The logical thing to do would be to wait a day or two before he spent his newly acquired EXP. So, obviously he went ahead and started to spend some of it immediately.
Scott purchased the room renovations that he required to make his plans work. Over three thousand EXP left his possession as two new doors appeared on opposite walls. The first door was labeled recreation room. The second room was labeled command center.
He walked over to the command center door and touched it. The moment that he did so, a new screen appeared. It asked him how he would like the room to appear. Many options were available. The dark lord's throne room, and presidential office, were among the more interesting. However, he chose to make the command center appear like something out of a science fiction program.
Scott entered his new command center through his newly crafted titanium door. It split apart in two distinct sections to allow him to pass. Inside the room, he saw a bare bones outfit with a split-level design.
There was a bottom floor where the lesser flunkies of his organization might work if he had any. The upper level included a single command desk and access to the only computer monitor in the place. He would have to upgrade if he wanted more of them. However, until he had people to work at those positions, there was really no point in acquiring more equipment outside of aesthetic appeal.
The screen lit-up when he gestured toward it. There was no new information available here than there was available to the mission door currently, but at some point he would be able to keep tabs on his companions and various side-businesses he might have going. Those were things that the mission door did not track.
"Samantha's available for work..." That was good to know. If he chose to take a side-mission this week, he would probably hire her just to see how things worked out between them.
Scott smiled when he noticed that Princess was available as well. "Seems I have two companions now."
He looked around the room a bit, leaned against one of the upper-level guard rails for a moment, and then went to visit the new companion room that had been created. Inside the room he found an empty area with grey walls. There were three doors lining the walls. One led to the recreation room. The other two were labeled as Samantha Jeran, and Princess Katherine Vi Kittania.
Upon touching either name plate he could see their status. Samantha's had not changed. Princess' status information was mostly followed by a bunch of question marks.
"Ordinary cat my ass," muttered Scott. Through the little blurb at the beginning, he did learn that she liked to be called, or Kiki by her friends. There was also a bit about how she despised being called the other common name for cats, especially if the one doing the name calling was not a friend.
The individual rooms beyond the name plates were designated as belonging to his companions. They had control over how those rooms were developed within certain parameters.
"So, to make new friends officially I need to expand this room?" asked Scott after checking a few more things. It seemed that everything required EXP since he came into this game. Expansion would cost one thousand EXP per additional room. The price could be paid after making friends, however.
He left the companion area and moved to the recreation room. Inside he discovered that it was just as barren as the companion room. The doors in that room led to the companion area, the home room area, and to a chosen hub-location. This was the room he would use to begin expanding his abilities outside of using EXP.
"Shit costs so much here, but high-end sci-fi equipment was normal in Bounty Star..." mused Scott. He checked the credit conversion cost once more then grinned. It was still one thousand credits per EXP. Given the cost to hire Samantha, he figured that he could purchase quite a bit of equipment there. Sure, he would not be able to bring it out in his home area without it disintegrating, but that did not matter if he left it in storage. So long as he remembered to store his equipment before returning home, it would be fine.
That might be difficult during emergency situations, but he did have the ability to transfer to a hub-point, if one was available, before returning to his home area. That was the beautiful thing about hub-points. As long as he was not an idiot, he could use local items and even take them to other settings. He just had to take that extra step. Only system purchased items, or items designated as treasures were allowed in his home area. How that would work for companions was still uncertain, but he would find out soon.
"You know..." said Scott thoughtfully as he looked at the credit transfer window, "The system can generate pretty much any basic item I want, even grant specific types of knowledge. Maybe I should try my other idea."
One of the biggest issues that he had at present was his lack of actual life skills. He could shoot, move, and make decisions. However, if he'd had other skills such as the ability to repair vehicles or jury-rig weaponry on the fly, he might have been able to perform better in some of his missions.
He went to check the cost of doing business with the ball of light. Acquiring skills and knowledge was an expensive prospect, but if he went that route he would eventually be able to create his own items. They would not be a great compared to something that he could buy outright, but they would be decent and he would be able to acquire them at a much reduced price since all he needed was basic components from the system.
"Damn," muttered Scott. He only glanced through the skill sections such as that before, so he had not been aware of the truth. He would have to buy skills in tiers, and study manuals for each tier, before the skill would come online. "It's like they knew people would try to circumvent paying a fortune by doing this..."
Scott opted to buy a basic mechanical engineering manual. It would allow him to branch out into skills designated for repairing various things, or building new ones. The manual only set him back ten EXP, but it was a thick bastard. "Eight hundred pages? Is this a book or a cinder block?"
Basic combat skills did not require such measures. It was obvious to Scott that the system prioritized pure combat over crafting skills, even penalized learning such abilities to enforce a combat rule. It made a sort of sense, however. If people learned to make things out of random scrap they found, they would not need the system as much.
He also searched the system for chemistry and pharmaceutical information. After a bit of searching he discovered that the only way to create the healing items he used would be to learn alchemy and nano-tech engineering. He would have to study mechanical engineering and then several more subjects before the latter became possible for him, and even then he would need to acquire the [Master Engineer] lifestyle. Alchemy in general was unavailable unless he acquired some sort of [Alchemist] lifestyle.
"So, there go my immediate dreams of making my own restoratives." He sighed briefly, but then grinned a little. He might not be able to make them any time soon, but that did not mean that he could not simply find the equivalent in another world setting and purchase them with local money. That would still be a lot cheaper than buying them through the system.
Hellespont, and the Bounty Star world system alone probably had something like a multi-purpose stim pack due to its sci-fi nature. That might not be as good as a pure healing restorative, but it was probably widely available for purchase.
Plans were made. Scott needed to see what each world really had to offer before he went further with his current designs, but either way there would be changes. Relying solely on the system and pure luck at times would not be enough, not for the story missions. Those were the real deal. Side-missions, even daily missions, those were for training and preparation.
Scott rubbed his chin and stared at the shopping list before him. Over fifteen thousand EXP remained. He still had a whole week of freedom.
Something crossed his mind and he nodded. The way the survivors treated him after the battle, it made him feel like he had managed to accomplish something important in his life. He still did not know if they were real people, or just some sort of computer generated NPCs, but it also did not mat
ter. They were real enough for him. If they were that real then there were probably other people just like them in terrible situations on that world and others.
It was time to stop barely scraping by, and time to start making his mark in this game. "Beginning of a legend, huh?" asked Scott softly.
Scott thought of the hideous bullshit he'd gone through so far. So much had happened that it was hard to believe it sometimes. Still, in the end he admitted a few things to himself.
Save people? Stomp a mud hole in some douchebag's ass? Get paid to become a super powered badass while doing it?
The thoughts settled into his head for a moment. Once the moment passed, Scott narrowed his eyes but grinned broadly. "Damn straight. Let's do this."
###
Thank you for taking the time to read this book. Galactic Fist of Legend is a bit of a passion project for me, as it combines my love of ridiculous humor with dire situations.
If you enjoyed this book, then I ask that you share it with your friends and on social media. Let it be seen throughout the world!
If you hated it, then by all means tell everyone that as well. It is the only way that I'll learn my lesson.
Either way, please review this book at the site of the distributor from whom you purchased it. Reviews are the life's blood of authors and can make or break a series!
Thanks again!
~Scottie Futch
About the Author
Scottie Futch is a goofy sort of fellow who enjoys parodies, anime, pop-culture, zombies, and various lewd images of innocent videogame heroines who are no doubt far better portrayed by their source material than any parody he might create.
He also likes cake.
I'm telling you, this guy really loves his cake. It's almost a mental health disease at this point. If you're religious, pray for him. If not, ask the flying spaghetti monster to pay back the money he borrowed. The author knows where that fool lives. He can't dodge true justice forever!
May his sauce be forever saucy...
Discover Other Titles by Scottie Futch
1. Freelance Saga
2. Galataea Crystallim Core
3. Origin ARS
Connect with Me
Follow Me on Twitter: @ScottieFutch
Friend me on Facebook: Freelance Saga
Visit My Wordpress Site for Galataea: Galataea Crystallim
Galactic Fist of Legend Page 25
