System Activation
Chapter 2: System Activation
Satria left the park hurriedly after the supposedly supernatural event that just happened. He couldn't calm down and process what happened before because it was too bizarre and scary. On his way back, sometimes he spaced out and almost crashed the vehicle next to him. Luckily, he arrived at his rented room still in a whole piece. He took a cold bath and lay down on his bed.
He still feels slightly hurt by the rejection of his first crush. But he tried to not think about it. Maybe, he and she weren't meant to be together. He just hoped that it won't be awkward when meeting her on campus or anything like that.
'Let's just read something ...,'
With that in mind, he opened the webnovel and checked his reading list to see whether an update on his collections.
'Ohhh ..., there's an update on this fanfic.'
He tapped the fanfic of the classic anime, Naruto. Reading fanfic is a good way to kill some time, he hadn't even finished the original work. But he knows the general plot thanks to a spoiler that was widely spread on the internet. The screen then showed whether he would continue where he left off or not, and he clicked continue.
[Detected a variation of a world.]
[World: Naruto]
[Variation: #1817305 (In Naruto: Reborn with Talent)]
[Variation Creator: KasiCair]
[Original Creator: Masashi Kishimoto]
[World Level: 2]
[Would you like to open a gate connected to this world?] [Yes/No]
"HAAAA?" Satria questioned his sanity as he let out a long and weird squeak.
In front of his vision, there was a floating screen that looks like some kind of fantasy-RPG novel UI/UX. He tried to look up, right, left, and down, yet the screen followed his vision as if it was docked to the center of his vision.
'What the hell is this?'
[Do you wish to open the Guide tools?]
'Yes please!'
[Affirmative. Unpacking the file 'Complete Guide to Merchant System.md' ...]
[1. General Information]: Merchant System version 1.0 is a comprehensive system created by the God of Trade and Commerce. Those who possess this system will have the ability to travel back and forth to another dimension. Merchant Rank sometimes referred to as MR, is a measure of your experience as a merchant. There are several ways to gain experience, redeem it with currency, gained through successful trading, or finish a quest. There's always a daily task available in the Quest section, but along the way, you will have the chance to accept a special commission from a Quest Giver.
[2. Main Feature]: There are four main features of the Merchant System ver 1.0
Gate: Conjure a portal to another world that let you travel back and forth. Only the system holder and the one with the 'Realm Ticket' can use the Gate of Travel.
Inventory: A spatial-temporal inventory that could store things regardless of size and weight.
Shop: A place where you can buy and sell anything that is available for sale. The currency used is gold, and it can be used interchangeably with other accepted local currencies.
Quest: You'll earn experience for completing tasks, both one-offs and repeatable daily, weekly, and monthly tasks. If you accepted a commission quest, it will also be listed in this feature.
[3. World]: The first main feature of this system is the operating Gate that connects to other worlds. The coordinates of the designated will be revealed if the user has a certain degree of understanding of the said world from any source. The gate can be summoned and closed at the user's will. However, before user could close a gate, user must complete one single transaction in the destination world.
The price for opening a gate is (100 x n^0.809) G. Maintenance fee is (20 x n^0.809) G per month, with n in accordance with World Level. While closing a gate will not cost you any piece of gold but if you wish to re-establish the gate to the closed world coordinate, it will cost twice the price of the gate the first time opening.
A World has a certain level designated on their potential and overall power level. You can only gain access to a high-level world after you leveled up your Merchant Rank. Your Merchant Rank also limits how many gates you can open.
'What?' there are several others guides with lots of information inside.
But just reading the first three entries of this guide brought him into such an unprecedented overwhelming feeling. He felt like he got isekai'd, ROB'd, or was he actually a lucky protagonist in a fictional novel or something?
"Maybe this is what Zen, that crepe seller meant by the other things he gave to me." he started connecting the dots and felt that it might be true.
He just had his first paranormal experience, and that mysterious crepe seller told him that he also bestow something on him. And now, when he got back, there's this weird system like those in fantasy novels he used to read.
'Just who is he ...' Satria pondered upon who is actually that crepe seller, but then forget about it eventually because right now it isn't that important.
He thought of how to use this give to its fullest. He can gain some power, and more importantly ... money! It is true that not every problem can be solved with money, but most of the problem that arose is because someone lacks money. As a poor student living in the metropolitan of Surabaya city, he could somehow ascertain that statement.
He checked the feature of this system. To open a world, he needs to have a glimpse of understanding of that world. He could read a manga or novel, watch a movie or anime, or play a game, etc. and it will open the gate to those fictional worlds.
The inventory was just like a game inventory, he experimented with this inventory a bit and found out that if he put the same object into the inventory it will stack. But if there's a slight change in it, it will be registered as a different object altogether. For example, he put two bottles of unopened Pocari Sweat, it's stacked in the inventory. But when he opened one and drank some and then put it in again ..., it registered as two separate things, unstackable objects, a Pocari Sweat and Pocari Sweat (91%).
Shop in the system is quite interesting. The listed goods here are based on the world he opened a portal from. This means he could buy every tradeable thing on this planet through this feature. Satria already unlocked his original world which is earth, and every sellable thing on the planet is available here.
Lastly, there's the quest.
[Quest]
[Daily]
[Daily Sign-In] - Check-In (Claim)
[Trader I] - Complete 4 Transactions (0/4)
[Shopping Spree I] - Purchase 1 item in the Shop (0/1)
[Spender I] - Spends 10 Gold (0/10)
...
He claimed the daily sign-in quest and it reward him with 50 MAP. MAP stood for Merchant Active Points, it is akin to exp. point, but it's more on a reward system where he could obtain few rewards by raising the Activeness Level. Aside from that, there's Weekly and Monthly Quest.
Then, there's the event quest. At the moment, he only has this Newbie Training Quest.
[Newbie Training] (Ends in 6 Days 23 Hours and 56 Minutes)
[Readme] - Read the Guide (Claim)
[Basic Feature] - Learn more about the System features (Claim)
[Health is Important] - Learn more about the Character Status (0/1)
[Starting Point] - Conjure a Gate (0/1)
[Be a Helpful Person] - Trigger any Quest (0/1)
[A Fit Body for Peddling] - Reach Character Level 10 (1/10)
[No Longer a Noob] - Reach Merchant Rank Level 5 (1/5)
[Let's Make Some Money] - Earn a total of 1.000 G (0/1.000)
[Money is Only a Number] - Spend a total of 1.000 G (0/1.000)
'There's also something like status?' Satria looked around his HUD and noticed some icon of a man's head in the upper right corner of his vision. He tapped the icon and opened his status.
[Character Status]
Name : Satria Purnama | Age : 19 | Race : Human | Gender : Male
Dimensional Merchant | Level: 1 (0%) | Merchant Rank: 1 (0%)
Health: 100/100 | Stamina: 100/100 | Magicka: 100/100
ATK : 2 | DEF : 4 | MAG : 1 | RES : 1
[Equipment]
Body: Tunwis Black Shirt
Leg: Short Jeans
Accessories: Eyeglass (Eyesight Improvement)
"Magic is real?"
That comes out somewhat dumb remembering he got a multiversal trading system. He closed the Character Status page and re-opened the Quest menu. He claimed all the unclaimed rewards.
[Received] :
[Gold] x 50
[Merchant Exp.] x 500
[Blank Contract Paper] x 10
[Free Pass Ticket] x 2
[Starter Mount Orb] x 1
[Received] :
[Gold] x 30
[Merchant Exp.] x 150
[Gate Opening Ticket] x 1
[Half-price Discount Coupon] x 1
[Double Exp. & Gold Reward Card - 7 Days] x 1
[Received] :
[Gold] x 20
[Merchant Exp.] x 100
[Skill Book (B)] x 1] x 1
[Relic Strongbox] x 1
[Newbie Equipment Set Chest] x 1
[Newbie Weapon Chest] x 1
'Wow ..., these newbie quest is really generous with their reward. I checked the conversion and one system of gold equals 1 gram of real gold. That's 1 million rupiahs for you! Heck, the reward from these three quests alone is more than what I got this year.'
Satria closed the Quest window and opened the Inventory, he read the description of the item that he just got as a reward for completing the newbie quest.
[Blank Contract Paper]: A blank paper for writing a contract, you can fill in details about what parties can or cannot do. It's a soul contract, I warn you.
[Free Pass Ticket]: This ticket can even let you enter Presidential Palace without a problem.
[Starter Mount Orb]: Contain a starter mount, you can choose one of the available options.
[Gate Opening Ticket]: Let you conjure a Gate for free.
[Half-price Discount Coupon]: Use this coupon for half the price discount.
[Double Exp. & Gold Reward Card - 7 Days]: For the next seven days, you will gain doubled reward for Exp. & Gold from Quest.
[Skill Book (B)]: Use this book to learn B-rank Skills.
[Relic Strongbox]: Some said this box contains a powerful relic, did you believe that?
[Newbie Equipment Set Chest]: Contain a set of newbie equipment.
[Newbie Weapon Chest]: Contain a newbie weapon, you can choose one of the available options.
He unhesitatingly used the Double Reward Card, and Skill Book, and opened the container item.
[You have learned 'Amethyst Barrier']
[Amethyst Barrier] - Active
Create a blood wine-colored barrier around the user for 15s that reflect physical and magical damage taken based on the user's DEF. When a user's attack hit a target, it will regenerate HP. The amount of HP healed when regeneration is scaled based on the user's DEF.
Cost: 10 Magicka | Cooldown: 25s
'Hmmm ..., isn't this a somewhat better version of Noelle's E skill?'
Satria with bubbling excitement tried to activate this skill.
"Amethyst Barrier!"
A bright amethyst-purple light enveloped his body and it condensed into a translucent icosahedral shield surrounding his torso. He tried to touch it and there was a texture on it, but his hand still pass it nonetheless.
'Even the appearance is somewhat similar ...'
He took his phone and took a selfie and video of himself with the amethyst barrier activated. Just to make sure that he's not delusional or anything. Thankfully, the modern camera could still capture this magical thing that happens right now, but it couldn't take a picture or record a video of his system for some reason.
Anyway, he can't confirm the healing and reflect damage effect right now. He waited for the skill to lose its effect and continue opening the other chest in his inventory.
[Received] :
[Masque of Clavicus Vile] x 1
[Received] :
[Merchant's Robe] x 1
[Leather Boots] x 1
[Merchant's Gloves] x 1
[Amulet of Zenithar] x 1
[Ring of Minor Magicka] x 1
[Please choose one of the following weapons] :
[Steel Sword]
[Steel Spear]
[Steel War Axe]
[Steel Mace]
[Steel Warhammer]
[Steel Battleaxe]
[Steel Curved Sword]
[Hunting Bow]
[Steel Dagger]
[Flintlock]
[Revolver]
[Tome]
[Wand]
'Yeah, why'd you choose a primitive weapon like a sword and stuff if you can just take out a firearm? Unless you're a chuuni, that is.' he choose the Revolver because it's slightly more advanced than flintlock while it also offers more shots.
[Masque of Clavicus Vile]: A unique daedric artifact from Daedric Prince of Power, Trickery, Wishes, Serenity, and Bargains. (Prices -20% | Speech +10 | Reg. Magicka +5%)
[Merchant's Robe]: Silken cloak gilded with golden thread. (RES +3 | Charm +30%)
[Leather Boot]: A leather boots of fine craftsmanship. (DEF +1 | +Movement)
[Merchant's Glove]: A glove made from some kind of reptile scale, very durable. (DEF +2)
[Amulet of Zenithar]: One of the nine sacred amulets of the Nine Divines dedicated to God of Trade and Commerce, Zenithar. (Prices -10%)
[Ring of Minor Magicka]: A silver ring enchanted with fortify magicka enchantment. (Magicka +25)
[Revolver]: Standard-issued Goug Mk. 29 designed by the machinist of Goug. (ATK +21 | +Accuracy)
'I got a fucking daedric artifact? Like those things in Elder Scrolls? And this gun ..., I've read something about this before, where is it again? Goug ..., I know I've heard that from somewhere but I can't remember it.'
He searched the name on his trusty bing search on microsoft edge and found out that it's a weapon from the game Final Fantasy Tactic Advance 2.
'Yes! Goug, the Clockwork City! Damn, that's nostalgic.'