POV - Tad

It was late afternoon by the time we finished up at the Bank. Dom had obviously taken liberal advantage of the refreshments the bank had provided and was in that comfortable sated zone and had to be prodded into moving. Nige was also pretty lethargic, having gorged himself on the additional energy that Dom, as a higher level participant, had released. I was thus left to my own thoughts as we meandered through the city.

The crowds of people had thinned remarkably but there was still a considerable number bustling about. I’m guessing I would need to be careful about thieves given the intensity. Not a problem for me now seeing I didn't have anything that could be stolen, but certainly something to be aware of in the future.

Mulling over the day, I was staggered by all that had happened. It really was unbelievable. I should be a cot case. I was sure the System must be influencing me still, simply by the fact I was still functioning. Or maybe this was just a by-product of tiering up. Perhaps Nige would be able to explain more, but I really couldn’t be bothered right now. Rather I concentrated and pulled up my Character Sheet, and with a thought adjusted the transparency so I could continue to negotiate my path behind Dom with Nige bobbling along to my right.

NAME

Known As:

Totally Awesome Dude

Tad

Blank

>SPECIES:

>TIER:

Human

G

>XP:

>EXP:

5500

549/550

>LVL:

1

>MINION:

>MINION: [Expand]

>CON:

120HP

STR: STA: AGI:

[Hide]

3 40 3

>WIS:

17.5MP

MEM: IMA: INT:

[Hide]

3 5 4

>KAR:

96.25E

CHA: SPI: HON:

[Hide]

8 13.75* 6

>LUC:

0.1

+0.05 on Loot/Drop rolls

Unassigned

Total:

9

94.85

>SKILLS:

(Unlocked) [Hide]

Delve

Mine

Prospect

Deception

(Active) [Hide]

Rage

Dodge

Introspection

Logic

Concentration

Advanced Meditation

Observation

Inspect

(Proficiency) [Hide All]

[Novice]

[Novice]

[Novice]

[Apprentice]

[Novice]

[Novice]

[Novice]

[Novice]

>PATHS:

Nasal Prospector Class

>PERKS:

Gallifreudian Slip

>TITLES:

Pertinacious

>AWARDS:

Atelophobia Award (Pending acceptance)

Yikes, I only had one free active skill slot. And I needed one for a fighting skill! That didn't leave any for magic. I can always dump one of my active ones I guess if it comes to that. A 24 hour stand down is not too bad at all really. Looking at the breakdown of active skills so far I had two perception skills, four internally focused skills and two physical skills. A pretty good mix and hopefully I could develop some more synergies, especially with my inward focus. That could also free up a slot or two. Hopefully that's going to work out.

Now I just needed to grow my Wisdom to meet the Mage Guild’s threshold to receive training. “Nige? What is the WIS threshold I need to get wizard training?” I sub-vocalised so as to not confuse Dom.

The answer came back promptly.

“Oh. That’s going to be a challenge then.” I was well short. Not even a fifth of the way there.

Okay then. I nodded to myself. That's my goal. 100MP. If my Stats were capped at 8 at Level 0 and 9 at Level 1, then presumably that would increase to 10 at Level 2 and 11 at Level 3 and so on. However, confirming this with Nige I was surprised that the individual Stat cap jumped to 11 at Level 2, 12 at Level 3 and then 14 at Level 4. It then occurred to me that I was unclear on when or how I levelled up. I knew it related to my Stats but what were the thresholds?

This was getting confusing. My concentration wavered and I dismissed my Character Sheet. I already had more than 64 Stats. I should be Level 3? Probably, maybe even higher? “Ummm... what level is unlocked with 94 Stats?”

Well something had gone wrong. I was still at Level 1 when I should be Level 5, or peak Level 4 at the very least? There had definitely been no notifications about levelling up had there? I was stuck at Level 1? This was beyond embarrassing. And where were we going? I’m sure we’ve passed that vendor twice already.

“Dom, where are you leading us?”

“Leading? I’m just coming along with you. Where are we going?”

Facepalm. That would teach me to autopilot. SMH. Okay, focus Tad. Heh, it was really helping addressing myself by my new name. What was I doing? The Mage Guild was out. I had Stat points to allocate but I really needed to think about how a bit more. And get my head around levelling up and why I wasn’t being prompted. Why was I stuck at Level 1? And double facepalm! The System Shop! I had totally forgotten why we went to the Bank in the first place. What cool stuff could I buy? I had exp just crying out to be spent.

“Where’s the System Shop? Let’s head there now. Or is there a better suggestion?’

“Oh there’s a Kiosk two blocks back that way” Nige and Dom ‘spoke’ at the same time.

Nige was full of good suggestions. But shopping it was. Adventuring was exciting and all but preparation was key.

“Lead the way Dom. Time for some retail therapy!”

We made a smart about face and trekked back to a plain obelisk that was tucked in an alcove between two buildings. Stopping, I looked around for the Shop only to be directed to the alcove. Okay, so it was more like an ATM than an actual Shop. Except instead of dispensing money it would dispense stuff. Cool. More System gizmometry. There wasn’t even a slot to dispense said stuffs, let alone a keypad. Online shopping here I come. I hope there’s not a massive delivery wait time, and fingers crossed, no shipping charges. They totally sucked. I was all for instant gratification and shipping delays and costs drained all the joy out of impulse buying.

>SYSTEM SHOP

>EXP:

549

>SEARCH:

>ENTER REQUEST

[SUBMIT]

>FILTERS:

[Tier]

[Category]

[Grade]

[Price]

>SPECIALS<

>RANDOM<

>SPONSORED<

Another blue box. This looked a lot more interactive than previous notifications. There seemed to be quite a bit to explore. I could be a while. Dom seemed to read my mind.

“Hey Tad, Uh… I’m going to,” he paused uncomfortably, ''leave you to it. And go to the, ahh Library for a res… a research project.” he corrected himself.

“Sure thing Dom. Take it easy. I’ll try and catch up with you later aye? I’m still keen for you to show me the ropes an’ all you know.”

With a wave he was gone and I returned to my shopping. And I knew the first thing I wanted. WIthout bothering with the filters I entered my search parameters.

>SYSTEM SHOP

>EXP:

549

>SEARCH:

>Underwear - Male

[SUBMIT]

>FILTERS:

[Tier]

[Category]

[Grade]

[Price]

>SPECIALS<

>RANDOM<

>SPONSORED<

Holygamoley. There were screeds and screeds of results. I sorted by price. 39799exp for a pair of undies? What the! How on earth could someone afford these? I clicked on them just to see what an earth a small fortune would purchase. This was the equivalent of 400k of xp. I certainly wouldn’t be getting these anytime soon.

>Item:

Ceekays Premium Boxer Briefs

> Grade:

Epic

> Status:

Soul binds on Equipping

No Tier restriction

> Description:

The first name in designer underwear didn't start out that way. Before Ceekay was a System undie superbrand, it was the frontrunner in dimensional storage. If you're looking for undergarments with a bona fide cultural pedigree, Ceekay is the place to start.

Indestructible Self Cleaning Treasure Boxers with integrated 0.5m³ dimensional storage pocket +3 CHA +1 STR

39733exp

>

Okay. So now I have a savings goal. But perhaps in the meantime I would get a stop gap. I hated going commando. Especially with these rough hemp pants. I reduced the range by limiting the search to my available funds. But I didn’t really want to blow it all on just one pair of undies did I? What could I get for 50exp? No, actually what did I really want? I could probably get standard undies from a tailor for normal currency. That would save on my limited exp. I reordered the results to show cheapest first. Common white grade tighty whiteys came in packs of five for 1exp. Okay thats the baseline. Now I filtered to Green or Uncommon grade. One pair for 5exp but it was indestructible so they wouldn’t wear out. Ahh, no thank you. That would get way too aromatic in totally the wrong way. I wanted some with the self cleaning perk please. Aha! Here's some. Self cleaning and self repairing. Size medium. Perfect. While not indestructible I should get good mileage out of these and not have to lug around a whole lot of spares, not to mention the hassle with laundry. I purchased them. With a ding my balance decreased immediately by 6exp. Nothing materialised. Darnit, I didn’t see anything on delivery charges, perhaps it was click and collect and now I needed to pick them up from somewhere?

“Nige? Where are my undies?”

Nige seemed somewhat horrified. What's with that?

“You don’t even wear clothes. Why are you so affronted? And no I’m not wearing any. I double checked already. Still hanging loose and free.”

Nige chuckled.

“Ah, well I spent the vast majority of my life being confined indoors. I never really had to deal with the dangers of solar radiation. With the ozone layer nearly totally depleted, going out in the sun was pretty dangerous to your health. So yeah, I'm probably less ingrained with such habits, but I definitely prefer more clothing than what I’m wearing.”

“Oh, Okay. But I aren’t finished yet. I’ve only just got started!”

I turned back to the obelisk and returned to the home page. Yes, there was my successful purchase notification. I started a new search. This time I set some limits on the Tier and my price bracket. I didn’t want to lust after unobtainable items just now. I had an immediate goal to focus on.