The Glowing Coin
Summary: The world she once knew has ended.
She gasped as she woke up, breathing hard. A nightmare, she thinks as she tries to calm herself down and breathe slower. She checks her surroundings and reminds herself that she is safe. She is at home. Her parents are in the other room. Her other sibling is sleeping in a different, nearby room.
She gets up and pulls her white blanket that was given by her ex-boyfriend off her. She puts on her Pikachu slippers, turns on the light, and heads out the hallway to the kitchen in a careful manner in order to not wake her family members. She grabs a cup from the cupboards, opens the fridge, and pours herself orange juice. She puts things away as she drags her feet to the dining table and sits there while sipping her cup of orange juice.
She glances out the window that's above the kitchen sink. It is dark outside and the moon glows luminously. For some unknown reason, fear creeps into her. She looks around her and nothing has changed but the moon's glow glimmers. She quickly cleans and puts away her cup as she heads back to her room and huddles under her blanket. She pulls another blanket, her favourite purple and pink fluffy blanket and wraps it around her as well.
And then she sees it. Something glowing and shining brightly outside her bedroom window. Her blinds are closed and she has a flowery-designed curtain over it yet she can still oddly see a glow. Despite her fear, she pulls herself to go check. And she is shocked by what she sees.
Her eyes widen as she sees a glowing silver coin on the ground of her backyard. She rubs her eyes. She has a strong urge to check but fear holds her back. Her area is generally safe but not the safest, the rent is cheap, but it isn't known as a particularly good neighbourhood. Luckily nothing has ever happened except their garage was once broken into. She gathers her courage because she feels a strong pull by the glowing coin. She grabs a long umbrella, knowing it is not enough protection if something happens but that it is better than nothing. She brings her phone with her, ensures she can easily speed-dial the police 911 with a click of a button and then she heads out.
No one is outside except her. She picks up the glowing coin and its glow disappears. She quickly heads back inside and locks the door behind her as she inspects the coin. There is a number on the coin: 9. She puts the coin away in her pocket. She decides to inspect the other windows in her house for more of these strange coins. And then she sees it. There are two coins near the front of her house on one of her neighbour's lawn as well as one across the street on the sidewalk. This time, she puts on a black fluffy jacket, and with her trusty umbrella and cellphone, she goes and grabs the other two coins. It took less than a minute as she went back inside her house and locked the doors.
She takes off her jacket and puts her umbrella near her bedroom door. Inside her room, she inspects the 3 coins that no longer glows. One of the coin has the number 10 on it. The other coin has the number 4 on it. She's not sure what the numbers signify, but now she has found 3 coins with the numbers: 9, 10, and 4 on them. And they each no longer glow. She puts them under her pillow.
She wonders what is going on, wonders if she is still dreaming. She turns on her laptop and tries to search the strange phenomenon. And there she finds it on a forum thread that was posted less than 10 minutes ago on her favourite forum.
Glowing coins!??! by user Airplanelover00
I saw some light outside and found some strange glowing coins! I found five coins and they each have the number 1 on them. What does it mean!?
The first reply was by user Cherryblossoms24:
I'm not sure! But I also found four of them with the numbers 2, 3, 7, and 8 on each!
There was one last reply by user Swordmaster89:
I found six coins! They have the number 1, 1, 4, 8, 8, and another 8!
She decides to reply with her anonymous account that has no identification information on it. She has always been careful to not share any identifying personal information. Her user is Pillow01.
I found 3... They have the numbers 4, 9, and 10.
Airplanelover00 wrote a new message:
I don't know what the coins signify but I have a feeling we should find more. I am heading out to look for more.
No one else replied.
She tries sending a Whatsapp text message to her boyfriend but knows that at this time of night, he is likely asleep. 'Are you awake?' she sends. The message has 2 gray checkmarks which indicates his phone successfully received the message but that he hasn't seen it yet.
Although she is afraid, she decides to go look for more coins as well. She puts on her jacket, grabs the same blue umbrella, her phone and her wallet, and decides to bring her favourite purple handbag that she bought for $10 on a sale. She heads out and doesn't see any coins on her street. Feeling more adventurous, she heads to the school which is less than 5 minute walk from her house. And there she sees it: a lot of glowing coins, near the outside of the school building on the concrete as well as surrounding the park for children. Quickly, she runs and grabs them all. The moment she touches one, the glow fades. She quickly puts them into her bag.
She heads to the convenience store and picks up every glowing coin she sees along the way. Outside the convenience store, she can see 3 kids and they were surrounding a glowing coin, staring at it but not touching it. Two boys and one girl.
"I saw her grab one," one of the kids says indicating to her (Pillow01) as she walks pass them and into the convenience store. At the corner of her eyes, she notices the female kid touching the coin and the glow disappearing.
The door rings as it closes behind her.
"Welcome! Oh. Abigail, wow you are awake at this hour?" The convenience store clerk says surprised. She has lived in the same address for 10 years so a few people would recognize her.
"Hi!" She greets. Browsing in the store, she sees an older woman, must be the kids' parents, she thinks. She goes to the chips aisle and grabs her favourite Hickory Sticks chips as well as All Dressed chips.
"Anything else?" asks the clerk.
"That's all, thanks." Abigail says as she pulls out her wallet and pays with her cashback mastercard.
The sun has come up. There was light during the day. She tries looking around but doesn't see another glowing coin. She heads home.
The thread she replied to now had 20 pages. She starts scrolling down and reading the replies. The messages were about people finding a coin, people not finding coins and thinking the others are crazy, and people's personal theories about why the coins appeared. And then she noticed a glowing red envelope icon. Someone sent her a message. She clicks on it. It's Swordmaster89.
"Hi Pillow01. Something strange is happening," writes Swordmaster89, "I think we should keep in touch, the original 4 of us. My phone number is ###-###. Send me a message and I'll add you to our Whatsapp group. Cherryblossoms24 and Airplanelover00 are also in the group."
Abigail used her phone and sent Swordmaster89 a message indicating she was Pillow01. He added her to the group.
"I found something," Swordmaster89 writes, "Did you find it too?"
"Yes," writes Airplanelover00, "There is a strange tattoo that appeared on the palm of my hand."
"Touch it. Stuff appears. It's freaky." writes Swordmaster89.
Abigail inspects her body and notices a strange mark on her left elbow. She touches it and shockingly she is in another place.
-----------------
Chapter 1:
"Welcome," red words appear and disappear before her eyes. She stares with wide eyes.
A light blinds her and a red blob appears before her. It looks like one of those red slime monster from an RPG game. And then it talks and she stares.
"You can change my appearance," says the red slime monster as it chooses to grow bigger and then smaller, changing from a cat, to a dragon, and back to a slime, "I can look cute or ugly. Appearance means nothing anyhow."
"What... what's happening?" She finds her voice and asks.
"You found a coin," says the red slime monster, "It's advantageous. A bonus."
"I found more than one coin," Abigail admits.
"I know." says the red slime monster. "They can be used for many things."
"Who are you?" she asks, "What's happening?"
"I am Red#143,163,983,538. You can change my name if you like. And a lot of things has happened but since your rank is too low, I'm not able to answer most of your questions at the time. I am simply here to assist you in this small pocket dimension."
"Why would you assist me?" she asks.
"You can ask me that again when you rank up."
"What am I supposed to do in here?" she asks.
"First, you can store things safely in that storage box." says Red#143,163,983,538. And before Abigail's shocked eyes, a storage box appears. "This is your pocket dimension. Feel free to decorate it and buy items."
Abigail doesn't move. "What's a pocket dimension? What are you? What's going on?"
"That storage box is a pocket dimension to store your items. This pocket dimension is your own personal pocket dimension."
"That doesn't answer my questions."
"Then you should rank up," says Red#143,163,983,538.
"Your name is too long." Abigail says, "From now on... you are Red Slime."
"I don't like that name," says Red Slime.
"So... what am I supposed to do in here? Can I get out?"
"To get out, you need to touch the mark again but I don't recommend doing that yet. There's a limit to how many times you can come into this pocket dimension." says Red Slime, "There are many things you should do first: such as using stat points, trading your coins, gearing yourself, etc. Try to think of it like a game but a real life game."
Abigail stares.
"This is your newbie equipment that you get for finding a coin," says Red Slime.
A small glowing treasure box appears before her. She opens it.
Inventory bag, able to hold 30 items regardless of size or quantity, able to purchase more inventory space. The inventory bag currently held 3 red health potions, 3 blue mana potions, 3 antidotes, 1 camp resting kit, 3 boiled eggs, 1 random weapon, 1 random skill, even her cellphone, laptop, blue umbrella and favourite purple handbag is in there!
"Touch the weapon and the skill."
Abigail touches the weapon icon in the inventory. A glowing red sword appears. She touches the skill and receives Identify.
"Lucky you. Identify costs at least 100,000 coins." says Red Slime, "It will help you a lot when you exit. But don't leave yet... otherwise you'll just be a lamb for slaughter."
"Why is this happening?" Abigail asks.
"You will need to rank up." says Red Slime. "It's time to adjust your stat points."
A screen appears before her.
Strength
Dexterity
Intelligence
Luck
Stat points available: 10+12
Dice icon
She stares.
"Lucky you. Out of all your coins, you found 12 coins labelled number 1. It was automatically traded for stat points because that's the best trade you can get."
Abigail was not sure what stat points to pick. And then she realized there were no up or down arrows.
Red Slime laughs. "Your stat points will always be randomly allocated. When ready, click the dice icon."
"Is there anything else I can trade for more stat points?" she asks.
"You are not as stupid as I thought." says Red Slime. "You found two coins labelled number 10. They can be added to the stat point of your choice."
"What can I do with the coins labelled 2 to 9?" she asks.
"Those are currency." says Red Slime, "coins 1 and 10 are currency too but they are also special currency that can alternatively be activated for stat points during your first visit to this pocket dimension only."
Abigail felt relieved that she asked.
"How will you be spending them?"
"I want to add the 2 coins labelled 10 to luck," she says.
Strength
Dexterity
Intelligence
Luck 20
Stat points available: 10+12
Dice icon
Abigail clicked the dice icon.
Strength 6
Dexterity 8
Intelligence 8
Luck 20
Stat points unavailable
Dice icon greyed out
"None of my other stat points went to luck..." she murmurs.
"None rarely does," says Red Slime with a smile.
"How many coins do I have?" she asks.
"Adding up the numbers of the coins you found from 2 to 9, you found 36 coins, and they are worth 212 currency total."
So little, she thinks.
"This is the shop function. Feel free to buy whatever you like." says Red Slime. "But before doing that... you should check which world you'll be entering once you touch the mark on your elbow."
"What!?"
"Your home world is now potentially locked, it is in a time stasis," says Red Slime.
Swordmaster89 must have returned home, she remembers him chatting with her and the other 3 on Whataspp.
"Your phone will work in this pocket dimension... only for the chat group created by Swordmaster89," says Red Slime, "It seems he paid coins to his own pocket dimension assistant for that function."
Abigail stares. "You can read minds!?"
"Of course," says Red Slime with a wide smile.
Abigail quickly grabs her phone from the inventory. It is surprisingly 100% fully charged.
"Emergency! Any of you guys did not touch the mark yet? Airplanelover00? Pillow01? Cherryblossom24?" writes Swordmaster89.
"Unfortunately... I did and now we can't go back to Earth?!" -Airplanelover00
"Oh no..." -Cherryblossom24
"Pillow01??? Are you still on Earth???" -Swordmaster89
"Pillow01, are you there?" -Swordmaster89
"Pillow01 is not replying, which world did you guys get into?" -Airplanelover00
"I'm still in the pocket dimension," -Cherryblossom24
"Is that your first time in the pocket dimension? Don't leave!" -Swordmaster89
"I'm in an apocalypse world," writes Airplanelover00, "It seems there is an apocalypse but I paid for 9 days of safety. The world is Apocalypse#258,788,421,901. I don't recommend coming here. It seems we can only go into the pocket dimension once a day in the world we are in. You can spend coins to go in more often."
"Yes, I am still in the first visit for my pocket dimension," Cherryblossom24 replies.
"Don't leave it Cherryblossom24." says Airplanelover00. "Which world are you in Swordmaster89?"
"I was in a magic world. Magic#781,114,233,918," says Swordmaster89, "I died in the beginning as a baby and got assassinated by a dark wizard. I was deducted 10 coins and returned to the pocket dimension. If you run out of coins, it's permanent death. How many coins do you guys have left? I have 94 coins remaining."
"Wow Swordmaster89, how many coins did you start with? I only have 38 coins total." Cherryblossom24 writes.
"Cherryblossom24 that is so little!" exclaimed Airplanelover00, "I started with 328 coins. I went collecting all night because I had a feeling that the coins were important. I tried collecting more but when the sun appeared, all the glowing coins surrounding me that I didn't collect yet disappeared. I have less than 200 coins remaining."
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
"I started with 487 coins," says Swordmaster89, "I spent 300 of it for this chat group function."
"Damn. That's expensive. But thank you," writes Airplanelover00.
"Did you do your stat points already Cherryblossom24?" asks Swordmaster89.
"I did." says Cherryblossom24, "My luck stat is 0. How can that be?"
"Only in the beginning... if you have a coin labelled #10 then you can add it to whichever stat you want. I ended up paying the pocket dimension assistant 30 coins to buy a book about stat points... luckily I did..." says Airplane00.
"My luck stat is 0 too... Is there any way to raise it so I don't die in the beginning?" asks Swordmaster89.
"There's a newbie gift where you can buy 1 stat point for 1 coin and allocate it wherever you like but only once. I recommend putting it into luck." says Airplanelover00. "You can also buy stat boosting potions for 10,000 coins... It permanently boosts stat points but it's expensive and there's a limit to how much it can raise. The luck one is currently out of stock in the shop, not that we can afford it."
"Thank you! My luck is now 1!" says Swordmaster89.
"Thank you." says Cherryblossom24.
"There's also items that can boost luck. The cheapest one costs 5 coins... the item is a ring that can boost luck by +1. The other item is an earring and it boosts luck by +1 as well but unfortunately it costs 1000 times the price at 5,000 coins. Levelling up has a chance to boost stats. I think there are titles that can boost luck but the book doesn't tell how to get it."
"I bought the ring, thank you." says Swordmaster89.
"I did as well," says Cherryblossom24.
Abigail read the messages and bought the newbie 1 coin stat boost which she allocated to luck as well as the ring which she put on her finger. She had 206 coins left.
Strength 6
Dexterity 8
Intelligence 8
Luck 21+1 (luck ring)
Stat points unavailable
Dice icon greyed out
"I am in the first pocket dimension visit." Abigail writes. "Thank you for the advice."
"Pillow01!" exclaimed Airplane00.
"It seems unless I spend coins, I cannot pick which world to enter. The world I received was Dungeons#172,438,791,423. To choose against entering and randomly picking again costs 10 coin."
"It seems it's still a magic world for me..." says Swordmaster89, "And it's the same one too... I can't believe this. Magic#781,114,233,918. At least this time I am a teenager instead of a baby."
"I paid for days of safety in my apocalypse world," says Airplane00.
"How do we go home?" Abigail asks.
"I'm not sure but my pocket dimension assistant said our world is currently in stasis. So if we can return, we will probably return the exact time we left? At least I hope so..." says Cherryblossom24.
"A day just passed for me." says Airplane00.
"What?" asks Cherryblossom24. "I still haven't left the pocket dimension!"
"A day passed for me as well," says Swordmaster89, "And it seems when you survive one day, you receive one coin!"
"I received one coin as well," says Airplane00. "I'm trying to figure out other ways to earn coins."
Abigail deposited 100 coins into her storage in the pocket dimension for safe keeping. "That will be 10 lives," she thinks to herself. She is currently holding 106 coins.
I should enter a world, Abigail thinks.
"Is there anything useful I could buy Red Slime?" asks Abigail.
"You lack coins to buy most things useful," Red Slime replies.
Abigail glares at it.
Age
Start as a baby
Start as a child
Start as a teenager
Start as an adult
Financial circumstance
Too poor to eat
Poor
Mediocre
Wealthy
Extremely wealthy
Family
Family that will try to kill you
Bad family
Start as an orphan
Mediocre family
Good family
Start with a family that will put your life above their own
Safeness
Start during a battle
Start relatively unsafe
Start with safety
Random start
Dice icon
Pay for days of safety - 1 coin per day
"I will buy 3 days of safety," Abigail says.
"You have 103 coins remaining in inventory and 100 coins remaining in storage." says Red Slime.
Strength 6
Dexterity 8
Intelligence 8
Luck 21+1 (luck ring)
3 days of safety for next world
"What are some equipment that I can actually afford besides this luck ring that I have bought?" Abigail asks. "Can I wear more than one luck ring?"
"Items are unique," says Red Slime. "You can equip two rings total but they have to be different. You can wear one bracelet, one pair of earrings, one necklace, one top, one belt, one bottoms, one pair of shoes, one hat or eyewear, two weapons or one weapon and one shield, and when unlocked either a cape or wings. There may be other things too..."
Abigail sighs as she looks at what she can afford.
Health potion - 1 coin
Mana potion - 1 coin
Antidote - 1 coin
Boiled egg - 1 coin
Camp resting kit - 1 coin
Luck ring - 5 coins (out of stock)
Strength ring - 5 coins
Dexterity ring - 5 coins
Intelligence ring - 5 coins
Random item - 10 coins
"How come there aren't any of the other equipment you listed?"
"You can't afford them or your rank is too low for the ones you actually can afford," says Red Slime.
"What rank am I?" Abigail asks.
"Rank F." says Red Slime. "The ranks go from the lowest F, E, D, C, B, A, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 as the highest."
"..."
"I will buy a strength ring," Abigail says.
Strength 6+1 (strength ring)
Dexterity 8
Intelligence 8
Luck 21+1 (luck ring)
3 days of safety for next world
"What else can I do?" Abigail asks.
"Your rank is too low." says Red Slime.
"How do I rank up?"
"Your rank is too low for that information."
"..."
Abigail clicked on the dice for random start.
The world was called Cultivation#556,428,717,009.
A portal appeared and she walked through.
-----------------
She was choking and barely able to breathe with pain overwhelming her.
Health points: 3/10
Mana points: 10/10
Status: Poisoned
Strength 6+1 (strength ring)
Dexterity 8
Intelligence 8
Luck 21+1 (luck ring)
3 days of safety available for use
Inventory, she thinks as she takes out an antidote potion and struggles to drink it. Luckily, she succeeded in drinking it in time because her health points was 1/10. She breathes hard at the realization that she almost died. As her breathing calms down, she pulls out a health potion and drinks it to restore her health to full.
She is a child, she realizes. Her clothes are well embroidered with beautiful designs. She is wearing a well-tailored red shirt and black pants. A money pouch bag is attached to her pants. Her wrist is wrapped by a golden dragon bracelet with sparkling gems. Her hair is cut short. She is a boy.
This will definitely take some getting used to.
Male, Child
Health points: 3/10
Mana points: 10/10
Status: Healthy
Strength 6+1 (strength ring)
Dexterity 8
Intelligence 8
Luck 21+1 (luck ring)
3 days of safety available for use
Skills: Identify
The inventory bag currently held 2 red health potions, 3 blue mana potions, 2 antidotes, 1 camp resting kit, 3 boiled eggs, 1 glowing red sword, cellphone, laptop, blue umbrella and purple handbag.
Abigail realizes she should buy more health potions and antidotes when she returns to her pocket dimension. She checks her left elbow and is relieved to see the mark still there.
She is surrounded by trees. And she can hear some animal noises. She pulls out her glowing red sword. It is bigger than her. She equips it and it shrinks to her size.
Wary, she trudges carefully. She stops. In front of the trees she is hiding behind, she can see a large white tiger eating a bloody corpse. A human corpse.
She's frozen in fear.
'Identify,' she decides to try out her skill for the first time.
Tiger of the Great
Strength 8
Dexterity 9
Intelligence 4
Skills: Tiger claw, bite, head butt, roar
Dead human corpse
Liam, male adult, age 24.
A farmer that unluckily became prey of Tiger of the Great.
Strength: 4
Dexterity: 5
Intelligence: 3
Skills: Farming
Cause of death: Tiger of the Great
She backs away, slowly. She freezes again as the tiger stops what it's doing and moves its head up. After a moment, Tiger of the Great resumes eating.
She backs away more. As quietly as possible, she leaves while trying to control her breathing. Luckily, the tiger didn't go after her.
She finds a road that looks relatively safe and starts heading on it. After following the road for a relatively long time, sweat starts to stream down her forehead and she starts feeling hungry and tired.
Male, Child
Health points: 10/10
Mana points: 10/10
Stamina points: 2/10
Status: Healthy
Strength 6+1 (strength ring)
Dexterity 8
Intelligence 8
Luck 21+1 (luck ring)
3 days of safety available for use
Skill: Identify
Pocket Dimension Coins: 98 (inventory) + 100 (storage)
Weapon: Glowing red sword
She pulls out a boiled egg from her inventory and eats it. She feels refreshed and her stamina points returns to full. She is going to have to buy some food to stick into her inventory, she realizes. She also has to ensure no one steals her money. She grabs her money bag pouch and just in case, she sticks it into her inventory.
The inventory bag currently held 2 red health potions, 3 blue mana potions, 2 antidotes, 1 camp resting kit, 2 boiled eggs, cellphone, laptop, blue umbrella, purple handbag, 100 gold, 7500 silvers
She's definitely from a rich family, she thinks as she continues on the path. Thankfully, she is lucky enough that no mishaps occur.
She pulls the money pouch bag out. She takes out the 100 gold coins and they enter her inventory. She takes out 7,500 silvers and puts it in her inventory. She keeps 2,500 silvers in her money pouch and re-attaches it to her pants. She realizes that she cannot take things out of nowhere in front of people or it will get suspicious once she actually meets people.
Male, Child
Health points: 10/10
Mana points: 10/10
Stamina points: 10/10
Status: Healthy
Strength 6+1 (strength ring)
Dexterity 8
Intelligence 8
Luck 21+1 (luck ring)
3 days of safety available for use
Skill: Identify
Pocket Dimension Coins: 98 (inventory) + 100 (storage)
Weapon: Glowing red sword
Money pouch bag: 2,500 silvers
She doesn't know who tried to kill her in the beginning.
She finds a town ahead. There are two buff guards at the entrance.
As she gets closer, they stare at her in shock. "Isn't that.."
"That's the young master!" The other guard exclaims, "Quick! Go call Butler Lou!"
She can barely see their features so she is not sure why they are able to identify her. As she walks closer, a man dressed in a black suit with a sword sheathed quickly approaches her.
"Young master!" The man says, "It is me... Butler Lou!"
Abigail stares at him uncomprehending.
Butler Lou pulls out a very heavy looking money pouch bag. "Here is your reward," he says as he pulls out a large amount of gold coins and gives it to the two guards.
"Thank you Butler Lou!" The guards say as they bow.
Butler Lou puts the money pouch bag away into his shirt. He goes on his knee as he checks Abigail. "I had thought the worst! Thankfully, you are okay young master Lucas!"
Abigail uses identify on him.
Lou, male, age 21
Lou is a butler and loyal servant of Lucas Walker, the young master and heir to the Walker family on the East Mountain.
Strength 10+3 (steel sword)
Dexterity 8
Intelligence 8
Weapon: Steel sword
Money pouch bag: 9,999 gold
Skills: Sword mastery, organization
Why does this butler have more gold than me... Abigail wonders. She is, however, relieved to finally figure out her name as well as to luckily have what seems to be a pretty strong servant.
Wait a minute... Butler Lou's steel sword gave stats? What about her own? Abigail uses identify on her glowing red sword.
Glowing red sword
+2 strength
+3 dexterity
Wow! And her status points changed.
Lucas Walker, male, child
Health points: 10/10
Mana points: 10/10
Stamina points: 10/10
Status: Healthy
Strength 6+3 (1 from strength ring, 2 from glowing red sword)
Dexterity 8+3 (glowing red sword)
Intelligence 8
Luck 21+1 (luck ring)
3 days of safety available for use
Skill: Identify
Pocket Dimension Coins: 98 (inventory) + 100 (storage)
Weapon: Glowing red sword
Money pouch bag: 2,500 silvers
"What happened to your gold coins, young master?" Butler Lou exclaims as he takes Abigail's money bag pouch. He pulls out his own money bag pouch and transfers 200 gold to Abigail's before returning it to her.
Abigail stares.
"Why are you so quiet young master?" Butler Lou asks, "Also what happened? One moment you were next to me and next you disappeared!"
"..."
"Well, good thing nothing has happened. Come, young master Lucas. We need to quickly enter the portal. It is almost time for the testing ceremony! You cannot be late."
Abigail follows after Butler Lou while checking the town's surroundings. It seems there are a lot of stores and clerks, even street vendors.
"Selling delicious food!" A vendor shouts. Abigail recalls needing more stored food so she goes to the vendor.
Butler Lou notices and slows down, "Alright, young master, we can shop for a bit but we have to be going soon."
The vendor's eyes shine as he notices a customer.
Stick of 3 fish balls - 10 coppers
Beef taco - 5 coppers
Chicken taco - 5 coppers
Veggie taco - 5 coppers
Fish taco - 10 coppers
"I want to buy all that you have." Abigail says.
The vendor is shocked but then smiles brightly, "Yes young master! The food I make is delicious! Here is all my current stock." The exchange was made as the vendor happily closed shop.
Abigail made sure that Butler Lou was not looking. She bought 35 sticks of fish balls (350 coppers), 24 beef tacos (120 coppers), 24 chicken tacos (120 coppers), 24 veggie tacos (120 coppers), and 21 fish tacos (210 coppers). 1000 coppers is 1 silver. 1000 silver is 1 gold. She gave the vendor 1 silver coin. "You can keep the change."
"Thank you!" says the vendor. Usually I don't even have 10 customers, what a lucky day!
Discreetly, when no one was looking, she put most of the food into her inventory. She followed after Butler Lou while eating a delicious fish taco.
At the corner of her eyes, she noticed a shimmer and paused. A pendant necklace glowed and she felt pulled towards it.
"Young master?"
Identify.
Necklace of the Luck God
+5 Luck
She couldn't believe her luck.
"I want to buy this." She says directly to the merchant.
"Ah... actually this item has already been sold." the merchant says.
"Oh." Abigail says, disappointed.
"If you want it, I can sell it to you for 10 gold," a voice says in a snide tone.
"I'll buy it." Abigail says directly. She wanted the necklace.
The person laughs, "This works too? Haha..."
It was another boy, a little taller than her. He had brown hair and brown eyes with pale skin. She used identify.
Oliver, male, child
From a poor merchant family, dreams of attending Royal Cultivation School.
Strength 4
Dexterity 4
Intelligence 7
Skills: Barter, negotiate
Money pouch bag: 22 coppers
Abigail gave 10 gold to Oliver and he handed Abigail the necklace.
The merchant stared. No... I could've earned 10 gold... 10 gold... 10... gold...
Abigail uses identify on Oliver again.
Oliver, male, child
The adopted son of a poor merchant family, an orphan that dreams of attending Royal Cultivation School. With 10 gold, Oliver decides to try out for the test ceremony to make his dream a reality!
Strength 4
Dexterity 4
Intelligence 7
Skills: Barter, negotiate
Money pouch bag: 10 gold and 22 coppers
"Young master... we are going to be late for the test ceremony! We have to leave. The portal will be closing soon!" Butler Lou exclaimed.
"You are going to the test ceremony? I would like to try my luck there as well!" Oliver states, "Let me come with you!"
Butler Lou glares at Oliver. He scammed my young master out of 10 gold and wants to come with us!?
"Okay." Abigail says.
Butler Lou sighs. "Alright, let us be off."
Oliver gaped at the cost of the portal. It was 3 gold! That was almost 1/3rd of the money he had on hand. However, Butler Lou took out 9 gold from his money bag pouch and gave it to the portal administrator to pay for all 3 of them. Oliver breathed a sigh of relief, what luck! He glances at Abigail, everything improved for him after meeting Abigail. Oliver didn't think he'd ever have a chance to even use a portal in his lifetime. He stepped through.
"There's nothing to be afraid of, young master Lucas. You have been through many portals. They are safe." Butler Lou reassures.
Abigail took a deep breath and stepped through.
Abigail and Oliver followed Butler Lou to a well-furnished inn.
"Welcome!" the innkeeper greets.
"3 beds for 7 nights." says Butler Lou.
"One bed for one night is 30 coppers. 3 beds for 7 nights will be 630 coppers please." says the innkeeper.
Butler Lou paid.
Abigail got her own room with a bed. Butler Lou had the room to her right and Oliver had the room to her left. She locked her room door and turned off the lights. She climbed into bed and then touched the mark on her left elbow.
"Welcome back," the Red Slime greets.
"I almost died in the beginning."
The Red Slime laughs, "Congratulations on surviving."
Abigail glares at it.
"Oh lucky you... you found the necklace of the luck god!" exclaims the Red Slime, "You can sell that to me for pocket dimension coins!"
"I'm not selling it." Abigail says. "What other items do you buy?"
"I buy lots of items... some are worth less... some are worth something... and some are worth nothing..."
"Let me see your shop."
Abigail buys 3 red health potions and 2 antidotes for 5 dimension coins.
Rank: F
Current role on world Cultivation#556,428,717,009: Lucas Walker, male, child, heir to the Walker family on the East Mountain.
Health points: 10/10
Mana points: 10/10
Stamina points: 10/10
Status: Healthy
Strength 6+3 (1 from strength ring invisible, 2 from glowing red sword)
Dexterity 8+3 (glowing red sword)
Intelligence 8
Luck 21+6 (luck ring invisible, necklace of the luck God)
3 days of safety available for use
Skill: Identify
Pocket Dimension Coins: 93 (inventory) + 100 (storage)
Weapon: Glowing red sword
Money pouch bag: 2,499 silvers, 190 gold
The inventory bag currently held 5 red health potions, 3 blue mana potions, 4 antidotes, 1 camp resting kit, 2 boiled eggs, cellphone, laptop, blue umbrella, purple handbag, 100 gold, 7500 silvers, 35 sticks of fish balls, 24 beef tacos, 24 chicken tacos, 24 veggie tacos, 20 fish tacos.
Abigail took out her blue umbrella. It was with her when she was searching for glowing coins.
"I will buy that blue umbrella." says Red Slime.
"What's so good about this umbrella?" asks Abigail.
Red Slime didn't answer.
Abigail uses identify on the blue umbrella.
Blue Umbrella of Luck
Exposed to a lot of glowing coins, this blue umbrella has become a lucky umbrella!
+1 Luck
She stared at it.
She pulled out her purple handbag. Her wallet was inside and she pulled it out too.
Purple Handbag of Luck
Exposed to a lot of glowing coins, this purple handbag has become a lucky purple handbag!
+1 Luck
Wallet
Ordinary wallet belonging to Abigail. Contains ID cards, credit card, and some money.
"Do you want to buy this fish taco?" Abigail says as she pulls out a fish taco.
"No." says Red Slime. Abigail shrugs and eats the fish taco. A screen pops up that her stamina is full so none was restored.
She puts the wallet into storage and puts the purple handbag over her shoulders.
"How do I equip this blue umbrella?"
"As a weapon or just by holding it." says Red Slime.
"How come the things I equip in here doesn't appear when I'm in that other world?"
"It just doesn't," says Red Slime.
Abigail glares at it. Sighing, she pulls out her cellphone. The battery is still 100% fully charged.
"Are you guys still alive in your current world?" asks Airplanelover00, "I'm still alive."
"I almost died a lot..." Cherryblossom24 says, "But luckily, I have an older brother protecting me in this world. He's very strong. However, my parents seem to hate me. They even poison my food. There's like poison everywhere. I barely survived the first day."
"That sucks." Airplanelover00 says, "But I'm glad you have that brother. I'm alone in this world but I found a group of people who seem generally okay to survive with."
"There have been a lot of assassination attempts on me..." says Swordmaster89, "But I am still alive. There's also a few instructors and classmates that hate my guts. I'm in my first year at the magic school."
"Damn," says Airplanelover00. "How you holding up Pillow01?"
"Pillow01?" says Airplanelover00. "Oh. Pillow01 is not there again."
"I wonder how they sync this chat system. It's pretty interesting," says Cherryblossom24.
"What character do you guys have? I'm surprisingly a girl." says Airplanelover00, "I'm a guy in real life."
"I'm my own gender," says Swordmaster89. "Male."
"I am my own gender as well. Female." says Cherryblossom24.
"When do you guys think we can go back to Earth? Or why any of this is happening?" asks Airplanelover00.
"I dunno." says Swordmaster89. "But I found an item that my pocket dimension administrator really wanted to buy... even offered me 1000 pocket dimension gold."
"Wow!" exclaims Cherryblossom24. "What item is it!? I didn't know it would buy items from us!"
"Some random diary. I don't have identify skill so I dunno how good it is. That's what's stopping me from selling it." says Swordmaster89. "I also tried to find an identifier but they seem to be a dime in a dozen. I can't believe the identify skill costs 100,000 coins..."
"Cherryblossm24, did you buy the alchemy book? Or do you buy the antidotes?" asks Airplane00.
"Yes, I had to buy the alchemy book... it costs 5 coins... but otherwise, I would've gone through at least 20 antidotes so far. My parents really are out to kill me." says Cherryblossom24. "The book is good... regardless of whichever world you are in, you will simply have the knowledge to substitute ingredients!"
"That's a useful book." says Swordmaster89, "I've been going through a lot of potions due to the assassination attempts. Thankfully, I'm in a magic world so they actually sell potions... unfortunately, it's all still quite pricey. I'm gonna get the book."
"I'm pretty lucky so far," admits Airplanelover00. "But I am thinking of getting that book too. There's also a book on forging which interests me. It seems that the first crafting book you buy is 5 coins but the one you buy after that will be 50 coins... so I suspect the one after that could be 500 coins. I'm in the apocalypse world so the first book I bought was cultivating plants otherwise I would've starved."
"What!?" exclaims Cherryblossom24. "That's such a price hike! I didn't check other crafting/production books after buying my first one..."
"Ah... I didn't realize that was a thing... alright, I'll make my decision carefully before buying a book." says Swordmaster89.
"Hi guys," Abigail writes.
"Pillow01!!!" says Airplane00.
Airplane00 is typing...
"It seems that the chat function doesn't always sync us but it usually eventually does," says Airplane00. "How was your first day? It is already my 2nd day."
"Oh the beginning was really bad. I was poisoned and my HP was almost zero. But thankfully I drank an antidote and health potion in time. Then there was a tiger that almost noticed me... but luckily I escaped." says Abigail.
"Do you have anyone protecting you? I thankfully have an older brother," says Cherryblossom24.
"I have a butler but he mostly just escorts me." says Abigail.
"Wow a butler! You must've landed in a wealthy family..." Cherryblossom24 states. "I'm in a mediocre family or a bad family... I'm not sure. I guess it might be the "family out to kill you" one... sigh. I suppose it's a mix of "family out to kill you" and family member putting your life ahead of their own... which is my brother."
"I'm in a wealthy one actually... but potions are expensive. I dunno why someone is out to kill me or even who it is." says Swordmaster89.
"I'm an orphan... so no money to speak of." says Airplane00. "Basically everything is out to kill me... haha... except for the small group of people I found. Even other humans are dangerous. Thankfully, my luck stat is high so I have avoided most dangers so far."
"Oh yes. I found a luck item from a merchant so maybe you guys will also find luck items!" Abigail says.
"Wow... are there a lot of identifiers in your world?" asks Swordmaster89. "There are a few appraisers but it's hard to even make an appointment with them."
"I have the identify skill." says Abigail.
"What? Is that from your random skill? How lucky..." exclaims Airplane00. "The skill I got was waterbolt. It's very useful for me actually since I have a source of water and won't die of thirst."
"I got a thunder skill." says Swordmaster89, "Whenever I see someone sneaking around, I use the thunder skill on them and they die... thankfully I do because it turns out to be someone trying to assassinate me..."
"I didn't get an attack," murmurs Cherryblossom24, "I actually got a heal spell... but it doesn't cure antidotes and that's why I bought the alchemy/potion-making book."
"Have any of you levelled up yet? How do you rank up or level up?" Abigail asks.
"I haven't yet," says Airplane00, "I'm not sure how to actually. I've killed a lot of weird creatures in this apocalypse but nothing happened yet."
"I've killed a lot of people trying to assassinate me but nope... didn't level or rank up." says Swordmaster89.
"I've also gone hunting monsters with that brother in the dungeon world... but nothing happened for me too." says Cherryblossom24.
"There is a skill where it will allow us to chat face-to-face in this portal dimension but it costs 500 coins... maybe in the future we can afford. Then Pillow01, please help us identify stuff..." says Airplane00.
"Yes. Definitely." says Pillow01.