The Store

Maria and Melinda weren’t hungry after what they witnessed, so they had no dinner and went to their bedrooms.

Mark could hear that Melinda started watching her drama show and probably would spend the entire night doing so, but he didn’t mind. Tomorrow was Sunday, so no school day yet, and she needed else to let her mind loose.

Mark was worried for Maria, who didn’t let her emotions show up in these instances. After her mother and father died, Mark had never seen her cry. She smiled, though, but even that was a bit of a rare instance.

He went to his room and got closer to its window to make sure he was close to the range to speak with Truck-kun.

[Well done. You seemed to have done great. You already have some TruckCoins to spend.]

‘What are those coins? Do they have to do with that store I asked about?' the old man asked.

[Just focus on the word STORE as you do with the STATUS.]

Mark did as Truck-kun told him, and a panel appeared.

The panel had written the word STORE at the top of it and had three buttons at the top, one next to the other, and then a list under them.

The three buttons on the tops had written on them: TRUCK UPGRADES, DRIVER UPGRADES, and MISC.

There were also three text indications at the bottom, one for his TruckCoins, one for Truck Upgrades Points, and one for Driver Upgrades Points.

He experimented on this and noticed that the list changed when he pressed one of the three buttons.  Each option on the list had a name and a price in TruckCoins, and the ones he didn’t have enough coins for had their buy button grayed out.

He also noticed that there was another button at each item to Buy using his point at the Truck Upgrade List, and some needed over one.

He went to the MISC section to see what it was about since the other two seemed clear enough about what they were about.

The list was short compared to the others, but some options there impressed Mark. He could actually use TruckCoins to get actual money or items like a sword, armor, etc. He didn’t know why he would ever need to buy a weapon like that, so he focused more on the money options.

A single TruckCoin could get him 302.52 dollars, which seemed like an odd number to Mark. However,  this meant that he could earn a little over three thousand dollars by using all 10 coins.

[I wouldn’t waste them like that if I were you. The price is still low.]

‘So the number can change? How?‘

If he could increase that number, he could increase his profits.

[Well, currently, you are the only one who has them, but they should soon become available to the public. But others can’t earn it as quickly as you did or even as much.  Also, don’t consider that the System will always give you that many or any at all. This was a rare case. As for the price change, giving it time, it should get over the current one many times. Some people will try too hard to earn it, and the more they try, the harder it would get to earn them, increasing its price. This won’t affect your chance to get  some through completing assignments, but as I said, rewarded like that  won’t be a usual thing to happen.]

Mark had heard of something similar that already existed. They were cryptocurrencies that had been used the past years, and it seemed new ones got created now and then,  but Mark never was interested in using them.

To him, it looked like a gamble to invest in one as it could increase in price and get lower from what it currently was.

He used two of the coins right away. That much money could help him for some time and cover some expenses he had left behind. However, he had 8 left and planned not to use them unless necessary.

He then went to the TRUCK UPGRADE section.

He would only spend the one point he had and no TruckCoins.  He wanted to see if there was anything to help him, making the body disappear easier so that he didn’t have to go through an investigation like that.

After almost an hour of searching, he made his choice.

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TRUCK UPGRADE UNLOCKED (FIREBALL LVL1)

Details:  You can shoot a Fireball from the front of the truck. In the first impact, the Fireball would explode, turning into ashes anything organic within 1* meter(s) from the center of the explosion.

Uses:1/week*

*numbers can increase by leveling the upgrade

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He then opened his Status.

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MARK HENDERSON

HP:7/7

Level: 1

Assignments Completed: 1

System Type: Truck-kun

UPGRADES

Truck: FIREBALL (LVL 1)

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He noticed they added the upgrade to the list and that his HP was full once more, but it had changed its max value. He also noticed the addition of the number of  System Assignments he completed, which wasn’t there last time.

‘Do I need to level up to increase my HP?‘ the old man asked Truck-kun.

[That is the easiest way. Also, you won’t lose any since you completed an assignment until we receive a new one.]

Mark wondered what would happen now that he had no System Assignment, but it was good to know that he wasn’t in danger.

‘How do I level up then? And what about the level of the upgrade?‘

[You need to complete more assignments. To earn a level, you need to complete as many assignments as your next level. So if you complete the next one, you will get to level 2, and to get to level 3, you need to complete three more, meaning reaching five in total. Keep in mind that some assignments may count as less than one, and some as over one, but we shouldn’t get any for some time. As for leveling your upgrade, you need to just use them efficiently.]

Mark understood the concept and wondered how much his HP would increase after levelling up. He also wanted to try the Fireball upgrade, but not necessarily to someone, just to see how it looked.

[You better save it. We should get a nice reward if we use it on an assignment.]

‘How long do I have until we receive the next assignment?’

[No idea. It could be hours, could be days. Less than a week, at least. Uncertain why the delay, other than people being lazy.]

‘Who are these people you are talking about? ‘

Mark had noticed Truck-ken speaking about others, but he never thought to ask about them until now.

[You will learn in time. If you are lucky, that is.]

Once more, Truck-kun avoided answering his questions, but Mark didn’t mind.

He needed some rest, so he went to his bed to do so.

Today was a big day, but more would follow like that.