Devi made her way through the people-infested clearing. She could see small clumps of humans starting to form as individuals started reaching out to others to try and understand the situation they had landed in. She caught snippets of conversation where people were trying to figure out what had just happened. Some groups of people seemed to already know each other.

After passing the third cluster of people who seemingly knew each other, Devi started to suspect that everyone here was not chosen at random. Thinking back, she thought she had seen the pink-haired barista that Devi had ordered coffee from just before the sky exploded into sparks nearby in the clearing. Maybe everyone was grouped up based on where we were before the end of the world, Devi theorized to herself.

It would be interesting to see if everyone here had been in the same section of New York as me, or if whatever placed us here only cared about keeping small groups of people together. It could be that whatever is behind this separated people into groups based on location and then randomly put those groups together. Or it took everyone from a certain location and dumped them here. In any case, Devi did not have nearly enough information to come to any conclusion besides that it appeared that the groupings of people were not completely random. Devi shrugged and continued walking to the large slate-grey pillar that towered over the flat clearing.

When she got close, she slowed her usual fast-paced stride to give her more time to investigate the situation before going in. Now that she was closer, she could see the pillar was completely smooth with no discernible blemishes. Around the pillar, there were a few people pressing their hands on the surface, while staring off into space.

Curious, Deiv found a relatively free spot and placed her hand up against the surface of the pillar. To her surprise, the stone was warm to the touch, even as she was in its shadow.

As soon as her hand made contact with the pillar, a new window spang into existence before her eyes.

Pillar of Civilization (Unowned) Store Leaderboard [LOCKED] Items Skills Race Class Vocation [LOCKED] [LOCKED]

99 days, 23 hours, 48 minutes

Universal Credits 500 Currency Exchange

Devi scanned over the new window. Interesting, she thought to herself, it looks like whatever this is object is called a Pillar of Civilization. I wonder if that is supposed to be taken literally or figuratively. She smirked to herself, imagining a whole civilization built with all the buildings leaning on this pillar for support. The countdown is ominous though. By her reconning, it had been around 10 minutes since she had appeared inside this clearing, meaning whatever this timer was ticking towards, it started roughly as soon as the world ended.

The next thing Devi focused on was that there was a store, both for items and Skills. I guess that’s how I can change the [EMPTY] slots on the Status screen then. The only problem was that she did not see any way to select the Store option.

With my Status window, all I had to do was focus on it, Devi reasoned, while mentally trying to select that tab. She tried for a few seconds, but nothing happened. Changing tracks, she decided to focus on navigating to the items section. The moment she attempted to navigate to that section, the window changed.

Pillar of Civilization (Unowned) Store Leaderboard [LOCKED] Items Skills Race Class Vocation [LOCKED] [LOCKED]

Weapons

* Basic sword (G) (inferior) 50 UC

* Basic spear (G) (inferior) 15 UC

* Basic dagger (G) (inferior) 10 UC

* Basic bow (G) (inferior) 70 UC

* Basic crossbow (G) (inferior) 100 UC

Armor

* Basic heavy armor (G) (inferior) 75 UC

* Basic light armor (G) (inferior) 45 UC

* Basic heavy shield (G) (inferior) 30 UC

* Basic light shield (G) (inferior) 15 UC

Magic tools

* Basic mana focus (G) (inferior) 75 UC

* Basic fire starter (G) (inferior) 25 UC

* Basic water purifier (G) (inferior) 40 UC

Mundane tools

* Basic Builder tools (G) (inferior) 25 UC

* Basic Crafter tools (G) (inferior) 25 UC

* Basic Tinkerer tools (G) (inferior) 25 UC

Universal Credits 500 Currency Exchange

It now listed out a myriad of different items that she could buy, for what she assumed were Universal Credits, which she apparently had 500 of. I could buy almost everything in the store at the same time with how much money I have. What surprised her were the prices of some things, such as a few of the magic tools being less expensive than the majority of the other items listed. I definitely have to get my hands on a few of the magic tools. I have no idea what exactly they will do, but I have a mighty need now.

All of the items had the small inferior next to them, in addition to a G. Those keep popping up, first in my Status, then when I chose my Class and Vocation, and now here. Maybe they’re a ranking system?

Down at the bottom of the window, was an odd section titled Currency Exchanged. Intrigued, Devi focused on selecting it. When she did, a new window popped up.

Currency Exchange UC -> XP XP -> UC Note: You may not convert more UC into XP than you have, and converting XP into UC may not reduce your level below what it started at.

So it looks like you can convert experience to currency and visa versa. I was kind of expecting an option to empty your bank account and turn it into Universal Credits. This makes a little more sense though. It is interesting to see that XP can be used to buy things.

Looking through the options, it appeared that she could convert 1 Credit into 3 XP, but she could convert 10 points of XP into a single Credit. Looks like the process isn’t equal. It is vastly easier to go from XP to Credits than the other way around. The difference bothered her, since there was no apparent reason for it to be that way. If something does not behave in the way you believe it should, then your grasp of the situation is not complete. There must be a reason why there is an imbalance between the ratios, Devi reasoned. Could the process not be identical? Or there is some sort of tax on one transaction rather than the other?

Devi frowned for a bit, thinking about why there would be a discrepancy on each side of what appeared to be the same transaction, just inverses of each other. In the end, she decided that she did not have near enough information to understand why it was, but made a mental note to look into it further.

With a shrug, Devi turned her attention to the other part of the Store section, Skills. She was excited about this section, wondering what sort of Skills would be there. As everything so far seemed to be based loosely on gaming elements, whatever Skills entailed, it should be interesting.

Pillar of Civilization (Unowned) Store Leaderboard [LOCKED] Items Skills Race Class Vocation [LOCKED] [LOCKED]

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

General

* [Inspect] (inferior) 100 UC

Class

* [Attribute Enhancement] (inferior) 100 UC

* [First Aid] (inferior) 100 UC

* [Mana Shield] (inferior) 100 UC

* [Attribute Drain] (inferior) 100 UC

* [Magic Tool Proficiency] (inferior) 100 UC

Vocation

* [Improvise Tool] (inferior) 100 UC

* [Sketch Design] (inferior) 100 UC

* [Improvise Material] (inferior) 100 UC

* [Assess Item] (inferior) 100 UC

* [Mental Note] (inferior) 100 UC

Universal Credits 500 Currency Exchange

Devi frowned at the list of skills the window showed her. To her, it felt a little lackluster, since she had been expecting options to throw around fireballs or something similar. There is that pesky inferior next to all of the skills, just like the Classes and Vocations. It is possible that the ratings of the Classes and Vocations affect the skills. That line of reasoning made sense to her, but she still had no idea how to obtain a higher rating option in either her Class and Vocation, since all the options presented to her were all inferior.

Frustrated at the lack of any real information she had, she turned back to looking at the skills offered. As all of them only cost 100 Credits, she could afford 5 of them, if she did not buy anything else. That still would not fill all of the [EMPTY] Skills on her Status screen, which was mildly annoying.

A few of the Skills caught her eye, the first being [Magic Tools Proficiency]. With that skill appearing, Devi assumed that the magic tools that she saw in the items section of the store were not easily usable. If there was a whole Skill dedicated to being proficient in their use, then it must not be a simple process.

That Skill is definitely on my short list now, Devi thought. She tried to focus on the Skill, but it did not give her any odd feelings like the Classes and Vocations did. Guess I only get the names of the Skill, no vibes from them it seems. Not that much to base decisions on, unfortunately.

The next two Skills that she was interested in were [Attribute Enhancment] and [Attribute Drain]. They sounded like a buff and a debuff Skill respectively, both of which could potentially be extremely useful. Especially if I want to fulfill the role of a support like my Class says.

Devi then looked through the Skill associated with her Vocation. All of the were ones she wanted, as she could see so many uses for them, if they did what she assumed they did, based on their names. The only Skill that she was uncertain of was [Improvise Material]. How can you improvise a material? Does it mean McGyvering something?

The Skill that looked the most useful to her was [Improvise Tool]. She would rather always be able to have the tool she needed than have a material she wanted, but no tools to do anything with it.

A startled yelp sounded from her right, and when she looked over, Devi saw a young man jumping away from a sheathed sword that fell to the ground right in front of him. After a brief moment of shock, the young man leaned over and grabbed the sword, looking around in confusion as to where it came from. I guess that’s how you get any items you buy, Devi postulated. They just appear out of nothing in front of you. The surprise of seeing something being teleported, or even created out of thin air, was damped by the fact that Devi had seen the sky fall apart and then was teleported to where she was now.

Devi noticed that the yelp had attracted attention to the pillar, and more people were making their way over. Better finish up here and leave soon. She wanted to check out the leaderboard section of the window, but the threat of being in the middle of a throng of people persuaded her to look at it later. It is not like it will disappear, she reasoned. Probably.

She had already finalized what Skills she wanted to buy, and what items looked the most interesting. [Attribute Enhancement] should be a very useful Skill to have, and I can not see any team not wanting someone who can buff to join them. With that reasoning, she focused on selecting the Skill from the list and sent a mental confirmation that she wanted to purchase it.

The Skill [Attribute Enhancement] has been purchased. You have an [EMPTY] Class Skill slot. Would you wish to slot [Attribute Enhancement]?

Yes

No

Devi mentally selected Yes, and an odd tingling sensation spread throughout her body. A lot less intense than when she selected her Class and Vocation, but still noticeable. The sensation was accompanied by the same faint multicolored light that was apparently everpresent here.

When she went to go purchase her second Skill, [Improvise Tool], to her surprise, all the prices had been raised to 200 UC instead of the original 100. Now that is concerning if the price doubles each time, after only a few purchases, the price will become exorbitant.

She quickly selected the next Skill she wanted to purchase, [Improvise Tool]. Being without a tool when you need one is the worst feeling. How many times have I needed a small knife to cut open a box, but did not have it on hand? Hopefully, with this Skill I won’t have to worry about that again. Devi accepted the prompt that asked her if she wanted to slot the Skill into an [EMPTY] spot and experienced the full body tingle once again.

When she looked at the store again, to her pleasant surprise, the cost of buying a Skill was set at 300 Credits instead of the 400 she expected. With her two Skills, she was left with only 200 Credits, not enough to buy any more skills, so her only options were to buy items or save her Credits.

Deciding that saving her Credits was not worth it, mainly because she wanted to buy a magic tool, she navigated back to the items section. Devi had been keeping an eye on the others around her while she had been perusing the menus, and had noticed quite a few items appear out of thin are like the sword, always right in front of someone, so she had an idea of what to expect when she purchased something.

The first thing she decided to buy was the basic fire starter because Devi had no idea how to start one by hand, and seeing as she was stuck in a forest with no real way out, she figured she’d need a fire at some point. And also because it was a magic tool related to fire. I am definitely not a pyromaniac, she reassured herself, I love fire just as much as the next gal, but everyone can agree that fire is the best.

She mentally confirmed her choice, seeing her Credit total decrease to only 175. The moment after she did, a small metallic rod, about 20 cm long, appeared directly in front of her. Already expecting it, she reached out her hand and snatched it out of the air.

It was lighter than she had expected and cool to the touch. She ran her fingers across the odd engravings that wound their way up from the base to the tapered point. Besides those, the metallic rod was completely smooth, with a rounded bottom, and no sharp edges. Even the point at the top was rounded off, making the whole thing look like a stake that someone had worried would fall into the hands of a small child.

Devi slipped the rod into her pocket, thanking whoever had made the clothes she was wearing for putting pockets in them. Everything should have pockets and anything that doesn’t should be burned.

The next item that Devi wanted to buy was the crossbow. She had the feeling she would need a weapon at some point, given that the store provided options for them in addition to the ominous message stating that there was danger here. But Devi had no idea how to use any of them. A sword sounded awesome, but everything she had heard about them said they required a lot of practice. And it would require her to be up close and personal. The regular bow had been her next thought, but again, it was something that would require a lot of practice to get right, something that Devi did not want to chance. The crossbow seemed like the best choice. It was literally point and shoot, nothing hard about that. It was just quite a bit more expensive than the other options, giving her a slight pause.

Deciding that being able to use whatever weapon she bought immediately instead of needing to take time to figure out its use like she would have to do with a regular bow, Devi mentally confirmed the purchase of a crossbow. Just like before, the item materialized out of thin air.

Devi fumbled a little, the crossbow being a little longer than half a meter, but didn’t anticipate that a quiver of bolts to appear as well. They clattered to the earth, while Devi secured the heavy mechanical contraption that she had managed to catch.

The bow she was holding felt very solid, but plain, focusing on functionality over aesthetics. The stock was made out of wood, while the arms looked to be metallic. There was also a lever attached to the bow as well, probably used in loading it.

She leaned the bow against her leg and bent down to retrieve the fallen quiver full of bolts. A quick told her she had 20 of them, all contained in a leather quiver that was attached to a leather strap. The strap appeared to be too small to fit across her chest, so she assumed it was meant to be a belt. Devi quickly wrapped it around her waist and buckled it on, which had the quiver resting on her right hip.

It felt rather strange to have a quiver of bolts strapped to her side while carring a full crossbow, but having seen the sky fall down and then teleported to a random forest where she had seen strange screens appear in her vision, it was not the oddest part of her day.

Devi turned back to the store, two more purchases to make. She looked longingly at the basic mana focus but had determined that it was unfeasible to buy it. I already got a magic tool. Once I figure out how to make more Credits, I will return and get it, she promised herself. Instead, she looked at the light armor and basic Tinkerer’s tools. Both were items that seemed more important than another magic tool, even though Devi desperately wanted to dive into magic.

With another two mental confirmations, the two items appeared. The first was a bundle of leather and straps, neatly tied in with some twine. The second was a small leather satchel. Devi scooped both of them up and made her way to the edge of the clearing, away from the pillar as more people started to congregate near it.

She noticed a handful of people who were sporting weapons and other items, already having been to the pillar. One, in particular, was talking loudly, explaining what she had figured out about using the pillar and using the odd blue boxes.

As she watched, a group of people started moving in her direction, and a man stepped up to talk with the woman. The man had an easy-going smile on his face and started talking to the woman who had been spreading information around.

Devi could not hear what they were saying, since the woman was not shouting anymore, but from what she could tell from body language the man was trying to persuade the woman of something. They eventually reached an agreement, since they both shook hands and the man turned to the people around him.

“I have some very important information about this situation that we all find ourselves in. Information that could prove very useful.” The man had a rich silky voice that carried through the crowd. That, in addition to his confidence, made people stop and start to congregate.

“Myself and some of my associates will be giving out this life-saving information that we have gathered with much risk to ourselves.” The man grimaced if remembering something unpleasant. “If any of you are interested, please let me know, I aim to help everyone here survive. Because that is what we will need to do. What we once knew can no longer be trusted. We don’t know where we are, or what happened.”

The man gazed out into the small crowd he had gathered, using his height to make eye contact with a few people throughout the crowd, before continuing.

“I am going to strive to ensure that we all make it out of here alive, and well. You all probably saw the message, and the danger it mentioned. While the full scope of that danger is unknown, I do know this. I will do whatever it takes to protect everyone here.”

The man finished his speech, and someone in the crowd began to clap. Devi zeroed in on that person, noticing it was one of the people who had been following the man before. Devi eyed the blond-haired man who was now basking in the applause that had erupted around him. That sounded like a political speech if I ever heard one, Devi thought as she again started to walk to the edge of the clearing, and put the man out of her mind.

I have more important things to think about, like how to start fires, with magic!