Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

Chapter 843: Chapter 802: The Mysterious and Eccentric Shopkeepers_1

Under each topic, a large number of players were having heated discussions.

After all, during the workday, many people can’t play the game and can only vigorously post comments—

“I’m working night shifts this month, so wouldn’t I be perfectly suited to raid the tavern when I finish work at three? It’s decided! I won’t wash my feet after work tonight! I’ll pull my colleagues and hit the tavern together!”

“How many spirit beasts are there in a captured tavern? Let me calculate how many people I need to invite.”

“@Cloud Dream, can players set up their own tribes? Let’s arrange a city-based derby.”

“@Lincoln, can we catch the nine-tailed fox? How come I haven’t seen a single one?”

“@Lincoln, when will the shop start selling [Transformation Pills]? Hurry up! Do we have to teach you how to make money?”

…

The appearance of the human-shaped nine-tailed fox greatly stimulated the players’ imaginations.

However, presently all spirit beasts are in their juvenile stage. Even after half a month of early access, not a single beast has grown out of its juvenile stage — Kunpeng being the only exception.

To wait for their little buddies to naturally mature, it will clearly take a long time, and as for the yet unknown potential “transformation into human” stage, it seems even further out of reach.

So instead of trying to slowly raise their pet thinking it may turn into a human in the future, it is better to pray for the existence of items like [Transformation Pills].

However, neither Lincoln nor Cloud Dream responded to the players’ queries.

The helpless players could only verify these matters themselves.

One piece of good news is that upon capturing a tavern, goods become available for purchase in it, and there’s a small chance that items not available in the online shop might show up.

For instance, the tavern where Turner participated in a raid and failed had special items like [Immortal Lotus], [Lingzhi] and [Jadescent Nectar] on sale, all of which were beneficial for spirit beasts. Sadly, they were limited supply, only available in small quantities.

Similarly, spirit beast stores randomly found outdoors also have a small chance of having rare goods on display.

This mechanic incentivized many players to venture outdoors in search of treasure.

As long as they search long and hard enough, the game won’t let their efforts go down the drain.

Of course, the Europe Emperors being the exceptions.

These Europe Emperors need not be extremely active — the supplies just refresh in their favor naturally—

During her lunch break, Nishino Chizuru went to a small park not far from the company, picnicked with the lunch box, put on her headband and played with her little tiger to relax.

— Most of the players who participated in the beta test of “Pokémon” naturally regarded the first spirit beast they befriended as a real pet and devoted more attention and affection to it than the later ones.

But before Chizuru could even open her lunchbox after putting on her headband, she realized something was amiss.

She looked left and right but couldn’t find anything wrong.

After a moment’s thought, Chizuru shut off her headband’s [Game Mode], and the little tiger by her side disappeared instantly.

Simultaneously what disappeared was a mobile convenience store not far off.

“?”

Chizuru was dumbfounded: “Was it a convenience store in the game?”

“But aren’t the taverns and shops in ‘Pokémon’ all wooden houses? What’s up with this mobile convenience store van?”

“Isn’t it too grounded?”

No wonder she didn’t notice before!

The convenience store was so well integrated with the surrounding environment that it felt completely in harmony parked there, indistinguishable from a typical convenience van on Izumo streets.

However, after the surprise, Chizuru immediately brightened up, reopened the game mode and rushed toward the convenience store with her lunch box.

This mobile convenient store was indistinguishable from the numerous convenience stores on the street. Facing them was a glass display cabinet filled with various types of merchandise displayed neatly and densely.

But only when you get closer can you recognize that the items on the shelves are not the commonly seen coffee, drinks, alcohol, cigarettes, magazines, snack boxes.

What you saw instead were various packages of [Monster Food]. Although the items appear in a wide variety, they are fundamentally all the same product.

What looked like cigarette packs from afar were actually chocolate stick-shaped pet food upon closer inspection.

Only between the gaps of the items could other goods inside the store be seen.

Feeling curious, Chizuru leaned in to get a closer look- in real life, she would never do something so impolite, but in the game, there weren’t such etiquettes.

However, no matter how hard she looked, she was unable to see the shopkeeper.

Chizuru then tried knocking on the glass of the selling window, imagining a nine-tailed fox lady to appear.

Completely unexpectedly, instead of a nine-tailed fox lady, a dog head suddenly appeared before her eyes!

Looking down, Chizuru realized that this was a Shiba Inu commonly found in Izumo. It had been lying under the counter, so Chizuru hadn’t noticed it earlier.

Upon hearing the sound, it stood up and happily wagged its tail at her.

Without thinking, Chizuru reached out to pet the dog’s head.

However, the Shiba Inu deftly ducked her hand.

After seeing that the Shiba Inu didn’t wish to be petted, Chizuru refrained from insisting and asked instead, “Where’s your master? I’d like to buy something.”

Upon saying that, Queenie immediately sensed that Achai was upset.

It lowered its body, disappeared from the window, and after a few seconds reappeared sporting a soft, wide-brimmed hat.

“?”

Queenie was puzzled but still genuinely complimented, “So cute! So cool!”

Achai nodded, satisfied.

“So where is your master?”

A distinct “╬” mark appeared on Achai’s forehead, clearly indicating its annoyance.

It lowered its body again and disappeared from the window.

This time, it took a full 10 seconds before reappearing — this time with an elegant, brown woolen scarf tied around its neck.

Wearing the scarf and the hat, it stared intently at Queenie.

Finally understanding, Queenie conjectured, “So… are you saying that you are the store owner?”

“Woof!” Achai nodded gravely.

With that, Queenie quickly took out her phone, opened the APP, turned to put her head next to Achai, and with her other hand made a V-sign —

“Click!”

The group photo finished!

Upload edit —

[Everyone look! A dog is running a store!]

A moment later, Ivan Ivanov also posted a similar update on Bluebird —@@novelbin@@

[Is there some misunderstanding about Russians in Yunmeng?]

In his attached photo, a giant brown bear was lounging in a chair behind the counter, holding a bottle of vodka with its claws and gulping it down with “ton ton ton” sound effects.

Clearly, he felt this was a stereotype.

However, several players responded in the comments:

“So iconic!”

“Doesn’t it feel cool? It totally matches my imagination of Russians.”

“Stereotypes are a problem (×) | More stereotypes please (√)”

…

These posts seemed to open a floodgate.

Soon, all sorts of curious and brightly decked out spirit beast shop owners were being captured by players and shared online.

Among them were a hyperactive husky, an arrogant cat, a white fox busy sleeping with three tails, a panda in a conical hat gnawing bamboo, a Yuki-onna in mourning garb, a Shuten-doji bearing a gourd and with horns, a yellow rat crackling with electricity…

All sorts of variety, all incredibly flashy.

In every shop, there were products that had already sold out online, and even special items that had never been sold online at all.

Queenie managed to buy a copper bell inhabited by a Shiba Inu monster.

Ivan, on the other hand, purchased 10 bottles of [Vodka-Monster Special Edition]. According to the system introduction, spirit beasts that drank it would have lowered accuracy but significantly boosted morale and critical hit rates.

Naturally, the #StrangeShopOwner hashtag started trending online.

This motivated even more players to leave their homes, hunt for surprises, and feel the thrill of exploration in the real world.

This sort of delight felt completely different from the virtual world!

Player ratings shot up to full points, while on the [Popular Game Rating], the score for “Pokémon” surged towards a record 9.5!

The only remaining gripe players had about “Pokémon” had to do with its release date:

“Everything about ‘Pokémon’ is great, but the problem is it was released in winter. It’s been very cold here recently, and it’s really tough to go out and play it.”

“Indeed, it would be nice if it had been released in spring. That would’ve been perfect! We could have caught spirit beasts while going out for a spring picnic.”

…

These comments couldn’t exactly be considered negative, just candid complaints.

Even under such comments, though, other players “stood up” in defense:

“It’s not Yunmeng’s fault, but Earth’s! Earth mistakenly moved away from the sun when Yunmeng released ‘Pokémon’!”

Comments like this drew more players to join in the teasing, the spectacle was quite lively…

…

Just when everyone was happily gaming, exploring, sharing, and goofing around, a new announcement broke the joyful atmosphere among the players —

[Yunmeng is off for the holidays.]