Chapter 11: Mystery Tab
Kalli moved to the final category and looked at the options in front of her.
[Uncommon Grade Upgrade Box: Weapon] unlocks weapon options up to Uncommon Grade magical weapons.
Cost: 1000 System Points
[Uncommon Grade Upgrade Box: Food] unlocks food options up to Uncommon Grade magical ingredients
Cost: 1000 System Points
[Mystery Box] Just what it sounds like
Cost: 10 System Points
Kalli frowned at the options. The mystery box was a curiosity. But at ten points, with the vast majority of items on the store costing less than that, it was a risk.
She didn’t have the points to unlock better stuff from the store yet. But she also didn’t have a need for any of it yet. From what she could gather, the others all had decent weapons, and they would be as good as what she could buy from the store.
With a basic knowledge of what was available, and no rush to pick out food ingredients, Kalli returned to the tent icon that apparently indicated housewares.
There was nearly everything that you could need for a camping trip there, including pots, camp stoves, dishes and backpacks. It was the catch-all category of useful stuff that everyone would need, and the perfect way to prove to the army that she was useful, even though she wasn’t a combat specialist.
The question was whether she wanted to reveal her utility now, and risk having it exploited later.
That was the better call. She would wait for just the right moment.
Only when they were properly desperate would they appreciate the little things and the utility of her class. Once someone lost or broke a sword in combat, and she could replace it, they would begin to understand that her class was valuable.
She was going to have to rejoin the class soon, she knew. If not, they would assume that she had given up on being part of the group.
In this world, she was a transfer student. An outsider among a class that had been together since childhood. She was going to have to put in the work to be able to build trust and friendships tonight.
Looking around at the opulent design of the dorm building, it felt strange to be thinking of survival. There was so much wealth here in just a mere university dorm that in any other circumstance, the residents would be sheltered from even the worst of the world’s problems.
Outside, the army was setting up a mess hall, and the other students were starting to wear themselves out after training.
{Quest Complete} have the heroes prepare to defend themselves without the government troops.
{Reward} 72 hour protective barrier. Activates on command to protect 1 building from attacks up to level 5.
That was definitely going to be useful.
Kalli walked over to the group and reached into her Storage Realm to take out a case of ice cream sandwiches.
"The power is out, and the kitchen is destroyed, but I managed to save these from the dorms. There’s enough for one each. Sorry it isn’t more."
Yara smiled, knowing that they actually came from the drugstore.
The students rushed to grab the ice cream, and their whole attitude towards Kalli began to shift. Sure, she might not have a combat class, but she managed to save the ice cream for after training.
Seeing how effective the bribe was, Kalli checked the food section of her store for sweets.
[Ice Cream bars] assorted flavours. 24 pack
Price: 1 System Point
Well, they were expensive, but they were an option.
"You managed to find food that wasn’t damaged?" One of the soldiers asked.
"A box of ice cream in a dorm fridge. They’re a bit soft, but good enough. Did the army get the supplies that they were expecting?" Kalli asked.
"We did. They will be distributing ration packs in two hours. Teams are searching for other awakened survivors to bring them to safety. So, they want to wait until just before dark.
The power is unlikely to come back on, so the meal will be served before dark. But we don’t want to have anyone show up too late to eat," the soldier explained.
"Makes sense to me. I’m sure that after a light snack, the warriors can hold off for another couple hours."
Kalli’s classmates laughed. They were all looking forward to a shower after training, but none of them had realized that the Academy’s power was offline for repairs after the attack, so there would be no hot water.
The army was working on it right now, and the Academy had a massive solar array that was visually intact.
So, they weren’t reliant on the outside power supply. But there was a fair bit of damage to the building, and they had turned all the power off so that they could do essential repairs.
Hot showers were not a priority.
"Try the dorm rooms. They’re on their own breakers, so you might get some luck there," Yara suggested.
The lights had been working in there, but that could just be the battery backup for the building, which wouldn’t run all the facility’s features, just the essentials.
The students rushed into the dorms with high hopes for their future, and Kalli decided to go check out her room.
They had all been assigned individual dorm rooms, according to the resident listings, but she had no idea whether they lived up to the opulence of the rest of the Academy. It was possible that the rooms were deliberately spartan to encourage studious minds.
She was wrong.
So very wrong.
Kalli jogged up the stairs to the second floor, where her room was at the top of the stairs.
After a brief moment of panic and checking her pockets, she found the key card inside her coat, and the door opened smoothly for her, revealing a room larger than her old apartment.
It was massive, with real marble tops on the dresser and vanity.
The bed was something larger than what she knew as a King size, she could stretch out and not reach both ends with her hands over her head. And then, there was a desk, a sofa and a pair of recliners set in front of a natural gas fireplace, and what she was pretty sure were a private shower and a dressing room, going by the size.
Technically, the others considered it a closet, but there was a makeup table in there, so Kalli considered it a dressing room.
This place was just over the top.
