Chapter 13: Idle Shopping (2)
Production.
Auto-generation of IDLE Points.
That's what Aldrin gleaned from the explanation that popped up earlier.
Because of how he could be likened to a professional slacker before this encounter with the mysterious IDLE Database, Aldrin had a fair share of experience when it comes to playing idle games.
The Idle Adventure Mode was just like the Auto Battler genre but less of the customization wherein it was easy to make your character stronger. Although it was the same in the aspect that the enemies were giving him in-game currency, the uses of it were limited to Heal and doubling the three main stats.
It had a new feature now and still had three tabs to unlock so Aldrin believed that he could leave it running by itself if he's not worried about getting only half of its harvested IDLE Points in case his Dimensional Clone died when he wasn't looking.
As for the Production tab of this Idle Shopping, it's reminiscent of Idle Factory or Idle Tycoon games. Just like that one where the player would start by buying a Lemonade Stand to generate income. By using the money earned from the Lemonade Stand, the player could buy more Lemonade Stands until the player could afford to buy a bigger business like a Burger Stand or an Ice Cream stall.
As the game progresses, the player would be able to buy bigger businesses, companies and more.
That type of game.
Compared to that game though, Aldrin didn't have the starting capital to buy the first IDLE Points generator. Moreover, it couldn't be bought by IDLE Points!
He needed actual money or Federation Credits!
[Hire a Small Merchant to buy extraordinary stones
Current number of Small Merchants: 0
Cost: 1000 Federation Credits
Production: 1 IDLE Point/hour
Failure Chance: 5%
Duration: 24 hours
Price Scale: Additional 50 Credits/purchase
Next Bonus: x2 Income at 10 Small Merchants]
As he read about the description of the first one. Aldrin's face fell.
Not only does it need Federation Credits, but it also has a Failure Chance. And that means, there's a chance that it wouldn't yield him any points.
However, upon reading the last line, Aldrin somehow felt relieved. The income can increase as long as he buys more.
Truly like those Idle Factory games.
Unfortunately, this one had a limited duration.
In hindsight, Aldrin would definitely earn if he invested IDLE Points in here. 1000 Federation Credits is equivalent to 10 IDLE Points. And if he's lucky that the 5% chance of failure didn't get triggered, he'd be earning 24 IDLE Points after a day. That's 140% pure income.
The more he buys, the higher the return.
After doing the math, Aldrin took note of activating this feature as soon as possible.
If he got enough Passive Income through this Idle Shopping then he could also ease up on focusing on Idle Adventure.
That's a straight path towards more time to slack off.
"No! Not to slack off!" Aldrin suddenly blurted out after reaching that train of thought.
How many times has he shouted at himself today? He can't remember anymore.
Either way, Aldrin's face at the moment was depicting a wide grin. He couldn't help but smile from ear to ear upon thinking about his future prospects as long as he managed this mysterious program well. And along with that, he started praying that whoever bestowed the IDLE Database to him wouldn't take the program back abruptly.
After experiencing the wonders of this mysterious software program, it became the one thing he feared the most.
Once Aldrin calmed down, he closed the Idle Shopping interface and waited for the shower of Dimensional Energy to enhance himself.
At the moment, only the Small Merchant was unlocked at that tab. In his experience with the same type of game, he might need a certain number of Small Merchants bought before the next one would be unlocked.
And he was certain that the next one would be more expensive but higher in production rate.
"One step at a time, Aldrin. There's no need to rush." He muttered in an attempt to clear his thoughts. He was aware of how agitated he was upon witnessing the things presented to him. Even if it wasn't him, Aldrin was certain that they would also experience the same upheaval of emotions after landing on this extraordinary windfall.
Nonetheless, for Aldrin, to keep his mind sane, he was always doing a reality check on himself.
He's still a nobody. There's no reason for him to be complacent or to be too overconfident. What he could do though… was to plan his future with this mysterious IDLE Database.
-
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When the transference of Dimensional Energy began, Aldrin once again felt the flood of Dimensional Energy filling his body and gathering at the same spot as earlier.
However, when he began to sense the impending Awakening, the flood of energy stopped. The sphere-like thing that was gradually forming slightly below his navel dispersed once more before strengthening every part of his body.
"It's still not enough…" Aldrin thought as he began to inspect his arms and moved his fingers by clasping them into a fist.
If before it was slightly shaking, his fist this time was now firm and stable.
He stood up from his chair and went next to the wall.
Aldrin then made a stance to throw a punch.
Swish!
With a sudden whistle of the wind, Aldrin abruptly stopped his fist before it made contact with the wall.
Crack!
However, with the wind generated from the speed of his punch, the not-so-thick wall of his small apartment suddenly issued low cracking sounds as spiderweb-like cracks appeared on it.
"Huh? Wait…" Aldrin wore a surprised expression as sweat gradually trickled down his face. "Idiot Aldrin! If the landlord saw this crack in his wall… he would get angry and throw me out of this room!"
He reprimanded himself as he began to look for something to cover the crack.
Fortunately, he found a flowing banner hanging on the wall behind his PC. It's from a game he was playing before his encounter with the IDLE Database.
As soon as he moved it there and successfully covered the crack, Aldrin released a heavy sigh of relief.
"In less than 2 days, I'm now strong enough to crack the wall even without hitting it," Aldrin concluded.
If he told his friend Bert about this occurrence, would he believe him? Most likely not if he wouldn't be able to prove it.
In any case, after the short panic he experienced, Aldrin went to his bathroom again to wash his sweat-drenched body again.
When he returned in front of his PC, he's now wearing nothing but boxer shorts.
"I believe I will be sweating again after this… Better be prepared than use up all my clothes." Aldrin wryly smiled.
Following that, he moved his cursor and initialized the Idle Adventure Mode once again.
He was still not confident to manually control his Dimensional Clone again so he promptly picked 'No'. Moreover, he was going to scrutinize the new feature in that mode.
Equipment and Skills.
A few moments later, Aldrin watched the little Dimensional Clone being sucked inside the white glowing spiral once more.
And while he waited in bated breath, Aldrin prepared himself to click on the second right away.
However, what welcomed his eyes were two large font notifications in the middle of the game interface.
[The Ant Colony located in this Lower Dimension has issued stricter security when the dead bodies of Worker Ants turned up]
[Soldier Ants are now doing regular patrols around the Ant Colony]
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone