The Glorious Evolution

Levi nodded in understanding, as this was the exact situation he had read about in the network shared by many surviving Rifters... those same Rifters and their families hadn’t hesitated to unite for a class-action suit against House Zen in the Cricetii Clan Elementary Courthouse that handled such disputes.

Since the suit involved a relatively well-known Noble House in the business of selling reinforced artifacts, it drew decent attention from the public. This attention made the situation even worse for House Zen... especially when they ended up losing the lawsuit!

The details about the suit were kept private since it was settled with an immense sum of money... alas, even when the defendant Rifters kept their mouths shut per the settlement terms, the damage was already done.

House Zen had lost about 99% of its customer base, as no one was foolish enough to buy a flawed reinforced artifact that might get them killed.

Worse, Levi found out that even their partnered Artifacts Crafters had forsaken them to avoid their reputations getting dragged through the dirt as well.

This explained why most artifacts in the store were low-grade despite sitting at a prime location.

”I know this might sound like I am deflecting or making excuses to make you buy our products... but truly,” The Clerk sighed helplessly, ”There was no fault in our technique... never was. Grand Zen Ancestor created and mastered the Zen Constellation Coating technique to perfection, passing it along as his legacy before his death. My family has since mastered it and used it to coat thousands of artifacts for centuries without a single complaint...”

”I see...” Levi nodded.

After studying the pistol with his own hands, he knew that the technique was flawless and the situation was man-made.

As he expected, the clerk’s expression and tone turned frigid as she continued, ”It was all the doing of House Targon and my traitorous uncle, who sold us out cold to them.”

Levi wasn’t surprised by this piece of information, as House Zen had been spending great efforts to reclaim their reputation by exposing the real truth behind their scandal.

They mentioned House Targon and the traitor in every discussion, forum, or whatnot... unfortunately, the damage was too severe, and House Targon’s efforts to bury their attempts made it near impossible for them to clear their name without evidence.

”House Targon?” Levi tilted his head in confusion, acting clueless.

He knew if the clerk were to sniff out his true immoral motives of buying their store in their moment of weakness, it would classify him at the same level as House Targon.

”They are our neighboring noble estate that has always been seeking to expand their estate by absorbing our territory.” The Clerk scoffed hatefully, ”The bastards have been scheming to devour us for decades... they have assassinated our best talents, in whom we placed our hopes to become Barons and continue our Noble bloodline... now, it’s already too l...”

Before she could finish her grievance, she swallowed the rest of her words after realizing that she was about to expose a serious secret.

The Final Demotion Timer.

Levi picked up on the change of vibe immediately... he understood that House Zen tried their best to keep it under wraps to buy themselves some time to salvage the situation before the wolves were aware.

But alas... once the timer was activated, they were given three months to have a descendant obtain a noble title.

This situation happened mostly to low social noble houses (Barons/Viscounts) with the House’s founder dying in the Ring or somewhere else... if a Noble House had no one amidst them with a genuine noble title who was still alive, they were given a couple of decades as a grace period for a descendant to reclaim their honor.

If the descendants failed to become nobles during this period, the System kicked off the Final Demotion Timer... it was like an evacuation paper. Pay up with an appropriate noble status or lose the privileges.

Although only the privileges were lost, and not the territory itself, the privileges were extremely important... after all, only nobles had the right to build towns, cities, and nations within their territories.

Once the privileges were lost, the citizens who kept the territory’s economy alive would be kicked out to their original homes... regardless of whether it was on an already corrupted planet or not, since they weren’t official homeowners.

Besides this, the Noble House would crumble under the territory taxes and all the upgrades done to it without the citizens to help them pay.

The Boundless Expanse gave everyone a chance at becoming kings and queens using their own strength... but at the same time, it could take it just as fast if the bloodline proved incapable of maintaining the status.

Knowing this, Levi kept his clueless attitude and changed the subject right away.

”I always had good intuition for people... you don’t have to say more, I believe you.” Levi softened his tone to win her over, ”I am sorry your family has to go through this... if it helps, I am willing to purchase six defensive artifacts for myself and friends.”

Hearing this, the clerk was left stunned... she looked at Levi’s sincere smile and felt at ease, like he truly cared for her family’s story.

She had told the same story over and over again in the network and in public... yet, everyone either called her a fraud, a liar, or outright ignored her.

Zen House’s reputation was simply... unredeemable from a business standpoint without an immense amount of money to bury it and start all over.

But they were economically crippled after they lost the class-action suit and their golden goose of selling reinforced artifacts.

The situation was so bad that this was her first genuine sale of artifacts in two months... Yet, the clerk wasn’t a simple worker.

She stifled her excitement and swiftly guided Levi through their collection of Artifacts, allowing him to pick whatever he fancied... once he chose six artifacts, she stored them in containers and returned to the counter to be paid.

Ting!

Levi paid around five thousand credits on the dimensional screen and then gave her a slight head nod in appreciation before walking out of the store.

The clerk kept her eyes affixed on his back until he disappeared amidst the crowded streets. Immediately after, she broke out some dance moves in happiness while hyping herself up.

”I maaaade a sale... I maaaade a sale... who made a sale? Meee... ah, ah, ah!”

Alas, as she was dancing her excitement away, Levi returned unexpectedly and stood at the entrance of the shop, his expression unreadable as he watched the clerk’s victory dance.

She was currently mid-spin, pumping both fists into the air with a wide grin... but as she spun around to finish her move, her eyes locked onto Levi’s amused smile.

He hadn’t moved an inch... he just stood there, one hand on the doorframe. The clerk froze... her arms were still raised in the air, one leg slightly lifted.

The silence in the shop lasted for a few seconds... then, she dropped instantly behind the counter in pure panic.

Levi cleared his throat and then said, ”I forgot to ask... I might need to arrange a delivery for a larger order later. What is your name and contact number?”

A few moments passed... Slowly, a single white-furred hand appeared from behind the counter, trembling slightly. It held a small business card between two fingers.

”I’m Sati Zen...” A muffled whisper came from the floor. ”The number is on the card.”

Levi stepped forward and took the card from her fingers... then, he nodded to the empty air.

”Thank you, Sati...” He turned and walked out for the second time... then, he turned his head and added with an amused tone, ”Cute dance moves.”

”...”

Behind the counter, Sati remained curled in a ball, pressing her face against her knees and wishing the floor would just open up and swallow her whole.

After a couple of moments dying in shame, Sati finally peeked from above the counter... she sighed in relief after seeing no one was around. For the first time, she was happy that her store was empty.

’I hope I didn’t butcher his desire for a second sale by my unprofessionalism...’ Sati murmured, her gaze affixed on the busy street.