As the city of Aeris glimmered with light,
Chrysalis Hendrix walked through the crowd as though she were invisible.
The last time the Awakening had come, the world had known her name: The Temporal Shepherd. The Beast Queen. The Dual Miracle of the Hendrix Lineage.
She'd tamed creatures that devoured armies and frozen time itself to save her comrades.
Now, she could barely light a mana candle.
Her boots clicked softly against the cobblestones as she passed cheering students and glowing sigils. Her family crest still gleamed on her collar a golden phoenix clutching an hourglass but it felt heavier than armor. People saw it and whispered.
"Did you hear? That's Hendrix's fallen genius."
"Poor thing. Lost her powers, they say. How does someone even lose time?"
She ignored them. Pity was worse than mockery.
She wasn't powerless not completely. Her core still existed: her rank, her foundation, the years of cultivation. But her gifts… her dual affinities were stripped clean, like the universe had decided she'd had enough of being exceptional.
And she still hadn't figured out why.
Maybe it was cosmic irony. Maybe punishment. Or maybe just bad luck.
Her lips quirked slightly. "Or maybe the Overcosmos just got bored."
Her wit was the only thing she hadn't lost.
She turned down a quiet alley, eager to escape the noise. The air shifted quieter, denser. The mana here felt… different. It wasn't just rich; it was alive.
Then she saw it.
At the end of the alley stood a building she swore hadn't existed before.
Black-gold metal framed crystal windows that shimmered like starlight. Silver sigils flowed lazily across the walls like rivers of constellations. The sign above the door pulsed faintly with soft golden letters:
"Shop of Creations."
She froze. Every instinct in her blood screamed enter.
Her analytical mind kicked in immediately. She began to dissect the structure with her eyes, every cell in her body telling her that what she needed was here.
Her curiosity the one thing even failure couldn't crush burned bright again.
She pushed the door open.
A bell chimed softly.
Warmth brushed her skin a welcoming, living warmth, like the building itself exhaled in relief. The faint scent of ozone and polished wood filled her lungs.
Inside, shelves floated effortlessly, stacked with relics she couldn't identify. Crystals pulsed like miniature hearts. Runes flowed across the floor in a steady rhythm that reminded her of breathing.
And behind the counter sat… a man.
He was casually slouched in a chair, hair messy, expression caught somewhere between bored and amused definitely not what she expected from whoever owned this miracle of architecture.
He looked up and blinked. "Uh… welcome?"
His tone was friendly but uncertain, as though even he wasn't used to saying it yet.
Chrysalis arched a brow. "Nice shop you've got. Did you steal it from a god?"
He smirked faintly. "Nah. Rented it from one, maybe. You buying or sightseeing?"
Her lips twitched. "That depends. Do you sell the impossible?"
The man straightened lazily. "Define impossible. We've got flexible pricing."
"Flexible, huh?" she said dryly. "Because I'm about to test that claim."
The System chimed softly.
[Customer Detected.]
[Analyzing Soul Resonance…]
[Result: Rank SSS – Dormant. Dual Affinities: Temporal (Time Manipulation) / Dominion-Beast.]
[Status: Stripped. Potential Restoration – Possible.]
Ethan's eyes widened slightly. What a hot cake.
She didn't notice; her gaze was already roaming the shelves like a scientist in paradise.
Her mind moved at lightning speed. Every artifact emitted faint but unique wavelengths. This wasn't standard enchantment work. It was creation.
"So?" she asked suddenly, turning back to him. "You said you sell the impossible. I need something that can reconnect me to what I lost my powers, both of them."
Even though she knew something like that was probably nonexistent, her instincts told her this was the right place.
Ethan leaned on the counter, trying to sound nonchalant. "That's a tall order."
"I'm willing to pay," she said smoothly. "Gold, cores, favors, bloodline seals name it."
The cube beside him flickered.
[Processing Request…]
[Required Resource: 1 000 000 Creation Points.]
[Host Balance: 73.]
[Recommendation: Decline Transaction. Catastrophic Energy Requirement Detected.]
Ethan coughed. "Yeah… about that. You might be a little outside our current budget."
Chrysalis crossed her arms. "So you can do it, just not right now?"
He hesitated. "…Something like that."
She smiled slightly. "Then we're in business."
He blinked. "That's… not how this works."
"Oh, it's exactly how it works. You said flexible pricing. I'm offering persistence."
The cube pulsed again.
[New Recommendation Generated.]
[Customer Qualifies for Auxiliary Role: Apprentice of Creations.]
[Status: Customer-Bound Assistant. Access: Limited. Compensation: Progressive Restoration of Stripped Affinities.]
Ethan stared. "Apprentice? You're hiring people now?"
[Clarification: Apprentices count as customers.]
"All right, I can help you, but you don't have the resources for that right now," Ethan said.
Chrysalis tilted her head, analyzing. "So, what can I do?"
"Yes, there is something you can do," Ethan said. "Become an apprentice here and manage this shop alongside me."
She accepted without thinking something that could help her regain her powers? Even if she had to play assistant, she'd do it.
[Apprenticeship Link Established.]
[Partial Restoration Protocol – Initialized.]
A faint warmth spread through her chest; her sigil flickered. For the first time in years, time moved differently around her.
Her breath caught just for a moment. Then she smiled. "Looks like I made the right investment."
The golden shimmer in Chrysalis's eyes dimmed to a steady glow. The faint pulse of temporal mana that had sparked in her chest settled, like a clock restarting after years of silence.
She exhaled slowly. "Well," she murmured, flexing her fingers, "that's new."
Ethan watched her warily. "You're not going to explode, right? I have a no-refund policy for that."
She smirked. "If I explode, I'm taking the shop with me."
The cube flickered a warning line only Ethan could see.
[Impossible.]
[Domain Status: Active. Within this space, Host holds absolute authority.]
[All hostile or destructive actions nullified. Structural integrity: eternal.]
[Concept – 'God of Domain': operational.]
"So I'm a god suddenly "
Ethan stared at the glowing text and muttered, "Could've mentioned that before I started taking customers."
[You did not ask.]
He rubbed his temples. "Of course I didn't."
Across the counter, Chrysalis watched his face twist through confusion, irritation, and reluctant amusement. "Who are you talking to, boss?"
Ethan lied easily. "Just thinking about something and blurted it out."
"Oookkaaay," she said, clearly not believing him.
"So," she asked lightly, "boss, what exactly does an apprentice do here? Besides the occasional existential crisis."
"Mostly restocking," Ethan said, straightening. "Also, not touching glowing things without asking. Learned that one the hard way."
"Noted." She wandered around the nearest display, eyes darting from relic to relic. Every object vibrated with restrained potential.
The cube glowed again.
[Apprenticeship Integration — Phase 1 Complete.]
[Link: Stable.]
[Performance Expectation: High. Subject IQ estimated above 190 by Terran standards.]
Ethan whistled softly. "Figures."
Chrysalis glanced back. "Figures what?"
"Nothing," he said quickly. "Just confirming my life decisions."
"Bad ones?"
"The worst."
Her laugh was quick and bright. "Good. Means we'll get along."
She moved toward the back wall where a glass panel shimmered with light. Inside floated what looked like a feather made of condensed starlight. She leaned closer, fascinated.
"What's this one do?"
Ethan checked the hovering tag. "Uh… the Feather of Reversal. Supposedly lets you undo a single mistake but only if you understand exactly what made it a mistake."
"That's poetic."
"It's expensive."
"Of course it is."
She studied it another moment, then stepped back. "You know, for someone pretending to be normal, you hide it badly."
Ethan sighed. "I keep getting that lately."
Her expression softened barely. "Whatever this place is, it's not bound by the same rules as the rest of the world. You built it, or it built you?"
He hesitated. "A little of both, maybe."
For a heartbeat, silence hung between them comfortable, curious. Two minds too sharp for small talk measuring each other.
Then the System's cube pulsed again.
[Apprentice — Task 1 Assigned.]
[Objective: Organize the storage shelf of unsorted relics.]
[Reward: 0.1% Affinity Restoration.]
The information appeared in her head; she had no idea how, but she knew it was Ethan's doing.
Chrysalis blinked. "Menial labor as enlightenment. Classic."
Ethan grinned. "Welcome to the team."
She rolled her eyes but followed him through a side door into the back room. Shelves stretched endlessly, filled with chaotic piles of half-finished items. Some hummed, some leaked light, some growled softly.
"Touch nothing that growls," Ethan advised.
"No promises."
After a while she spoke without looking up. "You know, when people lose everything, they usually disappear. I just got demoted to intern. Progress, I guess."
Ethan chuckled. "Hey, every empire starts with manual labor."
She turned, smirking. "Then I expect a throne by next week."
"Sure," he said dryly. "DIY kit's in aisle three."
They worked in companionable silence for a few minutes. Outside, the city's noise faded; within the shop, reality itself seemed to hum in tune with their rhythm. The domain recognized its new balance: Creator and Apprentice.
The cube flickered one last time.
[Apprenticeship Synchronized.]
[Current Domain Entities: 2.]
[Authority Distribution: Stable.]
"Thank you."
For the first time in a decade, laughter felt easy.
Somewhere above them, the shop's lights flickered like stars acknowledging a new constellation.
Chrysalis stretched and glanced over her shoulder. "For the record, boss, I organized this place better than you ever could."
Ethan crossed his arms. "I can fire you, you know."
She grinned. "You can try. But I'm pretty sure I'm unionized now."
The cube blinked helpfully.
[Affirmative. Apprentice protected under Domain labor code.]
Ethan groaned. "Great. My shop invented bureaucracy."
The lights above them pulsed twice, almost like they were laughing.
Chrysalis smirked. "Guess even your divine domain thinks I'm right."
Ethan sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "This is going to be a long eternity."
The cube flickered again, cutting off his grumbling.
[Main Mission Completed.]
[Objective: Accept and Integrate the Shop's First Customer.]
[Reward: 100 Creation Points + 1 Roulette Token (Limited Use)
Ethan froze. "Ooh i forgot about the Mission let's see what I get from the roulette "
He said while ignoring the creation points ...