Jeff stepped up to the System Pillar as it glowed even in the noon day sunlight. He decided to take a look at his Quests screen again to see how much he needed to complete his last non-time related quest.

Quests

Complete all Trainee Quests: (3/5)

Reward: Upgrade Spore Suit to Boschyan Recruit

Trainee Quests

Kill 30 Monsters: (Completed)

Reward: New Weapon (Available)

Reach Level 10: (Completed)

Reward: New Ability (Available)

Survive 10 nights in the wild: (3/10)

Reward: Personalized Pillar Room

Earn 500 Merit Points: (102/500)

Reward: Spore Suit Attachment

Improve Depth to 5: (Completed)

Reward: New Myst Connection (Received)

He only needed 398 more merit points earned to get a Spore Suit Attachment. He had no clue what type of reward that could be. If he didn’t have enough merit points with all the loot he was carrying he would head back to the tree with the red Mighty Flower Pods. He hoped it had survived the “sprouting”, as he decided to call the chaos of last night. If it had survived he would likely be able to get enough of the pods to complete the merit points quest.

Excited to start getting rewards Jeff began shoving his loot into the golden goo of the Pillar. He shoved in beetle heads, caterpillar stingers, and the two butterfly pieces. All of that added up to 114 new merit points. That helped quite a bit, but he still had a way to go. Then he started unloading his pockets of the alianthose seeds. He really wasn’t sure how much a level 0 acorn would go for. So far everything was 3 merit points per level of the monster. He stuck a handful into the Pillar and paused as a screen came up.

Alianthose Growth Acorn:

Acorns found from Alianthose trees during one night out of each solar year on certain planets. These nuts increase Vitality with an exponentially decreasing effect. Only works for plant-like beings.

Merit Points: 150

The result was so surprising that Jeff fumbled the other handful he was dragging out of his pocket.

“What on Earth?!” Kazi said.

“We’re not on Earth,” Jeff stated flatly, still focused on the screen presented on the side of the System Pillar.

“Fine! What on Tutorial Planet!” Kazi said excitedly, “That is an incredible amount of merit points for a little acorn. I think we just struck it rich!”

Jeff stood there stunned for a second before he started shoving as many acorns as he could into the pillar at once. The description of the item said that it only worked on plant creatures. He had already seen how one of those had leveled up a sapling. He was willing to trust that it was only for plant-like creatures and just cash out on the acorns.

The screen saying he had completed the earn merits quest had popped up after the first handful, but he had so many more to unload into the Pillar. He had been incredibly lucky to have been in the forest on the one night this year that the Alianthose trees dropped their saplings. Well, only lucky in hindsight. He came very close to dying several times last night. He was just as lucky to be alive as he was to chance into these amazing rewards.

He was not one to scoff at luck. It was just a fact of life. Sometimes you got lucky and sometimes you didn’t, but you should always take advantage of the times that you do.

He finished emptying out his pockets and bag then grabbed the couple he had let drop on the floor. He was about to turn them in as well, but decided to hold on to them for a bit. He really hoped that he would eventually be allowed off this planet and into the greater multiverse. Having a few on hand may be a good way to cultivate a friendship with a plant-like creature like Hrashtel who he’d seen in the vision.

He had earned 10,665 merits from one crazing night in the forest. He hoped Emily was watching right now. Ten thousand was an insane amount to him. The only thing he was spending his points on so far was meals and the occasional supplies. He had basically just found enough for a lifetime supply of food.

Speaking of food, he hadn’t had any since lunch yesterday. Jeff shoved his hands into the Pillar goo and brought them back out with a plate filled with steaming hot partitions of food. Getting a lifetime supply of food was one thing, having a lifetime supply of food this delicious was another thing.

He got settled and took a bite. Then, despite how hungry he was, he could not wait long enough to receive some of his rewards. He decided to start with the quest reward that took him out into the forest at night in the first place. It was time to get a new weapon. That was also the reward that had the lowest chance of knocking him out again. He wanted a full stomach before he was zonked out for half the day again.

He asked Kazi to accept the weapon reward and he reached one hand back into the goo.

His hand latched onto something metal and he pulled out the weapon. He was a little bummed to find that it was another halberd. It looked much fancier than the last one though. Its silver metal had golden webbing all across it that glowed faintly. The axe head had intricate designs etched into the large blade. The more he looked at it the happier he was with his reward. He was just worried that a halberd was the wrong choice. He had gotten it stuck in tree limbs so many times on his way through the woods. Still it was a very versatile weapon. He hoped that this one wouldn’t “fold under pressure” like the last one had while fighting the Monarch beetle.

“Versatility is one of the key components of a good weapon in the multiverse,” Kazi said, reading his thoughts. “Remember, you are dealing with magical gear now. Simplicity isn’t needed as much when you don’t have to compromise any downsides. You’ll find that many of the best weapons in the Boschyan Army are like your earthlings Swiss Army knives.”

Jeff thought about that while still examining his halberd and holding his tray of food in the other hand. Simplicity was good for swords in the past because they needed to be mass produced. And the populous needed to be mass trained on one item. Simplicity helped with those goals. He could see how weight could also become a factor on Earth. Humans, no matter how fit, can only lift a certain amount before it becomes too unreasonable to fight with. Now, he could likely compete in any strong man contest on Earth and he only had five points in his Strength attribute. The high level warriors likely had their stats in the hundreds. They could probably swing around a building as easily as he could swing around his halberd.

“Still though,” he said, “I was hoping for something more…magical than just another, more shiny halberd.”

His body buzzed for a moment in a sign of Kazi’s laughter. “Have you tried reaching out to it yet? See what your weapon can do.”

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If his hands were not full of halberd and fork he would have face palmed. He really needed to get in the habit of reaching out to things with his spirit regularly. He reached out with the same yearning feeling he had when he first came here. In four days he had already developed his spirit enough to have much more finesse with his spiritual touch. Also, his spirit had grown much larger than it had been before. Especially after tiering up his Spirit.

His spirit entered into the halberd and Jeff felt a bunch of information flow into his brain. He didn’t quite have the ability to process or even understand all that came into his mind. Still, he got the jist of what the weapon could do. With a thought and a pulse of spirit the weapon began to shrink its long shaft down to the size of a hand axe. The spear head had also shrunk down so it helped balance the weapon in this form much more than his current improvised hand axe.

The transformation took about ten seconds all together. It took too long to practically use in the middle of combat, but fast enough to give him easy versatility.

He sent another pulse into the weapon and it extended back into its longer length and then kept going to over twice its original length. It became so top heavy in his one hand that Jeff stumbled a bit and spilled his food all over the rocks around him. Cursing under his breath he put the now half filled tray down. It surprised him because the weapon actually grew heavier as it lengthened. He had expected it to maintain the same mass, but that wasn’t the case.

Magic…right…of course it doesn’t make sense, he reminded himself as Kazi laughed at him yet again.

He took a few minutes dedicated to familiarizing himself with the new weapon. He noticed that more could be changed than just the shaft. He could also make the axe head bloom out to become much larger. The weapon could also shrink down its axe head and back spike so that the spear point could be used with much more stability. He found it was hard for him to change more than one thing at a time on the halberd. His spirit didn’t feel strained at the changes it made, but he just had a hard time ‘communicating’ with the weapon.

“It’s likely due to your low Imagination stat,” Kazi suggested. “Being able to mold desired changes into a weapon like that requires a great deal of creativity. Many of the top warriors in the Boschyan Army can mold their weapon into a new shape for each new strike.”

Imagination was his lowest stat at 3 points. Once again Jeff felt the need to improve every one of his stats, but was already feeling spread thin. Hopefully with all his new money he could buy herbs and treasures that helped improve his stats.

The weapon was a very exciting surprise. He was expecting something more fantastical than practical. The System was so gamelike at times that he expected a sword that did 10 ice damage or a bow that allowed him to fire three shots at once. Abilities might exist to help him produce similar results, but that was different than having a weapon that did that for you.

Jeff put the halberd down and decided to check out his reward for earning 500 merit points. He had Kazi accept it then waited around for a bit. When nothing happened his spore chuckled and finally told him, “You will have to step into the Pillar for the next reward. Any changes made to our Spore Suit require physical adjusting.”

He quickly jumped up and walked directly into the Pillar. Walking through the golden goo was becoming somewhat normal to him now. It was actually a rather comforting feeling. He walked forward in a straight line and within a couple steps found himself standing on the same spot where he had entered. This time with a screen showing up in his vision.

New Attachment:

Identify Item - Tier 1

Scan an item and get a short description of the object and its properties and value.

He wasn’t sure what exactly it meant to ‘scan’ something, but he glanced over at the halberd on the ground and looked at it intently. He stared for nearly a minute before his spore finally spoke up.

“Uh, whatcha doing there?”

“You can read my mind, you know exactly what I’m doing. Are you going to help out now?”

The spore chuckled, “new rule from now on, try reaching out with your spirit before you try anything else. Basically every bit of Mystical technology is built on top of a spiritual foundation.” Jeff really didn’t know why he hadn’t tried that first.

He flexed his spiritual senses and scanned the halberd on the ground. As soon as his spirit touched on to the halberd a screen appeared.

Basic Weave Halberd

This halberd is an aluminum alloy woven with Myst in the Boschyan Army fashion. It has a base level of remolding capabilities. Myst woven aluminum is highly durable but not indestructible. Repairs can be made by buying Basic Weave Aluminum in the Pillar Shop.

Merit Points: 250

That made him wonder how much the Basic Weave Aluminum cost, but that could wait until later. He began sending his spirit out to identify every item around him.

Silver Food Tray

This is the most commonly identified item in all the System. It is just a food tray, but it can also be used as a weapon if needed. 14,092,392 people have killed monsters with this item so far. Please return your tray after use, even if used for fighting.

Merit Points: N/A

He laughed and immediately added ‘killing a monster with a food tray’ onto his multiverse bucket list.

Horned Breast Plate

Breast Plate created from a Horn Crowned Matriarch Beetle for a bipedal with two arms. The shell-like armor is very durable though the horn-like protrusions can make maneuverability difficult for some races.

+1 Vitality

+1 Processing

Merit Points: 70

He was surprised that the breast plate he was wearing was valued so much lower than the halberd. The halberds' usefulness was undeniable, but he had expected the two extra attributes to be worth more than that. Perhaps it was an issue of supply and demand. Armor was always needed.

He had definitely noticed its issue with maneuverability. Throwing discs required him to draw his arm across his body regularly. He only wore it so he could carry it back. He wasn’t sure if he would keep it. Especially now that he had enough merits to buy something more fitting.

Next he reached out to the interesting bit of wood he got from killing one of his first spore saplings

Fused Alianthose Bow

Living, fused and dormant Wooden Bow taken from an Alianthose Sapling after it ingested an Alianthose Growth Acorn. It can use its ability to string itself and attack.

Abilities: Vine Grasp

Shoots out a vine that wraps itself around a target tangling them up and then holding them in place.

+2 Vitality

+2 Dexterity

Merit Point Value: 1750

Jeff just shook his head at how overpowered the little vine-wrapped piece of wood about 3 feet long was. So much for all weapons being practical. This seemed like a very rare find though. If he hadn’t just earned over ten thousand merit points he would be ecstatic. For now he was just debating on whether or not he could even use the weapon. He never really liked archery, and that mattered. How much he liked something actually affected how many connections and abilities he could build to support it. That and he already had a very strong ranged option with his discs.

It was a shame because it was such a windfall. He really wished he could use it somehow. Then a thought stopped him in his tracks. He knew exactly who could use this. Could he send a gift to his wife?

“Kazi, am I able to deliver items to anyone? Do you have a mailing service or something?”

He felt a pulse of excitement come from the spore. He was directed to the System Pillar and he began the process of ‘shipping’ the item across the multiverse. He felt bad about getting rid of the weapon right after getting it, this way it would be put to use.

He hoped…

He sent the bow off to Emily. She wasn’t technically in the System yet, but Kazi was able to help out a bit. Having held hands across the multiverse actually helped create a link to her. It wouldn’t be delivered until after a number of circumstances. He actually had to create a quest for her to complete so that she could receive the reward.

Mail by quest? Jeff just shook his head. What else did he expect from a society that was built around a game like System. For everything that seemed completely practical there was another completely game-like element he discovered that reminded him this wasn’t like home.

He decided he really didn’t need the breast plate and set up a similar delivery for his son Ammon. Jeff wasn’t sure when the boy would finally be able to become fused and accept quests, but hopefully that would at least give the kids something to remember him by.

Once he finished with processing his delivery he finally sat down and accepted his final reward. It was time to see what ability he would get. Just as his vision was beginning to go black he remembered that he never actually got around to eating his food.

Well bummer, he thought.

Then he was sent into a vision.