[ Chapter V (5): "THE USE OF INVENTORIES, PLANT SEEDLINGS & WATERING CANS" ]
There's this famous game he knew off, actually, even before he transmigrated and was chosen by the System he was a fan of this game. He played it for hours on end, but due to a bug relating to his phone, he ultimately decided to uninstall it.
The game? It was simply called as Plants Vs. Zombies. The original was great, but he loved the sequel to it more so; except for the part there is no Zombie Aquarium mode, that part was a scam.
[ "Alright, let's go!" ] At the moment Arthur, the usually stoic Arthur could be seen grinning dumbly at himself, as he looks at the small seeds in his hands; a knowing smile present to him, as he bought this things from the System Shop
In a hefty price actually, about 2/4ths of what he earned from the Campaign. But in reading extensively about this description, and knowing what it could do. It would then fix two of his problems; the boredom of his Players and the 0 passive income of his.
Hopefully so. As he then disappears the 100 piece of seeds from the Plants Vs. Zombies— from what he found out those 100 or-so seeds have the chance to either be born as a Sunflower, Peashooter, or as a Wallnut.
Thinking that it doesn't seem to be a problem, he places 10 pieces for himself, and 90 for his Players to share. Each one of them having about 6 seeds, which could either sprout as like he said before, as a lovely sungiving flower, a pea shooting plant, or just a stoic devilish smiling nut.
He opened his once empty Inventory, now having something inside; seeing the picture of the seeds he instantly became happy. Swearing to himself to build a proper housing, and environment for this lovely expensive plant babies laterso.
[ PLANT SEEDLING LVL. 1 (10) ]
But before that he needs to buy about the proper equipments to do so. First he needs vase filled with soil, then a Watering Can filled to the brim with water...
Thankfully those things could easily be bought through the System Shop with him having pinned those options a couple of resets, so that they wouldn't disappear after the Shop Refresh once every 3 days, or sometimes without notice.
So-so is the quirk of the Shop System, a weird thing actually. So without hesitation he bought 16 Watering Cans; which appeared in front of him. Small and bronze in color, as it is merely a Lvl. 1.
Costing Arthur about 25 Credits for each small Watering Cans that looks miniature in it's sizes. But not to worry, it can be upgraded if the requirements is just right, and if Arthur uses his Credits to do so. In total that'll be 400 Credits out of his wallet.
Expensive sum, but worth it in his eyes, as he then sents all of those recently purchased Watering Cans into his Player's Inventories, keeping one for himself.
The cans then disappear in front of him, overtaken by blue light as they appeared as pictures in the Inventories of his Players; also his, with him seeing the said picture first-hand right besides his seeds in the Inventory floating in front.
Next, he would need to buy soil and pot for this seeds to be placed in. And also to be the body of the seeds when growing up, like clothes for humans. Sadly, after waiting for the System Refresh, he wasn't able to find the latter; the pot, but he does have the soil. And that would be in the form of editing the surroundings, the ability of his as a Developer is coding the surroundings.
Turning imagination into reality. He made For Honor real through this, he made the Lobby and what little structure through this, and also what limited capabilities of the Players. And thought this can he give life to sentient Plants...
Aren't plants sentient in the first place? The ordinary ones, the ones not created by Crazy Dave... Still, uhhh- more sentient Plants then. But nonetheless, he pulled up his programing capabilities and prepared himself to edit the Lobby...
The Lobby which seems to be in a panic, as he watches Barry Allen and the other Players he somewhat knows, somewhat has an idea of... Run around like headless chickens in seeing their Inventories; [ "..." ]
[ "I- this is kinda fun." ]
...
[ PLAYER NO. 13 CHARACTER BEING CREATED, PLEASE WAIT ]
[ "Finally!" ] Ned Flanders, a highschool kid, actually being the youngest out of the 15 Players could be seen impatiently-patiently waiting for the Game to create his body.
Especially because the 12 hour gaming limit has finally lifted off-of his Character, meaning, he could go back to Paradise and socialize with his... Apparently internet friends in some ways, but face-to-face.
To talk about his day in school, to listen to their stories, or play games with them. And so he waited for his character's body to materialized; a 1-to-1 replica to his body, with it being shorter than average.
He is after all a student, not an adult yet, a highschool kid. The youthful appearance of his compared to the other Players being the proof of that, as he finally gets the ability to move around.
[ CHARACTER CREATION COMPLETE, PLEASE ENJOY ]
[ "Hey guys, guess wha- huh?" ] Running out the unblinding but somewhat dizzying pillar of light. Ned, also known as Mr. Flanders or just as Kid by others, could be seen looking around in confusion to his friends.
At his friends that is seemingly staring up at a giant pile of dirt... Dirt that he doesn't remember being there when he was kicked out of Paradise; did they create this?
Approaching the closest individual, Mr. Allen, the one he is closest to. He then tapped the man's shoulder, before then asking. [ "Bro, what's this...?" ] The seemingly dazed man staring at a hologram in front, so does the others.
[ "A-ah!" ] Mr. Allen startled looked behind him, and quickly noticed the confused expression of Ned that has just recently logged in. One that seemingly doesn't know a thing about the chaos that started minutes back. [ "O-oh, Kid, it's just you." ]
[ "Yeah... It's me... What's going on?" ] Ned stared pass Mr. Allen, and to the pile of dirt, then to the bronze Watering Cans, then at the seeds that his fellow Players are holding. Seemingly in the dark on something entertaining.
[ "Yeah Kid, uhh, check your Inventory." ] Ned furrowed his brows in hearing that, he is after all the first one to suggest testing out game terms; one included the Inventory famously placed in MMORPG games he usually plays. And he knows that this Inventory of theirs is empty.
But he glanced at the hologram in front of Ned and the other Players, quickly finding out that, unlike before, it seemingly has some images in it, and aren't empty as before. So curious, he did the same by shouting the word, [ "Inventory." ]
It's either that or by pulling the air down. But he much more prefers saying the word than doing the action, as instantly as he said it, a square hologram the same size as the other Players appeared in front of him.
Floating, having 50 boxes, 10 each for each row. In total having about 5 rows. All Players seemingly having that feature embedded whenever they play, whenever they are inside Paradise or UTOPIA.
That feature, he actually tested it in real-life... Unsurprising it doesn't work. So trying to forget that memory, he stares at What's in front of him; quickly catching the picture of seeds and a bronze Watering Can that he kept seeing. [ "What's this?" ]
Not caring about the Watering Can, especially because his family owns a gold one. He then was quickly attracted to the seeds, a novel experience he hadn't seen before; he clicked it, then so the description of it appeared in front of his eyes. [ "Oh, that's cool." ]
[ PLANT SEEDLING LVL. 1 (6) ]
[ DESCRIPTION: A SEEDLING, ONCE TAKEN CARE OF PROPERLY BY THE PLAYER; BY GIVING IT PROPER SUNLIGHT, SOIL, AND WATER CAN IT SPROUT TO EITHER BE A SUNFLOWER, PEASHOOTER, OR A WALLNUT ]
Curious, this is the first time he has seen the usefulness of the System. Though he doesn't know where this came from— plausibly from the Creator of this place; the one he and his fellow Players are theorizing as. But at the moment doesn't know of.
Not wasting any time at all, he grabbed at the picture, his hands going pass the picture before then feeling something beyond. He glanced behind the Inventory and could see that his hand disappeared.
Pulling the said something that he felt, he then noticed small fistful of seeds identical to one another. About 6 if the Game isn't lying to him. [ "Damn." ]
[ PLANT SEEDLING LVL. 1 (6) ]
Curious by this, he then showed it to the nearby Player, to Mr. Allen which has his hand under his chin and is busy reading the description for the bronze Watering Can.
[ "Hey, bro. Look!" ] He showed his fistful of seeds, the name tag of it floating in front of his eyes. Wanting to know if others could see this, he showed it to them. [ "Can you see it?" ]
[ "Yeah, I could see it. Look." ] Mr. Allen curious by the seeds pointed behind him, at the other Players including Mrs. Quezon which is holding her Watering Can— as they take a part of the the mountain, moving it somewhere else to test their theories.
[ "Quick, plant the seed." ] She commanded the player nearby, Ms. Pines, a shy girl; office worker, introvert of the bunch, to plant her seed deep inside the soil. So did she, as what was ordered. [ "D-done." ]
She shyly looked back, her bangs covering most part of her vision, but enough for her to notice where she's going, or what she is doing. [ "Very great dear, please move." ]
She stepped back, doing what she was told, as the mother of the group then water the soil where the seed is planted. A meter or some sorts appearing above the soil where she planted her seeds. [ "That's awesome!" ]
The other Players noticing this scenery stopped what they we're doing, and instead focused on what Mrs. Quezon and Ms. Pines is doing... Then at the meter, a percentage or some sorts that is 1/4th on the way to completion. [ "Wow..." ]
[ PLANT SEEDLING LVL. 1 (26%) ]
Ned knelt in front of the holographic bar that appeared, she then turned at Mrs. Quezon which is seemingly curious about her Watering Can. [ "Ma, is it empty?" ] He isn't related to her, but every Player has a nickname, or call card on his book.
To him she is Ma, others are Bro, or Sis. Nonetheless he became curious, because apparently another bar appeared on top of her Watering Can. Unlike the bar, this one seems to be a timer counting down from 60 seconds— at the moment being 54.
[ "There's a timer...?" ] That's the only assumption that he could make at the moment, as he them pulls out his own Watering Can from his Inventory. Feeling the lightness of it, as he then looks inside through the nose of the thing— not seeing any water in there. [ "Can I drink this...?" ]
[ "Kid, what are y-you doing?" ] Hearing the other Players voice, he ignored them, as his curiosity outweighs their concerns. He loves them, but he is curious about the possibility of drinking water.
Water in this world, using this body which is just a replica of his original one. As he then tilted the can to water his open mouth... [ COUGH ] Quickly gagging in feeling water stuck to his throat, some landing on the ground below.
He didn't seem to care about that fact at all, as even though he felt choked slightly, he could still safely say that he tasted water through those cans. The unbelievable fact is that, this is replica to the real-world water, even though this isn't reality-reality.
Smiling to himself, he then turns around to the bewildered, curious, and worried gaze of the other Players, as he then shares to them all the good news. [ "It's drinkable guys! We can drink water!" ]
Before then drinking more from the can, then getting gagged. Then doing it again... The nova riché kid who never particularly liked water, now seems to like water as he drinks from the bronze can— under the bewildered gaze of people older than him.
[ ——— ] [ ——— ] [ ——— ] [ ——— ]
[ 05/24/2025 ]
[ 05/25/2025 ]