The First Store System

“Has it begun so early?” The creature sighed and mumbled after seeing Aakesh.

The creature didn’t speak anything after that, and a round of silence fell on the area, while Aakesh stayed unaware that his every action was on the creature’s watch.

“Was the figure stronger than you?” Aakesh asked as the feeling of getting watched finally disappeared.

“I don’t know,” The parasite responded as even it didn’t know where the creature was and its strength level.

Aakesh didn’t ask anything after that and proceeded forward since he didn’t have an entire day here.

Aakesh had already spent a few of the twelve hours he had decided for his class, Watcher, so he only had around eight hours left before he would have to exit Panagea and open the store early in the morning in the Primal dimension.

Time flew by.

Aakesh’s bland journey finally came to a stop as he suddenly found himself in a new environment.

The trees he had been continuously seeing for the last few hours suddenly disappeared, and a garden filled with different kinds of materials took that place.

Aakesh had an expressionless face as he glanced at all the valuable herbs planted in the garden. Even though the garden looked as if no one had set foot here in countless years, not even a single plant had gotten worse. Each looked the same as it would have looked if regularly cared.

Aakesh recognized all of the plants and knew their value. If Aakesh could get even one of them to the Primal dimension, it would start a war, despite people having fear and respect for Aakesh; such was the worth of the plants.

Aakesh didn’t go ahead to take the plants out as he could feel an equally-strengthened energy barrier surrounding each plant, irrespective of its value.

Aakesh could only sense the barrier, so he decided to activate the skill, Energy Overseer.

The next moment, Aakesh got shocked as no matter what he tried, he couldn’t activate the skill.

[Host, the garden here had different rules, and it follows them. You are prohibited from using any kind of skill as long as you are here.]

Aakesh didn’t try again as the system’s usual mechanical and emotionless voice rang in Aakesh’s head, informing him of the prohibition in the garden.

For a moment, Aakesh stood there to think about his next steps. The next second, Aakesh raised his right foot to proceed deeper into the garden since when Aakesh turned back, he found a dead end from where he had come to the garden.

As Aakesh neared the plant, instead of taking it out, Aakesh continued forward.

Aakesh had decided to leave the garden as soon as possible since the parasite couldn’t sense its medicine here, and Aakesh didn’t feel like taking the plants out.

Since Aakesh had made his decision, he maintained it even when the level of material reached Divine grade.

After a journey of around forty minutes, Aakesh and the parasite finally reached the end of the garden, but what welcomed them ahead wasn’t a peaceful road but a deep chasm.

Even Aakesh felt a chill crawl down his spine as he attempted to look at the chasm. He felt as if a pair of eyes, even more dangerous than before, were looking at him.

Aakesh’s eyes turned cold as he never knew fear and took a step forward since the road behind him had also turned into a dead end.

As Aakesh’s foot came down, the danger level in Aakesh’s heart rose. When his foot was just one inch away from touching the spot where a surface should’ve been, the danger level reached such a height that Aakesh’s body automatically started shaking. Even the parasite that had been lying peacefully in Aakesh’s brain area couldn’t help but shudder.

Aakesh persisted and set his foot down, waiting to fall into the chasm, but the fall never came. Instead, what welcomed Aakesh was a soft surface, and the danger level had also disappeared. Aakesh still couldn’t see what it was as the darkness still stayed.

“Rash but powerful,” The next moment, an androgynous voice rang in Aakesh’s head.

Aakesh had an expressionless face as he didn’t care about the comment of the voice.

The voice didn’t appear after that as Aakesh took another step and landed his entire body on the new area. The light appeared in the area and dispersed the darkness, unveiling the area where Aakesh was.

What welcomed Aakesh’s sight was a circular altar with ninety-nine steps in total. Aakesh found the appearance of the altar familiar, and the next moment, the memory of an event appeared in his head.

When Aakesh appeared in Panagea for the first time, he had witnessed the birth of the conflict between the Emperors. Many may forget things they had seen in history, but not Aakesh.

One of the ten Emperors, Emperor Anu, had such an altar with ninety-nine steps in their Empire. The altar had one purpose and that was to pray to the Emperor themselves.

Considering this fact, Aakesh recognized which Emperor was related to this ruin. At the same time, he couldn’t help but feel a slight disappointment as it wasn’t a legacy ruin.

The presence of an altar here signified that this place once held a worship ceremony for Emperor Anu.

“I can sense it,” The parasite who had been silent and shuddering after the danger from exiting the garden suddenly spoke. Its tone contained nothing but pure excitement.

Before Aakesh could even ask anything, he felt a wave of pain attacking him. It felt as if someone was ripping the skin off the body and then rubbing salt all over it. For a moment, the pain became unbearable.

Even though the pain had intensity, it didn’t stay for long.

Aakesh didn’t have to think of the reason behind the pain as the next moment, the parasite that had been staying in his body appeared right next to him, floating in the air. The parasite had its eyes set on the altar. Its pair of eyes were red and filled with greed.

“It’s there. Get it to me, and you shall get your reward,” The parasite then looked at Aakesh and told him, while its tone was filled with hurry.