Branching out

At Fang Shi's command, heavy fog began to spew in all directions from his position, and expand out. Fang Shi's senses were still lacking due to his low realm, but he estimated that the fog had rolled out to at least a distance of fifty kilometers or more.

As he admired the capabilities of the system, a voice interrupted his own thoughts, 'Alert: The host has initiated the construction of a new shop. This unit will begin the scan to evaluate the validity of the current location. This scan will take half the day to complete before construction begins, this unit advises the host to mediate during the process.'

Fang Shi wasn't too surprised by this since the system often made the changes to the old store during the nighttime, so he pitched his tent while he waited.

Fang Shi looked at the Tianmu in his storage ring helplessly. Without being connected to his old shop, the artifact wasn't as fun as smartphones were in his past life. Instead, he pulled out his personal cultivation pod and filled it with enough spirit stones to last for twelve hours. Even though he couldn't play games that required to be connected to the stream, Fairy and Sword was a single player experience, so he opted to play that while the system was carrying out the task at hand. After a few hours of playing around, Fang Shi was pleasantly surprised when his realm finally broke through to the mid stage again. He took this as a sign that his new branch store would also see success for no particular reason.

As Fang Shi was feeling good about settling down, the same couldn't be said about the spiritual beasts of the forest and the fortress city of Tianbao. The area Fang Shi had decided to claim was highly contested by several powerful spiritual beasts and their followers, so they were the first to notice when the fog rolled in. The majority of beasts immediately fled as the fog advanced since they were unable to sense anything from it, but a few brave individuals thought this was an opportunity. Unfortunately for these few creatures, they soon found that they also weren't strong enough to sense anything inside the fog and became lost. The fog and the evacuation of spiritual beasts was quickly noticed by beasts that lay claim to the surrounding area, but also by scouts on top of the wall of Tianbao as well. Alerts were sounded and formations were activated as the guards prepared to defend against an unexpected beast tide. As the city patrols stood and tensely observed the anomaly, the area around the fog fell into chaos. The apex beast of each area fervently defended their area from the unexpected invasion, but what no one noticed until it was too late was that the fallen spiritual beasts were covered by a thick mist and disappeared. In some occasions several weaker beasts used this opportunity to attack one of the stronger ones who were well known for claiming area in the center of the forest.

After several hours hours, the majority of conflicts had been resolved though occasionally a spiritual beast would step into the fog to reclaim its territory. Once Tianbao realized that the disturbances were not the prelude to a beast tide, they began to relax their guard. As the guards continued to watch the fog, a meeting of five cultivators was taking place in the Jade Citadel.

In an extravagantly decorated room that displayed both the spirit of the fortress and luxury, three men and two women sat at a pentagon shaped table.

"Have you had any luck, Protector Mei?", a tall, imposing man with sharp eyes and red robes asked.

"Unfortunately, I can't sense anything from here", Protector Mei, a graceful woman with unbound black hair wearing robes with floral prints answered.

"If Protector Mei can't sense it, it's impossible for the rest of us", a man with broad shoulders wearing purple robes commented, "With her attainments with the wood element, she is the most capable of finding out."

"What Protector Lei is right", a hooded man wearing black robes stated, "Is it possible a heavenly treasure is being born?"

"It's possible, Protector Xu", a woman replied. She had crimson hair and blue eyes, and she wore robes of clashing red and blue, "But I personally think it isn't a heavenly treasure, the auspicious signs for this instance if very different than normal."

"What do you suggest we should do, Protector Shui?", the man in red robes inquired.

"With our senses cutoff from seeing inside and the spiritual beasts rampaging against each other, it might be best to just wait, Protector Jin", Protector Shui responded.

"It seems to me that just waiting has become unacceptable to everyone here", Protector Xu said, "Shall we send a message to our respective sects, and create a special combined force with the intention of exploring this anomaly?"

The other four seem to agree, and nodded to confirm their support for this plan. Each Protector took out a messenger talisman that they quickly used to record a message, and activated it. Five streaks of light left the windows of the Jade Citadel, and disappeared in different directions as the messages traveled to their respective destinations.

"I'm not sure what everyone else's intentions are, but I'm going to order my subordinates to return to their normal duties", Protector Lei mentioned, "I don't believe a beast tide will result from this, and with the five of us alerted and checking, we should be safe."

"An excellent suggestion", Protector Mei echoed the man's sentiment, "I'm keep watch anyways, and everyone is aware that a possible threat has appeared. I'll just remind my own people to be ready in case something happens."

"Very well", Protector Jin agreed, "I believe everyone feels the same, so I will take my leave at this time."

The other four also gave their parting words, and everyone but Protector Jin left for their residences. The man had a thoughtful look on his face as he looked in the direction of Protector Mei's courtyard and the part of the forest covered in fog now.

"If she couldn't penetrate the fog to see inside", he murmured to himself, "We could see a great opportunity or disaster coming."

Half the day had nearly passed as Fang Shi had played, napped, and ate. He was perfecting his combat tactics when an alarm he set for himself went off, signaling that the system would complete the scan within the next half hour.

Time went by quickly, and soon the system's voice returned, 'Report: Scan completed, this unit will not display the results. (2) Two objects of interest have been found: First, an upper 4th grade spiritual vein has been located and its location has been identified as optimal. Second, a secret realm that belonged to a sacred beast was discovered. The space inside is approximately the same a Blue moon city.'

"What does that mean?", Fang Shi asked excitedly.

'Response: This unit evaluates that the host has completed the assigned task with no penalty', the system's reply helped Fang Shi relax, 'Step 1, the system will now secure both assets.'

"Can you give me a list of the steps before I can open the new store?", Fang Shi asked.

'Response: Acknowledged', the system answered, 'this unit has already stated the first step, so it will continue from there. Step 2, secure connection between the first store and the branch.'

"Hold up", Fang Shi's eyes widened, "That's possible?"

'Response: It is possible in this situation, but that's not true in all situations', the system explained, 'Most of the words spiritual veins are connected, with exceptions. Veins can form due to the death of a powerful cultivator or a battlefield or cemetery where spiritual energy can led to a vein forming. When the system scan this vein, it found a pathway between this vein and the one at the main store. Using certain means, the system can use that connection to connect the two places together for communication, or possibly travel.'

"Meaning I can use the vein to teleport between the shops?", Fang Shi was excited.

'Response: Yes', the system continued, 'Step 3, once connection is established, begin design phase of the store and integrate secret realm. Step 4, construct branch store based of design and start operations.'

"That's incredible!", Fang Shi then paused, "Integrate the secret realm? Is that difficult?"

'Response: Negative', the system replied, 'This unit will incorporate the new realm into the old one."

"Old one?", Fang Shi was confused before an idea came to him, "The wall scrolls. Those scrolls allow me to see a secret realm, correct?"

'Answer: Yes', the system said.

"How did a secret realm turn into that?", Fang Shi inquired.

'Answer: the system used methods to isolate the secret realm into sections', the system replied.

Fang Shi felt somewhat embarrassed, he had always assumed that the wall scrolls where like magic. It made more sense that space had to exist somewhere for him to claim it, but it never occurred to him to ask.

"Proceed with Step 1", Fang Shi ordered the system.

'Response: The system already started the first step', it told him, 'This unit will continue will the plan. Does the host wish to be informed as each step is completed?'

"No", Fang Shi thought about it, "Tell me when the connection is made, when the realm is integrated l, and when its time to design."

'Response: Acknowledged', the system went quiet afterwards.

Fang Shi returned to the cultivation pod, and entered Fairy and Sword again. He was not sure how long it would be before the first step was completed, so it was the best time to cultivate and improve his fighting ability.

Two days later Fang Shi woke up in his tent, got dressed, and started walking back to the pod. Just as he was about to enter, he saw that his puppet bodyguard had multiplied and there were now four puppets.

"System, how did these appear here?", Fang Shi was alarmed.

'Answer: This unit had these puppets travel along the spiritual vein installing the artifacts required to connect the stores for the last several days', it replied, 'Now that they have arrived, this unit can secure the vein and finish connecting the stores.'

Not a sound was made, but Fang Shi guessed the system had issued an order because the puppets used earth escape to dive underground. Fang Shi realized reality was smacking him in the face again because he just assumed the system created everything like magic. He was always impressed when he woke up in the morning and everything was built, but now he suspected the system 'found' help inside Blue moon city and used it as it needed. It made sense to him when the system told him that it could protect him within a certain distance of the shop, and it was likely it could requisition help within that same distance as well.

It didn't take long to isolate the spiritual vein for the use of the store, and the connection was established soon after.

'Notification: The connection between the main store and this branch store is established', the system announced, 'Cultivation and communication artifacts will now operate in both locations, and on the path between them.'

Fang Shi fished the Tianmu out of his storage ring, and smiled when he saw the icon that it was connected displayed. Two tones played in his mind signifying that the task and an achievement was completed. Fang Shi accepted the task immediately before looking at the achievement:

[New! A series of tubes]

[New! A series of tubes

Establish a connection between two store locations (completed)

Reward: Yunhui, a new addition that acts like a chat room, messenger, and social media platform. Sanctum, the forums will be integrated into Yunhui well.

Reward: the main store will offer connection services to customers who own a 'Hub' artifact, and have a path to connect.]

This made sense to Fang Shi, if he could connect the main and branch stores then other veins could also have a connection run to them as well. With the 2nd step completed, Fang Shi got ready to participate in the 3rd step, designing.

'Notice: Host, in this step you must visualize and direct your thoughts towards your target', the system instructed him, 'it's advisable to start with the foundation to learn how to control the design.'

Fang Shi activated the 3rd step, and immediately the environment shifted around him to something he was familiar with. He remembered playing games like Fallout and Satisfactory where base building was involved, so he quickly familiarized himself with the process. He started zoning off areas that would become buildings, but every time he did he noticed two sets of numbers appear.

"What is this?", Fang Shi exclaimed.

'Answer: the first number is the actual cost to the system to build while the second number is what you owe', it provided the explanation.

Fang Shi understood, since he performed the task correctly, he didn't have to pay to build. With the foundations in place, he began to think about the next challenges: the aesthetics, and which shops to open. The first issue was easy, being in the forest near a mountain range immediately made him think of Monster Slayer. The second issue he had to think about.

The main store was built inside a city, and served mostly humans that farmed, hunted, created, and cultivated. Overall, Blue moon city was peaceful with the occasional attack in a decade. Tianbao, on the other hand, was built to resist the attacks of spiritual beasts and possibly a stranger and more powerful force. Customers here probably would put nice robes and stoves lower on their priorities than cultivation resources.

Fang Shi chose a general store, a pub that served drinks and food, a cultivation hall, a smith, and public bath to start. He also didn't make a pond and bamboo forest, instead he opted to make the store appear like it came out of the Monster Slayer game. To make the public bath work, he had to have the system divert a spring to his property. He didn't build a house for himself, but he built a room at that point just like when he opened his first store.

Once Fang Shi was satisfied with the design and all the small details, he informed the system.

'Notice: Design acknowledged', the system replied, 'Please stay in this designated area for the duration of the project. This unit will inform you when everything is ready.'

Fang Shi went back to his schedule of sleeping, eating and playing until nine days later, he got the news he was waiting for, the branch store was finished. It was evening, so Fang Shi decided to wait until the next morning to officially open. The next morning saw him standing behind the counter with a big smile on his face.

"System, open the store."