As Lixin walked into the general store, he was surprised by the range of items presented. Aside from the food and potions on display at the front of the store, he saw musical objects, art supplies, strange scrolls, and more supplies that were just out of sight. 

'I can't get distracted. I need to ignore everything else and only get what I need ...' However, before Lixin could finish his thoughts, an NPC with red hair and rosy cheeks interrupted him. 

"Hello, dear," the bubbly woman greeted. "Welcome to Maggie's General Shop. I'm Maggie, by the way."

"Hello, Maggie. I'm Fortuitous Fish. I came to do some shopping," Lixin smiled politely.

"Oh, my!" Maggie exclaimed looking at Lixin up and down. "Your Peter's ward right? I heard you had undergone some changes but I didn't think it would be this much."

Lixin was a little startled by her outburst but he quickly collected himself. It seemed he needed to stay in character after all. He couldn't believe that he almost forgot that his persona grew up in this town. Therefore there should be many people who knew him.

He guessed it had slipped his mind because of his transformation. Speaking of his transformation, how did the shop know of it?

Noticing his confusion, the shop owner nervously adjusted her glasses before smiling embarrassedly. "You know how it is in small towns, news travels fast."

Lixin just smiled back in understanding. Because he did understand, plus he had a feeling that it was the game's doing.

"So what are you doing here? Did Peter send you on an errand?"

"No, Peter didn't send me," he replied with a quick shake of his head. "I just came to grab some snacks and look at the Tricare lids."

"The Tricare lids... Now where did I put them?" Maggie murmured thoughtfully. "Oh, that's right! I put them next to the maps. I thought they would sell better that way. Let me take you to them."

Hearing Maggie's words Lixin knew he was right thinking there was something wrong with those lids. He would need to find a storage space that kept food fresh longer sooner than he thought.

Before they could even take five steps in that direction, Maggie paused midstep. Then, slapping her forehead, she turned around and said, "Goodness me, I almost forgot to give you this."

With those words, the red-haired woman proceeded to pull out a medium-sized pouch from her apron and handed it to him.

Looking at the bag in his hand in confusion, Lixin asked, "What is it?"

"This is a spatial pouch keyed to my shop. They are semi-new inventions that our town finally got. You just need to put the items you want to buy inside, and the bag will calculate the price for you," the woman explained as she put a random item inside for demonstration. "And once you're done, just come up to the counter to complete the transaction." 

"I see, that's neat," Lixin said, looking at the medium-sized pouch in a completely different light. 

~

"Well, here we are," Maggie said, pointing to the multicolored lids on the shelf. However, Lixin's eyes were drawn to the rolled-up maps stacked on a large wooden table.

Although Peter had given him a map to help him find where the Mucuna Prurien tree was located it didn't show the entire forest. Knowing that once his teaching quests were over he would need to head to the forest to kill monsters to level up he decided it would be prudent to get one.

"These maps," Lixin began, walking over to the table. "Do they show the entire forest?"

"Yes, they do. The map covers the entire area up to the town border. Unfortunately, I only have the F-ranked. If you are interested I can have a better one shipped in but it would cost a pretty penny."

"How are the higher-ranked ones different?" Lixin asked, genuinely curious.

Shaking her head she said, "You don't know? Peter must have really sheltered you." Maggie then explained that higher-ranked maps can show different things such as where certain ingredients can be found, where animals and monsters are located, and even secret places.

"Wow, that's really amazing. It would be so useful to have one of those."

"So do you want me to order one for you?" She asked, her eyes glinting at the prospect of a big sale.

Although Lixin would be happy to have one he didn't have the money. "No, that's alright, this map will be fine for now."

"Alright then, take your time and look around. If you need me, I will be at the counter," Maggie smiled before leaving him on his own.

"Thank you for your help, Ms. Maggie," Lixin said. "If I need any help, I will be sure to let you know."

Once the shop owner left, Lixin grabbed one of the maps and stuffed it into his pouch. As soon as he did, the words +100 bronze coins appeared on the front of the bag.

Lixin didn't know the prices of NPC-bought goods, so he felt that 100 bronze coins for a map was a little expensive. He was about to put it back when he remembered something his cousin told him.

They had been doing some last-minute research for a couple of hours before entering the game when they saw a forum post detailing how expensive the items were. After reading it Zeyu told him that they needed to make sure to stock up at the beginner town before they had to leave it.

When he inquired as to why, his relative stated that general stores in starting towns are ten times cheaper than those in regular cities. After he inquired why they couldn't just come back once they got more money, Zeyu explained that once a player reaches level 10 and left the novice town, they will no longer be able to return.

Looking at the map price again he realized it was a steal and left it alone in his bag. He kind of wished there were maps of towns as well.

~

After getting a map, Lixin headed over to where the Tricare lids were. It was just as he thought, they weren't as good as Peter's ring. The lids only kept the food fresh for 48 hours beyond their expiration date.

However even though they were mediocre, the lid was able to cover ten perishable items at a time, plus the price was super cheap at only 25 bronze. After putting a blue one into his pouch he walked over to the food when he became distracted by a flask.

It was a brown leather flask. Even though it looked small, he saw that it could hold ten thousand milliliters, essentially 20 water bottles worth. Although he didn't think he would ever need that much water he decided to get it.

Seeing the pouch price change to 175 bronze coins after he put the flask inside of it he knew he couldn't get distracted again and headed straight to the food.

~

As Lixin looked around the food section of the general store, he saw that the place didn't sell filling meals, only snack goods. Nevertheless, for a place like this, that was reasonable.

After reading the descriptions of the various snacks, Lixin decided Sweet biscuits would be the best ones to get.

Sweet Biscuits: This is a thin, circular type of bread baked from flour dough. It has a sweet taste and will fill you up. Expiration Date: 1 week Taste +4 Fullness +15

Although their flavor was the weakest out of everything here they gave the most fullness and the longest expiration date. Putting 3 bags into his pouch, Lixin made his way to the counter where Marggie was waiting. 

~

"The total comes to 250 bronze coins, dearie. Would you still like to make the purchase?"

Inclining his head, Lixin said, "Yes."

"Alrighty then," the woman said, putting the bag on a scanner. 

Suddenly Lixin heard a ding sound in his ear.

[Cora:] [System Alert: The items you purchased have been moved to your inventory.]

[Cora:] [System Alert: You only have 300 Bronze coins remaining!]

~

Author Says:

Momocatt: Out of all the food you could buy, you got biscuits…

Lixin: Hey, I need to save money. 

Momocatt: But still…

Lixin: Try one, you might like it.

Momocatt: I doubt it.