Waking up in the morning was hell, I still had on the clothes I’d worn through the mission, and realized I had taken the toothbrush and toothpaste but hadn’t used the godamned things. “No time like the present.” I go into the bathroom and turn on the shower, put some toothpaste on and brush my teeth. I check the temperature while I scrub spanking new pearly whites. Looking over and catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror I forget how much I’ve changed just in the past few days.

I’ve gotta be close to six and a half feet if I’m not an inch or three under seven. The red fractal designs on my body also come up to my face, one outlining my left eye from just under my tear duct up through my eyebrow the design widening out the closer it comes to the place between the back of my jaw and ear following a path leading to mu jugular till it disappears under my shirt. I look pretty much the same as I used to, the only major feature, other than the white hair, is that everything seems to be more refined, smoother maybe? I’d like to say my new body is handsome, but it might be more accurate to say pretty.

Shrugging my shoulders, I take my clothes off, they were disgusting. I cannot believe they let me into the great hall much less served me food. Survivors cannot get sick like regular people, the only things that will affect us are things classified as ‘status ailments’ by the system. I feel slightly embarrassed now, how many people saw me sitting around in bloody clothes talking like a straight amateur?

Getting into the shower I point it straight at my face and rub the hot water into my hair. Showers are one of my favorite things, like seriously, the only thing better than a good shower is a good blowjob. Usually I like to spend about ten minutes in the shower basking in the glory of cleanliness, today I spend about twenty, I’d have stayed in longer but I had to get going and get something done today.

I grab the towel I hung on the hook and start drying myself off. About five seconds in I hit my first real problem. Long hair sucks, it won’t just dry out I’ve got to wrap a towel around it, and figuring out how to do that takes me another 5 minutes to get it to kind of stay. First objective: Haircut. Once I’ve got the towel in place and find another to finish drying I realize I don’t have any clean clothes. Damn it, I should have spent a little extra time on day-zero to set myself up. Guess I’ll message Hep and see if has anything left over from before his race change.

I will my friends list open and message the only friend I have.

-MESSAGE-

Gnome: Sorry to bother you, but I took a shower without realizing I don’t have a change of clothes, do you have something from before your race change that’d fit?

Hep: I’ve got some gym shorts and an old shirt, they’re both going to be kind of short on you.

Gnome: I’ll take it, my only other option is blood crusted clothes. I’m in room 4531

Hep: be there in 5.

Hep to the rescue. While I’m waiting, I pull my towel off and get a better look at my markings. Their pretty damned cool. They're almost pixilated once you get to a closer look. They are everywhere. I’ve got tribal tattoos swirling down my back, over my ass and down my legs. Let’s also say I’m going to be saving a fortune on shaving supplies. The monster also has a few lines of design on him, before I get a good look at them though…

BANG BANG BANG

My savior has arrived. I run to the door and pull it open. As I’m pulling the handle the catch snags my towel and throws it to the floor behind me “shit, sorry man guess you’re getting the full moon.”

A melodic feminine voice answers “OI shit yer snags3 out.” You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me. I might as well walk around naked at this point for the amount of people who have seen me naked. I snatch the towel off the floor and hide my shame. “damn, he got the drop on ole’ Rita, caught that straight in the face, that were a gun Rita’d be dead.” That’s godamned American dad reference!! “I’m just messin wit yeh mate; names Rita I live ova’ in 455 thought I’d interduce meself and be all neighbah’-like.” Definitely Australian.

Of course, she lives here, why else would she be knocking on my door? I can feel myself starting to blush “I’m sorry, I ran out of clothes and thought you were my friend bringing me some more.” This entire situation would be much less annoying if she weren’t attractive. A pair of jeans and a green tee-shirt that had to have been painted on to a body that had all the right curves in all the right places. Pouty lips under a petite nose, and dark green eyes topped off with chestnut brown hair pulled into a loose ponytail. Pinch me.

I must have stared a bit too long, she gives me a saucy smile, she puts her hand out, “Nice to meet you” In a daze, I almost reach out with the hand holding my towel, but remember just in time to use the other arm to hold it in place. Her smile gets even bigger, she’s sneaky. I give her hand a quick shake and go back to holding the towel.

“It’s nice to meet you neighbor, sorry about the whole nudity thing, if you let my friend here through though I can solve it.”

Hep is a few feet away, I guess he didn’t want to be rude. “If you want me to come back later, I’m sure Rita might have some clothes you could wear.” Dick.

Rita takes a step back and lets him through and gives me an innocent look “ye goin’ to invite a gal in neighbah’?” yes, I’m going to invite you in. Another wolf trying to pick off a sheep. “sure thing, come on in.” After letting her through I grab the clothes from Hep and rush to the bathroom. It’s been awhile since I’ve been nude in front of anyone but other men, and even if I were into my own gender; there’s nothing sexy about shitting in a hole you just dug, or cleaning yourself with diaper wipes.

The second the door closes behind me I hear Hep and Rita burst out laughing; hers the sound of bells, His the abrasive sound of a donkey being kicked in the balls. I pull the shirt he brought over my head and it’s going to be more than a little short, it’s loose, so I’ve got that going for me. The shorts are another matter entirely, I’m sure he’s doing this on purpose. If I pull them down to about an inch of my little guy they will just cover everything over, there’s no hiding anything though, they are basically silkies1.

I take a deep breath and walk back into the main room. “All right bro I need clothes. Time now.” I don’t even stop in the living room, I just keep walking towards the door. “I’m comin’ too, you men have no Idea what good clothes look like and beside that I’d be a fool to miss the spectacle you are about to become.” Whatever. I roll my eyes and hope my face isn’t as red as it feels “Fine, let’s go though. If I’ve got to do this, I’d rather get it over with.”

I start walking out and towards the stairs, I technically don’t need them to get clothes, I know where the shop is. They follow me out and I can hear them talking about how great it was going to be to see this, entertainment must be at a premium in the realm. As I am making my way down the stairs I hear over hear Rita tell Hep she’s glad he messaged her and had her knock on the door. Fucker set me up, I guess there’s no way he could have known I’d drop the towel though. I can be annoyed at him for sending her, but I can’t be mad at how bad I fumbled.

I was trying my hard not to think about walking through town with a shirt that came down to just above my belly button, and shorts that didn’t do anything to hide the goods, unfortunately the people in town didn’t have the same embarrassment I did. “Hey sweetness, nice shorts”, “you open for business hot-stuff?”, and catcalls the entire walk to the store was made of embarrassment. By the time I got into the store I was almost in a sprint, I could hear Rita and Hep cackling behind me.

It was Walmart, well not an ACTUAL Walmart just way to similar not to have the same management at the top. From the layout to the rude, laconic employees, it was godamned Walmart. Even in a separate dimension. Made things easy I guess. Grabbing a pair of jeans and a tee I pulled the tags, put the pants on over the silkies, and replaced the short shirt with one that had a stipe of woodland camo running down the left side. Roughly ten-million times more comfortable I decide I need to figure out prices and get a couple of outfits.

Putting the tags in my pocket I take a swipe at Hep “what the fuck man.” I’m not as mad now, I guess I’ll live. “I’m going to grab some clothes and shit. Then I need to grab a vest and a few other things.”

“Most any clothes you’re going to want to get are right here. Tactical pants, and some shirts and such, there are clothes that have armor ratings up near the armor,” he points towards the front or the store near where we came in “but unless you are willing to spend EXP on them your better off just getting regular stuff.”

Rita is taking the clothes I’m putting in my arms and setting them back where I got them from. “these colah’s don’t go together. Were you raised in a barn? You can’t wear straight gray everythin’. What’s your budget?” I let her know I’ve got two silvers, and eighty-seven coppers. She gives a nod and starts moving around grabbing different colored pants and tops. She seems happy enough doing the shopping herself “Just cargo pants please, and try to limit the shirts to darker colors or grey, I’m not a fan of flashy clothes.”

She nods her head again mumbling about how we’d both be happier if I just let her do what she wanted. Whatever a pretty girl shoehorning herself into doing my shopping isn’t going to hurt me any. I shout to her that me and hep are going to go and look at the armor and she should catch us up there.

I thought the best part of this place so far was the food section of the great hall, but I was wrong. The armor section is packed full of full body suits of armor, tac vest’s, there are even stealth suits. After I run into the plate and leather suits Hep explains to me that there are planets that are magical in nature in the universe, and some that are more technologically advanced. I either need to reach them on my own, or buy them with EXP. It’s disappointing that there was alien life out there my people won’t get to meet, but invigorating that I’ll be able to.

While browsing through selections Rita shows up with a dazed expression and a cart full to the brim with an almost disturbingly organized cart: pants, shirts, boots, I see what I suspect are a few skirts and at least one box of women’s shoes in there. “I’m pretty sure what you have there is going to wipe me out Rita. I need to buy things other than clothes.”

“You said you had a couple silvah’s and some coppah’s.”

“For everything, I need more than clothes, I don’t have much Rita.”

The dazed look starts sliding away “but the clothes..all the clothes..” she groans

I let out a sigh, ”Ok. Three full sets of clothes for me and a pair of desert boots, put the underwear back; I don’t wear them. Leave that green backpack. Ummm, and for all the help you’re giving please get yourself an outfit. Just please keep everything under a silver!!” I had to yell the last part, right after I mentioned getting herself an outfit she was sprinting in the opposite direction.

After searching around some I decide that I’m going to go for a simple tac vest with molle webbing, adding a two mag pouches. I go ahead and grab three resizable bungee rifle mag pouches to go with it, I’m getting a rifle if I have to spend XP to do it. Damn it, I have that long rifle in my inventory.

-WEAPON-

-Naturalpoint hunting rifle > LVL. 2

-Damage > 45-70(per shot)

-Effective range > 150m

-Quality > below average.

Weight > 12(Lbs.)

-DISCRIPTION-

-The naturalpoint hunting rifle is a bolt-action long rifle with an attached scope that is typically used to hunt deer.

The damage is about the same as my pistol, but it’s much better for long distance engagements. The pistol is only effective out to around 20 meters. A bolt-action rifle is not what I’m looking for though. Down the road maybe, but I need something in the realm of semi-auto right now. “Yo Hep, will they buy weapons here? I need to offload this hunting rifle.”

He waves towards the register and tells me there is a sell option. I just need to press the trade button and it will open my inventory and we can get down to business. Walking over and initiating the trade use my finger to move the rifle into the trade box, the system immediately comes back with an offer of one silver and 2 coppers. I approve the trade.

I’m getting a little worried about Rita, she’s taking a long time to pick out clothes. Being inside the shop is making me nervous, as interesting as this place is there aren’t any easily accessible exits, and there is a very distinct lack of ground level windows. Hep seeing how anxious I’m getting says we should go look at the weapons and he’ll message Rita. The weapon section is even more overwhelming than the armor section.

The rear left side of the store is covered in shelves that are holding every conceivable style and configuration of M-4 you could want. Everything from SBR2 variants to SR-15 variants in 6.5 Grendel. To my dismay every single one of them is outside of my coinage price range. I decide on a Garand style long rifle package in 5.56 that comes with four 20 round magazines, strap sling, and a little 1x red-dot sight is powered wby ambient mana. It’s over what I wanted to spend at 120 EXP but I feel it’s worth the price.

-WEAPON-

-granger survival rifle > LVL. 4

-Damage > 90 (per shot)

-Effective range > 140m

-Quality > Above average.

-Weight > 10(Lbs.)

-DESCRIPTION-

-The granger survival rifle is a semi-auto rifle with a 14-inch barrel, its size and weight allow for a manageable weight in a reasonable sized package. It is typically used for mid-length engagements.

-WEAPON ACCESSORY-

-Ambient light mana red-dot sight > LVL. 1

-1x magnification

-Quality > Above average.

-Weight > 0.5(Lbs.)

-RIFLE MAGAZINE-

-Chamber > 5.56/ .223

-Capacity > 20(Rds.)

-Quality > Average

I brought the package tag up to the clerk, he had me put my hand over the same type of scanner the door to my apartment had. Taking the tag, he ducks behind the counter and comes back out handing me back a box. Seeing my look of childlike glee, he admonishment that I not open it inside the store. Hep says Rita is waiting for us up near the front. Whenever we’re ready.

Dreading what I’m going to find I head towards the front of the store and the impending bill. Rita has a bright smile on her face that looks too reminiscent of the fox that got into the hen house. Scanning the close in without looking I get through a few pairs of darker pants, she did manage to find some grey pants that were a different color grey then I am, I guess she’s not giving up on that one. I scan the last item in the cart when I realize I that the only thing Rita had put in the cart are a pair of camo pants, and a dark blue tank top. What the hell was she doing that took so long? I look over at her “This it?”

At this point I see something I didn’t think existed; a blushing Rita. “I did get somethin’ else, you said a full outfit but I need you and Hep to turn around.” Seriously? She saw me naked earlier. Whatever I guess. Me and Hep share a look and turn around. I hear the scanner beep, then the rushed sound of someone putting something in a bag and yanking it away. “K, you gits can turn around now.”

After tallying up the items and ammo for me, the stuff Rita got, and the gloves I saw Hep eyeing. I set one hand on the scanner and push the pay with coinage option on the screen. All said and told I’ve got about 30 coppers to my name. Not as good as I’d like, but not as bad as I’d thought it would be. Rita, Hep, and I head back to the barracks so we can drop off.

We make some small talk on the way back. Hep splits off at the square and heads to his barracks saying he’ll catch me later. Having a few minutes to talk with Rita on the way up is a nice distraction. She was from earth and got here a couple of weeks before I did. Turns out Rita wasn’t military or any other kind of combat related job, she was what most in the normal world would call a survivor though. She survived the explosion of the twin towers while on a vacation by somehow navigating her way out of an elevator and down from the twenty-fifth floor. She got cancer related to the smoke and debris inhalation and survived first chemo, then a lung transplant. Top that off with her being within a few meters of one of the bombs during the London bombings and I’d say she paid her dues. A drunk driver got her in the end, she says she didn’t even see it. One minute she was driving home from work and the next she was talking to Thor. I can’t help but be impressed, I know people who were in one of the towers who never left their homes again. She wouldn’t stop going out.

As we get to our doors I ask her if I can add her to my friends list. She quickly sends me an invite and we decide to go grab some food after we drop everything off. I’d love to break out that rifle and become familiar with it, but it’s lunch time; and I loves me some grub.

-message-

Daniel: I’m done, you ready to head out?

Rita: Not yet. give me five minutes?

Gnome: Do you just want to meet me there?

Rita: Nah mate, have some manners and walk a girl to lunch.

Gnome: you got it, knock on my door when you are ready.

Well at least I know she’ll call me on my shit if it’s annoying to her. On the upside if “five minutes” is the same time reference for women here then it was back home then I’ve got a little bit to pull my gun and stuff out.

Pulling the rifle out of the carrying case it came in I can see that the optic is already attached. I’ll have to head to the range before my next mission and see how accurate Heps claim that any gun bought and registered with an aura scanner will be just as accurate out of the box as it would be had a master tuned it. The gun is almost a work of art, I’m either going to have to upgrade the body for polymer later, or get a different weapon at some point. Woods pretty, but weight and usability have always been the name of the game for me. The magazines are your standard military issue 20 rounders. It’s got a decent seat when I pull it into my shoulder, nothing that duct tape and some foam won’t fix. It’s a bit front heavy to just hold. Shouldn’t be a problem, will probably help with barrel control and target reacquisition later. After I’ve been sitting for about ten minutes pulling rounds out of their boxes and loading mags Rita knocks on my door and tells me it’s time to go.

She’s wearing the same clothes but has done up her hair and put on a little bit of make-up. She looked better without the make-up but I’m not dumb enough to say it aloud. Maybe another time. After we get out the door she hooks her arm through mine and we start heading to the hall. I hope she doesn’t think this is more than it is, I’m all about a beautiful woman hanging on my arm, and Odin knows I could use a good lay, Or a bad one, but I’m not up for the work that needs to be put in to get to the point today, I’m still recovering from my last mission. As we walk towards the hall we exchange a few stories about the old world and get into some discussion about our recent missions.

As we get to the front of the great hall I remember I need to take care of my EXP stuff “Rita do you mind helping me out a bit more and knock out some of my skill stuff, I’ve got EXP burning a hole through my pocket.” She gives me an affirmative nod and we walk back to one of the open rooms in the rear of the building.

Laying my hand on the keypad at the table a screen pops up on the wall listing an option all of the options for upgrading myself. To say it was overwhelming would be an understatement in the same realm as saying Godzilla was just some lizard. Getting into the Traits section I see that to reinstate my racial traits as a package is going to cost me 300 EXP flat, it’s almost double that to buy them all piecemeal. Those are going to have to wait. It won’t even go towards raising my level either. I guess I should just be thankful I can get them back.

Most of the traits are too expensive for me to buy at this point, I can’t afford most of them, and I don’t have enough experience in the rift to know what is really going to be useful. I do grab the one that catches my eye though.

-TRAIT-

-Pack mule -LVL. 1

-EXP to next LVL > 0%

-Weight reduction > 5%

-Space increase > 5%

(Traits passively gain EXP dependent on actions and environment)

(EXP cannot be spent towards trait levels.)

(Every two points in Strength will add a 1% Weight reduction.)

(Every two points in in Intelligence will add a 1% Space increase)

-DESCRIPTION-

-Pack mule is a passive trait that modifies the Weight/Space inside of the user’s personal inventory.

It cost me 100 EXP but it’s going to make my life easier in any situation. I don’t have even close to enough EXP to pay for any of the rest.

I sigh and bring up the skills the list’s here are worse. Rita helps me out by showing me how to organize the list’s so that we’re not here all day. Closing my eyes and trying to figure out what I should prioritize I decide I should go with magic, ammo is finite whereas my mana will refill eventually. With refilling on my mind, I figure I should consider some water affinity. The magic section is reasonable at least, all the skills are affinities. I look over the list for a few minutes and make my decisions.

-SKILL-

-Mana manipulation > LVL. 1

-Spell cost > -5%(MP)

-Spell control > 5%

-The ambient power of the aether is no longer a complete mystery to you.

-Mana manipulation is a passive knowledge on how to access and better utilize your mana to power spells, weapons, constructs, and other things requiring mana.

-SKILL-

-Water affinity > LVL. 1

-Water control > -5%(MP sec)

-A basic knowledge of the way the aether interacts with the element of water allows you a basic control of water.

The manipulation cost me 50 EXP, and the water cost me another 30 EXP so I’m down to 50 EXP and there isn’t anything on the skill’s list I can’t get on my own for 50 EXP. We’ve probably spent an hour or so with me looking over the skills and stuff and Rita telling me what things do to the best of her knowledge, I’ve got one more question though “Sorry this is taking a bit longer than I thought, I didn’t realize how much there was going to be. One more thing then we can head up to grab some food. I’m down to 50 EXP and a training voucher, is there anything that can help me out?”

She thinks about it for a few seconds then lowering her eyelids a little bit she whispers “Were I you I’d get a H.A.N.D.I.” That’s aggressive.

“You’re pretty and all but those training vouchers are worth at least two gold apiece, you’re going to at least put it in your mouth if you’re trying for a bribe.”

“Oi get bent, not a handy, a High Altitude Natural Drop Insertion shortened to H. A. N. D. I. fucking twisted git.” Shit, I thought she was propositioning me. “Yeh’d have really given it away for a quick gobble? Twat. I was scheduled for my trainin today but Hep said I should say ‘ello to the new meat.” At least I didn’t piss her off too bad, she said most of it with a smile.

I guess I know what I’m getting, I wonder if Hep Has it, or skipped it in lieu of getting his race, if not maybe we can all knock if out together. I make my selection on the screen, my mood automatically a million-times higher. Waving away the blue screen offereing me a training mission,I hold out my elbow, “All right beautiful, care to join me for some food?”