The temporary system shop

One hour earlier:

When Moonlit Night confronted Bai Yang, Lin Nieran's Fame shot up, rapidly approaching 10,000 points.

Bai Yang's scattered appearances had already earned over 6,000 Fame. This time, Moonlit Night's appearance and his conversation with Bai Yang had added roughly another 6,000. With the 2,000 Fame reward for completing mission 2, he now had 14,000 Fame!

That far exceeded the 10,000 points the system required, and it was still climbing.

[System notification: You have reached 10,000 Fame. Would you like to open the temporary system shop?]

[Note: The temporary system shop will only remain open for three days. Reopening it requires 20,000 Fame.]

Far away in the safe zone, Lin Nieran had answered without hesitation. "Open it."

[Opened successfully]

[Your cards have killed 5 strange entities. You have received 1,400 shop points.]

After the notifications ended, Lin Nieran opened the system shop interface.

He hadn't had time to look closely, so he went straight for a product whose effects the system had already told him about.

[Parasitic Spirit (Wrath)

Item description: A Weird Object that can only survive through parasitism. It can inhabit any object that has no signs of life but possesses energy.

Rules:

1. The Parasitic Spirit dislikes having its home damaged. When angered, its rage will increase with the extent of the damage, and its size will go UPUP.

2. Say nice things to the Parasitic Spirit to make it happy. Its size will decrease as its mood improves, until it returns to its original size.

Note: Due to system processing, this Weird Object will never revive.

Points required: 1,200 (limited-time special: 90% off)]

He had bought it immediately and sent it directly to Bai Yang through the card.

As for the requirement, the Doll Master's puppets fit it perfectly. His puppets carried only a little energy, enough to scare someone, but that was all.

But with the Parasitic Spirit (Wrath), everything was different.

That was what had led to Bai Yang's sudden outburst afterward.

Bai Yang shook the lifeless rabbit and cleared 007's name, as 007 angrily protested his innocence back with the original body. "I can feel it. This is a rule from the moon. Our destruction of the area drew the rule's attention. It will only restrain you for a while."

Thinking of the tempting products, Bai Yang said, "Go kill strange entities. The more, the better."

Moonlit Night bowed slightly and smiled. "Moonlit Night obeys."

With that, he rose and left.

In the safe zone, Lin Nieran withdrew most of his attention and looked at the shop interface before him again. Now he had time to take a proper look at the shop.

The simple, transparent interface displayed row upon row of products, with a row of enticing discounted items right at the front.

[Dimensional Territory

Item description: Generate a dimensional space that only you can open and establish your own dimensional territory.

Note: As vast as your heart, so vast your territory!

Points required: 100,000 (limited-time special: 99.9% off)]

[Dimensional Pocket

Item description: A pocket with unlimited space.

Note: A dimensional bag that can never be filled.

Points required: 100,000 (limited-time special: 90% off)]

[Pastry Chef's Umbrella

Item description: A pink umbrella that gives off a sweet fragrance. Carry it, and the weather will be sunny wherever you go.

Note: Hates rain.

Points required: 10,000 (limited-time special: 90% off)]

[Teddy Bear Doll

Item description: The helper every Doll Master dreams of.

Note: Possesses boundless strength.

Points required: 3,000 (limited-time special: 70% off)]

There were ten discounted products in all, with discounts ranging from 10% to 99.9% off. But the long strings of zeros behind the shop listings made him sigh. He had only seen that many zeros in one other place.

The products at the very front, and the most conspicuous, were the Dimensional Territory and the Dimensional Pocket, which he couldn't stop thinking about.

The Dimensional Pocket went without saying. It was a portable space—who wouldn't want one?

The Dimensional Territory was an even more groundbreaking item.

He had been worrying about a territory for some time.

He would only acquire more and more cards in the future, and their identities would be a problem.

He planned to give his cards a backstory as members of a mysterious organization, one that was neither wholly righteous nor wholly evil.

But surely the organization needed a base. Once he had drawn more cards and infused so much of his mind into them to awaken them in their own bodies, he couldn't just keep them locked inside their cards whenever they had nothing to do.

He also needed a base to present to outsiders. He cared about keeping up appearances too.

Originally, he had planned to take a risk and conquer a danger zone, establishing his territory among the strange entities. That would look impressive and also keep some prying eyes away.

But even so, it would inevitably draw the nation's attention. He couldn't avoid being discovered and watched, which would bring a lot of trouble.

But when he saw the Dimensional Territory, he knew everything was settled!

This was the perfect item for him!

The Dimensional Territory was a territory in an alternate dimension that only he could open at will. As a territory for the organization, it met his every need!

But...

Lin Nieran looked at the price afterward in dismay. It was 100,000 points, even after the 99.9% discount. After buying the Parasitic Spirit, he had only 200 points left, nowhere near 100,000.

Moonlit Night had killed five strange entities to earn just over a thousand points!

"007, will there still be discounted products the next time the shop opens?"

[There will be randomly selected discounted products each time it opens. The discounts vary, and the products are random.]

In other words, if he missed the Dimensional Territory this time, he would have a hard time finding it again. Even if he did, it wouldn't be at such a good price.

But 100,000 was no small sum. How many strange entities would he have to kill to earn that many points?

Seeing how much Lin Nieran wanted the product, 007 said, "Host, you can sell Weird Objects. They're worth much more than strange entities."

"That's a good idea."

Lin Nieran took out a battered straw sandal. It came from one of the strange entities Moonlit Night had killed. Its rule was simple: once someone put it on, they had to keep walking until they were exhausted.

[Recycle F-rank battered straw sandal Weird Object for 800 points?]

800 points! That much! And it was only the lowest rank, F. He just didn't know how many points killing an F-rank strange entity had earned him. Presumably, it wasn't many.

"Yes."

Bai Yang had killed one strange entity and Moonlit Night had killed four, earning only a little over 1,300 points in total. Yet a single, utterly useless Weird Object could be recycled for 800 points!

But it made sense when he thought about it. After all, Weird Objects were the essence of strange entities.

By that reckoning, perhaps he really could scrape together 100,000 points. After all, there were quite a few Weird Objects in this instance.

He set the Water Ghost's slime aside and exchanged the remaining two Weird Objects as well.

[Recycle Silent Radio Weird Object for 1,300 points?]

[Recycle little yellow flower Weird Object for 1,500 points?]

"Yes!"

[Recycling successful. Your points balance: 3,800.]

"It's a shame the Weird Objects dropped in this instance are playing cards. They still look somewhat useful for now, so I can't exchange them yet."

Moonlit Night had only one full day, at most, to kill strange entities outside. Many of them required him to enter instances to kill them, which was rather troublesome. But there were a surprising number of strange entities in this survival instance, so killing a few more wouldn't get in the way of anything.

But Moonlit Night alone wasn't enough.