Welcome to Ability Store-Chapter 47 - 46: Welcoming a New Store Clerk

From the description, the reason Fei Wuniang died was probably due to losing the Joyful Union Technique.

Heaven only knows how much life essence she absorbed using this ability.

Besides, there are two abilities that caught Chen Xuan’s interest, one is "Immunity to All Poisons," which is of green rarity, described moderately, but then for the first time, the term "component" appeared. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Could it be that abilities not only can be upgraded and elevated, but also combined?

However, this APP is too amateurish, and it’s unclear where the fragmented instructions came from, how many components there are, or how to synthesize them. He could only boldly speculate that the synthesized ability should cover the effects of all components and be of a higher rank. Not to mention, just saving on the load slots is quite valuable.

The other is "Guess the Coin," of purple rarity, higher than he expected.

And the description is simply not there, just like "Black Magic," only the word taboo is present.

What exactly makes it forbidden? Didn’t Fei Wuniang often use it to kill people?

Even Gildre could use Black Magic casually.

But the APP displays it this way for a reason; if immunity to all poisons is considered a suite ability, then this should be considered a series ability.

Suit, series... Chen Xuan can’t help but think of a game starting with D.

Comparing these six abilities with Lin Qing’s information, it turns out the system only recorded "Innate Allure," "Immunity to All Poisons," "Strong Robbery," and "Guess the Coin." "Dancing Genius" and "Joyful Union Technique" didn’t appear.

Why? Is it because they aren’t important?

At least the Joyful Union Technique is quite useful for some special needs, like assassination and intelligence work.

He found it was not hard to conclude that the Dimensional Limit Mechanism’s "definition" of ability differs from the Ability Store. Dancing Genius might be Fei Wuniang’s natural talent, and Joyful Union Technique a learned dual cultivation spell, neither viewed as abilities. This probably isn’t the mechanism being picky, but it seems only abilities triggered by invasive events can be detected by them.

The Ability Store is different; it’s like the ocean, able to encompass everything.

This also indirectly proves his previous guess—the Dimensional Limit Mechanism didn’t rely on Guess the Coin to win the battle.

...

As the night fell, Chen Xuan returned to the store.

He took out the key, opened the rolling shutter door, and inside was unexpectedly silent. Lin Qing used to always lie on the sofa with her eyes closed, but now she was nowhere to be seen.

The shop hadn’t even opened in the past two days, as the walls damaged by machine gun fire hadn’t yet been repaired, and her injuries weren’t fully healed. She shouldn’t have been able to go out alone.

Thinking back to recently having snatched the "prey" from the Dimensional Limit Mechanism, Chen Xuan’s heart tightened.

Could it be that they came looking for him?

He called Lin Qing several times through the headset, but there was no response from her side.

Chen Xuan hesitated no more, directly pulling out the scanning gun to activate the ability to immediately recall the guest. With a swipe, Lin Qing appeared beside the bar, holding a spatula.

"Huh? What happened?" She looked bewildered.

"Where did you... go?" Chen Xuan was also a bit confused.

"I was upstairs, why did I suddenly end up downstairs?" Lin Qing paused, then slapped her forehead, "Oh no, the food is going to burn!"

With that said, she quickly ran upstairs.

Seeing that nothing major happened to her, Chen Xuan felt relieved and followed her to the third floor out of curiosity. This was the restaurant level added after the store’s upgrade, including an elegant room that could accommodate a dozen people and a kitchen for cooking meals.

The kitchen was brightly lit.

More surprisingly, on the long table outside, there were dishes laid out, more than just one.

There were simple stir-fried vegetables as well as hotel-like plated mushroom pan-fried fish fillets, with even a rich soup and dessert ready for after the meal.

This luxurious spread left Chen Xuan dumbfounded.

He usually either ordered takeout or ate instant noodles, rarely cooking for himself.

Lin Qing then came out with a plate of stir-fried shrimp in oil, "I forgot to say welcome back, take a seat, this is a celebration feast prepared for you, hope it suits your taste."

Chen Xuan, who usually talked a lot, opened his mouth, not knowing where to start.

After a while, he blurted out the dumbest question.

"Uh... did you make all of this?"

"Not entirely; that cooking machine is quite advanced, able to automatically chop and wash the food, cook, and plate the dishes. It feels like a product from 20 years in the future. I merely programmed it to do as I wanted." Lin Qing laughed.

Chen Xuan couldn’t tell which was more impressive, cooking a grand meal by hand or programming a cooking machine.

But does the store’s restaurant really have such advanced equipment?

After unlocking this department, he hadn’t even visited the third floor.

Chen Xuan hesitantly picked up a piece of fried fish and put it in his mouth. The umami of the chicken drumstick mushrooms, the crispy aroma of the fish skin, the exotic scent of black truffle, and the mild spiciness of pepper - these flavors unfolded in his mouth one after another. They were extremely layered yet blended harmoniously, just right. If no one was watching him, he would’ve hummed in pleasure.

This is a hundred times better than pre-prepared delivery meals.

"How is it?" Lin Qing asked expectantly.

"Quite... delicious," Chen Xuan said truthfully.

"That’s good," she said with satisfaction. "It’s my first time making these, so it seems the recipes are fairly reliable."

"What recipes?" Chen Xuan pointed across the table, gesturing her to sit down and eat with him. "Don’t you need practice to learn how to cook?"

"I don’t have time to learn cooking; this is just surplus knowledge stored in a memory chip." Lin Qing picked up her chopsticks. "In our era, people no longer need to learn skills through study. You just purchase the relevant chip. Like this one in my head... it’s got all sorts of stuff."

"So convenient, really nice," Chen Xuan sighed.

"There’s good and bad to it," she replied noncommittally. "Basic education has become basic chips, and some knowledge remains forever the exclusive preserve of the elites, impossible to buy no matter how much money you spend."

Indeed... that would further entrench the social structure. Chen Xuan changed the subject, "What do you mean by celebration banquet you mentioned earlier?"

"It’s a small tradition passed down from the Dimensional Limit Mechanism. If you complete a mission successfully for the first time, the group will host such a banquet." Lin Qing blinked, "I saw there were ingredients in the fridge and the kitchen was equipped, so I thought of making a meal. Of course... if you want to eat in the future, I can also cook every day."

Chen Xuan could tell she was trying to ingratiate herself, "...What are you up to really?"

"How could you say it’s a scheme!" Lin Qing protested, raising her voice, "I was supposed to fight alongside you, but now I can only stay in the rear. I can’t possibly just sit idle!"

"That’s no issue; intelligence support is very important too."

"Really..." Her voice suddenly dropped an octave, "Then can I stay in the store? You told me to go find a job that day. I thought about it and realized finding a job isn’t hard, but it would interfere with my main task. I need to put all my energy into the impending crisis and stay in contact with you. The best choice is... is..."

She stammered for a moment, unable to finish the sentence.

Chen Xuan knew she was embarrassed to mention living and eating for free, especially since he had previously made it clear that he was running a store, not a talent agency.

"Sure, you helped me secure a supply channel, so it’s not completely free."

"That was the reward for assisting me against the Dimensional Limit Mechanism; it’s not the same thing."

Unexpectedly, she was quite principled.

Wait a minute... she can cook, lives here long-term, and Chen Xuan suddenly thought, doesn’t he need an employee? The Manager’s Code didn’t mention not recruiting guests as employees, and the key point is her world has been destroyed, so there’s no risk of leaking information or suddenly quitting.

"Hmmm..." He pretended to hesitate, "Alright, how about you work at my store. Nominally manage the restaurant, but you don’t really have to do much, just occasionally help entertain guests. I’ll also pay you a salary, how’s that?"

"Really, I have no problem with that!"

Lin Qing’s eyes lit up, and she agreed immediately, as if afraid he would change his mind.

Chen Xuan also smiled internally. Customers and employees are not the same - being too harsh on customers would affect the store’s reputation, but employees are like subordinates, which means you can command them as you wish.

"By the way, are there people in the Dimensional Limit Mechanism who can read others’ abilities?"

"I don’t know about that," Lin Qing shook her head. "Personnel information is top secret. Even after the mechanism split, this information was never leaked."

"What’s this about a split?" Chen Xuan asked.

"It’s nothing really. The mechanism’s funding always came from big corporations sponsoring us, and nanobot technology was a product promoted by these companies. Some members of the organization split from the companies after discovering the unpredictable disasters that nanobots could cause. This happened about forty years later. Those who still wanted to work for the companies were seen as lackeys by the employees who separated."

And the nanobot technology will be developed in thirty years... Along with it, the rapid development of cybernetics will occur, leading to a revolutionary evolutionary wave in society. If he hadn’t saved Lin Qing from the future himself, it would’ve been hard to believe how astonishingly fast the development would be in the coming decades.

"So you don’t actually know how many people are in the Dimensional Limit Mechanism now."

"That’s right," Lin Qing said candidly. "What can’t be denied is that the mechanism is still a giant lurking underwater. We must act cautiously. As for whether they have a certain ability, I can only say abilities are inherently strange and varied. Even if there’s no exact match, there’s usually a basic substitute. For example, Fei Wuniang, whom you defeated today - her ’Strong Robbery’ and ’Guess the Coin’ can both be used to seize abilities, and there are many such abilities... So your question is likely yes."

Chen Xuan posed the sharp question, "Does the mechanism also strip others’ abilities?"

Lin Qing smiled wryly, "The Dimensional Limit Mechanism genuinely takes protecting the world as its duty... so they would spare no expense for that goal. Though it conflicts with many members’ values, until there’s a better option, stripping abilities is considered one of the costs."

Just as I thought. Chen Xuan mused, Fei Wuniang’s intelligence probably wasn’t related to Guess the Coin. She was likely subjected to something like Soul-Searching Technique or Great Memory Recovery Technique before she died, so the intelligence didn’t mention the side effects of Guess the Coin or the abilities she wasn’t aware of.

After the meal, Chen Xuan drafted an employee contract with the manager app and had Lin Qing sign it before scanning it into the database.

Soon, a new employee record appeared in the app, and the qualification for a Level 4 manager application was met. Additionally, he found that the available ability provider count in the inventory became [2].

Which means, as long as you’re an employee here, he could change or swap employee abilities with stock abilities at any time?

More entrepreneurially, he could even package and sell Lin Qing’s abilities without her knowing.

Chen Xuan suddenly felt that maybe this store should expand a bit.