Ch 42: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World

The slime, soft and round on the ground, was dressed in a tailored black tuxedo with a neat little bow tie at its barely noticeable neck, and its large, watery eyes gazed politely at Harold and Si Jin.

An awkward silence hung in the air as the two dragons found themselves at a loss.

Harold glanced up at Lu Yao for some kind of explanation but got no response, so he looked down at the slime again.

The blue slime tilted its head, meeting his gaze, and suddenly let out an adorable “chi-chi” sound.

Feeling strangely irritated, Harold nudged the slime with his foot, scowling. “Why is there a slime in the shop?”

Lu Yao looked up just in time to catch the gesture and called out, “Mumu is the new shop assistant. Don’t bully him.”

“…Mumu?” Si Jin repeated.

Lu Yao, looking innocent, said, “I accidentally gave him a name yesterday.”

This all started the previous night during Mumu’s onboarding training.

The system had told Lu Yao that slimes are incredibly weak, and most don’t even have cognitive abilities. This one, however, seemed to understand human speech but lacked any useful skills—making it seem like hiring it as an assistant would be a stretch.

At first, Lu Yao was worried, but throughout the training, the little slime exceeded her expectations.

It understood commands, could read, and tried its best to follow her instructions.

Lu Yao taught it how to greet customers and display proper service manners. Though it fumbled a bit during the first few tries, by the third attempt, it was already acting like a seasoned worker.

Though its speech was still limited to “chi-chi-chi,” its attitude was earnest—far better than a certain pair of dragons.

Pleased, Lu Yao patted the slime’s head affectionately. “Mumu, you’re so smart!”

She swore it was just a spur-of-the-moment compliment.

But to her surprise, the slime suddenly emitted a blinding golden light and evolved into a higher-level slime named Mumu.

The system informed her that by naming the creature, she had unknowingly made it her familiar.

At first, Lu Yao felt uneasy about this, but after evolving, Mumu became even smarter.

It seemed to understand her hesitation, rubbing against her hand with its watery eyes full of affection, letting out soft “chi-chi” sounds as it snuggled up to her.

It was too adorable. Lu Yao couldn’t help but melt a little.

Even after its evolution, Mumu still couldn’t speak proper words, just chirping “chi-chi” to communicate. Feeling a bit guilty, Lu Yao spent 100,000 popularity points to buy it a voice through the system.

Though slimes are naturally genderless, Mumu’s chosen voice was a soft, sweet, boyish tone.

The system mentioned that if Mumu evolves further, his voice might change into a more mature, teenage boy tone.

…

Harold and Si Jin sat on opposite ends of the long sofa, faces dark with irritation. A bag of fresh red scorpion eyes lay on the table, with a few bloodied ones having rolled out.

In the single-seat chair next to them sat a long-haired witch, her brown eyes glinting as they lingered on the scorpion eyes.

Mumu hurried over, grabbing a cloth and carefully picking up the scattered eyeballs with his small, chubby paws, placing them back into the bag and tying it securely. Afterward, he swiftly wiped away the bloodstains.

After putting the cloth away and washing his hands, Mumu waddled over to Lu Yao, looking up at her expectantly.

Though busy, Lu Yao smiled warmly at him and praised him, “Mumu, you’re so capable!”

Mumu’s round eyes sparkled with joy, and he let out two cheerful “chi-chi” sounds, twirling his little paws in satisfaction.

Though Mumu only spoke properly when greeting customers, he preferred to chirp “chi-chi” most of the time to express his emotions.

Harold and Si Jin, their faces now as dark as storm clouds, cast sharp, icy glares at the adorable slime.

Facing the oppressive stares of the dragons, Mumu the slime remained innocent and chirped, “Chi.”

Harold & Si Jin: “…”

This little guy had to be doing it on purpose!

Selling cuteness to irritate dragons—how infuriating!

Lu Yao was currently attending to an elven customer, while a witch sat waiting on the sofa. Both of them had come from Onorton City.

The elf had learned about the nail salon from buying potions at Fisa’s shop and had used a teleportation scroll to come here.

Recently, people had been teleporting in from other places specifically for the nail salon, and sometimes, when it got busy, appointments had to be scheduled in advance.

Lu Yao was overjoyed. Word-of-mouth was spreading, and the number of customers visiting the salon was growing.

This elven customer had been recommended Fisa’s oil painting-style nails, but when she arrived, she was stunned by the variety of beautiful options available.

It took her half an hour to finally settle on a style. In the end, she didn’t choose the oil painting nails but went for a simple blush manicure, requesting that Lu Yao paint Boy Grass on her nails.

Boy Grass was a rare medicinal plant that only bloomed once every ten years. The flowers bloomed at sunset and withered as soon as the sun set—a fleeting beauty.

Lu Yao had read about this plant in her magic book and had seen diagrams of it. The delicate purple flowers were elegant, making them relatively easy to paint.

Once the nails were done, she sealed them with magic so the design wouldn’t wear off.

Lu Yao had also developed an auto-removal spell for the nails. She drew the spell onto parchment and gave it to the customer.

When the customer’s nails grew too long or became uncomfortable, she could simply rub the parchment over her nails, and the polish would come off cleanly.

The spell was convenient and could be used even by non-magical customers without damaging the nails.

Lu Yao couldn’t help but think how amazing it would be if this removal parchment existed in the real world. Her regulars would go crazy over it.

The elf, thoroughly satisfied with the lifelike Boy Grass design, paid one gold coin and left happily, taking the parchment with her. She was excited to recommend it to her fellow elves in the forest.

Without a moment’s rest, Lu Yao turned her attention to the witch, who had been waiting patiently.

The witch had already chosen her design while waiting: the checkered pattern from Muxin’s manicure.

However, the witch didn’t want any gemstones—just the design, with the colors changed to black and red.

Lu Yao selected the nail polish and began to file the witch’s nails.

The Plains Witch silently watched Lu Yao work. After a while, she lowered her voice and asked, “Are those two on the sofa regular customers?”

Harold and Si Jin, upon returning and seeing Mumu, had gone into a sulk. Mumu treated them as customers, and they didn’t bother to correct him. Instead, they sat on the sofa, stewing silently.

Sensing that the witch might have misunderstood, Lu Yao glanced up briefly.

The Plains Witch quickly lowered her gaze, suppressing her emotions.

Lu Yao’s intuition kicked in. There was something more to the witch’s question, but she decided not to pry. “Yes, you could say that.”

The witch cursed herself for being too hasty and making the shopkeeper suspicious. She didn’t say another word.

It wasn’t until the manicure was finished and Lu Yao used magic to seal it that the witch’s eyes widened in disbelief. “You’re a Light Mage?”

During her time waiting, the witch had been so focused on Harold and Si Jin that she hadn’t noticed Lu Yao using the sealing magic on the elf earlier.

Perhaps it was because the amount of magic needed for the spell was so small that the magical reaction wasn’t strong enough to catch her attention.

Dragons could sense magical activity from a distance, thanks to their highly sensitive perception, far beyond that of humans.

Lu Yao nodded. “More or less.”

The Plains Witch’s face turned pale, and she hastily paid before leaving.

Back in Onorton City, her expression was grim.

She was a low-ranking witch, barely scraping by with a small shop in the city. One day, a young customer had come in to buy fogwood liquid and mentioned seeing a woman with a unique, stunning nail design—something she wanted to try herself.

At the time, the Plains Witch hadn’t thought much of it. But during a recent visit to Fisa’s potion shop, she had seen Fisa’s nails and immediately recalled the customer’s words. That’s when she began investigating the location of the nail salon.

Fisa, assuming that the Plains Witch was simply interested in getting a manicure, enthusiastically provided her with the information.

The Plains Witch had arrived in Emeraldstone Town the previous day. The nail salon had been crowded at the time, so she booked an appointment for the following afternoon.

From the beginning, the Plains Witch had her sights set on taking over the shop. After seeing Fisa’s nails, she realized that the shop was a veritable gold mine.

When she finally entered the salon, she became even more determined to seize it. The shopkeeper was just an ordinary human, and her only companion was a pathetic slime. As a dark mage, taking over the shop would be child’s play.

Even though her magical talent was mediocre and her power wasn’t particularly strong, the destructive nature of dark magic allowed her to defeat opponents far stronger than herself. Dealing with a regular woman and a slime? It would be effortless.

She observed the shopkeeper’s technique while doing nails and quickly dismissed it as nothing special. As long as she could get her hands on those fancy materials and tools, she figured she could produce nails just as stunning.

She had intentionally booked the last appointment of the day, planning to kill the shopkeeper and take over the shop. However, two men arrived unexpectedly, and her greed shifted to the bag of red scorpion eyes they brought. She decided to seize the scorpion eyes first and then go after the shop.

In hindsight, it was fortunate she didn’t act impulsively—who could have guessed the shopkeeper was a light mage?

At first, she hadn’t noticed, likely because the shopkeeper’s magical talent was also low, with only faint magic power.

But light magic naturally countered dark magic, making it too dangerous for her to make a move.

The Plains Witch wasn’t ready to give up on the shop just yet. She would bide her time and plan carefully—an opportunity would come eventually.

…

At the same time, in the nail salon:

[You have successfully served 20 customers. Mission accomplished! You have been awarded 500 popularity points, Dragon-Specific Gem Adhesive Formula II, and 3 drops of Starlight!

[Catalog collection progress 5. Lu Yao Nail Salon has been upgraded to a two-star shop. Keep up the good work!

[New mission: Serve 100 customers. Reward: 10,000 popularity points, Dragon-Specific Gem Adhesive Formula III, 3 drops of Sunlight Radiance, and 20 Bone-Eating Herbs!]

!!!

The second mission was finally complete!

The 500 popularity points were hardly worth mentioning. Lu Yao quickly checked the second Dragon-Specific Gem Adhesive formula. It was completely different from the first, requiring entirely new materials.

The materials for Formula II looked far from ordinary. She recognized a few as being rare and difficult to find.

At the bottom of the formula, a line of fine print caught Lu Yao’s eye:

—Can reinforce weapons, shields, and armor, making them strong enough to withstand a blow from a giant bone dragon.

Wait, wasn’t this supposed to be dragon-specific adhesive?

How did it have such powerful attributes?

Lu Yao pulled out the first formula for comparison. The only thing written at the bottom of that formula was “Dragon-Specific Gem Adhesive” in regular-sized text, with nothing hidden.

There seemed to be a fundamental difference between Formula I and Formula II, but Lu Yao couldn’t figure it out just yet, so she set it aside.

She noticed that the three new drops of Starlight had been added to her inventory but decided not to take them out. Instead, she opened the catalog to see her progress.

The dragon catalog, which had previously been difficult to fill, was now halfway complete. She had entries for little gold dragons, little black dragons, little green dragons, little purple dragons, little fire dragons, and little blue dragons. The catalog also had entries for humans, elves, slimes, and witches.

The catalog was very detailed, with separate entries for each type of dragon. The elves, knights, and witches were also categorized by their attributes.

For knights, only the fire knight category was illuminated, likely representing Elvi. For witches, the dark magic witch category had lit up, which was probably the Plains Witch.

Several material icons were also highlighted, including Extreme Crystals, Silver Crystals, Radiant Crystals, Illusion Grass, Star Thistle, and Black Lotus.

Lu Yao realized she had a bit of a collecting habit and found this catalog collection task rather enjoyable as a side activity.

The reward for the new mission, Sunlight, seemed to be similar to Starlight, probably just a new sparkly color. What intrigued Lu Yao more was Bone-Eating Grass, a plant said to have gone extinct on this continent, making it a legendary material.

Rare things are always tempting, and Lu Yao was very curious.

After the witch customer left, the shop quieted down.

Lu Yao took stock of everything in her storage and then sat down on the sofa. “Where have you two been these past couple of days?”

Now she decides to ask?

And no explanation about the slime either.

Both dragons remained silent, huffing in annoyance, as the atmosphere grew tense.

Noticing the bag on the table, Lu Yao curiously picked it up. It was full and surprisingly heavy. “What’s in here?”

Harold and Si Jin said nothing, so Lu Yao turned to Mumu. “Do you know?”

Mumu nodded obediently, ready to respond.

Harold’s temple twitched with irritation as he snatched the bag away and dumped it out with a loud clatter. “We passed through the desert, and some red scorpion beasts stupidly ran into us. Since they weren’t using their eyes, we figured we might as well take them.”

Fist-sized eyeballs rolled across the table, leaving a crimson trail.

Lu Yao, thankful for her training in the paradise, found that while the sight made her scalp tingle, she didn’t feel nauseated.

She cautiously reached out and poked one of the eyeballs. Its surface was soft and slightly cold. She smiled and asked, “Are these from level 12 red scorpion beasts?”

Harold’s ears turned red. “…”

Si Jin averted his gaze. “…”

Lu Yao, amused, said, “Alright, I forgive you two for this time. From now on, Mumu will handle the shop, and you two can focus on your guard duties and help me gather materials occasionally.”

“…”

“…”

Harold and Si Jin were speechless. How did she turn this around on them?

With the materials gathered and the mission completed, Lu Yao decided it was time to upgrade the nail salon. She wanted to add a dedicated room for crafting magical tools and potions, and recruiting apprentices was now a priority.

After storing the red scorpion eyes, she communicated with the system about her upgrade plans and posted an announcement for apprentice recruitment.

While the shop was under maintenance, the dragons and the slime returned to their respective homes, and Lu Yao brought ingredients back to her snack shop, where Xingzi was waiting for her.

Bai Ming’s week-long manager experience card had expired, and starting tomorrow, Xingzi would be the assistant manager.

Lu Yao and Xingzi underwent a soul-binding ritual, during which Lu Yao glimpsed scenes from Xingzi’s past life.

On the night before Xingzi’s death, she hadn’t slept at all. That day, a boy she had a crush on confessed his feelings to her, and she immediately decided to travel to his city the next day to meet him.

However, she was involved in a car accident and died instantly, leaving her wish to meet him unfulfilled—turning it into an eternal obsession.

Xingzi had been in Dreamland for many years, yet her world was remarkably similar to Lu Yao’s current one.

Xingzi explained that the residents of Dreamland didn’t necessarily come from the same timeline or even the same world. People from different times and places, whose unresolved obsessions lingered after death, were drawn to Dreamland.

It was the mercy of the Demon God.

Although Lu Yao’s world wasn’t the same as Xingzi’s, Xingzi was full of hope and ready to embrace a new world.

She said some things fade away after death, while others remain eternal.

Together, Lu Yao and Xingzi descended to the first floor, where Bai Ming, Xiao Jia, Qi Chen, Quan Shengju, Chi, Yu Cai, and Mo Cheng were all waiting.

“Why is everyone here?” Lu Yao asked curiously.

Quan Shengju stepped forward, a bit shy. “Shopkeeper, I wanted to request a shipment of soybeans. Recently, some customers have been asking for tofu pudding, so I thought we could offer it for a limited time. While we’re selling tofu pudding, we can temporarily stop selling the sweet rice balls.”

Lu Yao nodded. “Sure, no problem.”

People do get tired of eating the same thing, so it’s good to change up the menu once in a while.

After Quan Shengju finished, Mo Cheng stepped forward. “Shopkeeper, I’d like to request a shipment of curry powder ingredients. I’ve been craving curry chicken cutlet lately. Could we offer it for a limited time, with other dishes cut back during that period? What do you think?”

These guys were becoming quite proactive, which pleasantly surprised Lu Yao, and she immediately agreed to their requests.

Lu Yao had been spending most of her time at the nail salon recently, rarely staying at the snack shop for long. So, whenever the staff saw her, they tried to cling to her.

Bai Ming handed her a box containing 50,000 RMB, all collected by the NPCs from the game.

After learning that certain in-game currency was valuable in the real world, the NPCs began collecting it, and eventually, the head guard delivered the money to the snack shop.

The scale of the park had shrunk significantly, and people were starting to seek other meanings in life.

It would be a long journey, but no one seemed to mind.

Bai Jian happened to pass by the snack shop and heard the noise inside. Curious, he walked in and, sure enough, saw that the shopkeeper had returned.

He pulled out three black rings and handed them over, saying, “Next month’s subsidy.”

Lu Yao’s 2-million-yuan ring had not yet sold online, and Bai Jian feared she might run out of money. He had even mobilized other areas, asking the NPCs to gather as much of that red currency as possible from the game.

There had been a bit of panic on the park’s forums lately. Some players felt that both the black rings and illusion rings were becoming increasingly scarce.

In the high-level players’ chat group, someone had posted a screenshot of Lu Yao’s ring listing and asked: “Does anyone know if this black ring is worth 2 million?”

The people who previously mocked the 300,000-yuan price tag remained silent, knowing that the last ring had sold for 1 million.

Now, aside from this post, there were no other black rings for sale on the forums.

Zhuang Liang, who was idly browsing the chat, saw the question and kindly replied: “If you’re going to buy it, do it quickly. The next one might be double the price.”

He could tell from the account that it was Lu Yao, and he had no doubt she was capable of doubling the price each time she sold a ring.

The person who asked immediately sent Lu Yao a private message, but she was at an entertainment hall in the city center and didn’t remember to log into the forum.

She had purchased a Go set, as tomorrow was the day she had promised to meet Muxin.

…

At dawn, Lu Yao pushed open the door to the nail salon, carrying the Go set.

The system maintenance had just finished, and while the shop’s interior hadn’t changed much, there was now a new black door beside the wooden shelves.

Behind the door was a newly created room—Lu Yao’s research lab.

Before the shop opened, Lu Yao slipped into the lab and took out the materials she had prepared. One by one, she added them to the cauldron in the correct ratio and order.

It took her three tries to successfully create a batch of dragon-specific gemstone adhesive that matched the quality and effect of the system’s reward.

Since she didn’t have enough leftover materials to make another batch, she moved on to her next experiment.

Lu Yao took out pre-made nail tips and inscribed dark magic arrays on one side and light magic arrays on the other.

This was her recent research aimed at solving the problem of dragon nails deforming under transformation.

Just as she finished drawing the magic arrays on five nail tips, she heard Harold’s voice at the entrance.

He was arguing with Mumu.

The dragon felt it was beneath him to engage with a weak slime, but Mumu’s habit of being adorable around the shopkeeper annoyed him, so he had made some snide remarks at the door.

Mumu tilted his head, his big watery eyes blinking innocently: “Chirp.”

Harold clenched his fist in frustration: “…”

Lu Yao stepped out and called Harold over, hoping he would help test whether the magic-infused nails could withstand the surge of magic during a dragon’s transformation.

Harold folded his arms behind his back, his handsome face darkening, and flatly refused to remove his current manicure for the experiment.

Not wanting to push the dragon too hard, Lu Yao sighed. Would she have to do the experiment herself?

Mumu tugged on Lu Yao’s pant leg, raising a tiny, brave paw: “Chirp chirp!”

Lu Yao was surprised. “You want to help with the experiment?”

Mumu nodded, flexing his little paw, where the faint outline of nails appeared: “Chirp!”

Bring it on!

“Mumu, you’re so brave! You’re amazing!” Lu Yao felt genuinely moved. In that moment, the slime seemed far more capable than any dragon.

Harold: “…”

Si Jin arrived at the shop a bit later. Not seeing anyone, he immediately noticed the new door in the wall, slightly ajar. From inside came the sound of small, crisp clinks.

Pushing the door open, he found Harold looking utterly defeated, with Lu Yao helping him remove his manicure using nail removal paper, while Mumu carefully collected the fallen gemstones into a small box.

Si Jin: “What’s going on here?”

Upon seeing him, Lu Yao called out, “We’re about to start a test. Come take a look; I might need your input if we run into any issues.”

Harold had put on the magical nail tips Lu Yao made. Black, reflective scales began to appear on his hands and face as magic surged into his claws. His sharp dragon talons were already fully formed.

Even Mumu, who was usually playful, didn’t dare to act cute, quietly hiding behind Lu Yao.

Si Jin glanced at Lu Yao, who remained calm, as if she had always known they were dragons.

The next second, something strange happened at Harold’s claws.

Si Jin, unable to keep watching Lu Yao’s reaction, focused entirely on Harold’s fully transformed dragon claws, his face filled with shock.

🛍️🛍️🛍️🛍️🛍️