Chapter 17: Chapter 17 - Unbelievable

Chapter 17 - Unbelievable

"First of all, let's go to that vending machine," said Kyle while pointing at the vending machine opposite the counter. Lance looked at the vending machine. Kyle walked out of the counter and went to the vending machine followed by Lance.

"Put your hand on this scanner," said Kyle while pointing at a hand scanner on the vending machine. Lance followed Kyle's instruction and put his hand on the scanner. After that, the scanner lit up and started scanning his body, shocking Lance a lot.

"How can a hand scanner scan my body??" Lance frowned. The light from the scanner flowed through every part of his body a few times before it stopped. Suddenly, a gaming interface appeared in front of Lance and he slightly jolted from the shock.

[Terms and Conditions. Read? Yes/No] was written on the floating gaming interface. Lance was staring at it dumbfoundedly.

"You can touch the screen with your finger to choose yes or no," said Kyle while smiling.

Lance clicked 'Yes' and a long term and condition appeared for Lance to read it. It was not anything complicated. It was simply explaining and asking permission for a few things. First of all, permission for installing the gaming interface in his body. Second was asking permission to scan his body and third was asking permission for saving and collecting the customer's data.

There was a list of what data was the dojo collecting from the customers and it talked lengthily on that part because collecting the data on someone was a sensitive topic. Kyle and Dodo did not want to cause any trouble and thus, they explained in detail what they were collecting.

"The 'status menu' in the T&C, are you talking about something similar to the VR games?" Lance asked. Kyle nodded.

"Yes," Kyle replied and he continued, "The status menu is one of this dojo's specialties. You can only use the status menu in the dojo. It is possible to use them outside but that will be implemented in the future. At the moment, it is limited to this dojo," said Kyle while smiling. Once Lance heard the explanation, he continued reading the T&C.

At the bottom of the T&C, there was basic info about Lance was needed as well as his signature and thumbprint. Lance felt like there was nothing wrong with the T&C and filled out his information. Once the information was filled, he signed the T&C and put his thumbprint.

After that, a tattoo of a lion's roar appeared on his palm. Lance recognized it as the symbol of the dojo. The same silhouette was present at the signboard outside the dojo.

"Try saying 'status menu'," said Kyle while smiling. Lance did that and said 'status menu' when his status was shown on the floating screen. "You are the only one who can see the screen," said Kyle.

"Is the number accurate?" Lance asked. He was shocked to see the detail of his basic status.

"Yes. I have done a lot of research to implement this service," said Kyle while smiling. Dodo was laughing smugly in Kyle's mind because he was the one who did everything.

Lance calmed his mind and asked, "How to test compatibility?" Lance got straight to the point. Kyle asked Lance to put his hand again on the scanner. Once Lance's hand was scanned once more, a floating screen appeared again and this time, it showed Lance what service the dojo was offering and he could choose what service he wanted.

Lance chose the compatibility test and the price for it was shown and a ticket appeared at the vending machine. The vending machine was only for registration and getting the ticket to use the service provided.

Lance looked at the ticket and number '0001' was written on it as well as the service Lance had chosen. Then, Kyle led him to the second vending machine beside the first one. The first vending machine was used for registration while the second vending machine was used to test the compatibility.

Lance knew the procedure of using the vending machine because both of them looked the same except the signboard on top of the machine. He scanned his palm and the same floating screen appeared asking if he wanted to test his compatibility.

Lance chose yes and a new screen appeared showing him the list of monsters he could test with the price listed as 500 sola for all of the monsters. Lane wanted to see if the test was valid and tried to choose a monster he had tested on before. There were not many monsters available but luckily, there was one he remembered testing once.

Lance chose the sonic rabbit. The screen asked for payment but immediately disappeared because Kyle let him test for free. The scan activated once again and started scanning his body. In a few seconds, the results immediately appeared on the floating screen. Lance was shocked to see the result because it was different from the compatibility test he had done in the past.

The expensive test he had done in the past only showed the words 'incompatible', 'slightly compatible', 'compatible' or 'highly compatible'. Even so, the machine showed him the percentage of compatibility. Lance had the compatibility of 8% with the sonic rabbit which in the past, the expensive machine said he was slightly compatible.

"Is this correct?" Lance doubted it and he felt like Kyle was a scam.

"My dojo offered the most accurate compatibility test. Want me to show you my 100% compatible monster soul?" Kyle asked. Lance was staring straight at Kyle's eye. Kyle smiled and he summoned Glen. His body shone slightly and a faded green majestic eagle appeared in front of Kyle and it circled on top of Kyle's head before it landed on his shoulder.

Lance was shocked because to summon the monster soul like that was impossible. When a magician used a monster soul, their body would be brimming with the mana from the monster soul, not summoning them like what Kyle did.

However, he believed that the eagle soul in front of Kyle was a genuine monster soul because he was an ex-magician. The feeling of the eagle soul on Kyle's shoulder was the same as his previous monster soul but the eagle soul gave out a much stronger feeling than the other souls he had seen in his life.

All the souls he had met when he was a magician could not be compared to the eagle soul on Kyle's shoulder. "It looks alive," due to shock, Lance blurted that sentence out of his mouth.

"I am alive," said Glen and Lance was stunned. Glen continued, "Welcome to our dojo." Lance's eyes almost pop out of his head. Never once in his life, he met an intelligent and talking monster soul! He was shocked to the core.

"Th-that," Lance wanted to say something but it could not come out of his mouth. He was too shocked. Even the strongest person in his clan did not have a talking monster soul. Kyle was holding his laughter. He knew that many people would be shocked.

"Well, if you have a 100% compatibility with the monster soul as well as absorbing the 100% monster soul, you will get an intelligent monster soul like my Glen," said Kyle proudly.

"100% compatibility? 100% monster soul??" Lance had no idea what Kyle was talking about. Looking at Lance's face, Kyle decided to explain to him everything about 100% compatibility and 100% monster soul as well as promoting his dojo's service.

The explanation went for an hour and Lance was speechless the whole time. He also never thought that a normal animal was a monster too and they too could produce a natural soul albeit super rare. Lance finally realized that Glen was not in any way a monster that he knew but a normal animal.

Kyle had a feeling that Lance was half convinced. He decided to show Lance his monster soul shop. Kyle led the way with Lance lifelessly following him due to all the new information he got. They passed through the waiting area into another massive open area with lots of huge tubes with monster souls inside them.

Lance was shocked once again because he knew all of them were natural souls. He could feel it due to experience. Kyle showed him the 100% monster soul and he was shocked, yet again. What he saw in front of him was a green snake soul but it looked alive and staring right into Lance's eyes.

He gulped because he could feel the power the green snake possessed. "How many 100% monster souls do you have?" Lance asked.

"All the monsters on the list are available," said Kyle while smiling. Lance took a deep breath and it took him a few minutes to calm down. He believed in Kyle now.

"I want to test my compatibility with all of the monsters you have including the animals too. No need to worry about the payment, I can pay," said Lance with a serious face and Kyle smiled. They went back to the vending machine and Lance tested his compatibility with all the monsters.

During the first test, Dodo realized that it would be hard to pay during the test, and thus, he immediately modified the ticket on Lance's hand so that he could accumulate the payment and paid it later at the counter. He told Kyle about the changes and Kyle frowned. He thought that everything would be automated.

Lance tested his compatibility. The test went on for half an hour and lucky for Lance, there was a monster with 100% compatibility with him available on the data but he immediately frowned when he saw the result.

"… A red slime?" Lance was disappointed with the result. Kyle saw Lance's face and decided to console him.

"Slime is stronger than my eagle," said Kyle and Lance came back to his senses. Kyle continued, "I told you that there will be a lot of benefit with 100% compatibility and 100% soul especially with the amount of accidents you will face when you construct your skill."

"Then, I want the 100% red slime soul," said Lance. He made up his mind. The monster soul was only responsible as a medium for him to be able to construct skills. There was no need to worry about what soul he had as long as the soul was compatible with him.

"Then, are you going to buy the gold membership?" Kyle asked. Kyle had made three different types of membership. First was the normal membership. Normal membership would get a discount of 10% for every service available in the dojo except buying the natural soul. Normal membership would also be only allowed to buy up to 60% natural soul. Higher than that, they would need to upgrade to silver membership.

For silver membership, they would get a 30% discount in every service available and also were allowed to buy up to 80% natural soul. As for 90% and 100% natural souls, they would need to buy a gold membership where they also could get a discount of 50% of the dojo's service. Kyle also offered three different periods of membership of one month, six month and one year.

"Give me the one-year gold membership," said Lance and Kyle nodded. He led Lance to the counter and registered him as the gold membership. The truth was, there was no need for Kyle to do that because Dodo had immediately recorded the data.

Dodo had full control of the dojo and everything that entered the dojo would be recorded immediately by him. There was no need for the vending machine or something similar for registration because he could do it himself.

However, Kyle did not want to cause any suspicion and thus, did all of that as a show. Once he was done, Lance got a notification and his status menu updated with a gold membership. Lance was satisfied with the status menu because other than his status, he could see the history of what he bought in the dojo.

"I want to buy the 100% red slime soul," said Lance.

"It is 110 million," said Kyle. The price of the soul differed from monster to monster. For the basic monsters (animals), the 100% soul would be priced at 100 million per soul. The slime soul was slightly more powerful and thus, it was 110 million.

Lance immediately made his payment and both Kyle and Dodo were surprised. [We are rich!! 110 million, we can buy the materials to build 10000 improved mana generators!! We don't need to worry about running out of energy for a long while!!] Dodo was excited.

Kyle kept his cool and he got slightly irritated that Dodo was screaming in his head. Dodo immediately kept quiet. Kyle led Lance to the 100% red slime soul. Once they got in front of the soul, Lance stared intently at the red slime. The red slime soul was looking at him with clear eyes.

"He looks cute," thought Lance. Kyle opened the glass tube and Lance extended his arm to absorb the red slime soul. The soul entered his body smoothly and Lance could feel his body surged with a comfortable warm feeling.

[Gain fire status. Fire status increase] Lance status menu gave him a notification. Lance was surprised. He never thought he would get a fire status. He checked his status menu and the fire status was added though it was 0 with a bracket filled with the status he got from the red slime soul. Lance closed his eyes and entered his mana sea.

Kyle and Dodo had no idea what was happening in the mana sea and they waited until Lance was finished. 17 minutes later, Lance opened his eyes and he was smiling. He looked at Kyle and said, "I will help you promote your dojo." Kyle smiled.

Lance summoned his red slime and same as Glen, the red slime greeted Kyle. "Hi, I am Resil," Resil the red slime introduced himself.

Lance looked at Kyle and he bowed shocking both Kyle and Dodo, "I am sorry for doubting you and thank you for being patient with me," said Lance sincerely. Lance was grateful to Kyle a lot that he could finally become a magician again and this time, he had a feeling that he would be much more powerful than before.

"Well, you don't need to thank me because you paid for it. I am just doing a business. I hope you can help me promote my dojo," said Kyle while smiling. "So, are you going to buy the monster fighting package?" Kyle asked.

Lance smiled and he said, "I do want to fight some monsters but I don't bring any of my equipment and I have no skills at the moment. Once I am prepared, I will come again. I think I might come here every day to train once I construct my skills."

"Oh, you are right. I forgot that you just absorb the soul," said Kyle and he started mumbling, "I should build the magic skills shop immediately."

"You are going to sell a skill book too?" Lance asked.

"Skill ebook," said Kyle while smiling. "We are in the technological age. Book is old school. Also, I plan to build a super quantum computer to offer a service to help my customer to easily calculate and build their magic construct."

Lance was shocked. "You can do that?"

"Haha, I have the brain," Kyle pointed at his head, "Why not use it? All I need is enough money to build them and thanks to you buying the red slime soul, I finally have the budget to build the super quantum computer," Kyle was smiling.

[What a liar… I am the one who will calculate it] said Dodo.

Lance was in deep thought. "When will you finish building the super quantum computer?" Lance asked. He had a feeling that it will take a few months but he wanted to know because he wanted to use that service.

"Hmm~ Maybe next week, the service will be available," said Kyle while smiling but Lance was stunned. If it was before he got Resil, he might not believe Kyle but everything Kyle said all this time was the truth. Lance nodded and left the dojo.

"So, how many experiences is that?" Kyle asked Dodo. [One for the total customer and One for membership] said Dodo.

"It will take a while to level you up," said Kyle. He found out a few days ago the condition for Dodo to level up. He would need 50 customers and 5 membership to level up to two. Based on the current situation, it would take a while to get more customers because everyone thought he was a scammer.

"Also, don't you realize that our dojo is not fun?" Kyle asked.

[I agree. Although our dojo has universe shaking services, it is dull. All we can offer is something better from other dojos but this dojo is boring] Dodo agreed.

"We need some kind of entertainment for this dojo to attract more people. Merely letting magicians fight monsters or offering superior monster souls is not enough," said Kyle.

"With the money we currently have, is it possible to make the 'scenario' room?" Kyle asked. The scenario room he mentioned was a special room he and Dodo brainstormed before that they could use in the dojo.

This room was special as Kyle could offer some kind of scenario or story his customer could indulge in while training their power. The truth was, the scenario room had already become part of Dodo's power when he altered the dojo system. However, it was locked.

For Kyle and Dodo to be able to use this scenario room, they needed to level up the system and chose the scenario room as the rewards for the upgrade. It was also possible to build it themselves but Dodo had calculated that it would be expensive and they did not have enough budget.

There was also another problem that the immersion factor was 99% lower than the scenario room the dojo system provided. That would be detrimental to the entertainment they wanted to offer.

[Let's wait until the system level up. That immersion factor is important to attract customers] said Dodo and Kyle agreed.

"Urgh~ it is really hard to run a business. Anyway, have you ordered the materials for the mana generator?" Kyle asked.

[Don't worry, all settle. I want to tell you that I only buy the material for 100 mana generators. I used the leftover money to buy other materials to store so that it will be easier to expand our dojo in the future] said Dodo and Kyle nodded.