ALL NOVEL {C15}: Crystals
As they made their way out, Alice naturally wanted to know where they were going. Although she had previously planned to go to a nearby survivor base, She was now technically Max's employee, so to speak. Which meant it was up to him to pick where they were going.
"So, Where are we going, Max?"
Max, who was simply making his way in a straight direction, responded.
"That's a good question. I needed to hunt some more of those green things, so I assumed it didn't really matter. But it makes sense to have a destination in mind, Especially since you can't teleport in and out of this world."
Food and safety were never true problems for Max, and although food was no longer a problem for Alice either, safety definitely was. Yet before Alice could comment, Max suddenly interjected.
"Oh, I almost forgot. I should really get some contraception. I did release quite a bit inside of you, and the stuff is best taken within 12 hours of injection."
To which Alice could only curse within her mind. She had indeed forgotten it as well and was happy that Max didn't. She felt like he would've most definitely knocked her up yesterday, At least if no action would be taken against it, that is.
"If you wait for a while, we shouldn't be too far from a city, and although those places definitely aren't the safest, they definitely are safer than the open. Besides that, I can just bunker down somewhere with cover and wait for your return."
Alice wanted to come with him but didn't know whether such a thing was even possible. Besides that, She felt like it wasn't her place to ask. He had saved her life, Fed her, and was now keeping her company, and company that you could trust was rare in this place. So, instead of asking if she could come with him, she suggested that action instead.
Max briefly thought about taking her with him but decided against it; as selfish as it might be, he simply needed her in this world in order to survive. Besides that, What if she did something crazy in his world and got arrested, or if the authorities tried checking her for papers she didn't have? He didn't want to lose her, and he couldn't bring her into a world like that and then demand her to come back. It would be like inviting someone into heaven and then forcing them back into hell. He just didn't want to do that to her, Not yet, at least.
He also only had one marking slot for now, and he didn't know whether or not it had any side effects or what would happen in general, so he simply didn't want to do this with her. He would find someone else, Test out how everything worked, and only when he knew it was safe and doable would he go through it with her. After he has figured most of his problems out and is ready to leave this world behind, then he could take her.
So he simply responded.
"That sounds good to me; lead the way."
On their way there, Alice assisted him in killing a few zombies; he noticed that although he didn't get anything if she killed them, he did get points if they did it together. If he was involved directly, either by tripping the creature or vice versa, he still got the kill, Even if she finished it off. She also showed him that those walkers had a crystal under the back of their skulls; she explained that these were small ones. It was the currency of the wasteland since it was used as a power source. It was superior to fuel generators and simply was always in high demand because they were needed for the more high-tech-related items.
They were used for charging batteries of energy weapons, for example, Which greatly surprised Max. Based on Alice's equipment, he figured that the tech between the worlds wouldn't be that far apart, but he was sorely mistaken. This world had laser weapons and other such high-tech stuff; there were even combat droids. The reason Alice didn't have anything of that caliber was because it was expensive, and as far as droids went, they pretty much ate away at crystals unless you had a fusion generator to charge them with, Which Also required crystals but to a lesser degree than when you fed the bots directly.
The small crystals they gathered from those zombies were generally worth around ten units. Medium crystals were around 100, and big crystals were a thousand units. Then again, It was all only an estimate of the energy inside each of these crystals varied. The rule of thumb usually was the stronger the creature, the more energy it had in its crystal. She said she had an empty energy battery she could fill with the crystals. Based on the explanation she gave, he compared it to a bank card or a hard drive that could store something.
The value of the crystals is dependent on their energy levels, which you could apparently measure with certain tech. She, for example, had a watch that could scan and display the energy value of these crystals. Warn her when she got in high radiation zones and inject some type of anti-radiation fluid if need be. They had a plug that allowed them to connect to some items, the slave collar being the most used example.
Although the city wasn't that far away, getting there took a while since Alice was always careful when traveling due to the bigger mutants that moved around in the open areas. It was rather crazy; He had seen a scorpion the size of a truck as well as a giant cockroach. It was pretty disgusting. When Max finally arrived at the city, he saw that it only looked slightly better than the house they were in previously. Most of the concrete buildings still stood and lasted the test of time, while most wooden ones had visible rot in them. They entered a two-story shop, One where the bottom was the shop and the top floor was a living area. He helped Alice find a decent spot to hunker down and then initiated his ability.
[Iniate world travel]
A second later, he was back in the forest; he made his way towards his car and was quick to jump in. Once inside, he opened the navigation app on his phone, looked for the nearest pharmacy, and drove towards it. He went inside and patiently waited in line; while doing so, he grabbed his phone and messaged his sister.
{Things are moving slowly here; I will probably be gone a while longer. How's mom doing?}
While waiting, he decided to check his quest process.
[Kill quest - Kill 100 walkers: 23/100]
Max killed one walker before he met Alice, which meant that he took out 22 with Alice on their way. Her efficiency and cool-headedness when killing those beings surprised him a little; she didn't even flinch, nor did her breathing pattern change. For her, it was perfectly normal, Which looked very unlike the girl he had on all fours last night, The one that was a big moaning mess.
'Guess she's the living example of keeping business and pleasure separated.'
He couldn't help but chuckle at his own stupid joke. His attention, however, was soon caught by the vibration of his phone. He checked it, and, just like he guessed, it was his little sis.
{She's doing alright for now, although she's burying herself in a lot of work, which I think isn't healthy. She's trying to cough up your part of the income.}
Max couldn't help but curse upon reading this.
' I've been too careless. '
He, indeed, hasn't been focussed enough on their financial problem. He had been exploring that world, His quests, and system, as well as Alice's body, when he should've been worrying about how exactly he was gonna generate an income through that world. Was he gonna hire people to do labor there and sell the goods in his own world and find highly valuable items or what? He honestly wasn't sure yet.
His thoughts were interrupted by the lady behind the counter.
" Mister... "
Max snapped out of his previous thoughts and was quick to respond.
"Yes?"
The lady looked at him as if he was stupid and clarified.
"It's your turn."
Which should've been obvious; Max gave an awkward chuckle before speaking.
"Can I get a package of the morning-after pills and a month's worth of birth control?"
The blonde lady grabbed some items and handed over one package as well as a few strips. Upon inspecting the package of morning-after pills, he only noticed two and couldn't help but comment.
"There are only two inside?"
The girl gave him a flabbergasted look before stating.
"These are meant for accidents or to use after unplanned sex..."
They were pretty much for people who had a broken condom or a similar accident. Either that or after someone who wasn't on birth control due to the fact they weren't planning on having sex had sex unexpectedly. Upon hearing the explanation, Max couldn't help but blush while asking.
"Can I get two extra packages?"
The girl was flabbergasted once again but did as the customer asked and got him what he wanted. Although it might've been overkill, people generally weren't on contraception in the wasteland, and Max didn't know what would happen. He'd rather be safe than sorry if he got into any...... unforeseen situations.
The girl charged him $50, after which he went on his way, and while he left, he could feel the curious stare of the girl on his back.
1Heya lovelies, I'm here with a footnote (I have no idea what this is but wanted to test the feature). Anyway, I wanted to once again express my graditute to you guys/girls/others for upvoting the novel so much. I have received some downvoting's on royal road which is really demotivating and I'm super glad to see some positivity on scribble hub, Love you guys <3 . PS, If anyone knows what this footnote feature does please let me know <3.