*growl* Ron's stomach started to rumble. He had just thrown up his breakfast after all the events.
('Guess I should find some food first') Ron thought. Even though Ron had never spent a day out in the wild camping he knew the priorities were food, water and shelter when it came to survival.
('Although I probably will not need shelter as badly because I intend to explore this place') Ron concluded.
As Ron was about to walk around an idea suddenly came to him, couldn't he just wish for food and water? Ron opened the wish store and wished for some water to rinse out the aftertaste first.
"CALCULATING... THE PRICE FOR NORMAL WATER IS AS FOLLOWS 1000L OF WATER WILL COST 10 WISH POINTS, SINCE THIS IS YOUR FIRST WISH OF WATER A FREE CONTAINER WILL BE PROVIDED NOTE FUTURE WISHES OF WATER WILL NOT HAVE A FREE CONTAINER".
('Well it's not that expensive and it even comes with a free container') It seemed like the wish store was not that unreasonable when it comes to some wishes, imagine if he wished water and it just washed all away.
"I wish for 1000L of water" Ron wished and a 1 meter tall container appeared filled to the brim with water, it even came with a handy tap at the bottom to let the water out. Ron put his mouth around the tap and opened the valve, he rinsed once and drank multiple mouthfuls of water.
*Ahhh* A refreshed sigh came from Ron as he drank the water.
"Man, that was refreshing," Ron exclaimed. It didn't do much to his hunger but it was still really needed.
('Alright next is food') Ron decided. He opened the wish store again and this time he wished for food however he quickly ran into a problem.
"CALCULATING... THE PRICE FOR FOOD IS DEPENDED ON WHAT TYPE OF FOOD AND THE QUANTITY OF FOOD SEE THE LIST BELOW FOR A BREAKDOWN"
The list Ron got was big, very very big, it was 2348 pages worth of food items going from raw vegetables to fully cooked meals, anything that could be quantified as food was listed it was astounding and way too much.
"Can this list be sorted by lowest price first please" Ron tried to reason with the store and a second later the store actually sorted it from lowest price first to highest price as last.
"Huh that worked? Alright sweet" Ron was a little surprised that a function like that was there it would be good to remember that.
Ron was scrolling through the list and looked at some of the items and prices. 10 KG of potatoes 5 wish points, 10 KG of grain 5 wish points, 10 KG of radish 5 wish points, etc.
It seemed like basic raw vegetables and grain like items were 5 points per 10 KG. After scrolling a bit he seemed to find the meat section. 10 KG of raw beef 10 wish points, 10 KG of raw pork 10 wish points, 10 KG of raw chicken 10 wish points, etc.
('So it seems like raw grains and veggies are 5 points and meats are 10 points') Ron stated the obvious. He knew that people required balanced meals and couldn't really function on a pure vegetarian or carnivorous diet without supplements, especially since he wanted to get stronger he really needed a good diet.
"Hmm?" "What's this?" Ron exclaimed when he scrolled past the raw food section. 1 month's worth of MRE's 25 wish points. What was a 'MRE'? Ron hadn't heard of that term before, he tried to focus on that item in the list and a screen popped up with some more text.
1 month's worth of MRE's 25 wish points: 'MRE also known as meals ready to eat, this item comes with pre cooked and sealed balanced meals however taste is something to be desired'.
('This might work') Ron thought to himself and immediately bought 1 month's worth of MRE's. The wish was made and a bunch of packages suddenly appeared on the floor containing 100 meals. Ron tried one meal and it was exactly like it stated, pretty bland in taste but it worked on filling him up.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
"Alright let's finally start exploring this forest" Ron stated as he finished his meal, however he suddenly ran into a problem he didn't think of.
"Wait, how am I going to take this with me?" Ron exclaimed. The water alone was close to 1000L. It was 1000 KG. He couldn't lug that with him 24/7 but he did need it and buying more water every time he moved was a massive waste of points.
('How did characters from fiction do this again? …Ah right, an inventory') Ron thought about it and the answer came quickly. But could he even wish for a small inventory? Ron tried it and was pleasantly surprised when he could but the happiness came and went quickly.
Small inventory 10,000 wish points: 'a private dimension that only the user has access to full size is 10m³'.
"Well it confirms I can even buy things like this but that still doesn't help me now" Ron muttered.
"Wait, what if it's an object that can store things like a ring or a bag?" Ron quickly came to the idea after remembering reading about things like that from other fiction novels. Ron wanted to buy an object to store stuff and unsurprisingly a list came forth.
Small bag of holding 1,500 wish points, small storage ring 1,500 wish points, small storage pendant 1,500 points, ect. The list went on from small to gigantic sizes of storage.
Ron quickly focused on the bag of holding and got the description with it.
Small bag of holding 1,500 wish points: A small leather bag with a storage of 10m³, vulnerable to being stolen.
There wasn't a soul in sight nearby Ron and who knows how long it would take for him to even find a town or city? Was there even a human settlement in this tower? He can't be the only person right? Ron shelved all these questions for later and bought the small bag of holding.
A small leather bag appeared before Ron. It also came with a complementary string and instructions on how it worked exactly. Simply touch the bag and whatever you want to store and command it to store.
As Ron was finally ready to head out he remembered the wolves along with the first warning he got about combat. If he did run into wolves how would he defend himself? He needed some way to fight back.
('How do I fight back?') Ron faced a dilemma, a gun would be too loud and probably too expensive with bullets and all. Ron checked the store just in case and found out a standard 9mm costs 1000 wish points and bullets would cost 50 wish points per 15 rounds.
('Too expensive') Ron concluded. He would need some type of cold weapon, but what cold weapon would he want? He's never even used a cold weapon if you don't count a kitchen knife that he used while cooking.
('I need something with range') Ron thought, if he had a range advantage he could be at a safer distance and still attack. Ron decided it would be a spear. It has range and was probably easy to use right? With that thought Ron checked the store and found what he was looking for.
Basic wooden spear 150 wish points: A basic wooden spear with a metal tip, good beginner weapon, will break easy. A pretty simple looking spear came into Ron's hands, he jabbed a few times into the air to test it and was pretty happy with it.
('Alright now where to go?') Ron looked in the sky and saw the sun? ('Was there even a sun here?') hanging in the air he decided to walk towards the sun. Ron knew that the sun went down in the west and came up in the east, if the sun came down while he was walking he was walking west.
Ron could've used wish points to buy a compass however, why use wish points for something that could be easy to find out? Ron also had a feeling he should save some wish points and not use them all up.
Speaking of which after this spending trip on supplies Ron was left with only 815 wish points out of the 2,500 he earned.
('Points come and go i suppose') Ron thought while he was walking. Still what could be in this tower? What would I come to see and face? Ron hadn't thought of these things and while thinking of these things Ron started to get a bit excited even.
Ordinary life was dull and repetition would suck all the fun out of things, now here he was walking in an unknown forest with unknown dangers everywhere. Should he really be excited about this? Yes, Ron always dreamed of moments like these where he would be transported to fantasy settings and now it happened even though he died once to do so.
Ron continued to walk for close to 3 hours noting that the sun was indeed going down slowly confirming he was walking west. While walking Ron looked around the forest to see if he could find something interesting, he could hear and see birds, rabbits, squirrels and other small rodent-like creatures.
He hadn't come across any big creatures like the wolves he heard or any boars for that matter, however unbeknownst to Ron that would soon change. After another 30 minutes of walking Ron heard some sounds coming from just to his left.
*snort* *growl*
Ron turned his head and saw a wild boar standing there about 30 meters from where he was. The boar was looking at Ron and Ron was staring back. His heart started pumping fast as Ron gripped the spear nervously with both hands.
*huff* Ron took a deep breath to calm his nerves as he continued to stare at the boar. This was his first fight so nerves were normal. The boar continued to make growling sounds and stood its ground.
Ron started to slowly walk towards the boar with the spear ready, the boar made louder sounds while standing still. Once Ron was within 10 meters of the boar it suddenly charged at him.
('Fast!') Was all Ron could think of before jumping out of the way and falling on the ground. Ron quickly got back up only to see the boar charging at him once more.
In an act of desperation Ron moved his arms and stabbed into the charging boar. The tip hit the head of the boar however with the momentum of the boar the wooden pole shot into Ron's stomach.
*Oof!* Was all Ron could say and he fell on his back. The boar was still running, thrashing wildly to get the spear out of it. Eventually the spear got dislodged and fell on the ground. The boar took this opportunity to run away.
*cough* *cough* Ron coughed and slowly got back up and looked around only to see no boar in sight.
*sigh* "My first fight and I couldn't even kill a boar" Ron muttered dejectedly. Ron stood back up rubbing his stomach and walking towards his spear. His mind reflected on the fight as a whole.
('I underestimated how fast a boar really was and was taken by surprise on the first move from there it was history') Ron knew he had lost the fight by the first move as he panicked and stabbed during the second charge.
All in all Ron was lucky to end the battle with only a bruise on his stomach. If he had broken a rib or the spear hit his diaphragm it could've gone a lot worse.
Ron picked up the spear and looked at the blood trail left by the boar. ('Might as well finish it off') Ron thought and started following the trail.