Chapter 4: Weapon Selection

Selecting the spears, he chose the Lugged Hewing Spear and opened the details. The spear had a five-foot wooden shaft, and the blade, made of copper, was around seventeen inches long and about two and a half inches wide tapering to one inch at the tip. There was another eight inches of metal that was wrapped around the end of the wooden shaft securing the spear tip in place. Where the metal met wood, solid metal wings came out from all four sides only extending three inches but enough to stop the spear from continuing to go through its targets. Rosario liked the look of this spear and decided to add it to his cart. He was just a little unhappy that the quality of all the weapons seemed to be extremely close to primitive.

"It's not like I can't find better metal or wood to upgrade this spear later." Talking out loud Rosario was fantasizing about wielding a beautiful spear one day when a pop up appeared in the middle of the screen.

{Request Received: Do you want to unlock upgradeable options? Cost: 1000 points}

{YES/NO}

"Upgradeable options?! What is that?" Getting no response, he figured why not what's it going to hurt and selected {YES}.

After selecting yes, the pop up disappeared, and the screen went back to the regular list again. Rosario just stared at the screen waiting for something, anything to happen. Nothing seemed to have changed until he clicked on the Spear again, now he saw the original spear but there was a second one next to it that said upgradable. Smiling, he chose to look at the details of the upgradeable one. All the details were the same except for the last portion of the description that read.

{Upgradeable weapon, all weapons are upgradeable however the requirements to upgrade different items are all different. Unlocking the upgrade option now allows you to grow in strength with your weapon. Normally specific materials would need to be gathered and the object brought to a Journeyman Blacksmith for the upgradable option to be unlocked.}

Rosario smiled and went to select the upgradeable spear but paused before selecting. Originally the spear would have been 450 points but now it was 1500 points. With a regretful sigh he still selected that he wanted the spear and hit confirm to finalize the purchase. Down 2510 points he had another 2490 to spend on his beginning supplies. That might have been a really bad idea but oh well nothing he could do about it now.

Going into the supplies tab Rosario grabbed some items such as a fishing rod with some extra twine and bait, a wood board to use as a plate along with utensils, a tent, sleeping bag, and other basic items that might come in handy but could be carried easily. For everything he spent 510 points leaving him with 1980 points left.

He reviewed what he had selected so far; the main weapon: an upgradeable spear, a long bowie knife, a skinning knife, and the camping supplies. After looking everything over his thoughts turned to what food he should choose. 'Now for my food supplies, how many days out should I get supplies for? It's obvious that we will need to become self-sufficient eventually. I'd rather I become self-sufficient sooner than be forced to later when I am unprepared. Maybe a weeks' worth, nah, maybe two weeks' worth of food. That's going to be heavy as shit though. I wonder if I can get like a crate and hide some of the food where I am dropped. It would have to be canned, but that would give me a fall back to go to and get food if I run out, so long as no animals or other people find it. Maybe I should get a shovel or pickaxe to dig with, a tarp to wrap around the box? Arrghhh this is frustrating!'

After staring absentmindedly at the screen for a few minutes longer, he finally made a decision. Choosing the items tab, he added a 3lbs pickaxe, a spade shovel, and a 3ft long, 2ft wide, and 1.5ft tall wooden crate that was supposedly waterproofed at the seams. Staring at his choices, he began scrolling around a little more before adding a 12x10 foot tarp. Satisfied with his choices he confirmed he wanted these and watched as 135 points were deducted.

Switching back to the food section, Rosario started going through all the dried portions and canned goods. Selecting 50lbs of dried jerky, he got an assortment of venison and beef. He also selected over 100 cans of baked beans, and a couple of ten-pound bags of rice. Seeing the total of purchases reach 535 points he held back buying more dry food as he had only 1845 points left and wanted to be sure he would have as much as needed. Scrolling away from the dry goods he bought fifty waterskins, holding one and a half gallons each, that were filled. This added another 250 points to the 535 points from the dry food.

Confirming his decisions, he watched as his points total dropped from 1845 to 1060. Knowing there was no way he could fit all this into one crate he bought two fifty-gallon waterproof wooden barrels to store the water in. When he went to confirm he wanted the barrels a smaller screen popped up and offered a discount of 25 points for each barrel if he chose to have the water stored in the barrels instead of waterskins. Confirming that he would prefer the water be stored in the barrels he spent just another 50 points, saving himself 50 points total from the original 100 he would have had to spend on the barrels. Smiling he chose five more water skins, one to carry with him and four others "Just in Case" because you can never be too careful, you never know when a water skin might get a hole in it.

Leaning back in the chair Rosario looked at his remaining points count: 985. Most of the basics were covered, he had necessities and even if he would become sick of jerky, he had food and water. Staring at the screen intensely he finally remembered 'What about clothing, what do I do once I get there and only got my jeans, t-shirt, and hoodie on.'

Looking in both items and supplies he found some clothes. He found that he could buy extra clothes, they ranged from simple jeans and T-shirts to soft leather clothing. After some browsing, he selected ten pairs of underwear and socks. Grabbing A few pairs of soft leather pants and linen long underwear he kept in mind he could be placed anywhere from a desert to a frozen tundra. To cover his chest and upper body, he grabbed mostly linen and cotton shirts along with a soft leather shirt. To combat any cold weather, he added a thick wool lined coat and a matching wool lined hat. He grabbed a pair of thick wool socks and mitts to top off his 'just in case its cold' ensemble. He paid a little extra for it but was able to have all the clothes created in a muted black color.

With only 505 points left, Rosario continued scrolling. In no rush as he had gotten the majority of necessities Rosario continued looking at all the tabs for the next two days, only pausing his search to sleep when he was tired and when food was provided by what he assumed were teleportation plates as the food always appeared in a specific spot on the desk. Thankfully on the first day, as he started swearing at the system when he had to use the restroom, and didn't see one, a seamless door had opened up to a small powder room where he was able to do his business.