It took about about thirty minutes of poking and prodding before the Crew responsible for Equipment, was satisfied they had my measurements right. They assured me they'd have something for testing in a couple hours. Apparently printer technology was decades ahead of back home.
Kari led me to their Gym. lots of Ultra Dense, Ultra Strong Alloys.
Made Cheaper than I thought, because of Near Planetary Bodies Mining.
"Wait Ya'll have cheap enough space travel to do that?"
"Nah, A Super, GigaBrain, designed a whole Autonomous Mining Facility and had Charlie Burnick, Powerstream, fly the modular bits up and slapped them together and turned it on. It builds and maintains it's own drones, builds it's own carriers to go out as far as Jupiter hunting for rarer materials. It drops packages off into the oceans. GigaBrain takes what he wants, dumps the rest on the Market, at very low prices. Costs of a lot of goods dropped." She gestured with big sweeping motions.
Yeah, Autonomous Drones, I don't see ANY way that could go wrong. Not that I could do jack about it at this point.
Do what I can, while I can. A mantra to go along with my fingertip tapping. Developed over long stretches of being too poor to do much.
She ran about explaining each bit of equipment.
"Alright, that should be everything. I'll leave you to it. I'll call a Florist and have a selection of plants delivered."
"Thanks Kari, you're the best." She meandered back to whatever she had been doing. Probably expecting me to ogle her. Yeah, nope, I didn't know the etiquette.
I put my weapons in a nearby unmarked locker. Stretched out. Then got to work.
It took several tons of direct weight and three hours of pushing hard, no pauses, no rest. One exercise straight into the next. Finally I gassed out. Gasping for air. And yet, I didn't sweat much. Likely Elven fuckery.
[ Daily Quest 1 Completed
You get 5 MC and 1000 credits ]
I felt rich, I knew it wasn't even chump change. Costs would ramp higher and higher that the numbers would become absurd. But that's Future me's problem.
As I was doing my cooldown stretches, Amos the Base's Quartermaster, pushed a cart loaded with armor up to me. I hopped up eager to see what they had cooked up.
Also, I was starving.
"Victor Order Up!" He Handed me a clip-broad. "Sign Please." I carefully scribbled my name where indicated. Handed it back
"We went with a highly upgradable design, easily swapped parts, expecting you to get a lot of use out of these." He handed me what looked and felt like Black Silk Pajamas.
"Amos, I didn't know you thought of me that way." I gave him a dead serious look.
"Ha ha. These are your under armor. They are made out of Modified Synthetic Spider Silk. Will stop low caliber rounds. .22, .38, a bit iffy on .40 and 9mm. Somewhat cut and stab resistant. Breathes well. Wick away sweat very well." He tapped the clip-board with each point.
GIPs showed,
[ MSSS Under Armor
Tier 0
Protection minimal. ]
I stripped down to my undies and tried on the under armor. Fit like a dream.
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He grabbed the next piece off the cart. He struggled to carry it a few feet to me. When I grabbed it, I didn't feel like it weighed much at all.
" Modified Strike Plate Carrier Extended Vest. Vest itself is made of a heavier version of the Spider Silk. Inside an impact resistant Proprietary Gel Foam. Sandwiched in the carrier pockets are hardened alloy disks. Should stop anything up to non-specialized .50 BMG rounds. A silver tip or better will ruin your day. Outside is covered in new Poly-resin plates. Highly stab and cut resistant. Weight 110 lbs."
[ MSPC Extended Vest
Tier 0
Protection moderate. ]
I got the Vest strapped on. The straps on the sides were Velcro. The armor fell to just above my knees, and was slit in the front and back from the waist down. Good mobility for a half-inch thick Vest.
I tried jogging in place. It flapped a lot on the legs. I checked there were already more straps to hold it down. I got it adjusted and hopped back and forth. Much better.
Amos passed me some almost knee high boots. The layers were the same as the Vest. with the Alloy layer being thinner. The Gel Foam layer cushioned my feet nicely. I secured the clamps and danced about getting a sense of how they impacted my mobility. Not Much. Amos assured me that soles were made of a nearly indestructible naval rubber. They weighed in at about 15 lbs.
"Should be good for the Victor Special."
"Huh?"
"Stomping them flat." He laughed at the look on my face. I shook my head at him, groaning.
Lastly some vambraces. 3/4 of an inch of alloy and twice as much Gel Foam. I clamped them down. I rotated my forearms to make sure they didn't limit my range of motion. 20 more pounds.
Altogether a nice set of gear. If you are freakishly strong.
I gave Amos my profound thanks, and shook his hand, gingerly.
"Anytime. " He was still chuckling as he pushed his cart back to the workshops.
[ You have completed Daily Quest.
You get 2 MC and 200 credits. ]
Which reminds me. "Guide is there a currency tracking function?"
Currency Guide Coins: 6/10 Meta Coins: 9/13 Credits: 1750/1800
Hur. Box. Argh.
Maybe a bit better of a box. More Options bullshit to deal with. Later.
I should maybe buy some more knowledge. Probably about my Class and Race makeups. I wasn't going to learn about them in this World.
Pause. It's tracking lifetime gain and usage. Why would it do that? Knowledge about the Options List and Currencies if available, are going on the schedule.
Should have done before now. Sigh.
Kari rolled up in a Golf cart.
"Vick, I got your plants. Hey looking fierce." She hopped out.
"Wait, let's set them up back in the Apartment. And yes, I do." While she giggled at that, I pulled my weapons out of the locker, found my armor had hooks set up for my swords and gun holster once I detached it from the shoulder harness.
Checked the draw. Eh. My arms were too long for a good waist draw. I'd have to get a leg rig later.
I loped alongside the Golf cart, my gear settled in. Nothing pulled or pinched, very little rattle or jingle, nice.
When we got there, I pulled in one of two boxes of plants, Kari brought the other. I set them up in a circle in the living room.
Let's see we have a Dracaena, a Spath, a Pothos, an Aloe, a Fern, and a Rubber Plant.
"Thanks Kari, this will save a lot of time."
"No Problem Vick, just don't spend all day playing with your plants." She snorted at me. It was cute. Nope. Stop that. Bad Victor.
She headed out, back to her rounds.
So now what. I sat there wondering what to do. Do I need to touch them? Wouldn't hurt, but let's see if I can do something without it first.
No clue how long I tried reaching out to the plants mentally when something finally clicked.
Six small spots of mild contentment. They had enough water, and the soil was fine, the lights in the Apartment apparently had most of what they needed. Tasted a little stale though. Stale Light, neat. Never would have thought of that.
Then I felt a pull toward the soil, something about it offended me, sure the plants thought it was fine, I knew it could be better. A pull from within, almost a tearing sensation, and I could sense the soil improve.
[ Guided has unlocked Mana Stats.
Current Mana: 11/12
Mana Quality: C
Mana Type: Various (Known: Nature {Life/Elemental}) ]
Booyah! I had magic!
I checked on the plants. The soil was the good gourmet shit, now. Each pots contents had been balanced for the nutritional needs of the individual plant. If they could dance, they would be.
I tried to reach out, thinking about helping the plants grow. That pull from inside, I could map it out better this time. The Mana liked to swirl and circle. I followed it to the plants, sense it infusing them.
[ Guided has unlocked Trait: Mana Sense I ]
The plants were now about 25 percent bigger, lusher, more vibrant. They were also radiating joy. I was also happy with everything. The plants started singing, not audibly, but in a strange way inside. Like Mana but distinct.
[ Guided has unlocked Trait: Nature Sense I ]
This was just the best day.
[ You have Completed Daily Quest 3
You get 2 GC, 2 MC and 300 credits. ]
[ Lifetime credits have reached threshold.
New Purchase options have been unlocked. ]
The hits just kept on coming. So, of course, something had to get in the way.
An Alarm siren started howling. The apartments intercom crackled, "Victor we have a problem."