“This is it?” Tammy asked, hands on her hips, glaring at the open lots.

  It was small, tucked between two other lots. Only about twenty feet wide, and thirty or forty deep, we could see the park area beyond, the off-color grass and trees that filled the spaces between the streets. Clan Howell’s shop was near the far end of one of the streets I hadn’t been down yet. I wondered where Fred and Subetai had their Fractions shops. I didn’t think the System would put all Fractions from a planet in the same area.

  The lot on the right looked like it belonged to some dwarves. There was a large mountain, the top covered in snow. It was twice the size of our lot, the entrance to their shop looking like a mine entrance. There were balconies and caves carved into the higher levels of the mountain. We didn’t see any dwarves out and about.

  On the left looked like a place owned by some kind of monkey-like humanoid. I could see some of them in their shop, which was a reed hut in front of a couple of large trees. More huts were set in the branches, with walkways and what looked like tunnels carved into the tree branches and trunks. And those branches and trunks were huge. The trees were gigantic.

  “We have to set it up,” I said. “I’m sure we’ll have some default options to pick from. Come on,” I said, leading the way into the lot.

  As soon as I stepped past the border, Notifications filled my vision.

  WELCOME TO THE MARKET DISTRICT OF THE MULTIVERSAL NEXUS. EACH FACTION LED BY AN ADVENTURER HAS A MARKET IN THE DISTRICT. ALL MARKETS START AT RANK ONE AND CAN BE UPGRADED WITH USE OF MULTIVERSAL CREDITS GAINED THROUGH THE INFINITE TOWER AND THROUGH THE SALES OF GOODS AND SERVICES.

  A MAP MARKER HAS BEEN ADDED TO YOUR SYSTEM GRANTED MAP INTERFACE. ONCE YOU HAVE CLAIMED YOUR MARKET SHOP YOU CAN START SPENDING MULTIVERSAL POINTS TO UPGRADE THE SHOP. ONCE YOU HAVE CLAIMED YOUR SHOP YOU CAN CONNECT IT TO THE PORTAL IN YOUR FACTION’S COMPOUND.

  YOU HAVE ENTERED YOUR MARKET SHOP FOR THE FIRST TIME. THE SHOP IS A BLANK SLATE AND MUST BE GENERATED ACCORDING TO YOUR PREFERENCES. YOU ARE LIMITED TO THE BEGINNING FACTION RANK AND UPGRADES MUST BE PURCHASED BY EARNED MULTIVERSAL POINTS.

  CREATE THE MARKET DISTRICT SHOP FOR CLAN HOWELL?

  “Either of you get those Notifications?” I ask.

  “Nope,” Tammy replies.

  “Nothing,” from Fields.

  “So I get to design the shop,” I tell them. “What do you want Mike?”

  He thinks for a minute as he walks around the lot. He turns back to me and shrugs.

  “I know Tammy doesn’t like the Compound, but we should probably stick to that aesthetic. The lot isn’t wide enough yet for a wall so maybe just a long hall to serve as the shop itself to display the goods and a couple outbuildings for crafting.”

  “More viking theme? Great…,” Tammy mutters.

  “More viking theme,” I say with excitement and get to work.

  The interface is the same as for the Compound. Lots of options but a lot grayed out since we can’t afford them yet. I follow Fields’ advice, but add my own flair to it. There’s not much space to work with. It’s small and I know we’ll be able to expand it in the future. For now, I need to figure out the most efficient layout.

  First I throw down the long hall, it’s a similar style to the one in the Compound, but the inside is just an open space with an office and storage in the end. I set it down in the front left corner, setting a dirt path down the right side past the building. The ground is covered in grass. In the back half I set a hill with the path heading up. On top I put a small watchtower on top of a small crafting building. In the back right part, I put another crafting building. For the portal, I put a small wooden archway into the side of the hill. I threw a bear headed totem pole in the front left corner, near the stairs to the long hall. The finishing touch was a birch tree flagpole in the front right with a banner hanging down. The Clan’s symbol was on the banner of course.

  Satisfied, I left the interface, the three of us appearing out front again.

  “Ta da,” I said, spreading my hands and waving at the buildings.

  “It’ll do,” Fields said.

  “It’s fine,” Tammy added.

  “I quite like it,” a high pitched voice said from the side. There was an odd hooting to the voice, a hollowness that had a kind of echo.

  We turned to see a trio of the monkey-people walking out of their shop, coming over to use. Each stood about four feet high, slightly hunched because their legs were more in the front of their bodies instead of the sides. The legs were bent at the knees, the feet wide and long. Thin, prehensile tails swayed as they walked, constantly moving to the sides or over their heads. Long arms ended in three fingers and a thumb. Their heads were on long necks, wide and flat noses, large eyes, large round ears. Each was covered in a light fur. Mostly browns with patches of lighter tans. One of them had more gray, probably an older member. None carried weapons, but the older and the one on the left were dressed in leather armor. Kilts, bracers around the lower legs and arms, loose shoulder armor that I liked the design of. It was still buckled down, so would provide protection, but was loose enough to move with the shoulders and arms.

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  I didn’t wear shoulder armor because it was typically too tight, limiting my arm movements. That design looked like it solved the issue. If these monkey-people were anything like monkeys back home, they moved around a lot and needed the freedom. Their chest pieces were made of overlapping leather scales. Another interesting design.

  Their faces were all different. The leader, dressed in a loose shirt and pants that looked expensive, had what I would call a clean shaven look. His face was still covered in fur, but it was the short fur that covered his body. The older one had gray tufts growing from his cheeks where the other had a long braided beard hanging from his chin.

  “Hi,” I said, stepping forward. “Nick Howell of Clan Howell,” I introduced myself. “Newly integrated from Terra.”

  “Ah, I yes, we have been expecting you.”

  He chuckled, showing some small fangs.

  “When the street shifted in length and the empty lot appeared, we knew to expect a new arrival,” he said, bowing his head. “I am called Heriotioloino of the Yorisonitilonotoic Collective.” The names came with a bit of hotting, that would make it very hard to pronounce accurately. He smiled again, seeing my expression. I did try to hide it, just not well. “You may call me Herio and we are of the Yoris Collective.”

  “Pleasure to meet you,” I said, bowing my head. “These are my companions, Tammy O’Neil and Micheal Fields. You’ll probably see them far more than me as they’ll be heading up our market operations.”

  Herio bowed his head to both, getting head bows in return.

  “Ah yes, they serve the same purpose as I do. These are Adventurers from the Yoris Collective,” he said, indicating the two behind him. “Gornlio,” he waved at the younger. “And an Elder from the Collective, Serilino.”

  “I have seen your name in the ranking boards,” Serilino said, his voice also having that hooting quality that Herio’s did. “It is very impressive for delving solo and so soon upon entering the Tower.”

  “Thank you,” I replied, making a mental note to look up his name in the rankings.

  Herio hadn’t given the full form, so I’d have to hope the shortened form would help.

  The three chatted with us for a bit before making their way back to their shop, allowing the three of us to enter ours and start setting it up. Which Fields did immediately, pulling shelving and display cabinets from his storage. Herio had said their species were called Cladis. Their planet was named Orinotilogili, which translated to earth from their native tongue. They seemed like friendly enough people.

  “You guys going to hang here for a bit?” I asked.

  “Is that guide available to us for questions?” Fields asked instead.

  “Stylo?” I asked the sky.

  “Yes Nick?”

  Stylo appeared right next to Tammy, making her jump.

  “Stop doing that,” she glared at the guide, who just floated over to stand next to me.

  “Can you help Mike and Tammy if they have questions?”

  “Are they authorized to make changes to the shop?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “How do we make that happen?”

  “Through your interface,” he replied.

  I opened it and sure enough, after digging through some tabs and menus, I found the permissions area. There was a lot to dig through and a whole lot of customization. I could assign ranks and assign permissions to those ranks. I could give every person different permissions. It looked like a huge headache.

  Instead I made it simple. Fields got almost full levels of permissions to the shops, he just couldn’t change the buildings or the layout, but could do pretty much everything else. Banning people was probably the most important, which was awesome that we could do that, so gave him that one. But he could stock the shelves and assign people to sell things. Tammy got the next step up and I gave her similar permissions to the overall Compound. She was one step below full Administrator permissions, which right now only I had. When she got to Crossroads, I’d give that to Kat as well.

  “You guys good for now?”

  “Yeah,” Tammy said, walking back to the office.

  “I’ll be busy for a while,” Fields said.

  “Good, I’m off.”

  “Don’t lose track of time in the Tower,” Tammy called out.

  “I’m not going to the Tower,” I replied back.”

  “Sure, Mr I-Like-To-Punch-Things,” she said, making Fields laugh.

  I grumbled a bit as I walked out, heading to the street. I really wasn’t going to the Tower. At least not yet. I headed for the portal obelisk and from there I entered the Entertainment District.

  Because I’d left from what I was considering East Street in the Markets, I arrived facing East Street in the Entertainment District. It took me a bit to reorient myself to the street I wanted. A short walk down and I found the place I was looking for.

  Thankfully the big lizardman was there.