The shorts, socks, and boots from the [Starter Pack] are surprisingly comfortable. I mean, the cargo shorts feel like cargo shorts but they aren't as coarse as I was expecting System-made stuff to be. The only thing really missing for the outfit is a belt as I didn't get one from the [Starter Pack] and I decided not to risk using mine.
I've started to notice the deterioration caused by the ambient magical energy on thinner objects and a belt snapping is the same as not having one at all and may even be worse than that.
When I went to the System Shop before, I wasn't expecting to have as many dead animals as I did and my shorts had begun to pull down from the weight a little. To get around that, I started hanging them on my backpack as well.
This time, however, I don't need to hang them from my shorts. I have a wagon that I use to transport larger, heavier things around my yard with me this time. In it is a large cooler which takes up most of the space, which I've filled with ice and monster meat. A basket with monster parts and maginiite crystals sits beside that, along with some jars of jam, jelly, and preserves. Not a significant amount, but there wasn't much of another option for me.
I perform one last check of my things, then I set off down the street. To my disappointment, the only things I really encounter are stoneshot squirrels and magihawks on my way. With my growing stats, I can take out the magihawks with one hit and the mind magic in their spell only agitates me rather than paralyzes me.
Such weak fights aren't going to earn me more Levels, I don't think, so I kind of do want something better. At least I'm able to harvest their corpses to process into meat and crystals and other things to eat or sell. That will have to wait until I get home, and I wish I could gain more Levels for [Elemental Mage] before then.
Just because I made a proper meal for lunch rather than something simple, I gained the [Cooking] Skill and the [Chef] Class, which means I can only gain one more Level in a Class that isn't [Elemental Mage] or I miss out on the bonus.
That was… annoying. But I guess it makes sense. The other Classes are gaining Levels fairly easily as well.
When I reach the main road, I spot human bodies there. Three men, two women, and six children. They were absolutely torn apart by something while running away. Based on how their bodies are scattered and where they're facing, it's easy to assume that they were trying to reach the System Shop out of a hope that it was safe.
Kneeling down, I examine the body of one of the youth, the first corpse I reach. It's a teen about sixteen or seventeen and while I don't recognize him, I can tell that he was fit. Even with the wounds covering him, the muscle definition is clear on him. That's probably why there's a smaller kid with him, a girl who looks about four. He must have been carrying her as they ran with him using his body to shield hers.
Their injuries don't match the ones I've seen from stoneshot squirrel attacks or magihawks. There are three types of them.
One type of injury are long lines which look as if something slashed their bodies, but in sets of one rather than groups of three like with the magihawk attacks. Those crisscross over each other rather than run in parallels.
Another seems to be impacts bigger than a [Stone Bullet]s. They're scattered over their bodies in varying levels of penetration and diameter. Some actually are as small and weak as the attacks from the stoneshot squirrels while others look like they were from something as thick as my fist. I don't see any stones here which may have caused those particular injuries, though.
Third and finally among the injuries are just straight-up gouges, as if something tore into them and ripped them apart. Most of the injuries are on the back of the guy rather than his front, while I think the girl might have died from her head hitting the ground when teen carrying her went down. The attack-caused injuries on her are less severe as well.
While I do want a more challenging fight to earn me more Levels… I'm not sure I want to know what creatures killed this group. All of their injuries match the first teen's and based on the differences between the three types, that means there were at least three things here.
Or one really dangerous one.
I look around but spot nothing so continue on my way to the System Shop, just a little bit more cautiously than before. Nothing new attacks me on the way there and I let out a sigh of relief upon entering the safe zone.
"Hello, Carter Elm," the golem I approach says when I reach the counter. "How can I help you?"
"I'd like to do some sales and some trades first," I tell him. "Meat and parts from stoneshot squirrels, magihawks, and stonefang vipers, as well as earth maginiite and air maginiite. After that, I want to trade in some of the things I had before, as long as the cost is reasonable."
"Based on the total values of the meat and parts of monsters you have brought with you," the golem says as I turn to the wagon. "You can earn 1,583 syscre."
I pause at that number. That seems really high compared to the costs of goods in the shops and I know they're going to sell them for even more.
"How much?"
"You can earn 1,583 syscre for trading in the meat and parts of monsters," the golem states. "This includes the meat, the talons, the beaks, the feathers, the fangs, and the maginiite crystals. Please know that the higher values for these items is a result of a current shortage of them. As supply increases, how much they sell for will decrease."
That makes sense. With how few people are probably alive and how many fewer are even reaching here, not many people are managing to sell stuff to the shop. I can't imagine there are too many people buying things right now, either, so the earnings will probably go down for things which aren't selling.
The shops are probably using a base price to start with as the local economy in this new version of Earth is sorted out. It will be days or weeks before a proper basis for the supply and demand estimates exists.
"Okay," I say. "Wait, you don't need me to put the items on the counter?"
"It is allowed but not required," the golem states. "We can accept higher volumes or larger items without it, though all payments and received goods will be placed on the counter."
"Okay," I say. "I'd like to sell everything."
"Processing… complete."
The golem places a hand on the counter and the hand turns blue for a moment. When he pulls it away, there are some silver and copper syscre coins there. I check the wagon and the stuff I was selling are all gone.
"Would you like to trade in the produced goods now?" He asks.
"Yes," I answer.
"Going from the lowest fee to the highest," he says. "The jars of grape jelly require 1 syscre, the jars of strawberry jam and the ones of blueberry jam require 2 syscre, the ones of mixed berry jam requires 3 syscre, and the ones of apple preserves requires 5 syscre. If you are still interested in trading in your first-aid kit, that is 500 syscre. These fees are based on the requirement for the product to not wear out due to exposure to the ambient Mana within this area. Please place all items you wish to trade and the payment for the fees on the counter. We can make change if needed."
He even remembered the inquiry about the first-aid kit. I pull that out of my backpack and place it on the counter, then add the jars of jelly, jam, and preserves to it. There were two of each of those, so I place 550 syscre on the counter.
The golem touches one of the jars and his hand turns blue for a second, then all of the items turn blue before vanishing. He then places his hand on the counter and his hand turns blue for a second, then he pulls it away as replacements for everything and my change appear.
All of the jars are the same size as the ones I traded in, though their designs are a little bit different. They resemble mason jars to me, but with vine patterns at their corners, going from the bottom up to the metal tops. On the tops of the jars is a pattern which seems to resemble which plant the contents were made from. Each jar also has a label on the front stating what's inside, and they're all just the same thing I had before.
To my surprise, the first-aid kit comes in a plastic container. Or at least, one which looks plastic. Its contents sort-of match the contents of the old one, except with tins of healing salve for different things instead of tubes or packets of them. Needles and thread, bandages and adhesive bandages, tweezers, even cleaning cloths, gloves, masks, and more are in this kit. It's essentially the same thing as what I had before, just updated to be for a world of magic.
I was expecting at least some stuff to be missing or different and the only real difference was for the salves for burns and antibiotics. Even that's just an equivalent, though.
"Isn't plastic bad for the environment?" I ask.
"The plastic of your previous modern world will be completely destroyed by the ambient Mana in the air and therefore, will not affect the environment," the golem informs me. "In fact, much of the pollution of Earth was destroyed by the event you are calling the Mana Flood as it was unable to resist the energy."
"What about this plastic?" I rap my knuckles on the first-aid kit.
"It is a biodegradable product created through natural materials," he explains. "While it is not plastic by the standards of Earth, the material can be considered to be a biodegradable bioplastic for simplicity's sake."
"I'll just call it 'plastic' unless there's a better term."
"Slishe."
"Pardon?"
"That is the name for the material," he says. "It is 'slishe' in the comparable term for your people, a mixture of the starts of the words 'slime' and 'shell'. The primary component for it is hardened monster slime."
Why am I not surprised that it's just them taking the first three letters of two words to come up with the name for the material? Oh, wait, it's because they did that with "system credit" to get "syscre".
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"Okay," I say as I put things away, then pull out more stuff from my backpack. "Can these be converted?"
Most of the stuff in my emergency bag can be traded for the equivalents, but the water purification stuff can't, which is a little bit disappointing. At least I can make my own water via [Water Mastery], but that creates ultrapure water so it's technically not 'safe' for me to drink.
I'll probably return to convert more stuff tomorrow, mainly focusing on supplies I have built up rather than selling meat. The cooler takes up a lot of space that I can use for the jars, candles, twines, ropes, and so on. Even if it means storing up extra meat as a result, it'll be better to convert the less-renewable things first.
"How about the cooler and wagon?" I ask. "Or the basket? Can those be converted?"
"The basket will require 5 syscre to trade," the golem informs me. "The wagon will require 43 syscre to trade. The cooler will require 172 syscre to trade. Do you wish to perform these trades to receive ones which will resist the ambient magical energy in the air here?"
"Yes," I place the money on the counter.
For this, I don't need to put the items on the counter. When the new versions appear, I take a few moments to examine them. The faded red-and-brown wagon is now brown and green in color and completely made out of wood rather than being a mixture of wood, plastic, and metal.
Wooden plugs are used to hold the slats together though I know that if they're fitted right, they'll keep it together. While the wheels are made entirely out of wood, they seem to be a little bit tough so I'm sure they'll travel over the ground well enough.
Overall, it's pretty sturdy and actually an upgrade compared to my old wagon. That originally came from Logan, who gave it to me last summer after accidentally forgetting it in my yard after he finished helping me move some stuff. I'm pretty sure he and Greta had it since he was very little, so it's decently old.
The new basket doesn't look much different from the old one, just reeds that were woven together into a large bowl shape with a handle for carrying arching over the top of it.
While I'm not sure why the cooler cost so much to convert, I'm glad to have a new one. Mine wasn't bad or anything but I definitely want something for storing chill-necessary items in right now. I'll have to convert the others on different trips; I had four of them and am expecting that I'll need the space.
My new cooler is a medium-dark green in color and has a fully-removable top rather than the hinged one from before. If I'm right, then it's made out of slishe as well. There's no ice inside of it so I guess that was a loss.
At least the golem didn't put these in the same spot the items were in… because the stoneshot squirrel and magihawk remains were on top of the cooler and they all fell to the ground when the old ones disappeared.
I conjure ice using [Water Mastery] and line the insides of the cooler with it, then put the dead monsters inside of it. There aren't enough to fill it all the way up, though I'll just put any on top if I go over the cooler's limit on the way home.
"Thanks," I tell the golem as I put the jars in the wagon. "I have two more things I want to ask about, if possible. That I can remember, anyway. First: do you know why [Ice Bullet] went up in Level when I gained a Level in [Water Mastery]?"
This is mostly something I want to verify my suspicions about, which is why I want to ask about it first.
"When you raise a magical mastery Skill through training and experimentation," he says. "Any and all related Skills you currently have which are below its new Level in their own Level will increase by a single Level each. Spells which fit into multiple categories will not receive this benefit unless both related magical mastery Skills go up in Level by training and experimentation. Using a Skill Point to raise their Levels will not improve the Levels of related Skills."
That's a little bit different than what I expected, which makes me glad I asked.
Based on this information, I now know that using Skill Points in the elemental mastery Skills won't increase the related spells, which is a shame. I guess that's to avoid exploiting this and improving Skills through what amounts to cheating. If I could spend 2 Skill Points total to raise ten spells up to Level 2, that would be a complete cheat.
This also means that [Stunning Sound] won't gain a Level just from improving [Air Mastery] or [Mind Mastery] but that I'd have to do both without Skill Points at least once to raise that. I'm not sure how easy it would be to manage that so I go ahead and apply 3 Skill Points to raise it up a Level.
[Stunning Sound] is now Level 3. Casting Time: 6.3 seconds → 5.6 seconds Duration: 2 seconds → 3 seconds
Now I can use it faster and get in more snaps or do a longer yell, depending on what I choose to do for the opponent. This will probably be useful against whatever creature attacked that group I found on the road here.
"Okay," I close the notification. "Are you able to answer questions about what Perks are, or does that go beyond the limitations of answering basic questions?"
"Perks are special benefits a person may acquire," he informs me. "They come in a variety of ways, including but not limited to surviving certain experiences, performing certain feats, or adapting your body to certain things."
Adapting my body to certain things?
"Is there one for adapting to higher levels of ambient magical energy?" I ask.
"There are several," he answers. "However, that goes beyond the basics and so is not information we can give out. They are intended for you to discover on your own, not aim for, as attempting to achieve them is often a life-threatening experience."
Which means the gods don't want that to be something people can just ask the golems about and learn within days of the System appearing. It might lead to people going off and doing stupid things to get the Perks, only to lose their lives in the process. People will still do that once they learn the requirements to earn ones they want, but it won't be as widely known that way.
"What kind of special benefits do they give?" I ask the golem.
"What benefits they grant depends on the individual Perk," he answers. "However, they all grant a bonus to some of your stats every Status Level which you acquire after receiving it. With some special ones, this is awarded retroactively. Some can also modify the bonuses which a Class awards, and those ones apply retroactively. Many also award additional benefits, such as adaptations of your body or enhanced resistances."
In other words, one which is earned for adapting to higher levels of ambient Mana may bolster that resistance further. And a god is willing to give me advice on how to earn a Perk of my choice… something tells me they knew this would be the most likely thing for me to go after if I were to stay here.
Which only further suggests that they have some sort of plan. They're offering me knowledge of a way to gain a Perk that boosts my resistance to ambient Mana. I'm really starting to think this is a bad idea.
What if I increased the incentive for trying it for one month again? 10,000 syscre; 3 [Class Starter Kit]s; 2 [Starter Pack]s; 1 [Cooking Basics Pack]; 1 [Level-Block Potion] (1 week); information on how to receive one specific Perk of your preference. Accept this incentive at a System Shop to confirm.
"The fact that you are giving me an incentive and then increasing it only makes memore suspicious of your goals!" I exclaim. "As is the fact that you're clearly reading my mind! I don't want to play into any games or politics you're having!"
"As a golem here to work at the System Shop," the golem responds. "I do not participate in politics or play in games. My apologies if there has been a misunderstanding. My only purpose is to provide accurate information, manage Quests, and perform trades, sales, and purchases without bias."
"What? No, not you," I tell him. "The gods."
I guess the golem reacted only to my words and without knowledge of the message in my vision, resulting in him thinking I was talking to him.
"One offered me a Quest and then is trying to get me to accept by first giving me an incentive, then increasing it," I say. "I don't know why they want me to take on the Quest and I'm not sure I want to know, either. And I don't even know what a [Level-Block Potion] does other than it sounds like something I don't want."
"A [Level-Block Potion] prevents one from gaining Levels for a specific period of time," the golem informs me. "Once the effect wears off, they will gain all Levels which they would have earned during that time period, in order from the Class which obtained the most Levels to the one which obtained the least. It is useful for that last push to earn a Perk one feels close to achieving if they suspect they'll be acquiring any Level or Levels which will put them over the EXP threshold needed for the next Status Level.
"However," he continues. "As they are potions of a very high level and rarity, we do not sell them in the System Shop unless sold to us by a resident. The minimum cost for one which lasts only an hour would exceed 500,000,000 syscre."
This wasn't a "personalized" shift like earlier, which suggests that the golems have information on things like that by default. I'm not sure what to make of that information, but the information the golem directly told me…
This god is offering me an extremely rare and valuable item to try out his Quest for a month. The fact that the potion is noted as lasting for one week makes me think that earning the Perk won't take me more than that. Based on what the golem said about Perks, however, it shouldn't be that easy.
"Regarding a god issuing you a Quest," the golem continues responding to my explanation of my outburst. "They only do so when it will further a person's own personal goals."
"My goal is to survive," I say. "Not live in an area where everything wants to kill me."
"I do not have access to the reason behind why you were issued a Quest by a god," the golem tells me. "However, I can assure you that they only do so when performing or completing the Quest will align with your own goals."
I really don't trust this information. It's definitely there to sound like a good thing for me and so help me, stop reading my thoughts! I can feel you in my head!
What if I increased the incentive for trying it for one month yet again? 15,000 syscre; 3 [Class Starter Kit]s; 5 [Starter Pack]s; 1 [Cooking Basics Pack]; 1 [Alchemy Basics Pack]; 1 [Health and Hygiene Pack]; 1 local flora guide; 1 local fauna guide; 1 [Level-Block Potion] (1 week); information on how to receive one specific Perk of your preference. Accept this incentive at a System Shop to confirm.
Stop raising it! This insistence is only making me more suspicious and if I get roped into some game or political issue or something that you gods are having, it's not going to end well for anyone! That's a promise!
What if I increased the incentive for trying it for one month another time? 20,000 syscre; 3 [Class Starter Kit]s; 5 [Starter Pack]s; 2 [Cooking Basics Pack]s; 2 [Alchemy Basics Pack]s; 2 [Health and Hygiene Pack]s; 1 local flora guide; 1 local fauna guide; 1 [Level-Block Potion] (1 week); information on how to receive one specific Perk of your preference. Accept this incentive at a System Shop to confirm.
This is actually starting to piss me off.The god is extremely insistent on trying to convince me to at least try out staying here. If I stay, then either I won't get to interact with anyone I care about as they go somewhere safer or I'll be forced to interact with people I don't like as part of the games of the gods. That's all I can see at this point.
"Stop that!" I snap. "I'm not going to stay somewhere dangerous where I won't even be able to talk to the people I care about and with no one I trust with me. I want to go be with the people I care about, not hermit myself away in a dangerous area where even the air itself is trying to kill me."
What if I once again increased the incentive for trying it for one month? 25,000 syscre; 3 [Class Starter Kit]s; 5 [Starter Pack]s; 2 [Cooking Basics Pack]s; 2 [Alchemy Basics Pack]s; 2 [Health and Hygiene Pack]s; 2 [Water Kit]s; 1 local flora guide; 1 local fauna guide; 1 [Level-Block Potion] (1 week); free conversion of all stockpiled food, candles, twine, rope, and medical supplies in your storage room; information on how to receive one specific Perk of your preference. Accept this incentive at a System Shop to confirm.
There's no winning here. The god really wants me to accept this and try to stay here for at least the next month. The gods are trying to portray themselves as friendly based on what the golem told me but I'm really not sure about that. No matter how one slices it, this Quest is just far too suspicious.
I'm also not sure I want to find out what will happen if I keep refusing the god's request.
"Fine," I give in. "But if I get used as a pawn, so help me, it will not end well. For anyone."