It was almost night time, when a sudden rainstorm engulfed the glowing City of Extended Delight. The temperature dropped, like the rain drops dropped; Dark, hazy clouds came in their stead and together with a thin sheet of ice, they glazed over the city.
In a quiet alleyway, devoid of any life, strange lights flickered incessantly out an ordinary building. The lights—was it not for the storm that wiped the streets clean—glimmered; eye-catching. The rain kept dripping, trickling down the hard walls. Illuminated by the light, a shield popped through the shadowless darkness. It read—
Store of Fates.
Simple and clean, written sloppily with black ink.
Shou, who had been resting these days, lay on the counter, bored. Almost a week passed since he started this business with Si, but no one had even stepped close to the road, let alone through his shop.
These days, he only had his memories to accompany him. Naturally, Si was there too, but her voice were closer to complains, droning on in Shou's head, further hampering his spirit. Thus, he would rather listen to the dewy rain dancing on the rooftop.
"System, open Chain Quest," he whispered listlessly.
A clear, glass-like window appeared in front of him.
[Chain Quest - Run a successful business.
First Chain Quest: Kick-start!
Description: What makes a successful business? Of course, it is by having costumers! Complete your first transaction. 3 days left.
Reward: Complete overhaul of the store.]
He clicked at the window (and around it too), hoping to see some change, but the thing was unmoving like stone, until it quietly shattered and faded away with the wind.
Shou exhaled audibly. He thought back to the moment he had received the Quest.
...
"Chain Quest issued, what does that mean?"
Si, as always, explained kindly. "A Chain Quest consist of several Quests leading us to a goal different from the Main Quest. Something like a Sub-story. Though I don't know if you understand what I mean by that. Take it like this: Different from individual Quests, which are a one-type-done deal, Chain Quests are all interconnected. One leads to another."
"Okay, I got it," Shou nodded.
"You do? That is good," Si said, "let us get started then."
The cold system voice rang out. "Analyzing environment, calculating distance, calculating space, calculating... Success. Creating necessary mechanisms. Reading Hosts experiences. Error, too much data. Program killed. Tasks fulfilled = 141. Recreating VAR-iable Core—" It paused. "—VAR-iable Core created. Asking Host to receive."
"Receive what," Shou blurted out, but his answer came immediately.
...
He turned his head, and the blue light reflected from his eyes—like two burning flames, one in each iris, they flickered, on and off—turned with him.
He looked at the strange cube in front of him. With the size of a small table, a slightly black luster (reminding him of corrugated iron), and a blue screen acting as the helm, it was unlike everything else in the store; it was unlike everything in cultivation. The thing whizzed silently. He thought for a moment on whether to touch it or not, but decided otherwise. Si had told him not to, though he was curious. The thing continued whizzing, but it was soon drowned out by noises of the storm, which had been joined by the winds now.
Shou closed his eyes and re-immersed himself in his memories.
...
"What do you think," Si asked proudly.
Shou stared at the cube in front of him, and his pupils constricted. "What am I supposed to think?"
"That it is nice obviously." She harrumphed. "I took it out of my room. I am not asking you to be thankful, but show some reaction."
"That is nice?" He walked forward and touched it. A cold sensation, like touching a sword, ran through his fingers. Guided by the pale light, his hand moved to the screen. As if the cube anticipated him, it flickered on and off.
"Ah, don't touch it needlessly. You will leave fingerprints."
He stopped and reluctantly took his hands back. "I don't know how far technology has progressed, but judging from everything I saw, I would say, not much. This thing in front of me looks like something out of the Spiritless Era. What exactly does it do?"
The cold system-voice started to explain. A green window appeared. [The VAR-iable Core is a—]
"Hehe, I am glad you asked." Si decisively cut it off, and the window disappeared, defeated. "I will take over from here, this thing will be the core of our store. Get it? Core? Like—nevermind. Anyway, it will provide you with the goods that we are going to offer here. Let me explain like this—"
...
A thunderbolt ran through the clouds, crashing, and cutting the seams off Shou's thoughts.
...
"—so do you get it?"
"No. Not at all." He shook his head.
"Huh, why not?"
Shou sighed and shook his head some more. "Where do I start? You said it would tap into my memories or something? So my brain? Is that safe?"
"Of course it is, what system deliberately risks his Hosts life?" Si frowned, and said it as if it was common sense. "Also, why would you care about whether something is safe or not?"
"Fair enough, but do you really think people would pay for something that they aren't sure of what it is?"
"There are many idio—I mean, many types of people in this world. Also, remember, this place is special. I can't pinpoint it, but I felt it, and I know you did too. So I believe we have a pretty high chance," Si said, "if we fail, so be it. A Chain Quest, even if failed, won't result in death—though it doesn't matter to you even if it did. We will simply move on to the next goal of ours. This store is just one chapter in a book, you could say."
"Indeed fair enough. After all, we have time."
...
The moody rain grew stronger, creating waves on the ground, washing away dirty leaves, sticks and trash. Now light flashed outside the store too, though it was only lightning drumming together an orchestral storm to the beat of falling water. The store soon started to smell like moldy, swollen wood, and Shou feared that it might not hold. But then again, what was the worst that could happen?
...
"Okay, what will the price be?"
"Well, I don't want to overcharge them, so depending on the offer, let's go with 10 spirit stones as the starting price," Si said casually.
Shou eyebrows shot up, and he coughed violently. He wheezed, to regain his breath and then asked, "just to be sure, we are talking about those white stones filled with Spiritual Essence, right? Weren't those things that only cultivators used? What's the conversion rate in this era?"
A green window appeared. [The City of Extended Delight uses gold coins. 1 spirit stone equals 1000 gold coins. The worth may be differ in other places.]
Shou counted in his head, until he finally nodded. "I see, we are running a robbers den. Why didn't you say from the start?"
"Hey the prices we offer are fair! Do you really think I have to use such shallow tricks to earn my money?"
'I really do,' Shou wished to say, but he held back. "So how do you want to split the money."
"I was thinking about 9:1. Of course, the 90 percent is for me."
"Fuck off!"
...
"Thinking about it, Si has been silently sulking ever since then," Shou muttered. She really did love money.
Shou hummed along with the watery symphony, carefree, as he dove deeper into his memories, his faithful companion at lonely times. His mind floated, like a small boat, drifting over the deep, endless water.
Bobbing up and down, it passed innumerable islands of thoughts and sometimes traveled together with the other fishes, but they would all eventually bend away, while it swam straight. It cascaded—not sure where, but somewhere. Soon, the roads turned muddy, the memories did, and the boat vanished behind the fog, with dark clouds piling right behind. Weather-weary, but still swift, straight and unceasing it continued under the relentless waves; and in his mind, and outside his mind, the two storms soon overlapped.
"Hey dummy, wake up," Si's voice broke through his dreams, "someone's coming."
Shou wearily opened his eyes. Who'd enter at such a time? But before he had time to sort his thoughts, the door rapidly slammed open, and in ran a young woman, soaking wet, shielding herself from the rain with her hands, but obviously, that did not work very well.