Maids VS Apocalypse

"Couldn’t thins wait until another time?" With pursed lips, Ramsay looked at the screen of his phone. "You still have to meet with Dr. Goodman before we depart." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"I will be done soon, don’t worry."

The living room of the VIP suite became somewhat cramped with an entire computer set up on the floor. There was only one outlet so an extension cord was connected to it. RGB lights glowed through the transparent case of the central processing unit, which gave a glimpse at the many components that went into the custom build. Two screens cast their light on the youth’s face, one displaying a lines of code while the other showed what appears to be a paused game screen.

Ramsay scratched the back of his head and turned to the other weirdo in the room. Kobayashi Kanna was transfixed, her pen continuously moving on the screen of her Ipad. Every now and then she would look up and observe the maid sitting in front of her before going back to scribbling.

"Are you sure about this?" Ramsay said. "We might still be able to catch up with the last refugee caravan."

It took a few seconds for him to receive a reply. The illustrator would turn slow whenever she’s focused on her drawings.

"Hm? I already said I’m coming along, didn’t I?"

"Yeah you did..."

The plan was to send her to the Overworld while they took care of their business in Amberwood but she insisted on coming along. The thought of bringing someone who is even more frail and untrained than a civilian on what might very well turn out to be a dangerous mission didn’t sit well with the Sergeant. Unfortunately for him, he got ordered to play along with whatever the Level 5 and his friend decide.

"And done."

Before he could voice more protests, Ramsay heard the announcement followed by a slightly louder click. Swallowing his complaints, he turned to Mark and saw him clap his hands in prayer.

"Please let this code work from the first try."

Opening his eyes, he reached for the mouse and clicked on something that opened a new window. A few logos flashed by and a colorful title screen followed showing the words "Maids VS Apocalypse"

Mark grabbed a controller and began pressing a few buttons. He selected a save file and waited a couple of seconds for it to load. The game was made from a top-down perspective with a pixel art style. The colors were slightly muted which gave the scene a bit of a darker tone. The player character was simple yet communicated all the necessary information.

Mark moved the left joystick which prompted the character to walk around what appears to be an office. Once it seemed like there were no problems with the controls, he opened the Player Menu by clicking the start button then selected the shop which was at the very bottom.

Kobayashi had long since stopped scribbling and was now paying attention to the game. The Shop interface appeared. Mark went straight to the "Consumables" sections. Upon selecting it, several icons appeared, some of which were grayed out. Ignoring the different types of potions on display, he scrolled to the bottom of the list and smiled when he saw what he came for.

The last icon displayed a small bottle filled with blue liquid. Even through the simplified 16x16 sprite, anyone could tell what the item was without having to read its name. It was nothing more than a water bottle listed for the meager price of five Gold.

Pressing a few buttons, Mark purchased exactly one. He then exited the Shop and navigated to the inventory where he proceeded to select the item and use it. The inventory closed and the player character appeared again, followed by a blue text box with the words "Your thirst has been quenched " written in bold white letters.

"That’s it?" Ramsay asked.

"That’s it." Mark replied.

There was a lot more testing to be done, but the fact that the entire game didn’t glitch out was a good sign.

"So... w-what now?" The question came from Kobayashi. Her voice was barely audible in the already quiet room.

"Now I check My-"

Before he could finish the sentence, a small window popped up in front of him.

[Update Completed.

Item "Water Bottle" has been added to Shop.]

"Guess our little experiment was a success."

Mark couldn’t suppress his smile as he opened the Player Menu and entered the Shop, but soon after his smile disappeared, taking with it the celebratory air that was about to spread to the others.

"What’s wrong?"

Ignoring the Sergeant’s inquiry, Mark grimaced and continued to stare at the floating screen only he could see. After a few seconds, he held his hand out and produced a water bottle out of thin air. Its design was simple with a small sticker displaying a peculiar logo, which looked like a simplified rendering of a flower.

None of them recognized it at first, but then Kobayashi let out a quiet gasp only to look away when the others turned to her.

"Seems like a normal water bottle, but..." Ramsay failed to recognize the logo.

"That’s the D-Co logo." Mark said.

"The D-Co?" Ramsay raised an eyebrow.

"The Dahlia corporation." Mark replied. "They’re like Nestle in the game world, if Nestle handled the production and sale of most weapons we used in the Great World War."

"Why would a weapons manufacturer deal in consumable goods?"

"Because they deal in everything." Mark sighed. "The game is set in an apocalypse, remember? Laws of commerce aren’t exactly a priority when demons are invading."

Mark had planted its idea from the start and planned to use it later in the story, though he has yet to do so. He stared at the water bottle which looked no different from the ones found in the store. It was a transparent cylindrical flask containing a clear liquid. The cap sealing it was light blue and a sticker of the same color was wrapped around its center.

The sticker had the D-co logo printed on it; a simple rendition of a blue dahlia flower, something that didn’t exist in real life. Beside it was a large 1.5L, which indicated the volume of the container. On the left side was the product information which described it as purified water. On the right side was a table listing the product’s nutritional information, which made it seem like it was nothing more than distilled water.

"Well, you gonna try it or what?"

Mark turned to the Sergeant with a deadpan expression then held the bottle up to him.

"You can do us the honor."

"Like hell I’m doing that."

Mark looked around the room and watched as Kobayashi and Lara averted their eyes. Sighing in defeat, he twisted the cap and opened the bottle with ease. He stared at the opening for a second them closed his eyes and brought it to his mouth.

"Well?" Ramsay seemed a little impatient, asking right after Mark took a few gulps.

"Well, it’s water, alright." Mark gazed at the flask which was now missing some of its contents. "Tasteless and lukewarm. Should’ve added "cooled" to the description."

"Does this mean the experiment is a success?" Kobayashi asked.

"Well, there is a little problem..."

Mark brought the bottle to his mouth and drank from it until only half was left. When he stopped, he noticed that the others were still giving him the same stares as before.

"What? I’m thirsty, alright? Hungry as well." He glanced down at his stomach then looked up. "Starving, actually. How long has it been since I last ate?"

"You should’ve programmed a burrito or something." Ramsay clicked his tongue, realizing he was famished as well.

"I was trying to keep is as simple as possible." Mark sealed the bottle and placed it in front of him then folded his arms and stared at it intently.

He was already aware that some changes occur when stuff are implemented into the System, but seeing that the price of a single water bottle went from the 5G he decided on to a 40G was offputting to say the least.

Logic dictated that there must be a reason for why the System did things the way it did them. When he tried to deduce it, Mark found it surprisingly easy to do so.

Rebecca had told him that the LRGS created things by relying on Runes that drew materials from other dimensions. With that in mind, it’s not difficult to imagine that the composition of certain items would make them more expensive.

’Gold is made from MP...’

He had a vague idea of it before but he was becoming even more sure of it now. Though he didn’t know how it works, Mark was convinced that the Gold in his System wasn’t a simple currency but some form of solidified MP. MP stood for Mind Power so he didn’t understand how that works, but whatever the case, it would mean that his System had a way to store Mind Power for later use.