The First Store System

Chapter 1373 Breakthrough and New Beginnings(4)

Chapter 1373: Breakthrough and New Beginnings(4)

Laney exhaled a large breath when she found herself back inside the portal room. In reality, around three years had passed since she began her trial.

Three years was nothing worth considering when compared to the timescale of the people of the Sacred Dimension, but for Laney, who wasn't even fifty years old, it was definitely a known time gap for her and those who knew her.

Laney's eyes jumped in excitement as he looked at the leaderboard and found her name at the top rank. She couldn't help but walk to the leaderboard and try to touch her name. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't able to, and her hands simply passed through it.

Laney then took repeated deep breaths, and finally, her pounding heart from excitement calmed down. She then turned around and left the room, only to be greeted by Aakesh, who was at the store's door to bring forth a new day for the store.

Aakesh had heard from the system as soon as Laney exited Panagea, so he wasn't surprised to see her there. But since it was time for the store to open its doors, Aakesh ignored her for the moment and slid the gates open, announcing a new day for the store.

The usual large crowd greeted his sight as he looked ahead, and many of them had their eyes filled with different positive emotions; some were excited yet tense, while others were simply tense due to Panagea.

Aakesh didn't let them stand there and wait any longer, and he turned around, returning to his chair. As if the dam had been opened, the crowd outside the store thronged inside with fervor. In no time, the streets outside the store became devoid of people.

Aakesh returned to his chair and sat down. Laney was going to come to him, but Aakesh stopped her since there would be customers entering Panagea, and he didn't want to mess with the entry and exit schedule of the groups.

The customers noticed an extra figure when they walked inside the store, and excited expressions spread across their faces. Laney had been inside Panagea over the past few years, so one spot was always filled, leaving several customers during the day to miss Panagea. But since Laney had exited, they no longer needed to worry about it.

The strong reactions from people Laney didn't even know surprised her. They were more excited for her return than she was for herself. She couldn't help but smile wryly since it wasn't tough to know what caused that kind of reaction from the customers.

She simply smiled and stood there, waiting for the store owner to have some free time. Laney thought of reentering Panagea since she was already inside the store when the doors opened, so she should be covered in golden light. But that remained a dream. If Laney needed to enter Panagea, she would have to exit the store and then return since the store didn't count her entry as an entry.

Since things were like that, Laney decided to attempt her breakthrough and then return to the store the next day.

The customers of the first group who owned any of the three store cards went toward the portal room, while those who didn't form a queue began to pay cash.

As the streak had been, Maria was the first in line. She greeted Aakesh and then walked toward the portal room.

Maria stopped when she passed Laney. She could sense that the relationship between Aakesh and Laney was different, but she didn't feel jealous. In fact, it made her feel closer to Laney.

She said some perfunctory words to Laney and then proceeded toward the portal room. Laney thanked Maria and returned her focus to the line, waiting for her turn.

After a wait of a few hours, Laney finally received her turn.

"Hello, Big brother, it's great to see you after this long," Laney smilingly said. Even though her smile had returned and she was no longer gloomy, the happenings during the trial still made her slightly colder. The bubbly personality she always had whenever she talked with Aakesh was nowhere to be seen.

Aakesh responded with a nod. Laney then shared some of her happenings with Aakesh, which he already knew.

Over the past few years, whenever Aakesh got free time in the store, he would see how Laney was doing during the trial. If anyone was more desperate for Laney to succeed than herself, it was Aakesh.

There were no returns from failed store upgrade quests, as too much was at stake there. If Laney failed, he would lose whatever authority he gained after completing the first store upgrade mission, which wasn't good for him at all.

He admired Laney because of her achievements. He couldn't provide personal benefits like items and other things to make Laney's journey easier. If not for that, he would have most certainly rewarded her with a valuable item. Aakesh didn't worry about it much since he decided to reward her with even better things once she completed what Aakesh wanted: conquer a territory and start a new Kingdom.

"You seem close to your breakthrough," Aakesh commented after stopping Laney from sharing everything she experienced during the trial.

Laney frowned when she heard Aakesh. "Big brother, I feel that I have reached my limit and could break through any time," She trusted Aakesh, so she didn't think Aakesh had made any mistakes.

"You feel full, but if you attempt a breakthrough right away, there are thirty-five percent chances of your success," Aakesh responded. It was true that Laney had reached the limit of the Divine Lord level, but it was more of a full plate issue. The food on the plate was on the verge of overflowing, so if Laney wanted to transfer the food onto a new and bigger plate, she would have to be careful, as even a single grain of loss could turn into a flooding situation.

What Laney needed to do was devour the energy even more sufficiently so that she would be able to transfer the grains in a single swoop without any loss.

"Thank you, big brother!" Laney thanked Aakesh since, if not for him, she had made up her mind to attempt the breakthrough after leaving the store.