Employee 34 - Chapter 2 version 2 (Patreon)

Ekz was elated that he managed to snag his first customer in such a serendipitous manner. He didn’t care about who chased him and why. The important thing was that he finally completed the quest he received by the System some time ago. It was good timing too, since he barely had a day to spare.

Active Quests:

The First Dollar: Gain the first paying customer within a week. Reward: 10 Incursion Credits, Incursion Design System (IDS) activated, Spin of Lottery wheel. (1/1). 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 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 which 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, forcefully hired to perform the tasks of a store clerk. 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 what essentially was a deadly 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 explained that the more quests and rewards Ekz unlocked, the better benefits and living conditions he would get. For the actual rewards of the quest he didn’t understand what they did, but he guessed the voice would explain it later. 

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. He had no access to the inner city where most cultivators lived, and in the end, kept lying on the sofa sleeping away his troubles.

Luckily the bloody man solved the problem for him, and the quest was now marked as complete. But he didn’t have time to celebrate, as the automatic doors slid open again.

A gorgeous girl roughly the same age as himself, well his new self, entered the store with an angry huff with two muscular armed men following in behind her. One of them stared daggers at Ekz, not saying anything but seemingly daring him to make a sudden move. The group was obviously not some curious neighbors, as any one of the jewels the girl wore was likely more valuable than the house they stood in. It looked like the man’s pursuers had caught up.

“Where is the man who entered here? Don’t bother trying to hide it, a few of your neighbors have already sold you out” the girl said as she stared daggers at Ekz, obviously already having labeled him a co-conspirator to whatever offense the bloody man had committed.

“I am sorry, it is against the rules of the Boundless Day Training Center to comment on our members’ activities,” Ekz helplessly said. His warm feelings toward his first customer were already starting to cool, as he obviously brought a bunch of trouble with him.

“Members? What is this place? Everything in here is so weird,” the girl was obviously still angry, but she curiously looked around. Both the large electric display and the mysterious crystal were likely different from anything she had ever seen before. She forgot herself for a second as she looked at the list of products Ekz sold. “Is this really a training center for cultivation?”

Ekz was about to throw out a few lies that would hopefully result in them leaving, but a sound in his head stopped him in his tracks.

New Quest:

The First Steps to Stardom: Let the world experience the greatness of the Boundless Dao Training Centre. Have customers train a total of 500 hours within a week. Reward: 20 Incursion Points, Spin of Lottery wheel. (0/500). Failure to complete results in punishment.

Ekz forgot about his angry guests as he looked horrified at his new quest. 500 hours? That was something like 70 hours a day. That meant he had to somehow trick twelve people to enter the crystal for the maximum amount of time. Every day.

Judging by his traffic so far he was in deep shit, and his only hope for salvation was the little girl in front of him. Ekz mentally complained about the unfairness of the tasks but was quickly set straight by the droning voice in his head. 

[Employee 34 has shown remarkable lack of gumption during work-hours. Quests have been designed to get on track with experiment. When more initiative is shown by employee, a larger amount of agency will be awarded.]

“Good eye young lady. This is the Boundless Dao Training Center, where any cultivator can reach for the Supreme Dao. With just a small monetary investment you can set foot on the path to the peak,” Ekz explained with a grand gesture, while inwardly cursing at his boss. “We sport the most novel tools to gain strength. As you know the struggle among competitors is intense, but we will give you the tools to survive and thrive!”

“Young lady, you mustn’t. This place feels off. And while it is not a lot of money the clan would become a laughing stock if we got taken advantage of. More importantly, we need to catch that brazen thief” a guard hastily interjected, but the girl’s curiosity was piqued and she ignored his advice. 

“You’re saying I will get stronger if I buy your services? And that the thief is a customer of yours?” she asked, glancing doubtfully at the surroundings. 

“You have honest Ekz’s guarantee. Money back if you don’t find the service satisfactory. Your bloody friend saw that we offered great value for a low price, and immediately signed up upon entering our facilities.” Obviously Ekz wouldn’t give any money back. He wasn’t even sure if he had the option to give out refunds as most of the functions were controlled by the System. 

He knew it was his glib tongue and loose definition of the truth that got him whisked away to this fantasy world, but it couldn’t be helped. He needed to make some sales. He hoped that he could bait a few more people into the crystal by enticing them with the man who apparently had stolen something from her. 

“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. 

“You’re saying that the man who came before us signed up and is now somewhere training?” she asked, clearly not buying Ekz’s spiel, but at least she was interested in the thief’s whereabouts. 

“Indeed, he is gaining insight into the Dao as we speak, and should the three of you join the Training Center you can too. I will guide you to the same location to your friend,” Ekz answered, dialing down the sales pitch a bit. Of course, he failed to mention that even if the three entered the crystal they would be alone, as the Goblin Den was a Solo Dungeon according to the voice in his head. 

“How dangerous is this training method?” she asked as he turned to Ekz with a sceptical glance.

[Quite.]

“Not at all.” 

“Then what about those rules?” she asked skeptically.

“Something we must write out, searching for the Dao is always accompanied by some risks, no matter how small,” Ekz answered with a dismissive shrug. In a sense it was true. The Goblin Den was a beginner dungeon with extra safety precautions in place, and any future dungeons were likely to be far more dangerous. 

“It better be safe or you and this shop will not see the sunrise tomorrow,” the mouthy guard 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 for the three of us. Oh, and a cup of tea please” she answered, having somewhat calmed down. 

“Young lady, we can head to the Golden Lotus Inn later for a cup of tea after we are have caught the culprit,” the older of the two guards who had remained silent until now calmly interjected. She looked a bit irritated and had a stubborn glint in her eye.

The guard saw that she had made up her mind and turned to Ekz after a sigh. He fished out a handful of gold coins out of a pouch and handed them over. 

“Ninety 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 are your personal tags. Don’t lose them as they are 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, no more stalling. We have paid the fee, so lead us to the thief you’re hiding,” the more seasoned guard said after giving his younger colleague a glance.

“Certainly valued customer. Simply touch our training crystal and you will go where you need to go” Ekz answered with a smile, as he touched the crystal to show how safe it was. To him, it might as well be a normal piece of glass as he hadn’t paid for any training time. He could touch it as much as he wanted without risking being sent back to that hellhole.

“What do you mean? Is the crystal a key to your so-called facilities?” the girl asked as she closely examined the Nexus Hub, wondrously looking at its intricate pattern. 

Ekz only smiled and nodded, saying nothing more. The girl’s hand started to reach toward the crystal, and the guards’ eyes opened in alarm.

“Young lady, wait!” the older man shouted and jumped toward her, but it was too late. Her fingertips touched the smooth surface of the Nexus Hub, and she was immediately whisked away. The guard who jumped after her only caught air and lost his balance, accidentally touching the crystal as well.

The last guard stood frozen, looking horrified at the crystal that made people disappear.