Alex drove slowly to the college campus in his rented car as he lost himself in his thoughts. Alex didn't know much about the country he lived in as he all he did was going to school, working a part-time job, and resting at home. Due to this, Alex would've had a hard time in the past, but with large increase in intelligence he would be able to understand subjects like map reading and architecture rather quickly.
Arriving at the college campus, Alex attended his classes throughout the day. Day after day, Alex continued attending classes and his scores raised higher than before.
Arriving at the next auditorium, Alex sat in the front row as he glanced at the lecturer, Ms. Becker. Previously married and has 1-8 year old daughter. She's 32 years old this year, but has kept her beauty. Ms. Becker is also the one who helped Alex when he was falling into depression.
After having broken up with his girlfriend due to his girlfriend cheating, Alex started falling into depression. Ms. Becker had consoled Alex and hanged out with him occasionally. Her caring attitude coupled with her beauty had Alex falling in love instead of depression. Alex didn't have the guts to confess his feelings to Ms. Becker and just watched her from afar. Ms. Becker was also one of the factors that made Alex want to stay in Las Vegas and not move to the east of the United States.
After having attended her course for the past days, Alex decided to open his store in Las Vegas when the apocalypse starts.
Although Alex wouldn't force Ms. Becker to follow him, he'd help her if needed.
Alex passed the remainder of the three months following this simple life.
Alex occasionally went to the firing range to learn shooting skills and visited the Archery Club to watch and learn a few things. Alex also attended some boxing classes.
Although having 3 months to prepare himself was nice, there was nothing he could do as creatures only started to mutate in 3 months, so it was impossible to gain more Source Energy or materials from the mutated creatures. As for buying land or cars, Alex could build wherever he wants to when the military wouldn't be able to stop him as the military would be preoccupied with restoring order to the country, and for cars, well, Alex can just steal abandoned vehicles from military bases or cars on the streets. Storing food was the only thing Alex could do as he bought large amounts of seasonings, frozen meats and vegetables, but not eat, the food was all to sell for coins the creatures would drop.
Alex was able to infer that only a small amount of the world population would survive the ferocious creatures and mutations changing the world. And so 3 months quickly passed without a hitch.
...
Alex was awoken from his sleeping after hearing the yells and scream coming from outside. Alex didn't bother with the people outside his apartment and made pancakes, sausage, and bacon for himself while making gruel for his baby kitten.
Alex had fed his kitten a Source Energy Refiner pill to let his 'baby' adapt better. Alex ate breakfast as he watched his black kitten eat the gruel and let out a satisfied yawn before returning to napping.
Alex loosely ate his breakfast as the screams outdoors continued. Alex just waited inside his room for a day to pass as he brought items to built a safe fortress to allow him to do his job as 'Merchant'.
The first thing Alex bought was a 750x750 meter castle wall as his zone where he would live. The wall was 20 meters high as well.
Alex could've bought a castle wall design, but the design was just a design and Alex would've needed the materials, which he could've bought, and a construction crew as Alex didn't have the experience to build a large wall.
The wall Alex bought was also special as the wall was made of a special metal alloy that dispersed kinetic energy, so the metal would hardly be damaged. The gigantic wall was easily stored inside Alex's system's <<Storage>>.
Alex also bought futuristic robots that cleaned the area and robotic guards that were each armed with a laser rifle that created rays of dense heat that easily pierced enemies. He only bought 50 clean bots and 25 robotic guards to keep order inside his castle. Alex has bought 500 automated turrets that fired lasers as well. Alex also bought a large solar powered generator to generate electricity and a water purifier to clean water in the future. The final thing Alex bought was super paced fertilizer that can transform infertile land into fertile land. The humongous wall cost him 1,000 Krypto Coins as the building was slightly altered to create a booth where people have to pass that Alex would operate in. Each clean bot cost him 10 Krypto Coins totaling 500 Krypto Coins and each robotic guard cost 20 Krypto Coins amounting to 500 Krypto Coins too. The automated turrets each cost 15 Krypto Coins amounting to 7,500 Kyrpto Coins. Although the turrets were the most expensive in total, Alex thought it was necessary to guard against all 4 sides of the castle. The water purifier and solar powered generator cost 500 Krypto Coins together and the fertilizer cost 50 Krypto Coins per kilogram. Alex was only able to buy 10 kilograms and although the amount was small compared to the area inside the wall, if spread apart nicely, each kilogram could cover 20 meters as the fertilizer was like dust.
The total cost of items was 10,500 Krypto Coins after he did the calculations, but refunded the fertilizer to avoid the debt placed on him after going over the amount of currency he had.
The debt was one of the things which restricted Alex going on a buying spree since one of the vital pieces of information Alex gained was that if the 'Merchant' didn't repay the debt in full after 1 month then the 'Merchant' would lose their qualifications to be a 'Merchant' and system together. And Alex was smart enough not to enter debt at all as Krypto Coins weren't dropped for every creature and would take a while to save up.
Losing the fertile was slightly painful, but could easily earn money to buy the fertilizer after he started doing the job of 'Merchant' as he let other survivors earn the coins for him.
...
After waiting a full day and for the sun to rise, Alex exited his apartment on the second floor and went to check on the streets. Strangely enough, no smoke was could be seen rising into the sky.
Sky having planes or smoke didn't change any of Alex's plans at all. Along with the kitten in his bag and a Galil in hand, Alex sneaked around the building to avoid the 'zombies' walking the streets. The Galil was completely unnecessary, but Alex thought the gun was badass.
With his variables higher by a full 'grade', Alex easily passed the zombies unnoticed and arrived at his future 'home': Rancho High School. Alex didn't have many choices as he didn't have a good understanding of Las Vegas. Alex didn't mind taking over the high school as Rancho High School was the high school he attended during his younger years and was close to his apartment. The school also had a field Alex could use to plant vegetables and fruits.
Alex settled for this area immediately and tried to take out the wall casually, but when Alex reached for the wall inside his <<Storage>>, another small screen similar to the screen during the Package appeared. Alex already knew this would happen and tapped on the 'Place' option instead of the red 'X' on the corner of the notification looking U.I.
A small grid appeared on the screen and Alex recognized the buildings in the area. Although the wall would 'land' on various houses in the area, Alex didn't care for them and adjusted the wall to cover the whole high school.
*Boom*
As Alex placed the wall, a humongous wall appeared and the ground shook.
The wall was really, really gigantic, and not just in height. Spanning hundreds of meters. The wall looked similar to a medieval castle wall. Alex was able to easily enter. And although the castle wall seemed old, the booth Alex designed had finger detection, eye scan, and verbal confirmation so only Alex would be able to enter and exit as he wished. The glass window to view people was bullet proof and heat proof and was similar to the wall in that kinetic energy got dispersed too.
Alex smiled in satisfaction as he entered his personal door.
Alex didn't forget to place the automated turrets on the wall. Placing the turrets randomly, but with no less than 10 meters between each turret. Alex also placed turrets outside the booth to guard against dangerous creatures that neared where the line to buy items from him would be.
Alex took out a radio he had bought before the apocalypse and set it up in his booth. Alex wasn't afraid of getting out the booth either as he had the strength of a Grade 1 creature while other weren't even Grade 2 as the amounts of Source Energy needed would be more than 1 person could get alone. Although there was a glass in between Alex and the buyer, the glass would be able to slide down to allow seller and buyer to see each other face to face.
After readying everything and checking his inventory to make sure all the frozen foods and regular food he saved during the 3 months were there, he turned on the radio. With an increase in all variables, Alex was no longer an introvert and didn't mind speaking to a large audience.
Alex set the frequency perfectly so anyone listening in would be able to hear him advertise his store.
"Welcome ladies and gentlemen. Are you hungry? Can't find any food? Need a gun? Well come down to 1900 Searles Ave, Las Vegas! We have anything and everything you could possibly need to survive in the new world! Come down quick before supplies run out!"
Alex spoke enthusiastically into the microphone.
...
On the other side of a radio.
A large group of people were listening in with everyone having various expressions such as deligh, greed, and fear as well.
In the group, a mother holding her sleeping daughter was surprised at how familiar the voice sounded but couldn't recall who's voice it was.