Lex, after moving to a corner so that he wasn’t literally standing in the middle of all that foot traffic, checked the system for the quest.


    New Special Quest: Sell a rare item to Infinity Emporium


    Quest Reward: Subject change based on value of item sold


    Remarks: Gotta get that cash money, baby


    Lex was… intrigued, to say the least, not only by the quest but by the remark the system gave. Had the system been watchingte night tv?


    Still, this was the first special quest he had received, and he was interested in learning about it. But first, he had to investigate the situation on this, and learn if there was anything he should avoid.


    He turned on his ‘generic Jotunmunication wristwatch’ to see if it worked. A hologram appeared before him as the watch tried to connect to any avableworks and, after a few minutes, sessfully connected to the localarywork.


    As much as he wished he could Google things, the watch provided him with simr functions and Lex looked up anything he could about X-142. Soon, the watch opened up a historical and cultural website that detailed the upation of this.


    About 3000 years ago, this star system hade under the control of the Dimitri family, a legally recognized noble family in the Jotun Empire. They were a business oriented family, and used this entire star system as the foundation of their agricultural business. Not only had they colonized all thes in this system, the X-14 system, and regted each to be suitable to grow certain kinds of crops, they provided safe and amodatings for the citizens of the empire to settle and work in.


    The rest of the page was filled with endless praise for the Dimitri family, which Lex directly dismissed as propaganda. He breathed a sigh of relief, as he hadnded on a under the control of the Empire. He knew from the conversation with Crawford-981 that the gxy that Vegus Minima was from wasn’t fully under the Empire’s control, so it was really up to his luck whether he wouldnd on such a.


    Fortunately, he had, and even had a n of action he had devised in such a situation. The first and most important thing to remember was that while it was alright for Lex to create an ount on the Henali portal, something akin to a universal inte, he must absolutely not get himself registered in any Jotun empire facility.


    This was because the Jotun database was apparently shared, if not gxy wide, then at least over several stay systems. Furthermore, every few decades, the databases would bepiled together. Lex doubted that amongst the probably hundreds of trillions of citizens in their database, they would notice him even if he did regrly get registered or scanned at variouss, but Lex did not want to leave a record.


    As for why it was rtively safer to log into the Henali portal? It was because no one he ever talked to had ever heard of any kind of disciplinary force, or in fact any force altogether, associated with Henali. Whatever it was, it was clearly targeted towards much higher leveled cultivators, and people with less power or authority than a certain level weren’t even qualified to know about it.


    As a result, the Henali was very openly used to conduct shady business, and even the Empire couldn’t do anything about it, as they could not even get the real identities of the users.


    Still, all of that was forter. Right now, Lex had to do a few things. He had to find cheap amodation, find Infinity Emporium, and think of a way to earn enough money to help him survive however long he would be here.


    ‘How convenient would it be if I had a branch of the Inn here,’ Lex thought with a chuckle, then froze. That wasn’t a bad idea. He quickly put down having branches of the Inn on variouss as an idea to look into.


    Lex looked towards the nearest vendor, a man… er, beast? The nearest vendor was humanoid, but with thick, purple skin and a face that looked like that of a tiger, but with two protruding horns on his forehead, with long, flowing white hair.


    Lex had no idea what race he was, but walked up to the man and asked, “Hey, any idea where I can find the Infinity Emporium?”


    Unaware of the particr customs on this, Lex was concerned about somehow offending the man, but apparently he did not need to be.


    “Maybe you buy something, it’ll jog my memory,” the vendor said with a smile. It waspletely not the vendor’s fault that his toothy smile exposed some vicious-looking teeth and looked more intimidating than friendly.


    Lex looked at the vendor’s wares, and his monocle scanned the items. He wanted to find the cheapest looking thing but… he had no idea what anything on the stall was. There were des, that much was certain. But these des were unusually shaped, with odd curves and blunt ends that clearly indicated they had a very specific purpose.


    “My friend, I need to sell something to the shop, as I don’t currently have any money at all.”


    “Teh, cheap,” the vendor muttered under his breath, but then exined the directions to Lex anyway. It seemed that despite his grumpiness, the vendor was a good man- eh, beast-person-thing.


    As Lex started following the directions – and only then realizing he was still wearing his bathroom slippers – Lex thought about what to do once he reached the Emporium. The easiest thing would be to sell an item from the Inn, but he didn’t want to do that. He could sell one of the items or pieces of gear he brought with him, but that would depend on what kind of shop the Emporium was.


    When he reached, he saw a modest sized building, but one with a spectacr finish. That was not to say the other buildings weren’t well designed, but something about the Emporium was just eye-catching. Lex considered inquiring about its architect for a moment.


    One other thing that stood out about the Emporium was therge number of people going in and out. The shop was clearly a popr one. Since there was no particr line, Lex simply stepped in the shop, following one of its customers, but was taken aback once he stepped in.


    The shop, though simple, was absolutely gorgeous! A red carpet ran from the front door to the counter, spread over a milky white marble floor. The walls were carved with various designs, with a few pirs half protruding from the walls. The ceiling was painted as well, not to mention lined with borate woodwork.


    But despite its spectacr splendor, what surprised Lex was that he was the only other customer in the shop. All the people Lex had seen entering had disappeared, and only a single man stood behind the counter, grinning at Lex. It seemed as if he was able to tell what had surprised Lex, and was thoroughly enjoying the reaction.


    “Wee to the Infinity Emporium. Please, do not be rmed. This is just a bit of clever use of formations to give each customer their privacy while shopping. We value our clients’ privacy highly.”


    “Not bad,” Lexmented as he stepped into the shop. He took a look around, and though the shop looked amazing, he could not actually see any wares. Should shops disy what they’re selling?


    “What kind of business do you do here?” Lex asked curiously.


    “We can provide anything you wish for. Anything legal, that is. Of course, we have a membership program, and if your membership level is high enough, even some things that aren’t legal can be an option.”


    “Uh, are you sure you should be saying something like that so… openly?”


    “Why, of course,” the shopkeeper replied whileughing. “The Dimitri family, and everyone else relevant, know about our business. They are not very concerned, and even they themselves sometimes shop with us.”


    Lex raised an eyebrow as he wondered about the man’s words.


    “And do you buy things from customers?” Lex asked.


    “So long as an item has any kind of mary value, we can take it off your hands.”


    Lex wondered about the man’s answer and considered his actions. The rarer the item he sold, the better his reward from the system would be. Since there was no time limit, it wasn’t as if he had to sell something right away. He decided to wait a while before selling something, hoping he could find something on the. And, if he wasn’t able to find anything, he’d just sell a golden key.


    “Since you sell everything… I’m pretty broke right now, and need information on a cheap but safe ce to stay, and a possible way I can earn some money.”


    “Excellent. Since you are on a budget, I’llpile the cheapest folder I can. That’ll be 1 spirit coin, sir.”


    Lex handed over the coin, which, by the way, wasn’t exactly a cheap price for some basic information. But since Lex didn’t want to waste time figuring out things on his own, this would have to do.


    After epting the coin, the shopkeeper handed over a simple folder, summoning it out of thin air and grinned at Lex, as if he had just spent millions in the store instead of a single coin.