“System.”
The light screen unfolded before Nate, pale blue text floating in the air.
[Current Resource Points: 523/1000]
[Traits Acquired:]
[Iron Severing (Lv. 4): Increases the power of swords and knives by 200%. Effect is doubled against metal objects. (6/15)]
[Flying Star (Lv. 3): Increases the speed of thrown objects by 90%. Corrects trajectory errors within 20 meters. (4/10)]
[Eagle Eye (Lv. 1): Enhances vision by 30%. Increases firearm proficiency by 10%. (0/5)]
[You have arrived at the Operations Base. Settle High-Value Items?]
Nate didn’t answer right away.
He reached into his pocket, pulled out the stack of gold coins, and poured them onto the coffee table, forming a small golden mound.
He counted them.
He still had the coin Winston had given him.
Of the eight he’d earned from completing the bounty, he’d spent three on information and another three on services, leaving two.
Add the twenty-eight he’d taken from Victor, and he had thirty-one in total.
He set two aside to cover the room.
“Settle.”
[Settling items for Host: 29 standard Continental gold coins, equivalent to 580 Resource Points.]
[Current Resource Points: 523 + 580 = 1103/1000]
[Resource Points have reached the current cap. Spend 100 Resource Points to unlock a higher cap?]
“Pay.”
[Resource Point cap increased. Current Resource Points: 1003/2000]
[Host has acquired a new Trait Slot.]
Nate looked at his Trait list.
Sure enough, a blank slot had appeared beneath Eagle Eye, its edges glowing faintly gold.
He nodded and was about to close the interface when he suddenly frowned and looked back at the pile of coins on the coffee table.
They were still there.
All thirty-one of them.
Not a single coin was missing.
They remained exactly where he’d left them, gleaming dully beneath the light.
Nate froze.
“…Wait. The coins are still here? Didn’t you just settle them?”
He picked one up.
The metal still felt cold and heavy between his fingers, and when he tapped it against the table, it gave the same crisp ring as before.
[System Notice: Settlement only evaluates the value of items currently possessed by the Host and converts that value into Resource Points. The System does not interfere with the physical existence of real-world items. The gold coins remain the Host’s property and may continue to be used.]
Nate stared at the message for two seconds.
“So I get the Resource Points, you don’t take the coins, and I can still spend them?”
[Correct. The System settles the Host’s current increase in value, not the items themselves. Gold coins are a medium of exchange in the real world. Their physical existence is unaffected by the System.]
Nate fell silent for a few seconds.
“Then couldn’t I farm this infinitely?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Give the coins to someone, take them back, then settle them again.”
[Invalid operation! The same item may only be settled once during the Host’s lifetime. The System has recorded the unique identifying characteristics of the current thirty-one gold coins. Newly acquired gold coins may be settled separately.]
“Unique identifying characteristics?”
Nate picked up one of the coins.
“These things have serial numbers or something?”
The System didn’t answer.
System, you finally did something decent for once.
Nate tossed the coin back onto the coffee table.
“Then settle the other two as well.”
[Resource Points: 1043/2000]
He got the Resource Points and kept the coins.
What a deal.
If he’d known this earlier, he should have come back to his room first.
He could have settled the coins before spending them on information and services.
That was 120 Resource Points down the drain.
What a waste.
Still, there was no point regretting something that had already happened.
The next time the System unlocked a new function, he’d make sure to ask more questions before doing anything.
Nate had always been fairly optimistic that way.
He leaned back against the sofa, his mind racing.
“I need equipment,” Nate muttered.
“Body armor, and a gun. I should actually learn how to shoot. There are going to be situations beyond twenty meters. I can’t rely on knives forever.”
“Besides the manager’s armory, this hotel should have somewhere else that sells equipment. Though I don’t remember seeing one in the movies.”
He thought for a moment.
“The girl at the front desk mentioned another armory in the hotel. Gold coins only. No records, no names. Same as the rooms. They care about the coin, not who’s carrying it.”
There should be guns a nineteen-year-old could use.
Then again, the High Table stood above the law.
So that wasn’t a problem.
Nate looked at the coins on the coffee table and suddenly wondered about something.
How much were these things actually worth?
In the movies, a single gold coin could sometimes buy a man’s life.
In his previous life, plenty of people had even believed each coin was worth a million dollars.
Though that was probably the translation team’s fault.
At the other extreme, a coin could sometimes buy nothing more than two drinks.
The director had apparently explained that the coins represented favors, requests, or something similar to proof of identity.
But if that was the case, why bother with coins at all?
Wouldn’t recognizing the person be enough?
Maybe they hadn’t figured it out themselves.
“System, are these coins pure gold?”
[Yes.]
So even without attaching any special value to them, taking one to a gold dealer and selling it at the lowest possible rate should still bring in at least three thousand dollars.
“All right, then.”
Nate stopped thinking about it, exhaled, gathered the coins into a stack, and put them back in the box.
“How many Resource Points for a bulletproof suit?” he asked.
[This item is not available in the System Store. Bulletproof suits are equipment native to this world. Please obtain one through real-world channels.]
The bullet graze on his shoulder was still throbbing.
If he’d been slightly less lucky and that round had hit him cleanly, he’d already be dead.
Nate opened his Loadout and found the bulletproof helmet.
“Body armor isn’t something I should cheap out on.”
He spent 600 Resource Points on a helmet with a special effect and equipped it.
[MC201 Tactical Helmet: Level III. Durability: 34/34. Protects against small-caliber ammunition. Special Effect: Hearing enhanced by 20%.]
The moment he equipped the helmet, Nate immediately felt a little safer.
Twenty-nine gold coins should be more than enough for a bulletproof suit.
Whatever remained could be spent at the weapons department.
Speaking of guns…
Nate suddenly remembered the pistol he’d taken.
It looked pretty cool, but he had no idea what model it was.
In his previous life, he hadn’t exactly been a serious gun enthusiast.
Aside from a few famous handguns, he couldn’t identify anything even slightly obscure.
He spent quite a while searching online.
[AREX Delta L]
Striker-fired, chambered in 9mm, standard-length barrel, extended nineteen-round magazine, with a sleek red dot sight mounted on the slide.
According to the reviews, it was an excellent choice in both performance and value.
Nate had only fired the pistol once since getting it, so he didn’t have much of an impression.
If he had to say anything, though, it did feel more comfortable than a Glock.
Guy had good taste in guns.
It’s mine now.
Nate placed the pistol into his Loadout.
With a thought, it vanished from his hand.
He stood and rolled his shoulders.
The place where the bullet had grazed his right shoulder still burned.
Nate went into the bathroom and splashed cold water over his face, chasing away some of his drowsiness.
He was just about to head out and take a look around the armory when the doorbell rang.
Ding-dong.
It wasn’t loud, but in the quiet room, the sound was unusually clear.
Nate placed his left hand on the doorknob and shifted to one side, keeping his body out of the doorway as he looked through the peephole.
An elderly Asian man wearing glasses stood in the hallway.
He wore a white shirt, gray trousers, and a dark brown wool vest.
His hair was streaked heavily with gray, and he looked to be in his sixties.
A black leather medical case hung from one hand.
It was The Doctor who treated John Wick in the movie.
Nate opened the door.
“What can I do for you?”
“Medical service, sir.”
The old man’s voice was slightly hoarse.
Nate studied him for a moment.
The Doctor calmly returned his gaze.
Then he carried his case inside, briefly looked around the room, and turned his attention back to Nate, examining him from head to toe.
“Where are you hurt?”
He placed the case on the table and opened it.
It had two layers.
The upper section contained ordinary medical supplies: disinfectant, gauze, sutures, hemostats, tweezers, and similar instruments.
The lower section held rows of small medicine bottles and syringes, all labeled in Latin.
Nate couldn’t understand a word of it.
“Left calf. Grazed by a ricochet fragment.”
Nate sat down and rolled up his pant leg.
“Right shoulder too. Bullet graze. Oh, and my arm and back.”
The Doctor crouched down, took a pair of reading glasses from his case, put them on, then lifted Nate’s left leg and examined the wound.
“Already treated?”
“Yes.”
The Doctor smoothly took out a pair of small tweezers and a bottle of saline, then began working.
His hands were perfectly steady.
His movements were neither hurried nor slow, and every motion was precise.
Cleaning, disinfecting, stitching, bandaging.
The entire process flowed effortlessly, and Nate barely felt any pain.
The Doctor tied two neat knots, cut the suture, placed gauze over the wound, and secured it with tape.
“The wound on your calf isn’t deep, but it’s red and swollen. There’s some inflammation.”
As he spoke, he took a syringe and a small vial from the lower section of his case and drew half a syringe of medication.
“Tetanus shot and antibiotics. Roll up your sleeve.”
Nate pushed up the sleeve of his hoodie, exposing his right arm.
The Doctor wiped the area with an alcohol pad, inserted the needle into his deltoid, injected the medication, and withdrew it in one smooth motion.
Then he placed a small adhesive bandage over the injection site and patted it.
“Hold that.”
“How much?” Nate asked.
“The hotel has already charged you.”
The Doctor packed his instruments back into the case, carefully wiping down the tweezers and hemostats with a cloth as though they were valuable possessions.
“One gold coin per visit. You don’t need to pay every service individually. If you request something, it’ll be added to your bill when you check out.”
Nate nodded.
The Doctor closed his case, stood, removed his reading glasses, folded them, and tucked them into his shirt pocket.
A genuine smile appeared on The Doctor’s face, making him look noticeably warmer.
“You’re a lucky young man.”
“Hm?”
“All those wounds, and every one of them is minor.”
The Doctor tapped his own shoulder.
“If that bullet had landed just a little lower and hit your collarbone, that arm would’ve been out of commission for six months.”
Nate didn’t know how to respond, so he gave an awkward smile.
The Doctor took a bottle of pills from his case and placed it in Nate’s hand, then began fussing over him like an older relative.
“Don’t do anything strenuous for the next few days. If you absolutely have to work, take a few of these. Your wounds might reopen, but they won’t interfere with your movement. Still, this stuff isn’t exactly good for you, so take as little as possible.”
So basically a performance enhancer?
Nate thought to himself.
Then again, people here didn’t make much of that sort of thing.
The Doctor picked up his case and headed for the door.
Just before leaving, he stopped and turned around.
“One more thing. Don’t get the wounds wet for the next twenty-four hours. I’ll come back in three days to remove the stitches from your calf.”
“All right. I’ll walk you out.”
Nate started to stand.
“No need. Get some rest.”
The Doctor stepped outside, and the door closed automatically behind him.
Nate couldn’t help thinking the old man was surprisingly easy to talk to.
Without all the stiff formality, the whole interaction felt much more comfortable.
Somehow, the visit had ended up feeling less like a medical appointment and more like a friendly house call.
He looked down at the fresh bandages covering his wounds.
The white gauze on his chest carried a faint smell of iodine.
His calf had required two stitches, while his arm and shoulder each had a dressing over them.
The Doctor’s treatment had worked well.
Nate slowly moved around.
The wounds still hurt, but they felt noticeably better now that they’d been properly treated.
Finally.
The tension that had kept him wound tight began to fade, and exhaustion quickly took its place.
He had, after all, been awake all night.
Nate collapsed onto the sofa.
He’d planned to go check out the equipment.
Forget it.
Sleep first.
Everything else could wait.