The Flying Emporium

After the three people left, Severin went back to work with a clear and focused mind.

In the beginning, he had thought about slacking off. As there was a lower workload than the day before, he felt it was okay to take things a bit slower today. But now after coming face to face with a rabid bunch of customers that expected new goods from him, he decided to work in a bit more conscientious manner.

If he kept working at yesterday’s speed, he projected at around midday he would’ve processed all of the new materials. It would also be the same time that he’d hit level 10 with his [Alchemist] sub-class, he roughly guessed.

He could still decide how to proceed from there.

If there turned out to be no suitable reward that required him to keep on crafting, he would still have the rest of the day off to laze around.

And if there was, well, then he would keep on laboring.

As much as he was appalled by the thought of being taken advantage of by some shitty system, he still didn’t want to disappoint his customers. It was a great joy to him seeing the unbelieving expressions on people’s faces when confronted with the products he had to offer.

Be it the sheer joy of someone as young and relatively inexperienced as Timothy or the stunned face of some weathered veteran, such as Samuel, and to a lesser extent Andreas as well.

Severin couldn’t imagine ever growing tired of this.

So, he kept going, if grudgingly.

Based on the position of the sun it turned out to be earlier than he had predicted when he eventually finished this work.

Coincidentally, the moment Severin had finished the last item was also the moment he achieved his level-up.

Before paying attention to anything else, he leaned back on the chair's pitiful backrest and closed his eyes for a few moments, catching a small break.

Only after sitting like this for a time long enough for even the latest potion which he had crafted to settle and take its form, he quickly cleared away all the scattered items and placed them inside the new shelves.

Only then did he sit down and finally check all the relevant notifications.

“Four at once! I knew I could count on you.” But his excitement ebbed just as quickly as it had risen.

“You’re really not particularly creative, huh?

First only potions. And now it’s just more oils? And they don’t even have especially exciting effects. How am I supposed to face my customers if all the expected ‘new goods’ turn out like…this. Won’t this offend them? Just after I made them believe I’d get some awesome new stuff.” Severin had only himself to blame.

[Weapon Oil – Fire Damage Conversion (5)

Forty percent of all Physical Damage dealt by the enchanted Weapon gets converted into Fire Damage.

Lasts for 30 minutes.]

The three other descriptions were written in an analog fashion, just replacing ‘Fire’ for one of the other base elements, each.

‘I mean, Andreas and his people will probably still buy it. But it somehow feels wrong.

And this is supposed to be the huge level 10 reward? What’s next? The same kinds of potions as before, just in medium or large?’

But just as Severin began to wonder if witnessing other people experience utter disappointment might bear its own flavor of twisted enjoyment, he noticed something else.

At first, he thought the red indicator next to his inventory screen was just to remind him of the materials required for those, newly acquired, weapon enchants.

But on a closer look, he found something else laying inside as well.

…

Way too early for Severin’s liking did two people storm into his store, followed shortly by a slightly more reserved third one.

“Morning!”

“So, do you have it?”

“Hey, Severin. I hope we’re not bothering you.”

‘Ha! You think I would dare telling you off? I just woke up, dammit.

Makes me wonder if the door automatically locks and unlocks depending on whether I’m sleeping or not.’

Before he could find the words to answer, the group was already standing in front of the previously empty shelves, ignoring him.

It didn’t take long before the indignant shouts sounded.

“Really now? That doesn’t count!”

“Is that it? Didn’t you promise something useful against mages?”

Even Samuel felt somewhat disappointed when he read the tooltips of the bottles containing the red, yellow, blue, and greenish liquids, respectively.

‘Sadly, it’s only the basic elements.’

In reality, all three of them figured out the undoubted usefulness of those Weapon Oils. Being able to target a specific elemental weakness was nowhere near comparable to the previous version, which had an element of chance involved. In 9 out of 10 cases, those new items would be vastly superior. Even considering the 10% lower conversion rate.

Samuel almost had to laugh when he caught himself lamenting the fact that only versions for the basic elements were available.

‘Look at me. Upset that I can’t spend 20 gold to give my weapons a Dark element enchantment. How the shop has desensitized me already. My common sense is just gone it seems. Previously, this stuff here would already be unbelievable.’

Having these thoughts himself, Samuel knew he shouldn’t blame Miriam and Tim for their behavior. Still, he knew he had to reprimand them. “Was yesterday's lesson not enough for you two? Want another round?”

Timothy quickly became timid and was just about to apologize for his rude behavior when a sudden exclamation interrupted him.

“What is that thing? That’s new as well, right? It has to be.”

Miriam leaped towards the new device she had just spotted.

With that, all thoughts of asking for forgiveness went out of the window. Instead, Timothy rushed over as well, wanting to inspect the unfamiliar object. Samuel’s face fell as he was very displeased being disregarded like that. Nonetheless, he still kept observing them without saying a word. Despite his restraint, he was just as curious as them.

A brightly colored rectangle box, standing upright in the left back corner of the room; The one near the end of the counter. The recent expansion, of 2 meters in length, was just enough for the thing to fit in there and still allow Severin to navigate the area without any problems.

Entering the room, someone coming from Severin’s original world could’ve mistaken it for a jukebox at a first glance. Or maybe for a vending machine; Based on the output tray at the bottom.

But while it also had an opening that looked suspiciously like a coin slot, there wasn’t any window through which one could make out any wares contained inside. Instead, there was an opening on top that was covered by a hinged lid.

What followed was a minute or so of noisy discussion and knocking and touching and poking and other similar futile attempts of figuring out the strange object's purpose.

On closer inspection, one would’ve been able to notice that the massive [Berserker], who somehow seemed to suddenly stand closer to the object in question, was becoming impatient.

As it was still so early in the morning and Severin had just gotten up, he was initially overwhelmed by the sudden tumult ensuing inside of his shop, leaving him speechless.

He didn’t even come around to putting his ‘bed’ away yet. Lucky for him, everyone was so preoccupied that no one noticed. He felt he would’ve died from shame otherwise. After all, he had an image to preserve.

Following that, he just never got the chance to insert himself into the discussion, as the two youngsters kept on squabbling. So far he hadn’t said even a single word, just standing there awkwardly.

But suddenly, as if prompted by a secret signal, three pairs of eyes turned their attention Severin, awaiting an explanation.

After a moment of hesitation caused by this unexpected change in the atmosphere, he realized it was his time to shine.

He slowly swaggered over toward the box, which was placed just a few steps away from him, wearing a stupid grin.

He knocked on the object’s side and turned to face his regulars in an attention-seeking fashion. Only after a short, dramatic pause did he reveal the tooltip while saying,

“It’s an item combinator!”