The First Store System

“It’s there. Get it to me, and you shall get your reward,” The parasite then looked at Aakesh and told him while pointing at the ninety-ninth step on the altar. Its tone was filled with a hurry as it looked with great excitement toward Aakesh.

The Anarchic Parasite was half the size of Aakesh’s palm, and its body was entirely grey, with only its eye being different. The parasite only had one eye, and that too was without any sclera, and it was golden in color. Two gray, slightly curved horns, the size of an almond, adorned the head of the parasite, just above its eye.

Aakesh ignored the parasite as his body was currently reeling with pain, despite the parasite leaving his body a moment earlier.

The pain only stopped a few moments later, while it completely disappeared after around a minute.

“So you want prayers of the follower to the Emperor Anu,” Aakesh then expressionlessly looked at the parasite and asked.

The parasite couldn’t help but get surprised as he never expected Aakesh to know about the specific Emperor.

The parasite was already aware that it wasn’t a legacy ruin and belonged to Emperor Anu. But since it wanted Aakesh to get excited about the place enough to enter without it having to force Aakesh, it lied about its confusion.

“Since you already understand it, I won’t have to tell you what to do,” The parasite returned to calm, while its tone turned expressionless, the same as Aakesh.

“Our deal still stands. Get me that item, and you will get your reward. Fail in getting that item, I will capture your body and force you to commit suicide,” The parasite added with the same tone as if it was talking about something very simple.

Aakesh’s eyes stayed expressionless since it was the same thing as what was written on the quest screen. Since he had accepted it, he was already willing to go through the failure punishment.

“Why don’t you get it on your own?” Aakesh suddenly asked the parasite. The power gap between Aakesh and the injured parasite was something that would take several millennials, if not tens of thousands of years, to complete. It meant that the altar had some danger that even the Level 629 Anarchic Parasite couldn’t handle.

“I am not allowed to,” The parasite expressionlessly replied.

The parasite understood that this wasn’t enough to make Aakesh satisfy his curiosity, so it further added, “Despite dying for countless years, the faith registered for the Emperor is something that only beings of their level could handle. If any being that wasn’t Chaos-grade lifeform were to touch it, they would burn to ashes straight away, irrespective of its value.”

“There is only one exception to that rule. Any being that didn’t originate from Panagea could handle the faith without turning into ashes. So since you are an adventurer and come from a world far from Panagea, you and people like you are allowed to gather the faith. But unfortunately for you, at the same time, the will of Panagea doesn’t allow any being from outside to devour the faith to become strong,” The parasite concluded. When it thought of what might happen if adventurers were allowed to devour faith reserved for Emperors, there was a hint of fear in its voice.

“But since only I can touch the faith and not get burned, how would you take it from me?” Aakesh asked another question.

A smile erupted on the expressionless face of the parasite, and finally, the mouth that had been shut since the start opened, showing tiny canine-like teeth.

(A/N: All the conversations happening between Aakesh and the parasite are mind to mind, so when it smiled, it was the first time since the start it opened its mouth.)

“That’s why I have come here,” The parasite smilingly told Aakesh, with words coming straight out of its mouth. The voice tone was female, affirming the gender of the parasite.

The parasite didn’t stop and continued, “Emperor Anu isn’t the only one who had worshippers, but Emperor Anu is the only one of the ten Emperors that let go of the faith if it leaves the altar.”

Aakesh nodded as it made sense for the parasite to want to get the faith reserved for the Emperor. Otherwise, there was no point in coming here for the parasite. At the same time, Aakesh also doubted the words of the parasite, so he decided to stay extra cautious on the altar.

In the area, silence fell as Aakesh started making plans for his journey to the top while the parasite focused excitedly on the top step without speaking a word.

“Adventurer! Why are you here?” The silence in the area suddenly broke down as an unfamiliar voice rang in the area.

Aakesh and the parasite ignored the owner of the voice since they already knew their identity. It was none other than Bella, who had arrived here after Aakesh had followed her after she got selected as Aakesh’s candidate.

Bella couldn’t help but feel anger rising in her heart after getting ignored by the two people, but she controlled herself from not making any wrong move. She could sense a hint of extreme danger from the tiny worm-like creature floating in the air, next to the blue-skinned adventurer.

Time flew by.

Aakesh finally took a step forward, approaching the altar. The parasite stood there, looking at Aakesh as he traveled toward the altar.

“Don’t harm her,” Aakesh suddenly told the parasite. Bella was her candidate, so if she did good, Aakesh would get a good reward since getting anything from this ruin was a heavenly fortune.

The parasite didn’t respond to Aakesh and glanced toward Bella, who was standing several meters away from it, while ready to escape at any time.

Bella felt her blood freezing as she found the creature glancing at her. The feeling didn’t stay for long as it went by at the same speed as it had arrived.

“You can also go ahead.”

The next moment, an unfamiliar voice rang in Bella’s head since the parasite was aware of the language spoken by Bella and her race, so spiritual communication between them was possible.