Book Pavilion

The capital city of Bevan was even more populous than it was in reality. This was because Bevan had a lot of instant and RP dungeons when compared to other cities. 

Dungeons in Parallel were not as regulated as reality so one can raid them without much hassle. It should be trying something different, Zane thought.

He looked around. People walked up and down the street in large numbers yet he did not feel as clustered as he should have. 

How did they solve the problem of crowd density? No, not just crowd density! What he would give to study Parallel, the brainchild of ISF!

He walked towards the first bookstore he saw. It was a small bookstore. He knocked and entered inside.

It was not a large store by any means. It was a little narrow and almost cramped. The bookshelves were filled with so many books and books were scattered all over the place.

A middle-aged man sat at the counter watching a battle match. 

Human. Zane concluded.

The man looked up from the screen with a frown on his face. Seeing it was a customer. He sighed and paused his video.

"Welcome. Which book do you want to buy?" His tone was impatient and his eyes kept glancing back to the screen.

"These three bookshelves."

"Three…" The man paused as he gazed at him, "You want to buy all the books in these three bookshelves."

"Yes." Zane's voice was calm without fluctuations.

"They are all skill books."

"I am aware." They were clearly skill books as their appearances were much neater.

"Virtual or Reality?"

"Virtual." 

The man smiled widely, "Good! Good! I will give you a discount. Please sit, let me calculate the total cost and wrap them all for you."

As there was no seat in the store, he took out his and placed it behind Zane. He opened the fridge and brought out a cold bottle of soda, placed it before Zane, his every moment flattering and conscientious.

The man then calculated the prices of the books on the shelf.

After about 45 minutes, he turned back, only to see that Zane had neither sat down nor had he touched the bottle of soda.

His eyes met the stone white one and he shivered a bit. This man felt very weird.

But it did not matter at all. He didn't discriminate. Especially as doing business was only getting harder and harder. If he didn't think of a way to sell off some books, he might end up not paying the rent for this year so no matter how weird this customer was, he is a lifesaver.

"Sir! There are 420 skill books in total, they cost 1,270,090 Rands. I will remove 70,000 Rands from the amount and also transport it free to your location. You just need to sign here." He quickly took out a buyer contract as if he was scared that Zane would change his mind.

Zane wanted to haggle but he felt it was not good for his image so he signed the contract. He heard the beep signal the transfer of the money from his account. 

Although the money dented his account, it didn't dent it much. Adding the red packets he got from his relatives during the new year, his birthday money, pocket money and his dividend from Canary altogether were close to 10 million Rands. Yes, he knew rich people are really annoying.

After paying, he left the store. Along the way, he visited two other stores before he arrived at his last bus stop. It was a large mall called 'Copper Coins' in the Snowfall district.

This mall has the largest trading centre in the entire capital city. It had over a hundred floors and there were countless equipment and skill books within, coming from the entire planet.

Exactly! The Copper Coins sold merchandise from the Empire, the Federation and the Alliance. Talk about a multinational enterprise.

"Honored customer, welcome to Copper Coins. There are different kinds of items for you to choose from today. We have goods from all corners of the planet. Rest assured that they are all genuine goods at fair prices. We hope you enjoy yourself here…" An automatic voice rang out.

Zane entered the mall. The first floor was the reception. He looked for a seat and sat down. The reception was beautifully furnished with comfortable seats and snacks to boot.

After a few seconds, another voice rang out. "Honored Customers, would you like to shop in person or would like to access the Copper Coins net."

A transparent bar appeared before him and Zane clicked the button for the net.

Each floor of Copper coins had at least twenty shops. The hassle it would cost visiting the shops was something Zane had no intention of finding out.

He quickly connected his Atlas to the net and saw the message signalling his welcome to Copper coins net. The first page was to verify the kind of item he wanted. He clicked the button for books. 

Genres of books quickly popped out. There were so many. Fictional books had at least thirty genres dedicated to it alone. The non-fiction section, however, was the one that he was more interested in.

He did not rush but began to pick from architecture, the very top of the list. Normal books were far cheaper than skill books so there was no pressure.

After visiting the book's sections, he went back to the home page and bought some cheap but exotic skill books. 

He played, signed the contract and left. 

Umbra Street was not far from the Copper Coins mall. Zane could feel his excitement mounting. Although he had designed the base, he had not seen it yet. He increased his pace.

He finally stopped at number 14. He glanced up at the building.

It was a three-story pagoda with an octagonal floor plan. A unique structure of interlocking beams and crossbeams made entirely of wood. 

On the pagoda was an enormous signboard, upon which two words were written in beautiful calligraphy.

Book Pavilion!

Even in a street with many interesting buildings, it was extremely eye-catching.

Some people were outside the building, pointing fingers and making guesses.

"They have not yet opened." A woman said to the man beside her. Her voice was laced with disappointment.

"You are too impatient. It is in the name, Book Pavilion. What else would they be selling if not books."

The woman shook her head, "I just have this feeling…"

The man was used to it and sighed, "Not everything is a conspiracy or a hidden plot. Do you really like the detective class that much?"

Listening to their conversation. Zane regretted that he could not instantly switch accounts so he could fan the flames in the woman's mind. Such beliefs were very beneficial to him.

He walked into the building. He drew the pagoda as detailed as possible. If he was a teacher, he would probably give himself an A but the building still exceeded his expectations. It was worth the 100 intel points he paid.

The door was arched, with a five-foot tall sculpture on both sides. The sculptures were carvings of ancient mythical gods. Zane could not recognise them, however, he had time to carefully take them apart. 

He entered the pagoda and shut the door behind him. The empty shelves on the first floor were neatly arranged. It would probably take a lot of time and effort to catalogue all the books he bought.

Zane could feel all the blood in his body rushing to his brain. Finally!