StarGate

"Arg, still nothing." Complained Lux as he came out of his meditative state after having searched for celestial body coordinates in the universe.

Despite having the system allowing him to bypass the need of searching for the coordinates, even allowing him to keep a proper touch to the details of the celestial body as new information was brought back. However, finding them directly slashed the buying price by half.

The difference between buying it from the system or not was that the system would show him the property panel of the celestial body and through it he could tell whether it had a problem and he could properly evaluate it. As such, finding the coordinates and then buying it from the system seemed the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, he had a problem.

He had neither coordinates nor credits.

Shaking his head, he showered and made breakfast before walking downstairs ready to prepare for the day.

Looking at the clock, he remembered the time remaining before the dungeon break and knew it would soon happen.

Cleaning the counter while waiting, he opened Proteus's status panel and finally saw the changes.

Name: Proteus

Size: Tier 1

Gate level: 1 (450/1000)

Activation cost: 9 energy/hour

Time Remaining: 27d, 15h, 12m, 42s

Environment level: 1 star (55%)

 --> Tier 1 - Cave of Illusions (32%)

Monster Danger level: 2 star (54%)

 --> Tier 1 - Plague Frogs: 10%

 --> Tier 1 - Shade Snakes: 4%

 --> Tier 1 - Wind Ants: 7%

 --> Tier 1 - Goblin: 14%

 --> Tier 1 - Bone Monkey: 6%

 --> Tier 1 - Kobold: 3%

 --> Tier 1 - Orc: 3%

Ressource level: 1 star (87%)

 --> Tier 0 - Iron Ore: 23%

 --> Tier 0 - Oak Tree: 8%

 --> Tier 1 - Epnola Wood: 12%

 --> Tier 1 - Pygmy Leaf: 11%

 --> Tier 1 - Nightweed: 20%

 --> Tier 1 - Illusion Grass: 13%

Map: 70% explored

Gates: 3

 --> Lv.1 gate - Lux Arden

 --> Lv.4 gate - Brandon Ashe

Tower: 1

 --> 2 floors (Open)

Cost per hour: 90 Bym

"The monster danger ranked up to two stars and the monsters percentage went down to go along with the new danger level. It should mean that there are an extremely huge amount of other monsters or a few tier two monsters.

The tower has officially broken open, before they spawn more monsters, the tower will have to be completely destroyed. Should I post a mission? But I don't have enough money." He said with a frown as he looked at the panel.

"Oh? The price per hour has increased. Is it because of the new monsters which increases the loot they can make in the tower? Well, either way, I wonder how they will take it but at the same time, it isn't bad for them since it also means the price will lower whenever the danger and ressources level lowers." He concluded as he decided to wait a few days before posting a tower clearing task.

Few were the times when explorers cleared towers for fun. Instead, they always went to work on them when there was extra money to make. He would have to make the sacrifice of paying he guessed. After all, it was technically considered his celestial body and as such had to take care of it. Of course, there were other gates out there and they might deal with it as well. However, he would have to deal with them first.

Seeing the time, he changed the information on the world ledger and finally went to unlock the door of the shop.

"Welcome." He said with an emotionless face as he was far from what one would expect from customer service.

"Hello boss, we came once again to the portal. This time, we'll start harvesting resources properly." Said John who was back with his friend who had almost died two days before.

"Alright. However, do take into consideration the new rating of the portal. The monster danger level has increased to level two due to a tower break. It also means that the price increased. Do take note that as long as the ressources or monsters lower, the price will lower alongside it." Said Lux as he spoke for everyone who were currently listening to his words.

"You will find the world ledger at the right of the portal with the public basic information written on it. Moreover, you will find at your right an exchange board for the various missions and rewards I offer. Please take note that each of you can also put missions up. If you have anything you need other explorer's help with in the portal, don't hesitate to place down missions." He continued as the eyes of a few lit up in interest at putting on some missions while the others took in the current missions on the board which were the basic ones Lux already gave them.

"Finally, starting from now, whenever you pay for entering the gate, I will record your name, group, entry time and expected leaving time. It will allow me to confirm whether everyone came out of the portal before closing it and if I need to assemble a search party for them." With this Lux was done and the explorers came to the counter to pay for the entrance.

"Boss, what about the monsters that broke out of the tower, any news?" Asked Nellya as she arrived at the counter.

"None, be careful out there." He said as he took the name of each of her subordinates and 600 Bym as her entire credit had now heen emptied.

"Eum, it seems that I liked having you owing me." Said Nellya with a hum as she walked towards the portal, her followers in toe.

With a shake of his head at her last comment, he focused on allowing more people in all the while taking their information.

Being once again alone in the shop half an hour later, he returned to his cultivation, especially the creation of the new core.

His small shop was part of the town of Dryfalls. It was part of the territory of the baron of Nielty which was itself part of the kingdom of Liunar on the Estargos continent.

While the title of baron was the lowest amongst the nine noble titles recognized by the world, a true noble was something few could even hope to see in their lives.

The baron of Nielty had to his title five towns and twelve smaller villages and the town of Dryfalls ranked fourth amongst the five cities, being relatively low-grade.

However, despite its low-rank, having three gate shops in his town was quite surprising and represented a large amount of luck. Without doubt, as long as he continued to open various gates, the economy of the town would surge alongside the town's reputation and ranking.

Thinking of these matters as he refined his core, answering a few questions from new customers from time to time, he couldn't help but feel good about the development of the shop. While it hadn't started out good, having no one on the first day, the popularity of his shop had obviously surged with only four customers the first day, quickly followed by Nellya's group and the countless other small groups that gradually came to know about this shop.

"Boss! We found new information!" Said the leader of a small squad with a smile as he approached Lux standing behind the desk.

"Oh? What did you find?" He asked with some surprise, wondering if it was about the last environmental danger or perhaps about the new monsters that should have appeared after the tower break.

"We found two new monsters!" He explained with a big smile on his face, his members next to him equally excited as they finally felt what it was like to be explorers of new lands.

"Oh? Which ones?" He asked seriously as he looked at them, the status opened at the corner of his eyes to see it update as they granted information.

"We saw werewolves and purple moths! There were about twenty werewolves and 50 purple moths." They said as they gestured, trying to make themselves more believable, unaware that he had the system and had believed them the moment the status updated.

"I pay 4900 Bym for every tier two monster types found for a total of 9800 Bym. Is it alright with you?" Asked Lux as he knew that they might want to sell it to others, not that he believed others would pay such an amount for those unless they really needed their materials and wanted to keep the information private for a while longer.

"No, that's perfect." He said grinning as he collected the money before the group headed straight back through the gate, ready to continue their exploration.

Updating his information package as he would be selling the information about the tier 2 monsters at 100 Bym per monster race, he slowly welcomed back the people leaving the gate, updating his ledger at the same time, preventing himself from believing some people were still in the gate.