After looking at the statistics shown in the character status, Joseph decided it was time to have a look at the shop and see if there was anything available to him to buy. After all there should be, the System has just been upgraded and with the amount of experience shown in the AME bar, he should be able to buy something right?
"System, I would like to look at the Shop please" - If anybody else had a system, surely they too would understand the excitement being felt by Joseph.
.....
(Of course Host, please wait)
.....
Suddenly the System menu appeared in Joseph's mind, in the middle of the menu a loading bar appear, to Joseph this was a familiar sight. He had seen similar bars appearing in games and other sources on the internet while waiting for it to load up back on Earth. After the System had upgrade some changes could be seen how the menu was being displayed.
Not long after a menu had finished loading and it appeared to Joseph as such:
[Character] [Bank] [Shop] [Quests]
[Host: Joseph Lee]
[Status: Dead (Pending Rebirth)]
[Location: Realm of Souls]
[Strength: 1/1]
[Agility: 0.9/1]
[Intelligence: 0.7/1]
[Abilities: Merchant Bargain (2%), Merchant Golden Touch - Cooldown 5 days]
After admiring the new look, Joseph selected the Shop tab to have a browse and found the menu to be broken up in different stages:
[Character] [Bank] [Shop] [Quests]
[Starter Merchant] [Grand Merchant] [Planetary Merchant] [Realm Merchant] [Multiverse Merchant]
[Health] [Armour] [Weapons] [Skills] [Abilities]
As Joseph was looking at the sub-menus that had come up, he became excited at the prospects shown, planetary, realm and multiverse merchant? He was looking forward to the day when he could achieve that level, why you might ask? Because Joseph only had access to the Starter Merchant tab, all the others were locked.
"Excuse me System, could you tell me why the other Shop tabs are locked aside from the Starter Merchant? Is it because of my low level?"- Despite already knowing, Joseph knows it's better to be sure the reason behind things occur, clarity brings peace of mind.
.....
(Of course Host, and you are correct. The System is currently only at level 2, the Grand Merchant unlocks at level 50, the Planetary Merchant unlocks at level 250, the Realm Merchant unlocks at level 500 and finally the Multiverse Merchant unlocks at level 1000.)
.....
"..." - Joseph was completely stunned at the disparity between his current level and his pitiful experience, to the sheer level required to unlock the final multiverse Merchant Stage.
After the momentary state of shock, good thing he was dead or he would have a stroke and die all over again. He started browsing the only section available to him, as he moved between [Armour], [Weapons], [Weapons], [Skills] and [Abilities]and soon he came to a realization, while all items under [Health] were available, allot of the items in the other Shop tabs were grayed out, rendering them seemingly unavailable to Joseph.
"System, how come there are items that are grayed out? Does that not defeat the purpose have having them unlocked?" - Joseph asked the system questioningly, wondering what could the possible reason be.
.....
(Warning Issue detected, missing filter in the system.)
...
(Missing subroutine located, implementing filter tool, reboot required - 5 minutes downtown)
...
(Thank you for your patience Host)
.....
The sudden warning announcement by the system had startled Joseph, while the system was down, he noticed there were some souls walking and gathering towards the center of the city and with nothing else to do Joseph decided to follow and see what was happening, he still had yet to locate where to go for rebirth.
As he mixed in with the rest of the souls, they slowly made way to what looked like a large altar in the center of the public square, and on the altar Joseph saw a tall hooded figure, its face was hidden under darkness, it was impossible to detect the creatures facial features. It extended it's right arm out and started aiming to various passageways. - "There are 10 passageways, each passage way has a portal that will lead you onwards to 1 of 100 new world. There are various worlds and not all are suitable for your base soul. If you are human then it is not recommended to choose a world of poison or a world of lava, again these are not suitable starter planets for your rebirth." - The sound emitted resembled the grinding of bones.
Joseph started to wonder what kind of creature it was, sounded so horrible he had never heard anything like it. Just as Joseph was about to about to ask which world were suitable for humans the creature spoke once more.
"Humans proceed to passageways 2, 5, 7 and 9"
"Orcs and goblins proceed to passageways 4, 8 and 10"
"Elves, dragons, fairies and the other races proceed to passageways 1, 3 and 6"
As the creature finished speaking, it slowly vanished leaving the myriad of races to choose their respecting world to reincarnate into.
.....
(System rebooted)
...
(Thank you Host for pointing out an issue with the system, before you reincarnate, it is recommended you finish the quests you have available in the Realm of Souls)
.....
Soon Joseph had finished off his remaining quests and started moving along towards passage 2, the first of the passages for the human souls.
"System, could you explain to me the grayed out items in the shop?" - Before going into the passage way Joseph wanted some clarification on the matter of items in the shop, mostly because the System rebooted and din't give him an answer.
.....
(Of course Host, the reason for certain items being grayed out is due to the items being incompatible with the Host, this does not prevent the Host from buying these items by any means, you as the Host simply wont be able to use them.)
.....
".... What? then whats the purpose of even buying them?" - Frowning at the stupidity of the system, whats the point of buying things if you can't use them?
.....
(Has the Host forgotten the purpose of the system? It is to be a merchant, as the Host, you can buy any item available on the Shop and sell it to others. The System automatically converts the price of items in the Shop into a higher cost of the currency of the local civilization in which the Host finds himself in. The payment for the product will in turn be converted into AME which will be displayed on the System bar.)
.....
"System should I pick my skills and abilities while I am here or in the new world?" - Out of curiosity Joseph had never done anything like this, and as he had become more trusting of the System, he asked its opinion.
.....
(Of course Host, the Host is currently in the Realm of Souls, as such it is recommended the Host to choose skills within the new world, current available skills may change from the current location to the new world host will be traveling to. Good luck)
.....
Joseph contemplated and finally selected World 45, from the notification along side the portals, Joseph found this world to closely resemble his old world, the huge difference was the word magic, but what really got Joseph's attention was technology co-existed with magic.
"This will be very interesting" - Joseph had never been as exited as he was right now, even the fact he had gotten a System of his own and such an interesting one at that, the concept of magic was exciting to him and with that he leapt into portal for World 45.....
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In the depths of the Realm of Souls, directly beneath where the Soul city was situated, sitting on a throne of the dead, a dark hooded figure had it's eyes open observing the souls seeking rebirth leave to new lives, and soon closed them with a release of breath filled with the very essence of death.