A couple of hours prior.
Gerard was busy taking care of the customers that had entered the establishment. In his mind, he wanted Bandit to hire another person; the task he was handling now was too much.
He thought about it for a while but decided to forget it. If you consider the daily customer, this was just one heck of a day. It would be unwise to just hire someone every time this happens.
It might decrease the load, but it would be considered a waste. Bandit will more likely add other staff if the store reaches a certain threshold of daily customers. By the looks of it, though, that day is not near now.
It was at this time that the clock struck noon.
Gerard would not have noticed if his system didn't appear right before his eyes; if not for his focus, he might've screamed just now and been labeled as a crazy employee of the DoubleZ Gaming Shop.
Albeit this was not his primary source of income, it's still better than being a high-profile multimillionaire. He had watched enough anime and manga to know that being in the limelight is not good; it will always lead to a bad scenario.
It's always nice to be careful
[Alert: Noon had now again struck the user]
[Hail will award the user an Orb of Light as a daily reward]
[Orb of Light gained x1]
With his thoughts, he opened the orb floating in his face.
It broke, and a series of white lights filled Gerard's eyes.
After a couple of seconds, the light dispersed, and what was left was some kind of talisman floating in the air.
[Misfortune Talisman x1]
"Misfortune Talisman? Why in hell would I need that?" Gerard rose from his seat, which startled a customer who was ready to pay.
Gerard apologized, but the supposed customer was weirded out and politely thought of an excuse to leave the shop.
Gerard was embarrassed and sat down.
He was also weirded out by the fact that such a useless item was in the system. He could only curse in his mind.
After a few seconds, he gave the item a chance and opened his system again.
—
[System of Everything]
Total Coins: None
Total Fame: 306
Arsenal:
Stock Market Expert level max
Misfortune Talisman
Store: Unlock at 1000 Fame
Chance Raffle: Obtain a Light Orb (100,000 Coins Needed)
—
He 'clicked' the Misfortune Talisman as it released information about it.
[Misfortune Talisman]
A silent but dangerous item that attacks the soul. The soul given this item will receive misfortune for a whole 1 minute.
Gerard was held back by the information. Only 1 minute! What the hell is this trash item?
"The condiment yesterday was more valuable than this item," Gerard sighed as he thought maybe the system had a wrong side to balance it.
He didn't know he would happily smack an annoying fly with this item later.
Current time.
Bandit decided to close the shop early; at just around 5:00, he wanted to have a small party. It might not even be considered a party; they were the only ones in the room.
From 5:00 P.M. onwards, they went out and bought food for the night; drinks such as alcohol were included.
They had also ordered food to be delivered to the shop. Bandit was thinking of partying all night long. Gerard didn't refuse since he felt it was a time he would need to just relax.
The time of struggle that spanned a year will be resolved in just days.
The duo returned to the shop and arranged all the foods and drinks they gathered at the Bandit's office.
The party started, and they talked all night long.
Mostly useless kinds of stuff, but Gerard's heartfelt thoughts were present.
He nagged about his experiences. Even though he was slightly drunk, he could control blabbering about his system.
Even if he said it, Bandit would probably not believe him; This is more on not embarrassing himself towards his boss.
The night was long, and so was the talk. Bandit never shared any details about his family and mainly spoke of the gaming shop business he is currently handling. Bandit also didn't mention anything about his wealth, probably because money talks can sour the mood of a conversation.
At the end of it all, both were happy with the situation and drank all of their worries.
Morning came, 6:00 A.M.
Bandit was still sleeping on the bed on the right side of the office; Gerard had just been awoken. The latter slept on the couch where they had drank and partied.
Gerard cleaned the room and went downstairs, leaving Bandit, who was still deep asleep on his bed.
No wonder he always likes to be here. There is a foldable bed hidden at the back of the wall.
"He's not even a workaholic," Gerard sighed.
Downstairs was empty. It's not like there were no computers, but no people could be seen even outside.
"So this is what it feels like to open a shop in the morning."
The silence might be weird, but the feeling was quite alright and refreshing.
There was still an hour or so before the shop formally opened, so Gerard decided to use the employee computer to make an account on Banzrant.
The competition was a 2-day event in which the first day will be held today at around 10 o'clock.
The event has a rule that only players with an account can play.
If someone thinks it or just sees that rule, they can see how flawed it is.
Who in the right mind would play something at a tournament without playing it? The second thing is how the competition can handle the vast amount of players. The event is a player vs. player competition, so how would they handle thousands of players? This would take more than two days if one thought about it.
Gerard booted up the computer and opened Banzrant.
After logging in, he created an account and customized his character. He just let it be random since why would he care about his appearance?
After he picked a random character, the screen loaded, and a bright light flashed.
Gerard's character had arrived just a few minutes after the cinematics came into view.
He also didn't skip it like Chris and watched it fully.
There were quite a few players, maybe because of how early the time was.
He searched for an appropriate quest for his level and finished them in a few minutes. Gerard played until it was about 7:00 A.M. already.
Bandit came downstairs to see Gerard playing and joked, "You'll not receive your wage if you keep playing without attending to my customers."
"Okay, I'll do that when I see those customers you're talking about."
They both smiled, and Bandit unlocked the front door.
Two people were outside waiting for the shop to open.
Chris and Zy greeted Bandit by the front door.
Bandit only remembers Chris since Gerard gave him some clothing and even gave Chris a day to use the computer.
Bandit gave a slightly questioning look towards the two before turning back.
Chris was dumbfounded but decided to ignore it. Bandit was the boss; he wouldn't dare retort against the shop owner if he still wanted to use the equipment here.
Gerard saw Chris and waved at him; the latter waved back.
He paused the game to stand up, not literally, though, since you can't stop the time in an online game.
Gerard got up before he went in the direction of Chris.
"Why are you here so early?" Gerard asked as he eyed Zy, that was with Chris.
"I was planning to play a little bit before the start of the competition later…Um, can you move your eyes?" Chris asked Gerard as he saw Zy lowering her eyes.
"My bad, I'm just curious about what's the thing?"
"The thing? What thing?"
"You know…that thing," Gerard said, pointing at Chris and Zy.
Both blushed, and Chris dodged the question and went inside the shop.
Seeing that Chris dodged the question, Gerard didn't push the topic any further and set up their computers.
After showing their seats, Gerard went back and continued playing the game.
Chris and Zy didn't waste their time and also logged in on Banzrant. They would not be leveling up but joining the Heaven's Door.
Heaven's Door is a separate server that lets participants enjoy player vs. player tournaments. The amount of cannon fodder made it not as efficient as a real tournament. The most it can do is act as practice, someone will be lucky if they are able to face someone as strong as themselves or even stronger.
An additional function is that friends can actually challenge each other.
Chris and Zy were still not friends in-game; they were out in real life the whole Dol. They were busy having fun themselves.
*Dol - another term for the day of the Descent of the God of Light, or Descent of Licht.