Reborn: Earth Online

"There. The duel is finished, and the challenge has been dealt with. Those who want to stay in this place can stay. I don't really care whose name you chanted two seconds ago. Just get out of my sight, don't stir up anymore shit and make yourself useful." Kaden's voice snapped everyone out of their trance.

He watched as the group of people scrambled to run away, leaving behind only himself, Niera, and the bleeding corpse.

She stood beside him, watching as the remnants of Rafael's supporters dispersed like frightened rats, too ashamed or too afraid to meet Kaden's gaze. Their earlier bravado had evaporated, leaving nothing behind.

"Tch. So much noise over nothing." Kaden turned to Niera, his expression unreadable. "You good?"

She blinked, then nodded. "Yeah. I just…" She hesitated, her eyes flickering toward Rafael's lifeless body. "I thought it would last longer. That guy was level 25 and told everyone that he was going to be the first E-ranker in this world. Now I can see that he was lying the whole time."

Kaden let out a low chuckle. "Nah. He was probably telling the truth. I don't know about being the first E-ranker, though."

Niera's eyes widened. "Are you already-"

"Yes, I am in E-rank."

Niera stared at him, her mouth slightly open.

"The world doesn't wait. If you want to survive, you keep pushing forward and use every advantage that comes your way. Good job. I see that you have also improved a lot in these three days." Kaden smiled.

"Ah. Sorry. They walked into the settlement and I couldn't get them to leave. I just basically allowed that guy to speak nonsense and brainwash everyone. I was worried otherwise there would be bloodshed, and you mentioned you needed more people for some shop to open."

Kaden nodded. "You did good. The extra numbers gave you the experience boost you needed, and now you have more power to take care of these types of unwelcomed guests. Don't worry. I will not leave you alone like this forever."

His words made Niera's heart beat quicker for a moment, and her eyes widened in anticipation.

"There will be some people joining us in a week or so. Then you should have all the help you need to run this properly."

"Oh." Niera nodded in understanding. "Thank you. I will do my best to keep this place running until then." She quickly added to prevent embarrassment.

"Okay. I have some work to do now, but you can take these beasts for community use."

Niera nodded and quickly messaged a couple of people to help her with everything. One woman and a man arrived, and the three of them dealt with all the corpses together, including the dead body on the ground. The dead body of the person who had claimed he could unite this whole world.

The three exchanged glances and silently cleared out from the area.

Meanwhile, Kaden was busy with the system prompt. All the conditions to activate the system shop were now met, and it was time to start the build.

He exhaled slowly, watching as the notification flickered in front of him. Finally. He had been waiting for this moment. Now, it was time to see if this was actually worth the trouble.

With a single thought, he accessed the settlement core.

The moment he did, a surge of energy rippled through the air, invisible to the naked eye but heavy with presence. A faint glow pulsed from the settlement core itself, and suddenly, another notification appeared.

[Ding! Settlement Shop has been activated.]

[Ding! As the recognized owner of this settlement, you have access to the following shop features:

Basic Goods Exchange: Trade resources and materials for system-approved items.

Blueprint Repository: Unlock new construction and defensive structures.

Skill & Class Advancements: Purchase rare skill manuals and evolution options.

Limited Stock: Special time-sensitive items will appear based on settlement level and conditions.]

[Available Shop Currency: mana cores]

Kaden's eyes flickered as he took in the information. He had never seen a first hand system shop set up before so all of this was new to him. As he scrolled through the available options, a second notification chimed.

[Ding! Current Settlement Level: 1]

[Shop Availability: Basic Tier Unlocks Only]

Right. He knew about this part. When the system shop was initially set up only a basic version popped out. It needed to be upgraded before any of the good stuff could be accessed.

He scrolled through the Basic Goods Exchange first, seeing what kind of immediate benefits he could access.

Basic Iron Weapons Set – 50 coins

Basic Leather Armor Set – 75 coins

Enhanced Rations Pack – 30 coins

Medical Herbs & Basic First Aid Kit – 40 coins

Wood & Stone Supply Crates – 60 coins

Kaden mostly skipped through the list. These were basic alright.

Most of these weren't for him—they were for settlement survival. The weapons and armor were better than nothing, but if he really wanted this place to thrive, he needed something bigger.

He switched over to the Blueprint Repository.

[Blueprint] Reinforced Wooden Walls – 200 coins

[Blueprint] Water Purification Station – 300 coins

[Blueprint] Basic Guard Tower – 500 coins

[Blueprint] Simple Housing Upgrade – 250 coins

[Blueprint] Trading Post (Locked) – Requires Level 2 Settlement

Once again, the list was full of fundamental necessities. Switching tabs, he accessed Skill & Class Advancements.

[Skill Manual] Basic Swordsmanship – 150 coins

[Skill Manual] Beginner Fire Magic – 200 coins

[Skill Manual] Adaptive Body Conditioning – 250 coins

[Class Advancement] Novice Warrior → Apprentice Fighter – 500 coins

[Class Advancement] Novice Mage → Elementalist – 750 coins

Many of this could be extremely useful in boosting everyone's strength. However, it was still not the thing he was looking for. He searched around for more options and found nothing much except for these.

Kaden let out a sigh as his gaze landed on the last section. This was the area where one could put up items for sale directly to the system. This was also the most important section for his survival. "I guess I need to throw the juicy bait to really lure the big sharks."

He then withdrew a dragon scale from the settlement owner's locked inventory space. He placed the dragon scale for trade with the system.