"Oh that dirty lightbulb!" I cursed the being that sent me here.
They didn't lie of course as this WAS Earth. The problem was it was basically a dead version of the planet. The story was honestly about as bland as it gets really. Humans developed so quickly that we started to run out of resources leading to global war. When nobody was set to come out as a winner the nukes were deployed effectively hard resetting the world. The world still had advanced tech and weapons and stuff but getting clean nonradioactive food and water was a serious issue across the nuclear wastelands.-
As if that wasn't bad enough there were not only that whole problem to deal with but also people and mutated animals. The scientists of this version of Earth were really a bunch of ass hats with more resources than morals and common gods damned sense. They fucked around with genetics via a lovely little virus and found out with monsters as the result. Giant versions of creatures, entire species of creatures that could rip apart titanium power armor like it was cardboard and even mutated former humans. -
Humanity wasn't thriving in this version of Earth, they were surviving, barely. Knowing what I did now you best believe I wasn't just going to stroll into the long abandoned gas station. Don't get me wrong I was going in there because one I still needed clothes and two the sun was killer. -
"Okay bring us in and then clear out anything nasty that might be living in there." I commanded my soldier man.
The horse clopped over and under the awning that had the busted gas pumps and it was immediately a relief to be under shade. I swung off the horse and landed on my back painfully but I suppose that was to be expected since I wasn't familiar with mounting and dismounting horses. -
Then to my surprise my soldier guy got off the horse himself. The reason this surprised me was because I just kinda assumed that he was stuck on the thing since that was how he was summoned, guess not though. He walked with his spear at the ready into the gas station and I heard a few noises before he came back and stood next to the horse blankly. -
I walked over to the open sliding metal busted door with the glass part missing and then stepped into the station. It honestly wasn't very big all things considered, about five to six hundred square feet or so. The shelves were swiped mostly clean which wasn't surprising. What was left was the useless paper money that was from before the nukes were dropped and newspapers of equally uselessness. I walked behind the register counter and found three dead mutated cockroaches, known as radroaches in the game. These weren't the friendly little bugs you'd be used to but cat sized insects that would absolutely kill you if you messed around.-
They weren't very strong individually but they were rarely alone which is where their danger came from. Walking past those I walked into the office of the gas station and grimaced. Behind the desk with the somehow still functional terminal was a skeleton with a opened box of ten millimeter bullets and the matching caliber hand gun on the floor. The skull also had a single hole in it and the clothes on the skeleton were stained from two hundred year old dried blood.-
"Can't say I blame you buddy, sorry about this but i'm going to be borrowing your clothes on a never returning basis." I said with a sigh before getting to work stripping the clothes from the skeleton.
They were frayed and stained and barely holding together in the case of the shirt but better than nothing. Thankfully everything was close to my size so it fit well enough and didn't even feel too bad if I ignored the crustiness. I took the gun and bullets because of course I would, guns are literal life savers in this world! I explored the place more carefully now in my new threads and found out were I was.
'Oh just peachy, I'm near Vegas. That adds Cazadors to the list of things I need to sleep with one eye open in case of.' I thought with a shudder.
Based off the tarantula hawk wasp these flying monstrosities were absolute nightmare fuel. They rarely traveled alone and were not only carnivorous but highly venomous. Meeting one without protection of the thick metal variety was basically a death sentence unless you had an antidote on you or could kill them before they got you. That last bit was particularly hard since they were insects and naturally armored, aka bullet resistant.-
{Quest completed! Rewards dispensed.}
The system chimed in and I wasted zero seconds opening the menu and going to my set list.
{New set awarded standby for random selection.}
The system chimed in and that familiar wheel popped up and began to spin once more. Soon it stopped and I saw my prize, New Phyrexia.
'Oooh, isn't that Myrs? I could absolutely use some Myrs right now.' I thought eagerly.
I wasted no time at all spending my freshly gained pack opening token to rip a pack of this set open. Once again fifteen new cards were there for me to look over.
Caged sun-artifact, Mutagenic growth-instant, Vault Skirge-creature, Shrine of loyal legions-artifact, island-land, Parasitic implant-enchantment, Toxic Nim-creature, Mindculling-sorcery, Ruthless invasion-sorcery, Slash panther-creature, Artilerize-instant, Dementia bat-creature, Blinding souleater-artifact creature, Leeching bite-instant, Entomber exarch-creature.
'Oh this mother fucker thinks it's being cute. One land and a bunch of high mana value cards.' I mentally cursed at the result.
It wasn't bad per se but my biggest problem right now was getting enough mana to use the cards I had. Normally lands could be used for this but I only had two at the moment. Minas Morgul was useless to me since I didn't have any swamps so no mana there and one island would only give me one mana of the blue color. -
Don't get me wrong I could absolutely use a couple cards even with only one mana available but I think it better to save it until I had more to work with. If I could get enough for six mana I could toss out the Caged sun that would let me choose a color and permanently double all the mana I get of that color. If I was really in a pinch Vault Skirge and Mutagenic growth can be cast for life instead of mana with Vault Skirge only needing one mana at that point.-
That was an 'oh shit I might die otherwise' type deal though and best left in reserve for emergencies. I could only sigh helplessly as I was mana screwed by my packs and check out the garage that was still sealed tight. Honestly I had to give it to the people of this world before everything went to shit, they knew service convenience was king. Most Red rocket stations as far as I knew also doubled as mechanics for on spot maintenance and thus had a garage.