Chapter 6: Making Plans

Now that I have some concrete information I can start to make some real plans.

Mark Anderson’s End of the World to Do List:

Figure out what to tell everyone. Do I try and convince them? How do I explain my body change? Figure out how to use magic. I have these awesome “blessings of the elements” so I need to make sure not to waste them. Train my abilities and try to learn skills I feel will be necessary in the new world. Invent or discover ways to keep necessary technology operating. (Like indoor plumbing) Keep using help screen to learn as much as I can ahead of time. Knowledge is power. Find a new place to live. Much of what I want to do cannot be done in or near my rental house.

Secrecy on many things is probably a good idea. If I show off my new abilities, I will likely run into problems. Either scared people turning into mobs, witch hunts, or even government dissection. I hope that last one is an exaggeration, but I have watched a lot of movies and it never ends well for the person/being that has unique powers.

Help, the Great Game system has been modifying memories of failed beta testers correct?

“Yes.”

Is this because only users are allowed knowledge of the Great Game?

“Yes.”

Will anyone notice my body modifications?

“If noticed non-users will attribute it to a change in lifestyle or another easily explained reason.”

Alright, the first item on my checklist has been taken care of without me having to even do anything. Is there anything I am forgetting? Oh yeah, those other commands that were locked during beta testing should be available now. Let’s try them out. I go and grab the two gems I received for beating those elemental golems. First up is the ruby.

Identify:

“Ruby – Flawless – Enchantable, Value = 1,000 gold, Mana Capacity = 500”

Excellent, now the white gem,

“Diamond – Cloudy – Enchantable, Value = 250 gold, Mana Capacity = 125”

Ok it seems that the mana capacity is ½ the gold value of a gem. Wait a second, what is the currency of the Great Game?

Help, please list the common Great Game currencies and exchange rates. Examples would be appreciated.

“The currency of the Great Game is standardized as follows: 100 copper bits = 1 silver piece 100 silver pieces = 1 gold piece 1,000 gold pieces = 1 platinum piece 1,000 platinum pieces = 1 mithral coin During stage 1 and 2 local currencies can be exchanged through a user’s inventory screen after reaching level 5 with Great Game currencies. All exchanges of Great Game currency and local currency will be subjected to a 1% conversion fee. For example, 1 of your gold pieces currently would exchange for $1,728.32 in U.S. dollars.”

Wait a minute one of my gold coins? I have gold coins? INVENTORY!

0 of 240lbs used 0 copper 0 silver 200 Gold 0 Platinum 0 Mithral

240lb capacity that must be my Strength + Constitution X 10 lbs. I bet the coins were from defeating the elemental golems. It is nice to know I do not have to pick up every single coin, but I will still have to search for special drops like the pills and gems.

I do the math in my head really quick and realize that I now have over $300,000 in gold in my inventory. I really need to start figuring out a way to level myself up. Not only will it make myself and my family safer, but I can use some of my Great Game wealth after level 5 to outfit a good place to survive the transition. If I can come up with some sort of excuse to invite the family over during the change-over period I will be able to keep them safe without having to explain the unexplainable.

I continued to think of oddball things for the rest of the day and gave the poor help person/program/spirit or whatever it was a good workout. I broke up my think fests and questioning time with reading. I started to reread and skim through everything I had in the house that dealt with the LitRPG, Game Worlds, Survival, and end of the world scenarios. It was both to refresh the information in my head and also a little experiment. I will check my status in the morning to see if my idea is correct.

When I wake up the next morning I immediately called up my STATUS,

Name: Mark Anderson Titles: Survivor +1, Quadelementalist +4, Lucky One +1 Level: 3 - 60% Unspent Attribute Points: 15 Strength: 12 HP: 120 Intelligence: 20 MP: 400 Wisdom: 20 HP/Regen: 12% per 15 min. Agility: 10 MP/Regen: 20% per 15 min Constitution: 12 Luck: 20

Affinities: Earth - 100% Fire – 100%

Water – 100% Air – 100%

I was right. Studying and learning along with experimentation granted me some experience. More than I expected. I assume it will be diminishing returns as I get better in the same fields. I bet only new information and skills add to the experience bar. Probably the same way a child learns and experiences in school and has rapid growth through the first years of their life. They can continue to learn as they get older, but the new knowledge and skills take longer to master. Alright let the learning montage begin.

Hah, I wish I could just do a learning montage. That would make everything else so much easier. Instead I continue my weekend reading binge for some easy xp. I nervously wait for my daughter Nicole to get home from her trip to my parent’s house. If she does not notice the change than my plans for training can go forward.

A few hours later while I was taking a break I heard my daughter’s car pull up outside. This is the moment of truth. Play it casual Mark, don’t get nervous. I meet my daughter Nicole at the door, “Hi sweet pea! Do you notice anything different about your dad?”

“Well Dad your diet and exercise seems to be paying off, you are looking good,” replied Nicole.

The help screen was right. She rationalized away my sudden weight loss. I can work with this. “By the way kiddo how was Grandma’s house?” With that Nicole was off and running and started to give me the updates on all the family happenings. Wait a second if the Great Game system wants to stay hidden it should help me hide money transfers and life style changes. I can use this to have more time to prepare for the upcoming changes.

When Nicole got to a stopping point I tried out my new theory. “Hey Nicole my investments that I made look like they might be paying off soon. If that happens then we can build our dream house, I can stop working full time, and you my dear can attend any college you want.”

“That’s great Dad, when will you know?” Excellent, she never even questioned my fabrication about some mysterious investments.

“I will probably know sometime this summer.”

“That sounds great, don’t forget to call grandma and tell her the good news.”

“OK, sweet pea I will.”

Just like that I was able to verify that the changes to my lifestyle that I needed to make in order to prepare for the Great Game should be covered. My excuses only need to work for a little over a year anyway. Then everyone will know and experience the Great Game just like me. Hmm, if I build a big enough place I can protect others besides my family. Oh well I will firm up my plans as I go along.

The next week was filled with me wrapping up my “normal life and scheduling my new training. I resigned from my teaching job as soon as I reached level 5 and was able to transfer my gold coin funds into dollars. I set up classes in self-defense for 2 times a week and signed up for as many workshops about survival, gardening, cooking, canning, home repair, and just about anything else I could think of that might be beneficial to survival in the new world. I was hoping to learn new skills and abilities and continuing to earn some slow but safe xp to raise my level before next year’s summer solstice. My new job was learning and preparing. I felt that I could check my progress at the end of each month and compare it to the past to check how I was doing and make any changes if necessary.

The summer passed by quickly. I have been steadily progressing in skills and abilities but the most exciting thing to me is my new “spells” that I have created. Since all I had was affinities to elements and the knowledge that mana existed I decided that this was a you can develop your own spells kind of world. I studied meditation and was able to develop some “spells” that will be extremely helpful. However, the most interesting thing to me is with my 100% affinity I can manipulate any of the elements in any way I can imagine. It just takes concentration and time.

I have also finally distributed some of my earned attribute points to check on how they affected me. The results convinced me that while I primarily seem to be a mage type character, I cannot neglect my physical attributes if I want to survive. After I double check my stats and gains for this month I think I will be able to start on #6 of my to do list. Find a new place to live. STATS

Name: Mark Anderson Titles: Survivor +1, Quadelementalist +4, Lucky One +1 Level: 7 - 153% Unspent Attribute Points: 4 Strength: 15 HP: 150 Intelligence: 30 +10% MP MP: 660 Wisdom: 30 +10% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 15% per 15 min. Agility: 15 MP/Regen: 33% per 15 min Constitution: 15 Luck: 20

Affinities: Earth - 100% Fire – 100%

Water – 100% Air – 100%

Using some of my unspent attribute points has let me determine that constitution X 10 determines HP. Intelligence + Wisdom X 10 determines MP. Also you get a bonus if a stat passes 20 points.

The most interesting thing I think is still the no limit to spells. Spells are only limited by the imagination. More complex things take more mana and more time. My spells are just short cuts to a type of action I have performed over and over. It is quicker to use but not as powerful. For example, my fire bullet spell cost 4 mana and does approximately ½ my intelligence rating in damage, but I can cast the same spell, same mana cost manually for twice as much damage. However, it takes twice as long to cast. Basically it seems that spells are quick for battle where manual mana manipulation is more efficient outside of combat. I have tons of ideas for more spells but space and having to hide what I can do has limited my experiments so far. I do think that spells are all that “normal” players will get until they advance their affinities to 100% in an element.

I think that with my overall progress I am ready to implement my master plan to raise funds and build a safe place for my family and friends. With the conversion fees I have a little over $300,000 dollars from the 200 gold coins I won from completing the beta test dungeon. After questioning the help section over the summer I have found out that I can place precious metals and gems from this world into my inventory and have them converted into U.S. dollars also for a fee. The more money I have the better off my family and friends will be. I can buy supplies and set up a survival compound. Not just a compound, but an entire safe domain. I discovered the land management section of help last week.