Bodega Cat (System Apocalypse, Deck Builder, Litrpg)

The humans call it a HUD or a heads-up display. All that Bagel cared about was that it showed him things like his system interface. What it did show him was unusual. It had a battery that was full to 98% and so long as he was able to direct it with his thoughts, it could go up or down and then roll or turn to the left to right.

Bagel moved his head but the screen image looked the same. The tiny helmet that had been affixed to his head didn't even cover all of his head, as you can see the counter underneath him but it gave him enough of you to understand what he was looking at.

And what he was looking at was the road down forty fifth street but he never seen it from quite this angle. It was a live feed from a tiny kitten sized drone that was moving as he gave it mental commands. I actually had said that it wouldn't respond to his command's and he believed her, but seeing and believing were two different things. Now that he could feel it move, it felt so unnatural.

He knew how the street smelled.

He circled it around and turned it so he could see second avenue and got a full view of his shop. He got a quick glimpse of an aperture and noted it for later.

It turned so fast that he got a bit too disoriented and it turned about all the way around. He had to slow himself down then fully laid down while he tried again. It wouldn't do it to get caught off in the change was in reality. Or had been virtual reality. He wasn't sure what the word was that you said.

She just gave it him a headset and told him to try it out. After giving a brief set of instructions, the helmet had launched him right into what it called flight mode. It only made sense as a human innovation.

Their hubris at creating a flying attack robot was delicious.

Bagel was going to chew on that particular item for a while, even as he did a full circuit of what he was now calling his block. His, like he owned it. The next building hey could buy would be the Amish market, to include the building that stretched above it.

The painted brick out front could only show so much. Then there were a few more businesses but most of what he wanted was the ability to own that building and possibly charge the operator rent.

He had been considering it and the way the humans did, it made sense to him though he wasn't sure he was going to be get away from it. He would have to drop his own rental agreement or fall in the on the one that was day before. Janet told him that places like that had very long agreements in place of 10 or 15 years for stability. So it makes sense in a world where there was no stability to be had for him to sign a 10-year lease? It didn't make any sense to him.

Humans were so odd. They were searching for certainty in the world when they could be chasing lasers.

He accepted the charge for the building would be expensive. He would need to make an appearance.

The view from the hud showed him exactly what he would be buying.

It remained to be seen how much they would be able to do with what they had but the retrofitting of his buildings with more was underway.

He tried to picture it. There was still a fair amount of buildings before he completed his purchase of this block. The East to West street was longer than the south bound second avenue. He followed the street and the way that it was supposed to flow through traffic then made a left turn on the next street navigating around the block and examining everything. That was not much to it.

"How is it?" Ashley's voice was sweet. Too sweet.

"This is fine."

"I should hope so you have been there for like five minutes," she said. He could feel her giggling. It was his fault entirely.

Bagel was sitting on her lap while he did this. He could have not done it, by she had offered, and he wouldn't say no. One never turns down a good lap.

"Now that I have a sense of how this works, yes I would like one. "

"Excellent. Now the next question from market research is how much to charge since the material to create one of these requires me to salvage an entire vehicle and turn that into what you're using."

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Instinctively he wanted to offer her a low number but he wasn't inside of his shop. Well no... He was above it. They'd taken the prototype to the apartment right above where Rauls family was staying. And they were of course all working but they would get their chance later to try it out with a human size helmet that was going to take so much material to create that it was getting ridiculous.

"I've seen cars before and that's the whole thing. That's what you turning into all of this?"

Cars were enormous and ubiquitous. These little drones? The entire setup was not larger than he was.

"It's just such a big thing that you turn into..." He dodged a traffic light and then slowed down, trying to lower the drone onto the roof. "...such a small package."

He landed the drone easily in the large circle that Khaleesi had made especially for the situation. She had been very eager to help. Almost too eager. She was waiting up there smiling and he was hesitant to leave the drone alone with her.

In the time it took her to bound down the four levels to rejoin them, Ashley was able to undo his helmet.

"You won't be able to do this yourself without a lot of practice. We wanted to make sure that you understood what it is."

"Fifty credits," he said. "That is how much I think that these will sell for and actually move. More if we find a way to get those lasers working."

The helmet wasn't Even that high-tech looking it was just something you wouldn't be able to put on themselves. The straps acquired fingers or the model telekinesis that he got while he was inside of his Bodega. Outside it wouldn't even be possible.

That's with the kind of thing that jelly said Leo would have wanted to know about immediately. They hadn't told Meatball yet.

"So look, do you think you can hold off on telling those cats?" Khaleesi said, rejoining them. "We just want to work out some kinks."

"For sure they are going to be interested."

Ashley and Khaleesi shared a look.

"This is a prototype," Ashley said. "Not only that, but we can't give every single one to the cats. What if we can get more cards with these? They do have that grabbing claw and it wouldn't take much to add some storage."

Bagel was for once speechless.

He couldn't think of any reason why they wouldn't tell Jerry said later unless they really were concerned about it. Their response seemed genuine so he would take them at face value. But they would have wanted to know about this immediately. The target circle on the top of the roof would be something that they could see immediately.

It stood out against the black rooftop.

The thing about keeps things from the council... That felt right. If they were going to be upfront with them about what had happened before we joined and it wasn't going to hold himself too and he's going to disclosure timeline. It had been different when they'd asked about the NYPD and how they were handling it and he's precinct. That was probably not much.

This specific usage of a card power and creating something new was its own thing. He was going to get his claws into this and really see what he could do with it.

"You know once I sell one of these in the guild or to the city it's over. That test flight might have done it, on its own."

"We're aware, and we took precautions like having Khaleesi watch out for flyers above. But there's a world of difference between sending a flying mob around and sending a drone."

Khaleesi held up the drone. "This doesn't disappear unless it's destroyed. Cards have a limit. At least that's what my understanding is from the website, right? They're not infinite. They only stick around for a couple minutes based on perks and something like that?"

Bagel gave her a half serving of side eye. Khaleesi was so wonderfully engaged with whatever she was doing all the time and he just didn't feel the same.

She paused to breathe. "Unless they are specific mantle cards, right? Those... Can stick around?"

"You know my mantle card and Ashley's. The fact is that people are very cagey about their mantle cards. Only about a hundred people have admitted to having a version of my card or hers."

"That we know of."

"That we know of, yes."

It seemed like she was impervious to his side eye. It was no matter. The kitten eyes always did the job, no matter the cost in dignity. It would have taken a lot for him to give that up.

"We need a reliable way to get more mantle cards. They are the real power on this new world. Everything else is just..." Khaleesi gulped. "Basic. Those mantle powers are extensive."

"The word they keep using is broken," Bagel said. "Like it breaks the world. I don't see how it does that. If anything this power makes it tough. That were-house card does what my mantle does but unfortunately it's only available out west."

"Were-house?" Khaleesi said. "Oh yeah."

The cars did a lot of the same things that his Bodega card did but it was also a mob. Bagels knowledge of the system did not include human specific references. Were-house was not a system reference, it belonged to humanity. The fact that it could be used as a mob as well meant that people had been moving to the particular spot where it spawned to get them to trade. It was a small price to pay but he hadn't yet been able to get one for himself.

They were simply too valuable.

"Maybe with this drone we can fly it out to get a were-house card? How far is Kentucky, anyway?"

"Too far. You can't go," Khaleesi said. "The city need you to much. My parents need you too much."

"She's right. Maybe we might try to meet someone halfway but they don't spawn as much as they should and people are being... People about it," Ashley said.

"What does that mean?" Bagel asked.

Ashley crossed her arms. "It means that they're hoarding the cards. There are other places that the were-house spawn but those are in Europe and flights there and back are... Not in the cards."

Bagel didn't want to ask but he did want to know. Janet would know. She always did, but she was minding the store.

"If we could do something about that it would be great but we have some more pressing issues," Bagel said. "I saw a dungeon."