The Flying Emporium

Em nodded in feigned understanding; She wasn’t quite convinced.

Sure, Severin’s class seemed unique. Literally so, if one believed the rarity indicator. But in the end, every class operated differently. Some classes were combat-oriented, while others focused entirely on healing or crafting. Some classes used mana, others energy, and some even their own life essence to evoke their magic powers.

So what was the supposed difference between Severin’s so-called ‘System’ and all the other classes?

Its ability to summon items? Magical Contraptions?

Its ability to transform items, or in this instance gold coins, into something else?

There were other classes which could do just the same!

Maybe the whole shared class thing; The ability to allow another being to also access certain class abilities without having absorbed a class orb on their own? But after giving it some more thought, it sounded somewhat similar to what a [Beastmaster] or a [Tamer] was also able to accomplish. Just that they didn’t bind with another human. And these were just the examples even someone like her could think of.

Still, the sensible thing to do was not to push it, she decided. It was just a guess on her part, anyway.

And at least the part about quests still had her wondering and at the same time reminded her of something. Something which prompted her to quickly change the subject instead of voicing her objections.

“That reminds me! I’ve taken a look at the quest menu and got a bit curious. What’s your plan with the quest? I’m not sure if I totally understand what the objective is, but the reward sounds super useful!”

“Well, for now, I’m kinda stuck with its progress,” Severin answered matter-of-factly. “I’d need someone to bring me some unidentified items. You know, the ones which don’t have their stats and descriptions unlocked yet. With (Identify) I can then reveal them so that people can actually equip them. Though I especially reminded Andreas to bring some back when he returns.”

Severin had been taken aback by Em’s question. Being born into this world, he was sure that Em had to know at least this much, even if she wasn’t a classbearer or worked in the dungeoneering business herself.

Then again, he wasn’t sure if the girl ever received any kind of proper education.

So instead of inquiring about her lack of knowledge and risk embarrassing her, he decided to give her a more detailed explanation than he usually would deem necessary, expecting her to interrupt him if need be. And rightly so, as just when he was about to elaborate even further, the girl took advantage of a short pause on his part, to cut him off.

“Yeah, I figured. I got the skill as well.” She nodded earnestly. “But I mean the other quest.”

“What other…,” Severin turned towards the girl sitting next to him and caught a quick glance of the opened quest log floating in front of her. “…quest.”

A positively surprised Severin had to admit that apparently, he had missed the emergence of a new quest.

‘Must’ve gotten lost in all those notifications yesterday. Not sure how I missed the red indicator, though. Let’s see…’

[Growing your Business I

Quest description:

Hiring your first employee, and thereby lessen your workload, allows you to start dedicating yourself to other matters. Take your first real step to transform your shop into something bigger, something that truly deserves to be called an ‘Emporium’, while you expand your business into different and new directions. The choice is yours.

Quest reward:

Unlock the ability for the host and all employees to communicate using the integrated Chatsystem.]

Em looked at her boss in anticipation. After realizing that Severin had been ignorant of the new task they had been issued, she couldn’t wait for his reaction. While not entirely clear on the description, she got the gist of it. Things were about to get lively! That’s what it boiled down to. With her right in the middle of it. And then the reward. The already incredible ‘System’ would get even more features! How couldn’t she get excited at this prospect?

“Hmm. I knew something like this would appear sooner or later. But not like this honestly. I expected maybe a list of possible options.” Severin thought back to his first interaction with the System. Back then, a list of available subclasses presented itself for him to choose from.

“My guess is that anything which provides us with a continuous stream of income should meet the requirements to complete the quest. As for the reward…”

“What about it? It’s amazing, right?!” The big eyes and the apparent excitement in the girl’s voice made Severin swallow his words.

“Yeah. Totally.”

‘As I see it, we will probably end up with another building. At the very least, with a new floor. If not this time, then in the future. In that case, a way to communicate between those different locations should be given out by default, not as a ‘reward’. Shitty System.’

“Have you taken a look at the System store yet? The one for the business itself, I mean.”

“I just skimmed over it before falling asleep,” Em had to admit meekly. After proudly announcing just how hard she would work, she felt very embarrassed about falling asleep just like that.

Much to her relief, though, Severin didn’t seem to think any of it.

“Then take another look. As I see it, this is what we’ll have to work with. Should be rather straightforward.

If you ignore all the décor options and stuff like that.”

“Like the Arena you mean!?”

“Hahaha, yeah. Like the Arena. Or maybe the Soul Binding Station, while we’re at it.”

The [Shopkeeper] patted the pouting girl on the head. “Forgive me! But take a look at the price, will you? Haha.”

Annoyedly, she tried to slap away his hand. To no avail. “What else then? Portals?”

“Yeah, maybe. Doesn’t seem that expensive in comparison. If we save up for a while…Though I think we would need at least two of them to really make a profit off it. Act like a transit station of sorts. There’s another issue though if you look into the description. Requires me to actually be present on-site to be able to install the thing.”

“I’ll look over the shop! I swear I can handle it!”

“Ha. Sure you can!” He started ruffling the girl’s hair again. “Without the System’s help, I have no means of transportation.”

‘Though I might be able to ask Sam for a lift,’ he added in his thoughts.

“Just use your flying artifact, dummy.”

“What flying artifact? Have you seen the prices even for the cheapest ones?”

The only reply was a doubtful look, which once again caused the man to tease his employee.

“Heey! The contract forbids any abuse of power! Stop it!”

For the next hour or so, the two of them discussed the pros and cons of several of the available options, while also speculating what some of the greyed-out silhouettes might represent. All thoughts of this just being a small break and them continuing crafting were long forgotten. Drawing an imaginary picture of how the mountaintop might look in the future was way more exciting.

“We could transform the whole thing into a fortress if we wanted to. A floating fortress!”

“It’s an Empo…” Severin had been in a joyful mood.

“What’s wrong?”

“Into a what?” But suddenly…

“What?”

“Turn into a…?” All that time…

“A fortress…?”

“The other part.” He couldn’t have missed something so…

“Floating?”

“…”