Chapter 2 - Convenience Store Worker

"Kalion!"

I was jolted back to reality by a gruff voice calling out for me from another room. Startled, I almost dropped the cans of food I was holding.

"Yes, Mr. Starvale?"

A short, older man poked his balding head into the storage room, adjusting his thick glasses. He wore a tidy, green apron with the word "CAPEMART" printed in big, bold letters.

"Ah, there you are, Kalion. I was trying to tell you to finish pricing those cans, and then you can head out for the night."

"Oh, sorry, sir. I think I lost track of the time. I'll be done in a bit."

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I focused on the cans in my hands. After a moment, they were bathed in golden light emanating from my left eye.

[Eye of Appraisal has been activated.]

[Assessing value of the selected item...]

[Item: Assorted Vegetable Can

Description: A can of assorted vegetables commonly sold at dime-a-dozen convenience stores.

Estimated Value: 5 coins]

Pulling out the appropriate pricing stickers, I quickly labeled all of the cans, and set them on the nearby shelves. I took off my apron made my way to the front of the store, where Mr. Starvale was unpacking more boxes of assorted goods. Noticing me hanging my apron up, the old man hobbled over.

"You did a fantastic job today, like always, Kalion. I don't know how you manage to work so fast, but I appreciate the enthusiasm."

Mr. Starvale took a small pouch of coins from his pocket: my wages for the day. As he placed the pouch in my hands, I activated my Skill again.

[Item: Coin Pouch

Description: A small pouch of coins for a job well done.

Estimated Value: 60 coins]

"Always giving me more than my share, huh, Mr. Starvale?"

The store owner just chuckled in response.

"Can't fool that Skill of yours, can I? You earned every coin in there, young man. Never met a youngster with as a good a work ethic as yours. Effort deserves reward, that's what I've always believed."

I smiled as I pocketed the money.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Mr. Starvale."

I stepped outside and took a deep breath, enjoying the crisp, evening air. I stretched my limbs a bit and started walking home, letting my mind wander.

After my Class Aptitude Test had gone horribly wrong, I fell into a coma for three days. When I awoke, Ceelia informed me that the Advancer Organization had given me temporary lodgings, so they could monitor my health.

The Shard's mana storm was an incredibly rare and dangerous occurrence, and even an experienced Advancer would have suffered serious injuries. There was no telling what kind of damage my body had endured. Ceelia, having been assigned to me, visited often to make sure I was recovering.

The Organization needed to keep an eye on me for the next month to ensure my mana veins hadn't suffered irreversible damage. Until then, I wasn't allowed to engage in any high intensity activity.

That included Dungeon Raids, unfortunately.

To make matters worse, my savings had taken a huge blow, thanks to my medical bills. The Organization paid for the majority of it, but a decent chunk still had to come out of my pocket. That was enough motivation for me to immediately start looking for a new job. I had prematurely quit my old one as a warehouse worker, since I planned to move on to Dungeons after my test.

𝘈 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.

In my eyes, time spent idle was money wasted, and I didn't have that much to begin with. If I couldn't earn coins by killing monsters, I'd find a different way, like I always did.

I shook my head clear of my thoughts as I approached a cozy looking cottage located on the outskirts of the city. The Organization initially wanted to put me in the HQ infirmary, but I was able to convince them to move me here, a place where I would have more peace and quiet. Not only did the cottage offer solitude, but it was also within walking distance of my job.

𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘐'𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘴.

I headed inside and opened my cupboards, tapping a very particular spot in the inside frame. A hidden compartment opened up, and I retrieved a small, black lockbox. With a touch of mana, small enough to avoid agitating my damaged veins, I opened up the box, and pulled out the pouch of coins I earned today. As I added my pay to the lockbox, I couldn't help but think back on my test.

Counting my time spent in a coma, 24 days had passed since the incident, and I still couldn't make sense of the results.

___

[Character Summary]

Name: Kalion

Age: 23

Class: [???]

Health: 10/10

Mana: 50/50

Stats: [Strength Lv. 1], [Agility Lv. 3], [Constitution Lv. 1], [Intelligence Lv. 5], [Arcana Lv. 2], [Spirit Lv. 5]

Unique Skills: [Eye of Appraisal]

Active Skills: None

Passive Skills: [Tireless Will Lv. 1]

___

Looking over my character summary, I couldn't help but sigh in disappointment. My Class was still hidden. The Organization couldn't figure out why or how such a thing could happen. They confirmed that my mana veins, although very damaged, had definitely been bolstered by the Shard, so I certainly received a Class.

The most the Organization could theorize was that my unusual experience with the Shard was responsible for the strange censoring, but no one knew how to fix it. Due to my current damaged state, it was too risky to tamper with my mana veins to learn more, so there wasn't anything we could do but wait for them to heal.

As for my strange Passive Skill...

"[Tireless Will] huh. I'm guessing I got that because of the stunt I pulled with the Shard. Not really sure what it does, though, but I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually."

I scanned through my character summary, grimacing at my abysmal Strength and Constitution Stats, before resting my eyes on my one Unique Skill.

"From what I know, Unique Skills are special Skills specific to the Advancer who knows them. Typically, they're greatly influenced by your Class, but I don't know mine, so..."

I sighed as I emptied the last of the coins into the lockbox. After ensuring the pouch was empty, I focused intently on the box, and several familiar message windows appeared.

[Eye of Appraisal has been activated.]

[Assessing value of selected item...]

I chose to keep my [Eye of Appraisal] Skill a secret from the Organization for the time being. It was stressful enough recovering from the accident, and I had absolutely no desire to add more to the pile by revealing a new Skill.

"At least, not until my Class information decides to show itself."

[Item: Kalion's Safe Box

Description: A small lockbox containing Kalion's meager earnings.

Estimated Value: 1000 coins]

This [Eye of Appraisal] Skill allowed me to view the coin value of any item just by focusing on it. Information gathering Skills did exist, so [Eye of Appraisal] wasn't exactly groundbreaking. Although the Skill could accurately assess coin values, a trait usually only found as a secondary feature in mid to high leveled Skills, that was the ONLY thing it could do.

"The Shard could have at least given me [Scan] or [True Sight], but no, I get stuck with this weird knockoff Skill. I almost regret letting that stupid rock put me in a coma. Well, almost."

At first glance, [Eye of Appraisal] really did seem like a pointless ability, but I had found ways to make use of it. For instance, it turned out to be incredibly helpful at my job. Thanks to this Skill, I didn't have to waste time memorizing item prices, so I breezed through work twice as fast.

"I'm lucky Mr. Starvale agreed to keep this Skill a secret from Ceelia. Then again, I suppose it's a pretty small price for him to pay considering the kind of value he gets from a worker like me. And he does compensate me pretty generously."

The Skill also proved to be invaluable when shopping, since I could use it to identify bargains and sales. However, I was an Advancer now, so unless I could figure out a way to utilize [Eye of Appraisal] in combat, its usefulness would fall off pretty quickly. At least for now, it was better than nothing.

"It's not completely useless, but I should get some new Skills as soon as possible."

The only downside was that my left eye would glow golden whenever I activated the Skill, so I had to be careful not to attract unwanted attention. I'd heard stories of rookie Advancers who were kidnapped because they foolishly used rare Skills in public. I highly doubted such a thing would happen to me, but I'd rather not take my chances. Overall, [Eye of Appraisal] was a serviceable tool under the right circumstances, but...

[Description: A small lockbox containing Kalion's meager earnings.]

"Does it really need to be so passive aggressive? I spent the last 3 weeks saving this much up. Meager earnings..."

I shook my head at the assessment results while tossing my lockbox up and down. Looking over at the stack of books on my end table, I silently pondered my situation.

𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭. 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘈𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦, 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵? 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘏𝘈𝘚 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢 𝘷𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭, 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘋𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘰𝘯 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘺 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰? 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘣𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺...

As my thoughts spiraled, I didn't notice how high I was tossing the lockbox, until it eventually hit the ceiling.

THUNK!

I reflexively looked up just in time for the box to land directly on my face.

"OW, DAMMIT!"

I grabbed my nose in pain, wondering how such a light object could hurt so much, when I heard a strange notification sound coming from my character summary window. Peeking over my fingers, my eyes were met with confusion, as the black box had somehow embedded itself into my menu window, suspended in midair. I reached out my hand in disbelief. The moment my fingers touched the box, a new window popped up, and I almost choked on my breath in surprise.

___

[You have met the requirements to upgrade the Ultimate Merchant Interface.]

[Current Upgrade Progress:

- 1000/1000 Coins]

[Upgrade the Interface?]

___

"Wait, what?"