Free Web NovelChapter 17: Non-refundable
Stefan’s POV
I stared at the three women on the ground for a long moment, as I stood akimbo.
My brain was running through every option I had and coming up empty each time.
Numbing salve? That was useless. That stuff dulled pain and softened bruises. These women weren’t in pain. They were somewhere beyond pain, somewhere I didn’t have a product for or a name for, somewhere that required something I clearly didn’t own yet.
Healing oil? Also useless, even if I could afford it, which I couldn’t. Not even close.
Medicine? I didn’t know medicine. I’d never known medicine in my life. The closest I’d gotten to healthcare back on Earth was googling symptoms at two in the morning and convincing myself I was dying of something exotic. Twice I’d called actual doctors. Both times they’d told me to drink water and go to sleep.
Water and sleep weren’t going to fix this.
"Nah!" I shook my head then I sank slowly to the ground, sitting cross-legged in front of them, letting the reality of my situation settle fully and completely into my bones.
Three paralyzed warriors to heal. A calm, terrifying woman coming back in a few hours expecting a miracle. Execution on the table if I couldn’t produce one.
"Well," I said quietly, to the tent, to the universe, to whatever was listening. "This is genuinely how Stefan dies the second time. Not a van this time. A calm woman with a clean sword and no particular feelings about it."
I exhaled slowly through my nose.
My eyes drifted because they were going to regardless, and at least I was honest with myself about that much, over the three women laid out in front of me. Even in stillness, even in whatever terrible state they’d been reduced to, their bodies were something else entirely.
Their skins glowed, their curves laid out in absolute stillness, barely covered, chests rising and falling in slow, shallow rhythm.
"At least the view isn’t bad..." I was mumbling with a naughty smirk when the system finally decided to make it appearance.
It dinged.
I turned and looked at the notification hovering in my vision, which had chosen exactly this moment to finally make itself useful.
[Miracle Shop Detected In Your System Archive.]
[Note:Feature is currently locked. Your current level does not meet unlock requirements.]
I stared at it. Then I blinked. Then I stared again.
"Hold on," I said slowly, sitting up straighter. "You’re telling me there’s a miracle shop. Right now, you’re telling me this. After I’ve been sitting here for five minutes convincing myself I’m going to be executed at sunset, you’re only now mentioning a miracle shop?"
The tent didn’t answer. The System just sat there, glowing.
"Incredible," I muttered. "Absolutely incredible. The timing on you is something else entirely, you know that?"
The System dinged again, unbothered.
[Temporary Unlock Available Via System Credit. Borrow Against Future AP Earnings To Access For A Limited Time.]
I pointed at the notification like it could physically see me doing it.
"Now, we’re talking. Now the guy decides to be helpful." I straightened up, brushing dirt off my slave cloth as I asked;.
"What are the terms?"
[Credit Terms: Debt repayable within 3 days via one of the following options ; endure scheduled penalty, or repay in full via AP earnings.]
"AP," I said immediately, without even a second of deliberation. "Obviously AP. Next question."
[Confirmed. Miracle Shop Temporary Unlock: 500 AP. Charged To Credit Account.]
"To unlock? Isn’t that too expensive?" I winced at the 500 just for opening it but swiftly pushed past it. I was already committed.
[Miracle Shop - Now Open.]
- Life Ember — 2,400 AP
- Vital Essence — 1,500 AP
- Spirit Stitch Essence — 1,700 AP
The numbers sat there in the air, perfectly still, waiting for my reaction.
I gave them a moment. I gave myself a moment.
"Two thousand four hundred," I said, very quietly, testing the words in my mouth like they might taste different if I said them slowly enough. "Two thousand. Four hundred. For one item." I looked at the next line. "Fifteen hundred. Seventeen hundred." I pressed my lips together. "Plus the five hundred I already spent just to open the door." I did the math. I did it twice because the first answer didn’t seem right.
"That’s nearly three thousand AP."
Dude, I hadn’t broken a hundred yet.
"You absolute rip-off merchant," I hissed at the System, dropping my voice to furious and low tone.
"You daylight robber. You’ve got the nerve to charge three thousand AP when I am sitting here with less than hundred to my name? Who do you think you are? Who built you? I want to speak to whoever built you right now-"
[NOTE: Due to current credit status, only one item may be purchased on credit at this time. Recommended: Life Ember.]
I stopped ranting and looked at the three women again.
One. I could only save one of them, and even that was money I didn’t have and would be desperately clawing back for the next three days.
I looked at each of their faces in turn - their open, aware eyes, the consciousness still clearly present behind the stillness, trapped in bodies that wouldn’t answer them anymore.
"Fine, fine. I’ll take the Life Ember."
I said, and the word came out heavy.
I hovered over the purchase and took a breath.
Clicked.
[Purchase Confirmed; Life Ember X1.]
[Total Debt: 2,900 Ap.]
[Congratulations On Your Purchase.]
"Don’t do that. Don’t you congratulate me. I’m two thousand nine hundred AP in debt, don’t you dare-"
[Additional Note: Life Ember effect is temporary. Patient will experience full revival for approximately one month before condition relapses without further treatment.]
Everything stopped.
I read it again. Slowly, word by word, making sure I hadn’t misunderstood something.
I hadn’t.
"I’m sorry," I said, in the careful, measured tone of a man deciding whether to scream. "What did you just say?"
[Life Ember effect is temporary. Patient will relapse after approximately one month without-]
"I read it!" My voice jumped up an entire octave before I caught it and dragged it back down to a furious whisper. "I can read, thank you very much, I just... you couldn’t have mentioned that before? Before I clicked? You couldn’t have put that information in the item description like a normal, honest, decent shop would do? Just right there, on the label, where any reasonable customer might see it before spending money they don’t have?"
I paused.
Oh no.
"Wait. Can I return it?" I asked sharply.
Nothing.
"Can I return this item?" I repeated, louder, with the particular energy of a man who already knew the answer and was refusing to accept it.
Still nothing.
"I would like to return the Life Ember, please." I announced formally to the System, to the tent, to the universe. "I haven’t used it. It’s still in my hand. It’s in perfect condition, completely untouched. I’ve had it for approximately forty-five seconds and I would like to return it and get my credit back because I was not given full information at the time of purchase which, where I come from, is actually illegal-"
[Purchase is non-refundable.]
The words just sat there, unbothered, completely indifferent to my suffering.
I looked down at the Life Ember sitting in my palm, small and faintly glowing, radiating all the warmth and mercy of a parking ticket.
"Of course it’s non-refundable. Of course. Nothing that costs me something is ever refundable on this planet, is it? Death? Non-refundable. Soul contract? Non-refundable. Dignity? Gone, non-refundable, thank you for your business-"
[3 days remain to repay 2,900 AP.] The notification dinged and I stopped talking.
I gnashed my teeth together so hard my jaw ached.
Two thousand nine hundred AP. Three days. I’d need to run myself into the ground to clear that number before the deadline hit, and I still had a General who wanted me dead, Jonquil’s punishment consequences sitting somewhere on the horizon, and now one warrior I could revive who’d relapse in a month anyway like a subscription I couldn’t afford to renew.
I looked at the three women again. One of them... her eyes had tracked slightly toward me, just barely, like she’d been watching this entire performance.
If she could’ve moved her face, I was fairly certain she’d be judging me.
I sank into the ground.
