A few minutes had passed, and a chime was heard.
< Host can now view the updated Feature >
Finally, you know how to keep a handsome guy waiting. A faint, translucent screen materialized in the air before me. "Took you long enough. Know how to keep a handsome guy waiting, don't you?" I swiped lazily through the new interface, my exhaustion momentarily pushed aside by sheer curiosity. My finger hovered over a stylized, gilded cart icon – the System Shop. Tapped it.
"Alright, System," I commanded, my voice still thick with sleep but sharpening. "Enlighten me. What wonders does this vaunted emporium hold?"
< The Store can provide the Host with various items, including books, scrolls, and more books.>
I stared. Blinked. Stared some more. "...You said 'books' twice."
< ... >
The silence stretched, thick and suffocating. I scrolled down the list appearing on the screen. Engineering Fundamentals. Basic Calculus. Introduction to Thermodynamics. Novels. Romance. Mystery. High Fantasy. Epic Poetry. Historical Fiction. Self-Help Guides.
"Is that it...?" My voice was dangerously calm, a thin veneer over a volcano of pure, unadulterated fury. All that anticipation. All that hype. For this? No rare reagents. No enchanted blades. No potions bubbling with power. Not even a basic mana crystal! "Right. Fine," I hissed, forcing air into my lungs. "At least there are magic books. Grimoires. Spell tomes. Something useful to add to my arsenal. Where are those?"
< Host seems to have a misconception.>
I froze. Every muscle locked. The air in the room turned to ice.
< There are no magic books in the Store at this time.>
There it was. The final spark.
"WHY?!" The word ripped out of me, no longer calm, but a guttural snarl that probably echoed down the quiet hallway. I fought the urge to punch the intangible screen, my hands clenching the soft blanket so hard my knuckles turned white. "Why offer me a shop filled with... with textbooks and paperbacks?!"
< The Goddess Yan Meigui has restricted access to magical knowledge at this stage of Host development.>
Yan Meigui. The name detonated in my skull like a poorly mixed bag of alchemical powder. That thorny, petulant, interfering ROSE!
"YAN MEIGUI!" I roared into the darkness, heedless of who might hear. "You overgrown, potted PLANT! You meddling FLORAL MENACE! You think withholding magic from ME is SMART?!" I launched myself upright in the magnificent bed, the comfortable mattress suddenly feeling like a bed of nails. "I climbed out of the GUTTER! I rebuilt an ORPHANAGE with persuasion and sheer nerve! I am Eamond RICHARD! And you give me... BASIC ENGINEERING?!"
I raged silently for a full minute, picturing the goddess's serene, infuriatingly beautiful face. I envisioned her tending her celestial roses while deliberately, sadistically, limiting my access to power. "Fine! FINE!" I spat, collapsing back onto the pillows, breathing hard. "You want to play gatekeeper? You think mundane knowledge is all I deserve? WRONG."
My mind, ever the opportunist, even when fueled by righteous fury and goddess-induced frustration, began whirring. Like gears grinding into place after being jammed.
Books. From my world. Advanced mathematics. Engineering principles centuries ahead of this place's crude smithing and timber framing. Stories... novels... filled with intricate plots, fantastical creatures, sweeping romances, complex mysteries... things utterly alien to this world's often grim oral traditions or dry historical chronicles.
A slow, predatory grin spread across my face, replacing the snarl. It wasn't the grin of a satisfied philanthropist. It was the grin of Eamond Richard, Billionaire, spotting an undervalued asset.
"The nobles," I murmured, my voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "Bored out of their gilded skulls, drowning in wealth but starved for genuine novelty. Imagine their faces when presented with... The Count of Monte Cristo. Or Pride and Prejudice. Or tales of starships and laser swords!" The sheer value of exclusive, unprecedented entertainment... it was staggering. "And the engineers... the alchemists... the scholars..." My thoughts raced. Basic engineering texts here could revolutionize construction. Basic chemistry could leapfrog their primitive potions. "I wouldn't just be selling books... I'd be selling ideas. Progress. At a massive markup." The irony was delicious. Yan Meigui meant to limit me, but she might have just handed me the keys to an intellectual goldmine.
I focused back on the screen. "System. These books. Can I buy them... in bulk? Multiple copies of the same title?"
< Affirmative. Host may purchase any available item in unlimited quantities, provided sufficient funds are available.>
"Funds meaning... Karma Points? Ego Points? Actual coin?"
< Transactions utilize Karma Points exclusively.>
Karma Points. The warm fuzzies I got for doing good deeds. Like rebuilding orphanages. Or, apparently, potentially revolutionizing an entire continent's knowledge base through unintentional philanthropy. The cosmic joke kept getting better.
One last, crucial question. "System. What are the reading statistics? Literacy rates among commoners? Among nobles?"
< Estimated literacy rate among the general populace of this region: 15-20%.>
< Estimated literacy rate among the nobility and affluent merchant class: 85-95%.>
< Popular genres among literate populations: Historical chronicles, genealogical records, foundational educational texts (arithmetic, basic literacy, rudimentary natural philosophy). Fiction is primarily an oral tradition or simplistic morality tales and some poetry books.>
History books. Genealogical records. Basic arithmetic primers. Gods, no wonder the nobles looked perpetually bored out of their powdered wigs. Their idea of thrilling literature was probably 'A Treatise on Crop Rotation Patterns of the Eastern Barony, 3rd Edition' or 'The Glorious Lineage of Duke Boring von Tedious: Volume XVII'.
I stared at the glowing screen hovering over my luxurious blanket, the sheer dullness of the current literary landscape momentarily stealing my thunder. "History books..." I repeated flatly. "And... basic education? That's the peak of popular reading?" A shudder ran through me. "It's a cultural desert out there. A vast, arid, soul-crushing wasteland of... facts."
There it was. The market. Tiny among the masses, but vast, wealthy, and bored among the elite. Perfect. Yan Meigui wanted to withhold magic? Fine. I'd build an empire on stories and science instead. An empire funded by the Karma Points earned fixing roofs and making children smile. The sheer, beautiful absurdity of it almost made me forgive the goddess. Almost.
The intoxicating buzz of future book-selling empires faded slightly as another icon on the system screen pulsed insistently: a stylized, gleaming crown labeled VIP Tier System. Curiosity, ever my sharpest tool (and occasional downfall), piqued. Yan Meigui might be a thorny menace, but a VIP system sounded suspiciously like something designed to appeal to my… well-honed appreciation for status and advantage.
"Alright, shiny crown," I muttered, tapping the icon. "Impress me. What privileges does semi-middle genius merit?"
A new screen unfurled:
< VIP Tier System Overview>
Tiers: 1 (Initiate)
Benefits:
Casting Discount: Reduced Gold Coin cost for casting Money Magic spells. A discount of 5% increases per Tier.
Monthly Stipend: Free System-provided items are awarded monthly. Quality and quantity scale with Tier.
.....
Tier 3 Milestone Bonus: Upon reaching Tier 3, Host gains:
Karma Boost: +20% base Karma Points earned from all deeds.
Tier Advancement: Achieved by accumulating Karma Points.
Karma Affinity: Karma Points become easier to acquire (reduced threshold for positive recognition).
I scanned it, my initial skepticism warring with a burgeoning greed. Discounts on casting? That was pure gold – literally saving me gold. Free items? Always welcome, though the vagueness was annoying. But the real hook was buried in the Tier 3 Milestone.
"Karma Boost? And easier to get Karma?" I breathed, the implications lightning-fast. Doing good deeds would yield more points, and the system would be less stingy about recognizing them? That wasn't just a benefit; it was a compounding engine. More Karma meant faster Tier advancement, which meant bigger discounts, better freebies, and eventually, that juicy Tier 3 boost making everything snowball. Tier 12's "Ultimate Privileges" sounded suitably grandiose, probably involving turning lead into gold or finally telling Yan Meigui where to stick her roses.
The sheer potential was dizzying. It transformed Karma Points from a slightly annoying moral counterweight into a powerful currency for tangible, selfish advancement. Yan Meigui's system, designed perhaps to encourage virtue, was practically begging me to game it for maximum personal gain. The irony was thicker than Gerrik's mortar mix.
"Cheeky," I murmured, a slow, calculating smile spreading. "Very cheeky. Alright, System. Current status. What Tier am I? And crucially… how many Karma Points do I actually have? Let's see how far this semi-middle genius has to climb."
< Calculating Cumulative Karma Points...>
< Total Available Karma Points: 20>
< Current VIP Tier: Initiate (Tier 1). Karma Points required for Tier 2: 100.>
"20," I stated flatly, staring at the number. All that work. The planning, the "persuasion," the sheer mortar mixing, helping the Matron… twenty points. And Tier 2 costs 1000? Tier 3 would likely be two or three hundred. The initial thrill of the VIP system dimmed slightly under the harsh light of arithmetic.
"20," I repeated, flopping back onto the pillows. The grand book-selling scheme suddenly felt like a necessity, not just a profitable sideline. Those novels weren't just gold mines; they were potential Karma Point factories if sold cleverly enough to fund more good deeds… which would yield more points… faster advancement… bigger discounts…
"Right," I said, the determination hardening again. "Initiate Tier, it is. For now." I eyed the 'Monthly Stipend' notation on the VIP screen. "So, oh generous System… what does a Tier 1 Initiate get for free this month? A pat on the back? A slightly less judgmental chime?"
< Tier 1 Monthly Stipend:>
< Item: "The Art of Persuasive Correspondence" (Basic Manual) x1>
< Item: Standard Quality Quill & Ink Set x1>
I stared. A book on writing letters. And a quill set. After I'd just discovered a shop full of advanced knowledge and fiction. The sheer, staggering banality of it was almost impressive.
"Yan Meigui," I sighed, the fight momentarily gone, replaced by weary resignation. "You truly have a gift. A gift for the utterly mundane." I closed the system screen, letting the darkness reclaim the room. The quill set sat, metaphorically, in my inventory. Utterly useless right now. But the potential… the VIP discounts, the future freebies, the Tier 3 boost… that burned bright. As I imagined the day I became a Tier 12 VIP, I fell asleep with a laugh.
It's a good thing I'm staying far away from the others, if not, they probably think I'm going crazy right now.