Paradise [II]

"What's all this?" he asked, dividing his attention between the notification and the attendant.

Despite her 'humble' slave act, Gray was hesitant to give her access to his 'balance'. Physical money was practically useless now, and he wasn't about to risk losing this, even if it was just strange alien internet-money to him at this point. 

"For your garments, dominus. The safe point provides meal and board, but items will have to be purchased at the guest's own expense," she explained.

Gray just stared at her in response, the notification still blinking just out of focus.

"Slaves are incapable of stealing from their domini. But if the dominus so pleases, I can port the store to him directly," she said a moment later.

Gray nodded, and a new screen pulled up.

It was a catalogue of different items, an online store, only it was integrated into the system. It didn't seem like it had been part of the original functionality, as it glowed golden, whereas the rest of the system had a grey outline.

There were four tabs that he could choose from.

『Apparel』

『Cosmetics』

『Consumables』

『Additional Services』

"I'd like to take my bath while I look through. Can you take me there?" he asked.

Now that he had some time to himself, he wanted to explore the system and get his thoughts in order. 

"Of course, dominus."

She turned her head towards the wall on their right, and an instant later, her silver necklace flashed green. The wall hummed with a faint golden light, before disappearing, revealing a large bathroom.

Obsidian black tiling spanned the entire area, which hummed to life as the attendant stepped inside. A bath the size of a small swimming pool took up a quarter of the room, with a collection of knobs glowing on the wall beside it. Its water had a black tint against the obsidian the bath was made from.

To the left was a large mirror, with a dressing table, both black as well. Gray wasn't too sure, but he could've sworn he had saved an image of a bathroom exactly like this on his Pinterest.

The attendant started fiddling with the knobs on the wall, and water began gushing into the bath. A moment later, a green liquid trickled in, and the bathroom filled with the scent of apples.

"Would you like to change the scenery, dominus?" she asked, still fiddling with the bath.

"N-no, that's alright— actually what kind of scenes are available?" he replied, watching her carefully.

"Your system index has informed me you have a fondness for… fantastical worlds. If the dominus pleases, his system can link with the safe point's interface, to display this scene."

『Allow upload of information?』

Gray was hesitant for a moment, but after some thought he saw no way that this could be a trap. What could she possibly steal? Information about what he'd had for breakfast? Or maybe the top secret government plans he obviously had.

~Yes,~ he replied.

A moment later, a bright light filled the room, and when it subsided they were in a lush green forest. A cool breeze of watered droplets washed over his face, as he stared at the waterfall now in front of him.

There was chirping in the distance, joined only by the gushing of the waterfall.

The attendant was sitting at the bank of the lake it fed into, tapping on something in the air.

Gray rubbed his eyes and stared at it again, repeating this a few more times before finally accepting it was real. He took a careful step towards the waterfall, afraid that the sand at his feet would disappear at any moment.

The water was warm and smelled so much like apples he couldn't help but have a taste.

~Apple juice?~ he thought to himself, though he knew he was wrong. The water was crystal clear and not sticky at all, there was no way it could've been juice.

~Why am I even surprised? I just survived giant pigeons, and a beautiful alien is willing to do whatever I ask her. Of course, the water tastes like apple juice,~ he thought to himself, before placing his feet in the water.

~That feels good,~ he thought, curling his toes in pleasure as the water licked his feet.

"This is fine, I'll call you if I need anything," he said, removing his blazer.

She bowed, before walking away. Her figure disappeared once she passed a line of shrubs just a meter from where he was standing.

~So the exit's over there,~ he realized, now taking off his pants.

A minute later he was in the bath, looking over the store's catalogue. It wasn't too difficult to navigate through it; simple thoughts such as 'select' and 'scroll' were enough to get most of the work done.

He selected the apparel section, and a list of items appeared. Each item had a picture, a short description, and a price tag beneath its name.

Most of the items were…. eccentric.

The first item was something called 'The Master's outfit', which was a blood-red robe that came with a whip and ropes. Its price tag was 250 coins, and its description simply said; "Greater domination."

He had no idea what alien race had decided on the sort of items to put here, but they clearly had a 'theme' in mind.

It took a bit of scrolling before he finally got past the 'pleasure-centred items'.

~Hmm, this is interesting.~

╔═══⋆⋅☼⋅⋆═══╗

『Traveller's Set[Champion Only]』

[Requirements: Vigour class]

─────⋅☾ ☽⋅──────

Description: Provides protection against extreme climate events.

Contains 1 filled gem socket: +1 point to vigour.

─────⋅☾ ☽⋅──────

Cost: 1200 coins.

╚═══⋆⋅☼⋅⋆═══╝

The set looked like something a typical high-class player would wear in an MMORPG. It had a matching set of glowing green pants, shoes, a tunic, a cloak, and a satchel bag.

Gray knew he couldn't afford it, but he had to admit its protection against extreme climates made it very enticing, especially when he considered the stat bonus.

~I guess that even a single stat point means a lot,~ he realized. He doubted that the protection was the only reason it was expensive.

~But what's this about vigour class being a requirement?~ he thought. His class was universal, but it seemed the only reason he couldn't purchase the set was because of the lack of coins —made apparent by the red text it was written in.

It was too early to draw conclusions, but he had a feeling that universal class meant all classes, instead of being a class of its own. He was slightly excited at the prospect, though he would have to test the theory.

He continued scrolling, looking for something in his price range. For a few minutes, he found nothing, it seemed that everything here was both high-tier and expensive.

Though just as he was losing hope—

"Finally," he sighed, eyeing a set.

"I don't want to spend a large chunk of my coins at once, but do I really have a choice? It's either that or walk around in my tattered clothes," he whispered. They were nothing but rags at this point.

After a moment of thought, he selected the item.

『Confirm purchase of '60 coins'?』

~Yes.~

An instant later, a golden gem appeared out of thin air; identical to the loot boxes he had picked up from the monsters earlier, and hovered in front of him.

『Open 'Novice Wayfarer's set'?』