The First Store System

Lenna and Norman wanted to refuse, but their hands suddenly moved on their own and gently took the energy blob from Natasha.

While all this happened, they looked on with shock on their faces. Aakesh didn’t interfere or stop Natasha as she wasn’t doing anything to harm Lenna and Norman.

“Thank you, senior!”

“Thank you, senior!”

Since Lenna and Norman had gotten it now and had no choice but to take it with them, they stopped struggling. They then thanked Natasha for the gift.

In the grandeur of the Void beasts, the effect of the green blob didn’t look much impressive, but in reality, it was better than anything.

If they were to sell the green blob, it would go for millions of supreme Primal stones since it could save the cultivator even if only a drop of their blood remained, which almost meant reviving.

Natasha nodded in response to their thanks.

“You don’t mind, do you?” Natasha asked Aakesh after forcefully giving presents to the duo.

“No,” Aakesh expressionlessly answered.

“We will not take any more of your time. Stay safe inside the portal,” Natasha wished Aakesh good luck.

Aakesh expressionlessly nodded.

“Let’s go,” Aakesh told his group members.

Lily returned to Aakesh’s head while Lenna and Norman nodded.

Aakesh then took a step forward, with the duo following him.

The closer to the portal Aakesh got, the more dangerous the leaked energy he sensed.

Lenna, Norman, and Lily seemed unaffected as they couldn’t sense anything from the portal.

When Aakesh reached the portal, he gently ruffled Lily’s fur, comfortably sitting on his head, bringing an annoyed reaction to her face. He then took a step forward and entered the expansive scene filled with shining stars, while Lenna and Norman took a deep breath and entered after Aakesh.

After entering, Aakesh sensed the space tightening around them, but the feeling wasn’t uncomfortable, but instead, Aakesh felt like sinking into warm water at a very slow rate.

The feeling didn’t continue for long as only the next moment, it disappeared, and Aakesh appeared in the world inside the portal.

Aakesh’s face turned grave right away as he felt Lily missing from his head. He then turned around and found Lenna and Norman absent as well.

Aakesh’s face turned ugly as he had brought Lily with him since she would be in his protection. But the situation here was unexpected.

The entry inside the portal separated them all, while he didn’t even find it, and the system also didn’t inform him.

“Hey, system, why didn’t you tell me?” Aakesh asked the system, his tone cold.

[Host, the system is only bound to inform and protect you inside the store. Did you forget that the system’s protection outside the store has disappeared.]

The next moment, the system’s emotionless voice rang inside Aakesh’s head.

Aakesh fell silent and didn’t say anything for a few seconds.

“Protect Lily at all costs,” Aakesh told the system. His tone denoted that he wouldn’t take no for an answer.

[Host, the protection won’t come free at cost.]

The system responded as after setting up the store in Kakot, the system had informed him that every help from the system would cost dearly.

“I know,” Aakesh expressionlessly replied. He didn’t care about the cost as long as Lily was safe from any harm.

[Host, do you want the protection to stay active for all time, or do you want it only to activate when there is a danger?]

The next moment, the system’s voice rang inside Aakesh’s head.

Aakesh, who had just relieved a sigh after activating the protection on Lily, couldn’t help but get his lips twitched, hearing the questions from the system.

The system was acting as a salesman when he was one in the first place.

“Only when danger arrives,” Aakesh answered.

Even for him, the cost of the protection to stay active all the time wasn’t feasible. He wouldn’t be able to pay back the sum required, so only the choice of protection activating when the danger arrived was an option.

While answering, Aakesh also hoped for no danger to arrive on Lily as the price was too much to bear, and he also didn’t want to dampen Lily’s mood.

[Host, the protection on Lily has been activated.]

The system answered.

Aakesh nodded in response to the system’s answer and then focused on his surroundings, which he had been negating due to his concern for Lily.

Aakesh stood in a vast open ground filled with different kinds of plants and flowers, and there were also barren patches, creating a weird scene.

Aakesh attempted to fly to get a larger view, but he found himself frozen on the spot when he tried it.

Aakesh gave up after his first attempt as there was no point in it. Flying was restricted inside the world, and he found himself too weak to destroy the restriction.

Aakesh then looked up in the sky and found nothing but darkness. It was completely different from the scene he saw from outside the portal, where there were countless shining stars, creating an unexplainable beautiful background.

“Whoosh!”

Suddenly, a flying sound rang in the area, bringing Aakesh out of his thoughts.

Aakesh looked toward the source of the sound, only to find an arrow flying toward him.

The arrow couldn’t look anything more than ordinary, but the space fluctuating around it gave away its strong attack power.

Aakesh couldn’t let the arrow hit him as it could create an injury. Aakesh raised the tip of one of his fingers, pointed toward the arrow, and then a dark beam of light flew from the finger toward the arrow with an even quicker speed.

“Chhiss!”

The next moment, a burning sound rang in the area as the dark beam clashed with the arrow.

In no time, the arrow burned into ashes, and then even its ashes disappeared into nothingness.

Aakesh had no time to celebrate the first successful use of his skill, as the next moment, he found the sky covered with tens of thousands of similar arrows coming toward him with even quicker momentum.

Aakesh’s eyes turned cold as he raised both his hands and pointed at the sky.

The next moment, his fingers released a continuous strike of dark beams like laser beams onto the thousands of arrows.

The arrows in the sky started to disappear at a visible rate, but then suddenly.