Chapter 31. Rewards and Resupply.
Silas stepped into his headquarters, and everything was as he had left it. Buster gave the place a good sniff, and didn’t seem to sense anything out of place. He had been awarded experience, and the System had also claimed it would give some more rewards, so Silas’ first stop was at the reward chest.
Confirming the chest was set to only display information on the new items, Silas opened it.
Reward Chest, new inventory.
1. Copper coins, 72.
2. Silver coins, 4.
3. Gold coins, 1.
4. Resupply cabinet, basic (Class Restricted).
5. Simple Treat Pouch.
More money was always good, and Silas made a point to bring the gold coins he’d acquired back home with him. He could use the money, and it should be more than enough to purchase a pistol or shotgun to protect his home with. The silver and copper coins he’d keep here in case the merchants had anything useful for him.
The resupply cabinet was weird, and he wasn’t sure what to make of it. When Silas pulled it from the reward chest, it was just a simple, coin-shaped wooden token. Looking carefully at it, he couldn’t figure the item out until Buster walked over and began rapid-fire sniffing at the token.
Buster’s antics and his new skills must have done the trick, and a System description appeared.
Resupply cabinet, basic. This addition to your armory will allow you generate a limited number of consumables to replenish your various weapons. The cabinet can be used only once per visit to the pit. A total of 10 supply points will be generated with each visit. The supply point cost of each ammunition type can be viewed once the cabinet is installed.
To install the cabinet, select a portion of your armory where you wish it to be located, and inject mana into the token. Once attached to the indicated wall, the cabinet may be moved, but doing so will disrupt the flow of mana to the device and limit its use for the next visit. This item is upgradable. Once installed, an initial resupply may be requested.
The resupply cabinet, basic is a class restricted item, and as such, can only be activated by a being with the Special Operations Commander class. Permission cannot be granted to any other individuals, including party members and companions.
“Hey Buster, this looks like it might help solve our ammo issue. Let’s check out the last item before we install it and see how many rounds it can give us,” Silas said, pocketing the cabinet token and pulling out the last item, which appeared to have been given with Buster in mind.
It was a small, leather pouch, with a thick cloth cord to secure it. Buster did his thing, and after a few sniffs, his Identify ability activated, granting information on the pouch.
Simple treat pouch. This simple pouch can be mounted to any companion beast’s collar. Once attached, the pouch can hold up to 1 enhanced foodstuff item for the companion. Your companion will choose when and where to use the treat item, though only one food and drink enhancement can be active at a time.
Should multiple treats be consumed, only the one with the highest overall bonus will remain active. An initial loadout has been supplied with the treat pouch.
Simple treat pouch current contents:
1. Agility Biscuit. When consumed, this biscuit will increase the Agility of the companion by 1 for a duration of 1 hour.
“This is yours, boy. Let me get it tied onto your collar. Make sure you wait to eat the treat, it’s something you need to save for an emergency, got it?” Silas asked as Buster moved over so he could tie the pouch to his collar.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
His nose never stopped working, and despite his increased intelligence, Silas was worried the biscuit wouldn’t last long before temptation overcame Buster. At least the System made the pouch easy to install. As soon as Silas touched it to Buster’s collar, it attached itself, melding smoothly to the outside of the collar.
“I suppose that gives us something to look for at the merchants. I’m sure Gritvart or that other guy can find us some extra treats for us to keep on hand,” Silas said. Buster gave a small bark of approval. Hearing treats mentioned always seemed to get his attention.
Buster followed Silas into the armory as he tried to decide where to install the resupply cabinet. He assumed that the cabinet was something he’d use every visit, so placing near the entry point of the room seemed like a good idea. Just past the doorway was a bit of open space.
Following the System’s instructions, Silas place the token where he wanted the cabinet to go and tried to push mana into it. That wasn’t exactly easy and required him to focus for over a minute before he got the hang of it. He could feel the mana flowing in his body, and with the appropriate application of will, it would follow his command.
As the mana entered the token, it transformed into a small wooden footlocker, not much bigger than a shoebox, that slid down to the floor and attached itself against the wall there. Once he figured it was done with the crazy System installation, Silas opened the footlocker to find another prompt explaining its use.
Resupply cabinet, basic.
Current Supply: 10.
Please stand by as an analysis of your current gear is processed.
Silas waited and a few seconds later, the System continued with its explanation.
The following supply point costs for your consumable items are as follows.
1. Firearm ammunition for your primary weapon. 1 supply/1 round.
2. Firearm ammunition for your secondary weapon. 1 supply/2 rounds.
3. M67 fragmentation grenade. 10 supply/1 grenade.
This cabinet wasn’t going to solve his ammo issues, but between it and Ammo Dump, he now had a bit longer to go before ammo became a problem. He was also relieved to see that his grenades could be recreated, Silas was worried that once the threw them, that was it, as no new grenades, even if he could find them, would survive in the mana-rich environment.
He was also worried about giving his last one to Gritvart for his engineers to try and duplicate, as there was no guarantee of success, and no guarantee that the weapons wouldn’t find their way into the hands of his enemies. For this trip’s resupply, Silas selected the grenade. He wanted a full load of two of them, and the rest of his ammo was holding up fine for the time being.
“Buster, you better check that the new addition to your collar is showing in your loadout. You don’t want to lose your treat when we head home,” Silas warned. The dog booped his nose on one of the armor racks, and Silas had to trust that by doing that, Buster had confirmed that he wouldn’t accidentally take his new item back home.
Silas played around with the armory for a bit, finding that not only could he set a loadout for when he arrived, but he could also set a standard loadout for heading back home. He’d need to bring some extra uniforms to store here, as well as some street clothes. That way, he wouldn’t have to leave his garage and walk to the house looking like he was ready for war.
He could also confirm before he left if he wanted to take any additional items from his reward chest back with him. It turned out that he could do that either at the reward chest, or inside the armory. Silas considered checking back in with the merchants about resupplying Buster’s treats, but he figured it could wait until his next visit.
Pricing out the treats and seeing what food items might give him a bonus, would be a good test of the merchants. He’d like to get them bidding against each other so he could get the best price. It seemed like the entryway to the pit was going to keep expanding, and that meant more shopping opportunities, and who knew what else might pop up as the area continued to grow.
With everything he needed to do accomplished. Silas confirmed he wanted the two gold coins to head back with him and stepped into the portal room. This time, it seemed to fire up almost immediately, further confirming that this place was coming back to life once more. Stepping from the portal into his garage. He was shocked to hear someone knock on one of the roll-up doors.
“Silas, are you in there? Is everything okay? Misty asked. That was right, it must be time for Buster’s grooming appointment. Had she peeked inside when the portal was open? Silas double checked to make sure the portal remained inactive as he unlocked and rolled up the door.
“I’m in here, no worries, was just sorting through some of my old gear and feeling a bit nostalgic,” Silas said, trying to explain his dress, and glad that the weapons hadn’t come back with him. This was a rural area, but tiger stripe camo wasn’t exactly common anymore.
“No problem, I just saw a weird light and wanted to make sure you were fine and that we didn’t miss Buster’s appointment. Oh, no, what happened to your car!” Misty said as she spotted the abused Mustang parked inside.