System shop unlocked!

After Home Bringer left, Shae and the middle-aged man walked toward the meeting room.

Carefully and slowly, they walked. They knew the headmaster was in great anger just by sensing the chaotic mana in the atmosphere.

"This is it. Open it." Shae said while looking at the giant double door. Behind it, they hoped to see the headmaster there.

"Why me? Just open it." The middle-aged man said.

"You open it. You're the one closer to the door." She pointed at him.

The middle-aged man looked at the door and the annoying girl and took a couple of steps back.

"..."

"Now, open it, since you're the one closer to the door."

"...Bitch." She pushed open the massive doors where they saw the headmaster near the window, seemingly dazed in the view.

They approached him.

He was still in a dazed state, even though they were near him. But that doesn't mean he wasn't aware of them.

"...What happened?" She asked in a solemn voice. She knew whatever happened between the Home Bringer and the headmaster, must not be a happy one.

"...The federation wants us under them."

"Well, that isn't new." Kevin, the middle-aged man, said. He was all cool. Not careful or fearful like Shae.

"...Now that we are the reason for the death of many future heroes, the struggle will be high."

"Well, it's not like we could've predicted the ambush. Fenrir did dirty and aimed at the kids when we were vulnerable. If the federation is that adamant in making us their hero-producing machines, why didn't their hero arrive before the actual shit happened?" She fumed.

"...Their hero arrived on time. Like a perfect hero, he arrived at the correct time and single-handedly took all the villains down. Saving the lives of the young heroes while the supposed safest academy in the area was doing nothing."

"Hea-head master, what are you getting at?" Shae was getting a terrible vibe from the entire conversation.

"You don't mean-"

"You know damn very well what I mean, Kevin." His voice was calm, but it held a certain authoritative strength in it.

"...Why? Did they really want us to be under them?" Kevin's voice grew solemn.

"Wha-what is going on? Explain to me?" Shae was a powerful A-ranked hero who would break through S rank soon but she was a bit low in the intelligence department.

"What he meant is that the ambush behind the academy was not instigated by Fenrir but by the federation itself in order to push the academy to join under them." Suddenly someone entered through the large doors. Her dark hair rhythmically swayed with each of her steps. Her purple eyes brimming with calmness.

"Dhanvi, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Is that the problem right now?"

"Oh...right. WAIT! What the fuck do you mean the federation was behind the ambush?"

"It's just as she says. They were the ones who ambushed us, not Fenrir." Headmaster finally looked at the trio.

"Why!? Why would they do that?" Shae's mana began to leak out due to her anger. "They killed innocent lives and they want us to be under them."

"Calm down," Dhanvi looked at Shae. "Being angry doesn't help us here."

"She's right. Being angry doesn't help us. What we should focus on is how are we gonna proceed from here. Now that we have to answer both the general audience and the federation itself?" Kevin chimed in.

"I'll deal with the federation. Meanwhile, I want the three of you to focus on the people and the parents."

"What are you going to do with the federation? You do know that you can't possibly take out the federation, right?" Dhanvi looked at the old and fragile man in front of her.

"I'm too old for that kind of adventure. Perhaps, on my next try." He looked at Dhanvi. "I'm going to talk to them. If what you said is true, then we'll have to prepare for war."

"They will also force the Authority to participate here. That won't be a good thing." Kevin spoke.

"We'll have to wait to see what happened there. Hold on until I return. I'm going to meet the chairman of the federation."

"Be careful and specifically don't do anything stupid."

"Oh, Dhanvi, don't worry about me." A white glow started to sweep over the old man. "And take care of your child. He is going to be in a lot of trouble."

"Wait, what do you mean--" Before she could even complete the words, the old man just vanished from the place.

"...Shit!" She cursed out loud.

*****

'Status screen.'

[Name: Desmond Shepheard]

[Hero Name: Leviathan]

[Title: The slayer of the Wolf (Given by a bunch of wannabe heroes)]

[Rank: Rank F+]

[Strength: F]

[Mana: E]

[Stamina: F+]

[Charm: C+]

[Intelligence: B-]

[Quests: ]

[Main Quest: Completed]

[Side Quest: Completed]

In the resting room, Desmond was checking his status screen. He hasn't opened it since coming back. He wanted to check whether he was making any progress compared to the last time. Since he wasn't sure about his rank before the ambush, he decided to wait until the ambush. He knew his rank after the events since it was a major event last time and, sure enough, his rank had jumped a whole sub-rank in two months. Not just his ranks, but all of his status has improved considerably from last time.

'Whoa, look at that intelligence. Was I always that intelligent?'

[Yeah, you wish, bitch. The intelligence boost is because of your previous memories and not something you were born with. Not to mention, if you were intelligent, then you wouldn't have died last time.]

'...'

[...]

'...Fuck off.'

[He he, what yo-]

'Rewards.' The system was cut short as Desmond commanded to open the rewards tab.

[...Bitch.]

[Rewards]

[Side Quest: Accepted]

[Main Quest: Pending]

'Main Quest.'

[Main Quest]

[Reward: System shop]

[Accept it: Y/N]

Desmond's eye gleamed with excitement as he saw the words 'System Shop.' He has read plenty of novels to know that the system shop has all types of valuables in it. Though pricey, he can always achieve it by completing quests.

'Y.'

[Accepted the reward: System Shop]

[System shop now will be added to your system]

[Please be patient, user]

[Integrating system shop with the system, now commencing]

[10%...30%...70%...100%]

Desmond's heart pounded each time the percentage increased.

[Congratulations, the system shop has now integrated with your system. Enjoy.]

'Yes!'

[Calm the fuck down, princess. You'll wake up the sleeping beauties.]

'Fuck you, shithead. Open the shop.'

[...]

'...'

[...]

'...System shop.'

[System Shop]

[Buy] [Sell] [Search] [Filter]

The system shop then showed so many weapons, apparel, potions, and many other unknown things. It was confusing just to see all the things there.

He clicked on a random cape in his mind.

[The brooding cape of the Batsy]

[Rank: SSS+]

[Worn by the dark knight himself before passing to the other world.]

[Price: ?????????]

'Huh, SSS+? What the fuck is SSS+? Is that a rank? And why can't I view the price?'

[You can't see the price because you're not eligible to buy it as of now. Your rank is too low for that type of thing. You won't even be able to hold it in your hands. You'll be dead before that.]

'...I see. What about the rank? SS+ rank is the highest recorded in the history of mankind. Even the Home Bringer is just SS rank, right now. So, who the fuck had a rank like that?'

[Don't compare this world's standard with the outside world. Your Home Bringer will be dead in a second if he set a foot on the celestial world. There are many things that you won't find meaningful as of now and there are so many weird things in the shops too. The shop is universal for everyone across the known universe and ~~~~~~~~~]

The system was abruptly cut off. Not kind of stopped talking, but kind of just shut down completely and he wasn't able to feel the system in his body.

'This is weird. Hey shithead!' He called out, but no answer came back. If it were normal circumstances, then the system would've pretty much rebuked him with beautiful language.

'...Ugh...' He had a bad feeling about this.

*****

Far, far away from the earth, a little light blob was floating in an endless void. Conscious or unconscious, the blob was motionless apart from the natural floating.

[...lda]

A thundering sound entered the blob. Suddenly it woke up. Feeling dazed by the sudden shut off from the annoying human.

'What happened? Where am I?' The blob looked around the endless void, only to find an endless number of stars in the eternal darkness.

[HELGA!!!] Again, the thundering voice pierced through the blob.

The blob turned around to see a massive light, which was 'lightless' in the middle of the dark void. It knew very well what was the light. The blob trembled in fear at seeing it.

[My lord.]