Gasp!

Deion awoke with a gasp, clutching his chest in an attempt to get his thumping heart to calm down.

[Reconstruction complete.]

[Please take a few minutes to explore your new surroundings.]

Deion cursed the system out in his head for not warning him.  He wandered around the room, noticing that there was a sort of waiting room with a TV, fluffy rug, and bean bag chairs. He relaxed on top of the bean bag chairs, rolling around on the rug for a few seconds before moving on to the next room.

Behind the desk that the cash register was on top of there was a door. Behind that door was a small studio-like apartment with one kitchen, one bathroom, and a bedroom.

'Woah! The kitchen is larger than the entirety of my old apartment!' Deion roamed around for a while, examined a few decorations, and then he went towards the door where the empty hallway was.

There was a new door in the formally empty hallway. In the room that the door was connected to was a reclining chair as well as an empty bookshelf, and a tall standing lamp.

Is this where I'll take clients?

[Times up!]

At the sound of the system, Deion returned to the waiting room.

[With the Host opening up the beginner's package, the host will now have access to the following system functions: Elixir Creation Station + Shop + Inventory.]

"Ok. I can pretty much guess what the shop does but what does the 'Elixir Creation Station' do?" Deion questioned, staring hard at the words on the transparent screen.

[The Elixir Creation Station allows for the host to select ingredients from his inventory to combine to create medicine effective in treating his clients. However, there's a chance for the host to fail at making medicine, wasting all of his ingredients.]

"So like potion-making," Deion muttered, rubbing his chin with his hands. "I'd like to try it out. Can I try right now?"

[Please pick the ingredients from your inventory.]

Another smaller screen appeared, next to the elixir creation screen, it had a melatonin medicine bottle and 9 sticks of incense in it.

Deciding to just use what he has in his inventory, Deion selects the melatonin and incense and sects start. He watched a tiny cutscene of a medicine pot eating the ingredients, shaking for a little bit and then it spat out a new medicine.

[Congratulations! The host has made "9 Melatonin Incense Sticks"

Effects: Restful sleep for 12 hours straight. Heals some injuries both external and internal.

Side effects: None.]

["9 Melatonin Incense Sticks" has been placed into the host's inventory.]

"Waah! They look so pretty. Can I try them out?" Deion tapped on the screen to take one of the melatonin incense out.

[Please refrain from using medicine reserved for clients.]

"I don't even have any clients yet! How the he—"

Ting.

Deion's words were cut off by the sound of bells which echoed across the room in a gentle melody, alerting him to the presence of a stranger who walked through the entrance.

"Ah. Welcome." Deion spoke almost automatically, seeing someone at the entrance.

He immediately straightened his back and a smile unknowingly made its way onto his face accompanied by a look of wonder and astonishment as he faced the stranger. That look faded into a look of worry as he looked at the disheveled appearance of the stranger.

The young man's hair resembled a blackish-red bush that was tied back into a short ponytail. Water soaked through his clothing exposing a well-built frame. He had warm russet brown skin that glowed underneath the lights of the shop.

His most noticeable feature however was his owl-like orange eyes which seemed to stare through the very fibers of Deion's existence.

Deion's eyes locked onto the strange clothing that the man was wearing, it was a black robe combined with a red waistband that had bits of it burned or ripped off as if the stranger had been through some intense battle.

Oh, he's a roleplayer too, So he's not actually injured thank god. A giant wave of relief washed over Deion.

Is this what the system meant by bringing people like me to me?

On the other hand, the stranger stared at Deion, trying to gauge how strong he was. Short, thin, feeble-bodied with no muscles at all. He looked like he couldn't even take out a normal animal.  He sent out a bit of spiritual qi to see his cultivation level, as a result, nothing, the man in front of him was not a cultivator, his eyes narrowed in disappointment.

He was just a mortal?

"Introduce yourself. From which sect did you crawl your way out of?" Getting back into character, Deion waited for the stranger to answer him.

The stranger stopped in his tracks, stunned. What the hell did this mortal just say to me? He dares to order me, a cultivator around?

"Ekon Evermore. I come from the Hidden Chaos sect," The stranger, now named Ekon, sauntered over to Deion and towered over him. A sneer made its way onto Ekon's lips. "Now tell me who the hell are you. To be talking to me like that...You must have a powerful backer or maybe you just have a death wish."

"What's there to fear about a snake that's lost its fangs?" Deion shrugged, "And to answer your question, My name is Deion Spade. I'm the owner of this center."

He must be roleplaying an evil cultivator that's lost some of his cultivation after a large battle.

Silence. It was so quiet that Deion could hear his own heartbeat.

"Ha...HAHAHAHA!!" Ekon cackled, clapping his hands together as he rocked back and forth. "You diagnosed me not even a minute after I entered your little clinic?! You must be a spectacular doctor!!"

Ekon circled Deion, looking him up and down once more. "To think that there'd be a person who wouldn't cower at the name of the Hidden Chaos sect."

"I'm not a doctor." Deion finally spoke again. "I'm a therapist."

"Therapist?" Ekon questioned.

Deion reached his hand out and pointed a finger at Ekon's forehead, whispering. "A therapist is a person that aids people in eradicating their inner demons. So what I'm saying is…I can rid you of your inner demons."

Ekon was stunned by Deion's absurd claims. Is this guy insane? There's nobody on this planet or next that could completely eradicate a person's inner demons.

Ekon leaned over and wrapped his arms around his stomach as he let out a loud boisterous laugh. He stomped around the shop, then he half-shouted, half laughed up at the sky, "HEAL MY INNER DEMONS?! THIS BOY SAID HE COULD HEAL MY INNER DEMONS!!!"

In an instant, Ekon appeared in front of Deion again, he was no longer laughing. " You look like you've just barely reached your early twenties. How dare someone like y—"

"Insomnia," Deion said softly, cutting Ekon off.

"What?"

It has to be insomnia. Look at the bags underneath his eyes, the way he's stumbling around. It looks like he'll collapse at any moment. Also, it can't be a coincidence that the first medicine I created was incense with melatonin in it. Was this all plotted from the start?

"Insomnia that's the name of the inner demon that's running berserk inside of your mind right now." Deion continued, "You can't sleep, you have slowness in activity, occasional headaches…Does that ring a bell?"

Without waiting for Ekon to respond, Deion walked behind the front desk and stood in front of the cash register.

"That's such a common inner demon to get rid of…It's treatable. It would be incredibly easy for me to help you fall asleep." Deion gave Ekon a polite smile.

This guy…Is he trying to scam me? Even if my meridians are crippled, I was still a cultivator from the Hidden Chaos sect known for poison making. I've tried making all kinds of drugs and even then I failed. Because of this, I haven't slept in over 100 years.

"Alright, I'll try out your treatment." Ekon grinned, walking over to the desk that Deion was at. "However, If you fail to make me sleep, you'll become my new test dummy. I've been needing a new one."

"Perfect! That'll be—" How much should I charge him?

[One insomnia treatment would cost 1 spirit stone.]

Spirit stones? Is that the currency in his world? "One spirit stone."

Ekon nodded and reached inside of his clothing. He paused, patting his clothes before looking up at Deion.

"Umm…I lost my dimensional pouch…I must've dropped it on the way here." Ekon smiled at Deion sheepishly.

What do I do now, system?

[The system can start a tab for him so that he can pay later.]

"Don't worry, you can just pay later when you come back." Giving Ekon a quick smile, Deion made his way to the treatment room.

Ekon followed behind him.

Deion had Ekon sit down on the leather reclining chair in the room. Instructing him to relax and close his eyes, Deion takes the incense from out of his inventory and lights it, letting the smell permeate throughout the room.  Deion quickly left the room to make Ekon feel more uncomfortable.

Left alone in the room, Ekon opened his eyes, noticing that the room was filled with a periwinkle purple smoke created by the incense.

It's not like this is a total waste of my time. I can take this time to meditate and heal my inner wounds.

Ekon's head grew foggy and his eyelids felt as if a huge weight had been placed on them. Every part of his body grew heavy from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. His head kept nodding and eventually, he fell asleep to the mellow scent of chamomile mixed with lavender

Opening the door to the room that Ekon was being treated in, Deion looked at Ekon's sleeping face, smiled, then closed the door to his room.

 

Author's note: I know this went by a little too fast but things will slow down from here on out.