The blanket of the night covered the continent, the people of Alvaton had closed the doors of their houses. Some stray dogs were brawling on the streets, devoid of humans.
The night guards were patrolling on the roads around the palace. They could hear the sounds coming from the second barrack.
Eric and others had worked the entire day in the barracks, but the first crossbow was still not ready. While assembling the crossbow parts many of them were misfit for their places causing the delay.
The old bowyers were trying hard to make the parts with exact dimensions but they were heavy eyed and tired from the entire day of work. They were afraid to speak out to the prince and continued working, hoping for someone to stand up for their just cause.
One of them was about the hammer his hand, but Evans saved him. Evans said to Eric who was on the other side of the table, "Eric, let's come back tomorrow. It's enough for today. Let them rest."
The bowyers looked at Evans with overflowing gratitude in their eyes. God heard their pleas. They shifted their expectant eyes to Eric.
Eric was too excited to notice the weariness of the bowyers. When he looked at them, he realized his fault. To make up for his mistake, he said, "Please take this small gift for your hard work and please come tomorrow early".
He handed old men ten silver coins each. The drowsy men grunted while taking the coins but weren't dissatisfied anymore. Ten silvers were more than what they would have earned by working for half a month in the factory.
…
Eric was staring at the ceiling lying on his bed. He was in deep thought, He suddenly asked, 'I got the notification of completing the first mission, where are my rewards.'
[Dear host, the rewards could be accessed by selecting rewards in the primary system interface or directly by opening the system store. ]
'OPEN system store' eric commanded. A new blue screen opened before his eyes,
[ You have earned 3000 credits and one chance at spin.
Please select the item category to view products.]
Eric thought for some time then said, 'Open agriculture department. Show me things which could help me complete the above mission.'
[Your current mission is to increase grain production by twofold. The system advises you to buy a high quality grain seed.
You could buy the level two hybrid seeds, it would cost you 2500 credits for the upgraded seeds. It increases the crop yield by 200 percent. Gene editing has been used to produce these seeds, thus they are resistant to changes in environment and disease, and also contain high amounts of nutrients.]
Oh! If he had used the system store then he wouldn't need to make plows or repair the canals, he thought and cursed the system internally. 'Okay system, give these things.'
[Your request had been accepted, 2500 credits deducted, 500 credits remaining.]
He waited patiently for the seeds, his eyes wide open to not miss the chance to see the how system brings in the seeds. Would the system use portals to ship the seeds, he wondered, what would happen if I entered that portal, would it would transport me to another world?
[Please select a place of your desire to exchange the seeds. And don't even think about using the portal that system would use to transport seeds, it is for non-living things, if you would enter the portal you would also become the same.]
Erics was stunned for a second by the system's warning. Then, he heaved a sigh of relief, it's good that this darned thing could read his mind, or the portal would have transported his dead body to an unknown world.
He would need the seeds of this world to exchange for the hybrid seeds. But, it confused him, why would the system want the poor quality seeds of this world.
Anyway, It would take time to gather the seeds. Eric said, 'System postpone the time of seeds exchange. I need one more thing, are you selling the blueprint of the crossbow designs.
[ Process of seed exchange stalled.
You cannot buy technologies or designs using the credits. For that you need to use the tech cards which could be gained by spin wheel. You have a chance at spin. Would you like to use it.]
He nodded, the system opened the spin screen. It was the same as the spins in the games, A circular wheel marked with different prizes. He pressed the spin button.
[ Congratulations host!, You received two tech cards. Would you like to use them for exchanges.]
Eric was delighted, he was first skeptical of system spins as games on Earth only gave garbage. But the system was too generous, it gave him two cards in his maiden try. 'Yes, give me design for gun'
[Sorry hosts request cannot be fulfilled now. Host didn't possess minimum requirements for a gun. You don't have gunpowder or steel for making the gun. Please try after fulfilling the requirements.]
All the excitement on Eric's face vanished, he felt like being thrown from heaven to earth. 'Why the heck you give these cards, if you don't want to share the technologies and why you didn't inform me earlier'.
[System advises the host to take one step at a time. System have strict regulations which every host must follow, those who do not follow would be punished heavily.]
'Okay, let's not blow this. Give me some automatic crossbow designs.' Eric changed his mind on hearing the word punishment. This system is too much over powered and the easiest punishment it has was spending a decade in void. No sound, no light, and no one else. He shuddered even thinking about it. He didn't want to go to that place
[ Request Accepted. One card remaining...