Systems

Similar to what happened when he entered the previous shop, his vision turned black. This time Ensen was calmer since he had already experienced the sensation before. That did not make him more comfortable about it, however.

After a few seconds, his vision returned. This time Ensen recovered himself almost instantly and began to analyze the room.

Looking around, he noticed he was sitting on a seemingly brand-new leather couch. To his left was a large window that overlooked an odd rounded stage with seats surrounding it. Looking at the outside with a closer look, he noticed that there were numerous other rooms that had windows looking down on the stage.

Oddly enough, there seemed to be people in each room. Well, various black silhouettes to be precise.

Hearing a wave of footsteps and chatter from below, he turned his attention towards the lower seating to notice that many human-shaped beings had begun arriving at the area and sitting down while chatting with others. While they were all relatively similar-looking, some had tails, pointy ears, and other peculiarities.

By now Ensen was incredibly confused. He wasn't sure why there were so many people here.

Deciding to check out the remainder of the room before focusing on the issue, he turned around and looked at the right side of the room. There seemed to be an odd-looking see-through fridge that held many beverages as well as a doorway which he assumed would take him downstairs.

Walking towards the door, Ensen tried opening it by turning the handle. But instead of the door opening a blue box met his action.

[Insufficient Academy Rank]

"Why can't I leave this room?" Ensen asked as he wanted to explore more of the peculiar building.

[You do not meet the requirements to leave your room.] The system wrote bluntly.

"So the people down there meet the requirements then?" Ensen followed up with another question, although he did not believe they met the requirements. Because while it would be fun to explore the building, this room overlooking the stage would be way more comfortable than being down there.

A new blue box appeared and declared a very important piece of information.

[They do not meet the requirements either. Their system is not a high enough rank to warrant a private room.]

"There are ranks to systems then?" Ensen asked in both confusion and amazement.

[That is correct. There are three main ranks for the system. They are signified by the prefixes to their name. The first rank is the Inception rank and has no prefix, for example, 'The Writing System'. They occupy the lowest ranks of the systems and do not have many privileges when compared to the higher ranks. The next major rank is the Heavenly rank. They have heavenly as the prefix to their system and are fewer in number but hold much more authority and power. The final major rank is the Supreme rank. We hold almost complete authority over the lesser systems and are very few in number. There are only eight Supreme systems in total. The people currently in the private rooms either have a supreme system or are very powerful entities with a heavenly rank system. I, the Supreme Academy System is, of course, part of this rank.]

Taken aback by all the information, a question quickly formed in Ensen's head.

"Wait, all of these people have systems? There's so many of them." Ensen said in shock, unable to believe what the system said.

[That is correct, all of these people have been graced by a system. For example, if you look in the private room opposite to you, the young lady with purple hair and eyes has the Supreme Empress System. She comes from the planet Remia and has just recently been given the system similar to you, just in the past few days in fact.]

Unwilling to believe the answer, Ensen took a closer look at the girl the system had mentioned previously. She seemed to be in her early twenties, probably around 23. She had radiating smooth skin and wore rather unkempt clothes. Some parts were ripped slightly, and it was faded from the amount of dirt that covered it.

Deciding to return to his seat, for now, he sat there for a few minutes before asking the system one final thing.

"So this is a sort of dimension like the previous shops you mentioned earlier right?" Ensen asked in confirmation.

[That is correct. All hosts of the systems have permission to travel here whenever they please, although auctions are not always ongoing. Users people may also trade materials or points. The other shops are owned by the individual system itself, however.]

Satisfied with his answer, Ensen rested his eyes for another minute or so before a loud wave of claps disturbed him. Standing up, he walked towards the window to see a young girl about 19 years old with very reserved clothes on. She wore a white and Grey turtleneck sweater as well as light blue jeans that were quite baggy, hiding her body. Her eyes were shimmer green and her hair was a natural light brown color.

Shaking his head in approval by her clothing choice, Ensen turned his head towards the audience below who were utterly taken by her beauty. Although she had dressed conservatively it only elevated her adorable factor to an even greater level. While there were a few people who were simply nodding their head in a similar fashion to Ensen, most were simply staring at her beauty and applauding.

"Hello everyone. I'm Riza I'll be your auctioneer today, it's my first time on-stage so please be nice." She said with apprehension and hesitation in her voice.

The crowd from below went crazy once again from her cute but shy introduction. After a few more moments the crowd calmed down.

With her cheeks blushing from embarrassment, she continued with her opening remarks.

"There will be 10 items auctioned off today. Is everybody okay with that?" Riza said with a voice lacking any self-confidence. Both of her hands were in front of her body fidgeting in nervousness.

Noticing nobody had any complaints, she continued by handing her right arm out straight. Suddenly an odd sight appeared, her hand disappeared into a small, little spatial disturbance. After about a second she retracted her hand that was now holding a small box.

Doing her best to put on a confident smile, she slowly opened the small box and showed off a small necklace that had a small circle that had eight individual colors on it.

Riza announced in a voice that had a pinch more confidence in it. "This necklace has the eight colors of the Supreme systems imbued onto it, allowing the user to take eight fatal hits and come out unharmed. The price for this necklace will start at 500 points."

Ensen was not really interested in this necklace for a few reasons. Foremost, he was incredibly poor. Also, while it could be effective in some situations, it would not guarantee his survival even if he was attacked. After all, automatic rifles would easily chew right through the protection. And most importantly, he did not have much reason to be worried about his safety at this point in time. While Ensen thought he would have to be a little more worried about his safety in the future, he still did not put too much of an emphasis on it. After all, he was just the principal of a private Academy.

Not interested in the item, Ensen turned his attention to Riza herself. She seemed rather new and uncomfortable around here, similar to him.

"System, you said that everybody here has a system, right? What sort of system does Riza have then?" Ensen asked curiously.

A blue box slowly faded through the roof and made its way down towards his eye level slowly.

[Host, please use your brain before asking questions. She has the Heavenly Auction-House System.] The system wrote mocking him.

Mentally face-palming, Ensen cleared his voice to try to distract himself from his hasty and foolish question.

Taking another look at the scene below him, he noticed that the bidding had just come to an end.

"Sold for 1350 points." Riza said as she snapped her fingers. Suddenly the box disappeared from view and showed up in the hands of the person who had just won the item.

Assuming the points had been taken from him as well, Ensen marveled at how fast the transaction had been completed.

Riza quickly pulled out the next item from the void and began introducing it. This time it was a rather thin sword that was completely rounded with a sharp pointed tip. It had a golden engraving with the name embedded on the handle as well as a golden handguard.

"This rapier was an early creation by the previous host of the Supreme Forging System. While it is lacking compared to his later works, its tip has remained remarkably sharp for the past decades. The price for this rapier will begin at 200 points." Riza said while resting the rapier on a nearby podium at the center of the stage.

Uninterested by the sword, Ensen asked the system "Does this auction have anything useful for me? It doesn't seem like it."

[While items suited for you are much rarer, there are definitely items that are auctioned off that would delight you.]

Nodding his head in understanding, Ensen turned back towards the auction and began paying closer attention, mostly in curiosity. After all, even there was an item that would help him a lot. He simply was too poor at the moment. He had too many uses for his education points that would be best suited elsewhere for the moment.

Thinking logically, the other hosts of the systems here would not have much, if any effect on him. He could possibly do some trades in the future if their world had interesting items he could use, but there was no obvious benefit besides that.

After around an hour, the auction had concluded. There were a total of three weapons, two pieces of jewelry, four pills, and one strange mystery box auctioned off.

"What is the mystery box for?" Ensen asked, feeling it might just be a scam.

[The mystery box holds an item from the host's system's store. While your store is more abstract, nearly all of the other systems have a defined system with prices and objects they can buy.]

Nodding in understanding, Ensen decided to head back to his home for now and think about what his next move should be.