Store

Leaving the house, they walked together towards the teleport for the district. Clicking 'Yes' on the portal, they entered the crafting district, feeling a bit dizzy.

Once their vision cleared, they looked around and saw a lot of people coming and going. The majority of them were sitting on the ground, holding a few items in their hands, as if preparing to trade.

The shops were empty, with none having bought one yet. Seeing this, Lucius decided to secure the best position and walked deeper into the heart of the district, arriving at the plaza with a big door-like structure in the middle, surrounded by a few stores.

Inspecting the outer appearance of the stores and then peering deeper inside each of them, Lucius eventually put a hand on one of the shops, and a system prompt showed up: ''Do you want to buy the store? It will cost 100 Gold.'' The options were 'Yes' or 'No'.

After carefully looking around and double-checking that it was the first store in the row, he confirmed his decision by clicking 'Yes', and then he received a special key. The key was a gold one, specifically designed to open this door.

Seeing the key, the system prompt displayed ''Store Key 1'', describing it as made of extremely strong metal and mana amplifying. This confirmed that it was indeed the first store in the city, and Lucius was now its first owner.

'"That's a fancy key," muttered Lily, looking at it with intrigue. She also was close to having 100 gold, missing around 20, but she was in no rush yet as she wanted to check what the gold was for.

Lucius agreed with her and inserted the key into the door, unlocking it with a satisfying 'click' as he turned it.

A small light emitted from the door, blinding  him momentarily, as if sending congratulations, and the system voice followed, ''The first store has been bought,'' announcing it to everyone in the city and drawing the attention of others around them.

More and more people gathered, hearing the system's voice, they formed a circle and looked at the first shop that had been opened.

Hearing the mutterings of the surrounding crowd, even more, people gathered, looking at Lucius with strange looks.

Some of them called him a cheater, while the majority regarded him as a monster due to his ability to gather 100 gold.

They knew that in this world, achieving such a feat was extremely hard, especially in these early days.

The majority of people around had less than 5 Gold, indicating that they had only managed to defeat around 5 level 1 monsters. Meanwhile, the elite hunters, considered the cream of the crop, had at most 50 Gold. Since gold was not tradable, it also reflected their ability and accomplishments in the world.

''Hello, my name is Tom. How did you gather so much gold?'' A person wearing wolf leather on the shoulders, with black hair, well-defined muscles, and a scar on his face from battle, stood at 1.8 meters tall and arrived with a group of 60 people. All eyes were curious about Lucius's remarkable achievement.

Seeing the crowd gathering around him, Lucius decided to share some information to avoid annoying questions.

"We killed Goblins and hunted wild animals," he explained, giving a brief overview of their recent accomplishments.

"That's all? You didn't find any treasure or something?" Tom seemed puzzled, as his group had been hunting relentlessly, and he had just reached level 4. He looked around at his group members, noting that the elites were at level 3, while the majority were at level 2. Tom prided his group on being exceptionally strong in the city, only accepting level 2 and above individuals.

Their reputation as 'Exterminators' came from their relentless hunting of goblins, always returning with trophies of bodies and injuries.

Tom had a keen eye for assessing people, and as he observed Lucius and his group, he couldn't shake the feeling that Lucius was indeed stronger than him. He carefully studied the members surrounding Lucius, trying to gauge their strength and capabilities.

Starting from the weakest, Tom noticed Charlotte and felt he could defeat her without any issues. Then he shifted his gaze to Kevin and Talon, feeling pressure, especially from Kevin. Kevin was level 3 but Tom didn't know this and felt pressure despite being at a higher level.

Then he moved his gaze towards the silver woman standing next to Lucius, and what he saw made his eyes widen. She had a weird aura, melancholic as if she found no opponents worthy of her, and she was looking at him in the eyes with a silent challenge as if asking, "Life and death duel? Yes?"

Seeing the intense stare from the silver-haired woman, Tom froze for a moment before awkwardly laughing. "Congrats on buying the first store, Mr...?" he turned to look at Lucius, trying to change the subject.

"Lucius, let's go inside," mentioning the group to follow him. Once inside the store, Lucius closed the door behind them, leaving Tom and the others outside standing awkwardly.

He felt relieved to be away from the prying eyes outside. He didn't like the feeling of being put on display like a zoo animal.

Before having a chance to look around the store, a notification popped up on Lucius's interface: ''Tom Hall'' sent a friend request.

Peeking from the window, Lucius saw that Tom and his group had started leaving, moving away from the crowded area.

After some thought, he decided to accept Tom's friend request, realizing that he wouldn't lose anything by doing so.

Inside the store, Lucius was amazed to find a large space, at least ten times the size of the room he slept in. The store was divided into two sections—the customer area and the crafting area.

The customer area was at the front, featuring displays and shelves for selling items, with a counter positioned at the end. Behind the counter, there was a door leading to the crafting area.

As Lucius explored the crafting area, ideas of using the store as a hub for trading started to form in his mind. The group had acquired a few items from their battles, such as goblin swords, which could be used as barter items for potential trades.

The crafting area was well-equipped with various workstations and tools, neatly arranged to facilitate different types of crafting. Large wooden tables served as crafting stations, a furnace allowed for smelting and forging, and a peculiar table with intricate arrays caught his attention.

Lucius knew that this table was used to craft magical weapons, including mage items and healer's items.

It could also potentially be used to upgrade swords in the future, though he was not familiar with the specific mechanics just yet. The possibilities were intriguing, and he looked forward to exploring and mastering the art of crafting in this new world.

''This looks impressive,'' mentioned Kevin as he inspected the area, running a finger along the surfaces to check for any dust. ''No dust whatsoever,'' he nodded, satisfied with the cleanliness of the place.

Lucius walked over to the smithy and carefully examined the tools. With the new skill he had acquired from the blacksmith, he felt confident that he could start crafting items, even if he had never touched a hammer before. As he thought about where to find a lot of materials, an idea struck him—why not smelt the trash items they had collected? It could potentially provide him with a significant amount of raw materials to work with.

Lucius asked the group to drop the weapons they had looted, stacking them in an empty spot, and began organizing them into small stacks. They had accumulated over 20 goblin swords, 10 axes, a few hammers, and some other miscellaneous items like spears.

Deciding to keep these items at the back of the store for iron, Lucius designated the back area as the group's base of operations from now on.

He then put up a sign at the front of the store that read, "Bartering items," and placed a few of the weapons on the shelves. The system mechanics ensured that the weapons placed in the store were safe from theft.

Upon unlocking the door, a rush of people flooded in, their excitement evident as they embarked on exploring the store for the first time.

Lucius observed the customers with a touch of awkwardness, noticing some of them reaching out to touch the walls as if searching for hidden mechanisms.

To break the silence, Lucius cleared his throat and addressed the crowd, "We have a variety of items available. If you're interested in anything, offer something of similar value in exchange."

With a hint of uncertainty about what he might receive, he awaited their responses, eager to see what they had to offer.