5 Chapter 5 (1/2)

As soon as Jake's good feeling subsided, he was suddenly overcome with the urge to kick himself. 'Why didn't I use this feature sooner?'

1:1 Customer Service was a tremendous feature; a gift that could only be enjoyed by those who had access to the Awakening Store – namely, him.

'I'll give asking them a question about this place a try,' Jake thought, as his inquiry regarding point sources was answered easily, decided to try asking a question about the setting next.

He penned in his question quickly.

”What is Nohas?”

Like clockwork, after ten minutes, he received an answer.

[Thanks for contacting us! Our service is currently limited to questions regarding purchases, item stock, point acquisition and other matters regarding the Awakening Store. However, since your inquiry is a very basic question about the world you are in, we are able to answer it. Nohas is a world that prevents monsters from other dimensions from reaching Earth.]

'I see,' Jake thought, the answer to his inquiry taking up a valuable spot in the few important things he needed to know in his new life.

'Is Nohas such a world? Then we Awakeners are basically Earth's last line of defense. I need some time to think about this… but I have one more question to ask.'

It was obvious that Jake had to change the way he asked his questions to get them properly answered – and he thus asked a very relevant second question to the Customer Service.

”I do not see any reviews in the shopping mall. Am I the only customer here right now?”

Jake posted the question in the feedback section, and in five minutes, he got his answer.

[Thanks for your inquiry! Please understand that we do not have that much feedback compared to other stores, because we currently operate for a very small number of customers. If it's the quality of our products you're asking about, worry not – we only sell the highest quality product, it's what our brand is built on! To answer your inquiry, we have one customer currently using our service in Nohas, but other dimensions have other customers currently browsing our catalog.]

'Just as expected,' Jake thought as the Awakening Store's thorough answer came through on what he was really after – valuable information.

'Only customer in Nohas? Wait a minute, then that means I'm the only one using this shop!'

The feeling that he had something nobody else in Nohas did quickly faded away, as he remembered that he was on a time limit: orcs to hunt, points to gain, and most importantly, stuff to buy.

It was a simple plan, really.

***

[Hardened bat: 1000 points]

He took a curious look at the item for sale and checked out the details.

[Minimum Level: 1]

[Recommended Level: 4]

He conveniently disregarded ”Recommended Level”, as he saw through his goblin-killing frenzy not too long ago, he never gained experience – he was perennially stuck at Level 1.

[Do you want to purchase this item? Yes/No]

Jake ignored the recommended level for hunting orcs.

He didn't have time to worry about that, because at that moment, time was passing by, and the time remaining for the sale was decreasing.

'Two packages already? Honestly – I don't mind,' Jake thought, 'it's like when you go to the department store the weekend before your new job starts – buy something to get yourself looking ready for work. Same thing, here.'

'With 1200 points left, and paying 1000 for this bat, well…

…I don't know, other Awakeners were given equipment from the get-go.'

'But I'd still buy the bat without a moment's notice,' Jake added as he clicked on Yes, and the sound of a package appearing signaled his successful purchase. It's the thrill of the purchase that matters to me most, after all.

As soon as he opened up the package and saw the black wood finish and the leather grip, he knew he didn't make a mistake.

'Well then, shall we be off hunting orcs today?'

By the standards of role-playing game towns, Brino was a perfectly ordinary ”town to start Awakeners in”. To those Awakeners who weren't savvy to the ways of those kinds of games, Brino was a very strange place.

The Awakeners first cottoned onto the fact when the fatigue they had accrued over the course of their first battle with the goblins had subsided quicker than usual.

A cursory checking of injuries sustained during the fight showed that a lot of them were already healed completely.

But even then, there was a universal need that even a village for Awakeners like Brino couldn't resolve so easily.

When the first hungry stomach rumbled, the rest of the Awakeners in Brino quickly followed suit.

'Forget about the Orcs for now;' Jake thought, 'I need something to eat!'

Jake wasn't the type of person who got into shape, got into a fight, got into shape for a fight, or got into a fight to get in shape, and smacking around those goblins with rocks had given him quite an appetite – but there were no restaurants in town.

'Do I have to go out of town to find something to eat?'

Just as Jake – and many others – were thinking about how to solve this hunger problem, the voice that welcomed them to this town spoke.

[A feast will be readied soon in the center of the village. This is the first and last meal Nohas will provide you. In the future, you will be required to become self-sufficient when it comes to food and water. Please enjoy your meal.]

At that very moment, whether this was the last meal or not, Jake did not care – what was important was that he take care of his hunger.

'I should eat quickly – precious time is being wasted. That sale won't buy itself.'

As soon as he heard the voice, Jake quickly made his way to the center of Brino, still clutching the box that contained his newest purchase.

As he walked along the street, he could hear people talking, presumably about the announcement and the requirement for them to survive in this world.

”How do you suppose we'd get food here in the future?”

”Are there farms or ranches outside? With chickens, cattle or pigs?”

”I do not know. Those who came to town do not talk to us unless it's a class related question…”

”Please tell me we won't have to eat monsters. Those goblins stunk.”

”What do you say that after we eat, we go out on patrol and look for a source of food? ”

The closer Jake got to the town center of Brino, he heard more conversations taking place, all around the same subject.

'They seem more friendly to each other than I thought,' Jake observed. And when he arrived at the center of the village, he saw several groups of more experienced Awakeners gathered together, also talking about the announcement.

Jake's interest in those Awakeners vanished as soon as he turned towards the corner of his eye and saw the time ticking away.

[Limited Sale Time Remaining: 44 hours, 2 minutes, 34 seconds]

As soon as he saw the time left, it was as if his demeanor changed completely – he started to carry himself like a spring wound too tightly, the worry about not being able to make it to the deadline beginning to affect him.

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And it was in this state of mind that he brushed past one of the groups and made towards one of the tables with a lavish spread of food upon it.

”Excuse me,” he said, pointing to the table closest to him, ”I would like to eat.”

In his state, Jake didn't notice how the Awakeners were worrying about how the food was going to be distributed, because they simply didn't know if it was enough for everyone.

Of course, Jake paid that no mind, and moved towards a spot on the table he picked out.