Before, those exploration teams bought a lot of supplies because they didn't have enough. Now, many teams have already stocked up, so even if they come again, they won't buy as much as the first time. Tracy's current inventory is enough to last for a while.
The next day, Kei and the others came as they had agreed and brought the beginner-level strengthening potion that Tracy wanted.
Thank you all. I didn't expect you to bring the strengthening potion so quickly. How do I use it? Just inject it directly? Tracy asked.
Just inject it directly. Both normal people and those with powers can use it, Kei answered.
Looks like there are some talented people at the base. They just found out about crystal cores recently, and now they've already made strengthening potions, Tracy said.
Evolved zombies didn't just appear now. They were around long ago. Maybe the base had already started researching them before.
But anyway, this strengthening potion is good news for survivors like us.
Normal people have a hard time fighting evolved zombies. Even with guns, we would lose many people.
But now, with this potion, even ordinary people can fight beginner-level evolved zombies, Kei said.
No wonder your team members seem different now. They probably used the potion. It seems to work really well, Tracy said.
It's not a secret at the base. After the first injection, people get two or three times stronger.
If they train, they can become even stronger. But with each new injection, the effect becomes less.
The beginner-level potion can only make the body up to ten times stronger. The base is probably working on stronger potions now, but we haven't heard anything, Kei said.
Tracy was shocked. This was better than she had imagined.
Someone who becomes two or three times stronger could immediately become a strong fighter.
With a little training, they could be very powerful.
She couldn't even imagine what it would be like to have ten times the strength.
That person would be stronger than anyone she had ever seen.
Looking at the potion, Tracy wanted to try it.
But she still needed to run her business.
If she was going to use it, she would wait until she was alone.
Because of more people talking about her store, more customers came.
Today, business was good. She made fifteen sales.
She didn't know how the store counted these trades.
Tracy thought that if she kept trading like this, it might take more than half a year to wake the spirit inside the shop. That was too long.
She wondered if there was a way to increase the number of trades.
Actually, many people came into the shop, but each time, it only counted one trade.
If every person in the shop bought something, would it count as more trades?
She hadn't tried this before. But she thought she would test it soon.
If that worked, she might need to change the rules of the shop.
Tracy didn't dare take the crystal cores into the real world.
She didn't know if they had any virus inside.
If she brought a virus into the real world, it would be a big problem.
So she left the crystal cores inside the shop.
But she didn't see that the crystal cores were changing.
They started to lose their clear shine.
They didn't look like bright gems anymore.
They now looked like small dull stones.
Crystal cores had a lot of energy.
The sleeping spirit in the shop needed a lot of energy to wake up.
Each trade gave some energy.
But things that were full of pure energy, like the cores, could also give energy to the spirit.
Tracy didn't know this.
If she did, she would try everything to collect more crystal cores and help the spirit wake up faster.
Just as she was about to close the shop, another exploration team came in.
They looked tired and poor.
There were only seven people.
This is the place. There really is a shop here. They didn't lie to us. We were right to take the risk and come here, said a young man in torn clothes.
Hello, what do you need? The prices are written on the items.
You can look first and then tell me what you want, Tracy said.
You must be the owner, Tracy. We heard that you accept crystal cores for trade. Is that true? the young man asked nervously.
Yes, it's true.
As long as it's something valuable that I accept, whether it's gold, crystal cores, or other things, you can use it to trade, Tracy said.
That's great. I have fifteen crystal cores. Can you show us what we can buy with them?
The group looked at Tracy nervously.
Tracy had made crystal cores worth a lot in her store.
They could get more supplies from her than from the base.
That's why they came here.
Are these crystal cores all yours? Tracy asked.
No, our team got them together.
Those evolved zombies are very strong. One person alone could never get this many cores, the young man answered.
Actually, without the two people in their team who had special powers, they would not have gotten even fifteen cores.
They were very poor and couldn't afford weapons.
In the past, they didn't even have enough food.
Now two of them had powers, and things were a little better.
But it had only been a few days. They were still in a bad situation.
Their clothes were still torn and old.
Tracy wanted to test something.
She wanted to know if it made a difference to count each person's trade separately instead of all as one team.
This group was a good test.
So Tracy smiled and said, You all probably need different things, right?
You can each buy what you want. I'll even give you a small discount.
Split purchase or group purchase didn't matter to them. Now that Tracy offered a small discount, they agreed easily. They had nothing to lose.
Right now, people with powers were still new. Their strength wasn't very high. They hadn't killed many evolved zombies yet. But things would improve after some time.
People with powers could grow stronger by absorbing crystal cores. The base also made some basic strengthening potions. That meant people would soon have more crystal cores. When that time came, Tracy would receive more of them.
After doing some tests, Tracy found that as long as someone made a trade with her, the dimensional shop would accept it. She thought about the earlier teams. So many people came, but each only made one deal with her. She missed so many chances. Just thinking about it made her feel upset.
She had to think of a solution. Tracy didn't want to only act like a delivery person. She already had enough gold. Working with Bora Jewelry meant she didn't need money at the moment.
She had enough for a good life. Tracy didn't want a fancy lifestyle. There was no need to keep chasing money. As long as the dimensional shop was still there, she wouldn't be poor.
What Tracy really wanted was power. If she had power in the past, she wouldn't have almost gotten hit by a car while saving someone. If she had power, she wouldn't have been kidnapped by those bad guys and almost poisoned. Without strength, sometimes you just couldn't do anything.
After sending away the customers, Tracy closed the shop. Even though they didn't buy much this time, she made seven trades. That was a big gain. She realized this was the correct way to use the shop. She had been too silly before.
She thought for a while, then wrote "Limited Purchase" on a piece of paper and stuck it on the wall. From now on, she wouldn't sell a lot of goods at once. That made her tired and didn't count for many trades. It was too much trouble. Before, she sold more to get popular. Now more people knew about her shop. Even if some didn't like her new rules, her business would still do well.
The people who came to buy from her were strong search teams. It was usually the same groups. If they bought too many items in one visit, they would come less often. That meant fewer trades for her.
Luckily, she realized it now. It wasn't too late. After sticking her new rule on the wall, Tracy took out the basic strengthening potion Kei and his team had brought.
She was just a regular person. This basic potion should work for her too. But she still felt a bit worried.
She didn't know if the potion had any bad side effects. But so many people at the base had already used it. They didn't seem to have problems. So she thought she should be okay too.
Also, that criminal had escaped. Tracy didn't know if he would come after her. So, after thinking hard, she injected the potion into herself.
After the shot, she didn't feel anything strange. Could it be that the potion didn't work?
Just as she was confused, her whole body suddenly felt warm. It was like soaking in warm milk. It seemed the potion was working.
That warm feeling lasted for about one hour. After that, Tracy felt full of energy. Her vision became clearer. Even her nearsightedness was gone. She didn't expect one small potion to fix that.
Kei told her that if she exercised, the effects would be better. Tracy went back to the real world and ran a few laps in the park.
She really felt different. Before, she would have been tired very quickly. But now, after running a few laps, she didn't sweat or feel tired. Her body had clearly gotten stronger.
Tracy didn't plan to fight in battles. She only wanted a stronger body. With her current strength, handling two street thugs would be easy.
She had also received many crystal cores. When Kei and his team came next time, she would ask them to bring more potions. She believed she could become even stronger.
But her strength had grown fast. She needed to adjust slowly. If she wasn't careful, she might hurt someone without meaning to.
While Tracy was getting used to her new strength and trying not to break things, in a warehouse on the edge of the city, Huro and two other spies were holding test tubes in their hands. Their eyes were full of excitement.
"So this is the gene strengthening potion you told us about? Is it really as amazing as you said?" Ryoko asked. "You know we lost a lot of people trying to get the formula and research data. Our plan in this city was completely ruined. If we don't get the real formula, we lose everything."
"This potion is just like I said. But we forced the researcher to make these. So I can't be sure if they are real or not," Huro replied.
"You're useless. If you hadn't made a mistake before, the data would have been sent back already. Maybe we'd have powerful fighters by now," Noda said.
"Stop it. Right now the most important thing is to test if the potion works. Not to argue here," Ryoko said.
"How do we test it?" Huro asked.
"We forced that researcher to make it. Maybe they messed with the potion. We have to test it. Just grab someone and make them take the shot. We'll know the result," Ryoko answered.