POV - Tad

I finally felt like I was in an apocalyptic post earth System.

The dunes of trash stretched on endlessly. Most of it was unrecognisable. Crushed and ground into fragments embedded in each other. The one big difference that I couldn’t help but remark on was the complete absence of smell. Every other dump I had ever visited had been an unholy conglomeration of putridity. The sort of smells you could taste. Even see. This was more like a desert. With a dry and barren breeze that carried the faintest hints of ozone. I was exceedingly pleased I did not have to fight through a vile smell while I carefully stepped my way leftward.

I had no way of orienting myself really. There was no sun. I wondered if there was going to be a night. The cavern was roofed so I supposed that ruled out Stars as well. I was totally relying on my [Skill] to navigate. I was following a wish. A desire. Safety, or at least safer lay to my left.

As I walked my eyes were on stalks. Trying to see further than I could. I had [Observe] running full time and at full speed. And I strained my ears, listening for anything. I was vulnerable. I was weak and probably tasty. An ambush would probably one shot me. To say I was on tenterhooks was an understatement.

I struggled between completely freezing up and trying to stop dashing off madly. This was nerve wracking. I decided that the safest way was to follow along a ridgeline but just below the top. I didn’t want to silhouette myself more than I had to but I also couldn’t bear to walk down in the valley where monsters could rush down at me from both sides. I kept my head down, my eyes out and my heart in my mouth. [Prospect] led me steadily leftish. After eight nerve racking hours of tramping I started to get a firmer idea of my destination as I got closer and the gentle curve of the ridge started to seriously diverge from where I intuited I should be going. Strangely I didn't even feel the slightest bit tired. Hopefully that was the result of my fantastic STA. I popped another Energy Drink, the empty flask evaporating in my hand. Neat. I didn't need to worry about littering in the dump. Haha. Why there even was a dump when the System obviously could reabsorb waste was beyond me.

I carefully scrambled across the top of the ridge keeping as low a profile as possible. I would need to cross this next valley and up the following hill. I settled down to observe. To [Observe]. I refreshed the Skill. There was no movement in the valley. It seemed the [Trashbugs] were far and few between with the massive scale of this wasteland. But still, I kept watch. There was no rush. As well as not being tired I had noticed that I neither felt hungry or thirsty. This was bizarre. Maybe this zone was like the Orientation Tutorial I slept through. No, I would be careful and cautious and try to mitigate my fragility by flying beneath the radar so to speak.

As I watched, I experimented with [Prospect]. It was a Skill to search out things. I had already proved it could even search out concepts, like safety. What would happen if I set it to searching out treasure such as [Gold]. It spun aimlessly before settling weakly off ahead to the right back down the valley. However, there was no great pull or any definite feeling of confidence that I felt. I figured that either the [Gold] was extremely far away or it was very small. Maybe a coin or two that had been missed.

[Prospect] seemed to be all about searching out. Discovery of the new. Of the unknown. This was different to how I intuited [Delve] to be. [Delve] was about going deeper. Going in. Uncovering the hidden. It was for where you knew there was something to be found but you didn’t know exactly where. It dovetailed in with [Prospect] nicely. I really wanted to activate [Delve] as well. I would have to give up another Skill. Perhaps [Rage]. I didn’t understand [Rage] yet and it felt dangerous. Yes, I would swap it out. A Skill which inhibited my reason was not one I wanted, especially while I was so weak. There would be a stand down time Nige had said so the sooner the better. I swapped out the Skills.

All the while I was scanning for danger. For movement. For anything. And I was careful to watch the sky as well. Something swooping down from above would be disastrous. Thankfully the air seemed to be totally clear. There weren’t even bugs. Well apart from the [Trashbugs] I mean. None of the normal swarms of flies and gnats you would normally expect at a refuse station.

I was just about to set out when my [Prospect] Skill twinged hard. I hadn’t reset it to be lodestone towards safety and I had abandoned the search for [Gold]. What was it pointing me to? I moved carefully along, just under the ridge for a few hundred metres. There, perched up on top was… I squinted… a bucket. What on earth? My [Prospect] skill was going mad. Yes, it was the bucket all right. I carefully crawled up to the top and snaffled the bucket. It was plastic? And it was broken with a big crack across the bottom. Oh there was a plastic spade there too. I grabbed that as well and slid back down to my possie. I triggered [Inspect].

> Object:

Plastic Kiddie Bucket

> Status:

Broken

Unclaimed

> Description:

[Expand?]

Ohhh…ho! A unique. No wonder [Prospect] was going off. It certainly wasn’t anything to look at. It looked like trash. A broken kid’s bucket. I wondered how long it had lain there. I checked out the spade as well. Both were as grubby as anything with the accretion of prolonged exposure to the grime of the dump.

> Object:

Plastic Kiddie Spade

> Status:

Unclaimed

> Description:

[Expand?]

Yep, looked like they were a pair. The spade wasn’t broken though. It still looked pretty useless. I could see why someone would take a cursory look at it, mistake it for [Trash] grade and discard it. I expanded the description.

Well. That didn’t tell me much I didn't know already. I was guessing the bucket's description would be similar. I would need to bind them to my soul. This didn’t seem to be a process you would undertake lightly. It was like marriage. Two becoming one. Except this was more like three becoming one. Me, the bucket and the spade. Together, forever. Meh. Why was I making a big deal of this? There were obviously some bonus effects. They were probably great. Stop dillydallying and bind them already.

Okay.

I will.

Good.

…

Hmmm. I didn’t know how to soul bind them. My iAPD was already bound to me when I discovered it. I thought hard at them ‘Soul bind’. Nope. Perhaps I needed to say it.

“Soul Bind Kiddies Bucket.” Oh. That was inexact. Maybe I had to be exact.

“Soul Bind Plastic Kiddie Bucket!”

Arrggghhh. Where’s Nige when I need him?

Perhaps I just need to claim them. I was already holding them. They obviously didn’t bind on pick-up. I affirmed that yes, they were mine. They clunked into place in my Soul. Success. This was good. I checked out the description again.

Hooo? I looked at the plastic spade afresh in my hand. It wasn’t plastic? It still looked like plastic. It had changed colour though. As had the bucket. The accretion of grime had been vaporised. They were both a vibrant red. Nice. And, ummm, very noticeable. And while it looked harmless I wondered at its worth as a weapon. It was super light. You would normally think it would be weak and flimsy. But it was unbreakable and it had [Penetrating Blow]. This could be very helpful. I would need to try it out. I brandished my new spade. Forget axes and spears and swords. I was a Spademan!

I turned my attention to the bucket.

> Object:

Tad Blank’s Red Adamantine Bucket

> Grade:

Unique

> Status:

Cracked

Soulbound

> Description:

[Expand?]

It had changed from broken to cracked. I wondered what the difference was.

<[Pocket Dimension] Anything placed in the bucket will enter its own pocket dimension.

Huzzah! A bag of holding. Or something like it. This was fabulous. Obviously [Indestructible] was different from [Unbreakable] because the bucket was still broken. But it was self repairing, so hopefully that would fix itself over time. And the limitations looked pretty good too. No food obviously but it didn’t seem to have a limit, either in number of items or in cubic area or in weight. This was great. What is the difference between inanimate and inorganic? I paused, maybe I could only have one thing, or one type of thing, in there at a time? That would make it less useful. I was itching to find out more. But here and now was not the right place or time.

I refocused my [Prospecting] Skill on finding safety. It was apparently just across this valley.

I firmly grasped my spade and bucket. I was as ready as I would ever be.

I set out carefully down the slope.

And up the other side.

Well that was anticlimactic. I was very pleased. I had conquered the valley crossing. I carefully put my head up over the ridge to spy out the goal.

Hmmmm. It looked identical to the ridge I had been on. Perhaps I hadn’t been using [Prospect] correctly?

It felt right though. I checked the Skill again. Yes, safety was just over there. Right by that slight depression to my left. I slithered over, careful not to stand up.

Aha! There was a crevice in the hollow. It was nigh on invisible unless you were right on top of it. It looked scary though. Like it could be full of [Trashbug]s and [Trashbug] eggs. Maybe even a [Trashbug Matriarch] was in there with thousands of eggs. But the Skill was insisting it was safe. Or at least safer. Did I trust my [Skills]? Yes. I decided I did. I would back me to the hilt.

I looked down into the crack in the ground. It wasn’t that deep, maybe my height and a half. And while it was narrow it wasn’t so narrow that I would be claustrophobically jammed in and unable to move. I made up my mind and lowered myself into the chasm.

I was at the narrower end of the crack where it had a slight overhang that further obscured me from sight. This was good. I moved in under the overhang and hunkered down. Rather than being exposed on all sides there was only a single direction of approach and I could monitor that so much more effectively. For the first time since I had been dumped I felt myself relax. I sagged back against the side of the chasm and let myself slide down til my legs were stretched out. I breathed a sigh of relief. I could take a breather and recoup.

First things first. I needed to Level up and get rid of the Stat cap I was suffering under. I wondered how I triggered it. A System message popped up

Yes, that was what I was doing. Trigger already!

Oh no! This was going to be a problem. This could well be as safe a place as I could find in this wasteland. And it wasn’t considered safe enough for Levelling up. This was bad.

I recounted my woes. I was Level 1 in a Level 100 zone. My stats were capped and the System would not grant me any more. That is unless I had already reached the individual Stat cap, in which case I could earn Bonus Stats. But Bonus Stats were over twice as hard to earn because they were also factored by the number of points each other Stat was below the cap. This didn’t seem so bad at low levels but I could see that with higher levels and higher caps this could quickly make grinding out Bonus Stats an extremely difficult and time consuming task.

And now I had discovered that I was unable to Level up at all. This was bad, bad, bad. Now I was Stat capped by my Level and Skill handicapped with my Atelophobia Award. Gimped and hobbled. I needed to find a proper ‘safe place.’ I tried my [Prospect] Skill again. It spun and settled. No direction. Here was as safe as anywhere. What else could I do?

What was I going to do?

Well, I wasn’t going to give up. What’s a little adversity? It builds perseverance. And resilience. And character. I would beat this. I would spit… I stopped my monologue. Last time I announced my defiance I had been forthwith been poked and dumped. I had no wish to repeat that process in a hurry. There’s defiance and there’s downright stupidity. I did not want to be gimpicaughticalled again.

I pulled up my Character Sheet:

NAME

Known As:

Totally Awesome Dude

Tad

Blank

>SPECIES:

>TIER:

Human

G

>XP:

>EXP:

27801

2753/2780

>LVL:

1** CAPPED**

>MINION:

>Nige [Expand]

>CON:

166/336.17HP

STR: STA: AGI:

[Hide]

4.83 52.2 8.05

[Variance]

0 0 0

>WIS:

36.96MP

MEM: IMA: INT:

[Hide]

4.44 5.55 8.88

[Variance]

0 0 0

>KAR:

332.11E

CHA: SPI: HON:

[Hide]

11.1* 29.92* 11.1*

[Variance]

0 0 0

>LUC:

0.6***

+0.05 on Loot/Drop rolls

Unassigned

Total:

6

142.67

0 0

>SKILLS:

(Unlocked) [Hide]

Deception

>

(Active) [Hide]

Dodge

Advanced Meditation

Observation

Inspect

Basic Cultivation

>>Run<<

>>Dream<<

(Proficiency) [Hide All]

[Novice]

[Apprentice]

[Novice]

[Novice]

[Novice]

[Novice]

[Novice]

>CLASS SKILLS:

Mine

>>Prospect<<

>>Delve<<

[Novice]

[Novice]

>PATHS:

Nasal Prospector Class

>PERKS:

Gallifreudian Slip

>TITLES:

Pertinacious

Black Swan Survivor (Pending acceptance)

Audacious Pioneer (Pending acceptance)

>AWARDS:

Atelophobia Award

Precocious Award

I had three stats where I could earn bonus points already. My Soul Stats had unlocked my Karma. I still was unsure what that exactly meant, but it sounded good. Now I wanted to unlock Body and Mind. Now that I knew it was possible I wanted it. I want it all.

Then I had another two Stats; STA and INT, which were just one point shy of reaching the cap. And the remaining four were well short. There was no way I could distribute my remaining six free Stat points to unlock another category. At best I could hit the Caps for STA and INT and IMA. That would give me six Stats where I could earn Bonus points but it wouldn’t unlock either of my two remaining categories and more importantly it would leave my fighting Stats, STR and AGI sorely lacking.

Of the two I think I needed more Agility. Agility was crucial. It wouldn’t matter how hard I could hit if I was too slow to hit the mob at all. And it wouldn’t matter how much HP I had if I was too slow to dodge or run away. My AGI was already twice my STR and I still felt slow.

And I also needed to improve my Perception. When TSB had slapped Dom I didn’t even see it. I was pretty sure Perception was a facet of my Spirit Stat. And I knew I could grind up that one. I would grind up that one.

I let my eyes unfocus as I considered what to do. How to spend these last few, immensely valuable free points. Perhaps I could [Dream] me up some Stats. The Skills I had got from dreaming seemed to have broken the System. Perhaps I could glitch my Stats that way as well. Yes I would try that first before making a final decision.

Just then I noticed I had two rewards that were pending acceptance. Dol. I should have prioritised these. They were going to be powerful. One Rare and the other Legendary. They could have been useful already. However, even as I berated myself I also defended myself. I had been stretched already. Running from pillar to post, scrambling to stay alive. If I had paused to open these rewards on top of all I had done, who could say what might have happened. I might not have noticed the [Trashbug] in time. A score of other what ifs and could haves cascaded.

I brought my thoughts to a halt. It was no good living with regrets. What was done was done. What had happened, had happened. I couldn’t change the past. Well not yet anyway. Who’s to say what might be possible In the future. And that’s just it. The future was where it was all happening. And that’s where I was going. No rehashing the past. Onwards and upwards. Glory awaits.

Dab!

Now let’s open these rewards.