Ch 8 Dare I go again?
Waking up can sometimes be the best feeling. Especially if you're a morning person who loves the quietness brought on from being the only one up. Or maybe you like the sense of peace you get from watching the sunrise? I sure as hell wouldn’t know, as I usually see the setting and never the rising. But not today. I checked my phone, it's 5am. I was up for sixteen hours, and I only needed five to recover? This right here is likely going to be the most op of my skills. Thinking about it.
Skill
Level
Experience Gain
Optimal Repose
4
14%
That’s why. Leveling up for sleeping. Damn this is going to be great. But I'm seriously awake. Not lay in bed and drowse awake either. The up and go awake. Stretching as I stand. Maybe I should try meditation? Would that help me judge my mana levels? No clue, worth a shot at some point though. Now? It's been over ten hours since I was in the dungeon, so I could run it again now. I consider it. Its early enough I can be there and back before 7. thinking to myself, I scribble out ten pristine. And I feel light headed. Like I need to eat something now. Do I want pb&j or try for a real meal at the terminal? I could always drive to the dungeon and get something from that terminal. Let people know the food is good? Two more days till I get paid. Maybe I should see how much I could get for currency? Economy is going to hell, anyway, might as well ride along. Still need to sell the wands. Pb&j it is. After making and scarfing three sandwiches. I pull another dowel to the end of my desk. After sawing it in half, I use the paring knife to carve the lines for force bolt in. Soon as I finish, I'm on the floor. Not out, but woozy all the same. Maybe the dungeon run can wait til I napped. Or after work. That sounds good too. I go lay back down in bed.
Waking once more refreshed, I check the time. 6.30 am. Not bad, I used basically all my mana and needed an hour and a half to recover. Getting dressed in my interview clothes from days ago, I press two pristines to them. Going back to my desk I look at the dowels, could I just make a pristine wand for myself and not sell it? Or should I make it super expensive? How much should I sell the wands for anyhow? If a bed was so cheap and the meals are so cheap? Maybe 50 credits? That’s half of what you make from the first part of the dungeon. Two wands and I soloed the entire thing. Should I post to the message board? Wands first. Sell them. Making pristine very expensive. Maybe 100? It’s a luxury item. Military would probably buy it. Hospitals! They will definitely buy it if I show it off! But someone would have to run the dungeon. Could I run someone through the dungeon? I doubt it. Maybe join a party just to run a single person through? Or make a party just for the hospital? Or just make a wand and sell it for cash, dumbass. Gods I'm stupid sometimes. How many hospitals are in Dallas? Or should I just keep to one? Could I make the wand have a different trigger? Shit, I'd have to let everyone know my trigger. Or if its store bought, they could set up their own trigger word, on purchase. My kept wands will likely all be riposte though. Glancing at the two other dowels, I start cutting. My four previous wands I'm keeping, because I don’t know the limits and I already set the trigger word, so they are basically attuned to me. The five short rods joining the newly made force bolt. I carved a gravity wand. I feel like humming for some reason, am I happy like this? I pull a pristine to me, setting it near the end. I draw the lines in sharpie on the end, then I start carving with the paring knife once more. I wonder if I have a dex stat. This seems to be getting easier. Blinking for a moment, when did I last check my enchant skill? I finished the pristine wand. I stand and stretch, checking how I feel. I carved another pristine wand.
I checked to see how many tags I have on hand, I wrote ten pristines earlier. I pulled the three I made last night. That should be enough to show off for any hospital. How much should I charge them? Or let them name a price? I'll set a wand for me first so I can show them how it works. Should I show them how to set a trigger? Can multiple people use the same wand? Shit I need to check. I think, could I the other two wands for pristine? Should I? No, one per hospital is enough. They can use it as they like. Tell them to pick a person and designate them as they see fit? Or set the wand to general use? I'll check with the System. Dressing in polo and slacks, they look neat enough. Still clean from the pristines yesterday. Should I put on a couple auto sizes? Would a hospital like auto sizes? Maybe, but they would need people to run the dungeon then. Selling the wand straight to them is as far as I'm really willing to go. Pulling my phone off the charger I google the closest hospital. Then reset to the emergency room. Then reset full care hospital. Dallas Medical Center, less than ten miles from me, works.
Getting into my car, I wonder again about my door being clean. Why would the mark be gone? I let my gaze wonder. No one seems to be out right now. Should I sell the wands first? Yeah, the sooner the better. When I come home, I'll post to message board about them. Getting back out, I walk down to the bus stop. Pulling up the sell page.
Enchantment
Description
Suggested Price
Your Price
Wand- Force Bolt- One Person
Reusable wand, register a trigger word to shoot a bolt of mana. Singular target. Recommendation: only use in dungeons
25
50
I register it. Bit of a markup, but these will be my actual money makers. Next one.
Enchantment
Description
Suggested Price
Your Price
Wand- Gravity-One Person
Reusable wand, register a trigger word for gravity to descend upon a 5ft by 5ft area. Possible multiple targets. Recommendation: only use on dungeons
25
50
Same price seems decent, both are killers. Huh, listed under weapons. Sounds about right. Closing the screens, I head back to my car. Now I start following the map to that hospital. With 11 pristines in my pocket, a wand to be sold, I just need to decide how much to sell for.
It took less than twenty minutes to get there. I have to drive around for parking though. Multiple lots to choose from, not sure which is main entrance. Then I see there's valet at one door. I pull up there. “This the main entrance?” I asked the valet. His work badge for the hospital shows me his picture.
“Yes sir, the main desk is through these doors. The receptionist will be able to direct you wherever you need to go.” I nod.
“Thank you” I hand him my keys, he passes me a slip with a number. I headed inside. The lobby was spacious open plan, with a central desk in the middle. I headed there. An older woman looked up at my approach, smiled.
“How can I help you today, sir?” I tried a customer service smile, it felt false, so I dropped it. I parse my words for a moment.
“Who would I talk to about selling something to the hospital?” I watch her face, her confusion clear.
“I'm sorry, we don’t accept soliciting here.” Her face looks frozen in her forced smile.
“That's not what I mean, not to patients. The hospital itself.” I don’t know the departments or even who I would approach.
“I’m sorry sir. Are you trying to sell equipment to the hospital?” finally something I can figure out.
“It can be equipment yes, handheld cleaning instrument that will vaporize all grime and soil on any object or person.” Maybe I can do this? I'm a terrible salesman. Her face shows her disbelief. “I made it from my skills, it doesn’t heal, just cleans.” Her face is a little more understanding. “But it can clean anything down to the microscopic. Better than any shower or scrubbing could ever achieve. Make any object newly made in levels of clean. Easily down and pointing and saying a word.” her face shifts, she might be trying not to laugh at me.
“If it does all that why sell it to the hospital and not the terminal then?” she questions.
“I did, as tags. Under enchantments, you can buy a one-time use tag called pristine for 15 credits. I only just made the wand yesterday. I will set it up to sell later today. But you don’t have people to run the dungeon to buy supplies. I can sell them directly to you.” I tell her seriously. her face shifts to understanding now.
“I'll make a call to the finance department and see who is available to speak with you. Please have a seat.” her demeanor shifts professionally. Now she's on level ground, she's more in control of the situation.
I go to the grey reception chairs near the wall. Everything is in my inventory, so I have nothing but my phone to fiddle with. I googled the board of directors for this hospital. Nice looking people in nice looking clothes was my only impression. I checked the time. Nearly 8am, not bad. Have at least two hours to talk with whoever and then still be on time for work. Unless there's lawyers, then I'd be here all day. Now, how to suggest uses for such a wand. People or machines? Burn victims, or surgeries. Cancer? Autoimmune disease? If you could guarantee any object was completely germ free? Newborns? So many possible uses. It will be up to them to decide. I'll just tell them my ideas and let them pick and figure them out. This hospital has good ratings, is full care, and is willing to try new things. That’s all I'm really worried about. I sit and stare at my phone. I don’t know why I had this idea, but I want it to work. It may have been a little impulsive, but they really don’t have anyone to run through the dungeons. And it doesn’t seem like any healers have been coming here. Maybe they go to different places? I hope so. Imagine being able to heal someone of cancer and then just not doing it.
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Or maybe their skill levels are too low. I think to myself. You barely have a level four skill, maybe that’s why they are outside the dungeon waiting on people to come out. To get experience from healing. They need to level up their healing so they can treat cancer and worse conditions. I sigh. Who knows how long it will take for a decent skill level in anything, for all I know the skills keep levelling up forever. And I don’t know how much they improve.
There three men walking towards me, two in suits and another in a security uniform. I guess they mean serious business. Standing I greet them as they draw closer.
“Good morning gentlemen, are you who I'm going to be discussing with?” The suit to the right glances to the other suit. I think the left suit is VP of finance, that would make this a bigwig. Might be lucky.
“If you can do what you say you can, then yes. Let's head up to a room.” He waves the guard away and strolls to the elevators. I follow along with first suit. No conversation to be had. We stepped off onto the third floor. All office space. I suppose they had to put it somewhere. I follow along as VP leads us to a meeting room, no one else appears.
“Now then, seems to me you got yourself a little expertise. I'd like to know how you came about that.” He sits down and asks, southern as you can be without cowboy boots and hat.
“Trial and error mostly, and a dungeon run.” I smile, full on customer service. This man is definitely a snake in the grass. I shouldn’t let him get to me. Need to be on guard.
“That's quite interesting, you told Ruby that you made more of these? And that they are for sale?” my face holds my expression stiffly, their conversation wasn’t long enough to pass information along.
“I did, they are. In the System store at any terminal. The tags go for 15 credits as they are one time use. The wands for 50 credits are reusable. This wand will be sold for 100 credits as it is a luxury and not a necessity.” He gives me a flinty look.
“Why the price hike so much? 50 credits are a lot for the everyman? Could be you make more profit selling cheaper.” he starts to speak. I cut him off.
“The System decides how much it should be sold for, and what the System will keep. To make a profit I have to be above that. And since the System is global, anyone with access can purchase them.” he straightens from his slouch.
“What the System keeps?” his interest is deeper now. I keep my customer service smile up.
“Yes, you make a single product and get royalties off it. The System keeps what it uses to make the product. Selling something to the System is incredibly easy. Just go to the nearest terminal.” the other suit, who had been standing behind me the entire time. Mumbles something, I don’t pick up.
“So, if we bought this stick from you, we could sell it first?” ah, I think. He wants to try and badger me.
“No, as you didn’t make it. Only the creator or someone who gave majority help in creating something can sell to System.” I hoped that was true. Why didn’t I think of this before coming here? I knew there would be lawyers. VP gives me a look, like he doesn’t believe a word I just said. I'm a terrible salesman. “As I've already sold the tags that do the same thing, I don’t believe you would be able to sell this wand. And since I'll be selling another to the store later today, there should be no problem.”
“Then why did you come here first? If you're so confident you can sell it just like that? Why come to this hospital and try for cash when you have a guaranteed demand through the blue screens?” his voice gets a little harsh. I blink for a moment. I suppose he hadn't heard me then.
“Because you don’t have anyone running the dungeon, you don’t have any way of getting these supplies. I can make them as I want and sell them directly to you for actual money and not System credits. So, you aren't waiting on someone to finally level up their heal spell to come solve all your problems.” I told him, just as seriously as I had told her, less than an hour before. He grimaces. Then nods.
“Fine then. Tell me about your magic stick. Convince me it's worth my time.” the and money I hear tacked on end go unspoken. I start.
“This wand is a simple tool. Just point, speak and instantly clean. As pristine as when it was newly made. All grime and soil vaporized and dissipated. Nothing left behind. And no marks or strain on whatever you have just cleaned. If you like you can take anything in this room or go find some coffee and spill it on me or him, then I use a pristine tag and show you what the wand does.” he glances to the other suit, who nearly rushes out the door. I realize I never was introduced to them. Nor did I introduce myself, and it feels out of place trying to do so now. Other suit returns with a cup of dark tea.
“Pick something to pour this on, please. Your clothes, mine, or his. Even the chairs would work.” I glanced around the meeting room, it was a rather nice one. But the chairs were fabric. VP glances at other suit, then pours the tea over his own pants leg. The drink darkens the grey fabric immediately. I pulled out a tag and stepped closer to him.
“Do I have your permission to place this on your pants? All I have to do is insert a little mana.” I watch his face.
“Why not use the wand? You brought it didn’t you?”
“Because it has to be attuned. Only one person can use it, and they have to be the person who sets the trigger word. I have my own wand that isn't set up, but I was waiting to show how to set it up to whoever you choose to hold the wand.”
He gives me a flat look. “What do you mean only one person can use it?” he angrily huffs at me.
“As of now the wands are not general use but made for a single person. As that is all I know how to make. I came here today to sell this one and set up a contract to sell more later. And to see if you would help set up contracts to other hospitals as well.” I laid my intentions clear. One person-one wand. Simple rule. Makes them a little cheaper. My hope is that I'll make enough to make rent before Lucas goes out of business. Or I make enough credits to pay rent. Or that rent turns to credits. I'm not sure which will happen first. If everyone goes to dungeons, fewer people will go out to eat. But there will be more currency circling around too. Especially if people cash in their credits. And not everyone will want to go to dungeons.
I can see how the government will crash. But I hope that most people can still eat and have homes. Maybe the store will sell tents? I should check. If it sells camping gear, then we can just set up warehouses for people next to dungeons. Keep everything you own in your inventory, and you only need space to sleep or craft. Hell, the parking garage is near perfect for that already, even has layouts where people can set up spaces. Just need toilets. Maybe I can make a pristine bucket? Every time someone gets up from it, it uses mana to clean itself? That seems a bit of a stretch. Maybe just plaster pristines on a port-a-potty. All inside the bucket and all over the walls. Next to a terminal so people can buy a pristine when they get out? Or a bucket of water with pristine all over it? Would pristine work underwater? Can I laminate tags? Or I could just enchant the bucket. Would that work on the water though? Shit, should I put sealant or something on the wands?
I hear a cough, I startle. Looking up. Blushing, I had forgotten where I was. VP was making a concerned face at me. I try for customer service smile and fail.
“Sorry, something just hit me, it was a little disconcerting.” I pull myself together. Time and place, remember that.
“Anything you care to share?” His gaze looks like a lazy cat now. It makes my worries seem a little silly.
“Camping gear. And homelessness. The logistics to turning a parking garage into a human warehouse. And everything that would entail.” I smiled at him, full grin. He looks baffled.
“And why per tail would you be thinking of that?”
“Because there are less than ten dungeons in the US, and our dungeons are next to a parking garage. System store sells food. With pristine, you don’t need a shower. But you still need a bathroom. If you have an inventory, you don’t need to carry your gear, or your belongings. Take everything with you everywhere. So, you just need someplace to lay down, preferably with shelter. Camp cot and tent. Or air mattress. Pack up when you're done and get into dungeon.”
VP looks thoughtful for a few minutes. Digesting my words. “You believe we are about to get a significant transient population?”
“I do, and possibly, permanent and not transient like we know them. If all they are here for is the dungeon, then that is all they will do. But you will only be in the dungeon half an hour. No matter how long you actually spend in there. You always come out in half an hour. And you can only go in every ten hours. So, if all they do is eat, sleep, and dungeon dive? They will want to be as close as they can. In this case, the parking garage right next to the dungeon. Conveniently also next to a terminal. Just needs a few things to make I livable.” I tell him, expounding on my thoughts. Not sure why this man of all people is the one I told. But a feeling saying its right that he knows.
“I understand. As to the wand, I'd like to purchase it and more in the future. For now, I'll decide who it goes to. I want your contact information. I'll call you tomorrow after the decision as to who gets the wand. If you could prepare more, that would be better.” I smirk. This is getting better now. I look down. I forgot I had put the tag on him. He was sitting here with wet pants for minutes listening to me. I blush, my face red I trigger to tag. His pants are suddenly cleaned of tea and anything else that was there. He chuckles at me.
I stand up properly. Feeling silly now. “I believe I forgot proper introductions. My name is Arthur Turner, I'm an enchanter. As of yesterday, I'm able to make wands, but I'm more flexible with tags as of now. If there is anything you need in particular, let me know and I will try.” I promised him. That seems a little too informal, better late than never though.
He keeps chuckling at me. “As you might have been aware I'm Charles DuMar, Vice President of finance here at DMC. I'd be interested in quite a few things, mostly replications of what we can do now. Then see if we can go further beyond later. If this System is going to cause a crash, I'd like having replacements for equipment ready to go sooner rather than later.” ah, he sees it coming too. I suppose this hospital is government funded. No government, no funding. I had a thought.
“There are people who can heal, but like myself, we are still low level. Too low level to prove useful entirely. To become useful, we need practice. I know there are healers outside the dungeon, getting practice from dungeoneers. But you might consider having a few in the emergency department, handling low level cases when they come in. Or more than a few and have them rotate out. I know there are a lot of hospitals here, but I think you're the closest to the dungeon?” he grimaces. Hesitates, then nods.
“We can see about a couple during the day shift, and maybe other hospitals might be interested. But there is no telling what compensation someone would need they don’t already get from the System.” He glances at me, curiously.
“We still use dollars, still have rent. Until that stops, or credits are used, then I can sell to you straight through. Once I improve my skills I can make better enchantments, to sell for more. That cycle will continue.” I told him, looking him in the eyes. Showing him how seriously I'm taking this.
“I'm not particular on how much this wand is worth, because I know there will be many uses for it. More than you can buy I’d imagine. And if anything, I think useful to a hospital I'll come to you and see if we can make a deal. Unless you have a dungeon runner, I'm not much help right now.”
He looks me over. “Any heals items, any items that can replicate hospital equipment. Anything that can make a body work better. Anything that will help a body fight against disease. Any and all items that will help prevent death from taking those we care for too early. And I'll make sure you have your fair share. As to a dungeon runner, why? Is there more to it then we know?” he asked, after such a heavy speech.
“Any items you want? Anything you can imagine? Likely already exists in the System. I just make enchantments. Wands, tags, maybe rings? You can buy food and drink. You can buy furniture and plumbing. Weapons, armor, groceries, tools, clothes, potions. Anything. It probably already exists. You need dungeon runners to get your credits. So, you can start buying them.”
He grimaces, the hopeful looks on his face fall. Wanting everything to be solved by one person is unrealistic, but I had brought him hope. That something could be done. I speak again.
“You make a team, just for hospital equipment. A team to run the dungeon. A party to brave death to supply you. I'll supply them. Ill outfit them. I'll armor them. I'll make sure they can run the dungeon smoothly. And when they do. They can supply another team. Then another. A party can only run once every ten hours. So, if they run once a day? It can be anyone, going about their regular lives. As long as they are willing to fight. One dungeon run, per person, makes 150 credits.”
VP stares at me, not quite comprehending what I mean by that statement.
“In the store, a full meal costs 2 credits. My tags cost 15, my wands 50. Last night I bought a new mattress, it cost me 55 credits. A chainmail shirt? 30 credits. A tool for enchanting? 2 credits. Skills and skill points can be bought with credits. You just have to have enough. Maybe in time you'll be able to buy a house with credits, or land. And then build the house through the store. I don’t know. But for now, anything you need can be bought. I make wands, useful but not all that you need.” his face sets firm. He draws himself up.
“We have a deal. I'll make a team. You outfit them. We will compensate you. I will look into hiring healers for practice here. I'll find people who are willing to fight for DMC, to make sure when all else fails, we stand tall.”
I smile at him. Nodding, I give him my hand to shake. “Then I'll help as much as I can. To a bright future.”
He takes my hand, agreeing. “To a bright future.”