Chapter 2 Preparation

The Recruiter, "Excellent!" He clapped his hands, "Alright! Please proceed to the mirror to exchange your karma and fate for tokens. After you've finished your selection please proceed through the mirror with all you have purchased and onto your chosen world."

Then with a small flash of purple lightning and a light clap of thunder, he disappeared. Then at the end of the room, a full-body mirror made itself visible as if assembled from light.

Julio, "The fuck! That's it?! I'm just left on my own?" I shouted and no one answered. 

I walked to the mirror for a long quiet almost eerie moment. I tapped the mirror and words appeared on it.

Agent: Julio Lionheart

Bad Karma: 100 

Good Karma: 1,000

Fate: 500

Huh, I feel like those should be higher… I tapped each one and the word exchange appeared next to each one with a question mark. I tapped it next to bad karma and the interface changed.

Agent: Julio Lionheart

Bad Karma: 0

Good Karma: 1,000 Exchange?

Fate: 500 Exchange?

Tokens: 100

After I exchanged the rest for 4,600 Tokens it brought me to the next screen.

Commencing Body Tune Up: Peak Human….

WARNING: Please lay down to avoid fall damage!!!

Julio, "Ah shit!!"

I worked my way to a sitting position as I attempted to lay down then the pain hit and the back of my head hit the stone floor. I blacked out. 

_____________________________________________________________________________

When I woke up. I was on the floor and I felt fine, no pain at all. There was also a survival kit in the form of a backpack next to me. I got up and looked at the new words on the mirror.

Agent: Julio Lionheart

Bad Karma: 0

Good Karma: 0

Fate: 0

Tokens: 4,600

Supplies

Gear

Beasts

Money

Skills

Traits

Abilities

Spells

Purchases:

Starter's Package - Free

Next

I found it suspicious that the next option didn't appear until I exchanged all my fate and karma. However, I guess it makes sense with what the reason for all this is... Clicking on the starter package I saw it included a used body tune-up: peak human, a survival kit, 3 free sets of clothing 2 free mundane weapons, 1 free set of ammo, 1 pair of shoes, 2 free pairs of gloves, 3 silver rings, 1 gold ring, 1 jacket, and 1 free hat. The silver rings were sterling silver and the gold ring was 23 carats. Check the survival kit again, I took inventory of it. A standard hiking backpack with a sleeping bag, a tarp, a pair of ferro rods, a compass, a large bottle full of clean water with a built-in filter with 3 replacements for the filter, trail mix, various jerky, collapsible pots and pans, rope, a small solar powered/crank powered flashlight and a medium hunting knife in its sheath. 

Clicking on the clothing I chose 3 pairs of canvas pants, a plain white t-shirt, a flannel shirt, and a sweater, 3 pairs of thick socks, 3 pairs of briefs, a pair of hiking boots, a pair of leather work gloves, a pair brown of leather motorcycle gloves, a brown leather jacket and a brown leather tricorn hat.

After the clothes appeared I changed my clothes into canvas pants, a white t-shirt socks, boots, leather motorcycle gloves, a leather jacket, and my new tricorn hat. I scavenged my old leather belt with a big brass lion head belt buckle from my old pile of clothes, I looped the hunting knife onto the belt and then through the loops of my pants. 

I clicked on the 2 free weapons options. I grabbed a large bowie knife with a sheath and looped it through my belt again before putting it back on again. Remembering old research on medieval weaponry and what was most effective against armor I chose a splitting maul. I was surprised a little as it's usually used for splitting wood and is hence a tool, but I was still able to pick it as a free weapon.

After all that I immediately went for abilities and found Rapid Regeneration which cost 2,000 tokens, I bought it anyway. I looked some more and found Indomitable Will I bought it for a paltry 50 tokens. I scanned through the menu more, I needed a way to access or acquire knowledge in multiple fields, I was already set on a weaker medieval world. Knowledge is power. I literally have no skills besides math that are valuable in a medieval society, where the language isn't present-day English. Just reading Shakespeare was difficult and that stuff is from the Renaissance era. Not to mention Old English would be far worse if I'm even that lucky. No, I need knowledge.

Ah, here we go I found it! Mental Wifi, it'll grant permanent access to a version of Earth's internet via a psychic connection, my own mind becoming akin to a browser. The connection cannot ever be traced and if the internet goes down it'll switch to a different Earth in the omniverse. It also starts with my Earth. So if a nuclear apocalypse or something happens and wipes out humanity, then I won't lose my internet access. Technically. It'll also stay up to date in real-time so I can check the news and my favorite web novels. Maybe look my family up on social media. It cost 2,000 tokens. Make sense with literal access to most of humanity's knowledge. Huh, guess I could access the dark web with this thing.

With 550 tokens left, I checked gear for a revolver loaded with unlimited ammo and found it, for only 100 Tokens. I then decided hey I need more food, protection, stuff to sell, and a way to carry it all. So I bought a bonded mule that'll follow all my orders except like suicide, and 2 bonded mastiff great dane mix dogs, one male, one female. I can probably sell the pups to nobles or something. They cost me around 50 tokens in total. 20 for the mule, it was huge like twice the size of a horse, and with far more endurance, high-temperature resistance, and strength, with a lifespan of 50 years as opposed to a horse's 30 years, apparently that's all normal for mules. Damn. No wonder some militaries still use them. Including the U.S. Military. The two dogs each cost 15 tokens. 

I then bought a shotgun loaded with infinite ammo for 200 Tokens. I then bought a lot of salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cumin, modern hops seeds, modern wheat seeds, modern barley seeds, sage seeds, modern onions, modern garlic bulbs, and modern potato seeds, for 20 tokens. I then bought 5 rolls of cotton, 5 rolls of silk, 5 bottles of vodka, 2 bottles of white wine, 2 bottles of red wine, 2 bottles of whiskey and 2 bottles of scotch. They cost 20 Tokens. I then bought a first aid kit, 50 solid copper pennies from 1856, 50 dimes from 1941, and 20 collectors edition solid gold quarters. I also bought a coin purse all for the remaining 10 tokens. Luckily the mule came already with some saddlebags, a saddle, and reins. 

I bought a modern compound bow with and 2 quivers of arrows for 50 tokens. I filled all the saddle bags with my purchases and made sure my weapons were tied and secured on the bags where I could reach them. I still had 100 tokens and I needed to spend them before I left. I could use every advantage I could get. There was no guarantee these people would speak English, in fact, it's almost guaranteed they wouldn't speak it. To that end, I would need a way to communicate with them. So I bought Polyglot for 100 tokens. It would allow me to speak, read, and write any language that I would come in contact with. 

With all my tokens spent I checked over everything made I was dressed, and everything was packed. Looking at my two dogs and my mule I tried to think of names for them. After a few internet searches, I named the male dog Aegis, the female dog Labrys, and the mule Epona. Aegis is derived from Zeus's shield and Labrys is a sword representing the Minoan islands' power, both from Greek mythology. Whereas Epona is a Celtic horse goddess of fertility and grain from Celtic mythology.

With everything ready, I clicked the next button. The mirror grew to twice the size of my mule and a temperate forest appeared on the other side the sun cresting over mountains in the distance. Taking my mule Epona by the reins, I whistle, my dogs and mount following me through the mirror.