Chapter 23

"So strong," both girls stared at me in astonishment.

Before they could get angry at the injuries of their two pets Bell quickly healed them. "Thank you! Please forgive us! We are your number one customer from this point on," They both bowed and quickly asked for forgiveness.

DING

{Quest Complete: Alaric: The integrity of the store has been questioned. Train the two customers pets and raise their level to 8, while learning at least one new skill each; Time Limit: 24 hr}

{Reward for completing quest: Apprentice Body Cultivation method}

"So are you interested in buying anything from the store? I can guarantee its quality," I figured every bit of money counts. Of course a lot of this had to do with my unfinished quest; gather 50 energy. Currently, I needed a purchase of 50 gold to complete the quest.

We walked to the front of the store followed by the two pets, Mozilla and Morla. They both looked around the store and after selecting their items placed them on the counter. "We'd like to purchase the Vial of Wood Ape Blood, and the Stamina Potion of the Novice,"

While the vial of blood wouldn't be very effective on either of their pets, I couldn't be certain they didn't have a pet which was more compatible. But, due to Morla having the water affinity, she could still use the blood which would likely increase her health by 10, and agility, speed, and strength by one point each. "That'll cost 60 gold,"

"Oh could we also leave our pets to train again?" The nicer of the two friends decided to ask.

"Sure… I realized that I should probably know a regular customers name, I am Alaric," I decided it might help to actually refer to them by a name, versus mean one and nice one.

"I'm Cora, and this is Adeline," Cora was the nicer of the two, being roughly 5 feet 6 inches tall, with brown hair and eyes. Adeline was the less pleasant of the two, being a bit taller than Cora, with red hair and brown eyes.

"It's nice to meet you and as long as you no longer call me a scammer, we should get along fine. It's gonna cost 160 gold," I decided a little teasing never hurt.

And in response to that Adelines face turned red as she fished out her gold, "I'm sorry, it won't happen again… thank you," she placed the gold on the counter and nearly ran out of the store.

Cora stood on the side flabbergasted, "Thank you, should we expect the pets training to be done by tomorrow again?" She grabbed the Vial of Blood from the counter.

"They will be ready tomorrow but, don't expect as good results as was demonstrated today. They will each learn one new skill, or level up at least once,"

She stood there with her mouth agape, "… Okay… Thank you," She quickly rushed out of the store.

I simply shook my head and asked Phoebe to take the two pets to the back of the store to train with Vixey and Bell. And as I reached out to grab the gold from the counter I received a notification.

DING

{Quest Complete: Alaric: Open store and accumulate 50 energy}

{Reward for completing quest: Mystery Box, increase of inventory space by 5}

This brought me up to a total of 15 inventory slots; and as far as the mystery box I was eager to test it. I opened my inventory and selected the mystery box.

A bright light shone in the air, as a small cube began spinning rapidly until it suddenly burst. Slowly a small egg appeared in front of me. 'Now I have a choice, I was planning to spend some energy to buy the mystery egg from the shop for my second pet; should I still buy it or save for the shop upgrade?' After thinking for a while I asked the system, "Jericho, if I buy an egg and it hatches can I place it in the store to sell?"

{Yes}

It was one simple word that quickly made my decision. I quickly accessed the system store and bought the mystery egg.

"Wait?! How do I hatch the eggs?" I grew nervous after remembering that one of the options for a store facility, when I received the shop, was the Pet Incubation Room.

{You must wait to upgrade the shop to level two and receive the Pet Incubation Room, or hatch the egg naturally using the natural ingredients it has an affinity with}

"How do I check the affinity?"

{You can't as they are both mystery eggs}

"And you couldn't fucking say that before I bought it?!"

{First warning}

'And this is how the system always wins!' my mind began wandering as I slowly calmed down. I figured the best way to upgrade the shop quickly, was to make more potions and sell those high ticket items. But, I still had to wait for the plants to be ready for harvesting. Luckily, due to the magically properties of the greenhouse, many of the plants could be harvested relatively quickly but, the Fire Lily, Ice Lily, and Thyme needed a bit more time before they were ready. Which was one ingredient from each potion, making it so we couldn't even make one.

This would be a long couple days trying to accumulate money. I decided while I was waiting might as well practice my Mana Manipulation, as I hadn't tried it yet, as well as my new Body Cultivation Technique.

{You have received Apprentice Body Cultivation Technique, Resilience of the Cockroach}

"FUCK"

{Second Warning}