The Omnistore System

Chapter 397: Promises and Priorities

Unfortunately for him, the store didn't have any more essence in stock, but they assured him there would be more tomorrow and advised him to come early if he wanted some.

"Then can I pay for them in advance?" he asked excitedly, holding the Qi Grass essence tightly.

Sia looked to Kevin for an answer, and he interjected, "Unfortunately, no, sir. We can't accept advance payment as it's not confirmed if there will be more essence tomorrow. We also have other customers to consider. Please come back tomorrow if you'd like to purchase more."

This caused the young alchemist's excitement to lessen a bit, but he nodded in

understanding. As he paid for the essence in his hand, he requested, "Please save some for me if I get a bit late..." and then headed outside.

"I'll try..." Sia replied with an apologetic look, indicating she might not be able to, making him feel a bit more dejected.

As the young alchemist left, Sia resumed attending to the other customers waiting in line. Kevin, seizing the moment of free time, went to check on the essence extractor. The shortage of essence was due to the fact that the machine took at least three hours, depending on the herb, to extract the essence. Qi Grass, in particular, took almost four hours per kilogram. So, there was only few hundreds gram of essence ready by evening, as Kevin had set the machine to process the herbs in the afternoon.

The essence had already sold out. There was still more in the large container attached to the machine, at least a few hundred grams, but Kevin decided not to sell it until tomorrow, opting to release it in batches. He realized that if someone like Simu bought all the essence in one go, it would leave other customers empty-handed. Given the number of wealthy cultivators, he considered placing restrictions on how much essence each person could buy, though he wasn't sure if the system would allow it.

After checking all the equipment again, Kevin glanced at the clock and saw it was already evening. Heading out, he noticed only a few customers left. He quickly helped the three employees attend to them and then sent them on their way. "You three can go now, have fun," Kevin said, fidgeting with his watch. "Use this to do that. It's a bonus for working hard these busy weeks."

The three looked excited, though Sia was not as enthusiastic as Chloe and Amy, who were eyeing their watches where Kevin had just sent them half of their salary. Seeing their excitement, Kevin smiled as all three thanked him. Without questioning why he was closing the shop early, they happily went on their ways.

Kevin closed the shop early because he had a date tonight and planned to have it there. As he thought about the petite figure of the girl he was meeting, his excitement grew, evident in the physical reaction he couldn't help. With these thoughts in mind, he headed to the storeroom to get it ready for their date. However, his anticipation was interrupted as his watch rang.

He looked at the message with confusion-it was from his mother, Maria. Reading it, he muttered to himself, "Why did she come here?"

Stepping outside to greet her, he wore an excited smile, though his face showed surprise. "Mom, what are you doing here?" he asked.

Maria looked a bit angry as she pushed past him at the entrance, stepping inside. She glanced around the store with surprised eyes but maintained her angry fa?ade. "Why can't I come to my own son's store?" she said.

Kevin shook his head with a helpless smile as he hugged her from behind, wrapping his arms around her curvy waist. "You are more than welcome," he said softly.

Maria smiled, feeling his embrace and his kisses on her shoulder and cheek. She caressed his face and said, "I just came because you haven't been spending much time with me, even after saying you would..."

Kevin felt a twinge of guilt hearing her words. He had promised to be with her every night, but some nights he stayed out with others, and on other nights, he came home late to find her already asleep. Sometimes, he would wake her up to be together, but not always, as he too got tired. They had been spending less and less time together these days.

Feeling even more guilty, Kevin gently turned Maria to face him. With a serious expression, he said, "Wait for me in that room. We're going to spend all this time together, okay?"

Maria was a bit surprised by his seriousness. Chuckling, she gave him a kiss on the lips and said, "Then come quickly." She headed to the room with a curious expression, unaware of the changes in the store recently.

Watching her go, Kevin called Key, who picked up quickly. He heard her excited tone, "Hey, I was just on my way there. Were you waiting for me?"

Kevin felt a pang of guilt hearing her excited tone. Even though he was dating her as part of his scheme, and knowing she had similar intentions, he knew she was genuinely eager to meet him—not because she loved him, but because she was infatuated with his penis's prowess. He didn't like disappointing them, and though he wanted to postpone their date, he had to think of another way.

Listening to his lower brain's complaints, Kevin's real mind worked to tackle the situation. Both of them were important to him, with Maria being more significant. Thinking quickly, he said, "Hi, yeah, I was waiting to meet you all day, but..."

"But I still have some customers in the store. Can you come in half an hour or so?" Kevin sounded apologetic.

"Okay, but not more than half an hour..." Key sounded dejected as she replied. "Bye." She hung up, leaving Kevin to smile to himself as he gained a bit more time to figure out how to navigate this situation.

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