Date: Unspecified Time: Unspecified Location: Myriad Realms, Lil. Red Storm, Seed World, Trophy Section, Inter-realm city, Sector DS0909, Chaos Dwarven District
Walking into the Chaos Dwarven District, Wyatt felt overwhelmed. There were too many choices, and each one seemed like the best. He couldn't make up his mind—every workshop appeared similar, offering no clear way to distinguish one from another without analyzing their items individually.
Each workshop belonged to a Chaos Dwarven guild, all renowned for their craftsmanship. The inter-realm network was no help either; it offered little to no information to differentiate the workshops. Wyatt specifically wanted to find a workshop skilled in refining corpse puppets, but the network provided almost no relevant details. While he understood the Chaos Dwarves' disdain for gimmicks, he couldn't help but think they could at least list what they sold and who excelled at what.
The lack of guidance was frustrating. Half of Wyatt's enthusiasm for creating a corpse puppet daughter gem had already faded. With no other options, he decided to choose a workshop at random and see what surprises fate had in store for him. As he ventured deeper into the district, a workshop in a back alley caught his attention, and he stepped inside.
Inside, Wyatt found himself in a dimly lit hall shrouded in eerie darkness, with a faint red-amber light glowing at the far end. With no front desk or attendant to greet him, he walked toward the light. As he moved forward, the part of the hallway he occupied lit up, revealing items displayed on the walls to his left and right.
With his first step, a sword appeared on the right wall, and a spear on the left. When he took another step, the displays changed: a lance on the right and a round hammer on the left. Curious, he stepped back, and the sword and spear reappeared. Without even using his soul pupils, Wyatt had realized he was inside an array and solved it. Patiently, he continued walking, waiting for the walls to display what he sought—a corpse puppet.
After a while, the wall on his right showcased a humanoid corpse puppet resembling a human. This confirmed his suspicion: the array tailored its displays to weapons and items suited to his form rather than those specialized for other races. Despite finding this mildly interesting, he felt it was an inefficient use of time. Still, he stepped toward the wall with the humanoid corpse puppet, which transformed into a door.
Opening the door, Wyatt stepped into a brightly lit, massive hall that resembled a superhero's lair, complete with displays of weapons, costumes, and trophies. However, in this case, the displays featured various humanoid corpse puppets. As he approached one, he was startled to hear information about the puppet whispered in his ears.
It became clear the workshop operated without any attendants. Customers had to figure things out and help themselves. Wyatt found this method of service both inconvenient and impractical. To many, it reflected the Chaos Dwarves' immense confidence and pride in their creations. However, Wyatt felt as though the workshop owner was indirectly telling him—or any customer—that they weren't worth their time. The owner would rather focus on refining their craft than waste effort on customer service.
Wondering if the Chaos Dwarf would maintain the same indifferent attitude toward him, Wyatt summoned his unranked grimoire and retrieved a seemingly ordinary red stone, about the size of a basketball, from his storage. Holding it in his hand, he continued to slowly gaze at the puppets, awaiting the result of his little social experiment.
He didn't have to wait long. The grandiose ceiling of the hall morphed, transforming into a massive eye that peeked into the room and locked its gaze onto the stone in Wyatt's hand. Taking the cue, Wyatt calmly returned the stone to his storage card and resumed studying the humanoid corpse puppets, ignoring the eye above, which now seemed to be staring directly at him.
The corpse puppets all resembled humans, though some had pointed ears or noses or sharp nails resembling claws, while others appeared larger, almost giant-like, compared to the average human size. They looked decent, but their levels ranged only from the demon grandmaster realm to demon emperor at best. Higher-realm puppets weren't on display, nor were there any puppets crafted for other species with different shapes and sizes. Wyatt couldn't help but wonder: was the array simply assuming his preference based on his physical build and realm, or was it just being outright racist?
Considering this was a Chaos Dwarf's workshop, Wyatt concluded it was likely the former, but that realization only deepened his disappointment. He had expected a Chaos Dwarf to implement a more sophisticated system, especially if they were too busy or unwilling to hire staff to attend to customers.
Wyatt had tried to find a way to communicate with the array managing the workshop to specify what he wanted, but no such function existed. The array was rudimentary, riddled with flaws, and utterly lacked a decent customer interface. While the concept behind it was sound, the execution was abysmal.
He should have known better than to expect much from a workshop that didn't even have a name. Yes, the Chaos Dwarf responsible for this workshop hadn't bothered naming it. Even the Devil Merchant Code referred to it as "Unnamed." No, it wasn't as though they named it Unnamed intentionally—they simply hadn't chosen a name at all, leaving the Devil Merchant Code to fill in the blank with "Unnamed Workshop—10101." Showing that this chaos Dwarf wasn't and last to do this. Fed up with the array and seeing that the Chaos Dwarf who ran the workshop still wasn't willing to appear, even after Wyatt had drawn out a precious ore that caught their attention, he decided to cut his losses and try his luck at another workshop. His experience here solidified his belief in the importance of marketing and a strong online presence for any brand. Had this workshop invested in such efforts, the bad reviews and negative customer feedback might have warned him in advance, saving him from wasting his time entering it.
However, just as he headed out without purchasing anything, instead of finding himself back on the streets of the Chaos Dwarven District, Wyatt appeared in a plain, white, seemingly endless hall. Before he could process the abrupt change, a young dwarf with bare torso and leather skirt materialized in front of him and demanded, "Mortal, take out the Orbiumite!"