Employee 34 - Chapter 2 (Patreon)

It was not only for the money he wanted to complete the sale, but he also had a quest given by the System. 

Active Quests:

The First Dollar: Gain the first paying customer within a week. Reward: Training Center Starting Kit, Spin of Lottery wheel. (0/1). Failure to complete results in punishment.

The voice in his head had explained that the purpose of the store was to gain worldwide recognition and become a hegemon in the cultivation world. It had called the store an experiment for a ‘Soft Integration of a universe’. An integration into what the voice didn’t explain, but then again Ekz didn’t really care.

He felt completely lost the first few days since he arrived here. Before coming here he was a lazy bum, content on wasting away his days in his small apartment. He had a simple job with paid just enough to maintain his unexciting lifestyle and spent most of his days lying in his comfortable chair in the sun. 

His little bubble unfortunately crumbled one day when he lost his job, unfairly being called incompetent and indolent. Unfairly in the sense that Ekz knew his boss hadn’t found the spot where he slept during work, so they fired him without just cause. He desperately needed to quickly find a new job as he had no savings, and the imminent homelessness would spell the end of his comfortable days. 

Therefore he sat in a job interview for a similar position as his last gig, lying far and wide about his various skill sets and experiences which would make him the ideal employee. Just as he was reaching a crescendo in his carefully crafted fake persona a weird prompt had echoed in his mind.

[Initiating System...]

[Welcome to the Multi-Verse.]

Next thing he knew he woke up in Ekz body in some fantasy world. The change had been unsettling, but he quickly adjusted his mindset. It was not like he left anything of importance behind. His family was long dead, and he pretty much had no friends. His days were spent just idling about, and he could do the same here. Besides, this world seemed pretty interesting with its cultivators and magic. 

Personally, Ekz thought it sounded a bit crazy for a virtual gaming center to gain hegemony of anything, but he held his tongue as having a crazy boss wasn’t anything new. He thought it was pretty cool that his taskmaster actually provided some perks like rewards from quests. It had explained that the more quests and rewards Ekz unlocked, the better benefits and living conditions he would get. 

He was less excited about the prospect of punishment. The voice in his head hadn’t been impressed with Ekz’ work ethic the first week, and added the line about punishment. When Ekz asked what that meant a horrible pressure started to build up in his head that made Ekz almost lose his breakfast. The pain made him quite motivated, but he still had no way to get customers, and in the end kept lying on the sofa.

Ekz wasn’t really sure how efficient the training system actually was, but the girl in front of him clearly had the money to waste, so letting her find out for him shouldn’t be a problem.

“So what do you say? Just a few Gold coins and you can embark on the path of the Grand Dao, moving mountains and splitting seas” Ekz continued to pitch, hoping to make a windfall. 

“How does it work?” she asked, clearly not buying Ekz’s spiel, but at least she was intrigued.

“You just put on the Dung- ehm, Boundless Dao Training Goggles and from there fight for supremacy. Safety is guaranteed!” Ekz answered, dialing down the sales pitch a bit.

“It better be or you and this shop will not see the sunrise tomorrow,” the mouthy growled, to which Ekz only rolled his eyes. If he wasn’t desperate for business would have thrown out that guy long ago.

“Hmm… Well, I’ll buy the activation and an hour of training time. Oh, and a cup of tea please” she answered.

“Young lady, let me test the safety of these devices first,” the older of the two guards who had remained silent until now calmly interjected. She looked a bit irritated but quickly acquiesced.

The guard turned to Ekz and took out a handful of gold coins out of a pouch and handed them over. 

“Thirty gold coins for the training regiment. I’m afraid I do not understand the pricing for the tea?” he said as he motioned towards the prices listed in Nexus Coins.

Ekz snatched the gold coins quick as lightning and ran behind the counter to throw them into the register before they could change their mind. No one said anything but the girl looked amused at the proceedings.

“Cough… Well, payment accepted, here is your personal tag. Don’t lose it as it is required to use our facilities in the future. Replacement tags cost 10 Low-Grade Spirit Crystals” he said, simply repeating what the System said in his head. He had no idea what a Spirit Crystal was, but from the surprised expressions of the trio they did. Ekz ignored their reaction and continued on with his explanations.

“Unfortunately our Café only accept Nexus Coins as payment for our refreshments. Nexus Coins is a unique currency only used in our facilities. You earn them by using our training system. After starting training you will soon understand what I mean. 

“Fair warning, you can’t buy products for others at our facilities. Every purchase is personal, and breaking the rules will result in a ban. The Café is a perk for our repeat customers.” 

Most of the things he said were new to himself as well, as the System didn’t do orientation days for its new employees. The older guard and the young lady seemed mostly confused by the rules, but the younger guard seemed to get a bit agitated.

“It’s just a cup of tea. How much? One gold coin, you’ll never make such a good deal again!” he aggressively said as he waved a coin in front of Ekz. Ekz was tempted to agree, but the System warned him against making any private deals as the familiar blinding pain started to erupt in his head. Ekz quickly realigned to the company line and stoically ignored the provocative guard.

“Very well, show me how this is used,” the more seasoned guard said after giving his younger colleague a glance.

“Just sit down on the chair and put on the goggles. It will feel like you are teleported but you will remain here at all times. To come back you just need to mentally give the command [Exit]” Ekz explained, which only made the customers more confused. 

After shrugging his shoulders the guard simply did as he was told, and after exhorting his colleague to keep vigilant he sat down and put on the Dungeon Goggles. He only wore them for about five seconds before he ripped them off, his equanimity completely gone. His eyes were completely wide and he stared all around him.

The exaggerated reaction from the guard put the other two on edge, and the younger guard even drew his weapon. 

“Wait!” the older guard hoarsely said as he held up a hand at the younger man.

“What’s wrong?” the girl curiously said, obviously surprised by the response from wearing the weird contraption for a few seconds. “Did you get stronger?” 

“Eh… I’m sorry young lady, I was too startled and I barely managed to explore this… thing. I still don’t really understand what happened.” 

“You just put the glasses on and lay down on the chair. You didn’t move for five seconds then you suddenly ripped the glasses off” she answered skeptically.

“I didn’t move? But it felt so real…” the guard mumbled, completely lost.

“Our products boast 100% immersion. They’re as good as, nay, better than reality!” Ekz interjected at his point, seeing an opening for some marketing.

“What happened?” she asked, obviously getting increasingly curious by the things in the store.

“As soon as I put on the device I was teleported to a cavern. Everything was the same except the surroundings. I thought I had activated a teleportation array, so I quickly tried to find the exit until I remember what the shopkeeper said. As soon as I tried to exit using my mind, I was back here. It seems the device creates an extraordinary Illusion.” The guard explained after regaining his wits.

“An illusion. What’s the point of training in an illusion?” the girl asked skeptically as she turned to Ekz.

“Our products are unique and unmatched. Move through the caverns and you will find out what I mean. If you wish to show your progress you can activate voice- and video transmission by giving the mental command [Settings]” Ekz urged the man. 

He wanted to showcase the strong points of the system to hopefully sell the other two individuals the passes. He actually wanted to spill the beans of how it worked, but an uncomfortable prickling sensation in his head stopped him. It seemed the system had some restrictions in place what he was and wasn’t allowed to divulge.

The guard once again sat down and put on the goggles after a nod from the girl. Nothing happened for a few seconds before a screen appeared in the air in front of his face. A blue line of fractals also lit up on the ground, lining roughly 5 square meters in front of the chair.

The weird pattern lighting up alerted the two people, but the older guard’s voice brought the focus to their comrade.

“Hello? Can you hear me young lady?” the voice said even though the guard with the goggles didn’t move his mouth. 

“I can hear you, but your mouth isn’t moving!” the girl answered wondrously as she looked around. 

“Your friend activated voice transmission. Only those within the blue markings will be able to hear and see anything happening. There are other security functions in the settings menu, such as privacy settings that will also erect a shield that will not let anyone inside the markings while you train, or only give access to certain pre-approved individuals. Of course, anyone who tries to accost a customer or staff will be considered a troublemaker and removed from the premises.”

“Wow. What kind of array is this? I’ve never seen anything like it” she exclaimed, obviously impressed by the novel technology she was witnessing.

“I’m afraid that is company secrets.” Ekz simply said, as he had no idea himself. 

She looked a bit miffed, but movement on the hovering monitor quickly drew her attention. It was the guard, who was visible in third-person view. He was walking along the brightly lit caverns, but Ekz realized they weren’t the same as the ones he walked during his trial. The environment was the same type, but the pathing was different, making him think the environment was randomly generated by the game.

Soon he happened upon a goblin and with the practiced ease of a soldier he drew his sword and made short work of it. 

“Wow!” the old guard exclaimed with a start after he killed the monster.

“What? That thing looked really weak” the girl asked. 

“When I killed the goblin I felt a stream of spiritual energy enter my core. It was extremely small, but my cultivation actually improved. Let me kill a few more and confirm!” the old guard eagerly said as he started to run through the tunnels. He quickly killed 10 goblins and then let another one hack away at him for a bit, ripping up large bloody gashes along his chest before logging out.

As soon as he was out he didn’t say anything, but instead closed his eyes after checking his chest. After a while, he opened them again with a wondrous look in his eyes.

“It’s real, I really got stronger outside of the illusion. It is a negligible all amount for my cultivation, but for the young lady it might be useful. It seems that wounds are not real either, making it safe” he confirmed. “Is this training method truly completely safe?” he added as he turned to Ekz with an eager glance.

[No.]

“Yes.”