NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 22
Chapter 22
Jake drove around the post-apocalyptic city in his vehicle, occasionally pulling up near various buildings to search for useful items. During his exploration, he stumbled upon a police station at one point. He went inside, expecting to find a new weapon or at least some ammo in there. However, to his surprise, he encountered something unexpected—what looked like an ATM machine was positioned just inside the entrance. It appeared brand-new, catching his attention, but before walking up to it, he glanced around to make sure there were no enemies nearby.
To his surprise, upon closer inspection, Jake discovered that it was no ATM at all but rather some sort of vending machine, and it was fully operational. Intrigued by this unexpected find, he casually slung the shotgun over his shoulder and reached out to touch the screen, scrolling through the list of items for sale with curiosity. The vending machine offered a wide array of items, including various types of ammunition, canned food, water bottles in different sizes, healing autoinjectors, clothing, backpacks, sleeping bags, tents, web gear, holsters, tactical belts, and more. Despite the plethora of useful items available for purchase, Jake noticed that everything was incredibly expensive. He was taken aback by the high prices, noting that even the most basic item, such as a pistol magazine, cost a whopping thousand credits. For a moment, he contemplated whether or not to make a purchase. However, his attention was soon drawn to something intriguing at the very bottom of the list.
LEVEL 2 PDA UPGRADE. COST: 10,000 CREDITS
LEVEL 3 PDA UPGRADE. COST: 25,000 CREDITS
His PDA’s level was 1. Yesterday, Jake had completed a mission, earning ten thousand credits, so he now had just enough funds to upgrade his PDA to Level 2. He couldn’t help but notice that the upgrade to Level 3 cost even more money. It appeared the cost of every subsequent upgrade rose exponentially.
The vending machine had only two upgrades. Where could he get more? Maybe some other vending machines sold them? He was sure there was more than one vending machine in the city—he just hadn’t found others yet. Or maybe Level 4+ upgrades would appear for sale later on? Jake figured he would find out at a later time. For now, he could afford only one upgrade anyway.
He tapped on the screen, and a piece of additional info popped up.
NAME: LEVEL 2 PDA UPGRADE.
DESCRIPTION: THIS UPGRADE UNLOCKS NEW FEATURES FOR YOUR PDA SUCH AS HEALTH SCREEN, WORLD MAP, AND THE ABILITY TO SCAN LEVEL 11-20 MAGICAL ANOMALIES.
COST: 10,000 CREDITS
YOU HAVE ENOUGH CREDITS TO PURCHASE THIS ITEM. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BUY IT: YES / NO
Jake tapped the Yes button. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PURCHASE! His PDA emitted a beeping sound, and he took out the device. He looked at the screen and read the notification he’d just received. LEVEL 2 SOFTWARE UPGRADE HAS JUST BEEN DOWNLOADED. DO YOU WANT TO INSTALL IT: YES / NO. Jake selected Yes, and for the next several seconds, his device was installing the software upgrade. Then a new message appeared on the screen. LEVEL 2 UPGRADE HAS JUST BEEN INSTALLED. THREE NEW FEATURES HAVE BEEN UNLOCKED: HEALTH SCREEN, WORLD MAP, AND THE ABILITY TO SCAN LEVEL 11-20 MAGICAL ANOMALIES.
Jake acknowledged the information with a tap and looked at the interface of his device. Sure enough, there was a new tab along the bottom of the screen now. It was called Health, and when he tapped on it, an outline of a human body appeared on the screen. Next to each part of the body was a numerical value. Jake realized the Health screen allowed him to check the status of his injuries and overall health. This screen provided a detailed overview of the condition of each part of his body, highlighting any injuries or ailments he might have sustained.
The Health screen definitely was very useful, and Jake decided to take a moment to study it more carefully. As he already noticed, in the middle of the screen was displayed an outline of a human body. Next to each part of the body—head, torso, arms, and legs—there was a percentage value indicating the health status of that specific body part. The percentage reflected the level of damage or injury sustained in that area.
His legs were at 100%, but his torso and arms were in somewhat less than perfect condition. When he tapped on them, a list of injuries appeared—a few bruises and scratches on his arms and torso that he had sustained yesterday while battling a massive mutant known as a shambler and some other ex-humans during his mission. The screen also displayed some treatment options. It indicated that his current injuries—the old scratches and bruises—would completely heal in just a few days. The Health screen could also show any status effects affecting him, such as radiation poisoning, bleeding, risk of infection, and other temporary debuffs. Currently, he had no negative effects impacting him.
Overall, the Health screen proved to be an incredibly valuable feature. Jake returned to the main screen. Finding no new tabs available, he carefully placed the device back into his jacket pocket. He glanced at the screen of the vending machine one more time. There was another upgrade available for sale, but he didn’t have any more money. He made a mental note to return to the vending machine to purchase the Level 3 PDA Upgrade once he accumulated twenty-five thousand credits.
He then exited the building and returned to his pickup truck. He swung the driver’s door open and slid behind the steering wheel, pondering his next move. Perhaps he should head back to the building where he had spotted a magical anomaly earlier? With his PDA now upgraded to Level 2, Jake anticipated that he could gather useful information by scanning the magical anomaly again. Jake retrieved his PDA and accessed the map, but he couldn’t recall the location of the building with the magical anomaly. Having visited lots of high-rises in the past couple of hours, Jake studied the map intently, wracking his brain to remember which of the buildings held the anomaly, but he simply couldn’t remember.
Then he noticed something. There were three buttons at the bottom of the Map screen—LOCAL, GLOBAL, and WORLD MAP. The Global option was currently active, showing the map of the city. The Local one activated when he was inside a building. Realizing the World Map feature had become available with his PDA’s recent software upgrade to Level 2, he pressed the button, causing the World Map to fill the screen.
Jake immediately saw that the map displayed on his PDA was not the Earth he knew. Enlarged at least tenfold, the world on the screen appeared vastly different and almost unrecognizable. He studied the map for a few minutes. He spotted what appeared to be the North American region. He also spotted what looked like Australia. However, he couldn’t identify New Zealand on the map. Jake thought he could make out the general shape of Africa on the map, but it appeared to be merged with a much larger alien continent, altering its familiar outline.
Displayed above the unfamiliar continents was the word GAMEVERSE, indicating that Earth was now part of a much larger gaming universe, having integrated with these massive continents, seamlessly blending in and becoming a part of a much larger and interconnected world.
A green dot marked Jake’s position in the center of what was once the North American continent on the map. Trying to zoom in on his location with two fingers, he found that the feature was not available. Jake hoped that the zooming feature would become accessible when he upgraded his PDA to a higher level.
The radio in his dashboard suddenly came to life.
“Brave survivors are needed,” Jake heard a voice coming from the radio. “A gathering of ex-human mutants was spotted in a high-rise building. They are suspected to have been replicating there for a while now. Action needed to be taken to put an end to it.”
After the voice finished speaking, Jake’s PDA, which he still held in his hands, emitted a notification sound. Glancing at the screen, he saw a piece of text hovering in the middle of the display.
New mission.
Objective: Destroy 5 replication pods within a particular high-rise building.
Additional objective 1: Kill all the ex-human mutants on each floor of the high-rise building.
Additional objective 2: Kill the elite ex-human mutant on the roof of the high-rise building.
Reward: 2,500 XP, 20,000 credits
Extra reward 1: 30,000 credits
Extra reward 2: A rare weapon of your choice.
Recommended Survivor Level: 5-10
Difficulty: Medium
Accept mission: Y/N
Jake tapped “Yes,” and the text disappeared. He located the marker indicating the mission’s location on the map and stowed away the PDA. Starting up the engine, he set off down the road.