Chapter 1.

Well, life could be better but then again it could always be worse.

Why am I getting so philosophical all of a sudden? Well, that would be because I died, but I got better. Yeah, that's right I didn't die permanently, instead I woke up in an empty store.

At first, I didn't know what kind of situation I was in the only thing that I knew was that I was in a store. The store didn't look like a modern store instead it looked like a tavern or an inn in medieval times, made out of wood and all.

It took me a little bit of time walking around and exploring to find that the store didn't have a single living being inside and the only items were a piece of paper and various vials that were filled with various interesting fluids.

Of course, the first thing that I picked up was the piece of paper. On the paper there was a language but a language that I wasn't able to recognize but that I could understand even though it was my first time reading it.

'If you find yourself in my store, feel free to pick any one of the various Essences available, you can pick as many as you want and do not have to pay any price, but I warn you that all people have a limit and you will know when your limit is reached.'

'After you reach your limit, you will be reborn with all your memories intact and the powers that the Essences grant you in a random world.'

'From now on you can use this piece of paper to know the effects of the Essences'

After reading the last sentence the previously filled paper turned blank and with not a drop of ink on it.

I panicked for a second seeing the first truly supernatural event in my life, before calming down.

I picked up the piece of paper before walking next to the now-named Essences that I previously referred to as vials.

As soon as the piece of pare was placed near one of the Essences it regained the text that previously disappeared, but instead of the first message that I saw it instead showed a new one.

'Essence of the Assassin'

After that, there was a description that lasted for a few paragraphs explaining what the essence allowed you to do.

After reading the entire page I was stunned by the power that the essence granted you, I quickly calmed down before walking to the next essence.

'Essence of the Archmage'

It would turn out that the first Essence wasn't a fluke if I had to judge I would say that this one is even stronger than the first one.

I wasn't going to make my choice in such a short amount of time so I decided to read the descriptions of all the Essences and only then make my choice.

I don't know how much time has passed, but I am certain that if I was in a normal situation, I would have started to want to eat something, but as I hadn't, I know that I can freely choose Essences with no biological interference.

I truly don't know how much time has passed but I was certain that a week has passed or maybe even more, I can feel that my decision-making ability is starting to degrade from the isolation, so I know that it was time to finish my selection.

I had found various Essences that were tucked away in various corners or were just gathering dust. In total I had selected 10 Essences, I do not know what the limit is, but I will probably reach it before I could even drink half of them but I want to be prepared just in case.

The first essence that I selected was the 'Essence of Shopkeeper', it was an essence that was on one of the shelves that weren't in full view. This was my first choice for consumption as it would grant me theoretically infinite potential.

The essence allows me to set up a shop in any place I want. After I designate the place of my shop the shop will appear in that location. It will start as a small shop and only sell items that could be found anywhere else in the shop's location, the only advantage of my shop would be the relatively cheap prices compared to other shops, but as more people buy from my shop the shop will increase what they have in stock and the size of the shop permanently.

This was only for the shop but it also allowed me other options. That can actually increase my strength. One of the first advantages granted to me was the complete invincibility of both my store and myself while I am inside the store, if I leave the store the store will remain invincible but I will lose this ability.

The second advantage is my complete authority over the store. This grants me various abilities such as allowing me to blacklist certain people from my shop, hiding my shop from others view, making deals with people inside my store that are enforced, and much more as the store grows stronger, I would also gain new authorities.

The last ability that actually allowed me to increase my personal strength when or if I want to leave the store was my ability to gain points that could be used to buy anything.

For example, I could use my points to buy things that my store didn't even have, such as the abilities of any fictional world that I wanted. Even if I was reborn in a world that didn't have any supernatural elements, I could gain them through my store. Who knows maybe in the future I could even buy Essences through my store.

And if that wasn't enough as my store increased in strength, I would gain more points daily.

As I drank my first Essence, I honestly didn't expect it to taste like anything but I was surprised that I could actually taste the Essence.

I don't know how to explain it but it tasted like the concept of what a store would taste like, it almost felt like I was drinking a whole store into my stomach.

As soon as I finished drinking the Essence, I knew that I couldn't drink a third Essence it felt like I was constantly carrying stones on my back that are extremely heavy and not just physically but metaphysically. And was only barely able to reach for my second Essence and drink it before losing my conciseness.

The second essence that I was able to choose was the 'Essence of Blank'. It was one of the essences that was in such a far of corner and it looked like no one has picked it up for a long time as it was covered in dust, but from what the description said I know that this might possibly be the most important essence of them all.

'By taking this essence, you gain but one benefit:

Your potential becomes limitless. You can learn any discipline or skillset, even if you shouldn't be capable of it, without forgetting it and practice them into mastery, no matter how many you learn. Any abilities you have from other Essences will increase where possible and develop in ways beyond their initial purposes.'