Ki Horizons - [Litrpg, Adventure, Power Levels]

The next thing I wanted to do today was something that made me grin.

Capsules.

Those little amazing things I'd seen beforehand. They were great. The idea of simply being able to store my backpack and carry it around without it being on my back sounded great! Except… well… would it have the same weight? Wait, I'd have to be careful not to lose the capsule itself or I'd lose everything…

Alright, they had clear drawbacks, but they were the closest thing I'd ever seen to real magic barring the painting trick I'd just seen. They would make any traveling I had to do way easier. If I could store food and drink as well?

…I needed them. I needed ten of them.

My smile lasted right up until I got to the Smiling Company's main building. Then it died and shriveled up. Oh. Right.

These people… they'd drowned me, broken me, stripped my island for parts, worked directly with Vega, and I hadn't forgotten all the dead bodies in the sewers.

And I was smiling about one of their inventions.

My frown curled so hard I thought I could feel it cracking my face.

A company wasn't like a person. They could be evil and have non-evil people in it. It made it… annoying. If it was just one person I could… do nothing, actually. They'd probably be above Master's strength. I… I felt more powerless than normal. Fighting a company felt both impossible and vague, not that I even could. All this strength and what has it gotten me? Smiling happily at my enemies.

Whatever. I just had to buy the stupid capsules and go back to the Dojo. I'd find something more fun to do after this.

Walking in, I wasn't surprised by what I saw. The Smile Company was a massive tech company with stores all over, but the main building was a massive skyscraper with the width of a large park. It was probably literally the biggest building I'd ever been in. The first floor was bright and shiny, with tons of people walking around the aisles and buying different pieces of technology. I saw the first floor was mainly dedicated to personal devices. There was a whole aisle for drones, another for Vambraces, and even one for more mundane things like hologram projectors or body mods. Huh. I didn't see too many people with those usually, but some people preferred a robot arm to healing their own I guessed. Or maybe it was cheaper?

"Hello! Can I help you?" A pink-skinned woman with tentacles for hair and in all white came up to me with the Smile Company's classic logo across her uniform. Her smile was perfectly plastic though. It just reeked of… insincere. Especially after talking to Ryu. I don't know what I was expecting but it made my mood sour even further.

"I heard you have something called Capsules?"

"Of course! Right this way, the demonstration is just about to start!"

Huh? Well, alright. A quick walk on a fast moving walkway took us further and further into the store and I could slowly feel my eyes going wider and wider the deeper we got. There was a lot of open space, sure, but this place was massive beyond all measure. All around me were pieces and different kinds of technology, most I couldn't recognize by sight alone. Were these things what people had in their own homes? I'd seen a few here and there but…

The city would look very different if all of these were far more common. I might not even recognize it!

Then I saw the holographic price underneath a few items and immediately understood. Who had that much Zeni to throw around on a purifier?! That fridge cost over two thousand Zeni! A washing machine for a thousand? Why?

Wait a minute.

"Why are there so many appliances?"

"Hmm? I'm sorry dear customer, what do you mean?"

"I mean… it just seems… low tech for the Smile Company."

"Ah! Although we usually outsource to our generous subsidiaries, we hold generous amounts of our main stock here. Feel free to buy anything that catches your eye!"

I frowned at that answer. Subsidiaries. That would mean…

"How many places sell the Smile Company products?"

The woman blinked at me. Her customer service smile seemed to pause for a moment.

"Uh. All of them?"

Now it was my turn to blink. All of them? Wait, all of the technology that was sold in Vega City came from the Smile Company? Wait, was she saying all businesses were part of the Smile Company? That couldn't be right.

"That can't be right. The Smile Company can't own every business."

"Oh! No, no, of course not! The Smile Company has almost no businesses directly underneath it without them being a part of the Smile Company, mostly for branding reasons. However, any technology sold in Vega City and many cities, towns, and beyond are directly serviced, sent out, and owned by The Smile Company. Any place that sells technology is under the Smile Company license!"

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

What.

"What if someone tries to sell, say, a toaster they made themselves then?"

"If it's in Vega City, they'll need to pay a copyright fee to The Smile Company."

"What if they made the technology themselves?"

"They need to pay a competition fee for a time, give up their designs as is the law, and then pay a copyright fee. If they want to sell it, that is."

…

The Smile Company was truly evil. I was in the ultimate despair of capitalism. Somehow, somehow, one day, I must destroy this place and everything it built up. I must burn it to the ground and salt its ashes. It seemed while the King was out, a different kind of Tyrant with honeyed words and smiles had taken his place. One with many limbs and almost too many faces. How one single handledly destroyed a company was beyond me. How strong would I have to be? How could I do it? Surely… surely any company had leaders right? Could I just… attack them? Remove them by force? Yeah, yeah. Companies had CEO's and super rich stockholders. Surely if they died…

"Oh look! We're here!"

I was knocked out of plans for murder at the sight of a rather expensive looking group of gatherers. I almost felt out of place for a moment. Their clothes were all different but they all practically screamed money. They were obviously rich. Wait, was I rich? Wait, was I obviously rich? I looked down at my clothes. A plain deep blue shirt and jeans met my eyes. Oh. No. Thank the gods for that.

Stepping off the moving walkway, I joined the crowd, facing a decently large stage that had been set up in the middle of the floor. We were so close to the back, I could actually see the walls. The metal platform had curtains drawn and sounds coming from the back. I stood with the rest of the crowd to see what all the fuss was about. I barely noticed the employee leaving me.

This week was turning out even better than expected. I had just wanted to come buy some capsules but now I was apparently seeing some kind of product demonstration of them. And not one held in a mall but the Smile Company itself.

Soon a man appeared but not a normal one. Today seemed to be having a theme. First Ryu being a dragon descendant… and now an honest to god Demon. I wasn't the only one staring at their pale blue skin, small white horns, and shimmering aura around them.

The tiger man next to me literally gasped.

Demons were… they were other. They came from a different realm, hard to reach by any normal person, and rarely left. They were all strong, born at what I heard was power level [50]. And the realm itself… it was dark, barren, and malevolent. And that was mirrored by their people, at least, so I'd heard. Most of them were straight up evil, others purely negative in some way, but the words 'nice' or 'good' next to a demon was almost unheard of. At the very minimum, they were sketchy or unpleasant.

Just seeing the being before me shattered a few prejudices though.

For starters, he was smiling happily. Secondly, he was wearing a top hat and had a performer's outfit on.

"Welcome, welcome everyone! I'm so glad to see you all are in attendance. Today, we'll be showing the Smile Company's brand new product. Now, you might have heard or seen them earlier, but let me show you just what they can do!"

He made a motion and the curtains pulled back… revealing nothing. Just an empty stage. I blinked in confusion. What was all the setup for then?

He turned and took out a capsule. He pressed down on it, but this time, nothing happened immediately. He held it up, moved it around, shook it, even juggled it, and finally… threw it at the empty stage. A bright blue puff of smoke appeared taking up a massive amount of space…

And then there was a car on the stage.

My jaw dropped open and I wasn't the only one.

"As you can see my fine customers, not only are the rumors true, they go even further beyond! Smile Company brand Capsules, patented naming, are fully able to store up to a medium sized car's worth of space and are perfectly safe! With our technology, it will only appear after sufficient space has been detected! Want to go on a journey across our fair planet? Why, just take a capsule or two or even ten! Want to make it easier to transport goods across the planet? Why, a few hundred of these safely secured and you can transport thousands of times more merchandise! Or are your desires more casual? Why, a quick trip to the grocery store will no longer require any carrying of awkward bags, furniture will be easy to move, and moving from home to home has never been so easy!"

I stared, enraptured by what I was seeing. The words almost hypnotically flowed into my ears. It wasn't that I necessarily needed any of this. When would I even use it? But… just one! I had to have just one!

I needed it! I had to have one! No! More! And even more! I needed to buy one and…

And…

I shook my head, feeling lightheaded. Something felt off. Yes, I wanted one and it was amazing but… why was I…

I looked around me, at all the very clearly rich people around, and their enraptured faces. As well as the demon whose words felt so… enticing.

Shock radiated out of me as my jaw dropped. My face slowly hardened.

No… was that even possible? It…

I felt the desire bubble up within me again. Master's words, Ryu's actions, the story of The Great Night… this was… this was-!

This was magic! Mental magic! I could feel it affecting me, coiling around me, making me want to buy buy buy. It felt so… insidious but also, subtle. I only felt my desires going out of my control but I couldn't even feel the magic itself.

Part of me was shocked and horrified. An honest to god Demon was using mental magic on me, trying to get me to do something that I kinda already wanted to do but not to this extent!

But another part of me…

Magic was real!

Master had said so, the story of The Great Night said so, but it was more urban myth and legend than anything real! I felt like my worldview was fully shattering. There was no Ki anything that I knew of that could affect the mind! Ki was all about energy but magic… I had no idea what it was about. It could theoretically do anything.

The demon continued on with his honeyed and poisonous words, entrancing all the buyers, before they began lining up to buy more. I hardly heard his speech, refusing to listen anymore. I may be in awe of magic… but someone had just tried to influence my mind.

I was going to get my damn capsule and get the hell out of here.

Right as I went up though…

An explosion rocked the building.