My brain went into overdrive, ignoring what my body was going through, and I pushed it all down before fighting my way to my father's side and cradling his head in my lap.
'Arkadia…fuck, THINK TAYLOR, what fucking command would work? WHAT DO I DO?' I screamed internally before a sudden and horrible thought came to mind.
'Arkadia, list description and negative reactions to Particle Naturalization.' Something clicked in my brain due to stress and anxiety, and the thoughts spewed; luckily, they were adequately recognized as commands by Arkadia.
[Particle Naturalization is defined as the process a native of a planet goes through upon acclimating to Alpha Particles. This process only occurs when a Planet is first introduced to Alpha Particles.]
[The adverse effects and reactions to Particles are classified as minimal. Every object, both living and non-living, has some resistance when first introduced to Alpha particles.]
[Every planet subjected to Alpha particles has had casualties since the beginning of creation and time.]
[It is survival of the fittest; nothing is guaranteed in life, and only the strongest will survive.]
[The primary casualties upon completion of the Alpha Particle Saturation Step are the elderly and those with severe health conditions, as their bodies are incapable of accepting the acclimation of particles.]
[However, multiple items exist that can be used to mitigate, if not cure, the adverse effects of Particle Acclimation; please reference the Alpha Shop and observe the medicinal tab to find the most commonly used items.]
I didn't even think; upon speed-reading through the lines of dialog, I swiftly stated the command necessary.
'Arkadia, open the Alpha Shop.'
[Shop: Alpha Rank]
:{Currency Exchange}:
:{Combat}:
:{Defense}:
:{Medicinal}:
:{Upgrades}:
:{Instance Tokens}:
:{Misc}:
Upon stating that command, and under the control of instinct, I reached up and poked the 'Medicinal' option; as soon as my finger touched the panel, I felt a physical sensation akin to tapping a tablet screen, and a small animation played before a fancy screen listing several items and their prices appeared in my panel.
The plain black box with golden letters transformed into a vibrant green color, with wooden knotwork woven around the screen as a frame. The text was still golden, but now it seemed embossed and raised.
The texture of the letters resembled what you would find on a fancy hospital website; however, I didn't have time to examine the new panel, and my eyes instantly began scanning every option available in search of something to help my father.
As one would expect, there weren't many items available, mainly because of the Shop's rank, which Arkadia stated was alpha.
[Alpha Rank: Medicinal Shop]
:{Health Potion (Α) = 5 High-Alpha Coins}:
:{Health Potion (α) = 25 Low-Alpha Coins}:
:{Particle Potion (Α) = 10 High-Alpha Coins}:
:{Particle Potion (α) = 25 Low-Alpha Coins}:
:{Physical Offense Potion (α) = 5 Low-Alpha Coins}:
:{Physical Defense Potion (α) = 5 Low-Alpha Coins}:
:{Meta Physical Offense Potion (α) = 10 Low-Alpha Coins}:
:{Meta Physical Offense Potion (α) = 10 Low-Alpha Coins}:
:{Acclimation Potion (α) = 10 Low-Alpha Coins}:
:{Elixir (Α) = 10,000 High-Alpha Coins}: *Limited to 50,000 World Wide and one per User*
'There it is, Acclimation potion…what the fuck is an Alpha coin…no, no, no, THE DAMN SYSTEM HAS IT'S OWN CURRENCY!'
'Fuck fuck,' Between fighting the pain, my body was subjected to and the worry over my father's condition, my mind was slipping, and panic started taking over again. Luckily, I had a personal way of focusing…although not exactly the most sane or healthy way.
Reaching down into my boot, I grabbed hold of my combat knife and, in one fluid motion, sliced the palm of my hand open. The flood of pain and endorphins quickly settled the stray thoughts, and since it was the newest instance of pain, my brain zeroed in on it, allowing me to free my mind from useless thoughts.
'Alpha Coins, I recognize the symbols next to each item, so I assume the α represents Low-Alpha, and the Α is High-Alpha, think,' mulling over this information, I reached into one of my many cargo pockets and pulled out a clean handkerchief, tied it around the gash on my right hand, and hit the back button on my panel, causing the list of Shops to appear again.
'There, I knew I saw one,' I thought before pressing the 'Currency Exchange' option.
[Alpha Rank: Currency Exchange Shop]
:{Local Currency = (USD)}:
:{Only Currency or Items with Monetary Value on hand can be used for Exchange}:
:{1 Low-Alpha Coin = 100 USD}:
:{1 High-Alpha Coin = 10,000 USD}:
:{100 Low-Alpha coins = 1 High-Alpha Coin}:
'What the fuck are these exchange rates…hold on…Arkadia didn't access my bank account…all my money is useless. Wait…the GOLD!' With a strained grunt, I gently placed my father's head down on the carpet and struggled to my feet.
Without saying a word to Brenden or Emilia, I slogged my way out of the living room, passed the kitchen, down the hall, passed my office, and toward my bedroom, and soon enough, I found myself crouched on the carpet of my closet, in front of my two-foot tall fireproof combination safe.
Spinning the dial, I swiftly input the combination, and with a click, the door opened, revealing two half-foot shelves. The top one housed all our families' essential documents, such as social security cards, birth certificates, and passports, while the second shelf had a handful of neatly organized two-inch long by half-an-inch wide gold bars.
Before the Arkadia System Descended, these little bricks were only worth a little over 3,000 dollars each.
I had spent years even buying any, to begin with.
However, as luck would have it, my brother, on the other hand, had been collecting gold since his time in the military; as such, all he did was cash out one of his three large bars, the size of a brick, for a whopping 100 thousand USD and ended up buying a bunch of smaller bars made of different metals.
I had no idea what the exchange rate would be with Arkadia, but post Descent, the price of these little bars has skyrocketed by over three times, eventually settling at 12,000 USD.