Chapter 210: The Universe Shop Opens Up!

It had been a few days since Joshua's meeting with Thoren, Ysildea, and Garlin. At the moment Joshua found himself sitting at a small breakfast diner with his three closest friends Aito, Adrian, and Henry. It was the day that the new Universe Market shop was supposed to open, and for the first day it wouldn't open until ten in the morning just to make sure everyone had time to gather around for the grand opening. Joshua and his friends decided to gather up and get breakfast to wait for the place to open while discussing a few things.

Joshua ordered a coffee' and a simple bagel since he had eaten breakfast at home already while the other three went ahead with orders on their own. While discussing the tournament and other things of interest Joshua decided to bring up what his mentors had said about what was to come. They all agreed that they weren't ready to take the next step based on the conditions to do so, but Henry and Joshua both caught themselves trying to figure out what exactly the next event would entail based off of some of the clues that were given.

"Garlin said that 'Level ninety is the marker because the event is a reoccurring one that you aren't expected to win your first time around. Although I'd think you'd want to leave a good impression and last as long as possible. That's all I can tell you about it without crossing the line.' Those words were said that way specifically to give us a hint of what's to come." Joshua said before biting into his bagel.

"Not much of a clue, but I'm sure Henry's already getting ideas and you should have some of your own since you've had a few days to think about it." Aito said without any sort of doubt.

"Yeah you two can do all the big picture thinking. I'm just going to enjoy my omelet." Adrian said before digging in.

"You're not wrong. I have put some thought into it over the past couple of days. One thing I'm certain of is that since we aren't expected to pass the first time around with an entry level of ninety, then it is likely that it will somehow involve being past level one hundred as a necessity to succeed." Joshua said with a frown. "The fact that was Garlin's response after I asked why level hundred wasn't the threshold number leads me to believe that ninety is just an entry point for the first time around."

"I agree, but I think there's more that we can figure out than just that." Henry said while the dots seemed to be clicking in his mind. "If we use the last major event of the tournament as a sort of base line then I think there are a few things that we could predict for the next event. The first event would have been the world evolving do to the first phase. The second major event is probably the tournament, and now we have this event coming up."

"So there's clues based off of how the tournament worked out." Aito asked getting a nod in return from Henry.

"Yes. The major hint comes in the fact that major events tend to be competitions of some kind like a tournament. That could be a major reason why one of the requirements is based on a certain amount of people reaching level ninety. The event will probably be large scale that needs a large amount of participants that have met that threshold." Henry explained getting a bunch of nods in return. "However the fact that Garlin stated she did not expect you to win it your first time around is what caught my attention."

"Why? I know Joshua's strong, but he isn't unstoppable. I'm sure they probably took that into consideration." Adrian said with a shrug before continuing to eat.

Joshua was thinking along the same lines at first, but then he realized what Henry had taken notice of in particular. "No it's the way that they seem certain that I wouldn't be able to come out on top the first time around that is a major hint." Joshua said surprising himself at the implications. "If that's the case then the event will most likely involve going against people outside of just other humans."

"Exactly." Henry said with a small smile. "They've trained you and have been able to observe you along with everyone else on this planet. There is no way in hell that they could say with near complete certainty that you wouldn't be able to handle a challenge that involved competing in any way shape or form with someone else on this planet. Especially given how much you've been able to grow in such a short amount of time."

"You're probably right." Aito said with a frown. "I can't see Joshua being unable to contend against anyone that doesn't happen to be well ahead of him. I highly doubt there are any humans that are at this point."

"Besides if it was just a competition between humans then wouldn't it just be another tournament." Adrian added to the point. "I don't see why they would be worried about something like that. A tournament between all the hub cities will probably eventually happen, but it wouldn't be something worthy to be pointed out in such a way."

"Yep. That being the case it'll most likely be a competition that involves two things that we are certain of. " Henry said after finally taking a bite out of his pancakes now that he had finished overthinking things. "We know that it will involve competing against other species in some way or form. This could range from anything, but will most likely involve combat to some degree. We also know that several humans will be joining the competition or else there wouldn't be a threshold for the number of level ninety explorers necessary for the event to be triggered in the first place."

"I'd throw in the fact that it's possible that the event might involve some sort of territory war of sorts." Aito pointed out. "That would seem to fit with the requirements of clearing high level dungeons and clearing out a city."

"That's possible, but not nearly as certain. After all there wasn't any territory concepts with the tournament and one of the conditions for that event to be started was clearing out a large town." Henry replied. "Even so it is a possibility."

"Well that was what I've been dealing with for the past couple of days. What about you guys?" Joshua asked getting shrugs from Adrian and Aito that basically meant they hadn't been doing much.

"Well while you three have been off training like crazy, Laura and Madalyn are trying to decide whether to take an invitation to a meeting of sorts for all of the largest guilds being hosted by the world government guild tomorrow." Henry said getting everyone to look at him a bit surprised. "In my opinion I'd say take it. We'll definitely need to have a voice of sorts at such a big meeting and I'm willing to bet having the champion of the hub city around will put things in our favor."

"So it's just something else for me to get dragged into." Joshua said sounding a little annoyed.

"I guess you can think of it that way, but it might end up being a step in the right direction to calm all the feuds between the World Government Guild and everyone else." Henry explained. "I'll come along to help represent our guild, but you definitely have to be involved in some way if we want to take this seriously."

"Well I hope you're all done eating, because the place is supposed to open up in a few minutes and I definitely don't want to end up missing the grand opening." Adrian said after he ate his last bit of eggs before opening the system to pay the bill. The others agreed with him and finished up their own meals so they could head on over to the grand opening. It didn't take them long to arrive at the entrance to the Market section of the hub city, and it took even longer to spot where the new building was located. The Universe shop was far larger than any of the other buildings around it and it had such a massive crowd out front that made it hard to miss.

Most of the people that came to check out the shop wouldn't even be able to buy anything from it since only a limited amount of people even had the currency that was used in the store. At the moment the only people that could afford anything in the store were those that had participated in the tournament. As long as you took part in the tournament then you would have at least five coins of the universal currency. There were still many things that Joshua wanted to know about why there were so many different currencies, but he got the feeling that this was the most important one just off of its name. System currency could most likely only be used by interacting with the system, on the other hand this new currency was tangible. Joshua had already taken one out of his inventory and saw the odd look of the coins. They were tangible in his hands, but when you looked at them it was as if you were looking at a little chunk of the starry night sky.

Joshua took out one of the coins now and could see its mysterious luster in the palm of his hand. He remembered flipping one of the coins in the training ground late at night and having a hard time even seeing it once it blended in with the stars in the sky. It was an interesting form of currency and was the key to actually getting anything out of this shop outside of just being a window shopper like most of the people crowding that market area at the moment. Joshua turned his attention away from the crowd and looked to the building itself.

The shop was far bigger than any of the other buildings, but it was also incredibly plane looking. The inconspicuous building wouldn't have drawn all that much attention if it wasn't known that it was a specialty building in the first place. Although that was the case Joshua new from experience that most of the buildings in the hub city were completely different on the inside from what they showed on the exterior. From little shops that ended up having an unlimited amount of rooms in them, to buildings that had giant portals that stretched on as far as the eye could see. Joshua was looking forward to seeing what was inside of the building. Just as the building was supposed to open a system message was sent to Joshua and judging by how everyone else seemed to have their attention shifted it was most likely an area wide message.

[All those who wish to enter the Universe shop will be teleported directly to a copied zone within the shop so that multiple people can enter at the same time. If you wish to proceed alongside others then select the option beforehand make sure your partners do as well. With that said welcome to the grand opening of the Universe shop!]