“So, now what?” I asked Amelia.
“Same old, same old. Just think ‘Claim’ and that’s that.”
I closed my eyes and did as I had several times recently, thinking ‘claim’ in the direction of the building. When I opened my eyes, the building itself was just gone. A small field of grass surrounded by sidewalks and roads.
“What the…” there were no sounds, no flashes of light. The building was there before I closed my eyes and just gone when I opened them.
“Well, that was a good haul!” Amelia was enthusiastic about whatever the supposed haul was.
“The people?” I asked.
“I mean, yes, but also more than just them. So, I don’t know if you’re ready for this next part or not, but we have to cover it.” She said with some hesitancy but continued quickly enough.
“So, your way, the subworld and building reductions I mean, well, it’s not actually the only way travelers are approaching this integration. There are a number of different approaches to the system and this integration is as much a challenge to see whose design is best, and not just survive.”
I rubbed the bridge of my nose and only just noticed the blood that I was practically covered in. Some mine, most not.
“For starters, let’s get you healed. Think ‘Menu’ to pull up your system screen.”
There was no point in fighting this anymore, I’d spent too long doing that already, so just as Amelia said, I thought ‘Menu’ and sure enough a semi-transparent screen came into my vision and moved with me as I looked in different directions.
There were several options listed, just as if it were some kind of game. Personal Status, Inventory, Upgrades, World Status, Store, and Restore were the options currently listed.
“You see Restore? Select that one for me, can think it, tap it, whatever floats your boat.” Amelia prompted me.
I did as she suggested and thought about selecting Restore. When I did, a new prompt appeared, “Restoration will cost 73 Personal Points. Do you wish to continue?”
I thought yes and a soothing, warm feeling spread across my body but I felt it most in my collar bone as I felt the bone reform and set itself, I felt all of my scratches and cuts heal over as though they never happened. I watched a scratch on my arm re-seal itself and it didn’t leave so much as a red mark, let alone a scar.
“Good, feel better?”
“I do, I’m still a bit shaken, but I’m getting there.”
“Good, so for now, just go through the system, we’re stable enough for now that you can explore it on your own some. I’ll alert you if something comes by. Feel free to look at the store or upgrades, just don’t buy anything yet.”
“Don’t buy anything?” I thought aloud and shook my head.
First, I checked Personal Status
*Name: Mark Baumer
Age: 32
Initiate: 32834
Personal Points: 14,768
Strength: 7
Agility: 4
Constitution: 7
Intelligence: 6
Luck: 8*
Well, could be worse… I checked my inventory next, but it was empty. I’d have to ask Amelia about that later.
I skipped upgrades for now, since apparently, I wasn’t supposed to purchase any, and went on to World Status.
*World Status:
Population: 127
Conditions: Normal*
Well, that doesn’t say much. I guess people are doing fine though.
With just upgrades and store left, I figured I might as well see what it means by upgrades at least. When I focused on the menu, it showed a few different options for both me personally and for the sub-world.
*Upgrades
Personal:
Stat Upgrades: 100 points per skill level
Skill Upgrades: …error… no skills found
Gear Upgrades: …error… no gear found
Sub-World:
Note: All new and upgraded options apply to current and future construction in sub-world
Improved Housing (Moderate): 5000 points
Note: Some housing customization options become available to residents
Entertainment (Early): 7500
Note: Adds libraries, theaters, and parks to sub-world
Fitness (Early): 2500
Note: Adds basic fitness centers
…*
The list of upgrades for the sub-world seemed to go on forever, but at 100 points per stat level for me, I could really boost my stats up to better compete with the rotters! I was tempted to just put all my points in and see what happened but remembered Amelia saying not to so I, begrudgingly, closed out of the Upgrades menu and went to check the Store.
If I thought the sub-world upgrades were endless then I don’t even know how I would describe the stores options. It had categories for consumables, weapons, clothing and armor, skills, transportation, all of which had lists so long it would take me forever to scroll through them.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“I guess I see why you didn’t want me to just start buying stuff.” I chuckled a little to Amelia.
“Right? It’s a lot. It’s kind of ridiculous honestly. Though in reality, you only have so many options because you haven’t started to specialize. Once you do, some options will disappear, while others may become available.
For now, it may seem like you have tons of resources, but they’ll likely go quickly… let’s see… 14,000!!! Well, maybe they won’t go so quickly... I have some general suggestions, but I wasn’t quite prepared for that sum. Let me check… okay, yeah, so because of the labs with all their super weird reagents, you actually got a ton of points, but don’t expect it next time! Though, we may want to clear out the chemistry and physics departments while we’re on campus. First though, how do you want to continue? Are we looking at a sword, a spear, what was your typical D&D character like?”
I needed to keep things moving, something was telling me these first few hours and days would be the most dangerous for me, at least until the system started throwing bigger problems than rotters. But, while I’d played my fair share of video games, D&D just was not on my list of helpful apocalypse survival board games.
“Umm, I know the basic idea, but never played. Maybe something quick though, it seemed like the rotters weren’t particularly fast so being able to move around without being hit would be good.”
“Okay, that’s a start. You never played though? Really? You?”
I could feel her disbelieving stare. This whole disembodied voice thing was taking some getting used to but I’m glad I had the help.
“And I feel like I need to tell you rotters aren’t going to be the worst of things though and are, really, just the weakest of starter creatures. They randomly boost their original bodies stats by 2 to 5 times, so a double you don’t need to worry too much about, but quintuple and you might be in some trouble, especially if they ran track. I imported some guides for me on your points setup and your survival system now that the integration has had some time to settle. Honestly, I like the speed idea, we thinking daggers or fists?”
Wait… did Amelia play D&D? I could almost picture her making up a character bio for me.
“Daggers? I guess? I definitely want some form of weapon between me and them beyond just fists.”
“Perfect… let’s see what we have here…” she tapered off as if scrolling through a catalogue.
“So, first things first, lets bump your stats. I think you can safely put everything to 25, you can’t actually change your luck though, well, not like this, so this will put you at 7,168 points left. Now, some gear. Eventually, there will be drops you might be able to find in the world, but for the shop, the best I think you can do without just spending silly amounts of points is a pair called ‘Greedy Daggers of Greed’ and yes, I recognize the name is ridiculous, but if they work, they work.” Amelia was a little frantic at the end, recognizing just how bad the system decided to name those.
I chuckled at the name but checked the notification on my screen which showed the item description;
*Item: Greedy Daggers of Greed
Requirements: Strength>20; Agilitiy>20, Luck>5
Damage: Damage dealt is relative to 4x the users Strength stat
Effects: Increase points gain by 2x when equipped*
I mean, seems solid enough to me. “It looks good, what’s the catch?”
“You didn’t check the price did you?” Amelia giggled, “It’s going to cost you a good chunk of what you have left, 4,500 points.”
“WHAT?!” I shouted before I knew I was even speaking.
“Yeah, remember how it didn’t have a set damage output, but one that grows based on your strength stat? This means you won’t actually have to replace it for a while, if ever really.”
That made sense I guess. Still, I didn’t know how difficult future points were going to be to earn and I wanted to upgrade some of my subworld services… though I can’t upgrade anything if I’m dead.
“Alright, let’s get them” I pressed the purchase confirmation for the daggers and they materialized into my inventory.
“Last but definitely not least, I think we need to get you some actual armor. As fun as see you running around in slacks and a button-up wielding a hammer has been, it’s probably not the most practical, even with the dagger swap.”
“While I’ll definitely be scrolling through the store at some point, I assume you have some recommendations in mind?”
“Bingo!” she chuckled. This downtime was starting to make me feel itchy with how uneventful things were. I wanted to be doing something but without any real direction, gearing up was the best I could afford for now.
“Alright, so there are two options really, you can get a super fancy pair of coveralls, or go piecemeal and grab a different item for everything.”
“For now, let’s just keep it simple with the coveralls, can change it later if need be.”
“Perfect, then go ahead and buy the ‘Meany Greeny Coveralls’ from the shop. This won’t leave you with much, but I think we can quick clear a lot of the surrounding buildings with just these and then we can look at skills and what not.”
I shook my head at the name once more. Hopefully all the items worth buying wouldn’t be so ridiculous. I bought the coveralls and saw them appear in my inventory just like the daggers had. I clicked on them and selected ‘equip’ and sure enough, my clothes disappeared and the coveralls were suddenly on me.
*Item: Meany Greeny Coveralls
Requirements: Agility>15; Constitution>20
Effects: Reduces incoming physical damage by a moderate amount.
Unlock: ???/??? Unlock condition not met*
Unlock condition… there was way too much going on for me to get a handle on everything right away, so I just ignored it for now. I stopped and looked around for a second, realizing I hadn’t really taken in my surroundings since seeing the building vanish. It almost looked like a normal day, albeit a bit quieter. The sun was out, and there was a slight breeze to cut through the august heat. All in all, it was a nice day, at least until you looked further out. Smoke was rising in several spots throughout the city. The quiet that had been calming quickly became eerie as the lack of sirens or any vehicles became evident. There wasn’t a plane to be seen in the sky.
I shook my head and slapped my cheeks a few times to get ready before I equipped the daggers. They didn’t appear in my hands right away, but with a thought I summoned them and I was holding them, with another thought I dismissed them and they went to wherever they stayed when not in use.
“Alright, any last minute purchases for the sub-world or anything before we get going?” I asked Amelia, readying myself to do something, anything, just needing to move again.
“Umm, you have 168 points left after the coveralls, so no.”
I hadn’t even checked their cost, just bought them while I was distracted. At least it was Amelias suggestion, and I guess I could trust her, but she clearly wasn’t just Amelia anymore.
“That won’t be an issue after you clear some of the surrounding buildings though, so hop-to! Just pick a direction and get clearing, I’ll let you know of any priority targets we might want to make though, like the chemistry building.”
I nodded, more than ready to get moving again before I actually had to process the amount of chaos that was likely happening all around me, “Alright, then let’s do this.”