Synergy At The Emporium

Outside of the Harkness Estate, they drove past sceneries with trees, and for a while, Vincel just stared out through the transparent half of the car door at the beautiful nature all around.

And then the scenery changed. There were still trees and pieces of nature around but they were no longer the focus. The focus was now multiple buildings all with fascinating and industrial designs.

"A City" Vincel mumbled.

Zay'in heard him and smiled.

"Welcome to Stardy City. The closest city to the Harkness Estate."

Stardy City looked familiar to what Vincel had seen or known from his World. Except he would have sworn that no City had ever had the perfectly planned and fascinating look Stardy City did.

There were skyscrapers with stylized banners and there were other buildings ranging from the look of apartments to the grand design of restaurants.

He was even sure he saw a massive building labeled 'Bank'.

Anything a City was supposed to have, Stardy City had it while also looking incredibly spacious and peaceful. All components working seamlessly like a well-oiled machine.

The road Zay'in joined was also being used by other cars. There were no traffic lights but with how all cars moved in an organized fashion despite hardly reducing their speeds, there didn't seem to be a need.

Vincel's eyes fell on the other cars around and ahead of them and he saw there was no exhaust on any one of them. They just hummed with the Mana Capsule powering them and used it up without any harmful by-product.

'The air must smell so clean'

Overhead, there were bridges also being used by other cars, some of them looking commercial considering how many people were in them.

Alongside the bridges and sometimes above or below were multiple rail tracks all with starting points at one building and ending at another while also connecting to create a railway network above the city.

Zay'in saw Vincel looking at them.

"Overhead rail tracks. Direct and fast ways to get from one station to another" she told him.

"How are they staying up?" Vincel asked.

Besides being connected, the rail tracks were not balanced on anything else and they could on for miles before connecting to another building.

Occasionally, a long and fast train would hum quietly as it move across the tracks.

"Enchantments" Zay'in answered simply.

They drove for a while longer and arrived at a complex that was four stories tall with a sign that read;

LARKY'S EMPORIUM

Underneath that, two words were written in smaller script;

For Adventurers.

"'Adventurer' is a general term." Zay'in said.

"I can tell" Vincel answered quietly.

Zay'in parked the car and ushered Vincel out of it before sealing it up with a touch of her hand.

She led him to the door and once they were in, Vincel was in awe.

The lovely exterior of the Emporium did not do its interior much justice;

The lobby alone was massive with a large sign that was directing arrivals to all manner of different segments. From clothes to Armor to weaponry, to trade centers for Beast Cores. There were even holographic displays to advertise the products.

Zay'in had a hand over her lips as she looked around.

"I'd have said we l start with clothes but since you need somewhere to store them, let's start with Storage choices instead."

Zay'in led the way and as she did, Vincel heard someone call out,

"Miss Zay'in! Miss Zay'in over here!"

Zay'in ignored the calls like she hadn't heard them.

She also ignored the looks she got from shoppers. The looks were mostly from men and they were very appreciative.

Zay'in just mumbled as she led him to an Elevator with transparent doors.

"A starter storage choice. I know just where to go"

The elevator took them two floors up and then Zay'in led him to a store decked with pouches and satchels of different designs.

The storekeeper was a man who appeared to be at least in his seventies. His hair was grey, his black eyes just a bit sunken, and he probably would have been 5'9 in height had his back not been hunched.

His croaky voice was kind enough. Although it had the sleazy undertones of a shrewd businessman.

"Welcome back Miss Zay'in. Oh and who's the young gentleman?"

"My name is Vincel," Vincel said.

"Well, mine is Rudwin," the Old man said with a toothy grin.

"Vincel is here for his first-ever storage choice," Zay'in said.

The man paused and then stared at Vincel long enough to make him feel uncomfortable.

Then his dry lips stretched into a weird smile.

"The first huh? Hmm, the first is always special. You never forget the first" Rudwin said and then turned around.

He entered the back of his shop and while he was there, he called out,

"Ring or Bracelet?"

Zay'in rolled her eyes.

"Satchel or Pouch," she said.

"Oh alright, I have just the one. Just made it last night"

As Rudwin spoke, his voice got louder which signaled he was coming back. He showed up almost as soon as he finished speaking with a blue and brown leather satchel in hand.

Rudwin placed the Satchel on the counter and ran his hand over it.

"This will do nicely I believe. Like all my products, the enchantments were stitched in with care. Try it"

Rudwin handed it over to Vincel who took it and put it on with the strap crossed over his chest.

'This- This feels so secure' Vincel thought in pleasant surprise.

It was as though the Satchel and its strap became a part of him. They were snug against his body in a way that made Vincel feel that they wouldn't shake around and disturb him even if he was moving around aggressively or excessively.

He also liked the color scheme.

It never even came to his mind to ask to see another one and judging from the proud look on Rudwin's face, that was the point.

"I can see you like it."

"I do," Vincel said while rubbing his hand over the leather material of the Satchel.

Rudwin nodded.

"Good. I don't do custom jobs but I always pick what matches every customer. I haven't failed yet. You should imprint it with your Mana now. A sign of ownership." he said in his croaky kind voice while gesturing to Vincel.

"Oh. Okay," Vincel said.

"Right here." Rudwin pointed to the flap of the Satchel.

Vincel placed an index finger against the flap and harnessed the Arcane Mana he could feel emanating from his midsection.

He passed the Mana into the flap and watched with wide eyes as the entire Satchel glowed and shook before going back to normal.

Vincel looked up at Rudwin.

"That's it?"

He wasn't disappointed. He was genuinely just asking if there was more he should do.

Rudwin nodded with a kind smile.

"That's it."

As soon as Rudwin was done talking, Vincel's vision was blocked by an alert from the system.

[User's ownership of a Storage item Dectected]

[Activating Inventory Synergy...]

[Inventory Synergy Activated.]

Vincel looked confused.

'Okay- What's Inventory Synergy?'

[Inventory Synergy: The Early activation of the System's inbuilt Storage space ability through the use of any storage items the User stakes ownership on.]

[Advantages of Inventory Synergy:

All Enchantments built into the storage item by its maker become heightened.

•Fastening Enchantment: Enhanced

•Protective Enchantment: Enhanced x3

•Spatial Storage Enchantment: Enhanced x3

•Ownership Enchantment: Upgraded from simple lock-down to complete evasion from all thieves]

[Limitations of Inventory Synergy:

Storage can only happen through the storage item.

I.e All items to be stored must be put into the Satchel to be stored.

User will not be able to store items by making them vanish into thin air.]

'Damn, now I actually want to see how cool it would look to make things vanish.

Rudwin really put four Enchantments into the Satchel? I'm not sure why but I find that impressive.'

Although Vincel had no way of testing the enhancement of the rest of the Enchantments, he was able to detect the Enhancement of the Fastening Enchantment almost immediately.

Somehow, the Satchel strap felt even more secure against Vincel's body compared to before and the entire Satchel felt connected to the System. Like an extension of the strange entity in his head.

"So that will be 30,000 Verlans or 30 Gold coins. Whichever you prefer" Rudwin said with an interesting shift from kind to business shrewd.

Zay'in sucked in a breath.

"Pricey," she said.

Rudwin said nothing and just smiled.

Vincel wondered if Zay'in would negotiate for a better price. She didn't.

She just brought out a small draw-string pouch out of her storage pouch and she counted thirty gold coins to give to Rudwin before ushering Vincel away.

"Come back again, soon" Rudwin called to their retreating backs.