It felt like everything around him was burning.

Fire was licking the soles of his feet, the smoke was making it hard to breathe, it was like being in an oven and slowly roasted to death..

..and then Kelderian opened his eyes.

"Of all the times.. when did 2K Miles change their mind? They flat-out turned us down when we made a proposal of our own!" Kelderian exclaimed, caught off-guard as he saw the promotion.

This was a game-changer: the quality of the product a shopping mall sells is an indicator of their prestige. The Awakening Store was doing a very good job of showing off their prestige thanks to the manufacturers who wanted the store to carry their products.

There were, some really extravagant exceptions that existed, such as 2K Miles.

You could compare 2K Miles to a luxury motorcycle company like Ducati or something, where the handmade craftsmanship and research boosts the prestige and price of the product.

Basically, they let the quality of their product sell itself.

The question on Kelderian's mind is: what happened to make 2K Miles want to work with the Superstore?

'I'll need to notify the head office about the situation asap and start preparing contingency plans,' Kelderian thought, the reason for why 2K Miles' sudden change no longer important.

'The best solution to this problem is to score an exclusive sales contract with a rival of 2K Miles, but I don't have time to go through the contract negotiations.. time won't stand still while that's happening. In a perfect world, that would handle all my problems, but it has its own attendant concerns.'

"What to do, what to do.." Kelderian thought aloud, trying to find a way around this situation.

The losses of the Awakening Store would be catastrophic if Jake Smithson, their lone customer, jumped ship.

Ideas upon ideas began to pile up in his head as to how to keep Jake loyal, and he was thinking about a few rather outlandish solutions when one of his employees interrupted his thoughts.

"Boss, this just in," the employee reported. "Jake Smithson just completed the event."

"So soon?" Kelderian asked, surprised.

Sure, Jake always shows unparalleled purchasing power, but it's still not easy to adapt from the tutorial area to Nohas proper.

It is thus a surprise to Kelderian to find out that all the points needed for the event were already collected.

"I think he only went out of the Burning Forest to eat and sleep – maybe he forgot about his division or something?"

"Never mind that," Kelderian said. "What's for our next event?"

The employee checked a list before answering: "We have a 'The More, The Merrier' friend event ready, sir."

Once making your mark as a rookie awakener, you will now start gaining followers, which is why the logical extension of the rookie event is an event where the awakener must make friends with other awakeners in his or her division.

However, Kelderian immediately thought that event was insufficient.

Compared to the 2K Miles release, this event is insignificant.

'Making friends against a motorcycle? It's no contest. And when Jake finds out about the Superstore, we're done.

It would only be a matter of time before he jumps ship, and the clock is ticking..'

A knock on the door roused Kelderian, and when he beckoned the door to be opened, another employee poked her head inside.

"Mr. Smithson just left us a review!" she declared before returning to her post.

It was with the feeling of a condemned man facing the headman's axe that Kelderian turned to where Jake Smithson's review would be.

'Another complaint, I see..' Kelderian reacted with the detachment that would precede a catastrophe, as the only times Jake contacted the Awakening Store and left a review was when he wasn't satisfied about something.

This was his avenue for enquiry, and most of those enquiries were complaints and requests for compensation.

This is the kind of trouble that would make Jake Smithson jump ship to the Superstore.

But now, things are different: with the existence of the Superstore, Jake Smithson could now hold his membership over the head of the Awakening Store like a veritable Sword of Damocles.

'Well, let's see what it is,' the branch manager thought as he opened Jake's review with a resigned air, 'then find a way to deal with it.'

[Hello! This item is so good! I love it so much that I had to leave a review like this. Ever since I was young, my dream was to collect the entire series of GOAT Flyers. When I was older and I watched those shows that had rappers in their houses and showing off their shoe collections in boxes.. I wanted to be like those rappers, it was a middle school dream of mine that I couldn't afford to make, even if I was already working.]

'What's with this wall of text?' Kelderian wondered, thinking of why Jake Smithson would leave a review that read more like a diary entry.

What followed, however, surprised him even further.

[But now, thanks to you, I finally get to come fly with my idol, the GOAT! It's like I took a time machine and went back to being a kid all over again. Now, I want to ask, do you have a complete series of the GOAT Flyers? I'll buy two pairs each of all of them: one for equipment and the other for me to start a collection with.]

Kelderian's jaw was firmly on his table by the time he read through Jake's review once more, word for word.

'So, since Jake bought one GOAT Flyer, he wants the whole series now; and instead of a pair, he will buy two pairs at a time, one for collection purposes?'

The metaphorical light bulb went on in his head when he realized the path the Awakening Store should take.

"People! New update," Kelderian declared as he dramatically exited his office and called everyone in his department together. "Everyone, this is of urgent priority: find the GOAT Flyer series. Call the head office, go through third parties or middlemen, go to shoe collector sites, I don't care how you get your hands on them. I want the complete GOAT Flyer series and I want them yesterday."

"What got you getting us to buy shoes, boss?" one of the higher-ranked employees asked.

"Mr. Smithson just had the sudden urge to collect the entire GOAT Flyer series," Kelderian answered solemnly.

"You heard the man! Everyone, let's get to looking and earn our keep!" the employee who asked about buying shoes yelled out to the crowd of employees assembled.

"One more thing, though," Kelderian added, right before the employee got the other workers fired up. "Two pairs each in the product line."

"Okay, two pairs it will – what do you mean, two pairs? Collectors only need one!"

"Well, he's going to wear a pair and collect the other. Do your best, everyone."

"Okay! You heard the boss! GOAT Flyers, two pairs of each release, let's get to it!" the employee declared to everyone in the office, and with a gathered yell of "YEAH!", they went back to their work with a renewed vigor.

However, before he went back to work, the employee shook his head and muttered something he thought Kelderian wouldn't hear.

"You're right, he is a weirdo. But remember, he's OUR weirdo," the boss replied with a smile, and let his employee leave.

***

"What a grind, Liam."

"You're only saying that because you have the fire suit, not me!"

While the task of hunting had become attainable thanks to Jake and Liam discovering the power that their division master gifted to them, the Burning Forest was still a forbidding location to hunt in.

Sweat poured in rivers as they fought, flaming spirits assailed them at every turn, and the environment would scorch a lesser awakener to death, even fighting was a tightrope as the two awakeners had to avoid the burning trees, despite Jake having a high-performance fireproof suit of his own.

It was bad enough that they placed makeshift landmarks on where they were fighting before they ran out the dungeon to eat and sleep, returning the next day to fight again.

"Yes, the Bunker Gear is way too awesome."

"Good for you," Liam replied, "now let's blow this joint once we're done. This heat is ridiculous."

Despite not having the Bunker Gear, Liam was able to hold his own in this place, thanks to the gift the old man gave him – it was like what Jake called his Bankroll, but manifested slightly differently.

"You're dealing with it well enough, though. Is it really that hot?"

"Yes, and if it wasn't for Gramps helping me out, I wouldn't even be here. This power is amazing, and it's enhancing my own skills to an amazing degree so that the fire barely registers. It's still hot as heck here, though."

"Once you get used to the heat, these guys are actually small fry," Jake said, as he was able to start understanding the true power of his Bankroll ability. "Come on, we're done here."

If mana was magic power, the Bankroll felt like something more primal, more focused – to the point where it could allow him to harm and hunt monsters like the Flame Spirit.

Something like this needed to be looked into further, but not at this moment, as Jake Smithson had other priorities: namely, the 430,000 points he collected while hunting.

More than enough to buy the items in the event.

'It always feels like the first time,' Jake thought. 'Butterflies in my stomach, heightened awareness.. it's like shopping always gives me the perfect high..'

It's this feeling that he always comes back to: despite shopping for a very long time, he is always overcome with nerves up to the moment where he makes a purchase.

It's an indescribable feeling.

'This is why I shop. Honestly.. if you collected 420,000 points, the next thing you should do is to use those 420,000 points.'

He exerted an extreme effort to get his hands on these points.. and since he already had something in mind to purchase with those points, it was only a matter of moments before all those points disappear into thin air.

Jake wasn't the type to feel regret or loss, because the purchase was the reason for collecting all those points in the first place – it was always this attitude towards money and/or points that separated him from other people.

[ Awakening Store Gold Label

Event Notice:

You have qualified to participate in the "Rookie Event."

You are currently a participant in the ongoing "Rookie Event".

Do you want to purchase the "GOAT Flyer #11" and "Icehammer Dark"?]

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'Give it to me, baby!'

He pressed the button, and at the moment when the items appeared in the inventory, a hand on his shoulder startled him.

"Hey, asshole!" Liam yelled, disgruntled. "What's the big idea, running out of the dungeon like that?"

He saw the answer to his question rather than heard it, because Jake had a package in his hands and was walking away from the Burning Forest to the spot where they made a small camp to rest in between grinding.

And when he sat down, he began to remove the tape and bubble wrap from the box, after which he pulled out a pristine white box with an embossed winged goat design.

Liam could only laugh as he saw what the white box contained.

"Hope you bought socks along with that, Jake," he just said. "Man, you really drive me nuts.."

He saw Jake buy all sorts of products.. however, this took the cake.

"Really?" he continued. "We spent a couple days in that hell for a freaking pair of basketball sneakers?"

Of course, Jake didn't pay attention to Liam, as he was too busy putting on his shoes and tying the shoelaces carefully.. almost respectfully. And when he was done, he picked himself up and looked at Liam.

"I already feel like I could fly," Jake declared, his expression dreamy.

***

Thanks to the rookie event, Jake now had a plan that wasn't just "go to dungeon, make points, buy item": collecting the entire series of GOAT Flyers.

It had been a childhood dream of his, but gave up when reality reared up and smacked him in the face.

Here, though, you could earn points just by hunting monsters nonstop for points.

It's not like corporate slavery or manual labor, where they never pay you overtime or when you go above and beyond the call of duty.

This place, though, you earn as much as you work, and if you work hard, the shop will reward your industry by giving you a discount or freebie.

It's a refreshing change.

It's a great place.

'There's a problem, though,' Jake thought. 'I've looked up and down at the Awakening Store's Gold Label, and this is the only GOAT Flyer they have available.'

I've already told them about my wish to collect the entire series thanks to my review, but can they really do it?

He wasn't feeling realistic about his chances, because his circumstances were reversed from before he was summoned here.

On Earth, he didn't have any problems hunting for products he wanted, but couldn't pay for them – and on Nohas, it's the complete opposite.

To Jake, it's now about the product, since he now has a means by which to reliably make money or points. 'Man, I wish I was back home. All those stores.. there wasn't anything I couldn't find on my computer..'

He was feeling rather wistful and homesick when a notification appeared.

[Awakeners of Nohas:

Warmest greetings from the Superstore!

Thanks to our many years in service, we have a wide assortment of products that other providers in this dimension will have difficulty measuring up to!

For the awakeners of Nohas, we've decided to open our store with a bang, so please stop by and see what we have prepared to welcome you!

Hope we get to see you soon!]

Jake Smithson could only gape at the message he just read.

***