“Greetings, Your Excellency Bishop. This is my nephew, Ivan. We have come to seek the help of the God of Light regarding a very important matter.”
Alec placed one hand on his chest as he addressed the middle-aged man before him dressed in a red robe with gold trim and a compassionate expression with utmost respect.
In recent years, with the beast tides constantly ravaging the city, the Church of the God of Light has grown in power, spreading its divine message among the suffering people. For a time, countless people held faith, and every city had a church guarded by a bishop, and respected by all.
Even in Vesta, though located in a remote area far from the main city, an archbishop was stationed there to oversee it.
Ivan quickly stepped forward, his eyes gleaming with excitement, and bowed to the bishop: “Your Excellency, it’s like this. I’ve heard there’s a demon in the abyss. By the God of Light, we absolutely cannot let such a dark race go unpunished, but due to our limited abilities, we’ve come to the church specifically for this purpose… What do you think?”
Without further ado, he told the bishop about Abel’s rapid advancement to a high-rank warrior overnight, indignantly adding, “It must be the demon’s evil power! Who knows what price we’ll have to pay? You absolutely mustn’t let that despicable demon get away!”
While Ivan spoke righteously, he inwardly scoffed. He didn’t believe those demon rumors at all. Lower-class people are just lower-class people. They panic and claim demons exist when faced with inexplicable situations.
However, this time he would use someone else to do his dirty work. With the power of the Church of Light, they could deal with that rumored demon in no time.
Then… he and his uncle, Alec, could sell the treasures inside and never have to worry about money again.
“Don’t worry, it’s just an ordinary demon. You won’t be wasting your time, and you’ll be well-paid with gold afterwards,” Alec said, winking.
“The Church of Light is dedicated to eliminating evil for the people, I won’t let that demon go.”
The bishop waved his hand, summoning a group of Knights of Light. Carrying the holy water purified by the Holy Son’s own magic, they decided to explore the Abyss.
Alec and Ivan watched as the other issued the order, their smiles growing even more genuine as if they could already see the gold coins raining down.
*
The next day, Lu Sinian opened the system panel, calculating the restocking quantity and remaining energy coins.
[Energy Coins: 1990]
[Remaining Quantity of Goods: 120 (Total)]
Thanks to Abel’s promotion, he had already amassed some wealth in just two days, and wasn’t worried about running out of capital when restocking.
Looking at the still-grayed product panel, the unlock condition for the next item was 10,000 energy coins, which he was far from having.
As usual, he opened the shop door at eight o’clock in the morning, only to be startled by the large number of people lying in wait outside.
What was going on? This was quite a scene, were they all here to buy something?
Lu Sinian’s mind suddenly raced.
It was unfortunate for the Church of Light. They had never been to the Floating Life General Store before and naturally didn’t know that the shop was closed at night.
Alec kept offering terrible ideas, thinking that nighttime was an excellent opportunity for a surprise attack, so why not launch a surprise attack from all sides?
And so, this situation arose.
A large group of priests and knights shivered through the cold night of the Abyss while Lu Sinian slept peacefully on a soft bed.
The temperature in the Abyss at night was no joke, the bone-chilling cold rendered any physical means of warmth ineffective.
Finally, the bishop couldn’t withstand the strain any longer and cast a high-level light magic spell, Wings of Light.
This high-level, group-defense spell, a rare magic that consumed a tremendous amount of mana was used for warmth, and preventing them from dying before even encountering the demon.
It wasn’t that they didn’t want to leave the abyss, the problem was they had no idea how to use this strange magical device. It was somewhat like a teleportation array.
They’d taken out countless magic cores and placed them on it, and even wondered if the incantation was wrong. They tried many times but failed to activate the teleportation device.
Finally, the group was in despair, even planning to farm and be self-sufficient in the abyss overnight.
Fortunately, the rumored demon shop opened on time.
In the instant that not-so-bright light slowly expanded, and they even had the illusion of crying tears of joy.
Finally… finally, there was hope of getting out.
Lu Sinian was completely bewildered. Before he could speak, a person rushed out, almost bumping into Lu Sinian’s shoulder, abruptly interrupting him.
“You…you damned demon! Today, we, representing the God of Light, will punish you! You’re finished!”
It was Ivan who interrupted. He couldn’t contain his excitement any longer. He had already seen the Cola his uncle Alec had mentioned. It was in the glowing orbs in the shop, and there were quite a few of them.
He craned his neck, wishing he could kill the demon immediately and take everything away.
Lu Sinian had never seen so many customers before. There were about twenty or thirty people scattered around, and he didn’t pay much attention to what Ivan was saying.
He warmly and hospitably led the customers into the shop: “Please come in. It’s quite cold outside, and please forgive any shortcomings in our hospitality.”
Thankfully, the shop wasn’t small, otherwise it wouldn’t have been able to accommodate so many people.
With the light source, the bishop could see Lu Sinian’s face clearly, and his mind tensed up.