The Guild of Gamers: The Shopkeeper

Chapter 1: Robbed by a ROB

A/N: Hello everyone! As usual my whims control my writing. I have been reading a large number of "Gamer Shopkeeper" fanfics lately. These honestly are too few in number or rather incomplete. Due to this I have decided that I should make one to work off of. This is something that I had to think over how to do. Some concepts of this are as with all fanfiction almost outright stolen from other works (Though not the actual writing as copy pasting it is lazy and stupid.) I have been thinking about making a as I currently have no job and thus no real way to support my desire to write. Let me know what you think of the idea. Obviously I wouldn't be charging for my writing as not even I am dumb enough to do a legal tumble with copyright laws. Instead I would be charging for the right to decide what I next write and work on.

Disclaimer: I own hardly anything. The Guild of Gamers is a concept created by TheDarkWolfShiro. Go check out his stuff if you haven't as he makes great works and makes stories come to life.

{System speech}

[System screens]

"Active Thoughts/Telepathic communication"

"Speech"

"SCREAMING AND OTHER LOUD SCHIST."

"ROB's and other higher plane beings speaking."

POV: Alexander Asími

I really should have honestly known better. I mean the chances that I would be selected for something cool were slim at best. Well part of me was selected, but I am getting ahead of myself here. Let me start at the beginning.

Hi my name is Alexander Asími, I am 25 years old and one of those stereotypical "Gamer" types. I've got a master's degree with a major in Economics and a minor in English. Unfortunately this doesn't mean I went anywhere with it or anything. Quite the opposite actually as I work at a 7-11 for the night shift. I make barely enough to fuel my rather rampant addiction to videogames and anime. You see despite having the dedication to get a master's degree I still barely passed. In fact most of my time was spent reading and consuming any and every piece of fiction I could get my hands on. From Rick Riordan to Tolkien, from Dune to every single paperback Starwars book I could get my hands on. I consumed it all no matter how great or how terrible. Fiction was more my world and life than reality ever was. Because of this I never really got anywhere, as all my motivation was wrapped up in those fictional worlds.

I had just sat down to start playing my latest addiction. A game called Baldur's Gate 3. I had been playing a barbarian simply for the sake of the super high strength stat so I could abuse the heck out of all the random containers no one cares if you take. This way I could easily fill them up with items and then sell all of them to merchants for just that little extra money. Then suddenly a void opened up under my feet and I along with a bunch of random stuff around my desk fell in. I don't know how long I fell or what I really saw. All I can say is that the blind eternities really are rather blinding and not physically but mentally, and leave it at that. I ended up being deposited on some strange island in the middle of the void. In front of me was a man or at least something that looked like one. The only really odd things were his eyes seemed to be made out of coins and his teeth out of gold as well. It was only when he spoke that I realized he wasn't even slightly human.

"Hello Alexander, my name is Mammon. I have come to you with an offer. See one of my compatriots recently told me about this little organization he joined. An organization called The Guild of Gamers. This organization allows one to take people from their world and send them to another with a set of powers. I wish for a part in this organization and must make my own agent in order to do so. That is where you come in. Simply sign this contract and I will make you my agent."

It took me a moment to catch my breathe after my near panic attack over suddenly being somewhere else and, even longer to process what this... being said. Once I had processed this though I had a few questions.
"Where- Where are we? And what all is in this for me anyway?"

"We are in what will become your hub world as for what is in it for you well... What do you want?"

I didn't realize at the time nor did I notice how this entity seemed almost, amused by my attempts to gain more out of this nor the dangerousness of his smile. Instead I was focused on processing this situation and in turn milking it for all it was worth. No matter how much I love my life now I wish I had. Dear creator I wish I had.
"I want all the items that got taken with me to become their real counterparts! And a daily stipend of money for whatever world I am in so I can buy things and not worry about a boring job... And a house or something to spend my time on this hub in!" I had said as I gestured to the items that had fallen with me. A replica of Excalibur from the Fate verse, a set of Skyrim spell books, and a Harry Potter universe wand designed by my uncle out of the wood my wand supposedly would have been. (14 inches long made out of Larch with a unicorn tail hair.) At the time I was hoping to get just one of my requests. The fact he fulfilled them all even before I signed should have told me something was wrong.

"Done. Anything else? Once you sign the contract there is no going back."

I had gaped as the sword flashed and bathed the area in golden light, and what looked like a mix of a house and a shop rose out of the ground. Well that and what looked like a bag of coins appeared on ground near it. I should have asked for more. Instead I just looked at him for a moment after picking up Excalibur (and that just sent all kinds of warm tingly feelings up my spine) and walked over.
"Where do I sign?" I asked in answer and in reply he held out a glowing sheet of paper to me.

"Just cut your thumb and place some of your blood on the line. No use making you sign it with a quill or pen when it needs your blood anyway." He said gesturing to the blade in my hand.

I sliced my thumb with a wince with Excalibur before putting my blood on the line. The blood then formed into a glowing name or well part of one. Instead of it saying Alexander Asími it instead only said Ander.
"Hey I think something is wrong this is only part of my name."

"Nothing is wrong Alex after all I only need PART of you!" Before I could react golden portals opened up around me as tentacles seemingly made of hundreds of coins lunged out at me.

"Mammon what the fuck?!" I shouted as I swung Excalibur at the tentacles slicing through them and severing an arm off him that he almost instantly regrew. I fought back for as long as I could but, eventually I was overwhelmed and one of the tentacles stabbed through me as agony on a level I could never have understood hit me. I felt part of me tear away when that tentacle pulled out of me and an emptiness, a brokenness like none other hit me.

"Pleasure doing business with you Alex." Mammon said before leaving me there bleeding and dying on that rock in the middle of the blind eternities.

I was dying. No worse I was UNRAVELING and I could feel it happening. Too much of my soul was taken too much of ME. I had to do something fast or everything I was would cease. I shuddered when I first bit into one of those golden tentacles and again as the holes in my soul were replaced with whatever Mammon was. After having finished the tentacle off I was going to crawl for the other ones only for them and Mammon's arm to dissolve and melt into me. The feeling of emptiness and brokenness now was gone but I was still in danger. My body was breaking down and I was bleeding out still.

I instinctively reached for the wand and it too dissolved as the core too merged with me and my blood turned the color of silver as my wounds started to heal. Something was still wrong though. The bits of whatever Mammon was were mutating inside me. Twisting and changing me into some inhuman horror. The purity and goodness of the unicorn essence was preventing it from killing me but it wasn't enough. So I grabbed the next item within reach and started to absorb it too. Excalibur started to crack and fracture in my hands before turning into dust and being absorbed into me as well. My body started to settle and return to normal. Or at least close to it as bits of me still seemed covered in patches of golden coin like scales and silvery bits of metal. Thankfully it seemed the worst was over.

Then my mind twisted in new directions and in ways it almost seemed, DEEPER, and I could understand. The way that Mammon had done what he had. What I had done to myself in desperation and fear. And I was only not driven mad due to the influence of Excalibur. The crystallization of humanity's hopes and dreams. It... bound my mind to the human viewpoint and human thought processes. Otherwise I would have become some eldritch abomination.

It was then something flickered into view, a glitching screen that seemed to struggle to life.

{Systems damaged. Merchant system rebooting in repair mode. Dispensing quest to aid repair progress.}

[Quest: H̟̟̼̄̎̚͜͝e̼̱͕͍̒̉̀̚ę̤̓̔Ḙ͖̠̂̊̀ε̢̼̞͊̏̿L̠͓̮̊́͝͠ͅļ̜̲̦͊͂̚͡l̨͉̦̰͎̄͐̿̌̍p̡͍̼̽̌͛ ̧̨̫̹̾̀͑͋͟͠M͖͔͙̱̆͒́͡ḙ̰̲̄͊̍ė̬͍͗e̺̩͐̿ẽ̯̲͔͡͝

⊙bjective:
Giiiiive Currency: ؋฿ ₵¢₡.د.ج$Đ֏€Ξفلس₲₴₭ ₺ ₦₱£៛ ރ₹₪₩¥¤

̯̗̳͑͂̑R͚̞̊̕E̜̓w̨̠͊̆a̜͆a̛͚a̻̝͂͘a̛̱̺͌a̺͚͙̓͊̕ȃ͔̳͓̺̅͝͡r̫̥̳̈̇̽̽͟d̪͙̤̣̿͂̃̕:͙͠ ̖̤̕̕P̦͋Ĺ̗̼͐E̝̮͕͓͌͗̏̊͘͜E̥̜͓͂͒̈̎͢È̡̡̧̱́̇͂E̘̜̐̕Ȩ͉̇́Ẹ͚̾̑Ë͇̯̖̓͘Ẽ̙͜͡A͕̔A̻̺̯̟͋͊̿̓Ą͎̭̋̂̍Š̘̍͢È̘E͔̋E̤͈̦̪̅̊̃͡Ȅ͍̭͍̒̐ ]

Just looking at this twisted and glitched mess was giving me a headache. It took me a while to figure out just what it wanted as I went and grabbed the Skyrim books. When I did I headed towards the building and picked up the pouch. Causing another PING and a slightly less glitchy mess.

[Ḯ̹̏͂͢͢N̼̾V̮̪̟̇̈́͊̓͢Ẽ͚͙͗͘͟Ṋ̬̌̐T̤̜̲̭͌̐̎̀͜͡O̮̻͒͐R̬̬͌͑Y̼̠͖͑̓͂ ̬̬͕̍͐̈Ü̩̲̬̰͂̀͝Ǹ̛̘̞̻̊L͔̥͛̚C̡̧̮͒́̿Ō̠͖͇̺̄͐͐E̡̢̜̔̑̒K̞̗̩̀̀̌E̬̒D̨͍̭͈̪̈̀͒͌̒]

I then put one of the gold coins in the bag into my inventory after marveling over the actual GOLD coins.

{Quest complete:

[Quest: H̟̟̼̄̎̚͜͝e̼̱͕͍̒̉̀̚ę̤̓̔Ḙ͖̠̂̊̀ε̢̼̞͊̏̿L̠͓̮̊́͝͠ͅļ̜̲̦͊͂̚͡l̨͉̦̰͎̄͐̿̌̍p̡͍̼̽̌͛ ̧̨̫̹̾̀͑͋͟͠M͖͔͙̱̆͒́͡ḙ̰̲̄͊̍ė̬͍͗e̺̩͐̿ẽ̯̲͔͡͝

⊙bjective:
Giiiiive Currency: ؋฿ ₵¢₡.د.ج$Đ֏€Ξفلس₲₴₭ ₺ ₦₱£៛ ރ₹₪₩¥¤

̯̗̳͑͂̑R͚̞̊̕E̜̓w̨̠͊̆a̜͆a̛͚a̻̝͂͘a̛̱̺͌a̺͚͙̓͊̕ȃ͔̳͓̺̅͝͡r̫̥̳̈̇̽̽͟d̪͙̤̣̿͂̃̕:͙͠ ̖̤̕̕P̦͋Ĺ̗̼͐E̝̮͕͓͌͗̏̊͘͜E̥̜͓͂͒̈̎͢È̡̡̧̱́̇͂E̘̜̐̕Ȩ͉̇́Ẹ͚̾̑Ë͇̯̖̓͘Ẽ̙͜͡A͕̔A̻̺̯̟͋͊̿̓Ą͎̭̋̂̍Š̘̍͢È̘E͔̋E̤͈̦̪̅̊̃͡Ȅ͍̭͍̒̐ ]}

{System repair partially successful. Several functions have been unlocked.}

[Home Dimension Unlocked: You can enter your home dimension once more by leaving out the back door of your Shop. (Warning due to soul and system damage Home Dimension could not be located. Selecting Random Dimension of equivalent or higher tech level.)]

[Currency Conversion Unlocked: You can turn any currency into another. For example you can turn gold coins into dollar bills. (Warning currency must have entered inventory in order to be converted and a 50% fee is taken from converting metal currency into cash.)]

[Quest: Restock your shop.

Objective: Use your new abilities to restock your shop with available funds.

Reward: Further repair of the system and unlock of further system functions.]

Well... Looks l am going shopping.

A/N Well that is the prologue. Let me know what you guys think. Advice is always welcome. I am writing this story for me and less for others. I have seen too many unfinished versions of this kind of fic so I decided to write my own.