coin, Alan pulled up his PSA, and selected the Inventory tab. The plan was to take full stock of his 'worthless junk' as Reggie had so casually called it. Instead of the detailed list of his possessions that he expected, what appeared in its place was an unanticipated System notification.
*WARNING!* Allow (Rare) Interdimensional Storage Case (Soul-bound) to synchronize with your Personal System Access screen? Yes/No.
“Ok, so it's asking for permission first?.. Huh…” While not something that Alan would've thought to be an option had he not only just read it himself, it actually made perfect sense once he thought about it. If the Storage Case didn't have the ability to access his PSA, he couldn't really expect his PSA to display its contents.
The permission notification also went a long way towards proving that Reggie's theory about the hidden functions of the Tutorial Storage Rings might actually be correct. His Storage Ring had certainly never once asked for permission to access his PSA. If it was able to brute force it's way into his personal System information with him none the wiser, Alan felt it safe to assume that there were likely other hidden functions as well.
“Don't have much of a choice now do I? Alan demanded of the lingering notification. Rapidly becoming wary of Storage devices in general, yet unable to bypass the necessity of having an active Inventory tab. Begrudgingly, Alan selected Yes, and was met with yet another notice.
Caution! Attempting to synchronize your (Rare) Interdimensional Storage Case (Soul-bound) to with your Personal System Access screen…… Success! Cataloging contents… Success!
Let's try this again… Alan rolled his eyes and selected his Inventory tab. This time, it worked as expected.
***INVENTORY***
CONSUMABLES
Self Refilling Water Canteen
Jerky- 13 lbs
Trail Mix- 9 lbs
Corrosive Stout Tail Scorpion Meat- 6 lbs
DEFENSIVE/OFFENSIVE TREASURES
(C) Shadow Shurikens- 4
COMPONENTS AND CATALYSTS
Corrosive Stout Tail Scorpion Chitin fragments- 87
(F-Stage) Attuned Beast Cores (Earth)- 13
(E-Stage) Mana Crystal (Ice)- 1
(E-Stage) Mana Crystal (Fire)- 1
(E-Stage) Mana Crystal (Nature)- 1
(E-Stage) Mana Crystal (Lightning)- 1
(E-Stage) Earth Wyrm Heart- 1
ARTIFACTS
[Stone of Calling]
[Warden of Blight] Class Scroll
MISCELLANEOUS
Charcoal Sticks- 6
Pieces of Paper- 21
(Common) Roughly Crafted Spike- 10
(Common) Mana-thread Fishing Pole
LOTUS COINS
(Copper)-12642
(Iron)- 2400
(Silver)- 1601
TUTORIAL TOKENS
(Copper)-57
(Iron)- 13
(Silver)- 3
Having completely forgotten about storing the Earth Wyrm's heart, Alan made a quick mental note to come back and study it in more detail, and scanned the rest of his inventory. As far as he could tell, everything aside from his weapons and armor was accounted for. The Lotus Coin tally was a bit overwhelming. With three different types, and damn near seventeen thousand of them in his possession, Alan felt like he should be set on funds for a while.
Yet he couldn't help but wonder what the actual difference between a (Copper) and (Iron) lotus coin was. It seemed safe to assume that the (Copper) variety was the least valuable, if only because they were by far the most numerous. That logic led him to believe that the (Silver) coins were likely the best he owned.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
But what was the difference in their value? It was that question in mind that Alan withdrew a (Silver) Lotus Coin from his inventory. The speed at which the small coin appeared in his hand was astounding. Even though the Storage Case was more that twenty feet away, there was no delay at all.
Alan no longer possessed a Storage Ring with which to test out his theory, but he was willing to bet a thousand (Copper) Lotus Coins that the summoned coin materialized faster than it would've were he still relying on the Tutorial Spyware Ring.
The subtle scent of slightly spicy flowers wafted off of the (Silver) Lotus Coin. Alan cocked his head to the side, and after a moments hesitation, leaned in and gave it a brief sniff. Up close, there was no mistaking the tang of citrus-y flowers, with harsh undertones of peppers.
“Is this what lotus flowers smell like?“ Alan wondered, crinkling up his nose with distaste. “This thing smells like spicy shit.“ Unwilling to put up with the stench for any longer than absolutely necessary, Alan activated [Appraise].
(Silver Grade) Lotus Coin- Universal System currency. (Value: 1000 (Iron Grade) Lotus Coins)
“Well, that's a good sign!“ It was looking like perhaps he had more wealth than he'd previously realized. With a thought, the coin vanished back into Alan's inventory, only to be replaced with an (Iron) Lotus Coin. He braced for the stench and activated [Appraise], yet aside from a nearly imperceptible hint of greenery, I didn't have much of a smell at all. It was so slight that he couldn't even guarantee he was actually smelling the coin in the first place. He could've just as easily been smelling the scent of grass blowing on the constantly shifting, yet gentle breeze.
(Iron Grade) Lotus Coin- Universal System currency. (Value: 1000 (Copper Grade) Lotus Coins)
“A piece of jerky would be nice if you wouldn't mind too terribly much,” Alan asked politely of his Storage Case as he stumbled over a bit of rough math. A single piece of jerky the size of his hand appeared in his hand, and he shoved the entire strip into his mouth. While it was certainly as dry as he remembered, there was a vague hint of spices that he didn't remember noticing before.
Did my taste buds get stronger too? Or is it because of my new Race? It's like all of my senses are on overdrive… How much of that is because of my Stats? All of it? None? The answer probably sat somewhere in the middle of the two, but until he was able to switch back to his Human form, all he had were assumptions that could easily prove to be wrong.
Alan was certainly no mathematician, yet even he was capable of figuring out that he was already a literal millionaire. If an (Iron) Lotus Coin was worth one thousand (Copper) coins, and a (Silver) was worth a thousand (Iron)s, than as long as he wasn't missing something, a (Silver) Lotus Coin was worth one million (Copper) Lotus Coins.
All the stories from Earth about the struggle to accumulate wealth obviously didn't translate over to a System-governed existence.
I'm a self-made multi-millionaire… And all it took was spending a month in a death trap. That had to be some kind of a record. I wonder how many people from pre-System Earth would be willing to take the risk? If I were to set it up like one of the old T.V. game shows that for some reason became so popular, it would probably see a lot of willing participants. But what would I call it?
“'Dungeon Born Millionaire' sounds pretty spot on, if not a little corny…” Alan mumbled, suddenly curious as to the difference in values between a (Copper) Lotus Coin, and a U.S. Dollar. “Hopefully it's worth a lot more…” From the stories he'd been raised on, a cyber war had rocked the majority of the worlds financial infrastructure not too long before the System initialized. In the end, they were forced to abandon their digitally-based currency, and go back to one backed by precious metals and minerals.
Before his tired mind could be allowed to wander any further, Alan pulled up his Equipment tab.
***EQUIPMENT***
EQUIPPED WEAPONS
Right Hand:
Left Hand:
EQUIPPED ARMOR
Head:
Shoulders:
Arms:
Hands:
Chest:
Waist:
Legs:
Feet:
Tail:
EQUIPPED ACCESSORIES
UNEQUIPPED
(B) Ring of Swiftness (+2 Agility)
(B) Tutorial Dagger (+2 Strength, +1 Dexterity)
(C) Basilisk fang dagger (+3 Strength, +2 Vitality)
(U) Warlockwood Staff (+2 Strength, +4 Wisdom, +4 Resistance.)
(C) Crossbow (+2 Agility, +3 Perception)
(U)Tortoise Shell Tower Shield (+5 Strength, +5 Dexterity)
(U) Wasteland Tortoise Scale Pauldrons (+2 Constitution, +1 Agility)
(B) Wasteland Tortoise Scale Bracers (+2 Constitution, +1 Agility
(U) Wasteland Tortoise Scale Breastplate (+2 Constitution, +1 Agility)
(U) Wasteland Tortoise Scale Greaves (+2 Constitution, +1 Agility
(U) Wasteland Tortoise Scale Boots (+2 Constitution, +1 Agility)
(U) Wasteland Tortoise Scale Faulds (+2 Constitution, +1 Agility)
(B) Tutorial Pauldrons (Damaged)
(B) Tutorial Bracers (Damaged)
(B) Tutorial Leather Greaves (Damaged)
“Tail armor? What the fuck kind of armor goes on a tail?“ Alan pondered out loud and summoned his (Basic) Ring of Swiftness from inventory. His fingers were a lot bigger in his Beast form, and unlike the Ring of the Phoenix's Rebirth, it didn't seem to have a resizing capability. Sighing, Alan returned it to inventory, and withdrew the Earth Wyrm's heart.
A cube of rock hard, warm purple flesh the size of Alan's head materialized in his hand. The occasional droplet of silver blood still dripped from the many arteries he'd hastily severed in his haste to tear it from the Earth Wyrm's chest. Unsure whether or not the silver blood was of any actual use, yet unwilling to waste a potentially rare substance, Alan activated [Appraise], and returned the heart to inventory.
Early (E-Stage) Adolescent Earth Wyrm Heart- An Earth attuned Lesser Dragon heart. Although looted by an amateur, it remains mostly intact. Highly sought after by Crafters, Alchemists, Smiths, and Ritualists, as both a component, and a catalyst. The blood contained within is a treasure itself that can be brewed into potent Statistical Supplement Potions and Pills. A few Races are known to possess the ability to consume lesser Dragon Hearts raw, in an attempt to gain the remnant strength contained within. (Valued at 3.5 (Silver) Lotus Coins.)
There wasn't much he could do with it now, but with so many potential uses, Alan knew that he would figure out a way to use it eventually. That, or he could always sell it.
The only thing Alan cared about was sleep. There was little else he would've preferred to do, except one more objective had to be met before he could settle down. Having given his word to Gaea that he would use the [Meditation] Skill for an hour a day, Alan decided to fullfil his obligation and gathered up the Plantain leaves that Reggie left on the floor.
After stacking them up next to the fire pit, Alan rolled them up into a thick mat, and sat down crosslegged on his surprisingly comfortable makeshift bed. Maneuvering the tip of his tail towards the fire wood pile, Alan used it to dig through the scraps of wood until he found a suitable large branch about three feet long, and nearly as big around as his wrist.
Not looking forward to another round of repeated failures due to his inability to control his own Strength Stat, Alan called his Tutorial Dagger from inventory.
It looked tiny in his misshapen hands, but it would be easier to use than his unwieldy claws. Alan assumed that he would get used to using them eventually, but as of now, carving out anything with accuracy, and without driving his finger directly through the wood was a task better left to a blade.
Meditation was an obscure concept that Alan had little actual knowledge about. And what he did know of it seemed like a blatant waste of his time. “No way I'm just gonna sit here without trying to grind out a skill level or two,” Alan complained. Giving the leathery tip of his finger a quick poke proved his flesh had toughened up enough that it was going to take much more force to break through the skin.
Satisfied that he wouldn't accidentally chop a finger off if he lost focus, Alan transferred the choosen piece of lumber from his tail, to his left hand. It was slightly curved in the middle, and one end was hooked like the handle of a cane. For some reason, when he really focused on it, he could sense what the branch was supposed to be. Perhaps it was his passive [Whittling] Skill, or something else entirely.
The how didn't really matter. Now that he had an objective In mind, Alan stripped off the bark and small sticks before the mental image faded. After tracing out a rough outline of what he hoped to create, Alan activated [Meditation].
All at once, his eyes grew heavy as his mind was momentarily purged of all conscious thought.