The First Store System



Chapter 1372: Breakthrough and New Beginnings(3)

Since Laney felt fine, she decided to complete the last step and take what was hers after completing the trial.

No one other than Rimiru followed her to the main building in the fortress since only he and the bird had the authority. When Laney reached the statue, the bird also appeared, flapping its wings.

Its eyes were as calm as ever as it looked at the scene below it. Laney couldn't help but feel surprised after she saw the bird.

Before, she wasn't aware of the bird's status, but now that she looked at it, a piece of information containing the bird's details appeared in her head.

The bird was not a natural creature but an artificial creation. The city wasn't simple, but it was an item belonging to a bigger artifact that contained all thirty-six cities.

The bird was the item spirit of the part where Fring City was, so its status was no less than Laney's. At the same time, the details of how to bring the spirit under her control also appeared in her head.

To control the part spirit, Laney would need to defeat every city first and then also conquer the central city so that the item would become whole and the bird would turn into its complete form.

Laney nodded toward the bird, and the bird reciprocated with a nod as well. Even though it was someone out of Laney's control, it was still the spirit of the city, and Laney was its equal.

The bird kept its flight in the air and witnessed the scenes down below. Laney also didn't waste much of her time and sliced the pattern. The next moment, her entire hand came out. But she didn't feel any pain, and soon Laney's hands had returned to normal as if there had been no injury in the first place.

When she cut the pattern, the things she had stored in the space inside the pattern got thrown out, and it began to glow blood red. It left Laney's control on its own and flew toward the statue.

At that moment, the statue seemed to come alive, and it extended its hand to touch the pattern.

The pattern kept its route, and it had attached itself to the same spot as it had at the back of the statue's right hand. It melted into the stone, looking like a naturally engraved pattern.

At that moment, a rumble rang in Laney's head, making her stumble. A rush of new information rang in her head, leaving her no choice but to clutch her head.

There was no pain, but such a quick and large rush of information overwhelmed her consciousness, making her feel uncomfortable. Fortunately for her, the process kept going for only a few moments, and things returned to normal.

When Laney opened her eyes, she found the statue had changed once again. A structure with a regal seat was now in front of her, and Laney's statue had sat on it as the pattern on the back of her band was glowing.

Laney couldn't help but smile upon seeing the statue. She seemed to sense the majesty of being the city lord.

"How are you, Sheira?" Laney asked as she looked at the sky.

The bird smiled in response to Laney's question and nodded, swooping down to the ground. There was a special spot for her in the statue, and the bird sat on it.

[In three hours, you would be forced out of Panagea!]

Suddenly, a mechanical alert rang in Laney's ears. Since the sun was about to rise in Panagea an hour later, Laney got an extension of three Panagea hours.

Even though Fring was one of the lowest-ranked cities in all thirty-six cities designed by the creator, it was still worth more than anything Laney could imagine.

Irrespective of the level of the beings in the city, no one can refuse her order. Those who did would lose the resident status of the city and would be forced to wander in the forests between the cities.

The true horror of the forest between the cities was only revealed to Laney at that point. A Level 500 beast could easily be seen in the forest between the second and third circles.

Even though Laney had crossed the forest and walked to the central city, she was no longer able to do so freely unless she reached Level 798, the level of the creature ruling the forest between the first circle and the central city.

She had become a city lord but was still required to follow some rules.

The first was that she wouldn't directly or indirectly use her authority and the city's resources for personal gains that might harm the city but benefit the ruler. The second was that she was the owner of every part of the city other than the parts that were rewarded to the recruits for helping her complete the quest. She could also reward land to her loyal followers, but there was a grading system, and she would need to follow that. She couldn't just give vast swathes of land to anyone she wanted just because she was happy.

The third rule was that she couldn't reveal the location of the city to anyone unless she had conquered the entire artifact, meaning all thirty-six cities.

The fourth rule required her not to leave the city for more than a thousand consecutive years.

Except for the fourth rule, the other rules weren't anything worth fretting over, so Laney wasn't too worried about them. 

Even the fourth rule didn't require her to worry too much. She was an adventurer, so she would most certainly leave the city and travel to gain levels and complete quests.

Fring City was a high-level area that would make others jealous of her, but since she was the city lord, she was unable to do any quests there.

There was a simple way of leveling up for the city lord, but for the adventurers who were immortal in Panagea, simply sitting and leveling up wasn't something desirable. The immortal factor of Panagea was the most prominent reason behind other's interest in Panagea since they could adventure and gain rewards without having to fear their death.

Laney didn't have to worry about the fourth rule because of her identity as an adventurer.

The moment Laney became the city lord, an alert rang in her head.

The alert contained simple yet shocking information. Laney could choose the fortress as her revival location. No matter where or what kind of danger she was in, if she died, she would have the choice of directly returning to the fortress.

It seemed a heavy choice considering she would have to die to return, but the time duration was a thousand years, which was a long time for many things to happen. Laney didn't think of herself as some overpowered character who wouldn't die.

She then brought her focus to the most significant part. How much wealth could she utilize for her personal use?

Staying in Panagea for several years wasn't cheap. The next moment, Laney's jaw almost dropped in shock when she found the amount of cash the city treasury had.

Laney expected to have weighty rules over the usage but found that they weren't anything strict. There was a fixed emergency amount in case of war or other emergencies, and anything above that was for Laney to employ.

At the same time, Laney also learned about the fixed salary of the city lord. The Fring City had been in existence for ten million years. To be precise, it was 10,132,874 years, and the wages of the city lord had been kept separate for all those years.

Since there was no city lord before her, Laney automatically became the owner of all the accumulated salary, which had nothing to do with the treasury. It was purely hers, and she could do anything she wanted with it.

The first rule said that she couldn't use the resources of the city to create any disadvantageous situation for the city, or there would be punishment. But with the accumulated salary, she could even hire powerful beings to destroy the area, and she still wouldn't be against the rules.

When she calculated the amount, it wasn't a small number at all, which excited Laney. But then she remembered the outrageous exchange rate and her excitement about becoming wealthy slightly dimmed.

Even then, the amount was clearly higher than the total wealth her entire race had accumulated, so nevertheless, it was a matter of celebration.

Time flew by, and soon the limit of three hours, as told by the autonomous alert, arrived. She vanished the following instant as a white light engulfed her. It surprised Rimiru and Sheira. But soon, their eyes returned to calm as they turned around and left the fortress.

***

A/N: Sorry, only one chapter. Please let me know of any grammatical or story errors in the chapter as I wrote it in a hurry. I will check on them tomorrow. Sorry for the trouble.

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