Building the Store

The city had a dark aged look with a slightly grandiose feel. Upon entering past the gate is a straight road with shops lining both sides of it. The road is slightly slanted in an upward incline the further you go in. At the end of the street, it splits off in two directions forming a t pattern. A library sits at the end of the road directly in front of the gate showcasing the importance of knowledge. Above the library in the distance you can spot a large black castle looking over the city.

Ashtyn made his way into the store, and looked at the small library. Oddly, there were only 3 podiums and a counter in the entire store.

"Pay 1 gold for 1 hour," an old man in a cloak appeared behind the counter as he stated in a scratchy voice.

'Fuck! I have no money,' Ashtyn began to panic how was he supposed to do anything without any money to begin with.

{Check your pocket… Try, your other pocket.}

… 'I haven't even checked a pocket yet,'

{Of course you wouldn't understand that quote}

As he reached in his pocket he found a single gold coin as well as 3 silver coins. 'Looks like I got 1 hour,'

He placed the gold coin in the podium as it lit up. Various titles flashed past the top of the podium looking very much like an I Pad from Ashtyn's old world.

{You can directly download the information, from a chosen book, into your brain for the low price of 1silver}

'You really want me to be poor, although that does seem useful,' He selected 3 books titled, History of Orilosnet, The founding of Nightmare City, and Mana and its Influence on Everything Around Us.

The information poured into his brain as if the knowledge was there to begin with. Other than a slight headache there were no obvious shortcomings.

With the new influx of knowledge Ashtyn had a better idea on what the world was like. First, the world revolved around magic and swords, as the system kindly hinted in the missions page. But, what it didn't show was that people use magic beasts to help them fight and cultivate to a higher level. This is done through a mutually beneficial relationship that increases the intelligence of a creature when it chooses to contract with a human. That creature then gets its own mysterious world that increases its cultivation speed and recovery time in some third dimension that can only be accessed after the magic contract is formed.

When either figure in the contract improves in cultivation the other is also positively impacted. While the magic beast takes orders from the human companion they cannot be forced to do something they don't want and the death of either parties results in a negative impact on the others cultivation sometimes permanently crippling them.

Finally, with magic beast companions, a contractors' cultivation in certain elements increases in relation to the beast they contract. For example, if a person chooses to contract a fire wolf their affinity with fire will increase making it easier to learn fire related spells.

Of course he didn't just learn about magic beasts and their relation with people; Ashtyn also learned about the place he currently was. A strong Sword Saint and an Immortal Undead Lich fought for some unknown reasons. They fought in the air above an ocean. To one side was the coastline with a large mountain rage adjacent to it.

The Saint noticed an opening on the Lich and slashed his sword forward, cutting down the Lich, It tore a large ravine through the mountain face exiting through the other side tens of miles down. He then flew off to some unknown location while the Lich stayed in the ravine to heal. This led to an undead aura permeating the Ravine, now named Bloodstone Ravine.

The Ravine had two entrances/exits. One was by land from the direction Ashtyn had originally come from. A Warrior Orc tribe guarded it. The other end was currently unguarded, while it led into an ocean infested by large sea serpents.

Happy with the knowledge he accumulated, with very little effort, Ashtyn decided to start his next two missions. He decided to do his run first while looking for that second exit mentioned before. It should currently be unoccupied with direct access to the ocean the only "unguarded" exit to this undead ravine; if you don't count the sea serpents.

"These missions are so easy, I should have this done very soon."

Ashtyn ran out of the city and began running past the walls, in the opposite direction from which he came.

Ashtyn planned to have his store on the coastline due to 3 key reasons. First, if Ashtyn wanted to make contact with the rest of the world, without going through a tribe of Orcs, he needed this area. Second, from what Ashtyn had comprehended thus far, he was likely going to be selling magical creatures. Which included various water creatures as well.

Finally, the coastline that was mentioned in the fight between the Lich and the Sword Saint was now a Dwarfish Harbor.

'If I'm opening a store, location is important'

Ashtyn didn't want to limit himself to selling exclusively to undead; having access to dwarves could increase his customer base.

Ashtyn reached his destination out of breath and sweaty from the long run, slightly exceeding the mile he was supposed to run. He observed the surroundings and besides a few moldy skeletons, Ashtyn didn't see any enemies that would add to the struggle of claiming this spot.

While the skeletons seemed uninterested in Ashtyn he approached them from behind with a large rock in hand. Upon nearing the unsuspecting prey he slammed the rock into the skeletons skull killing it instantly. This unfortunately attracted the attention of the 3 other skeletons in the area. They moved towards Ashtyn in a slow manner easing Ashtyns nerves realizing how weak these undead were.

After finishing clearing the area Ashtyn called out to the system, "I'd like to choose this spot for my store."

{Analyzing area…}

{Area approved… distributing rewards… Step back as the system builds the Magic Shop and the breeding base}

"Breeding base?"

Before his eyes a building formed from thin air amazing him despite its shabby appearance.

The store was old and poorly built looking like it might fall apart. Behind it was a slightly better built structure, which was likely the breeding base?

This was slightly lack luster but it was now Ashtyns new store. "I'm not sure anyone would be interested in buying anything from this store,"