You can’t just buy a shipyard from the Creators when you wish . There are so many requirements that have to be met . They are extremely picky who they work with and where they work . You’d never be able to build such a thing on this planet if it wasn’t a reward from the System . This applies for most of the good things , just check your Town Shop . - Ogras impatiently explained . Clearly he knew it wasn’t a purchase of Zac , rather a reward , just from how rare this thing was .
Zac opened up the town shop and the screen displayed the various shops . He had looked it over briefly as he trekked back toward his camp , as he needed to buy a shop to sell his crystals . But now the screen was changed . The shops were now actually purchasable , but almost all of them shone with a red light on the screen . Confused , Zac focused on one of the red ones called Parlaz Consortium - General Store] .
A new window with deeper information about the shop opened , something he hadn’t been able to do before . A list of what type of services it provided was listed on one side , and it truly seemed comprehensive . It sold everything from seeds for farming to construction materials to weapons and armor . It also dealt in basic information , having stocks of crystals explaining most things , from plants to blacksmithing to even town-building .
On another row , a number of requirements were listed . Zac’s outpost didn’t actually fulfill a single one , except having enough space . There were requirements for minimum town size , population , town daily turnover , and security . Since Zac’s town was just an outpost and a shipyard with no inhabitants it wasn’t possible to fulfill those demands .
As he flipped through various buildings he saw that most of them had varying severity of requirements . Some even demanded a town population of a hundred million , or that it was the planet capital . There were myriad choices , but the ones he could actually choose were scant few . It seemed that the merchant conglomerates of the multi-verse were quite picky .
Chapter 70 - Town Shop
Frustrated Zac focused on the shop he actually could buy . It was actually just called F-Grade General Store] with no mention of a faction or company behind it . Confused he turned to Ogras .
I can’t buy almost anything in the store , most things are restricted . But there is a shop called F-Grade General Store that has no requirements . Why’s that? -
That’s The Ruthless Heavens’ store , - Ogras answered .
Wait , the System runs stores as well? -
The Ruthless Heavens is the largest employer in existence , though it’s not a very hands-on boss . Running a multi-verse takes many hands after all , - the demon explained with a roll of his eyes .
So why should I get any other store if I can just get the one from the System? - Zac knew he was straying from the subject of the shipyard , but he felt another opportunity to drag information of the contrary demon had appeared .
Because The Ruthless Heavens is god damn greed… Ehm , economical . It provides basic facilities in almost all fields that have no requirements , but its prices are between 50 to 500 percent higher compared to the average . - Ogras looked like he would be sick as he talked about the daylight robbery of the System-run stores .
The image of the almighty system being an intergalactic price-gouging bodega-owner gave Zac’s image of the System somewhat of a thorn , but he guessed running a universe , or multiple universes , wasn’t cheap .
The corporations have far better rates on almost everything , and can also procure things for you if you’re in need of a specific item . For a fee of course . But they operate for profit and would never open up a branch if they weren’t sure if they’d be able to turn a profit in the location . The corporations have to foot most of the bill of coming here themselves , and it’s not cheap from what I understand . Therefore they’d never open a branch without some assurance . - Ogras continued .
Some factions have even more requirements . The Creators , for example , I think they normally only open a branch in B-Graded worlds or higher . You also need to have a referral from an actual Creator to even get the application process going . And getting that from one of those living machines is almost impossible . Well , I’m not sure about the details since that is so far above my paygrade . Even my grandfather has no qualifications to know about what goes on in B-Ranked worlds . So you see why this shipyard is so valuable . -
Excitement and unease was building up simultaneously in Zac once again . He might actually have gotten a curse rather than a treasure . The shipyard was extremely valuable , but one needed to be alive to reap its benefits .
So what do you suggest we do? - Zac hoped for some input from the demon . He was crafty and he knew how the various forces worked .
