"..."
"I said shop! Hello?"
Nothing happened. Matthew tried to call forth the shop mentioned by the players but no matter what he said or tried, there was no reaction from the system.
"Other players got skills and equipment through the shop! What am I supposed to do? There was no skill listed in my status window and the shop won't open. Is it because my system is different?"
Matthew thought for a while.
'What else is different then? I mean, there was no mention from players of the whole mechanic with the physical and magical attack and defense depending on other stats already, but the shop not working really is a bother! How do I learn magic skills without it?'
Matthew was disheartened. A large part of his plan had evaporated and he had no idea how to fix it or if he even could fix it.
'I've prepared for many things, I can do this! Let's see… What else could I possibly try out?'
A good part of his preparation consisted in reading webnovels. There were two good reasons for that: one, it kept him sane since he barely went out and interacted with nobody, and two, many had a VRMMO or isekai setting where the main character became stronger with various methods and used a system similar to what players described.
"Thinking about it, I really wanted to become a cool necromancer…" he said, wiping the stray tear flowing from his eye.
'Anyway, what could I possibly use? Oh, right, an important feature that often appears but players don’t seem to use all that much, maybe I've got it? Inventory!'
As he thought that, a blue window appeared with the name [inventory]. It was empty, but it was there.
"Whoa! Nice! Take that, players! Heh, I may not have a shop, but I have a free inventory! Hehe he… Oh, but I also still don't have any skill… Well, let's test this inventory out, at least." he uttered, half sulking.
Matthew grabbed some tools and thought about throwing them in the inventory. They successfully disappeared from his hands and appeared as items in the inventory window. He then began experimenting. He tried a glass filled with water, and it also appeared in the inventory, and came back the same after trying to take it out.
He then tried to put only the glass in his hand and not the water.
Splash.
His feet were soaked as the water from the glass fell without its container.
“Wouhou! I don’t even need to dry the dishes anymore, just put it in and pull out of the inventory and let the droplets fall! But damn, why didn’t I try that over the sink! Stupid!”
Trying to test the limits of his new found “skill”, he tried inserting water without a container, but failed.
“Fine, at least I got this for free and it’s useful!” he grumbled, half excited by his first success and half dejected that there was a limit to it.
The reason he was happy with that was because players had to buy the inventory from the shop with the scarce achievement points they earned, and even then, they could only put the equipment they bought from the shop in it, and nothing else.
Continuing with his tests, he then took out some ham from the fridge and threw it in the inventory, as well as a cup of tea right after he heated it. This experiment would require a bit of time so he decided to go for a short walk. That would help clear his head as well.
On his way back a few hours later, he stopped at the old butcher shop. He pulled out the tea from the inventory and took a sip. It was still hot. He then pulled the ham and ate some. It was just like when he got it out of the fridge.
"Nice! It's been hours already and it seems like it hasn't changed at all! Let's see if I can fit the whole wolf body! That way, nobody would stumble on it randomly either."
As he said so, he touched it and got it into the inventory.
“Ugh.” he stumbled forward.
‘I feel exhausted all of a sudden. The body’s gone, so that’s good. I do have a nice skill in the end! Not that I can fight with that, but still!’ he thought, glad after finding himself a worthy skill.
He waited a bit and felt better.
‘The inventory might have some limits, I guess’ he thought.
After this emotional roller-coaster of an investigation, he finished his tea and went home quietly. It was time to make changes to his speed growth plan.
With a tearful expression, he grabbed a large binder labeled “Number 1 mage in the world, road book”. There were not actually many changes required. He devised different plans for multiple growth courses based on the main character of the web novel he was reading at the time.
His problem was with the fact that he had to abandon his absolute favorite because it did not yet seem like he could get a hold of the skills he wanted and needed for it.
“If I ever get the chance, I’ll definitely come back to you.” he said, as he caressed the binder’s cover.
After that, he shelved the binder, and took out another one, much thinner, labeled “Loser’s guide”. It was much less extensive but was easily implementable. It contained lists with simple enough things that a talentless main character could follow no matter what abilities he awakened. “Can’t go wrong with science and tricks” was written below the title.
The baseline of the plan was the same no matter what happened. He could not have bought the strong skills he wanted right after becoming a player anyway, and players rarely got strong or useful skills directly anymore.
The first step was to gather some things he might need. He already had a whole lot ready, but seeing how the inventory will remove any troubles in packing stuff and his lack of offensive skills, it would not hurt to take more.
He filled his inventory with all sorts of tools and supplies and got ready to leave for his first adventure as a player. Although he still had no clue why players called themselves that.
His objective now was naturally to go and gather experience in the lowest level Perma portals.
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