5. Ancient Shop

‘What the hell is this? An ancient shop?’

Since that the ancient shop was open, a hologram told him to use crystals to purchase supplies. While looking at the hologram as if a cow was looking at a chicken, Ko Byeong-gap realized that something unusual had happened to his body.

There was something else inside his body. It was the same feeling as getting the door to Ashvilam. He opened the ancient shop, feeling quite absurd.

The space in front of him was distorted and expanded abruptly to form a single window. A screen with an appropriate mix of images and text shone on him.

[Ancient Shop]

-Construction

-Technique

– Miscellaneous Goods

-Others

[Crystals on Hand: 0]

The store was divided into four categories.

It was written in a language he had never seen before, but he could read it without difficulty. Of course, the ten Hob Goblins who were by his side were stunned with their mouths open.

‘This is really ridiculous.’

He was nervous for a while. Ko Byeong-gap calmed his startled chest and pressed the window with his fingertips.

[Construction]

– Crystal Slot (0 Crystal)

– Shabby Cottage (120 Crystals)

– Shabby Log Cabin (500 Crystals)

– Shabby Brick House (650 Crystals)

…

– Highest Grade Temple (68,000 Crystals)

– Luxurious Palace (71,000 Crystals)

– High-Grade Arch Bridge (180,000 Crystals)

– Advanced Wall (210,000 Crystals)

“Huh… That’s awesome.”

When he clicked on the construction category, dozens of ‘buildings’ were listed. Nothing was missing, from simple residential buildings to complex structures.

The ones next to the names seemed to be the price tag.

“Advanced Wall?”

He pressed down on the most expensive architecture out of curiosity. Then, the store window turned red, and a hologram was displayed before him.

[Insufficient crystals to purchase ‘Advanced Wall.’]

[Currently Charged Crystals: 0]

[Put crystals into the crystal slot to charge.]

‘Crystal Slot?’

He raised the window straight up. At the top of the list, he found a crystal slot selling for zero crystal.

He pressed it right away. Then, something amazing happened.

“Wow, what the hell is this?”

A cylinder about 5 meters in diameter and 1 meter in depth floated into the air. No, it appeared like a red light at night.

“Gasp!”

“Gasp!”

The Goblins clasped their heads and bowed to avoid bumping into it. Fortunately, the cylinder wasn’t real. Their bodies and the walls went through it.

Ko Byeong-gap was able to adjust the position of the cylinder as if he was handling a few limbs. Just like a psychic with the power of telekinesis.

The Goblins let out a low exclamation as they watched the cylinder fly around inside the cave.

[Cannot install here.]

[Make sure there is enough space.]

The holograms told him to find a wider area. Ko Byeong-gap followed the words and moved out of the cave.

The Goblins who were waiting outside were surprised when Ko Byeong-gap came out with the giant cylinder.

“Get out of the way.”

The Goblins quickly stepped down.

Ko Byeong-gap installed the cylinder in the secured position.

[Do you want to install the ‘Crystal Slot’ in this location?]

[Starting installation…]

[Required time is about 10 minutes.]

The crystal slot, which was an installation, began to manifest into reality. The bluish exterior was dyed with gray light.

Ko Byeong-gap and the 33 Goblin watched the scene with sparkling eyes.

“Lo–Lord. This. What is?”

“I don’t know either, man. Wait a minute.”

“Ah! Oh, I see.”

They waited patiently until the crystal slot caught the perfect substance.

[The installation of ‘Crystal Slot’ has been completed.]

After 10 minutes, it was finally done. It was like a big, wide concrete pipe. Contrary to its ordinary appearance, a jet-black vortex was swirling through the hole in its center.

“Wow… What is this?”

Looking at the whirlwind as if to suck everything up, Ko Byeong-gap sighed. At a glance, it was something that didn’t exist in his common sense.

‘You want me to put this in here?’

He threw in the crystal without hesitation. The crystal the size of a fist was quickly sucked in. Exclamations came from all over the place.

‘Is it charged?’

Ko Byeong-gap reopened the ancient shop with high expectations.

Everything else was the same. He kept an eye on the retention column.

[Crystals on Hand: 1]

“Work? Work?”

A shrill groan escaped his mouth.

What did it mean with one?

Even if he rubbed his eyes because he thought he saw it wrong, one was one.

“No, I used the pickaxe a few times just to dig that up…”

The cheapest ‘Shabby Cottage’ alone was 120 crystals. Looking at it again, it was a ridiculously expensive price. Why couldn’t he just break the branches and build everything himself?

‘They say there is nothing in the world for free.’

How many times did they need to use their pickaxe to build a fine wall? Ko Byeong-gap, who had such a futile idea, felt curious and looked at the other categories one by one.

“Lord, sir, what are you doing? Will we continue?” A Hob Goblin with a pickaxe popped up and asked.

Ko replied with his eyes fixed on the store window. “Uh, yeah. Go dig for crystals. I’ll be there in a little while.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Take it easy.”

“Yep!”

He thoroughly devoured the ancient shop. It took a considerable amount of time to look through it because it contained quite a lot of data.

His expression became more subtle.

About half an hour later, Ko Byeong-gap couldn’t calm his pounding heart.

‘What the hell is this?’

The ancient shop was full of unusual items, based on their names. There were literally all kinds of techniques.

‘Ancient Swordsmanship Textbook,’ ‘Ancient Martial Arts Textbook,’ etc.

Other than that, some things were difficult to determine just by name, such as the ‘Ancient Fortune-telling Textbook.’

The miscellaneous goods category displayed weapons, potions, and of them were usual either.

For example, there was the ‘Fire-breathing Sword,’ ‘Mirror that Reflects the Truth,’ ‘Berser’s Potion,’ and ‘Gold Dragon Meat.’

However, the above were medicinal. That was because the ‘Other’ category was the best in terms of weird things.

[Other]

– Female Goblin (500,000 Crystals)

– Explorer’s Flag (500,000 Crystals)

– Soul of Trovatin (700,000 Crystals)

– Soul of Hashumland (700,000 Crystals)

…

– Seed of Enlightenment (10,000,000 Crystals)

‘Explorer’s Flag? The soul of Hashumbland? What’s the use of it if it’s so expensive?’

Not to mention their use, but he didn’t even know what they looked like.

‘The Seed of Enlightenment… 10 million crystals?’

Ko Byeong-gap spat out a curse at the staggering price. The Advanced Wall was 210,000 crystals, but he needed 10 million for one seed?

‘What’s the female goblin?’

He looked around at the goblins, frowning. After a while, he was stunned.

There were 23 goblins there. And there were ten goblins mining crystals in the cave. None of them were female. They were all male.

Of course, Ko Byeong-gap couldn’t distinguish males and females just by looking at their appearance. Still, just by looking at them, he could tell what was under their groin.

In retrospect, he had never seen anything that could be called a ‘female goblin’ in his past three years of subjugation.

“Why didn’t I know?”

He hadn’t even cared about it at all. When a hunter looks at a goblin pack…

-Hmm, a colony with an appropriate sex ratio between males and females. It’s preferable.

Would they consider that? A hunter would only look at a Goblin to catch and kill it.

“Hey, you guys. Where’s the girl?”

Ko Byeong-gap asked. The Goblins puffed their mouths like a carp.

“A woman? What?”

“You know?”

“I don’t know.”

The Normal Goblins responded that they had no idea. On the other hand, Gobung seemed to know something.

“What are you dawdling about? Is there a girl here?”

“Women… No.”

“None? Tell me more.”

“Oddick said, there’s no woman. I don’t know either.”

“Oddick, who is he?”

“Dead. The sorcerer…”

“Ah!”

Oddick was the name of Goblin Shaman, who Ko Byeong-gap killed. When his name was mentioned, the atmosphere became somber.

The Goblin Shaman was well-versed and well-informed. He somehow missed the Goblin Shaman.

“Then what about your kids? No, how do you have children?”

“We can’t. There is none.”

“What? That’s going to cut the price. How have you guys been living so far? No, more than that, where the hell are you guys from?”

Gobung thought about it for a long time and then dropped his head.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know.”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

He was curious, but he wasn’t motivated to find out.

If he found out why there was no Goblin female, what would he do with the information? If he had time for that, it was better to think about making money.

And with that ancient shop, it seemed possible to make a fortune whether it was reselling or whatever.

Ko Byeong-gap closed the ancient shop and went into the cave.

The ten Hob Goblins pickaxed to death. But, on one side, some crystals had been collected. They were about the size of a fist and about five to six pieces.

“Hey, take a break. Let’s all come out.”

“Oh, I see!”

Ko Byeong-gap led the Hob Goblins outside. Of course, with corrections.

He spoke after putting only one crystal in his arm.

“I’ll be back after a while, so take a break from digging crystals. Also, don’t forget to eat.”

“Yep!”

He opened the door leading out and went straight through.

After I left, he planned to have dinner and go to a jewelry store and check the crystal’s appraisal, but…

From the beginning, the plan went awry. The crystal he was holding was drawn by an unknown external force and went back to Ashvilam.

“What?!”

He stared at the hole in his chest in vain. No matter how hard he looked, the crystal that went over there didn’t think of coming back.

In time, a hologram came to his mind as if to tease him.

[‘Crystal’ is an item that cannot be taken out of ‘Ashvilam.’]

* * *

Ko Byeong-gap went to a soup restaurant near his house and had a late breakfast and lunch. He was a master of cost-effectiveness and didn’t look so good while he ate his soup.

That was because his plan to make money by selling crystals fell through.

Yesterday, before going to sleep, he imagined himself already rich in his bed… Reality didn’t always go the way we wanted it to.

‘Let’s not be discouraged.’

He comforted himself. He was just disappointed because he had high expectations, but he didn’t harm himself, and there were still many ways to make money.

The ancient shop.

It had more unknown abilities that he didn’t know yet, and rather, it had infinite possibilities.

‘First, I have to dig up a lot of crystal, and quickly. To do that, we need more workers.’

There were currently 33 goblins in Ashvilam. Even if he gave them all pickaxes and had them mine crystal all day, they would only get 100 to 200 pieces a day.

So he had to increase the number of workers first.

“No problem. Goblins are a common monster.”

Goblins were monsters that could be easily found in E-class cracks. If he embraced the clans he would meet while going through the cracks; it would work out somehow.

‘I have to do it as soon as I think of it.’

There was a saying to strike iron while it was hot. Ko Byeong-gap threw out all his leftover soup and left the restaurant.

After that, he took out his cell phone and looked for the E-class cracks across the country.