Empire Building With Infinite Warehouse-Chapter 69: The Beginning of the End

Julien reached out a finger toward the glowing blue screen and firmly tapped the confirmation button.

He didn’t just pick one.

Thanks to the massive number of A-Rank customers he had served today, he locked in all five utility options.

Spatial Lock, Mana Sonar, Phantom Step, Appraisal Eye, and Kinetic Displacement.

A buzzing sensation rushed through his skull as the high-tier knowledge imprinted itself directly into his E-Rank brain.

For a brief second, the amount of mana required to host the skills gave him a headache, but it quickly faded into a cool, normal presence in his chest.

Before he could even celebrate his new milestone, the blue System interface glitched.

The screen rippled, the blue borders shifting into a flashing gold.

A new notification popped up.

[System Alert: Congratulations, Host!]

[Hidden Milestone Achieved: Massive Sales Volume Reached (500,000+ Credits in a Single Day).]

[Reward: Unrestricted Beast Contract. You may form a soul contract with any beast of your choosing.

[Cost: Zero.]

[No debt will be incurred.]

[Limit: One-time use.]

Julien stared at the floating golden text.

All the colour drained from his face, leaving him a pale, wide-eyed mess.

His specific merchant class was built on a punishing foundation of debt and interest rates.

The System never gave him anything for free.

Until right now.

"Fuck yes!" Julien screamed, his voice echoing off the concrete walls of the basement.

Footsteps rushed down the stairs.

Kiara sprinted into the room, her datapad clutched to her chest like a shield, looking around wildly for an attacker.

"What the hell?" Kiara shouted, pushing her glasses up her nose.

"Are you dying? Did getting money short-circuit your brain?"

Julien quickly leaned against the wooden counter, crossing his arms and trying to strike a cool, mysterious pose.

He wanted to look like a hardened underworld boss, but his face completely betrayed him.

He had a massive, goofy smile plastered from ear to ear.

"Kiara," Julien said, puffing his chest out slightly.

"If anyone ever bullies you... You can call me. I’ve got it handled."

Kiara stared at him, dumbfounded.

She blinked slowly, processing the absurdity of the E-Rank merchant offering her physical protection.

"What the hell are you talking about?" she asked, her voice flat.

"Do I need to call a doctor? Did you drink one of the defective potions by mistake?"

Before Julien could try to explain his new A-Rank skills or his free beast contract, the maintenance door creaked open.

Chris poked his head into the room.

He was out of his ruined armour and wearing a comfortable grey hoodie.

"Hey, boss," Chris said, ignoring Julien’s weird pose.

"Ignis is up in the lobby to see you. Also, Alice and I are heading out to the market district for a few hours. We need a break."

"Take your time, you earned it," Julien smiled, dropping the tough-guy act.

He knew he had worked his two main fighters to the bone over the last few days.

They deserved some time off to spend their cut of the profits.

Julien jogged past Chris and ran up the stairs to the floor.

The main lobby of the Association building was quiet now. The frantic customers were gone, leaving only a few janitorial staff sweeping up muddy boot prints.

Ignis was standing near the front reception desk, leaning against a marble pillar.

He looked tired, but the brutal wounds he had sustained during the shadow beast attack were nowhere to be seen.

"Ah, Ignis," Julien called out, waving as he walked over. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"It is good to see you walking."

Ignis gave a weary smile and shook his hand.

"I wanted to apologise for what happened that day," Julien continued, his tone turning serious.

"I lost control of the situation. I sent those premium healing potions to your guild as a token of apology, though I know it isn’t enough to make up for dragging you into that mess. How is Milana?"

Ignis waved his hand, shrugging off the apology.

"It’s okay, merchant. Occupational hazard. Milana is still in bed, but your potions did wonders for her. She recovered the worst of her internal damage in a single day and is just resting now."

He let out a chuckle.

"It is a good thing you didn’t come to visit her in person, though. She would have ripped you off for the property damage."

Julien laughed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah, it was partly my fault she ended up taking that hit. I’ll stay out of her way. So, why are you here? Do you need a restock? I can give you a discount."

Ignis shook his head, his smile fading.

He looked out the large glass windows toward the red sky.

"No, it’s not about potions. It’s about my party." Ignis frowned, his jaw tightening.

"Lyra and the others are still stationed at the perimeter in District 9, but no one is replying to their comms. It has been radio silence for an hour. Although they are a strong, high-tier squad, I feel weird about it."

Ignis turned back to Julien, his eyes filled with genuine worry.

"That woman... Maya. She is still out there, right? Can you call her and ask about my team? Or maybe get her to hand a phone to Lyra?"

Julien grimaced.

Despite fighting with Maya through an absolute hell, he realised he didn’t know a single thing about her other than the fact that she was a massive bigshot in the awakener’s world.

"Well, I don’t actually have her contact info," Julien admitted.

"But Gina, the Association owner here, must know something about the deployment over there. I will ask her for a favour and see if we can get a status update on Lyra."

Ignis nodded, his shoulders dropping slightly in relief.

"Thank you, Julien."

Before Ignis could turn to leave, a piercing, high-pitched alarm rang out.

It wasn’t an audible alarm in the lobby.

The sound erupted directly inside Julien’s skull.

His Streetwise skill, which warned him of incoming threats to his business, began pinging frantically.

A red warning box materialised right in front of Julien’s face, blocking his vision.

[SYSTEM ALERT]

[Red Gate Reacting to External Forces.]

[Warning: Massive Structural Damage Detected.]

[Second Wave in Process.]

Julien’s breath caught in his throat.

Usually, gate breaks were highly predictable.

It took a massive amount of atmospheric mana to build up enough pressure for a gate to let out a wave of shock.

The sky would change colour, the air would smell different, and the city mages would have plenty of time to set up localised defensive walls and evacuate civilians.

But this was completely silent.

Kane’s extractor had bypassed the natural buildup.

It was a forced, unexpected eruption happening right when everyone thought they were safe.

The invisible wave of displaced energy exploded outward from District 9 and slammed into District 5 like a freight train.

There was no warning.

No sirens to alert the people.

The mages were not in position, and none of the defensive walls was up.

The big, blast-proof glass windows of the Association lobby broke under the sudden pressure shift, bowing inward before shattering violently.

Thousands of glass shards exploded into the room.

The force of the shockwave hit Ignis square in the chest, lifting the hunter off his feet and throwing him backwards into a marble pillar with a crunch.

Julien spun around.

Kiara had just walked out of the stairwell, holding a stack of inventory papers.

She froze, her eyes widening as a tidal wave of shattered glass and concussive wind rushed directly toward her.

It was too fast.

A normal person didn’t even have time to blink.

But Julien’s brain was currently processing reality through the lens of a newly acquired A-Rank evasion skill.

He moved in a fraction of a second with the help of streetwise, his feet dragging across the marble floor as he threw himself directly in front of Kiara and raised his hand toward the incoming wave of destruction.

’Spatial Lock.’