When Arthur next awoke, it was to a pitiable sight right in front of him.
His grandson was sat there hunched over himself, weeping silently, as his stomach audibly growled furiously. It was only then that Arthur realized that he too was hungry, starving in fact, yet unlike his grandson, his body didn’t really seem to notice he was hungry, nor did Arthur feel the usual side effects of hunger. He put it down to the system’s changes to his body.
Yet, he didn’t really have time to think about himself at this moment, and instead focused his whole attention on getting the poor boy something to eat – he clearly needed it. So, he shakily got up onto his feet, the movement having got Lucas’ attention.
Lucas had been a little startled by his grandfather’s sudden movement, but soon recollected himself and got up from the cave floor as well. The boy’s voice came out shaky and weak as he asked the old man a question, “Grandpa, are you sure you’ve had enough sleep? You… you were only asleep for a few hours maybe. You can sleep longer, I'll be strong. A big boy. And keep watch.”
Arthur smiled warmly at the boy's attempt at sounding strong before saying softly, “I am fine my boy. More than fine even. You shouldn’t worry about taking care of your grandfather, let me worry about taking care of you. Now. Let’s go get us something to eat, hmm?”
The boy enthusiastically nodded and then rushed to Arthur’s side and grasped the older man’s hand with his own.
Arthur smiled down at the boy and the two began walking out of the cave. As they walked towards the mouth, Arthur asked, “Tell me, my boy, did you hear any more of those explosions whilst I slept?”
The boy shook his head and replied quietly but to the point, “No Grandpa.”
Arthur smiled, at least that much was in their favor. If the bombardment had continued, he would have felt far less confident bringing Lucas with him to hunt down some food or however he would end up getting food.
Arthur very much doubted that there was much left of any nearby human settlements if the bombardments' sheer power and consistency were anything to go by. So, the only source of available food would probably be the nearby monsters, but even that might not be a safe bet as the bombardments probably killed hordes of those as well. So, the tricks of the hunting lifestyle would probably be needed, such as tracking, stealth, and decisiveness, if they wanted to eat anything.
Arthur lambasted himself for not putting some of the bodies from the monsters he had killed in his User Inventory as that would have saved him a lot of effort going forward, both in terms of acquiring food as well as completing the first step toward getting an Imperial citizenship. Alas, he hadn’t utilized the perk at all yet, but he could sort of feel that this would very much change as time progressed and he acquired more things.
As the two humans exited the cave, Arthur stopped totally in his tracks. An idea popped into his head. He looked around the periphery of his vision for some sign of what he was looking for, saw that he had some system prompts but ignored them for now, and then aha! He found a small shopping cart icon in the very bottom corner of his periphery vision, he focused upon it, and up was brought the “coin shop”.
SYSTEM COIN SHOP:
Membership status: [Gold]
Expiration Date: NONE
Current Balance: 10 [Gold] Coins, 10 [Silver] Coins, 10 [Bronze] Coins, 10 [Iron] Coins, 110 [Copper] Coins. / £11,260
(Note from User Manual: You are in possession of a [Gold] tier membership in the System Coin Shop, this will provide you access to exclusive shops as well as give you big discounts on lower-tier shop goods. The higher the tier of your membership relative to the shop’s tier, the greater your discount. To upgrade your current membership, you must… [Unknown – Upgrade your User Manual perk to learn more])
(Note from User Manual: In the future, your balance shall always be presented in terms of £X rather than a list of how many of each coin you own. The number following the £ represents your wealth counted as if it were all in [Copper] Coins.)
What type of product would you like to buy? Select from the list below:
General
Combat
Transportation
Armour
Lottery boxes – [Bronze] & Above Exclusive Shop
Cultivation – [Silver] & Above Exclusive Shop
System – [Gold] & Above Exclusive Shop
Arthur frowned at seeing the “lottery box” shop option, realizing that these were probably the system’s equivalent of an in-game loot box. And, if the system was half as scummy as video game developers, the chances of getting anything good for your money were absolutely zero. Though, Arthur guessed you could literally upgrade your luck with the system so perhaps there was some utility to these “lottery boxes” after all, that is, if a person had high enough luck.
Pushing thoughts of exploitative microtransactions aside, for now, he focused on the general shop option. Another prompt appeared in his vision. It asked him to further clarify what he wanted, and he found the shop he wanted and selected it, another prompt appeared.
General (Food) Coin Shop:
Discount Due to Membership Tier (Gold): 40%
Cooked Meat / Fresh Legumes (1kg) – Price: £4 ->£2.4
[F] Grade Nourishment Pill (12) – Price: £12 -> £7.2
(Note from User Manual: An [F] grade Nourishment pill can be swallowed to instantly satiate a portion of your hunger.)
[E] Grade Full Nourishment Pill (6) – Price: £50 -> £30
(Note from User Manual: An [E] grade nourishment pill can be swallowed to instantly satiate your hunger completely.)
[D] Grade Body Nourishing Pill (3) – Price: £400 -> £240
(Note from User Manual: [Partially Unknown – Upgrade your User Manual perk to see the full note] … If one is consumed by a child once before they have received their system at the age of 8, they will receive a permanent 10% boost to the potency of their physical stat perks.)
System Warning: Upon purchase, items shall drop from directly above you. Do NOT purchase CRUSHINGLY HEAVY items and remain stationary. You WILL DIE. NO refunds will be available to either you or your family.
Arthur’s face lit up as he saw that he could very easily afford to buy food, then read the final note about the [D] grade Body Nourishing pill and he looked ponderously at Lucas.
The boy would turn 8 in a month or so, and if Arthur could do anything to ensure that he would be able to adapt better to the new situation the two found themselves in, he would do it in a heartbeat. So, once again ignoring the quite heavy price, he focused on the [D] grade Body Nourishing pill option and a small prompt appeared asking him to confirm his purchase.
He selected to confirm. Then, he felt 3 things that felt like small pebbles drop from the sky and drop/hit the top of his head. He quickly moved his hands to intercept the pills before they bounced off his head and splatted against the floor, but alas, one pill hit the floor and broke apart before then disappearing.
Lucas looked at his grandfather with confusion and fear in his eyes, not really sure why they’d stopped nor what these white pebble-sized balls that his grandpa had gotten dropped onto his head were. He was getting a little nervous and that heightened his impatience and so he hurriedly asked, “Grandpa, what are those and why aren’t we moving?”
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“These are food pills, my boy. They come from the system and if you eat one, your hunger will apparently disappear.”
The boy looked at Arthur skeptically, not sure whether a pill could be that filling. However, upon being handed a pill by an insistent Arthur, Lucas trusted his grandfather’s words and he swallowed down the pill without chewing, just as he had done with painkillers many times in the past. His father had always been a "strict disciplinarian" but sometimes he would go "too far" and actually bother giving him some relief in the form of often too much medication for his young body to handle. Yet, seconds later, Lucas knew for certain that this pill was absolutely nothing like any pill he had taken in the past.
For one, the effects were immediate. Lucas felt his previously ravenous hunger vanish as if it had never existed, instead replaced by a warm and perfect state of satiation. It was an incredible feeling, yet that was not all, not even close.
Lucas could feel that his whole body positively glowed with energy, power, and vitality, and he could do nothing but bask in the sensations and that’s what he did for what felt like hours but had likely only been a few mere moments.
Arthur had quite a similar experience upon swallowing the pill, except as his body was far older and also far stronger, the effect was diminished, but that didn’t mean that the feeling wasn’t amazing. Arthur had never felt so satisfyingly full before in his entire life and, he didn’t know if it were possible, but he almost felt as though his muscles and bones were much getting stronger as well. Though, as he received no system prompt about it, so he assumed it couldn’t be the case.
He saw that Lucas was mesmerized by the sensations of the pill and let the boy bask for a minute or so whilst he decided to check on his system prompts from earlier.
You have reached the 3rd step of the [Qi Gathering] realm!
You have reached the 4th step of the [Qi Gathering] realm!
You have reached the 5th step of the [Qi Gathering] realm!
You have reached the 6th step of the [Qi Gathering] realm!
Total Reward: +4 Points into your Spiritual stat
Arthur couldn’t help but smile. He guessed his emotional turmoil as well as near-death experience just hours before had a silver lining after all, as it seemed that the Automatic Cultivation perk was indeed a tremendous blessing. Though he guessed he didn’t really know how fast or slow people usually progressed through each step in the first major realm, so he would have to reserve judgment until he knew more.
Arthur then dismissed the system prompts and smiled down at Lucas, whose face was now one of pure wonder and surprise rather than misery and freight. Arthur felt his own smile stretch to its full span, as he finally got to see his grandson smiling happily, and it was a heart-warming sight. Arthur knew that the foreseeable future was likely not to hold much joy or hope for his grandson, so he would have to cherish every smile he could get out of the boy for now.
With both of them now feeling completely nourished, Arthur began walking Lucas toward the direction of the city. Sure, he believed that the city likely didn’t exist anymore, but he hoped that he would be able to find some aliens to talk to/negotiate with so as to at least spare as many people from death as possible. And, if the AI pilot’s words were anything to go by, the new invaders seemed to intend to integrate Earth as a part of their Empire rather than being some kind of all-consuming hivemind.
Arthur still couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous at the weight and responsibility he was putting on himself, but he had to bear it as it seemed no one else would.
During their walk, Arthur spoke to Lucas and spotted an almost endless array of huge craters on the surface of the Earth. The alien’s munitions had torn the countryside to shreds, and the sight alone was enough to infuriate Arthur, but he once again suppressed his emotions. Such were the consequences of war. And, if he had any luck, he would soon be leaving Earth behind entirely, so things such as a quaint love of the countryside would need to be shelved for now. Though he hoped his future master would have a worthy garden as he'd always been a fan of horticulture and preserving greenery wherever he was, and hated nothing more than prolonged stints in the concrete jungles that were many modern cities.
The sudden sound of something breaking the sound barrier above them made both Arthur and Lucas look up to the sky. Upon doing so, they saw that a ship, very familiar to the one they had interacted with previously, had just flown past them at incredible speed, and was now circling them overhead.
Arthur momentarily felt a fear spike in his heart as he noticed more and more planes begin to join the first in circling them overhead. This fear only lessened once a ship from amongst the near dozen or so finally descended from the sky, and landed on the Earth.
A tense moment passed as the cockpit unsealed and an actual living, non-robotic, pilot exited the aircraft and made their way towards the two earthlings. He was a tall alien, about 6 and a half foot tall, with 4 large furry arms, and a body that seemed to be made of grey flesh. His face wore the unmistakable feature of a large smile, and as Arthur had not expected an actual alien to be in the aircraft, the alien still put him on edge.
The alien soon began speaking in a weirdly Australian accent, putting Arthur at ease with his words, “Greetings Earthling! I am Lieutenant Patrick Marcus from the Grand Imperium of Hergalexy here to…” The alien who seemed to be a male paused for a moment, before looking at Arthur curiously, then clapped his four large furry hands together and said cheerfully, “I see. You’re a lucky man, you know that don’t ya? You were already jabbed by one of our reconnaissance drones prior to the crash – so you still get the [D] grade imperial treatment. Though don't worry about that friend. Anyway, I guess if you don’t have any questions for me, good-citizen-to-be, I’ll be on my way back to my ship.”
Arthur spoke up, getting the Alien’s attention, as he remembered that he hadn’t received an answer to his question about how to submit monster corpses yet, “Lieutenant, to take the first step towards Imperial Citizenship I am required to submit 50 monster corpses to the Grand Imperium. How does one go about doing that exactly?”
The alien pointed to his left before saying, “Well, my good man, to gift your quota all you need to do is make your way in that general direction and you’ll come across the foundation of New Earth – a very first for this planet, a system established city. Well, it’s currently a town/military base, but either way, the point is we control that area, and you should submit your kills to the Imperium’s warehouse there. Any other questions?”
“How far in that direction is this base?” Arthur asked.
The alien brought one of its hands up to his face to stroke at his chin, then said, “Probably about 190 km or so. Though, don’t quote me on that.”
Arthur nodded and thanked the man. He had to stop himself from gawking as he got back on his ship, he found it almost surreal talking to an alien who seemed to speak English almost like a native. It was totally unbelievable, and it was clear that Lucas too was finding the whole experience mind-blowing as his face was filled with childish awe.
That look too was something that Arthur would have to cherish as they moved forward, as the journey to the base was probably not going to be without its hiccups and violence. That had been the tragic monotony of life ever since the system arrived, and Arthur doubted it would change as time passed.
As the ships flew away, Arthur felt a small surge of energy fill him and a system prompt appeared in front of him.
You have reached the 7th step of the [Qi Gathering] realm!
Reward: +1 Point into Spiritual Stat
Arthur realized he hadn’t actually applied the 4 spirituality points from earlier, so decided now that he had 5 it was probably a good enough time to begin distributing them to individual perks. He muttered status under his breath and brought up the spirituality stat point shop. He almost couldn’t believe what he saw.
SPIRITUAL POINT SHOP:
Balance: 0 Points
[I] Qi Breathing (Lvl:5 -> Lvl:6) | Cost: 1 Spiritual Point
[I] Qi Gathering (Lvl:5 -> Lvl:6) | Cost: 1 Spiritual Point
[I] Qi Condensing (Lvl:4 -> Lvl:5) | Cost: 1 Spiritual Point
[III] Automatic Cultivation (Lvl:1 -> Lvl:2) | Cost: 25 Spiritual Points
Arthur could swear that he had not applied any of his points himself and yet, the points had been spent to upgrade his Qi Breathing, Gathering, and Condensing. He was taken aback by this reality until a thought struck him and he glared at his most recently purchased spiritual perk Automatic Cultivation, and his eyes almost bulged out of his head as a system prompt appeared in front of him.
Note from User Manual: Perk: [III] Automatic Cultivation not only automatically performs all cultivation techniques but also automatically distributes Spiritual stat points so as to maximize the efficiency of cultivation. The user is not recommended to turn it off, however, it is possible should you be so stupid.
The system had yet to insult him, but now it was doing so openly. As if this was some kind of joke. Arthur admitted to himself that he wouldn’t have spent the points any differently, but he still felt the newly central principle to his life, i.e., that he should at least be sovereign over his own system-related decisions, had been grossly violated.
Arthur felt was about to inquire about how to disable that part of the perk but stopped himself. He realized that he was just an ignorant rookie when it came to the system, let alone cultivation, so if the system was going to do it for him, then surely that would lead to a far better result than if he just winged it by himself.
Principle or Power was the decision that Arthur had to make. However, upon taking a glance at Lucas, he realized there was something infinitely more important than principles at stake with his decisions. He needed to be able to protect his grandson as priority number one, so if allowing the system to make some decisions for him would grant him the power to do that, then he had to pick power over principles every time. So, he dismissed the system prompt and refocused on Lucas, and they started walking again, this time in the direction of the base/town/imperium-controlled territory.
Arthur both wanted to hand in monster corpses, as well as find whoever was in charge of this invasion and sort out some kind of peace deal. And his interaction with the Lieutenant had given him serious hope that a friendly arrangement could be come to, even if it required some wrangling. Arthur thought about the strange Australian alien man and laughed a bit to himself. Were all aliens going to adopt random accents from across the world? Were there now Russian-sounding aliens? What about aliens that sounded like British people?
For the first time in years, Arthur almost felt normal once again. Laughing at odd things he'd gone throughout the day. He liked the feeling. A lot. But, just like everything else in his life, what he would now consider normal had changed dramatically. And, he didn't quite know if that was a good or a bad thing.