The First Store System

Unaware of the conversation about the store in the third dimension, Aakesh and Lily were discussing the store’s quest.

Aakesh thought of the quest screen, and not long after, a blue screen containing the details of the mission appeared in front of Aakesh. It was also visible to Lily since Aakesh had willed such.

[Mission Objective: Upgrade of the store to Level 2,

Requirement: After achieving the requirement set by the system for you, you have unlocked the store upgrading quest. The store upgrading mission would not only help you increase your authority, but it would also unlock new functions for the store,

Mission Detail: Host, the store’s name is ‘The First Store’. As its name suggests, the goal of the store is to become the first store for every living being, irrespective of their situation. How could the store prove itself better other than defeating other store’s products and making the owner of the store a customer of the First Store?

Select one of the top merchant families of the Anga continent and make them your store’s customers,

Duration: None,

Mission Reward: Upgrade of Authority, an Assistant(Added later),…etc.

Failure Punishment: None.]

Aakesh had already studied the quest, so he didn’t need to read it again. Aakesh had activated the quest after mistakenly having 111,111 customers in the store at once due to the final competition in the first-ever event.

At that time, Aakesh’s level was equivalent to Tao Palace, so the quest’s details were almost impossible for him to achieve. No one would take it kindly if some other store owner arrived in their territory and started proving their products to be superior.

The mission demanded that Aakesh to choose a top merchant family on the Anga continent, so for Aakesh, it was no less than suicide. Any leading merchant family would have several Immortal in their services.

Since taking the system’s help in completing the quest meant failure, Aakesh would have had to deal with everything on his own. Although Aakesh was strong, he wasn’t powerful enough to defeat several Immortals.

***

“Hmm, isn’t it too easy,” Lily mumbled in surprise after reading the quest’s details.

Aakesh only smiled and told Lily about when he had gotten the quest. It was just his unwillingness to go outside, or he would have already completed it.

“But still, it would be very boring,” Lily responded. Her tone filled with disappointment.

“If you don’t want to go, you don’t have to,” Aakesh smilingly told Lily and rubbed her already ruffled head.

“No, I want to go,” Lily straight away replied as she feared Aakesh wouldn’t take her with him if she didn’t answer right away.

Aakesh only smiled in response to Lily’s antics. It was now time for him to choose a leading merchant family on the Anga continent.

[Host, the quest had been updated due to an increase in your strength!]

“Eh!” Aakesh exclaimed in surprise as he suddenly heard the system’s emotionless voice ringing in his head.

The next moment, in front of Aakesh and Lily, the blue screen containing the quest details began to change. The golden fonts on it started moving here and there at an unimaginable speed.

A few seconds later, a new quest appeared in front of Aakesh. Since Aakesh had deemed the screen to be visible to Lily as well, she also saw the changes.

[Mission Objective: Upgrade of the store to Level 2,

Requirement: After achieving the requirement set by the system for you, you have unlocked the store upgrading quest. The store upgrading mission would not only help you increase your authority, but it would also unlock new functions for the store,

Mission Detail: Host, the store’s name is ‘The First Store’. As its name suggests, the goal of the store is to become the first store for every living being, irrespective of their situation. How could the store prove itself better other than defeating other store’s products and making the owner of the store a customer of the First Store?

Select one of the leading merchant families of the Primal dimension and make them your store’s customers,

Mandatory requirements: 1. Any member in the family should have no information about you and your store before today,

2. Your cultivation level should be blocked at intermediate Immortal,

Duration: Twenty-four hours,

Mission Reward: Upgrade of Authority, A minor scene of your mysterious past life, an Assistant(Added later),…etc.

Failure Punishment: Degradation of Authority.]

Aakesh was going to argue with the system for increasing the difficulty of the quest, but when he saw the reward section, he stopped whatever was going through his mind. In fact, he thanked the system for upgrading the quest.

Even though the difficulty of the quest had grown several folds, Aakesh didn’t find it to be any issue at all after seeing his reward.

The only issue in the quest was his cultivation getting blocked at intermediate Immortal. Aakesh knew why the system had done that.

While being an intermediate Immortal, Aakesh could defeat peak Immortals at best. If those peak Immortals with pseudo divine physique came at him, he would have no choice but to leave the battle. He wouldn’t die, but he wouldn’t also win.

There was also a deadline associated with the quest after its upgrade, but Aakesh had no issue with it. It gave him twenty-four hours of time to complete the mission, and it was more than enough for Aakesh.

“What do you think now?” Aakesh looked at Lily and asked with a knowing smile on his face.

“It doesn’t look as boring as before,” Lily replied with a casual face as if she didn’t see much difference, but her concerned eyes gave her true feelings away.

“You don’t have to worry about me,” Aakesh smilingly replied as he rubbed Lily’s head. She had only straightened it a moment earlier, and now Aakesh had ruffled it once again.

Aakesh already had the lowest possible authority when it came to the store’s authority level, but if he somehow failed the mission, he would see further degradation of the already minimum level of authority.

It was the reason behind Lily’s concern as she wasn’t aware of the consequences of it.

Aakesh also had the question in his mind after reading the failure punishment section, so he didn’t wait long and asked the system about it.

[Host, degradation of authority would mean Host returning to the moment when the Host opened his eyes for the first time. Everything would start once again.]

The next moment, a shocking answer rang in Aakesh and Lily’s ears.

Aakesh and Lily then looked at each other and could see the shock in their eyes. If Aakesh were to consider the cruelest failure punishment from the system, it had to be the current one.

Starting over again meant he and Lily leaving each other. All the memories he had made in these more than eighty-thousand years would vanish like it was nothing in the first place.

“Hey, system, does starting over mean going back in time?” Aakesh asked the system the first question that popped into his head after hearing the system’s response.

[Yes, Host!]

“But going back in time doesn’t matter much to Immortals or being higher than Immortals,” Aakesh commented.

Immortals weren’t above the flow of time, but Immortals flowed with it on an equal footing. So going back in time did not affect Immortals, let alone beings with higher levels, and stood at a higher rank than time.

[Host, you have insufficient authority to know how it works!]

Aakesh could only nod his head in disappointment while Lily nudged Aakesh to ask another important question.

Aakesh smiled after seeing the look of nervousness on Lily’s face. He wanted to tease her. Aakesh wasn’t one to control himself when in front of Lily, so he did. he had a fake conversation with the system the next moment.

“Hey, system, since degradation of authority from the lowest level means starting over, does that mean I have once failed, and it isn’t my first turn?” Aakesh asked. Lily’s ears straightened up as she attentively listened to the system’s response.

[Yes, Host! It is your second attempt at this!]

[In your earlier attempt, you had started quicker and attempted the quest earlier. Similar to the current situation, the system had upgraded the mission, and it had the same failure punishment.

Why it happened, you have insufficient authority to know it.]

The next moment, a blank screen appeared in front of Aakesh.

Soon the screen lightened up and started playing scenes of how Aakesh opened his eyes and completed the four quests. Similar to the last time, he gained an egg. It was also an egg belonging to the Epochal Feline race. But it was a mutated egg, as the creature was black, unlike other Epochal Felines.

Similar to the current companion of Aakesh, he had named the creature Lily and did adventures with her.

Lily, watching the screen, had an ugly face as the Aakesh of the past was more lenient and less determined about training. At the same time, she also felt fear in her heart about what if Aakesh also failed in doing this quest and forgot her like he had forgotten Lily on the screen.

Aakesh had an expressionless face as he looked at the screen, but suddenly it turned to look at Lily, and in no time, an unconcealable smile appeared on his face.

Lily got caught off guard after seeing Aakesh smiling since she never expected Aakesh to smile in such a situation.

“Hey, system, now tell the correct answer,” Aakesh suddenly told out loud.

[Yes, Host!]

[No, Host, the situation of starting over hadn’t occurred again as it’s your first attempt!]

The system’s response rang in the store for Lily to hear.

The smile on Aakesh’s face got bigger and bigger while lily’s face turned red from anger. Not long after, her eyes turned moist, and when it looked like she would cry, Aakesh picked her up and coaxed her just like he did when she was just a baby.

“I would never forget my daughter,” A gentle expression appeared on Aakesh’s face as he whispered in Lily’s ears.

***

A/N: Sorry, only one chapter today. My work overwhelmed me, so I got late and could only write one chapter.

Please share your feelings after reading this chapter. I wouldn’t lie if I had more time, I would have made it into a 3000+ words chapter. It is one of the favorites I have ever written or read.