Soon, Shadow returned, remerging from the darkness. John and it stared at each other silently from time to time. After a little while, Shadow merges back into the darkness. It was a strange feeling. Shadow made no sound; it was incapable of making sound on its own, yet he could understand it as if it could talk, just like any normal person. He could speak back to it in the same way, too, with just simple silence, yet they both understood what he meant. Even if he spoke normally, [All-Speak] would translate it for Shadow, though.
'So this world still uses ATMs and bank cards, good. There are also people with animal parts? I think they are called beast folks in my home world rather famous fictional species. To think I have a chance to see them for real.' For now, what he should do is get his hands on money; he can worry about other things later. He started moving, during the night, at least this district was calm.
Shadow lingered nearby, hidden in the darkness and watching for possible danger. He won't believe that a short, skinny, dirty clothed looking child doesn't look like some prime target for some bullying.
After a few turns, he finally reached where the ATM is located. But just after seeing it, he met a rather comical obstacle of being short. It was almost comedic if it wasn't a tragic reason that this body has been surviving on the street and is suffering from malnutrition. It has been directly planted into the wall, so there was no way to climb up on it. John rubbed his head in annoyance and couldn't help but mutter: "You gotta be kidding me."
He glanced at Shadow's direction, it looked guilty like a kid had committed something wrong, seeing this, he had no choice but to shake his head in disappointment. He can't exactly blame Shadow for something like this.
"Shadow, come here." In a second, Shadow quickly came flying beside him, like a ghost, as an incorporeal being, it could fly. John handed him the RED card and asked him to put it inside the ATM he even explained to it where to put just in case. It respectfully accepted the card and quickly put it inside the card slider.
First, nothing happened, then he heard it, a sound of electricity, a smell of burning, then the ATM turned off. Just as John was curious if it didn't work or not, it turned back on, and the screen of the ATM that was showing some advertisement was now showing a red screen. Soon, white lines of code appeared; it reads something like the admin access. After a few seconds red screen melts away, showing the menu screen of the game "Godzilla: Monster Of Monsters".
Now that the ATM is no longer a problem, there is one more question he needs to consider. What's the value of this world's money? Is it the same as the USD, or is it similar to the Korean Won? Perhaps Chinese Yuan or Japanese Yen, or even UK Euro, Russian Ruble. Right now, he might extract five thousand of this city's currency, but what if its value is like Won, only enough for him to buy some candy? Then he would need to run for the ATM once again.
"RED, do you have access to the bank's network? I need to know the local currency conversion rate and its buying power if you have further access to the larger network."
Suddenly, the start button activates itself, entering the game, but instead loading screen, a blood red text appeared saying: "Understood". Then the screen glitched, filling it with the single word "Understood." It kept glitching, multiplying and overlapping itself until a face made of words appeared on the screen. It was a wailing face, with wrinkles and two holes like a skull has instead of a nose.
Then the face just disappeared, leaving only a blank screen. Then words returned.
[Universal currency. No currency conversion. Currency: Lien.]
"Have you determined the buying power of the currency?"
[Broader internet connection, access denied. No soul to enforce. Too weak. Forgive Me.]
"It's okay, your lack of souls to feed upon is my fault too. What's the largest bill in this ATM right now?... No, tell me the bills from largest to smallest."
[500 Lien. 100 Lien. 50 Lien. 10 Lien. 5 Lien. 1 Lien.]
"Give me 25 each from 500 to 10 Lien bills. Then come back, and we will find you other devices that are connected to a broader network. Whatever hell this world's equivalent of the internet is."
[Understood.]
The ATM makes a clicking sound before returning the RED card and the money he requested. John looked at Shadow, who had already picked up the money and the card, and handed it to him. He desummons the card while pocketing the money; luckily, the bills weren't too big, and they fit his pocket without much problem.
[Ding! +100 OP.]
The ATM didn't turn back on. By forcing its way into the system, RED might have broken the ATM for good. All that adding up with it being theft from the bank and all ends up getting him 100 OP. Not much, probably committing simple arson would earn him more, but this one is safer, and he really doesn't have any use for it for now.
John commanded Shadow to guide him to the nearest store that's still open. He never spoke a word, but both of them still understood each other clearly. Perhaps it would become his favorite way to communicate. With Shadow's guidance and scouting, he didn't encounter any problems during his wandering.
The store Shadow guided him to was a mini-mall; it looked modest and small, one store building stuck between several multi-store ones. He asked Shadow to hide in his shadow, and it nodded, dissolving into his shadow, fusing with it temporarily.
There was a sound of jingling. When he entered through the door, the cashier looked at him. He was a middle-aged man dressed in a green shirt with a store logo. He didn't exactly look at John in a friendly light, but he didn't kick him out. He simply pointed at the camera located in the corner, a subtle way to say 'Don't try anything funny'.
He wasn't planning to anyway. With a nod, he entered the store, going through aisles, and he subtly glanced at the prices, getting a rough estimate of Lien's buying power. It seems like it's roughly equivalent to USD. He already had some idea when RED told him the bills the ATM contained, but now that he has confirmed it, that was at least one less worry.
Sixteen thousand is more than enough for him to survive a month; he just needs to be subtle about it. After picking a drink and a sandwich, he comes to the cashier to pay. The cashier, who saw the items John bought, looked skeptical while processing them.
"You need a bag?" He asked John shook his head in answer. He shrugged and told him the total of his purchase: "12.50."
John acted like he was rummaging through his pocket before pulling out two clean 10 Lien bills and handing them to him. The cashier took the money and handed him back the change with a shooing eye. John didn't bother with it, quickly picking up the change with the things he headed outside, sitting outside the store stairs, he started eating.
An optimal condition system put his new body didn't improve his physique, it simply meant it had filled his hunger and health bar. Perhaps he was suffering from sickness, the system might have cured him or brought him some time to find a way to cure himself, but it didn't touch anything like malnutrition.
'Now food is no longer a problem, I should find myself a shelter.' He glanced at the manhole cover and thought certain mutant ninja turtles lived in sewers. 'Abandoned buildings or buildings in progress are good too. I read about many big companies buying multi-store buildings to just use them as a tax write-off while leaving them to collect dust. Often happens with those ghost construction sites, always building yet never finishing.'
Well, as long as this world's law enforcers and politicians are as corrupt as mine were. He should also visit some computer cafes so he can get RED on the internet. He then noticed his shadow twitching a little. "I see, perhaps this might spare us all the bother of fulfilling basic needs of survival."