Chapter 49: Shop Update

Words : 1216 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

Chapter 49: Shop Update There was an oversight. Luca had a nagging feeling he had forgotten something important. Today was Friday, and he spent about two days running around like a diligent student. The instructors were wondering where such a studious student came from. When they lectured, Luca would approach them by the end of the class to clarify specific points or ask about technological advancements or historical designs. The teachers wondered if that was just how heirs were raised because the child wanted to know about things that weren’t even realized in the present. No wonder families like theirs stay on top. With such a mind for innovation, they’d always be able to keep their noble status in Solaris, where contribution is the basis of status. His presence was refreshing, especially for those who taught lectures and did not teach practical or hands-on subjects. Most aspiring mecha pilots have no patience to sit and learn from books, so they usually end up with students who don’t bother to participate. While the instructors now looked at Luca a bit differently from before, his diligence had again caught the attention of his classmates, who assumed he was sucking up to the teachers. Maybe he wants to be the teacher’s pet? They had their own conjectures but were now afraid of voicing them out, especially after Noah’s fall from grace. He was ranked 11th but couldn’t beat Luca, so what chance did the others have? At one point, they even thought that Luca might have bribed Noah to let him win, but then they saw how Noah still flinched at the mere sight of Luca. So, most decided to keep it to themselves unless something came up. But the diligent student couldn’t care less. He had a goal and needed to learn and train to even qualify. Typically, two days wouldn’t amount to much, especially for someone who had to start with elementary knowledge. But Luca wasn’t doing it normally. This was something he learned from the inmates he encountered before. The old man taught him how to inscribe knowledge into his mind and sea of consciousness by using spiritual energy when learning. It was like tagging knowledge and cementing it there so you don’t lose it to short-term memory. Luca learned this way and was so pleased with the freedom to learn without someone threatening him with electrocution. He was so pleased that he forgot to restock his online shop. Across the Empire, people were leaving comments requesting for Star Mall officials to check on the hottest vendor. Livestreamer Dylan was certainly one of them. He was especially anxious when he realized that the clips from his initial live broadcast had spread far and wide and weren’t representative of his current feelings and opinions. Dylan repented every day and even went live several times to explain what had happened. However, he was still fixated on the possibility that he had hurt the seller’s feelings, which caused him to quit his business. But in reality, the seller was just too immersed in his little world to realize it until D-29 reminded him late. "I apologize, Host. I removed the reminders because they might bother you while you were using your abilities." This sounded like a legitimate reason, so Luca accepted it. Then, he logged on to Star Mall and saw a flood of messages asking for restocking dates, more products, and more inventory. The general concept of the messages was: More, more, more! "Oh no! Hmm. It seems like we have a few angry customers." Luca was apologetic because, this time, it was his fault. Though he didn’t really announce his restocking schedule, it might have gone longer if not for D-29 remembering. And he never told the system to set a reminder for him. "Hmm. Maybe we should offer some sort of compensation?" He didn’t want angry customers since that would mean less money. So, Luca decided to offer something a little different from normal. He remembered the Tesseris supermarkets that sold premade packs of cut fruits and decided he could try something like that. It would require a bit more labor, but he couldn’t be too irresponsible as a business owner. Luca ordered several sets of packaging so that he could safely pack his goods. He just hoped they would be fine after the travel. His purpose was to add watermelons into the mix. He did have a few of the smaller ones, those close to the size of regular Tesseris watermelons. But he also planned to sell pre-cut fruits that would hopefully differentiate him from other sellers. Luca thought it would be a nice business model, for he hadn’t seen someone do that in Star Mall. But, of course, no one would do that because fruits were too valuable and may not look as pretty as when whole. It was a business model applicable only to someone who could produce fruits that looked better than the Empire’s top actress. Luca also decided to buy a slicer to maintain an even cut. He worked diligently and harvested the ones that looked normal to him (ehem ). Once he was sure about the quantity, he decided to restock the apples and add the watermelons, which also had to be certified for quality assurance. He also remembered to include a caveat that the pre-cut watermelons needed to be consumed immediately. And even discouraged those with considerable delivery times from buying them. Luca knew these fruits should last longer with the energy in them. But he’d be damned if he got complaints of food poisoning because he sold pre-cut ones. In consideration of that, the little penny pincher even decided to include a small fork so the buyer could immediately enjoy their purchase. The update took Star Mall by storm, and one of the staff assigned to monitor high-traffic stores fell down from his seat after waking up to blaring alarms. He had to shake his head to understand what was happening, but his manager suddenly burst into the room and screamed that the servers were overloaded. The store that was all the rave the past week suddenly updated and has a new certified product. The Star Mall online page wasn’t prepared, the staff weren’t prepared, and the people of the Empire were definitely not prepared. The only one who was prepared was Eden. For days, she had been obsessed with tracking the seller and had been trying to see what she had missed. So, she kept her eyes on the shop’s storefront like a vulture scouting for prey. And then it happened: when she refreshed, she saw the SKU change as well as a new product line. Eden felt like she was being given a huge boon and decided to show them what years of typing (gaming) meant. But then she encountered something worse than Starnet’s disconnection. Purchase limits. The seller suddenly set purchase limits for each product. She stared at what looked like doom and gloom while ordering the maximum products her personal account could accommodate. Then, like any self-respecting military soldier who was concerned about the Empire’s hope, Eden decided to press the battleship’s fire alarm. "THIS IS AN EMERGENCY! THE SHOP HAS FUCKING UPDATED WITH PURCHASE LIMITS." She bellowed because this really counted as one.

Chapter 49: Shop Update

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