Chapter 30
After returning home from doing his share of video calls and paperwork the day before, Dirk had found his wife gone, a note on the fridge letting him know she’d gone to some meeting or another, and that she wouldn’t be back until late. He’d nuked the carefully wrapped leftovers, loaded everything onto his favorite plate, grabbed two beers from the fridge in the garage, and sat down to watch TV. Then he’d remembered that there wasn’t any live TV, what with it being the end of the world, and instead he’d found a homemade external drive full of summer vacation footage from years past. For once everything worked just fine for him when he’d hooked it up, and he’d stayed up late watching the memories flash across the screen.
He must have fallen asleep on his recliner since he woke up with a blanket spread over him, and another note from his wife saying she was going out to do some shopping and have his uniform pressed. As a result, he hadn’t had a chance to find out how to transfer credits in the system and had the entire balance of $550 USC credited in his sheet when he finally convinced himself to check out the system shop.
Dirk found it very interesting that the system had decided to put its “node” (whatever that might be) in the middle of the base CIF. It was an odd kind of poetic justice. Like if someone had replaced the local Walmart or Costco with a single computer kiosk, and told people to ‘get yourself a sippy cup, and suck it up,’ at the start of the digital age. Basically, a big ‘fuck you and everything you thought you knew, we are doing it this way now.’ from a cosmic entity. It would take time for everyone to adapt, but at least everyone knew where to go.
After spending an unreasonably long time searching for a decent parking spot, Dirk entered the somewhat familiar entrance/issue side, (wasn’t it odd how almost all issue facilities feel the same even though they are in very different buildings?) and was greeted with absolute chaos. Fortunately, a few people recognized him, or more likely, saw his rank, and soon everyone was yelling “Make way for the First Sergeant” and “First Sergeant Cabral coming through”.
His earlier thoughts about a computer kiosk weren’t far off. A large white cube gave off a soft glow in the center of the warehouse behind the standard gear issue counter. Nobody was working the counter, but the access line for the system node was snaked around almost throughout the whole building. As he made his way closer to the odd white structure, one wall panel seemed to melt off of the rest, becoming somewhat cloudy rather than solid.
Specialist Wallace walked out of the cloud, eyes darting around. When they landed on Dirk, a huge grin split his face, and he waved before shouting “It’s fucking true First Sarn’t! I’m filthy fucking rich!”. Before Dirk could ask what the flying fuck a specialist thought he was doing, acting that way, Wallace practically skipped out of the exit in the far wall.
Dirk made a mental note to smoke the absolute shit out of whatever squad leader was directly in charge of the specialist before wandering up to the white cloudy surface, and tentatively reaching a hand inside.
Dirk found himself transported to a massive outdoor space. A blue star cast its rays down from high in the pink sky, and green clouds floated lazily across the horizon. As far as the eye could see, racks upon racks upon racks of goods stood tall, running in long lines off into the distance. Directly in front of him stood a large circular desk, with multiple white cubes hovering in the air at eye level. Hoping the desk was some kind of information hub, or at the very least, possessing a map, Cabral picked a cube at random and walked up to it.
As he drew closer, the three cubes closest to him (the one he’d picked, as well as the ones on its left and right) turned cloudy, then morphed into vaguely humanoid shapes. As Dirk took the last step, standing directly in front of the counter, the three cubes resolved into distinct figures. In front of him stood a tall dark skinned creature with the head of a lion. The creature's body was exceptionally well-muscled and shirtless. It did however wear what looked like blue jeans and had hooves instead of feet. The creature on the left seemed to be some kind of flamingo, although it had a typically female human head on its long pink feathered neck.
The creature to his right seemed to be what he’d always thought a sater would look like. Human chest and head with goat horns, short curly golden blond hair, and green eyes, but a goat’s lower body, with shaggy gray and white fur with a brown splotch on its right buttock. The odd collection of characters had him gawking for a moment. He’d known the system was otherworldly, but this certainly drove the point home. Ice Elves at least looked mostly human other than being gracefully lanky, with pointed ears and sharp teeth.
“Ahem. Can I help you find something? Or do you just want to look all day? Maybe all night too?” A raspy voice queried.
Dirk realized the lion-man in front of him had spoken. “Ah. Well. Honestly, I’m not sure. I’m from Earth. We're new to the system. I’m looking for a few things I suppose, information primary among them. I’m just hoping I don’t have to physica….” Dirk stopped speaking and his jaw hung open. When he’d mentioned looking for information, the shelves around him had parted, and it was like the world moved while the desk stayed in place. The shelves around him had gone from having all sorts of indescribable junk to possessing everything from papyrus scrolls to the latest Kindle, and he even thought he saw something resembling a VR headset further down the row.
“This place does tend to have that effect on people. Allow me to highly recommend this neural cortex implant. It comes pre-loaded with your [System Initiate’s Guidebook], a [Welcome to the System shop pamphlet], and a free copy of the ever-important [basic classes, their skills, abilities, and spells, and how to counter them]. Since Earth is new to the system, there’s a one-time discount for your first neural cortex implant, so I can offer this to you for $5 USC! That's honestly a crazy good deal!” The lion man spoke, and the shelves reoriented again, this time moving much less than before.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
The rack of shelves nearest him contained a selection of color-coded metallic objects the size of an ibuprofen tablet. Something bothered Dirk though, and he hadn’t lived nearly as long as he had by failing to trust his instincts.
“Well, I’m not exactly sure what $1 USC is worth. Also, doesn’t my system uplink directly connect me to the [System Initiate’s Guidebook]? And if I get a discount on my first neural cortex implant, so long as I buy it during this visit, wouldn’t I be better off getting something with a bit more utility than just having a few information packets on it? What even is a ‘neural cortex implant’ anyway?”
The more he asked, the more questions he had. And the more certain he became that this desk existed to help part him from his credits. Like the worst slimy used car salesman in the whole universe.
“Ah, you are the perceptive sort, aren't you? Since you are new to the system I’ll explain a bit to you for free. After all, you will have many more transactions in the future with us. It's the least I can do, really. Now, where to start? Ah, yes. $1 USC will be worth roughly the same as what the average member of your most advanced society spends on basic living expenses on any given day. $1 USC can buy you an expensive dinner or a night in a comfortable inn on most system planets. A Neural Cortex Implant can indeed offer a very wide variety of benefits, information being one of the most common. I am happy to help you find one with any features or information you desire, though there will be a surcharge added to the cost for making a custom request.” the lion-man provided.
Dirk considered for a moment, thinking of what he needed to get done during this visit, and what he hoped to get out of the visit, composing two separate lists. The younger soldiers might get suckered into buying who knows what, but Dirk had been around the lot a time or two, as it were, and he refused to get swindled.
“How bout this. I want to buy myself dinner while we discuss my other needs. I have a feeling this is going to take quite a bit of time. Can I eat in here?” He asked.
“Ha. I knew I liked you.” the lion-man replied. “Yes, you can purchase anything you want in here. There are only three main limitations. You cannot buy and experience here, then not use it during your visit, and attempt to redeem the experience outside of the influence of the system node in your world. Too many people trying to ensure they survive a battle by purchasing ‘dinner tomorrow night’. And then not staying in the system store for 24 hours.”
“Secondly, time does not pass in the outside world while you are here unless you pay for it. For example, If you do not make any purchases, but stay in the system shop for a month to recover an injury, you will either be charged at the rate of $1 USC per day of relative time, or the injury will exist as it did when you entered the shop upon your exit. That does technically allow you to have an infinite supply of fresh soldiers if you fight a battle just outside the influence of a system node, as long as you have the money. But the same applies to your enemies.” lion man continued.
“Lastly, you cannot complete quests or make money while you are inside a system node. You can buy the experience of having completed the objectives of a quest, but you can’t complete that quest until you leave the system shop. And buying such ‘experiences’ is prohibitively expensive.” the lion-man explained.
Dirk felt satisfied that he understood the basics of how this odd space worked, and after a couple of hours of working through his thoughts, and narrowing down exactly what he needed, he made his purchases. Chief among them, several information packets intended for himself and the other members of the Savage Company command team about how to operate small military units within the system, a book on system economics, and a rather detailed guide on how to negotiate and navigate the system store. The last he planned to distribute to the whole company, and maybe even the whole base. He’d also splurged on a few things for himself.
Congrats!
You spent a gear token in exchange for [Mageslayer’s Commando Uniform (Earth Tropical)] and basic information about it.
A staple uniform of the Mageslayers Mercenary Guild, this uniform has been specialized to work well with commando and operator advanced classes. While worn, It offers a base 10% increase in protection from harmful spells, while also making you much harder to target. It was then customized with an (Earth Tropical) pattern.
Congrats!
You spent a skill token to acquire the [Adaptive Perception] Ability and basic information about it.
[Adaptive Perception] allows you to have a much greater chance of noticing something out of place if an enemy skill, spell, or ability is affecting that item, person, or location.
Congrats!
You spent $300 USC on an XM-57Z Medium Repeating Projectile Launcher.
Congrats!
You spent (1) upgrade token to upgrade XM-57Z Medium Repeating Projectile Launcher to (Rare - Masterwork) quality and add the following properties, and basic information about it.
XM-57Z Medium Repeating Projectile Launcher (Rare-Masterwork) with the soulbound, self-repair, and interchangeable ammo attributes.
This weapon can be placed in your Soul Storage. This weapon can fire either specially prepared ammunition or can be charged with mana or stamina to cause various effects. This weapon is a masterwork item and will deal additional damage as appropriate for your level. This weapon has the self-repair ability and can make minor repairs to itself while stored in your Soul Storage.
The XM-57Z is one of the most preferred weapons for professional soldiers across the system. It fires a medium-damage projectile and is capable of firing repeatedly without reloading. It has a simple built-in optic that can interface with any cybernetic hardpoints, neural cortex implants, or inteli-suit software solutions.