“Why are you so… big?” asked Saiko.
“Goodness… such a thing to say to a guy in polite company,” he responded coyly.
She rolled her eyes but then snorted in amusement. “Come on. You’re definitely different than before.”
Scott flexed one of his massive muscles then made his pecs flex up and down. “You think?”
Summer arrived with a loud yawn. “What’s going on?” she asked.
All eyes turned to her then two sets of hands shot forward and covered the eyes of two different teens. The boys complained about such treatment, but the girls immediately started yelling for Summer to put her clothes on. She had come down naked.
“Huh?” she asked in confusion.
Scott walked between the noisy group and handed a second cup of hot chocolate to Summer. “Morning Wifey.”
“Wifey?” asked Saiko with a slight edge in her tone.
Summer gasped a little then took the cup of hot chocolate from him. “You made cocoa for me without me asking… No guy has ever done that…”
She began to sip it, still completely nude, while the others stared for a different reason. They looked from Summer to Scott then back to her.
“You don’t seem surprised that he’s dressed like that?” asked Jade.
“Dressed like what?” asked Summer.
“Are you blind?” asked Momoko.
“She might not be, but I am,” muttered Tosh.
Jade tightened her death grip. “There’s nothing to see!”
“Momoko…” began Otakun.
“Shut it, Tubby,” said Momoko waspishly. “You’d have a brain aneurism.”
Summer took a good look at Scott then acquired a thoughtful expression. She placed a finger to her lips then said, “My husband is into cosplay? I wasn’t aware of that, but how is that a problem?”
“Husband?” asked Momoko with wide eyes. “Someone needs to start talking!”
Scott could not hold it in any longer. He laughed in a deeply booming and resonant manner, his mighty chest shaking with the power of his mirth. It took a few minutes for him to calm down, and by that time everyone was ready to hear his story. Summer, for her part, blew softly on her hot chocolate then took a blissful sip. What a sweet savage husband she had.
Once he stopped laughing, he related what had happened to him. He was forced to stop and reiterate the details a few times, but eventually he was able to convince them by removing and resetting his costume. Though, there were several disparate outcries when he stripped naked. Some of which were excited, while others were disgruntled.
“Sheesh, they’re made for each other,” said Momoko irritably.
“Hmm?” asked Summer.
“Why are you still naked?” asked Momoko.
Summer sighed loudly, then wandered over to the living room and grabbed a blanket. She wrapped herself up in it, then returned to the group. “Better?”
“No,” said Scott petulantly.
“No,” agreed Tosh and Otakun. They still could not see, but if Scott didn’t like it, they assumed that she had put on clothes.
“Seriously,” muttered Momoko.
“Guys are gross,” agreed Jade.
“So, you can travel to a world called Nowhere?” asked Momoko in an attempt to steer the conversation away from Summer’s hills and valleys. “Think you can take one of us with you?”
“If she’s my waifu, I believe so,” said Scott. “I still need to test to see whether or not I can transfer stored items between worlds.”
“I can’t believe you were killed by a fish,” said Tosh before anyone could say anything.
“It was a really strong fish,” said Scott with a shrug of his shoulders.
Deciding that he had discussed the shameful loss against a murder fish long enough, he reached under his loin cloth and started fiddling around. His actions brought several cries of surprise and more than one set of glares.
“What?” he asked them curiously. He nearly laughed, as he knew full well why they were complaining but his eyes narrowed instead. “Shit! It’s not there?”
“W-what’s not there?” asked Jade, her eyes wide.
“Huh?” asked Scott. “Oh! My pocket. This thing was supposed to have a pocket…”
“Right,” said Momoko. “You’re trying to find your—” She made air quotes, “pocket.”
He did his best to ignore Momoko and smiled at Summer. “Is there like a trunk or a box around here I could borrow?”
“Um, I think Keiko has a big trunk in her closet to store some of her clothes. Why?” asked Summer.
“I’m going to go see if I can turn it into a storage box,” said Scott. “I’ll be right back.”
He headed upstairs and went to the closet. The trunk that Summer mentioned was tucked into one corner and had a lock on it. He checked the lock then searched around until he found something he could use as lockpicks and began to work the padlock. It took some fiddling, but the lock eventually popped open.
“Nothing but winter clothes,” he said thoughtfully as he unpacked Keiko’s trunk.
Once it was empty, he closed the lid and concentrated on the idea of converting it into a storage box. It’s slightly larger size cost him an extra two hundred world points, leaving him with practically none. Yet, when he finished the conversion, he was happy to see that the trunk could store thirty pounds of material.
He immediately checked to see if he had access to his other storage box then nodded his head. “So, it’s like that.”
Cross-world Storage Access
While it is possible to transfer items between worlds using storage containers, you do not have a storage container in your loading area. That function is now unlocked. You may purchase one at your next available opportunity. The cost is [5000] world points for the smallest storage container.
Until you have a storage box in your loading area, transference between worlds will only occur during the daily automatic save update. Upon purchase of a storage box in your loading area, your transfer time between storage containers will be removed, provided the items are being transferred into and out of that box. However, there will be a maximum daily cross-world transfer limit determined by your loading area storage container.
“Yeah, that’s going to be a while.” Went ahead and scheduled his soul gems for transference, then nodded to the storage container.
A backpack upgrade would also be nice, but he was less likely to lose his pants. World-hopping not-withstanding. Briefly, he considered storing his discarded shorts from this world inside his storage box to convert later. He even ended picked them up and walked to the storage box with them in hand. Doing so reminded him that he had left something inside his ordinary, non-system, pocket. Scot reached inside and fished out the old promise ring that he had found.
“Should I itemize you?” Scott eyed the sexist little bauble. It wasn’t much of a gift, given the bloodstains on it. Only a lady who loved the sight of blood would want to wear such a thing.
The stains on the ring reminded him that his shorts were similar. No amount of laundering would clean them completely. He checked the cost to convert his shorts then frowned. “Can’t turn them into a storage item?”
While he was greeted with a message screen that would allow him to convert the shorts into a system item, there was no mention of becoming a storage item. Perhaps there was a quality limit for such items? The pants he converted back in Nowhere were granted by the system as starter gear.
In the end, he decided not to worry about it. The world was full of pants, pants with big lovely pockets. Which annoyed him, once he thought about it. His costume would be a lot nicer with a similar upgrade. Barbarians… Why did they hate pockets? Nowhere allowed him to use his converted pockets, despite not actually having any on his outfit. It was beyond strange.
Scott stored the ring and tossed his shorts to the side. He turned to leave, then stopped once more.
“Wait, Keiko is some sort of badass… She should have
at least one backpack around here,” said Scott. He rummaged through her closet and drawers. He discovered several things of note, a number of which required batteries and made him feel quite uncertain of his masculine prowess.
He pulled out an item that made his eyes widen. “A strap-on?”
Curious, he checked the cost to convert it into a system item then blinked. “Twenty-four hundred waifu points? Is this thing made out of fucking gold and tits?”
Clearly, it was not made of gold, and the tits came separately. He could not tell if it was quality construction, or not, but it seemed sturdy he supposed.
“I sure hope she doesn’t use this on dudes…” he muttered, before he put the oversized thing back into its special box and slipped it under the bed. He then thought better of it, dragged it back out from under the bed and then stored it in the storage box. He could probably find a use for it later.
“Purses, strap-ons, and a box of lesbian hentai manga… No backpack.” Scott sighed. If she had one, she probably took it with her when she was called into work. “Ah well, I already have one in the truck. The cost isn’t that bad.”
He rubbed his chin for a moment, then idly began checking items to see if any of them could be converted. Most required a few item points, and he risked using a couple of them to see the difference. The items ended up with stats, but nothing worth mentioning. He itemized those items, then shrugged. He could do something with her jewelry, he supposed, but did not want to spend the points necessary. The expensive items were small and light weight, so he shoved them into the box.
Unable to find a cheaper storage item that he was actually willing to carry around, not to mention explain to Keiko when the time came to admit that he took stuff from her apartment, Scott went back down to join the others and told them what happened. He could indeed transfer items between worlds. If they could see proof of it, then they would be more likely to believe that he could take waifus with him to another world.
“What now?” asked Tosh. “Finding out about all that seems important…”
“No. I get it. You want to go look for your families,” said Scott. “I’m fine with that. At some point, I’ll end up getting enough world points to convert a pair of pants or something.”
Otakun clapped his hands together quickly then made a suggestion. “Hey. Think you can convert once of these guns?”
“I considered it, but things were tense when you found them, so I decided not to touch any of them,” said Scott. “Want to let me see that rifle?”
Otakun handed it over, while everyone watched. Scott checked it out then whistled. “Twenty-eight thousand equipment points? Pass…”
“That’s a lot?” he asked Scott curiously.
“Three times more than I’ve ever had to date,” replied Scott.
Summer spoke up, “What about the other ones? They’re going to be different prices, right?”
“They should be.” Scott handed the rifle back to Otakun and he was handed an automatic pistol. “Thirteen thousand six hundred…”
He checked the other two guns found, a tactical semi-automatic shotgun and another rifle with a bayonet affixed to the front. Both of them cost more than the pistol, but less than Otakun’s rifle.
It was disappointing, but it made sense. System converted firearms were going to be powerful. They might even have special abilities that defied logic and physics.
The ammo was less costly, but at eighty to three hundred equipment points per round it was not worth it even as a test. He did think it would be worth checking when he had a system converted gun, however.
The group discussed the situation amongst themselves for a while then decided to head out after they ate breakfast. Scott, having already eaten and itching to get in some combat training, grabbed his brush axe and headed out the door.
Dozens of zombies had made their way over in the night and were heading his way before he was even seen by them. The voices had gotten their attention earlier.
A wide grin spread across his face. “We aren’t coming back any time soon, so why not have some fun with it.”
Scott rushed toward the closet zombie and a feral snarl escaped his lips. With incredible force, he whipped his blade around and neatly ripped through a rotting skull. His stats and skill boosts made these things little more than rotting sacks of meat to him. They might as well have been standing still.
He danced among the dead, his blade practically singing as it carved a path through the horde. One, at most two, blows were enough to fell each of the beasts. Black blood soaked the street like a downpour from hell. Blood. Brains. Bones and gore. It was a grotesque shower that coated everything in its vileness.
A wild cry escaped his lips once more as his mighty hews pulled tight. Scott leapt toward the final zombie, his tongue practically flapping in the wind. Black blood splattered across the street as his blade tore through the skull of that hapless beast. The entire battle took less than two minutes, and the itemization took roughly the same amount of time.
The bodies disappeared, though various bits of blood and gore remained. In their places several items appeared. His body covered in the ichor of the ruined dead; he could not help but smile. No itemization cost meant he could finally get some fat loot!
What presents did the zombies leave for him? Scott found several trinkets. There were two bracelets of similar worth to the one that he found on his first day in the world, a roll of toilet paper that was somehow considered to be a system item. Uses? Three hundred.
The most notable drop item was something called a crooked zombie tooth. It was claimed as a crafting material. He had no crafting skill per se, just a few abilities that could mimic one. Still, it could be useful later. The other stuff he itemized for item and equipment points. Toilet paper was all over the place in this world and he could just wash his ass in the pool back in the other world if necessary.
“Hmm. Eight equipment points, and six item points?” At least he could itemize the useless crap loot he found for equipment points. At some point he did hope to find something useful, however.
He trotted around the area itemizing everything he could find that would accept itemization out in the open while killing off nearby zombies. Just as before, he could not itemize everything. Sometimes a thing just refused to be turned into points.
Back in Nowhere, he could even turn some leaves and rocks into points, but he could not turn them all. Trees refused to be itemized, for instance. He found that houses and most cars did not wish to become item points, either. He did itemize the motorcycle he found earlier for over one hundred points. One would think that a working vehicle would be worth more than a simple semi-precious gemstone
As much fun as it was to see what he could turn into points, not that his itemization spree produced many points, he headed back to get a quick shower. The others would be done with breakfast soon, and he did not want to take too long or he would be forced to make them wait while he cleaned up.
By the time he was done getting all the gunk off his body, the others had already finished their breakfast and made a plan for getting across the river. It mostly involved driving across the water in their amphibious assault truck.
During the night there had been no sign of the little girl, that dog, or her father. Given the changes in the timetable of the storyline, and the fact that despite some similarities with that series, it’s possible that they simply did not exist. Alternatively, they had simply run off in an entirely different direction.
As they drove across the river, Scott sat atop their transport vehicle in all his barbaric glory. There was something freeing about the claustrophobic nature of the city after having spent two weeks in the middle of Nowhere. The fact that he could not see an unending desert horizon was comforting.
They stopped on the other side of the river in order to get their bearings then headed off into the city. The first stop was meant to be Momoko’s house. Scott warned them about what he knew of their possible future, but as it turned
out there was no need. The monowire barrier set out in the series was nowhere in sight.
“Where is everyone?” asked Scott as they rolled up to Momoko’s house uncontested. This was supposed to be a major plot area of the series. Here, however, there was nothing.
“You said they would be here…” said Momoko in an accusatory manner.
“Things are changing fast. At this point, I’m just glad that Keiko’s apartment existed,” said Scott.
He looked over to Momoko. “It’s also possible that they just haven’t set up camp here, yet. Everything is moving at a different pace here than in the show.”
“That’s possible…” said Momoko. “My father would probably try to secure the power station, and a means to acquire supplies, before he tried to move them here.”
“So, do we wait?” asked Otakun.
The others looked to Momoko. She sighed softly then shook her head. “I’ll leave a note on the door for them. If they show up, they’ll know that we’re heading to the police station.”
“Is there anything here you want to get?” asked Scott.
“Not really. It’s too early to stop for the day, and we need to get going if we want to find a safe place to stay for the night,” said Momoko.
As she was writing her note, Scott suggested that she mention Shit-do. When she asked why, he reminded her of what he tried to do in the anime series and the last thing they needed was to have someone like that somehow show up and try to ingratiate himself with her family.
Scott was a little bummed that there was no chance to run off with Saiko to a temple of love scene, or to get a good look at Momoko’s hot mom. Still, there would be chances in the future. As they were about to leave, he made a quick save.
Chapter Ten
Wreckage, the ruination of countless lives lay scattered on the hot unforgiving asphalt. The drive through town had started out relatively uneventful, but then suddenly took a turn as the zombie hordes reappeared and in ever-increasing numbers. Abandoned cars lined the road, which deterred them at first due to the zombies in the area. Eventually, however they were forced to pick a route and to stick with it. Scott and Saiko would get out to fight the zombies directly with melee weapons, while Otakun kept watch from the gunner’s hatch of the vehicle.
Power Fantasy Page 24