Chapter 56: 55. The Observer

Oh, another title?

[Title acquired: The First Customer]

 

 

The First Customer

System Trading Stations are like regular shops, and they have finite resources. Early bird takes the worm, right? You’re the first Earthling to enter a System Trading Station after clearing the tutorial! - You’ll have a permanent discount of 10% on all merchandise.

 

The discount was underwhelming on paper, but it meant a lot to someone who had a huge number of tutorial points.

I dismissed the system interface, and scanned the interior of the System Trading Station.

It was spacious, with an area of at least a hundred square meters. The floor was completely white, and my dirty legs didn’t leave any markings as I walked.

Cleaning Runes are rather impressive!

I looked ahead of me, and I saw two counters. There was a person behind each counter, and their clothes resembled business suits. They provided customer service and took care of the transactions.

Both of them were women, and they looked like regular humans. They had the same physical and facial features; they had blonde hair and blue eyes, and they looked gorgeous.

However, this was just a ruse from the system.

The system customizes the clerks’ look depending on the customer; humans met human clerks and so on and so forth.

It was a useful feature; it allowed for the comfortable usage of this facility.

Each counter had a different function. The leftmost one offered items to hosts for tutorial points, and the rightmost one allowed people to sell their items for tutorial points.

I walked ahead at a brisk pace and took my chance to verify my bag of holding.

I opened it and scanned its contents. I took out my Soul Identity; it was a crucial item for me today.

Everything else seemed to be in pristine condition. I sighed, Loki didn’t do anything weird to my items.

I thought he would empty my bag of holding at the very least…

Something in the bag of holding grabbed my attention; it was a rolled scroll, and this was the first time that I’d seen it. I took it out and opened it.

Suddenly, the scroll exploded in a strong flash. The explosion didn’t cause any damage, but my eyes were blinded for around twenty seconds.

Fuck! Is he enjoying this?

As soon as I regained my eyesight, I saw a couple of system screens in front of me.

[Congratulations! You activated the InterGalacticLine]

 

 

 

 

 

 

I sighed, I wasn’t going to call him for quite a while because I had too many things on my plate.

I dismissed the system screens and went ahead toward the left-most counter.

“Greetings, sir,” said the woman, “Can I see your Soul Identity?”

I gave her the ID, and she scrutinized it for a couple of seconds.

“Lovely, I am impressed that you decided to visit such a remote area,” she spoke, “Is there something specific you’d like to buy? I can give you a filtered list of items if you’d like.”

I already knew what I wanted to get; it was one of the most useful items on this list. Furthermore, there was only one Observation Shard available.

“I’d like to buy Earth’s Observational Shard,” I said.

“Hm, that’s a good decision,” she replied, “Accept the transaction, and you’ll get your item.”

This Transaction will cost 45000000 tutorial points.
[Accept]	[Decline]

 

 

 

 

 

The item’s original cost was fifty million tutorial points; the discount already saved me five million points.

“I accept”, I said. A small round gem appeared on top of the counter. It was as small as a marble, and it glowed with a white light.

[Earth’s Observational Shard]	(Epic)
Every Planet has a coordinating center, and observational shards can peer into it. -This shard unlocks the ‘Observer’ system feature. (‘Observer’ gives detailed information on Earth’s current state)

 

I thanked the clerk, then held the Observational Shard in my hand.

Sweet! Stella’s guild had this item in my past life, and it was one of the most important reasons for their prominence.

It required direct physical contact to work, and it was rather powerful. It worked like an encyclopedia; it had information on Earth’s resources.

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Whoever used it would know about the location of every single dungeon available, every single treasure trove, and all the resources.

However, it only gave vague information when it came to living creatures. It could tell the person about the races that lived in a certain area, but it didn’t give their exact numbers, names, or levels.

This is my first step toward creating a powerful guild; I’ll have access to a lot of information, as long as it was about a natural resource.

My next step was to find Ratska; the Gnome who would later be dubbed ‘The Brewer’. I needed his skillset to create certain potions.

In my past life, he was a member of Stella’s guild. They manufactured Permanent Stat potions, and they had no competition. The Observational Shard gave them information about the dungeons that contained Trolls, so they didn’t need to worry about the lack of Trolls’ essences.

As far as I know, I can buy information on a certain person’s location using the System Trading Station.

“I’d like to buy information on a certain person’s current whereabouts,” I told the lady behind the counter, “His name is Ratska, and he’s a Gnome.”

The clerk’s eyes flashed for a couple of seconds before she shook her head.

“The total number of results is 10578. I am sorry, but that name is common among Gnomes,” she said, “Do you have any more details?”

I thanked the clerk for her cooperation, but shook my head to her question.

I didn’t know anything about the little guy, except his name and race. He was a myth among commonfolk, and he almost never made any public appearances.

I knew what he looked like, but he didn’t seem that different from other Gnomes to me.

There was no other option; I had to use the system shop.

I hope the information is cheap, but you never know what to expect from Loki.

I opened the System Shop and asked for information on Ratska.

Suddenly, a system screen appeared in from of me.

[System Admin]

-I had to go through your memories to find enough information about this little guy, but I am positive that I got him. -His current whereabouts will be automatically transferred to your brain once you read this message. -Consider this a freebie, I am willing to help you as long as you reciprocate.

 

New information popped into my head; the Ratska that I looked for was currently in Osaka, and I had an image of his current living place.

The System Shop proves its usefulness once more…

I put my new item in the bag of holding and went out of the System Trading Station. I really needed a new spatial pocket, but I decided to buy a new one once I found Ratska.

I used [Zoom] to teleport to Tokyo; it was the closest place to Ratska among the ones that I’ve visited before.

*

In a distant place, two cloaked figures walked side by side. One of them was considerably taller than the other, and the difference in physique was staggering too.

They had a looming presence, and their shadows wavered with each step they took.

It was nighttime, but there was no moon to be seen in the sky. The two figures walked on a road surrounded by trees, and no sounds could be heard.

People of diverse races crowded the road, and the air was heavy around the place. The passengers looked at one another with ferocious gazes, but all of them kept their distance from the two mysterious people.

“Lazar is still nowhere to be seen,” one of the cloaked figures whispered, “I’ve never seen a slacker like him! He’s always absent when we need him the most; it’s infuriating.”

“Calm down, Vivian,” blurted the other figure, “I already sent a mysterious message to the new prospect; this will buy us enough time to get our shit together.”

The woman sighed, then opened her mouth once more.

“What do you think about the kid’s latent ability?” she whispered, “Do you think it’s what the current Usurper is looking for?”

“Maybe, maybe not,” replied Albert, “His latent ability is time-space based, but I’m not sure about its prospects. We’ll know more about it if we get an opportunity to meet Jason.”

Vivian nodded, and the two of them kept walking in silence. They took a left turn once they reached a certain sign; it read ‘Upper Tavern to the left’.

They walked through the forest, and it took them around ten minutes to reach their destination.

It looked like a normal Tavern; it was filled with people, and they seemed in high spirits. Some of them sang, and others danced.

“They never cease to disappoint me; these guys are always loitering around,” said Vivian, “They’re tarnishing the legacy of our predecessors.”

Albert sighed, then he kicked the Tavern’s gate causing its doors to snap. They broke apart, and many portions flew around. He entered, and told Vivian to follow him.

She shook her head, then entered the building.

There were eight people inside, and all of them had different races. However, all of them were humanoid sapient creatures.

The noise brought their attention to the door, and some of them screamed in discontent. However, they stopped in their tracks when they recognized the newcomers, and silence pervaded the building.

No one made eye contact with Albert, let alone complain about his violence.

“What do we have here,” he spoke as he walked around the place, “I believe I told you yesterday that we’ll resume our activities, and that this place needed a renovation.”

Albert looked around, but no one spoke.

“Mister Albert,” said an old man as he bowed, “We’re lacking funds, that’s why the maintenance is delayed. As for the party, I’ll take responsibility for these guys’ carelessness.”

“Raise your head, Lev,” replied Albert, “These people are adults, and you’re not a babysitter. As for the funds, they’ll no longer be a problem, these drunkards will work as mercenaries starting from tomorrow.”

Many people flinched at Albert’s words, but no one complained.

“It’s a shame to see our district’s members so miserable,” said Albert, “We might’ve been in a state of decline in the last two years, but it’s no longer the case. There is still hope for us to rise from the ashes, and I’ve found a promising lad.”

Everyone raised their heads and looked at him with determination in their eyes.

Vivian coughed and move in front of Albert.

“It’s true; we’re lucky this year. We scouted Lazar a couple of months ago, and we have a new promising candidate,” she said, “We’re already in a good position, and we’ll rise even further if we play our cards right. Everyone here will split up; you’ll notify all the districts within our Universal Sector that we found a candidate who could help us with our goals.”

The people in the Tavern seemed invigorated, and they stood from their seats.

“His name is Jason,” said Albert as he nodded, “And I’ll meet him personally soon.”

#

Special shoutout to:

chris

Water Dragon

GenericKane

Bladesunder

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