An old oak tree stood a few minutes outside of town, carved with the repetitive initials of lovers past. Beneath its swaying boughs, Jasson explored his love, touching it gently to reveal its tender secrets. The new app store 'DISS' blossomed before Jasson, and he caressed for a lifetime.
In actuality, it was fifteen minutes. Jasson had one bar of service after all, so he might as well make the most of it.
Jasson found the app he needed in the free section. The app was EXchange, and when he opened it a drop menu of currencies spread before him. Jasson selected 'Gold Coin' from the drop menu and a coin slot appeared on his screen.
"What?" Jasson said, "I just want to know how much it is. Maybe...no."
Feeling rather dumb, Jasson tried to slide a gold coin in. Right where the coin made contact a tiny magic circle appeared, like the locker Cabul had used at the pawn shop. The coin slid easily into the slot, and a little ding chimed once the coin passed all the way through.
The value above the slot, which had read 0.00$, now reads 21.38$. Below the slot was a tacky-looking button that said 'Deposit'. Jasson couldn't do the math off the top of his head but it looked like he was loaded.
Jasson put a second gold coin in and the amount total read 40.02$.
"So each coin isn't the same," Jasson said, holding up another coin to his eye, "Okay. Still, I didn't know gold was this cheap."
In the multiverse there are constants, and one of these is inflation. In a system of golden coins, they are clipped, sweated, and shaved until the coin faces look rather perturbed. Only the veneer of gold remained on these coins, but that was enough.
"One thousand eighty-four," Jasson said, "Not that bad, although that doesn't buy much these days. Over a hundred-thousand W-Bucks so about fifty skins. I wonder how far it goes here if I- OH @#%$^!"
Jasson frantically searched the app but there was no 'Refund' button and no way to get the money back out of the app. He was stuck with no usable finances. Again.
Jasson sighed, giving up. The Deposit button connected to Jasson's VenGo so at least he could summon Charon or buy more apps. Jasson transferred the money and kept scrolling in his newly discovered app library. There were so many options, yet they almost all cost money. In fact the free section only held 3 apps. The EXchange app, one called FITbyte, and another called SD. So, like any teenager, he started with the free stuff.
"Well, this is fishy." Jasson said, scrolling through the SD description, "I guess the lack of reviews makes sense. Just one from- Kami eh? All right. Another typo-filled boomer review. This app is 'amazing' and 'gives you more storage'? That's such an obvious scam."
Even if it was free it might lag his phone or even give him a virus. Jasson decided to ignore SD and went to FITbyte. It looked like some kind of fitness app, with stats and stuff that Jasson didn't have the patience to read. He clicked install and a message popped up.
Reboot Necessary. Continue Y/N?
"Sure," Jasson said, pressing yes, "Why n-"
Then the world went black.
****
"UNCLE!" the Clergyman shouted through the chapel, "Uncle!"
The Clergyman burst through the bishop's office door with triumph in his eyes and exhaustion in his gasping mouth.
"Yes, Nephew?" The Bishop said, struggling to attention, "Don't knock down my door. What is it?"
"You were right," the Clergyman gasped, "About Cousin Jasson. We're being tested!"
YOU ARE READING
The Smartphone Saga: A Distracted Journey of Spells and Signals
FantasyTruck-kun fell from the sky. It was a terrible accident involving several casualties who found eternal rest. Unfortunately for Jasson Boar, a normal modern teenager, death was just the beginning of his problems. After a brief conversation with Kami...
