As Jin was the first one to enter the Shop Level One instance, the first thing he did was to ask Peppers for a favour. He wanted her to cast a spell of anonymity upon him. Jin had requested Peppers beforehand. He contacted her via his bellator message function, to standby at the ‘entrance’ of the shop instance.
Peppers did not question it and was getting ready to fulfil Jin’s request the moment he entered the shop. Jin felt strange after getting cast with the spell of anonymity. He felt as if he was not quite himself, comparable to wearing a panda costume, but instead of cotton the feeling it was more like neoprene.
Nevertheless, the spell of anonymity allowed Jin to stroll around the Shop Level One instance without anyone being able to find out his identity. Unless someone came real close to him or took his hoodie down, his secret should be safe. However, the spell also included Qiu Yue, which is why Jin had Peppers prepare another spell.
Qiu Yue quickly followed suit, but unbeknownst to her, when she entered the shop instance, Peppers had already cast the spell of Immense Clarity on Qiu Yue as requested. Immense Clarity allowed the user to peel through the spell of anonymity. “Who is she?” Peppers asked telepathically but Jin replied that he would tell her more at a later time.
Yun’s interest got piqued by all the secrecy but Jin kind of spoilt the whole facade by telling her truthfully that it was his ex-girlfriend and that he wanted to sort of play a small prank. “She does not know that I am the boss of this store. Mind playing along?”
“Sure, why not?” Yun spoke in Jin’s thoughts and began to walk towards Qiu Yue.
Meanwhile, Qiu Yue was in an absolute daze which was a perfectly normal reaction for first timers, that entered Jin’s shop. Even he himself never failed to be amused by the customer’s reaction. Of course, seeing Qiu Yue reaction was even more pleasurable as she looked at him and barely managed to stop herself from squealing. She jumped on the spot and held onto Jin’s hand involuntarily as she felt extremely excited by the entire place.
“This is amazing!!! Is this the shop!? Why does the ambience of this place feel so different from other dungeon supplier stores?!” Qiu Yue was bewildered by the current setup of the entire shop instance and Jin did not have the chance to say a word. Meanwhile, a lady with slick curves in a red latex suit with a cat tail walked towards Qiu Yue. The latter was astonished and overwhelmed by the courage of that lady wearing that costume.
“Hi there, I am Yun, one of the employees working here in Dungeons and Pandas. Judging by your reaction, this seems to be your first time here, Miss?” Yun took off the cat mask she was wearing and Qiu Yue, who was rather confident in her looks, felt that in terms of beauty, Yun was an 11/10.
“Hi… I erm do not know where to even start.” Qiu Yue spoke honestly, as she gazed at the ceiling for a moment, admiring the fantastic stained glass design. She knew that the person, who made this stain glass had some engineering background because there was no way for a layman to create such an impressive design, especially considering the sheer size of it. With Qiu Yue still daydreaming, Jin, in turn, came to the rescue and helped Qiu Yue by continuing the conversation with Yun. “Any dungeon you would recommend? My friend here was looking for one of your dungeons in particular… Now what was it called again? … pet dungeon instance?” Jin perfectly played the part of the innocent fool by simply repeating Qiu Yue’s words from earlier.
“Ah, yes the pet dungeon! My friend recommended me to get a pet! But before that, can I ask you to clarify one thing? Is this really a dungeon instance? I mean, I saw the dungeon instance port, but I was hesitant until my friend Jin said to just tap it via the instructions.” Qiu Yue asked and Yun smiled as she nodded her head.
“Yes, the boss of this store had utilised the latest prototype dimensional instance technology and modified this entire instance into a service instance. Unlike a dungeon instance, there are no monster threats in this area and people gather here for various purposes. One of them is to watch the dungeons in action. If you look around you can obviously see multiple auditoriums. We even have announcers narrating the fights.”
“The upper floor in this particular instance contains the Pet Battle Card Vending Machine which allows you to get your very own pet as well as a place to grab some snacks and relax.” Yun professionally explained the workings of the Shop Level One instance the same way she would to any other customers.
Suddenly, there were people roaring and shouting from one of the auditoriums behind her. Qiu Yue could not help but turn her head around in curiosity to look at what seemed to be two cultivators battling in a random arena. Following her instincts she walked towards the edge of the centre of Shop Level One Instance to see the entire commotion.
“Looks like Bin Yong, the Bombardier Beetle cultivator is going up against the dreaded Royal Boar Knight Sir Hamlet. Ahhh! What is Shi Zuo, the Mad Monkey cultivator plotting?!” Mr Patsu, the penguin announcer continued to hype up the scene as his fellow announcer, Bear Cub One, injected a few witty comments every now and then. The crowd continued to cheer from their seats and Qiu Yue could not believe her eyes. The burning desire for battle in her heart was itching for a go.
“Jinny! Come and see the battle! This is crazy!” Qiu Yue could not contain her excitement and slipped her tongue as she called him by his former nickname. Jin felt a little nostalgic and happy, but knew that she was just in her own world, not caring for anything except what was in front of her.
“Is this some recorded battle, erm Ms Yun?” Jin asked Yun to prompt her into explaining more about the store to Qiu Yue. Surprisingly, Yun was not annoyed and was rather accommodating to assist Jin. She went over the basics of each of the available dungeons, then told Qiu Yue about the place and the reason for these auditoriums.
“So how about we try the same random dungeon that those two guys are taking? Will our dungeon instance be broadcast as well?” Qiu Yue’s blood was pumping furiously, as she awaited the answer from Yun. Even Yun had not seen anyone as enthusiastic about the dungeons as her.
“Yes, the moment you two are participating in a dungeon, there is a chance for both of you to be broadcast, as long as you two perform well in the dungeon instance. Especially since we have dozens of dungeon instances going at the same time.” Yun explained to Qiu Yue.
With the change of the shop into a dimensional instance, Jin had relocated the dimensional stations and opened additional ones near each auditorium instead of in those halls. This allowed more cultivators to enter the dungeon instances, increasing his shop sales and at the same time curbing the waiting time for the cultivators. It also had the benefit of not annoying or disturbing the immersion of the auditoriums that were being hyped up by the announcers.
“Alright! Let’s do this, Jin! We shall try that dungeon instance those two were doing!” Qiu Yue did not even peruse the menu that Yun took out and wanted to have some action immediately. “Are you sure you want me to enter the dungeon with you?” Jin teased her as he remembered that he had not shown his cultivation status to anyone but Yun and his bellators. No one else knew how much stronger he had become compared to just a couple of weeks ago.
“Ah… true. I remember that you did not really choose any cultivation method when we were studying…” Qiu Yue suddenly became a bit embarrassed that she tried to drag the quasi cultivation-less Jin into battle.
“But I really want to try it…” Qiu Yue paused for a while before she continued her sentence. “How about you take this as part of your training! I will protect you. Hehehe!” Qiu Yue raised her arm and flexed her muscles to show off.
“If that’s the case, how about I pay for your dungeon entrance? That way, I won’t feel bad tagging along with you.” Jin proposed to pay for her dungeon ticket and her eyes were beaming with delight.
“Hold onto your words, Jinny! Let Big Sis Red Panda show you a few tricks! Maybe you might be able to pick up the Red Panda cultivation too and we can do more difficult dungeons!” Qiu Yue smiled with joy as Jin paid for the tickets and Yun directed them to the dimensional stations.
As Jin followed behind the elated girl to the dimensional stations, he was genuinely grinning from one ear to the other. It was a refreshing kind of joy, as if some kind of heavy burden has been lifted. He felt like a young teenager again, totally free of worries and just there in the moment having fun with his friend. This feeling…somehow he was unable to recall the last time he felt like this.
“Looks like Jin likes this girl and perhaps even more than Zhen Qing,” Yun thought to herself since she did not have any idea that Jin was serious about going back with his ex.
