It was now the next morning, birds were chirping, flowers were blooming, and kids like Clay were playing outside. The sun was, as always, in all its glory, blasting heatwaves in full power, not leaving an inch of the poor village uncovered with its eye-stinging brilliance.
Clay rubbed his eyes as he sat up on his bed, yawning, Clay sighed thinking about how he had to make three more maps to complete his quest.
'Looks like I gotta go run my stand again...' Clay thought before switching to another topic.
'Come to think of it, I haven't checked most of the unavailable items in the system shop, if someone were to really use the fate scissors then I can't stop them, so what's the point in living in fear? It's not like anything would change' he had accepted that if he would die accidentally by someone cutting his fate string, he would at least die after knowing what other mind-boggling items there were in the system shop.
'Open system shop'
*Ding!*
Shop|
\Buy miscellaneous items that can range from A to Z/
[Search Bar]
SC: 10|
Available Items:|
[Quill]
[Matte Paper]
[Papyrus Paper]
[Jar Of Ink]
[Book: Guide To Mapping]
[Blank Scroll]
[Brush]
Page:1|
[(<)/>]
Locked Items:|
[Fate Scissors]
[Abyss Turtle Chestplate]
[World Tree Paper]
[Time-Stop Watch]
[Book: Guide To Traveling V2]
[Mysterious Music Player]
[Multiversal Crystal Orb]
Page:1|
[(<)/>]
'Let's see, hmm... after fate scissors is... this' Clay looked at the abyss turtle chestplate.
Clay clicked on the Abyss Turtle Chestplate button with a shaky hand.
Another screen appeared.
Abyss Turtle Chestplate|
\Chestplate made from the tough shell of the void-traversing Abyss Turtle, any and all attacks directed at the wearer will be transported to a random void between universes/
Requirements: 50,000,000 SC, Level 475, Mapping Stat: 225|
Unable To Purchase|
Clay widened his eyes as his jaw dropped.
'How can a mere chest plate teleport things?!? Also, what is a universe???' Clay was puzzled and confused.
He thought about it again and slowly accepted that such an item exists, as his maps can also teleport things, so what if another item does the same? Quite hypocritical for Clay to be amazed.
'Then begs the other question, what is a universe?' Clay was genuinely confused as he had never even heard the word 'universe' before now.
He knows what void means, but he doesn't know what connection it had with the universes.
'Nevermind, I'll just check out the other items' Clay placed the thought at the back of his mind, not knowing that he would soon realize what a universe meant.
Clay looked back at the shop and then tapped on [World Tree Paper].
World Tree Paper|
\Fiber extracted from barks of the world tree, turning into a sheet of paper after manufacturing, this paper is very durable/
Requirements: 45,000,000 SC, Level 470, Mapping Stat: 220|
Unable To Purchase|
"That's it?" Clay could only mutter out a short sentence in response to reading the item description.
Compared to the other items, the world tree paper seemed to be a little lacking.
'Moving on' Clay clicked on the next item below the world tree paper, briefly glancing at the name of the item before being shocked after double-checking the item name.
Time-Stop Watch|
\Stop the time in select universes, only you or beings at $^)%#$% power level can move during stopped time/
Requirements: 40,000,000 SC, Level 470, Mapping Stat: 215|
Unable To Purchase|
Clay froze, as if time stopped at that moment, not because of time actually stopping but because his inner thoughts were in turmoil.
'What' Clay could only produce a single coherent word of thought after reading the description.
'It can stop time in this 'universe' thing again, but most importantly, what are those symbols? Power levels? Who are they?' Clay quickly regained clarity, growing wary about those beings that even the system could not name.
'Anyway, those are way out of my league, better continue growing stronger before thinking about that' Clay decisively thought.
He clicked on the next one.
Book: Guide To Traveling V2|
\A guide to exploring other universes/
Requirements: 37,000,000 SC, Level 450, Mapping Stat: 210|
Unable To Purchase|
'Universe again, what is a universe?' Clay was irritated at not knowing what a universe was.
He closed the screen before moving on to the next item.
Mysterious Music Player|
\Play music from any universe, design can be changed according to the user's will, default appearance is music player from Universe-1/
Requirements: 35,000,000 SC, Level 445, Mapping Stat: 205|
Unable To Purchase|
'Universe this, universe that again, argh, what is a universe?!' Clay grew frustrated at the lack of information, ignoring that the item could play music.
Multiversal Crystal Orb|
\A crystal orb used for deducing information about anything that exists, will exist and doesn't exist in all universes/
Requirements: 35,000,000 SC, Level 440, Mapping Stat: 200|
Unable To Purchase|
'AGAIN! This 'universe' thing appeared again!' Clay was slowly losing his mind, he wondered if all the unavailable items are just universe related. This was just too much.
Sigh.
Clay let out a sigh, knowing that it was useless to think about such things.
'Sooner or later I'll find out about that, but for now, I gotta set up my stand' He thought as he picked up his desk and carried it outside to set up his stall.
..
.
It was now the afternoon, the sky was painted orange with a hint of yellow, and Clay had just finished packing up his stall that was really just his desk and a sign.
He looked over at the money he had earned today. His pouch was happy and full, he almost couldn't close the opening of the pouch due to how much coin it contained.
'After this, I'll give some money to Mom and go to Jim's store again' Clay planned out what he would do after counting his money.
Clay had an extra bounce in his steps like he was the most happiest person ever, but then he immediately had a depressing vibe surround him as he remembered how he didn't understand what a universe is.
Clay tried shaking off the thought of a universe but he just couldn't completely remove it every time. It always appeared occasionally while he was selling his maps, and it distracted him so much that he lost a customer because of how he couldn't control what he was saying to the customers.
Sigh.
Clay sighed for the umpteenth time today as he lay on his bed preparing to count the profit.