Morning filtered through the shop's starlit glass, bathing the counters in honey-colored light. The runes along the walls pulsed in slow rhythm, like the heartbeat of some sleeping giant.
Ethan stretched behind the counter and yawned loud enough to startle a dust mote.
"Another day of glorious productivity," he said dryly. "Meaning: absolutely nothing happening."
Across the room Chrysalis was already dusting shelves. Her hair caught the light like spun gold.
"You sound disappointed that peace still exists," she said.
"I prefer chaos with profit."
"Then pray for a customer."
As if the universe heard her, the bell above the door chimed.
Ethan blinked. "That was disturbingly fast."
A young man stepped through tall, sharply dressed in royal blue trimmed with gold. Two guards waited outside, armor gleaming. Confidence rolled off him in waves.
His eyes swept the displays before landing on Chrysalis.
"This place claims to sell 'creations,' yes?"
Her expression was calm and unreadable.
"Welcome to the Shop of Creations. You may ask for anything you desire if you can pay the price."
He smirked. "Anything? That's a bold lie, even for merchants, it's impossible. Do you know who I am?"
"I make it my business to know," she replied smoothly.
"Prince Raelion Voss, youngest son of Aerion's king. Awakened this decade with Strength Amplification ×2."
That earned a flicker of surprise before pride reasserted itself.
"So you've done your homework. Then you know I'm not easily impressed."
Ethan, listening behind the counter, hid a grin behind his tea. Here we go.
Raelion tapped a gloved finger against the glass case.
"Fine. If this isn't some performance, get me something practical. A tonic that lets me train longer without feeling pain."
Chrysalis glanced back at Ethan. He gave a small shrug permission granted.
Behind the counter Ethan murmured to the cube.
[Item Requested: Muscle Harmonizer]
[Recommended Price: 10 Creation Points]
He translated it silently—one hundred gold and spoke the number aloud for Chrysalis to repeat.
Raelion tossed a pouch of coins on the counter. "Fine. Impress me."
Chrysalis disappeared into the back room.
Ethan slipped through the hidden door into the Workshop an endless chamber of black stone veined with light. Concepts drifted here like dust motes: half-finished ideas, lost blueprints of gods. The air hummed with expectation.
He rolled his shoulders, exhaled, and drew lines through the air with his fingers. Symbols flared where he touched. "Muscle Harmonizer," he said.
Threads of silver and crimson converged, weaving themselves into a small vial. The liquid inside glowed faintly red, pulsing with rhythm like a heartbeat. The scent of steel and rain filled the room.
Ethan examined the vial clean, simple, perfect and smiled.
"Good enough for royalty."
He pocketed it and stepped back into the front room as though he'd only opened a cupboard.
Chrysalis reappeared at the counter holding the vial as if she had taken it from a shelf.
Raelion eyed it skeptically. "What does it do?"
"Relieves fatigue, accelerates recovery, and balances muscle strain," Chrysalis answered. "You'll feel lighter within moments."
He sniffed, shrugged, and swallowed the potion. Warmth flooded through him; the ache from morning drills vanished. His aura steadied, strength humming evenly beneath his skin.
He stared at his hands. "It works."
Ethan kept polishing the counter. "Told you."
Raelion hid his surprise behind a scoff. "Parlor trick. Temporary."
"Two hours," Chrysalis corrected.
His curiosity sharpened. "Alright, then. Something permanent. Make me stronger permanently."
He tried probing testing the limits of the shop
Ethan bent his head slightly toward the cube.
[Item: Amplifier Core]
[Effect: Harmonizes muscular mana channels to increase Strength Amplification from ×2 to ×2.5 permanently.]
[Recommended Price: 120 Creation Points]
He did the conversion and murmured, "One thousand two hundred gold."
Chrysalis repeated the figure.
Raelion froze. "Wait. Something that can increase a natural talent you're saying that actually exists?"
"It does," Chrysalis said softly. "And it can be bought."
For the first time, genuine disbelief cracked his arrogance. "Impossible… no one can alter the limit of an awakening."
Ethan lifted an eyebrow. "Apparently someone can."
The prince's pulse quickened. For a heartbeat he looked almost childlike, dazzled by the thought that limits could bend. Then reason returned, and pride with it.
"And the price for this miracle is only a thousand gold?"
"One thousand two hundred," Chrysalis corrected.
He hesitated, then pushed further. "And if I wanted something greater divine strength, absolute power?"
Ethan checked again.
[Item: Essence of Dominion]
[Effect: Rewrites physique into a vessel of raw strength. Evolves Strength Amplification ×2 → ×5.]
[Recommended Price: 2 000 Creation Points]
Twenty thousand gold, Ethan thought. He said the amount quietly for Chrysalis to echo.
Raelion's eyes widened, then disbelief turned to a laugh that sounded almost panicked.
"Twenty thousand gold? That's the wealth of a city king! Are you selling kingdoms in bottles now?"
"That," Chrysalis said simply, "is its worth."
He scoffed. "You expect me to pay that? My father's treasury would balk."
Ethan set down his cup. "Creation doesn't negotiate, Your Highness."
Raelion's tone cooled into threat. "Perhaps you'd prefer royal favor an alliance with the crown?"
"Gold or equivalent power," Chrysalis replied, voice unshaken. "Titles hold no value here."
The air shivered. The sigils on the walls flared briefly, and Raelion's mana flickered out as if the world itself had muted him. For a heartbeat his royal aura collapsed into nothing.
He staggered back. "What did you"
"House rule," Ethan said mildly. "In this shop, everyone's equal before the price."
Raelion's throat worked once, twice. Then he straightened, trying to reclaim composure. "Fine. I'll return with the funds."
Chrysalis inclined her head. "We will remain."
He left with his guards, the bell's chime fading into the afternoon quiet.
Chrysalis exhaled slowly. "That could've gone worse."
Ethan grinned. "And we didn't get arrested. Bonus."
The cube pulsed.
[Transaction Complete]
[Sale Recorded: Muscle Harmonizer – 10 CP (100 gold)]
[Shop Reputation +1]
Ethan frowned. "Only ten CP? For that kind of potion?"
[Affirmative. Pricing determined by cosmic-equivalence protocols.
Host interference would destabilize universal balance.]
"So I don't even decide prices now?"
[Correct. Price integrity maintained.]
He sighed. "So you're telling me you're better at economics than me."
[Affirmative. Please forget this conversation.]
A faint fog brushed the edge of his memory. He groaned. "Figures."
Chrysalis looked up. "Problem?"
"Nothing important," he said. "Just arguing with a celestial accountant."
She smiled faintly. "At least we made profit."
"Ten Creation Points," he muttered. "We're officially middle-class gods."
That earned a soft laugh from her. The sound lingered pleasantly in the warm air.
She leaned her elbows on the counter. "He really believed no one could change an awakening. Imagine what that means out there how fixed people think the world is."
"Fixed limits make comfortable rulers," Ethan said. "If everyone could rewrite themselves, kings would panic."
Her eyes sparkled. "And we just sold proof that limits can move."
Ethan chuckled. "We'll have a line out the door by next week or an army trying to confiscate the shop."
"Would they even find it?"
"Only if the System gets bored and lets them." Ethan thought
Chrysalis looked around the glowing room, the shelves breathing faint light. "Sometimes I forget this place isn't really… part of the city."
"It's wherever it wants to be," Ethan said. "That's what makes rent so cheap."
She snorted softly. "You joke too easily for someone who just told off a prince."
He shrugged. "If you can't laugh at danger, you'll cry in boredom."
Her gaze softened. "You're strange, Ethan. Stranger than this shop, even."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
A companionable silence stretched. The light through the windows turned amber, painting the shelves in gold. Outside, street vendors began closing their stalls, unaware that the balance of power in Aerion had tilted ever so slightly.
The cube chimed again.
[Daily Summary]
Customers – 1
Sales – 1
Reputation Level – Novice Merchant
Chrysalis watched the words fade. "He'll be back."
"Greed always circles back," Ethan said. "And when it does… maybe I'll charge interest." Ethan blinked knowing he doesn't set the price
She laughed again quiet, genuine and the sound melted into the evening hush.
Outside, Aerion bustled on, blind to the miracle behind the glass.
Inside, the Shop of Creations hummed softly, waiting for the next soul bold enough to test what could be made real