Kill The Old Ones!

--

Lily was teaching people some crafting skills to help them, and she’s doing it for free.

Well, not exactly free. She only asked those she teaches to spread the knowledge to others if they can. She can’t completely dedicate her time tutoring everybody on what they need to know after all.

Her kindness earned her merit points from the invisible judge of this world, which was a nice bonus. It wasn’t high, but a little is better than nothing.

The first night was almost upon them.

When she and her boyfriend got here first, they picked an ideal spot to set up their camp and immediately did the work.

For now, they’re working with crude shelter made from stick, branches, and leaves. They gathered the materials on the way here, and having chakra and enhanced strength made it easier for them to make the things they needed.

By the time the first few people arrived in the location, Ren and Lily already had a temporary shelter, a campfire, and food cooking. They’re basically set up until tomorrow, that is.

Both of them knew that this was far from satisfactory. They can’t possibly live in a place like this for a whole year. They would need something better eventually.

Fortunately, Ren was already working on it.

After teaching some people, Lily went back inside the shelter, where she found her boyfriend sitting on their makeshift bed with a contemplative expression.

She sat next to him and asked, "How’s your window shopping? Found anything good?"

"Plenty, as a matter of fact." Ren smiled at her.

Yes, while Lily was busy teaching people how to make crude tools and crafts, Ren spent his time browsing the shop inside the shelter. And based on his mood, it seems that there was really some good stuff in there.

The thing is, Ren finds a hidden mechanic with the system here.

If others, Lily included, were to look to the merit exchange shop right now, they would only see a few items labelled. And those things were items that they could afford based on the amount of merit points they have right now.

That means that other items they can’t afford just yet are labelled [??? for now. Even their price can’t be seen. The names and the prices would only be revealed to them once they have enough merit points to buy them. And once they’re revealed, they are on the list permanently.

It’s different for Ren, though...

Maybe it’s because he was the first one to earn merit points, or maybe it’s the privilege given to him considering that he got so many merit points to put his team on the #1 list...but to Ren, every item in the shop was revealed, including those he couldn’t afford.

"First of all, I bought us a couple of things..." he told her before placing a bunch of items on her lap.

One was a leather skin pouch covered with inscriptions, a couple sets of clothes—including underwear—and a pack of sanitary pads just for her, and incense sticks.

Lily looked at these items and said, "I understand the clothes and the sanitary pads, but what’s this pouch and incense sticks for?"

"The incense sticks are insect repellants. The little buggers in this realm aren’t normal; they’ve mutated because of energy and from feeding off the corpses of dead monsters. Most of them are weak, yes, but better be safe than sorry."

"The shop says that it’s harmless to humans and only deters insects from approaching. It doesn’t smell, doesn’t produce too much smoke, and is perfectly safe to be lit in an enclosed area without fearing suffocation. Each stick costs 5 merit points and lasts for 24 hours per stick if used continuously."

"That’s nice," she commented, finding a new appreciation for the insense sticks. "And the pouch?"

"Bag of holding," he revealed casually. "See that array on the body? Smear a drop of your blood in that, and this pouch will be bound to you. This one’s the cheapest—a low-grade Bag of Holding; it has 20 inventory slots, each slot could fit items as big as this shelter of ours and could stack similar items up to 100."

Lily’s eyes brightened. Before Ren was even finished speaking, she had already bound the bag of holding to her and experimented on how to use it.

She just needs to hover any item she’s holding or touching before the opening of the bag and send an intent to place the items inside; the magic of the item will handle the transfer itself.

It’s simple, easy to use, and intuitive, even.

"How much was this?" she asked.

"100 merit points." He saw her wince and laughed. "Yeah, a bit expensive for now, but that’s fine. We’re strong, and we have a year here."

"The highest grade of storage is a real inventory, though," he said. "It costs 100,000 merit points, and it has unlimited storage. It can store something as big as a mountain."

"A bit excessive." Lily shook her head. "We only stay here for a year; I don’t think we need that."

"True. But you see, this pouch can be stolen or, worse, dropped or not secured correctly. Your blood signature here could be eroded or erased by someone with skill."

"An inventory is personal. It doesn’t drop even if we faced an accident here. I don’t know what kind of terrors this place will eventually send our way, but at least, we have this to consider."

Lily found that reasonable—as usual with her boyfriend, he really does think far ahead.

"Anyways, there are also actual tents and houses for sale in the shop. Well, blueprints, at least, magical ones—the kind that don’t need manual work. So long as the required resources are provided, what’s on the blueprint will be made. We can also retrieve them so long as we still have the blueprint. It’s convenient for moving."

"I also saw basic materials, gear and weapons, tools, and food in there. All can be exchanged with merit points."

"That’s nice," Lily said. "I assume you’ve already bought tools, then?"

"Yes! Everything I think I’ll need," he replied. "The basic materials in the shop are too expensive in my opinion. The system is asking for 10 merit points on a bundle of sticks! I could gather that much while taking a piss nearby, and with this storage tool, I could gather enough to last for days. Why would I need to pay that much for a bunch of sticks?"

"Well...I think not everybody has access to sticks. I mean, I can’t imagine this secret realm being just one massive forest. I think it has different biomes."

"I’ve thought of that as well, but even so, I still think the price is expensive," Ren snorted. "Anyway, it’s whatever. Let’s not talk about that anymore."

"..."

"..."

"Love?" Lily called out while brushing the scattered strands of hair on her boyfriend’s face.

"Yeah?" He raised a brow at her.

"Can you...maybe make a copy of the complete shop list?" she asked.

Ren stared at her for a bit, and she flushed under his gaze. A moment later, she heard him sigh softly before pulling her down on their makeshift, and uncomfortable, bed.

"You’re too kind to them; we’re not babysitters," he told her while caressing her hair.

Lily didn’t answer. As expected, Ren could see through her completely.

She didn’t ask for that list because she wanted to see them herself. Well, maybe at first yes. But she would memorize it quickly.

The real reason she asked for it was because she wanted to show them to everybody to give them hope and a goal.

She thought about making some kind of bulletin board where she’d post the shop list for everybody to peruse. She thought that—at least this way—her team would have a clear goal to follow.

If they see what they could buy with merit points, they’d be more focused. They will contribute more, they will be active, and they will take initiative to be self-sufficient.

More importantly, the reason why she wanted to do this was to prevent everybody’s morale from dropping even lower. She didn’t want them to stew in their doubts and hesitation and walk aimlessly like brain-dead slaves.

She wants to awaken their fighting spirit. And she thought that if they could see the things they could buy with merit points, then it would give them a clear direction and focus instead of wallowing in despair.

This is why he said that she’s too kind with them...

Next thing she knew, there was an activity near the table.

A bunch of papers and pens were moving on their own as if ghosts were controlling them. Words were being brought written systematically in there, and in that instant, Lily immediately realized what’s happening.

Her gaze turned soft. She kissed him, which then turned into a full make-out session with his hands roaming all over her body.

Lily didn’t mind. In fact, she eagerly gave him access to everywhere he wanted to touch.

It’s only right for her to spoil him just as much as he spoils her, after all.