21: Shop

The Nings father and son received a very unexpected answer from the system.

"Ah? What's not? Is there nothing for sale in the Shop for us?" Ning A asked the system.

"Correct."

The Nings father and son became even more confused. The system had been hyping up this Shop for over a year, but when they finally unlocked it, it said there was nothing to sell them.

Ning B suddenly thought of something, "Wait a minute, didn't the system say energy is the currency of the Shop? Maybe we don't have enough energy to buy anything."

Ning A felt this was a reasonable conclusion anyone could reach, so he asked, "Hey, system, is our current energy too low to buy anything?"

"Yes, everything in the Shop requires a minimum of 5,000 energy."

"Oh, now we're making some progress." Ning A breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good thing it's just a lack of energy. If there was nothing in the Shop at all, I think I would have had a heart attack." Ning B also breathed a sigh of relief. Even with energy, these guys spoke as if they were in their own bodies.

"Alright, then tell us what's available for purchase in the Shop once we've accumulated enough energy." Ning A made sure his wording was precise, so the Shop wouldn't exploit loopholes again and give foolish answers.

"None."

The system repeated the same answer.

"Hmm. Again? Is there really nothing in the Shop, or did I say something wrong?" He wondered.

"Let me try." Ning B asked the same question with a different but simpler sentence.

"Hey, system. What exactly can we buy in the Shop?" he asked.

"Anything that is not energy itself."

Finally, the system gave a different answer.

Ning B gave Ning A a triumphant smile, and Ning A could tell how smug that smile was without even looking. He ignored Ning B and asked the system:

"What do you mean by 'anything'? Can you give me some examples?"

"Any physical object, skill, or knowledge can be purchased from the Shop."

The Nings father and son were stunned. "Any object? Skill? Knowledge? Is there anything else in the universe?" Ning A wondered.

"If there is, I can't think of it." Ning B said.

"Hehe, then shouldn't we go to sleep for a while and then gather all the energy in the world?" Ning A suggested.

"The system warns users against such thoughts."

"Ah? Why?" the two Nings asked.

"If you sleep indefinitely to accumulate energy, it is highly likely you will lose more energy than you gain."

"For example, if you sleep inside this fish, and the fish is somehow eaten, you will lose most of the accumulated energy."

"Similar things will happen if you jump into a lightning strike or fall into a volcano. The damage sustained will ultimately result in less energy than you started with."

"Oh," the Nings father and son thought.

"That's also impossible." Ning A said.

"Yeah, we have to make sure to sleep for short periods," Ning B said. They decided to stop thinking about that problem and instead focus on the opportunity they had been given.

The opportunity to buy anything they wanted.

Ning A thought about what he wanted to buy, and Ning B also thought about what he wanted to buy.

"I want to be human!" Ning A shrieked.

"I want to control fish!" Ning B shouted.

They immediately got angry at each other.

"Idiot, don't you want us to have physical bodies?" Ning A yelled at him. Now, the deep, cold ocean was too boring for him. He had seen a lot and was now used to it.

"You're the idiot. What do you plan to do with the bodies? Drown?" Ning B asked dejectedly. If bodies were thrown into such deep sea, they would not only drown but also be crushed.

Ning A fell into thought. Ning B was right, but if they put all their energy into controlling the fish, they probably wouldn't have anything left when they left the ocean.

"Alright, let's call a truce then. I have a plan that will benefit us both." Ning A said with a confident expression.

Ning B asked curiously, "Alright, tell me your plan. If I like it, I'll stop the fight too."

Ning A paused before speaking: "Let's merge."

"What?" Ning B didn't understand what he meant at first, but when he did, he was stunned.

He had expected Ning A to come up with many suggestions, but he hadn't expected this one.

But after a moment of thought, he decided it was the right idea. "Okay, let's do it. Let's merge." he said.

Ning A asked the system, "Hey system, we want to merge into one person, can we buy that?"

"Personality fusion requires 150,000 energy. Do you wish to purchase it?"

"Uh... maybe not completely merge personalities. Can we get a single mind that can think of two things at once, instead of two thoughts both having their own minds?"

"Synchronized Thinking requires 1,250,000 energy. Do you wish to purchase it?"

"Whoa, that's a lot more expensive than we expected, so what do we do?" Ning A turned to ask Ning B.

"I don't know. Maybe we should wait until we have enough energy to act?" Ning B said.

"Then let's do this, system, when we reach the energy limit, can we automatically purchase... uh... Synchronized Thinking?" Ning A asked.

"Do you want to add 'Synchronized Thinking' to your auto-purchase list?"

"There's such a thing?" The two Nings were surprised. "Can we buy it even when we're unconscious?" Ning A asked.

"Yes. Once the energy requirement is met, the auto-purchase list will automatically purchase everything."

"You can use the auto-purchase list to prioritize items for automatic purchase in ascending order."

"Okay, add 'Synchronized Thinking' to the auto-purchase list." Ning A said.

"'Synchronized Thinking' has been added to your auto-purchase list."

"Do you want to set the order of the list?"

Even with only one item, the system asked. "No, thank you," Ning A said.

"Alright, system. Now let us sleep. Wake us up after 'Synchronized Thinking' has been purchased, or, I don't know, when this fish dies? I guess."

"Confirmed."

Slowly, the two 'Nings' began to lose consciousness. But just as they did, they realized that unless they asked the system to split their minds into two different personalities, this would likely be the last time there would be two different 'Nings'.

And with that thought, they lost consciousness.