The shack door clicked shut, sealing Leo in a world of dusty silence and dim light. The adrenaline that had carried him from the mud lane evaporated, leaving behind the raw, throbbing ache of his body. Every breath was a sharp reminder of Rolf's boots. He slumped against the rough-hewn wood of the door, sliding down to the dirt floor.
For a long moment, he just sat there, breathing. The smell of old straw and damp earth filled his nose. It was a far cry from the synthetic lemon scent of his old apartment.
A slow, genuine grin spread across his face, stretching his split lip. It hurt. He didn't care.
"Heh… heheh…" The chuckle built in his chest, low and triumphant. "I have a system. A real, goddamn system."
The blue screen of the Omni-Bazaar still hovered patiently in his vision, a beacon of impossible technology in this primitive hovel. With a thought, he focused on it.
USER: Leo Croft / Kaelen of Oakhaven
NEXUS POINTS (NP): 0
TITLE: Village Pariah
Zero. A big, fat goose egg. He'd blown his entire welcome bonus on reading a bunch of bullies like cheap paperback novels. Worth it? Absolutely. Sustainable? Not a chance.
"Alright, shop. Show me what you've got," he muttered.
The interface responded instantly, the main menu expanding. The categories were intoxicating.
POWERS:
· Kamehameha Wave - 50,000 NP
· Bankai (Unspecified) - 5,000,000 NP
· Superman's Invulnerability - 10,000,000 NP
· The Force (Adept) - 200,000 NP
Leo let out a low whistle. "Yeah, not happening." He scrolled further, his eyes widening at the sheer scale. The Infinity Gauntlet was listed for a cool billion NP, with a footnote: [Gems sold separately. Assembly required.]
ITEMS:
· Lightsaber (Choose Color) - 75,000 NP
· Captain America's Shield - 300,000 NP
· One (1) Senzu Bean - 5,000 NP
· Basic Healing Potion - 500 NP
Even a simple healing potion was out of reach. The frustration was a physical itch. He had access to the combined arsenals of a thousand universes, and he couldn't even afford a bandage.
"Okay, okay. How do I get more points?" he asked the air. "There's gotta be a tutorial. A help menu. Something."
As if reading his mind—which it probably was—a new screen materialized.
[NEXUS POINT ACQUISITION PROTOCOLS]
1. ELIMINATION:
· Hostile Fauna (e.g., Forest Wolves, Dire Boars): 10-50 NP (Scaling with Threat)
· Monstrous Beings (e.g., Goblins, Trolls): 50-500 NP
· Sentient Hostiles (e.g., Bandits, Rival Adventurers): 100-1,000 NP
· Note: All life possesses intrinsic narrative value. Termination converts this potential into currency.
Leo's eyebrows shot up. "So… I get points for killing things. Monsters, people… doesn't matter." It was a cold, brutal calculus. This wasn't a game where you farmed XP from mindless mobs. The system was telling him that ending a life, any life, was the fastest way to power. A shiver, not entirely unpleasant, ran down his spine.
2. ACHIEVEMENT & NARRATIVE IMPACT:
· Resolving significant local events (e.g., Ending a feud, uncovering a secret). Reward variable.
· Altering the fates of individuals of note. Reward variable.
· Introducing profound concepts (e.g., Advanced technology, new magic) to the world. Reward variable.
3. DAILY LOGIN BONUS:
· 1 NP per day. (Do not spend it all in one place.)
"One point?" Leo barked a laugh. "For a Senzu Bean, I'd have to log in for over thirteen years. You've got to be kidding me." The system's text didn't change. It was not kidding.
4. QUESTS:
· [System-Generated Quests will appear based on User's location and actions.]
· [No active quests at this time.]
His new mind, sharpened by Holmes-level deduction, was already working, piecing together the clues from Kaelen's memories and the system's rules.
The beast raids. They happened every few months. Wolves, boars, sometimes worse things from the deep woods would harry the village livestock and anyone caught outside the palisade. The village hunters would go out and cull them, earning coin and respect.
"That's it," Leo whispered, his eyes gleaming. "The forests are crawling with walking NP. I don't need to be strong. I just need to be smart."
A greedy, exciting thought bloomed. What if he didn't just use the points for himself? He could buy a cheap, mass-produced item from the shop—a basic sword, something—and sell it here for a fortune in gold. He could become a merchant king without ever throwing a punch!
Excited, he focused on the item list again, finding a simple, unadorned steel longsword.
[Standard-Issue Longsword - 100 NP]
"Perfect!" he said aloud. "I get a hundred NP, buy this, sell it for ten gold pieces, use the gold to hire mercenaries to kill monsters for me, get more NP, buy more swords… it's an infinite money glitch!"
He mentally reached out to purchase it, a grin on his face.
[Insufficient Nexus Points.]
"No, I know," Leo said, impatient. "I'm planning. How do I sell this? Is there a vendor function? Can I set up a stall?"
The system was silent for a beat. Then, text scrolled across the screen, not in the usual neutral blue, but in a faintly pulsing, amber light.
[Query Detected: Pertaining to External Redistribution of System Assets.]
A new, different voice echoed in his mind. It was flat, synthetically generated, yet carried an undeniable weight of absolute finality. It wasn't loud, but it seemed to vibrate in the very marrow of his bones.
"That function is prohibited."
Leo jerked back, his head hitting the door with a thud. "Whoa! You can talk?!"
"The Omni-Bazaar is a proprietary instrument of personal ascension. It is not a wholesale distributor for your petty mercantile ambitions."
The voice was utterly contemptuous. Leo felt a flush of embarrassment, like a child being scolded for trying to use a sacred artifact as a toy.
"Wait, hold on," he argued, a habit from countless online debates. "What's the difference? I use the points to get stronger, right? This would just be a… a different strategy to get points!"
"The difference is the sanctity of the transaction," the voice intoned, without heat. "Nexus Points are earned through significant action. They are a measure of your impact upon the narrative of this world. Converting them into mundane currency via the sale of System-owned property is a degradation of their purpose. It is… tacky."
"Tacky?" Leo sputtered, incredulous.
"The Omni-Bazaar is for you, User Leo. You, and you alone. You may grant boons to others through your own power, once acquired. You may not pawn the tools themselves. This is non-negotiable. Do not inquire about this again."
The amber light faded, and the voice vanished, leaving behind only the standard blue interface. The finality in that last sentence was absolute. He'd just been put in his place by a cosmic shopkeeper.
"Well, shit," Leo breathed out, the grand plans of his merchant empire crumbling to dust. "No get-rich-quick scheme. No easy way out."
He was back to square one. Broke, bruised, and with only his wits to his name.
But his wits were now a formidable weapon.
He pushed himself up, ignoring the protest from his ribs, and started pacing the small room. The deductive reasoning engine in his head was whirring, filtering Kaelen's memories.
Fact: The hunters go out in groups of three or four.
Fact: They use traps, bows, and spears from a distance. Close combat with a dire boar is suicide.
Fact: They often complain about monsters being too clever, evading simple snares.
A plan, dangerous but straightforward, began to crystallize. He didn't need to be a fighter. He needed to be a strategist.
He wouldn't chase the monsters. He would let them come to him.
He looked around the shack, his gaze falling on a small, rusted hand-scythe used for cutting weeds. It was pitiful, but it was a blade. He then looked at his threadbare blanket and his spare set of clothes, even more ragged than the ones he wore.
"I don't need a sword," he murmured, a new, colder smile gracing his features. "I need bait, a good vantage point, and a hell of a lot of rope."
The village had rope. The woods had monsters. And he had a brain now capable of seeing three moves ahead.