I was so tempted to say that she would receive my humor and the ultimate knowledge I had about what was happening.
Unfortunately, that was not going to work.
"I can provide you with… my charm and strategy?" I offered. It was not like I had anything else she would be interested in.
Vin raised her eyebrows as if she wanted to say "Really, bro?"
"I will take you to your location because you came to check on me. Sounds good?"
I blinked once… twice… thrice… and continued to blink because it's the normal thing to do. But the surprising thing was that Vin easily agreed to help me.
'Something is wrong here…'
Call it my author sense if you want but something was definitely not right with Vin. Could it be that she wanted to kill this somewhat handsome person known as me?
Ha… that was a bad MC wannabe joke. Please ignore it.
I put my hands in my pocket and felt the cold metal of the knife kept inside.
"Where do you want to go?" Vin questioned.
"Ballmart. I suggest you gather some supplies from there. You are going to need it."
"Huh?" Vin narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "How do you know that?"
"Experience. Did you forget that I used to watch a ton of anime and read novels? Enough of that." I stopped her before she could ask anything about my profession. "How are you going to take me to my location."
"Well, this was shown to me in the tutorial so I have no idea how well it would work. I will still try. Tell me where you wanna go."
"The nearest Ballmart," I replied with a straight face.
"…Ballmart?"
"…"
Shit, I forgot that was not the actual name of the store. It was an alias I used in order to avoid copyright.
"Ahem, I meant Wallmart."
"Ok…"
Vin joined her palms together and muttered something under her breath. Wind started to concentrate around her hands, concentrating around them in the form of whirlwinds.
"When I say jump, jump," Vin ordered.
To be honest, I did not have a good feeling about this…
"Jump!"
I somehow managed to jump slightly. Simultaneously, Vin pointed her right hand toward me, directing the whirlwind towards my feet.
The whirlwind attached itself to my feet, slightly lifting me off the ground. Vin did the same thing with herself. Now both of us were standing atop whirlwinds.
"Are you afraid of rollercoasters or heights?" Vin asked with a mischievous grin.
"Can't say I am a fan of them…"
"Then hold on tight."
Vin pointed her fingers in the sky's direction and all of a sudden, both of us were flying. We rose high in the air as my stomach clenched, making me feel slightly nauseous.
It was the same feeling one experienced during the take-off of an airplane.
"Look below…" A grim expression replaced the grin on Vin's face.
I mirrored her expression when I saw the condition of the neighborhood. We were high enough to see most of the destruction that was caused by the earthquakes.
Houses had been destroyed, many screams could be heard and lava had appeared on the surface in many places. Debris and rubble spread across the entire region whereas electricity leaked from wires that were cut.
This electricity would last for approximately ten to fifteen minutes before vanishing.
"Let's go. We should not waste any time." I said, pulling myself away from the scene.
You did this.
This was the thought continuously running inside my head. All this destruction was caused by a few words I wrote in the past.
I forced myself not to think about it and instead noticed how Vin was using her skill.
Pointing her hands in the direction of the Ballmart, she guided us through the sky. A frown appeared on her face after a minute.
'She must be straining to get us there. I am surprised she has that much magic power…'
…
Five minutes later, I and Vin settled down at the entrance of Ballmart. Yes, I was going to refer to it as Ballmart. It became a habit after using the name im all of my novels till now.
It was nothing that special. Just an everyday concrete building providing you with tons of stuff for somewhat cheaper prices, which I personally felt might be a scam.
The building was completely fine and no one could be seen around it for miles.
I had no idea whether I should laugh at that or cry about it…
'Why tf didn't people call me out for this?! A whole supermarket and its parking lot left untouched by earthquakes without any person near it.'
But then that was the benefit of writing a fantasy.
You could write anything and no one would give a fuck as long as the story was entertaining. If it was not, even the most sensible thing would be made fun of.
"You can stock up on things too," I suggested once again and entered the Ballmart with Vin closely following me.
Once inside, we went our separate ways.
I immediately walked towards the vegetable section, hoping no one had picked up the carrot by accident.
Yes, the ultimate item was a carrot. No, I was not high when I wrote that part.
The vegetables were sprawled across an open counter, ready for picking up and taking away. Honestly, that's all I mentioned about the location of the carrot.
"It should be somewhere around here…"
My eyes passed over the different vegetables, searching for the one I had written about.
I used the golden carrot from SmithCraft as an inspiration to create the carrot. Sigh, I don't think I would be able to use the real name of the references…
Anyways, the golden carrot and other items like it were based on the theory that when mana entered Earth's atmosphere, not only did it affect humans and all living beings, but it also entered non-living things, thus creating supernatural items.
However, the carrot in question wasn't anything like that. It was instead an item that had entered Earth from another realm through a portal.
'I set up its backstory and everything just to never use it. Wasted efforts.'
Since I couldn't see the golden carrot amidst so many orange ones, I started digging deeper with my hands.
It took me many minutes to dig through so many carrots but once I did, I finally ended up finding the glorious golden carrot.
Except it did not appear that glorious. It looked like someone took a normal carrot and painted it golden.
I was worried that it might be a prank so I decided to check the details of the item.
This was something that would be introduced officially after the beginning of the first scenario but it could be used before its introduction, knowingly or unknowingly.
After all, my MC did this unintentionally as he was playing a game when the apocalypse began.
"Information panel."
===
[ Golden Carrot of Esperism ]
- This carrot fell from another dimension and ended up in this very Ballmart outlet. It's rumored to belong to a famous guy who stored his powers inside the carrot before dying.
- Eating the carrot might grant you powers, curses, or both. Eat at your own risk
===
I couldn't help but chuckle at the description in front of my eyes. I had written this very same thing myself, confirming that I was one hundred percent experiencing my novel in real life.
I glanced around to make sure no one was watching me before eating the carrot.
'What effect will it have on me?'
The carrot had basically been an item that I had prepared for the MC. Since I had spent a few minutes coming up with the description] I had also thought of its potential use.
Sadly, I never specified what exact power it would give to the eater.
"Here goes whatever that goes…"
I opened my mouth and took a bite out of the carrot. Its taste was quite bland compared to what I was expecting.
Perhaps it was a good thing that I hadn't given a detailed description of its taste. I might have not liked it otherwise since items like that usually come with something bad.
"Please be a good power…" I muttered after finishing the entire carrot.
I didn't pray. I didn't beg. I simply hoped for a good power and waited.
One minute.
Two minutes…
Five minutes…
Suddenly, bitterness spread throughout my mouth. The aftertaste felt like I had eaten charcoal or something.
Along with the aftertaste, the effects of the carrot started showing up. My body got covered in a golden glow, making me smile.
Golden glow meant power. Black glow meant curse. A mixture of both meant both curse and power.
Fortunately, I didn't celebrate. As an author, I knew what not to do during certain situations since that could raise flags.
Wait, does thinking about flags count as raising a flag?
Unfortunately, I received the answer to this question rather instantly. The pure golden around me started darkening a bit before turning into a weird golden-blackish glow.
Curse my thoughts…
A small blue window appeared in front of my face, containing the information on the power I had just unlocked.
===
[Pyrokinesis(S)]
Pyrokinesis allows you to create and control fire with your mind and bodily actions. The amount of fire you can control depends on your emotional control.
- If you lose control over yourself, you will lose control over the fire.
- Overuse of the skill may result in minor headaches, temperature increase of surroundings, light fever, extreme sweating, raging boners(includes all types of males), and worst case scenario, spontaneous combustion(death)
***
Available Skills:
Flame Summoning(Level 1): allows you to summon flames. The higher the level, the more flame you can control. Also allows you to change the temperature of the flames. An increase in levels also increases the hotness of flames.
===
Ha… what a wonderful skill and description.
I couldn't help but wonder who was the person responsible for writing the details of the skill. Both of us would have gotten along well considering how good the description was, except for the raging boners part.
That was quite cruel…
Pyrokinesis was a S ranked skill with many useful skills underneath it, at least that's what I imagined it to be.
For the time being, I could only use the 'Flame Summoning' skill.
The more I used it, the more its level would progress, allowing me to use the same skill at a much stronger level.
The levels went up to five and each level gave a much higher level of growth to a skill. This growth would be different for different types of abilities.
I realized that I excelled at creating complicated things and creating a fked up power system. I forgot half of these things before the first hundred chapters…
The opening of a pure black window with golden words written on it prevented me from cursing myself.
I didn't want to read the words written on it but they were the same words that would tell me about my curse.
With a deep breath, I began reading about my curse.
===
Curse Of Solitude(Realism Curse)
===
"That's it?"
I blinked in confusion after reading the single line present in front of me. I was sure I had given multiple categories to curses but none of them included Realism.
Wait, technically, I had been living under this curse for quite some time. Maybe its effects wouldn't be as bad as I was expecting them to be.
I gazed at the screen for a few seconds before sighing. The curse wasn't going to affect me that much.
My sole goal was to survive the apocalypse on Earth. Once I succeeded in doing that, I would start a fund for the survivors and get rich.
I should probably distance myself from the MC and the rest of the main characters as well. Getting tangled with them could change the timeline way too much.
Yes, I know this wasn't exactly an original idea but think about it. Being with the main characters would eventually lead to me becoming a main character. Peace would never be an option…
Slowly, the glow around me vanished alongside the pure black screen. I took a deep breath before raising my right hand to test the newly obtained skill.
Much to my delight, the flame actually appeared on my palm. A grin spread across my palm upon seeing the ball of flame resting on my palm.
Very few people could understand the joy of being able to summon fire like that. Magic was fascinating and it was a daydream of mine to use it in real life.
Somehow, it was being fulfilled.
I extinguished the flames and started walking through the various sections of the supermarket.
One of the first things I picked up was a bigger backpack. I transferred most of my stuff to it and slung it on my back.
The next thing I did was to eat some food. A supermarket was a relatively good place to stay during an apocalypse and if not for my author knowledge, I might have chosen it as a sanctuary.
Unfortunately, I knew that the scenarios would be starting soon. I was confident that it would take around an hour or so more before one of the Entertainers appeared to make an announcement.
Vin was still doing her shopping and would probably leave after some time. I was grateful for help but I wasn't sure if I wanted her to stay with me.
Having a companion with an ability like hers might be useful though.
I headed to the electronics section and gathered as much powerbanks I could find. They were going to be the only thing keeping my laptop alive until I had the skill to do the same.
After securing the powerbanks, I settled on a comfortable chair and opened my laptop. All of my data was stored in a single place, making it easier to access the information.
Even though I trusted the skill, I still wanted to read the novel I had written to make sure things proceeded smoothly.
Hurriedly, I read all the basic information before going over the first 20 chapters.
The MC would face the first scenario while being at a university that was literally on the other end of the city. There was no way for both of us to cross paths.
I was going to read the next part when a blue window suddenly popped in front of my face.
+
[ Attention Please! ]
[ The Entertainers are about to make an appearance. ]
[ The First Scenario will begin shortly ]