StarGate

Seeing the group leave, he didn't bother about them anymore as he went back to his seat. He didn't have much to do except for continuing to improve himself.

After all, whether he could improve the shop and make lots of credits largely depended on his strength.

Seeing the customer's group get busy, Lux couldn't help but slightly relax. It was great to make money so easily. Just by opening a gate and letting people in he made profits.

Taking a book as he currently had no energy remaining, he swung his feet on the counter and proceeded to learn a bit more. As a transmigrator who arrived in the body of someone who wasn't planning on even awakening, he still had a lot to learn.

In this world, while awakeners were looked up to, not everyone wanted to become a professionalist. Becoming a professionalist allowed one to embark upon the road of the strong but it also came with its own risks. One would need to fight to obtain resources and in the event of a monster wave, they would become prime targets due to the increased energy in their body.

As he continued to read, forming a second core whenever his energy was replenished, with no waste of time, time slowly went by.

"I wonder how their exploration is going." Muttered Lux as he saw two of the group of five leave the gate from time to time transporting large pieces of lumber, no doubt lumber they had cut considering the axes they had brought with them.

Making some food, he ate while reading his book. The book wasn't that interesting, it introduced the various monsters one might encounter in towers and gates.

"Ding." Lifting his head lazily, half-expecting the lumberjack duo to be coming back in the store after bringing their recent loot out, he was surprised to see a young woman entering.

"Euh, is it really a gate shop?" She asked, surprised. According to the latest news, there were already two such shops in this town belonging to the Dandelion's guild and the Nuifa family. The shop of the Nuifa family was relatively new with only three active gates and a total of seven coordinates found while Dandelion's shop had six of them currently open with twenty-two coordinates found. The latter of which had two space wanderers amongst them.

"Welcome to StarGate, we currently have a single gate, Proteus, a tier 1 gate." Simply said Lux as he didn't have much else to introduce since the shop was so barren.

"Boss, which group are you affiliated with?" Asked the tall blond-haired girl with wonder as she hadn't heard of any new force rising up recently.

"None, it's my shop." He replied without much care. "Are you interested in entering the gate?" He asked before continuing. "50 Bym per hour." He added after looking doubtful at the woman.

"What type of gate is it?" She asked after pointing at the portal in front of the west wall.

"Tier 1, Proteus. The danger and resources are also tier 1. There is a tower on the celestial body but I currently don't know where it is located nor its level. There are some explorers who will most likely have some information later." He replied as she nodded her head.

"What about the ressources and monsters found?" She continued, trying to get as much information as she could.

"That's advanced information and it'll cost you." He replied as he had no choice since he planned on buying information from his explorers and reselling it to new ones.

With a nod of her head as if to say 'as expected', she approached the counter and asked. "How much is it?"

Surprised by her question, he looked towards the system who seemed to be able to answer any topics related to the price of the shop.

"For each tier 1 ressources discovered, it will cost 70 Dym and for each monster race discovered, it will be 40 Dym." Replied Lux as one of her eyebrows lifted up. The shop owner couldn't tell if it was because it was a lot or too cheap.

"I want all the information, how much?" She asked.

"For all the current information, 150 Dym." Said Lux as she handed over the money with the expression 'tell me', written all over her face.

"Up to now, we have found tier 1 Epnola wood and two tier 1 types of monsters, the plague frogs and shade snakes." He said, giving the information she had paid for.

"Perfect, what is your opening schedule?" She asked again. By now, Lux was certain she wouldn't be entering a gate and was collecting information for someone else or a specific group.

"I open and close at 8, opening for a total of twelve hours a day." He finished as he saw her take a small notebook and note everything he told her.

"I'll be back." Simply said the blonde girl he had never gotten the name of.

Hearing the door close, he swallowed before shrugging and taking his book to continue his reading. Whether she came back or not, he had made an extra 150 Bym, it was worth it.

It was only half an hour later that the group of five came out, looking embarrassed. Their swords had chips in them, blood stained their armor and one had a long gash on his right arm which he would have to get treated soon.

"Hey boss, we're back." Said John with an obviously fake positive attitude.

"How did it go?" He asked as he was still interested in their exploration.

Seeing him with an awkward look, Lux guessed it might not have been a very successful day. "We explored the surroundings but there were a lot more monsters than expected." He started as he placed a dirty and roughly made map on the counter.

"We encountered tier 1 Wind Ants, tier 1 Goblins and some tier 1 bone monkeys. On the side of ressources, we only found some tier 0 iron ore, oak trees and tier 1 Pygmy Leaf." He completed before dejectedly saying, "We couldn't find another gate or the tower."

"Well, that's quite a lot of information." Said Lux, surprised by all of this. Quickly looking at his celestial body status which updated in real time after having scanned the map brought and the information told.

Name: Proteus

Size: Tier 1

 Gate level: 1 (90/1000)

Activation cost: 9 energy/hour

Time Remaining: 29d, 3h, 10m, 58s

Environment level: 1 star

Monster Danger level: 1 star (93%)

 --> Tier 1 - Plague Frogs: 19%

 --> Tier 1 - Shade Snakes: 8%

 --> Tier 1 - Wind Ants: 15%

 --> Tier 1 - Goblin: 25%

 --> Tier 1 - Bone Monkey: 16%

 Ressource level: 1 star (87%)

 --> Tier 0 - Iron Ore: 23%

 --> Tier 0 - Oak Tree: 8%

 --> Tier 1 - Epnola Wood: 12%

 --> Tier 1 - Pygmy Leaf: 11%

 Map: 13.5% explored

Gates: 3

 --> Lv.1 gate - Lux Arden

Tower: 1

Cost per hour: 50 Bym

'The percentage next to the monster danger and ressource level should be the total amount of resources on the celestial body while it also shows that by reaching one hundred percent, it would elevate the celestial body to two stars for that category.' He thought before focusing on more pressing matters.

Looking at the updated panel, he did rapid calculations after taking the price the system had him buy information.

"So, for the information on the three types of beasts, I'll pay you 700 Bym for each monster race. 

For the tier 0 ressources 800 Bym while the tier 1 ressources 2000 Bym.

Finally, I pay 200 Bym per 0.1% of the map of a tier 1 Celestial Body and you brought back 13%.

The total is 5700 Bym for the information and 26,000 Bym for the map for a total of 31,700 Bym." Said Lux with a smile as their eyes grew wide open.

It wasn't their first time in a gate shop and the price they bought information was a lot lower than that. Such a price was quite great.

"Of course, I'll also ask you not to reveal any information to other customers as I will resell the information you just brought me. However, the price will be a lot lower to allow more people the information so don't worry about being cheated." Explained Lux as he took out some forms of non-disclosure agreements, forms which were created by some type of lawyer profession which were magically binding.

Rapidly signing, the five smiled happily as Lux took out the money owed and gave it to them.

"With this we have made more profits than expected! With the wood we took out we should be able to make another couple of thousands." Happily exclaimed the leader as he led everyone out of the gate shop to look at their loot.

With the group leaving, no other customers entered. Closing and locking the door, Lux went back upstairs as he would continue improving himself. At the same time, the system verified his current amount of money and asked whether he wished to make an exchange for credits.

Remaining currency:

Bym: 20,200

Credit: 0