It had been a long day at work and he was beat. He just wanted to flop onto the couch with a beer and veg for a while, but he first dragged his ass through a shower that somewhat revived him and made him feel clean after a day of work sweating his ass off in the sun.
He eventually made it to the couch and turned on the TV to have a show playing in the background while surfing the internet on his laptop. Instead of cooking he was having a pizza delivered, which should be arriving soon.
Hours later Carl finally pushed his laptop away and stared at the empty pizza box and a few beer bottles on the table while wondering how he could have wasted so much valuable sleep time on cat videos. He knew he was going to be tired tomorrow at work, but what could he do?
He brushed his teeth before settling himself in bed, eager to get some rest. The fluffy pillow and his blanket at the perfect temperature made him quite comfortable, but he knew it would be a pain to drag himself out of bed in the morning.
Just as he was about to fall over the edge into sleep, the bed disappeared from below him and the terrifying sensation of free fall jerked him away. A not-manly shriek burst out of his mouth as he tumbled through darkness.
He didn't fall for long before splashing into a pool of sticky hot liquid. He hadn't seen or expected the impact, so he was not at all prepared to be submerged without holding his breath. He desperately struggled to the surface and took a deep breath once his head burst out of the sticky, stinky liquid.
A great cacophony of noise assaulted his senses and he couldn't see due to the liquid in his eyes. He frantically paddled to keep his head clear of the fluid he was floating in while trying to clear his eyes so he could see what was going on and what the noise was.
When he could finally see, he wasn't sure if he could believe his eyes. He was floating in one of those swimming pools on top of a building, but the pool was thick red with blood. There were several dead human bodies floating face down in the bloody water next to him. Outside the pool, sprawled across the deck, there were even more bodies lying all over the place.
All the bodies Carl could see appeared to have been torn apart by some large animals. Blood was flowing everywhere. Bones stuck out from torn limbs, organs were ripped out and spread across the pool deck, and brains were liberally smashed among the pools of blood.
Carl fought against the nausea rising up in his stomach and swam to the side of the pool. As soon as he was out of the bloody pool, he couldn't stop his stomach from rebelling and emptied his stomach amidst the bloody carnage.
Even after his stomach was empty, Carl continued to dry heave for a while before he finally got his body under control and suppressed his nausea. Only then did he notice that it wasn't the bloody water in his eyes that was causing everything to be tinted red, it was the light itself.
Looking up in the sky, Carl spotted the full moon very clearly visible in the sky, larger than it should be, and glowing an angry blood red. It illuminated everything around him in a surreal clarity that made it impossible for him to deny what he was seeing.
At that point, Carl finally had context to understand the overwhelming noise that had been assaulting his ears. It was a combination of the roars and squeals of some kind of giant beasts and the sounds of many thousands of human voices crying out in a myriad of emotions. The human voices ran the gamut from fearful and panicked to rage filled and looking for something to destroy.
Carl stepped to the edge of the building that was about six stories tall and gaped at the horrifying hell-like scene around him. He was in some city that was filled with enormous crowds of people. Hordes of demons and monstrous creatures were attacking everywhere.
In many places the humans were cowering or running away from the attacking mobs, which allowed the demons and creatures to freely kill, slaughtering enormous numbers of people.
It took Carl several moments to realize see the pockets of humans fighting back, and when he did he was confused. It appeared that each pocket of resistance was an army from some period of time in human history.
In one direction was a unit of soldiers that looked straight out of World War I fighting the demons and creatures with bayonets attached to their rifles. The bullets they shot didn't seem to do much to the larger creatures, but they worked well enough on the human sized demons.
In another direction Carl spotted an army of samurai fighting off the demons and creatures while bowmen fired over their heads at the enemies.
In another area there was a small group equipped with power armor that was tearing through the demons and creatures, but they were few in number and seemed to be running out of ammo.
The numbers of demons and creatures seemed endless. More were continually pouring in from further away.
A chorus of loud screeching caught Carl's attention. In the sky there were bony bat-like demon creatures swooping in on the frightened humans, snatching them up from the ground and tearing them apart.
With his attention in the sky, Carl saw fat floating blobs of creatures among the tall buildings of the city. They had tentacles reaching downward, like a jellyfish, that snatched up humans, and even demons, from below.
A great crashing sound caught his attention in one direction and he looked over to see tentacles as big around as a car bursting up out of the ground or tearing through the high rise buildings.
Carl found that he was frozen in place and couldn't seem to tear himself away from the building to find shelter. He didn't know what to do; there wasn't safety anywhere he looked.
A body landed almost on top of him, splashing his face with blood and viscera, and he stared up in shock, seeing the demonic creature fly away with a gleeful shriek that sent shivers down his spine and tremors through his mind, making him struggle not to panic.
Amidst the chaos there was a ubiquitous sound. He didn't notice it at first, the sound was so…underneath everything. But it was growing louder and louder and he finally became aware of it.
At first it sounded like a long, constantly held note. Or a chorus? The longer he listened to the sound, the more complex and chaotic it was, while simultaneously sounding simple. He couldn't really explain it, but it was impossible not to hear that sound once he became aware of it.
Something made him turn in place and stare in one particular direction. All the demons, creatures, and humans below stopped fighting to look in the same direction.
The sky seemed to shatter and the source of the sound peered into the world.
Carl couldn't describe what he saw beyond the shattered pieces of sky, but like a rabbit scared by a predator he couldn't move as he felt the gaze brush across him. He knew if he did something that caused the gaze to focus on him, something bad would happen to him.
At the moment that terrifying gaze was looking at everything in their world as if it was a hive of ants scurrying among the grass.
Carl found it hard to force himself to breathe. His vision was darkening at the edges and he felt his mind fraying from the heavy weight of that gaze. Blood seeped out of his eyes, nose, and ears.
Just as it felt like Carl could endure no more, blessed darkness took him as he lost consciousness.
A strange laugh pierced through is unconsciousness and woke Carl up.
He panicked for a moment, but a second later felt like calm covered him like a blanket. He was surprised to be alive.
A moment later he tilted his head and wondered why he was so surprised to be alive. Why had he freaked out so much upon waking up?
The last few memories he had were…vague. He wasn't even sure what it was that had him so on edge. He had only had a dream that he was falling. Had there been other things in the dream of him falling? He couldn't remember.
Carl looked around and realized he was floating in a black void, not his bedroom. That wasn't right? Why wasn't he waking up in bed? Why did his memories feel fuzzy?
'How did I get here?' Carl thought as he looked around and saw nothing in the black void.
A glint of something appeared, catching Carl's attention. He stared in shock as glowing red eyes blinked open in front of him. The eyes loomed above him and Carl could only stare in shock as they focused down on him.
A moment later a series of glowing ivory teeth opened up into a toothy smile below the eyes, reminding Carl of the Cheshire cat, except more bloodthirsty and less playful.
"Wake up to your new reality."A voice that felt like scratching on the chalkboard whispered to Carl; a shiver ran down his back. "For the sake of safeguarding your feeble mind, address me as 'Purveyor'. Welcome to my dimension, where we shall play a game. Should you lose the game, your…lacking life will be lost.
"The squirming of worms is always entertaining, so I'll send you to several locations to dance for my entertainment. The thing to remember is that you need to survive and evolve, or you will be culled."
Carl blinked and he was suddenly blinded by light. He clapped his hands over his eyes until his vision adjusted. When he could see clearly again he found himself lying on a large, flat, grassland. Getting to his feet, he could see a white sandy beach a couple hundred feet away. The calm ocean water was an attractive blue. Above him was a clear blue sky. The sound of wind rustling through the grass was comforting after…
A shiver worked its way down his back as he remembered the glowing eyes and teeth of that being in the void, the one that called itself the Purveyor.
"What did that…Purveyor mean when It said I have to dance for its entertainment?" Carl wondered as he stared around at the idyllic scene that felt like it should be a lot more comforting than it now was. He was deeply unsettled by what happened to him.
It felt like there was something in the back of his mind, blocked off from his conscious thought, that told him how very real and dangerous this strange setup was. Despite the relaxed grassy lawn and calm beach front, Carl did not feel calm.
A holographic screen popped up in his vision, interrupting Carl's worried thoughts.
Remaining time in the Intermission Zone: 59:59
The countdown timer on the top of the holographic screen continued to inexorably tick away even as Carl stared at the holographic screen full of information about this "Trial of Terror". He thought back to the words of the Purveyor, telling him that he had to evolve and survive. A sense of urgency filled him.
Whatever was happening here, whatever the "entertainment" of this Purveyor was, Carl didn't have time to waste on doubts and denials. He began reading the information with a sense of urgency.
Carl spent ten of his precious minutes reading and understanding the rules. The situation Carl found himself in wasn't that complicated from a practical point of view. It was even pretty basic, though no less dangerous for that.
This Purveyor had set up this "Trial of Terror" for his entertainment and Carl was one of the contestants in his system. Carl would be sent to various versions of "fictional worlds" to accomplish a mission within a specified time limit.
If he accomplished the mission he would be rewarded. If he failed, he would die.
Carl was given a starting budget of 3000 points and 3 C-rank rewards to buy some abilities and gear to survive his first mission, but he wasn't told what his first mission was.
"How…generous?"
Carl wasn't even sure if he was being sarcastic or not. Whatever kind of being this Purveyor was, It could have easily chucked him into the first mission world as he was without any budget, which would no doubt have made it much harder to survive.
But at the same time he was being forced to do these deadly missions without his agreement. Being forced to go on a survive or die mission without any information about the mission, and never having agreed to it, stuck in his craw and made him angry.
Carl tried to push aside those useless feelings because they weren't conducive to survival and were just distracting him from what he needed to focus on.
Aside from the points and rank rewards, he was being given this 100 acre Island he found himself on as his new base of operations. As long as he survived the missions this Island would be his property to take with him when the Purveyor released him from this Trial of Terror.
With each mission he successfully completed, Carl would earn more points and rank rewards, based on the difficulty of the missions, that he could use to upgrade himself or buy gear with.
After the first mission he would be given ten days of time to spend those rewards and get used to his new abilities or gear, but right now he only had 45 minutes left until his first mission.
Carl began scanning down the list of various things he could buy. Unfortunately Carl had no idea what the first mission was going to be before he arrived in-world, so it was hard to make a judgment call on which ability would be the most useful for the specific mission.
"Hell, I don't even know what the time limit to accomplish the mission is. One week? One year? Ten years? Gah!"
The Exchange section was where Carl could spend his points and rank rewards was separated into different sections, and each section had a very long list.
The Body section had various Whole Body Enhancements and Genetic Mutations from fictional worlds that would add to and improve his body, like the Captain America Super Soldier Serum.
The Discipline section had various skills, techniques, and empowerment methods, like The Force from Star Wars.
The Artifacts section had various notable…well, Artifacts, from all of fiction. Purchasing an Artifact also gifted whatever powers and skills were needed to use the Artifact. For example, purchasing a Wizard Wand from the Harry Potter world would give him the ability to use that magic system along with 7 years of Hogwarts training.
Even though Carl thought the wizarding magic of Harry Potter was very versatile and would be very good to get for his first mission, it needed a B-rank reward to purchase.
Even though he could exchange 1 B-rank reward (that he didn't currently have) for 3 C-rank rewards, he couldn't do the same in reverse. He could only go down the scale and exchange 1 C-rank reward for 3 D-rank rewards.
The Augment section included individual Alterations to his body like an eidetic memory, whereas the Body section had Whole Body Augments. There was also a Healing function in the Augment section because, apparently, the Purveyor who created this setup to send Carl to dangerous fictional worlds was too cheap to heal him after the Mission without him paying points for it.
The Supernatural Item section, unlike the Artifacts section, didn't give him any abilities or skills along with the purchase of an item of power, it was just the item itself.
The Mundane Items section was the cheapest section. It didn't require any rank rewards to purchase, only points. In Carl's opinion it would be of limited use in many of the fictional worlds he knew about from books, TV shows, movies, and games. Having a sniper rifle or a rocket launcher would be awesome and fun to use, but they weren't exactly useful against a ghost, and of limited use against something like a dragon. It would depend on the type of dragon, of course.
Still, the mundane items available for purchase included various mundane clothes, armor, food, and tools that he could take to the mission world that would probably make his life and the missions a little easier to accomplish. Hopefully.
The Protections section was short with only four items available, Blindspot, Invictus, Inviolable, and Singularity, but those protections were very potent. Too bad each one required 1000 points and a B-rank reward to purchase, though he could buy all four as a package deal for 2500 points and an A-rank reward, but either way those protections were out of his buying power at the moment.
After scanning through the list of things he could purchase and getting more frantic about what to buy as his countdown reached ten minutes left. But with the last section Carl suddenly felt a sense of relief.
The Intermission Zone section allowed him to add extra time on his Island before going on a mission.
Added Intermission Time (10 points for 1 Day or 1 D-rank reward for 30 days): Extra time on your Intermission Island. Instead of previous cost, may pay 20 points a day to visit Earth or a previous Mission World. 1 D-rank reward will give 20 days on Earth or a previous Mission World.
Carl paid and breathed a sigh of relief when his remaining time in the upper corner of the holographic screen went up to 24:08:42. He had slightly more than a day left, and he could always spend 10 more points to get extra buffer time to make his decisions in.
Since his island was pretty much empty, Carl decided to spend 50 more points for a home.
Discount Stocked Mansion (50 points): Cutting edge construction in a location of your choice your Island. Three stories tall with a vast basement with rooms such as a gym, dojo, firing range, etc. Includes all modern amenities, such as continual wifi, hot/cold water, electricity, A/C, TV, etc. Auto-cleaning and sorting. Comes with a stocked kitchen and rooms furnished (within reason) to your taste.
Carl hadn't looked over most of his island, but from what he could see it was the same grassland all the way around. He selected his current location for the mansion so he could have a nice view of the beach and ocean. Once he made the purchase he stared in amazement as a mansion appeared out of nothing.
"Amazing," Carl muttered in amazement. He closed the holographic screen and entered the mansion to tour the facilities. Everything he could need to live and survive on the island was there. He even found the master bedroom's closet full of clothes.
Now that he had a full day and wasn't staring at a countdown of less than one hour, Carl decided he would take a walk around his island. Not only could he verify for himself what his island looked like, but he could take the time to clear his head and consider what to spend his points on.
He changed out of the pajamas he had been wearing and put on some swimming trunks, a loose shirt, and sandals. He spent a couple hours walking the circumference of his island, alternating between the grassy field and the beach.
He stopped occasionally to go for a swim, sit for a while staring at the ocean, and occasionally read the selections from the Exchange with a calmer mind as he considered what to do with his points and C-rank rewards.
He returned to the mansion and made himself a lunch of a roast beef sandwich and chips. After filling his stomach and the calming walk, he felt better able to make the decisions on what to purchase. He had 2940 points and 3 C-rank rewards.
"Status," Carl muttered, finally using the ability that he'd read about.
VIT 100
MUS 100
ACU 100
PSY 100
"My stats are completely average," Carl noted. "That can't be natural."
He looked down at his body that was a lot thinner and average looking compared to what he was before he was abducted from his bed.
After a moment he shrugged. Everything about what was happening to him was unnatural. Supernatural or magic or Clarketech or whatever. Now that he thought about it, a little bit of body tuning was just par for the course, no biggie.
Moving on, Carl brought up the description of his Stats to read once more, to really cement it into his mind.
Cell Vitality [VIT]: Correlates with resilience, recovery, stamina, and immunization to things like disease. (Ex. virus resistance)
Muscle Density [MUS]: Correlates with strength, toughness, and endurance. (Ex. muscle size and strength, bone density)
Nerve Acuity [ACU]: Correlates with dynamic vision, reaction speed, senses, athleticism and agility. (Ex. explosiveness, fast-twitch, and coordination)
Psyche Capacity [PSY]: Correlates with memory, multitasking, processing, mental resistance, magical/psychic/spirit etc energy sensitivity/attunement. (Ex. calculative ability, relative or logical thinking)
After going over the stats Carl began considering what Body enhancement he would buy first for the stat gains he would get along with the other abilities. Even though he was really tempted to purchase the Spider Physiology, Carl chose to go with Asgardian instead.
Asgardian (1850 points, 1 D-rank, and 2 C-rank rewards)
You are an Aesir, gaining strength to easily bend steel, durability making most human weapons ineffective, and regenerative healing to comfortably live for a few millennia and recover from intense battle without scars in a single night's sleep. Your bones, tissue, and skin are denser than humans, and your stamina, speed, agility, reflexes, and coordination are beyond two times peak human. Gain an affinity for languages, melee weaponry, and magic. With about 1 year of training and combat experience, your physical prowess will grow to be comparable to Valkyrie, Heimdall, or Sif. (VIT +500, MUS +1100, ACU +250, PSY +450)
The main reason he made that decision was that Asgardian gave him an affinity with magic which he needed to be able to use a Storage Ring. Since he didn't know anything about the mission, Carl hoped that having the ability to carry along plenty of equipment and supplies in a Storage Ring would help him accomplish his mission.
Not to mention that the possibility of upgrading the Asgardian enhancement to a Royal Asgardian later on was very attractive. And just because he purchased Asgardian right now didn't mean he couldn't purchase the Spider Physiology later, the stats and abilities would stack on top of each other and might even synergistically complement each other.
In order to purchase the Asgardian Body enhancement, Carl exchanged 1 C-rank reward for 3 D-rank rewards, leaving him with 1090 points and 2 D-rank rewards.
As soon as he finalized his purchase of the Asgardian enhancement, Carl blacked out.
When Carl woke up he was a brand new man. Aesir, Asgardian, whatever.
He could tell he had changed quite a bit just looking at his muscular forearms and feeling the sense of power in his body. In a panic about how much time had passed, Carl immediately opened the holographic interface and sighed in relief that only an hour had been used to upgrade his body.
Reassured that he wasn't going to be thrown into the unknown mission for the next 20 hours, Carl made his way to the nearest bathroom to get a look at himself in the mirror.
He immediately noticed that he was taller, though he couldn't quite judge his exact height.
"I'll have to get a tape measure to check," Carl muttered in delight with his eyes wide.
He took off his clothes and inspected himself in the mirror with a grin plastered across his face. He was full of muscle with barely any fat, had a larger unit than before, was now blonde and blue eyed thanks to his Aesir genetics, and he looked ruggedly hot, if he did say so himself.
After getting dressed he headed down to the gym to test out his new strength. He worked his way up before becoming frustrated that he couldn't get a read on exactly how strong he was because the gym was set up for Humans, not Asgardians. He was able to lift 1500 lbs like it was nothing before the bar began bending in a very concerning manner, so Carl shrugged and stopped.
It had been a while since he read the comics so he couldn't remember how strong baseline Asgardians were, but he was pretty sure he should be able to lift at least 10 tons.
"I can probably upgrade the Mansion and gym with points and rank rewards, but I'm pretty sure that won't help me survive this thing so I'd rather spend those rewards on improving my powers." Carl rubbed his chin in thought as he considered how to train his Asgardian physique. "There's a Gravity Chamber like what Bulma invented in Dragonball Z that I could purchase for 400 points and 2 D-rank rewards, but…
"Right now I have less than 20 hours until my first mission, and I'll only have 10 days in between missions. That's hardly enough time to train up to Heimdall's level, though I can buy more intermission time so I can at least do some training. There's also the Training Sessions I could buy to get a start on learning to control my strength and manipulate magic."
Training Session (10 points for 1 hour): Enter a mental world where you can practice with and train the power this is chosen for while only seconds in the real world pass. Most progress made in this mental world carries over to the real world, even muscle growth.
While there you will receive tutoring by an artificial entity with extensive teaching methods for the power, rapidly building the fundamentals. The entity can be a former user of the power or an iconic/powerful character from the source Verse, personality included. For example, if you picked the Force you might be tutored by Obi Wan Kenobi while in a Jedi Temple Simulacrum.
For powers with high synergy, like additional super strength, the sessions will allow for composite training. Limited ability to replace rare/mythic/high tech knowledge, for example cultivation scriptures; unless you already have inspiration, analysis, etc. Even then it will take time for the instructor to refine your concepts.
"I think the best use of a Training Session would be to buy an hour or two and then use a day of Added Intermission Time to practice what the teacher imparts before going for another session. That way I'm not wasting the hour long Training Session practicing the basics that I can practice on my own."
Carl pondered the issue for a while. There was always the danger of him practicing something wrong when training on his own, but he felt the danger of that was lessoned now that he'd improved his Psyche Capacity to 550, 5.5 times better than an average human. Ever since he woke up with the Asgardian package his mind felt clearer and it was very easy to remember a lot of what he was reading.
With his improved mental ability, Carl figured he would find it a lot easier to learn what the teacher taught in those hour long session and he wouldn't easily forget them when practicing on his own.
"Of course, if I ever run into a troublesome issue while practicing on my own, there's nothing stopping me from starting up another Training Session to get some clarification, so long as I still have points."
Before starting up the Training Session, Carl went ahead and bought the two items he felt would help him a lot on the upcoming mission.
Storage Ring (150 points and 1 D-rank reward): A 10x10x10 meter pocket dimension space inside a ring. Requires Energy Manipulation of some kind, for example Qi, Chi, Mana, etc.
Mystic Steel Blade (200 points and 1 D-rank reward): A blade or other melee weapon that has minor supernatural properties, including the ability to affect incorporeal and magically immune foes similar to Valyrian Steel Blades from ASOIAF.
Carl debated with himself for a while about what style of weapon to choose for the Mystic Steel Blade. At the moment he was entirely untrained in melee combat with a weapon, so he could basically choose anything.
Should he go with a sword because it was traditional for? Would a different weapon be better for whatever unknown dangers he would face? Since he went with the Asgardian body, should he keep going and choose a hammer like Mjölnir or an axe like Stormbreaker? Or should he go with a spear because they were a bit longer ranged melee weapon so it would give him an advantage when fighting against a shorter melee weapon?
Even though a large fantasy sword was impossible to wield for a regular human on Earth due to its massive weight, Carl figured he could get away with it thanks to his enhanced Asgardian strength, not to mention that Valyrian Steel was much lighter than normal steel.
But his sword was going to be magically empowered, so did it matter if it was a huge hunk of metal if he could channel his magic through it to do more damage?
Ultimately Carl found himself ignorant of all the little details of these powers, items, and just how useful they would all be on a mission that he had no clue about. So he decided to go with the rule of cool and get a big badass sword.
In the end Carl chose to go with one of the styles of swords that Guts from the Berserk comic used because he liked the look. While the Dragonslayer sword was iconic, Carl preferred the look of the sword Guts used after his year away from the Band of the Hawk before the Eclipse happened.
Once he made his selections, Carl grinned at the large sword and brass colored ring that appeared in front of him. The Storage Ring resized itself to fit on Carl's left middle finger and shaped itself to be unobtrusive when he was using his hands. Thanks to his magic affinity from being an Asgardian Carl could feel the magic of the ring, but he still didn't know how to use his magic and didn't know how to access the pocket dimension space in the ring.
The Mystic Steel Sword had a blade that was 60 inches long, with the hilt, handle, and pommel adding another 20.5 inches. The blade was 5 inches wide at the hilt and 4 inches wide just before the triangular point at the end.
Overall the Valyrian Steel sword weighed about 50 pound, lighter and tougher than a sword made from regular steel. When holding the sword in one hand, Carl could feel the mass of it, but with his enormous strength it felt light as a feather.
He made his way to one of the mirrors in the gym and saw that the 80.5 inch long sword was as tall as him, which meant he was about 6 foot 8 inches tall. A pretty impressive increase on his height from his previous 5 foot 8 inches, a whole foot.
Carl still had 740 points so he bought an hour of training time for his Asgardian magic. With his life on the line, he had no patience for dealing with an overly sarcastic Loki, who was a famous character from the Marvel universe who knew Asgardian magic, so Carl chose to go with Loki's mother, Queen Frigga, who should be highly skilled as well as a lot easier to get along with.
As soon as he completed his purchase Carl found himself in a different location. He didn't even have enough time to look closer at the incredibly real replication of what Carl assumed was Asgard's palace before Queen Frigga was demanding his attention.
"You are lucky enough to have this short time being tutored in the noble art of Seiðr, so let's not waste our time, yes?" Queen Frigga briskly commanded Carl's attention and began teaching him meditation techniques and terminology he would need. She spoke quickly, conveying as much information in as short a time as she could.
If Carl hadn't been upgraded with a vastly improved mind thanks to the Psyche Capacity of his Asgardian body, he would have been lost in the first minute or two. As it was, he had to strain himself but he managed to remember everything.
Carl blinked his eyes and hour later and found himself back in the gym where he'd started the practice. With how dense the information Queen Frigga conveyed to him about how to get in touch with his magic and begin to learn to manipulate it, he felt like more than an hour had passed. He even noticed a light sheen of sweat on his forehead from the need to concentrate so hard.
He wasted no time in sitting cross legged and beginning the meditation exercises. The sooner he cemented this early foundational lesson, the quicker he could use his Storage Ring.
Being so focused on the goal, Carl found time slipped away far too quickly. He was woken from his meditation by hunger. He only then noticed he'd spent the entire afternoon and night in meditation. It was now morning and he only had 3 more hours until his first mission started so he bought another day of time with 10 points.
After making himself a large meal, Carl got back to his meditation. He was making good progress in connecting with his magic and figuring out how to control it, but it still took time to gain the necessary control to bring the magic out of his body and shape it as he needed to control even the most basic magical items.
In the end Carl ended up using two extra days to attain enough mastery over his magic to use his Storage Ring. The first thing he did was put his Mystic Steel Sword into his ring so he wouldn't have to carry it around on his person all the time.
Of course he had to play around with the storage ring when he finally figured out how to shape his magic correctly by putting various things into and pulling them out of the ring again. He was absolutely delighted at the magical nature of the item. Such things were only present in fantasy stories back on his home earth and he never thought that one day he would own and be able to use such a thing.
Next Carl bought an hour of training time with an Asgardian sword master trainer so he could learn the basic exercises he would need to familiarize himself with his new weapon.
Because he didn't specify any famous character to be his trainer, when Carl appeared in the mental realm in a sword training yard the trainer didn't seem to have any personality. He spoke robotically but efficiently while guiding Carl to learn the basic sword forms.
Once he left the mental realm Carl bought 2 more days of Added Intermission Time to practice the sword forms. He was only barely feeling like he was getting used to swinging his big sword and his time was already up.
Healing (1 to 250 points): Can cure minor scratches, bruises, critical condition, cancer, poison, radiation, even negative and cosmetic effects of old age, effectively de-aging. The more debilitating the issue and the more things are healed, the greater the price. Auto-buying will cure unconsciousness upon completion of the mission and return to the Intermission Island. Healing curses etc requires ranked rewards such as a D-rank or C-rank, depending on the severity of the magical malady.
Carl earmarked 250 points for auto-buying Healing when he returned from his mission. He was cautiously optimistic that he would be able to complete the mission but he was still worried about how damaged he would be, even with his Asgardian toughness. Having the points available for his health gave him some peace of mind.
Next Carl began purchasing mundane items that might be useful and stored them away in his storage ring.
Discount General Loadout (15 points): Equivalent gear of high grade modern military soldier equipped for 2 weeks in the field alone. Includes backpack, rations, water, flashlights, Kevlar helmet and armor, knife, assault rifle, sidearm handgun, ammo to last for multiple combats, etc.
Carl chose an M4A1 for his assault rifle and a Sig Sauer M17 for his handgun. He then bought more two more of the same amount of ammo that the Discount General Loadout gave him for each weapon, which cost him 4 points. He now had a very large pile of 5.56 and 9mm ammo in his storage ring.
3 months of Rations (30), 3 months of Water (30), First Aid Kit (3), Prescription Pills (3), Injections (3), High Grade Military Laptop (8), Many Casual Clothes (1), Field Ops Watch (1), Sleeping Bag (1), Fire Starter Kit (1), Fishing Rod (1), Shower Kit (1), Shovel (2), Wood Axe (2), Pots and Pans (1), Water Filter (1), Binoculars (1), Bump Key and Lock Pick Set (1), Gas Mask (1), Rebreather and Scuba Set (3), Multi Tool (2), Zip Ties and Handcuffs (1), Toolbox (4), Crowbar (1), Duffel Bags (1), Stationary Set (1), Chemistry set (6), Expensive Acids/Poisons (4), Torch/Candle/Lamp Set (1), Medieval Clothes (1), Generic Sci-fi civilian clothes (1), Paradise Alcohol (1), Music Albums (1), Movies (1), Battlefield Humvee (40), Fuel (10).
Carl really didn't know what would come in handy, so he bought a variety of things that he thought could be useful. Thankfully the storage ring was so very handy for storing everything and taking it with him.
Next he bought 20 more days of Added Intermission Time and interspersed four more 1 hour Training Sessions, 2 each for his magic and sword training. That left him at exactly 250 points, enough for a full auto-buying Healing for when he returned.
Carl had thought about leaving some of his points in reserve for "emergencies", but after a bit of thought decided that it was better to buy time for him to train than to leave the points unspent as psychological comfort. If that training, no matter how small, could allow him to survive, it was points well spent. It was much better than going into the unknown and dying due to a lack of skill while hoarding points that he couldn't spend while on the mission anyway.
No matter how much he dreaded the coming mission, time would always pass. He would never feel ready for this unknown mission, but he had spent all the points he could afford to on training time and he'd used that time wisely. Carl sat nervously on a chair and watched the timer count down to zero.
Carl vanished from the island without a sound.