Chapter 21: Shop
Chapter 21: Shop
<Nothing>
The Nings got a very unexpected answer from the system.
‘Huh? What do you mean by nothing? Does the shop have nothing to sell to us?’ Ning A asked the system.
<Correct>
The Nings got more confused. The system kept hyping up the shop for over a year now, and yet when they finally unlocked it, it said there was nothing in the shop to sell them.
Ning B thought of something. ‘Wait, didn’t the system say that the Energy was the currency for the shop? Maybe we just don’t have enough energy to buy anything.’
Ning A felt that this was a logical conclusion that anyone could come to, so he asked, ‘Hey, system. Is our current energy too low to buy anything?’ he asked.
<Yes, Everything in the shop costs a minimum of 5000 Energy>
‘ Oh, now we’re getting somewhere,’ Ning A said sighing in relief to himself.
‘Thank god it’s just that we have low energy. I might have had a heart attack if there was literally nothing in the shop.’ Ning B sighed in relief too. Even as a form of energy, these guys talked like they were in their own bodies.
‘Alright, then. Tell us, what is there in the shop for us to buy once we gain enough energy.’ Ning A made sure to use the correct words so that the shop couldn’t use a loophole to give them its stupid answers again.
<Nothing>
The system repeated the same answer.
‘Hmm… again? Is there really nothing in the shop or did I say something wrong?’ he wondered.
‘Let me try,’ said Ning B as he asked the same question using a different but simpler sentence.
‘Hey, system. What exactly can we buy with the shop?’ he asked.
<Anything that is not energy itself>
Finally, the system gave them a different answer.
Ning B sent a smug smile towards Ning A. Even without looking, Ning A could tell just how smug that smile was. He ignored Ning B and asked the system,
‘What do you mean by Anything? Can you give us some examples?’
<Any physical object, skill, or knowledge can be bought from the shop>
Both the Nings got shocked for a second. ‘Any object? Skill? Knowledge? Is there even anything else in the universe?’ Ning A wondered.
‘If there is, then I can’t think of one,’ said Ning B.
Ning A thought of something that he would want to buy. Ning B did the same thing as well.
‘I want to be a human,’ Ning A screamed.
‘I want to control the fish,’ Ning B shouted.
They immediately got angry at the other person.
‘Idiot, don’t you want us to have a body?’ Ning A shouted at him. The cold, deepness of the ocean was too boring for him now. He had seen a lot and was now used to it.
‘You are the idiotic one. What do you want to do with the body? Drown?’ asked Ning B in frustration. Getting a body this deep in the ocean floor would not just drown them, but it would crush them to death as well.
Ning A fell into contemplation. Ning B was right, however, if they spent all their energy on controlling the fish, then by the time they left the ocean, they would barely have anything.
‘Alright, let’s call a truce. I have an idea that could work in our favor,’ said Ning A. He looked very confident about it.
Ning B got curious, ‘Very well. Tell me the idea and if I like it, I will call a truce as well.’
Ning A took a moment before he finally spoke, ‘Let’s merge.’ ‘What?’ Ning B didn’t realize what he meant at first, but when he finally did, he was stunned.
Out of all the things he thought Ning A was going to suggest, he hadn’t expected that to be one of them.
But after a moment of contemplation, he thought that this was the correct idea. ‘Alright, let’s do it. Let’s merge.’ He said.
Ning A asked the system,’ Hey system, we want to merge back together into one person, can we buy that?’
<Personality Merge will cost you 150,000 energy. Do you want to buy it?>
‘Uh… maybe not merging the personality exactly, can we just get like a single mind that can think of two things at once, instead of the two thoughts having their own mind?’
<Simultaneous Thinking will cost you 1,250,000 energy. Do you want to buy it?>
‘Oh wow, that is much expensive than we expected. What do we do now?’ Ning A turned towards Ning B and asked.
‘I don’t know. Maybe we should just wait until we have enough energy?’ said Ning B.
‘We should do that. System, Is it possible for us to buy the… uhh… Simultaneous Thinking skill automatically when we reach the energy?’ Ning A asked.
<Would you like to put ‘Simultaneous Thinking’ to your Auto Buy list?>
‘There is such a thing?’ both of the Nings got surprised. ‘Can that buy it even when we are unconscious?’ asked Ning A.
<Yes. Auto Buy list buys everything automatically once the Energy requirements have been reached.>
<You can set priority for the items in the order they should be auto bought using the Auto Buy List by ordering the list in ascending order of which should be bought first>
‘Alright then, Add Simultaneous Thinking into the Auto Buy List. ‘ Ning A said.
<‘ Simultaneous Thinking’ has been added to your Auto Buy list>
<Would you like the set the order of the list?>
The system asked even when it had a single item. ‘No thanks,’ said Ning A.
‘Alright system. Put us to sleep now. Wake us up when ‘Simultaneous Thinking’ has been bought or, I don’t know when this fish dies? I guess.’
<Confirmed>
Slowly the two Nings started losing consciousness. But even as they lost it, they realized that, unless they asked the system to split their mind into two different personalities, this was probably the last time there were going to be two different Nings.
And as they thought that, they lost consciousness.