4 More then Bargained

It didn't take long for Jacob to find a cell phone store after he got to the nicer side of town, easily getting a phone, finding one he liked, getting a durable case, and actually paying for the thing he decided to wander around the nicer part of town for a bit.

Getting a few street foods for lunch he was sitting in the park taking a bite out of his sandwich before time around him seemed to start slowing down.

He noticed immediately, time in the military made him aware of his surroundings more than he liked to admit.

Raising his head he started to look around, time had come to a complete stop and he was left sitting there, he tried to get up but after he reached a certain point of moving his whole body appeared back in place, not allowing him to go more than a few inches away from where he was sitting.

On the outside, he was keeping appearances, not sure if he really needed to. But on the inside he was starting to freak out, the fuck was going on?

He stayed there, unsure of how long he did so but after an unknown amount of time, he slowly began to calm down.

The moment he reached a steady point there was a soft noise, almost startling given the fact everything around him was quiet.

In front of him, a screen appeared, like a futuristic holographic one that simply said.

[Welcome to the Idle System.]

He watched it, it took him a bit but he reached forward and passed his hand through the screen. It passed right through but the screen did change.

[This is the tutorial, showing off one of the functions of the system while we explain how you can use this system.]

Jacob tried to move again but was pulled back to his earlier position. Seeing that the terrifying fact was he was definitely out of his league to try and challenge something, he leaned back. Sitting on the bench he simply watched the screen.

[First, we will explain what is happening around you. Time has become paused, the system functioning sort of like a game in this aspect. At any point, you can pause, or resume.]

[Pausing will cause the time to stop for the realm you are in. While paused, you will not regain stamina, or expended energies.]

[A function of pausing is to pause time to think over a choice, to use your mind and system to your advantage. This function is controlled entirely by you, the user.]

[Once you resume time, your body will return to the point where you paused it, no matter how far you've traveled, or long you've been paused.]

[Currently, you are limited to only a few inches, but as you grow stronger and so does the system as it unlocks more things to idle, and more world's to idle.]

[The Idle system is exactly as it sounds, it turns your life into a sort of idle game that you directly control.]

[Once you find, or unlock something that you can 'Idle' you unlock the ability to do so to overtime give you items, rewards, and other things as the system idle's it for you.]

[Idling something for a long enough time will allow you to build up 'Idle Coin's.' which in return will allow you to purchase things from the shop and make use of its many items.]

[These idle coins take time to build up but to you. The 'Idler' time is only relevant as long as you wish.]

[A note that the system can not idle while time is paused.]

Jacob's thoughts on all this? Chaotic, a lot was rushing through his head pounding away at his mental capacity like a sledgehammer, he noticed that at any point he looked away from the screen it would pause in its little explanation.

Allowing him to look away and settle himself as he let his mind settle, to calm down, and think of the uses that he knew at this point. The fact the so-called Idle System said it had a function similar to a game let him begin to associate it with that, making it much easier to understand. Well, much easier to accept.

After another large amount of unknown time he calmed down his heart and mind, there would definitely still be things that could surprise him, but for now, he was ready to continue.

[The system itself offers more than just the idle function, the shop, and the ability to pause time.]

[The system also comes with an inventory that allows you to store an infinite amount of items, the only limitation over this is the items must not be alive. Plants that have been harvested are fine.]

[The item you wish to store much be within contact with your body or clothing. You are not able to store things that have been sent with harmful intent such as arrows, energy, or bullets.]

[Things stored in the inventory that are loose will automatically sort themselves into the correct order, or proper slots used. If you store blood, it will allow you to use a bit of your mental energy to store it within a vial.]

[The next function is settings with allows you to have a small amount of customization over the system. Its interface, how it appears, how you interact with it. Allowing you to also set certain parameters.]

[An example is being able to set it so something auto purchases when you reach the required amount of idle coins.]

[The final ability of the system is to traverse the multiverse as a whole. You will not be able to visit any world already created, whether it is from a passing thought or the mind of another. But when you wish to leave you will be able to select a 'World Outline' which shapes the kind of world you wish to visit, and after some time as the world is created, you will then be able to visit it, just as you at any time can come back to your earth. Time is paused while you are away unless you wish otherwise.]

[With that, the system is yours for the taking. Explore, dominate, loot, slay, help, it is all upon you what you do with the system. But from now, to forevermore or until you decide you've had enough. Idle On Jacob Fost.]

When the screen disappeared Jacob's head began to slowly fill with a better understanding of the system as a whole, explaining to him how he could use it, and call upon it better.

It wasn't like the tutorial, which told him what each function did, this little bit of information told him simply how to use it.

The first thing he decided to open was the inventory.

A very simple inventory interface appeared before him, showing countless boxes that had a scroll function, and a search function. He simply deposited all that he had on him. Loose cash, his phone, keys, his wallet, and even his gun without needing to actually physically put them there himself.

He saw the slot gets filled with a little image of what the object was when he thought on his gun he could focus on it, even pull individual bullets from the magazine and replace, taking it from the inventory he tried to place bullets in while it was in his hands but it didn't work.

Returning Kindness back to its holster he moved on to the next function, the shop.

He saw everything was from lowest to highest in price, along with what looked to be a drop-down menu indicating certain categories, along with a search bar as well. Looking through the drop-down menu he came across 'Recommended purchases.'

Clicking on it with his hand a new set of items appeared, the list was rather long but some of it was below a bar that said 'Not recommended for this world'.

Looking into it he saw a variety of things, books that titled how to change reality slowly, what looked to be a scroll that said 'Royal Pass' and a few things, most of which seemed to be either too far in the future or too far in the past to make sense in a modern world, it didn't limit him from purchasing them. It simply recommended he wait until he goes to the right world, but even the system itself said it was never wrong to prepare.

Moving back up to the recommended purchases part, the first thing he saw was a watch for five points. Clicking into it he got a bit more information.

[A watch that helps the user in knowing when he can be spotted by certain things. The dimmer the color of the light, the less likely you are to get spotted. The brighter the color, the more you are to get spotted.]

No color- Nothing can spot you.

Blue - Law enforcement

Red - People who will attack on sight.

White - Cameras or audio that can detect.

Green - People who have a higher instinct/sense than others that can 'feel' the user.

So sensing someone actually worked? He never questioned it, a few years in the military and in live combat, you got some sort of radar that helped you know if someone was near.

Few were able to even hone the ability to know where and how far, it was uncanny but a past friend of his had the ability to do so, and it had saved them often.

The watch wouldn't prevent him from being spotted, but it would let him know if he could be spotted in certain locations. It might be worth the purchase.

Scrolling a bit more he came across something that said 'Dollar Shop'

Clicking on it he raised a brow, for fifty coins he could purchase an addition to the shop that basically made it so he could use earth currency to purchase modern things.

Which, was definitely useful now but he got the feeling that was pretty expensive.

It uses now were the fact he could get something highly illegal, and no one would question why he was making the purchase, he still had to deal with the 'How' he got it if anyone saw him pull out something like an RPG, but that's only if he got spotted with the object.

Closing from the shop he moved onto the settings where he found a ton of settings.

There were audio settings, visual settings, even physical settings.

A lot of physical settings had been greyed out, having the information he knew it was because he couldn't just change how he appeared yet. Not until he got an ability that allowed him to.

But the only thing that was marked as the 'Bodies Health.' After clicking on it he came to another screen that simply had information on it.

His body had returned to its peak health and performance in this life, which explained why the pain had disappeared this morning and he felt so good.

Closing out of that menu he continued to look. There were notifications settings and even a setting that made it so he could interact with his phone from his inventory, which was useful and he clicked it on. He would need to get a Bluetooth so it was explained how he could take calls without using his phone.

Finally coming to the idle part of the system he found a real simple menu that had a list of things with a checkmark along with another screen that consisted of 'Upgrading' his ability to idle.

The items he had unlocked already were 'Money' 'Ammo' 'Misc Items'

Clicking on all three of them, he knew that until he used idle coins to purchase upgrades. The more things he had marked the slower it would take to get results from the idle, but being as he was in no rush, he wanted to see just how much of things he got.

The only thing is that it was all 'Random'

Meaning he might have Ammo marked, but it wouldn't just give him the ammo he needed, it would just give him random amounts of ammo, of all the ammo that exists in the world, and this went for money as well.

The only thing that didn't come in quantity was the misc items. It simply gave random small items, the thing though is that it could be a triple-A battery, all the way to a diamond so it was sort of just luck based on what he got.

After a while he closed the system, time resuming around him as he willed it.

Finishing his hotdog he leaned back into the bench, watching the world move around him before he chuckled.

'Came for a phone, got the ability to travel reality and stop time.'