Ace can only sigh and turn towards where Jimmy had built the town hall and is happy to see it in the same place they left it. The place wouldn’t do as good of a job in pretending to hide a secret if it was shifted over a building or two. Besides that, though, there are six other buildings around it and Ace can see a number of beings inside them.

Ace is about to go and check it out when Susan Smithson comes out to get him. “Um, Ace, the others want you back inside real quick. There is apparently something else by the dungeon besides the containment thing.”

While checking the new buildings by the town hall was important, anything to do with the dungeon was top priority. Following Susan Smithson back into the central area, the new building isn’t clear at first. But once Ace is in the entry tunnel leading to the dungeon portal, the new shop stands out like a sore thumb. Built right into the side of the tunnel is a fancy little shop with an aladdin lamp for a sign. The lamp is engraved with the words “Soul Lamps Unlimited” and there is a small blue flame flickering at the wick.

Once inside the shop, Ace is greeted by a jinn of some sort, or at least a being with a form similar to what he would imagine one would look like. Which is a bit odd. From a half remembered book on arabic myths they tend to appear as either animals, winds and sandstorms, or part human part animal beings. The creature in-front of Ace however is none of these, instead taking from the modern genie.

The being has the oddly colored skin, though this one is more of a yellow sand color instead of the classic blue. And of course below the belt it doesn’t have feet, but rather a small cloud of smoke supporting it. And of course it is dressed in quite the revealing Arabian nights style.

With a chuckle, the jinn sketches out an attempt at a bow. “Well, if it isn’t the leader of this fine attempt at a town! Welcome to my fine system provided shop. Without system support, my job wouldn’t be easy. Oh, and no I don’t grant wishes. Anyone high enough rank to do that nonsense wouldn’t be reduced to such a horrible state as this! Stuck under system control forever doomed to watch the world go by. Woe is me!”

Ace does a slow blink, “Okay. So, what is this shop?”

The jinn tilts his whole body to the side. “You mean you don’t know? It takes a town of resources to get one of these shops set up! You built my fine establishment, may the system rue the day it trapped me with it, and didn’t know what you were getting into?”

Ace coughs, “Well, since we got around to setting up the town so early and there was a dungeon in our town the system just provided it as one of the starter shops.”

The jinn continues its rotation until completely upside down. “You got my shop as a system reward? For being quick about it? May the elemental fire abandon me now, this is a new world. Not only isn’t this a good place to make enough to get a vacation, but I’m going to have to deal with unknowing idiots. What genie cursed me with this assignment?”

Ace sighs, “I’m sure your story is full of exciting highs and gut wrenching lows. Now what is this place? Because I can totally close this whole thing off and make sure no one enters.”

The jinn laughs at the threat. “As if anyone would dare remove access to a soul lamp store! Especially not when you have a dungeon literally just a hop, skip, and a jump down from here.”

Ace rolls his eyes, “Caring about what your shop does only comes about once I know what it does. As it is, you haven’t really given me a reason not to brick up the place.”

The jinn quickly rights itself and lets out a nervous laugh. “Oh, right. New world so you don’t exactly have the background of how amazing my services are. I assume you already know that dungeons are a pain in the butt to keep track of? People go in and who knows if they will be coming out, dead, or diving deeper? Well, I can help solve that problem! For a nominal fee I can create soul plates to keep track of if someone is alive or not.”

Ace takes a moment to look around the store. Along the walls are various examples of antique lamps, tablets, plates, candles, and so on. “So not lamps? And while knowing if they are alive is nice, that doesn’t help me know what is happening in the dungeon. Anyway, the dungeon we have is one of those fancy separate dimension types.”

The jinn coughs, “It was originally lamps a good while ago. If you look outside, the lamp used for my sign is actually my own soul lamp. That is the classic style which us jinns have perfected for use both with and without a system in place. If you were going to be sending people somewhere without a system that is what you would want. And yes, I can sell them but they cost a cool grand. And that isn’t in copper but gold.”

“As luck would have it though, your dungeon there is still within the purview of the local system despite being a separate dimension. That means I can provide a simple soul plate as the system can keep track of things for us. At the cost of five coppers you get a plate that can track you down to the first boss floor.”

Ace nods, “But what happens if someone goes past the boss or leaves the system’s influence?”

The jinn smiles, “That’s the charm of system assisted soul plates! A normal soul lamp would react as if the person had died. Because the system is watching though, it knows the person just went out of range instead of having died. Of course if the person dies while out of range you won’t know, but that’s life. For any dungeon based town, a soul lamp store is practically required and the fact you have one this early is a blessing. Knowing when you can send the next team in is always going to be one of the more annoying tasks and these soul plates remove the guessing.”

Ace takes another look around the store, now recognizing that each display piece is probably a style of soul plate. Deep down he has to admit this is exactly what he needs. In fact, it is almost too perfect. Not too long ago he was thinking up ways to develop something similar only to have it dropped in his lap.

Not that Ace is going to turn it down. While he would like to not trust the system fully, he can’t really see a way not to and live. “What does it take for a plate that works past the first boss? We aren’t sure yet but because of how things have gone, we suspect not just a boss floor but potentially floors beyond it. Also, while this is a little late, how would you like to be referred to?”

The jinn laughs, “Just call me the jinn. While for most true names and such don’t have much meaning, the jinn at least are more closely bound to our names. And as for better plates? I can honestly say I don’t know. I get only a fraction of the money earned while the rest is taken by the system to prep the plates for use. The final cost will depend entirely on the dungeon itself. The system can only figure out how much needs to be spent for a successful plate after someone has beat a floor.”

“Though in reality I’m willing to bet the next grade of plate will cost either a copper plate to buy outright or six copper coins to upgrade. While it is possible for the costs to vary wildly, the early floors tend to be stable if only because there isn’t much to work with. Now, would you like to purchase a soul plate? We have options of who can ask about your plate’s status so you don’t have to worry about revealing your death to hostile forces.”

Ace sighs and hands over the five copper coins. “Fine. Sign me up for a soul plate. Does this take long?”

The jinn grabs the coins and tosses them into the air. A small swirl appears that reminds Ace of a loot spiral if tamer and the coins end up falling into it. Then just moments later a soul plate falls out of the swirl. “Done! Just let me store this away.” And the jinn seems to carelessly toss the soul plate over his shoulder. Though with a small application of magic, it swiftly falls into place within a case clearly designed to hold the plates.

Ace nods his thanks before turning to Kellinger who had been watching what was happening. “We don’t have the most coppers on hand right now, but we can definitely afford the 160 some coppers coins needed to get a plate for everyone here. Gather everyone in groups and get them processed.”

Ace turns back to the jinn, “And I only want those who share my founder’s path to be able to check on the status of my plate. The same goes for those who share the path with me. Besides that just make sure those covered by the above clauses can check on the status of anyone’s soul plate.”

The jinn nods, “Easy enough to do with the system’s help.”

Ace nods in return before leaving the shop. While the shop is going to be a required stop for anyone new to dungeon delving, the new buildings by the town hall are calling his name. He might have put them aside to find out what was up near the dungeon, but now he knows and the shop is out of his hands.

Back outside, Ace takes in the small sprawl of new buildings. The town hall stood exactly where it should, so nothing to worry about with it. Besides that though Ace groans at the style chosen by the system. He should have guessed this would happen, but there are a whole lot more bones being incorporated into the structure of the buildings. Whereas the town hall looks more like a hunting lodge.

Ace can only shake his head. He had been asking for it when allowing Jimmy to use bones wherever they fit. Now he has to live with the results. Every single building seems to use large bones as part of their foundation. Though the place that really takes the cake is the butchery. Already destined to be covered in blood and guts, it was kicked up a notch. While the inside area is relatively normal, the outside makes it look like all there is on the thing is bones.

The roof is made of bones shaped vaguely like shingles. There are support beams at the corners big enough around that Ace doubts his ability to wrap his arms all the way around the things. And of course the sidings are created out of bones as well.

Inside though, Ace is greeted by a kindly looking old man. “Welcome to my shop! While I am sure you’ve had some experience with extracting food from dungeon monsters. Even with the system, that isn’t quite how it normally should happen.”

Ace smiles, “This would have been useful to have before the wolves attacked. Though I don’t know if we would have used it too much, anyway. While Jeremy isn’t the best at skinning wolves, he is much better at saving people. A bit ironic, but life goes on.”

Akhier

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