The Sovereignty System

In line at the Goldcrest City gates once again, Ben asked the guard when he was waved through what was involved in using the vendor stalls in the city's main square.

The guard looked him up and down with a scowl because Ben looked like a young commoner and he wasn't even carrying anything to sell, he figured this kid was just wasting his time.

With a sigh, the guard reluctantly told him to head over to the city hall on the north side of the city square and speak with the receptionist in the front lobby. Ben thanked the guard who walked off shaking his head toward the next person in line.

With a few gold coins left, Ben stopped at a general store and purchased a couple of clay jars of paint and a few different sized animal hair paint brushes. Stepping into a side alley after he left the store, Ben put the paint and brushes into his inventory out of sight of the people on the street.

After crossing the city by traveling down the main street, Ben found the city hall and the receptionist who sat at a desk in the main lobby near the front door.

The young lady explained that he could rent an available stall by the day or week and if he wanted it for longer, Ben would need to come back and renew his rental permit. It only cost one silver coin a day to rent a stall, so he decided to take a one-week rental permit.

The receptionist assigned him a random stall number and told him that each stall had a number engraved on the back of it. He only needed to find the stall with his assigned number and he could sell anything he wanted for one week from it.

Ben gave the girl a silver coin for a tip since she was so helpful and made his way over to the stalls to find the one that would be his. After searching for fifteen minutes he found it located on the corner of two aisles. He liked the location he ended up with because he would get traffic from two different routes.

He squatted down behind the stall and took a rope out of his inventory and used it to measure the front of his stall with one-foot marks he had painted on this rope.

Now that he had some rough dimensions of the stall, Ben made his way to the Inn he stayed in last time and rented a room for the night.

In his room, he purchased a hand saw, hammer, and some nails. Cutting the wood planks from his inventory to the stall dimensions, Ben made a sign that could be placed on the front face of his stall.

None of the other stalls had signs and actually, none of the major stores had signs like he was making. The few businesses in the city that had a sign usually displayed small square signs that hung from a signpost next to the entrance that simply had what looked to be a house crest similar to those used in Earth's history by nobles and royalty.

Ben transferred the sawdust and wood chips from the floor into his inventory as to not leave a mess in the room. He with the new paint and brushes, Ben painted the entire sign white with red letters so it would stand out.

With a steady hand, he wrote out

"The Spirit Stall" in big red letters

Under that, he wrote out

"Spirit Vegetables, Spirit Fruits, Spirit Meat, and High-Quality Materials!"

The next line read.

"Why pay high prices for hard to find spirit herbs and spirit plants when you can buy affordable spirit food right here!"

When Ben finished his stall sign and placed it into his inventory the flashing notification icon caught his attention.

[Notice] [You have unlocked professions!]

[Notice] [You have learned a new profession! Sign Maker Level 1!]

[Notice] [You have learned a new profession! Graphic Designer Level 1!]

'Professions huh? It looks like I unlocked something new by just making this sign. I wasn't even aware it was possible to learn professions.'

After a quick check of the room to make sure it was clean Ben laid down on the bed to cultivate. It was already close to sunset and his vendor stall permit wasn't good until tomorrow morning.

The following morning he left his inn room before the sun came up and went over to find his stall and attach his sign to it. He bought a bolt of red cloth from the System Store and laid it out on the stall counter top.

On top of the red cloth, Ben neatly arranged the vegetables from Earth and Victus along with the fruits. Using one of the smooth cut plank scraps about one foot long, he stacked up a few cuts of beef steaks. Ben figured he could pretend to have all his extra goods stored under his stall counter. When someone made a purchase he would bend over under the counter and remove it from his inventory.

Since it was still early and none of the other vendors had even shown up yet, Ben brought out his saw, hammer, and nails to make a basic wood bookshelf. He stood it up behind him and began stacking iron, silver, copper, and gold ore on each shelf so the passing craftsman could see what he had for sale.

When he had his displays set up, Ben covered everything up with his blanket and went to check some prices around the city.

He visited a blacksmith and found the location of the Miners Guild and requested prices on the ore they sold. Then he left to find a small Pill house that sold spirit plants, and herbs. They also sold cultivation pills and medical pills. When he used his Analyze skill on a few pills he discovered their quality was lacking.

Ben began to get the idea that the kingdom he was in is just a tiny backwater kingdom. If, not that means the continent he ended up on is just like the starter village of most standard RPG games. There were hardly any cultivators here and all the goods for sale were just poor to average quality goods.

He was yet to still come across something exceptional or even above average at that.

Next on his stop were the butchers and farmers so that he could study their prices. Now that he knew what everything he planned to sell should be priced, Ben went back to his stall and began writing prices on small cuts of wood in red paint.

This was another thing he noticed, nothing in this city had a price tag on it! The vendor could change the price from one customer to the next depending on if they looked like they had money!

He figured everyone would look at him like he was a scam artist to start with because there was no such thing as spirit food. This made him decide to put prices out so these people would at least see he was upfront about the price and everyone paid the same.

Ben began to price the arranged his goods on the table and suddenly had a worrying thought.

'System, All of the fruits and vegetables I grow will have seeds in them. If someone were to plant those seeds would they be able to grow spirit foods like me?'

*Ding!* [It would be possible for them to grow anything from the seeds of the goods you sell. However, these grown foods would not be considered spirit foods. Your Farms use Qi and Mana gathering formations to increase the growth rate of your crops. This is how the Qi and Mana is infused into the crops and why they are different from the other goods sold by regular farmers.]

'So they can grow Earth or Victus type crops from seeds, but they would only be considered regular food types without the benefits. I don't have to worry about people creating competition for me then. The whole reason my food will stand out is due to them being infused with Mana and Qi. These two present energies are what gives the food properties similar to some spirit plants.'

*Ding!* [Correct. The system food can be regrown and resold but it will not stand out from any other food sold by farmers, merchants, or traders. Everything which is made or grown by the system will be considered special in comparison to other comparable foods and goods. For example your foods can improve cultivation rates for cultivators, regenerate Mana, help to restore damaged organs, improve health, improve strength, and help to advance latent talents over time.]

Ben began to feel relieved by this information. It worried him that someone with a large farm might begin removing seeds and begin growing spirit foods.

If they began to grow Earth vegetables and fruits, Ben did not mind because they would be no different than the regular vegetables and fruits sold by everyone else. What was going to make Ben stand out above everyone else is the benefits the spirit foods offered when you ate them.

__________________________

As the people began to start their morning shopping, Ben began to call out like he was a carnival game operator to draw attention toward his stall.

"Step right up and see the new and amazing spirit fruits, vegetables, and meat!"

"Guaranteed to provide similar effects as the expensive spirit plants and herbs."

"You can heal old internal wounds, make yourself healthier, improve your strength, and have more energy to get you through the day!"

"Even cultivators and magi will boost their training speeds and talents by just eating these high-quality spirit foods!"

For the first hour and a half, everyone walked by him shaking their heads like he was a crazy madman until a grumpy old man stopped in front of him with a sour look on his face.