Making Waves

In the futuristic city of Goud, vibrant lights illuminated bustling crowds of people, machines, and a myriad of shops. Amidst this lively scene, Sun sat in disbelief, his gaze fixed on something held in his hands.

Another month had passed since Sun started his steady grind towards learning the formidable Runic Inscription Arts.

The boosted stats were Void sent and he thoroughly lit incense towards the void before quickly putting it out. The void hated shiny things after all. He just didn't know what else to do and one incense could last at least 10 days on and offing them. Was a very affordable solution. 

He also did it as a small prank to his favourite void since sparking an incense in its name must send some sort of vibe, or spark toward the void. Although there were some... small retaliations from the void. 

The occupation section in his status was always flippantly offensive. 

All of that was beside the point as the real shocker was the numbers in his bank account. 

His Runic inscriptionist career had only started before he was already taking off. His ability to consistently and almost perfectly recreate a new runic plaque made it so that he only spent a short time learning before he was already able to produce it with a success rate of 75% which he felt was ridiculous. 

He had earned enough to actually rent a spot in this massive city after just one month. Although he would have to keep working he wasn't worried about not paying rent. 

It all started when he started using his homemade runic inscriptions around the store to help minimize his workload. 

Thinking back he couldn't help but think that it was genius. 

His Cat Boss was already slightly impressed with the first few air-purifying runic plaques and was even purring with content seeing him add a bunch of dust-repellant inscriptions, temperature control plaques and even upgraded air-purifying runic plaques around the store. 

Walking in now, the store felt like a summer breeze with a head of blue skies and fresh air. 

Customers walked around and always complimented the Boss for the increased quality of the store. This helped her sales and even provided a subtle mood enhancement to all those shopping there. 

But what really stepped it up, was when some of his latest creations which were water-purifying runic plaques that he left on the counter one day caught the attention of a shopper. 

He was planning to install a water fountain in the store and add a plaque to it so that he and customers could enjoy a refreshing sip of water but the customer actually wanted to buy the water purifying runes he made instead. 

The Cat Boss seemed lazy but whenever she saw a sale, her business attitude took over. 

Cat Boss immediately negotiated a price and the customer took off with three water purifying plaques and a smile before Sun even realized what was happening. He of course knew but he was just speechless at his boss selling his things without even blinking an eye or asking him. 

However, the Cat Boss wasn't called the Boss for nothing. 

He never had a chance. Even with his enhanced stats. Business cats are scary. 

His work contract was immediately renegotiated, and he got a raise, a new contract for Runic Inscription work, and a better work schedule to boot. He was told to take the rest of the day off and was kicked out before he even coughed out his rebuttal to her whole selling off his things. 

The whole process took less than 5 minutes before he was outside with some new papers and the sun shining on his face. (Ha! the Sun shinning on Sun)

With that settled, he had more time to work on and learn his Runic Inscriptions and he would only hang around the store a little bit every day. He got a 40-60 deal in the Cat Boss' Favor for his product sales. He also didn't get a chance to negotiate that either, before talks about all the storefront fees, rent, existing customer base and some little guilt tripping from taking him in were thrown his way. 

What followed was the Cat Boss and the customers spreading rumours.

The Sales started ramping up as well and the quality was never an issue with his products and that's how he got his first month's share of the profits. 

He got $10'000 to his name that day. This was the equivalent of 10 months of work in his previous position. 

"I just got to do this nine more times and voila, magic crystal!" Sun pumped himself up as all things had a purpose and he was so focused it was scary. Fantasy world, magic powers, unknown mysteries, a whole fucking city of aliens, yet this man was sweeping floors and shelves at a normal job, going to the library every day for runes and plants while living out of a sketchy shack as though the rest of the world didn't exist. 

Sun did consider the usual plots and paths but he really couldn't do it. He was a pragmatist and not a protagonist, one thing for sure was don't put yourself in a shit situation without knowing it. 

As a low-key dude from the little blue planet, he knew that being confused and doing things without prior knowledge can just as well lead you to shoot yourself in the foot and there is no plot armour! (Ahem..)

So silently he was gathering his information and resources while slowly getting stronge...smarter. 

"I'll just save the money. Not like I have expenses and that magic is a basic requirement for any fantasy! Patience Sun, Patience, soon hehehe." He cackled maniacally for two seconds before composing himself and returning to making runic inscriptions. 

So just like that, the unknown riff-raff dumpster rat had become a certified beginner-level runic inscriptionist. Sun was giddy from the first real paycheck and couldn't help but want to continue all night. 

The days went by and the nights were quiet. 

Sun was a firm believer in: "Avoid The Trouble!". So the days were peaceful with him and his Cat Boss raking in money and Sun raking in UP. Sun had even stalked a few normal workers from nearby to see their routes and how they avoided trouble. 

'I'm so thorough. Tsk Tsk.' 

Social interactions with strangers made him cringe so he avoided them like the plague but stalking the plague was fine apparently. For research purposes of course.

One week. Two weeks. Two Months. Time continued to fly right by. 

While right under everyone's nose, a veritable menace sent by some ungodly void was brewing and steadily growing.