Chapter 10: Unwilling To Concede
Bu Dong slowly opened his eyes. His head was in a little mess. "You alright bro?" Yue Han was drinking a beverage and he offered it to him. "Have a drink. Its taste is quite refreshing." Bu Dong took the offer and swallowed it. He felt a little more revitalised and asked. "Where did you get this from? I did not see this panda soda brand before."
"It's from the vending machine over there. I used your phone credits to get it. Apparently, it does not accept anything except the credits this weird store uses." Yue Han grabbed the drink from his buddy and drank a little more.
"Oh my gosh Yue Han, how did you know my password?"
"So simple, everyone, even the cleaner, knows that you have liked Xing Li for the longest time ever. Hence, your password is definitely her birthday. I do not know whether she is just that oblivious towards you or she was is pretending."
Bu Dong asked Yue Han to pass the drink back and lied down on the comfy lounge chair. He took a long look at the empty room. "How long was I out? A few hours? A night?"
"Hahaha, if you can believe it. Only 10 minutes or so. Apparently, the boss said it had something to do with the advanced technology of his dimensional space. By the way, I saw the whole thing, you were trashed badly by a few goblins."
"I think I managed to kill one though. This was way too unexpected. Everything felt too lifelike. It did not seem scripted too… I mean that dagger goblin, he was really fighting as if it meant life and death for him."
"This owner is not simple, I wonder what kind of experiences he went through to get such vivid clones of such monsters." Yue Han pondered loudly.
"Maybe they are really real life monsters." Bu Dong joked.
"That's true, perhaps we can ask the ones in glass exhibits at the national museum of ancient humanoids. I think they have might have some clue." Yue Han suggested with sarcasm.
Bu Dong kicked the stool his friend was sitting and Yue Han nearly fell because of that. "Regardless, this was really an eye-opener. The 245 Yuan was worth it. Also, I might be thinking a little too much but I feel that this dungeon instance stirs my cultivation a little."
"You serious? Did you not say you are stuck in the peak of Grade 2 for some time?"
"Yeah, I was a little shocked too when I managed to kill the dagger goblin. I felt that I gained some spirit force and it stirred within my Dantian."
"Woah, can you imagine if you manage to defeat all three goblins? You might have a chance at a breakthrough." Yue Han pondered a little.
Bu Dong sat up and drank the last bit of panda soda before throwing it in the recycling bin beside it. He signalled his pal to follow along and decided to ask the owner some questions.
"Boss, thank you for the dungeon instance." Bu Dong thanked Jin as he walked down the stairs. Jin looked at him "Care for another go? There are currently no other customers yet."
"Maybe tomorrow, I need to go back and heal my pride's wound first." Bu Dong shamelessly acknowledged.
"I will like to ask though, how many people can I bring for a dungeon instance?"
"Maximum four, all of them need to pay before they can go in with you."
"Any time duration per instance run?"
"Standard fifteen minutes, but time decelerates in the dimension space. Should be at most three hours in there. Additional extra time played will be charge per five minutes on Earth."
"If that's the case when I am watching the play on TV?" Yue Han questioned.
"The highlights of the instance. Do not worry, the magic eye technology of mine is powerful enough to make the transition of important highlights smooth. Also if you wish to watch your dungeon playback, you can rent a playback room for 50 Yuan and it includes a video link which you can download from our servers."
"Else you can buy your video in full HD for 5 Yuan. You can keep it for study purposes or you can upload it for streaming purposes or whatever. The link will be sent via your phone account once you make the payment."
"Boss, what is your name?" Bu Dong initiated the question.
"Jin."
"Boss Jin, I would like to reserve a place tomorrow to play."
"No reservations allowed, first come first serve." This time round, it was not Jin's rules but the System's.
"Heh, you are so inflexible, unlike your monsters. I would like to have one of my playbacks." Bu Dong laughed. For some reason, he was starting to respect the new owner for creating such a challenge for him.
"That will be 5 Yuan and thank you for patronising the store," Jin confirmed the payment and Panda Port did everything else. Bu Dong and Yue Han finally left the store.
"You sure, you are coming back again tomorrow?"
"Why not? You saw how devious those goblins were. It has been a long time since I felt excited about something again. Besides, if his monsters can really stir my cultivation, I think it's a worthy investment."
"Anyways, call your elder sister to join us. I remember she is a Grade 2 Peak specialised in healing? She will be a great help. I will try and contact Kong Xian."
"Haha, are you paying for us? She might not be willing to play if she has to pay and I need to convince her too."
"Ahhh fine, fine. I will pay for the four of us, then can you get Kong Xian too."
"I will be glad to render my services, Mr Rich boy. Also, I guess you are relying on Kong Xian to shield us?"
"Yea, judging from the dungeon instance, we need the holy trinity* to completely defeat it. Besides, I think that Boss Jin is not an easy person. The dungeon instance might not be as easy as killing those three goblins."
The rest of the day was rather quiet, no one was eager to try to enter the new shop. There were some loiterers that looked at the store but had no courage to go in. "I guess this is the effect of the accursed plot of land. No matter, this gives me time to read my cultivation manual and take a look at the Mission app."
The mission app has updated various missions for him to choose. There was no high importance mission at the moment so he decided to choose one that does not have a time limit.
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Mission: Learn the cultivation manual
Mission objectives: strengthen your foundation core with the Nineteen Lazy Astral Pandas Cultivation manual
Secondary mission objectives: Learn a new move from the manual.
Rewards: Pork Cutlet (Tonkatsu) Curry rice set and soda from the vending available on the first floor.
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"Well, at least it's not panda cutlet curry rice set." Jin opened the Nineteen Lazy Astral Pandas Technique cultivation manual and read its contents. Apparently, the technique emphasis was leaning towards efficiency. Do not move unnecessarily unless you need to do so, like a panda who lies around the area doing nothing.
A single finger strike should push the enemy away. A single palm strike would push the enemy to their knees begging for their lives. Strength and efficiency was the takeaway message from the cultivation manual. Jin decided to read and understand the Lazy Panda Swipe as much as possible.
For dinner, he closed the shop for a while to grab a bite at a diner café in the Tiangong Shopping District to celebrate getting his first customer. As he went in, the shopkeeper greeted him and passed him the menu. Seeing that the rumoured new shop owner was in his shop, Shen Sifang could not help but ask.
"Are you the new owner of the store at the end of the shopping street?"
.
.