Power Fantasy

by Scottie Futch

  He tried to lift the storage box but found that it refused to move from its location. “The item location is fixed, huh?”

  That did not bode well for storage containers, though it was possible that normally mobile things like backpacks weren’t the same. A thought struck him in that moment. Scott reached into his pockets then nodded.

  He took off his pants and checked the cost to convert them. What was the worst that could happen? He couldn’t wear pants till he got a new set? He had underwear and he was in the middle of nowhere. Literally.

  “Less than a thousand points to convert my pants… Interesting,” said Scott.

  He splurged four hundred world points and his pants also became a storage item. Albeit, the storage capacity was only four pounds. He tried to shove his pickaxe into his pocket then laughed when it disappeared inside. It had to be taking up most of his storage space, but the idea that he had a pickaxe in his pocket was hilarious. He fished around in his pocket a bit and made his inventory screen appear. He selected the pickaxe then felt around until he found what felt like a miniature version of it in his pocket. Scott pulled it out and it immediately grew to normal size as he did so.

  As an experiment, he stored the pickaxe in the storage box then fished around in his pocket. A new section appeared in the inventory menu labeled Storage Box.

  After some fiddling, he found that he could drag an item from the storage box area into his pocket area. He did so, then immediately clicked the icon. “A sixty second wait time, eh?”

  Scott fished around in his pocket but did not find the pickaxe. So, he waited for that minute to pass. Once the timer disappeared from atop the icon, he tried to find it once more and pulled the pickaxe from his pocket! Success!

  “They are linked…. Good to know.” Of course, he had to fiddle with the inventory screen and manually move things around. There was also a timer which increased with each item that was moved at one time. There was no timer to store or retrieve items but moving them between storage areas did take a while.

  After he spent some time fiddling with the storage system, he felt he had a good grasp of it. He could move multiple items and then draw them out of whatever storage container they were in but could not move more than the maximum weight limit of any given item into that item’s storage area.

  “I wonder if there is a way to consolidate all of that in the future so I can just have one storage container with a lot of storage…” he said thoughtfully.

  It was then that he had the bright idea to try to store his pants inside the storage box. This led to an interesting message appearing.

  Merging Storage Containers

  You may combine multiple storage containers in order to increase the size of one container. This is true for both mobile, and fixed, containers.

  Will you have one storage item consume the other to increase its overall capacity?

  Yes | No

  Scott selected no, this time. He needed both of his storage containers.

  That matter settled he grabbed his pickaxe then headed back down the cliff along a steep pathway that was reminiscent of well-worn stone stairs. He went to his mining resource spot and purchased it for one thousand world points, then did the same for the fishing spot. Only a bit over a thousand world points remaining, he hoped he did not have any more reasons to spend them for a while.

  Pickaxe in hand, he tested out his new mining skill. Scott struck the cliff face and a small bit of material broke off. He did so again, and again. Several minutes passed in that way and he soon found himself too exhausted to continue. A quick check of his status menu showed that he had exhausted his energy points!

  Curious to see what he had managed to find, he picked up chunks of material and stared at them. Most were identified as merely stone. Several pieces were labeled, flint, however.

  Tucked away behind a pile of debris he found one shiny little purple gemstone. “An amethyst?”

  His identification skill told him that it was a semi-precious stone of value in this world and many other worlds. Scott stuck the amethyst into his pocket then did the same with the flint. His pockets were quickly filled, so he sent them to his storage box. Though, to his chagrin the transfer time would be thirty minutes!

  “Seriously?” he asked.

  Scott clambered back up the cliff and went to his storage box with the rest of his flint in hand. He stored it manually with no trouble or time required. However, when he checked his storage, he found that the thirty-minute requirement had dropped to eight minutes.

  He immediately ran off a short distance and checked again. The time increased to twelve minutes. The further he was from the storage container, the longer the transfer would take!

  “Man… this could be a problem,” said Scott.

  It was necessary to test the situation, so he went back down to the ground below then trotted a lengthy distance back down the path he had originally taken. Upon checking his status, he was relieved to see that it was only a bit over twenty-eight minutes. The thirty-minute requirement was no doubt something to do with a maximum distance from storage box. He would need to test it more, but that was a better sign. At least it seemed stable.

  Scott went back to his campsite and spent most of the morning setting it up for his personal use. By afternoon, he had eaten his fill of berries and regained a small amount of his energy. There was a lean-to nearby that served as shelter. Once he had a campfire going using the knife and a bit of flint to spark a blaze, his current plotline mission updated. He had completed the task of setting up camp.

  He sat down across from his little blaze then sighed. “What now?”

  Low on energy points, he could not mine at the moment. Itemization could be useful, but again he was low on energy.

  Today was not about training his body, as far as he was concerned. It was about exploration of what this world had to offer. In the morning, he intended to return to the other world to let everyone know what was going on.

  It seemed simple enough. Train for thirty days, but this was new to him. Even when he had gone camping as a child, he had not done so alone.

  He would not starve to death at least. He could go back to the other world and grab some food. The problem was that he would be there for the entire day if he did. The others needed him to be stronger, now.

  Scott leaned back against an old slab of rock. “Heading back tomorrow would be a waste, if it’s really one minute per day.”

  He was going to be here a long time. He needed to adjust to this world. More to the point, he absolutely needed the chance to train himself. If another special infected showed up it could lead to a no-win scenario, even with his ability to relive the day repeatedly.

  As much as he hated the idea of being in the middle of nowhere living like a cave man, it was for the best. Scott came to a decision and decided to survive in this place if he could. If food became a problem, or he just got sick of it all, he could go back. For now, he needed to train.

  The first thing on the agenda was to secure protein. So, he dredged up his childhood memories and mixed them with his wilderness survival skill. He began to work on making a fishing spear. It took well over an hour, and a few tries, but he managed to make one.

  Three prongs designed to spear into a fish and keep it from wriggling free, the spear was little more than a piece of wood with a cross-brace separating its split end points. Anti-fish weapon in hand, he decided to see what would happen if he turned it into equipment. Seven hundred equipment points later, he had his answer.

  Crude Fishing Spear

  A three-pronged spear designed to catch fish. It is poorly made, but serviceable.

  Item Type: Edged Weapon – Spear.

  Scaling Attribute: Agility

  Rarity: Common

  Aura: Grey

  Damage: 165

  Damage Reduction: 36

  Durability: Pristine

  Special: Increased damage to aquatic enemies [+50]

  UPGRADE COST

 
; Equipment EXP: 1600

  Item(s): Tiny Soul Gem

  He clambered down the cliff and went to his fishing spot. He stood quietly for a moment and watched the colorful little fish merrily swimming around. Happy. Carefree. They knew nothing of fear it seemed. That is, until Scott’s hand lashed downward, and he stabbed at the happy little fish.

  A dull clanking noise reached his ears and the fish swam away like nothing had happened. “The hell?”

  He tried again with another fish, but the same thing happened. It was like he was striking metal.

  Frustrated with the whole thing, he made a quick save then knelt by the pool. After a while, a fish swam by slowly. He reached in and grabbed it, only for the fish to dart forward. Its scales, despite being slimy, tore the flesh from his hands.

  Scott fell back in shock as he saw the ruined meat of his precious palms. These damned fish were abnormal!

  He tried his best to hold back his cries of pain as he knocked down an oraunga. His palms weeping large amounts of blood, he cut into the oraunga then greedily devoured it. The pain quickly subsided, and he watched fascinated as the flesh of his hands slowly drew back together.

  However, he had a status affliction. Moderate Bleeding. His hit points slowly decreased, no matter what he tried to do to stop it. Eventually, he ate all the oraunga’s but that did not solve the problem. No matter how he wrapped his hands with leaves or even his shirt, it did not matter. Scott slowly bled to death during his first attempt at surviving on his own.

  Scott awoke in the now familiar white room. “A fish. I was killed by a fish…”

  The worst part about dying in that manner was that the fish had not even tried to kill him. It was simply better than him.

  “Guess that’s one of the negatives of being a game character…” he said thoughtfully. That sort of injury should not have been lethal to the extent that he couldn’t survive an hour even at full health. The status effect, however, could not be overcome by his average endurance and he had no means of removing that status effect at the time. Much like a character who slowly died to poison in a game despite showing no signs of being negatively affected otherwise, he bled to death from what amounted to a small heavily bleeding cuts that would not heal.

  “I see the monitor is still here when I die,” he said.

  He looked to it briefly then to his save slots. He was generally only able to leave one world for another during the morning autosave. Apparently, if he died, he could transfer as well.

  “Suppose this means that just coming here somehow, is enough?” He was tempted to head back to the others, but he had something that he needed to do.

  He did, however, check to see if the information on the monitor had changed. For one thing, he wanted to know what his free gift would be since he chose a plotline.

  Most of the information was the same, but now that free gift was unlocked! “Three soul gems, and a… costume?”

  “Seriously?” Scott stared at the little blurb that explained the purpose of a costume.

  Costumes and Costume Upgrades

  What is a man, but the costumes that he wears, or perhaps a miserable little pile of secrets?

  *System is waiting for a laugh reaction...*

  *Waiting…*

  No laughter detected… System is continuing…

  “Since when did this thing have a personality?” he asked curiously. Regardless, the system continued to make its case.

  Costumes and Costume Upgrades

  Costumes are a form of power development. They contain knowledge and skills relevant to a specific concept. In terms you might be more familiar with, a costume is similar to a ‘class’ from a typical role-playing game.

  Costumes grant basic attribute bonuses and have levels. Each level acquired will grant Costume Points which can be used to upgrade skill levels. You cannot increase costume skills with skill points, or through training.

  Costume Upgrades require Equipment Points, and specific materials. You may only equip one costume at a time. You may grant a costume to a waifu, but their costumed appearance will be different than your costumed appearance.

  “Holy shit… now we’re talking!” Scott grinned at the monitor. A costume was exactly what he needed. He might finally get something truly good!

  He clicked a little button that allowed him to receive his gifts. He received the soul gems, small dark spheres with a faint greenish wispy glow, and what looked like a large translucent crystal.

  The soul gems looked similar to the one he found back on that zombie earlier. The crystal, however, was an oddity. “This is a costume?”

  He stared at it for a moment and a message window popped up. “Ah. I see…”

  Barbarian

  Unleash the power of your unquenchable inner fire and sweep across the land like a natural disaster. Women want you. Men want to be you. Your blood is the heart of a roaring thunderstorm. Your flesh is the mightiest steel.

  Costume Initialization: 500 Equipment Points [One Time Cost]

  “Alright… not free…” He agreed to pay the equipment point cost and a bright white light flared from the crystal. Suddenly, he found himself somewhere else. He seemingly floated in mid-air while looking across a never-ending grassy plane. There was a mountain range off to one side, but otherwise it was perfectly flat land.

  A cold wind swept across that plain, chilling him. The grass died and began coated in snow. The snow melted, but the grass was dead and remained dry for a time. Eventually, they became green once more. This cycle repeated several times. Every now and then a fire would sweep across the plains destroying everything, but the grass always returned in time.

  The vision ended, and Scott found himself back in the white room. “The hell was that?”

  The crystal was nowhere to be seen, but when he started to look around, he noticed something. His clothes were gone. Rather, they had been replaced by a loin cloth, some shoulder guards, a chest strap looking thing, and a few bits and pieces of primordial jewelry.

  Something felt a little off about his body as well. Scott looked himself over then felt himself up a bit. “Damn! I’m friggin’ swole!”

  He flexed his biceps and watched as they took on proportions that would make a pro-wrestler envious. Curious to see what this turned his stats into, he checked his status menu.

  Scott Ambrose

  Level: 60(80)

  Costume: Barbarian

  EXPERIENCE POINTS

  Item EXP: 4970

  Equipment EXP: 3860

  Skill EXP: 1562

  Trait EXP: 5000

  Waifu EXP: 5000

  World EXP: 1250

  DYNAMIC ATTRIBUTES

  Hit Points: 450/450

  Energy: 180/180

  STATUS ATTRIBUTES

  Strength: 10 (14)

  +Endurance: 10 (18)

  Agility: 10 (12)

  Mind: 10

  Spirit: 10(16)

  Luck: 10

  TRAITS

  Cool Under Pressure

  COSTUME TRAITS

  Unwavering Spirit

  Powerful Frame

  SKILLS

  Itemization [0]

  Identification

  Edged Weapon Mastery [0]

  Wilderness Survival [0]

  Camping [0]

  Mining [0]

  Negotiation [0]

  Thievery [0]

  COSTUME SKILLS

  Rage

  Shout

  Frost Resistance

  Weapon Appraisal

  Axe Mastery

  Sword Mastery

  Hammer Mastery

  Spear Mastery

  “That’s a pretty serious upgrade!” he said excitedly. Though, he realized that his total level was still lower than Summer’s. “Damn, those girls have some serious stats compared to me. Anime lifestyles must be pretty healthy.”

  Of course, they were part of an ensemble cast and thus probably had protagonist or hero stats for their world. Scott had just regular guy stat
s, plus a fancy costume.

  There was a lot to discover about his new abilities. He chose to check out his new traits first.

  Unwavering Spirit

  Your will is an indomitable force of nature. Though you may need, you will never break. Your blood is fire. Your body is steel.

  Scaling Attribute: Spirit

  - You now 150% resistance to mental manipulation both normal and mystical

  - You now have 110% resistance to magical attacks

  Powerful Frame

  You are a child of the plains and the highest peaks. You do not settle for anything in between. Your strength is that of the Earth itself, and just as enduring.