[Apologies!]
[The Cleaning Protocol wasn't complete yet, so I was distracted!]
The voice in his head sounded contrite, so Graham took a deep breath to calm down while still holding the stool.
"Please explain what just happened. And am I still in danger?" Graham couldn't help but glance at the door and then at the knife embedded in the bookshelf behind him.
[Worry not.]
[Once the door to the shop is closed and locked, nobody on the outside can open it.]
"…Are you sure?"
[Positive.]
"Okay, phew. Please explain where that was." Graham put the chair down and wiped his stinging cheek.
His hand was completely covered in red, sticky blood that he quickly wiped on his pants.
To be honest, his heart was pounding at the fact that he almost died, but he was doing his best to stay calm and composed.
[That door connects this shop to the Onia Planet.]
[Unfortunately, since the shop's rank is low, the shop is currently located in the slums of Hollowgate City.]
[It seemed that you opened the door to the store while locals were in the midst of a gang battle.]
"I see. That explains the stench and whatever shady liquid I stepped on."
[Yes.]
[Apologies for not stopping you in time.]
"No, no, it's my fault for not waiting for the completion message. And it's good to find out now that opening the door to another world can be exceedingly dangerous."
Graham sighed once more before taking a deep breath.
"Let's continue the tutorial so that I can assign those stat points and understand everything that I need to do."
[Understood. Continuing Protocol - Tutorial.]
Suddenly, a large screen appeared in front of Graham's vision.
[Delivering the Remaining Items in the Starter Pack]
[1 Shopkeeper's Uniform] - Gown, Socks, Slippers, and Hat that can transform into any clothing you can think of. It has no defensive capabilities but cleans and repairs itself, given enough time.
[Door Chime] - Always rings when something enters the shop.
[Cash Register] - Accepts and dispenses any form of currency. (Received)
[Double Shelves] - Holds things. (Received)
[Barstool] - Comfortable to sit on. (Received)
[Counter Top] - holds any amount of weight without breaking. (Received)
[Interstellar Hearing Patch] - Understand any language (Received)
[Interstellar Speaking Patch!] - Speak any language (Received)
As the screen faded away, a glowing package appeared on the countertop.
When Graham opened it, he saw a long, white, old-fashioned night gown, long white socks, house slippers, and a floppy white hat.
Next to it was a cute little bell chime attached to red strings. When he shook it, no sound came out, but the bells bobbed along cutely.
As Graham was placing it down, Imes continued speaking.
[Final Tutorial Protocol Gift - Golden Gift Selection Ticket.]
A golden ticket floated down from the air into his hands.
"What's this?"
[Access to one of three skills necessary for any shopkeeper.]
[You may choose from these three options and tear the ticket while speaking the name of the skill you want.]
[Discerning Eye (A) - Grants enhanced observation and allows you to see through deceptions and forgeries and identify details in objects and living things.]
[Cost: minimum 10 MP + 10 MP per second ]
[Disguise (A) - Creates an illusion that deceives all five senses.]
[Cost: 50 MP per 10 seconds]
[Back to Store (A) - As long as you are within 500m of the store, you can immediately teleport back to the store]
[Cast time: 30 secs while not moving.]
[Cost: 500MP]
[Cool down: 24 hours]
"…These seem pretty amazing. Will I be able to get these skills again?"
[Of course.]
[As the level of the Interstellar Merchant System rises, one reward is skill selection appropriate to your stats.]
Graham looked at all three skills with a fully conflicted mind.
As Imes mentioned, these were all very useful!
A skill to teleport him back, a skill to hide himself, and a skill to identify things, which was clearly necessary for a merchant.
Realistically, Graham knew that he should choose Discerning Eye or Back to Store, but he knew he would probably pick the Disguise skill.
He wanted to use magic!
Wanting to be a good merchant, he tried to find out all the information he could before making a decision.
"Please give me more details about the mission and the Onia Planet."
[The Onia Planet is a developing planet inhabited by many humans, beast-folk, and many other magical races. Like Many developing planets, there is great wealth disparity between races and classes, and conflicts are frequently settled in blood rather than courtrooms.]
[Interstellar Merchant System Mission - Onia Planet:
Raise the rank of the Interstellar Merchant Store on Onia Planet to the highest level and earn the Earth equivalent amount of 10 million credits.
Current Store Rank: 0
Max Store Rank: 5
Current Converted Earnings: 0/10,000,000 credits
]
"How is rank decided?"
[The Interstellar Merchant System will constantly and objectively evaluate the store using these four criteria.]
[Quantity of sales: 0/5]
[Quality of sales: 0/5]
[Public opinion: 0/5]
[Reputation: 0/5]
[And when payment is deposited into the cash register, it will be evaluated and counted toward the sales quantity after a 50/50 split of the earnings.]
"Yeesh…that's steep." Graham couldn't help but wince.
As the son of a wealthy individual who had been learning about tax avoidance since he was young, such a steep tax seemed like overkill.
But when he thought about the fact that Imes was literally opening doors to whole different worlds, he let it go.
For now.
[Apologies.]
[Here are the rewards for accomplishing the Onia Planet Mission.]
[Rewards]
[Lv 1 -> Lv 2]
[Lv1 Skill Selection Ticket]
[Living Quarters and Store Growth: 200 sq fr -> 500 sq ft.]
[5 free body stat points]
[1 free mind stat point]
[Door Opening To A New World]
[Internal Merchant Store Opening.]
[Commissions Board Opening.]
Graham read through the rewards before nodding to himself.
Honestly, it all seemed a bit vague to him, and he would rather experience things firsthand than read about them.
"Is there anything else I should know?"
[Further information about the Onia planet and other store functionalities may be discovered or asked about at a later date.]
[But for your immediately relevant knowledge, you may rearrange the store however you please. Would you like to try?]
"I think this setup is fine for now. Instead, let's pull up the status sheet."
[Graham Kubera]
[Age: 21]
[Interstellar Merchant Store Lv 1]
Body Stats
[Strength: 4]
[Agility: 3]
[Constitution: 3]
[Perception: 4]
[Magic Power: 0]
Mind Stats
[Intelligence: 8]
[Charisma: 7]
[Perseverance: 7]
[Free Stat Points: 10]
[Skills: N/A]
With barely restrained excitement, Graham happily said out loud, "Please add a point to magic power."
[Understood.]
[Magic Power: 0 -> 1]
As Graham watched, a new stat called Mana Points appeared.
[Mana Pool: 100/100]
The golden globe he was looking at flashed brightly for a moment, and then Graham felt some strange energy twisting through his body and settling throughout before the sensation disappeared.
If he understood correctly, this would be what was used to power his magic abilities.
With an excited smile, he grabbed the golden ticket and ripped it while shouting, "Disguise!"
The golden ticket disappeared in a flash of gold dust, and suddenly, knowledge about how to use the skill entered his mind.
Graham pointed at the silver knife still embedded in the bookshelf and imagined that it blended into the bookshelf.
As if it were camouflaged.
The knife suddenly wavered like a mirage, and then there was nothing.
Curious about what was happening, Graham walked up to where he knew the knife was and tried to touch it.
It felt like smooth wood, although his hand was about 6 inches away from the actual bookshelf, it was almost seamless.
Focusing his thoughts again, the disguised knife flickered back into knife form before turning into a brightly blooming red rose.
A heady rose scent wafted into his nose, and just as he reached out to touch it, he felt a slight headache, and the knife reappeared on the bookshelf.
"What happened?"
[Mana Pool: 0/100]
He was out of mana power.
"Ugh….that's way too short," Graham whined before looking at his remaining stat points.
He wanted to dump them all to increase his Mana Pool, but this was a merchant system, not a combat mage system.
But…he still didn't want to sacrifice th e magic skill he just gained so he asked Imes.
"Will there be a way to gain more stats in the future?"
[Yes.]
[As long as you earn money and continually increase the level of the Interstellar Merchant System, the opportunity to gain stat points, skills, items, and more will always be available to you.]
Hearing the favorable answer, Graham sighed in relief before making a decision.
He would add a few more points to Magic Power, but the most important thing for a salesman to have was-
"Okay. Add 2 more stats to Magic Power and the remaining 7 to Charisma."
[Understood.]
[Magic Power: 1 -> 3]
[Mana Pool: 1/100 -> 201/300]
[Charisma: 7 -> 14]
[Graham Kubera]
[Age: 21]
[Interstellar Merchant Store Lv 1]
Body Stats
[Strength: 4]
[Agility: 3]
[Constitution: 3]
[Perception: 4]
[Magic Power: 3]
Mind Stats
[Intelligence: 8]
[Charisma: 14]
[Perseverance: 7]
[Mana Pool: 201/300]
[Skills: Disguise (A)]
With a satisfied smile at the better-looking status, Graham tried to pull the knife from the bookshelf to examine it but seeing as it didn't budge despite putting his whole weight behind it, he gave up.
Instead, he hung the Door Chime on the handle of the door that led to Onia Planet, gathered all the things that were part of his starter pack, and carefully opened the other door.
Thankfully, it led to a narrow hallway with wooden stairs and was illuminated by lamps on the wall.
As he carefully walked up the stairs, he entered a small studio space that was about the same size as the store below.
To the left was a tiny sectioned-off space with a toilet and a standing shower.
To his right was a lumpy twin-sized bed shoved against the wall and a small drawer at the foot of it.
"Is…this where I'm supposed to live?" Graham asked with complete despair.
His bathroom at his father's house was much larger than this whole building combined, and the thought of sleeping on that lumpy bed genuinely terrified him more than the almost dying earlier.
[Yes.]
[Do your best to complete the mission and earn money so that your living quarters can be expanded accordingly.]
"…can I just sleep elsewhere?"
[Of course you can.]
[Anything is possible as long as you have money.]
As Imes repeated the line, Graham suddenly remembered what he had forgotten in his excitement.
He had been dropped here, in the middle of nowhere.
With no phone.
No wallet.
No internet…
All he had been left with was a key to this building, a sorry excuse for a note, and a check for 1000 credits, which was nothing.
Since it was night time on earth…at least for tonight…he would have to sleep on that lumpy bed.
As his body began shuddering at the thought, Graham glanced at the garments in his hands.
Previously, when he opened the door to the Onia Planet, it had been quite bright….
As if it were daytime
Although he hadn't seen anybody in his rush to escape, he had a way to adjust his clothing as needed.
So…
Let's explore and scout Hollowgate City.
He wasn't avoiding sleeping on that lumpy sack of rocks; he was just doing his due diligence.
With a suddenly renewed energy, Graham quickly changed into an old-fashioned nightgown, long socks, house slippers, and a hat.
Although it was pretty comfortable, as Graham stared at himself in the small mirror, he thought he looked like that bitter uncle from the Christmas movie.
"Imes said to imagine what I want to wear, right? Let's go for something comfy and functional."
Graham closed his eyes, imagining a basic sports tech suit, black rubber boots that came to his knees, and a baseball cap and mask to cover his face.
Glancing at the mirror once more to ensure everything looked as he imagined, Graham mentally gave Imes a thumbs up and ran down to the stand in front of the door leading to Onia Planet.
Checking his Mana Pool once more, he ducked down, activated the disguise skill to make himself blend in, and opened the door just a crack.