Chapter 9

Congratulations, Host has received an achievement.

1 DC Character added to player base. Review updated profit rate.

1 DC Character added to player base.

  Ethan has been staring at the message that lit up his phone out of nowhere. He shocked into a state of disbelief. He started getting side tracked by who among the various characters who could have possibly played Pokémon. Because what else could it have been?

  What heroes in DC, because why would a villain bother with his childish products, play his stuff. "I mean, I guess maybe Shazam, but then it would probably record all the others in his foster home. How many were there, like 6? Maybe more?"

  And thus started a long, long mumbling musing on who could possibly have been the one to play his games. The list of who grew longer and longer as Ethan attached even the slightest, most obscure reason he could think of as to why any of them would bother. I mean really? Superman playing because he was trying to impress Lois?

  1 DC Character added to player base.

  His thoughts came to a screeching halt when the second notification popped up. 'Another one?'

  Shaken, Ethan pull himself back from the chaotic thoughts threatening to surge into the forefront of his mind again. Scrolling back up through the logs, he returns to the note of him acquiring an achievement. Is it like the rewards that he had already gotten? Only one way to find out. He physically pushes on the screen before him.

 Congratulations, Host has received an achievement. Host has received the 'First Steps' achievement for adding one character from the DC Universe into Hosts player base. Please review updated profit rate.

  "Huh. Uh, I guess show me the updated things."

Updated Profit Rate

A Character is more valuable to the system than a normal citizen. As such, the system has seen fit to update Users exchange rate. Normal Citizens will continue to be worth a 1:200 ratio as has been the case previously, however DC Hero and Villain alike will be valued at a rate of 1:20. Overall, the power and influence of these individuals within this worlds Universal Laws dictate them as being 100% more valuable.

  Ethan just blinked at that very confusing explanation. "So, someone who appeared in a comic, movie or show is essentially multiplying how many points I'm getting from them. Right?"

Yes.

  Hmm, for a second he thought that he'd heard a bit of exasperation in its monotonous tone there.... Meh, he's probably just projecting his frustrations.

  "System, what does this achievement 'First Steps' give me?"  With all the stuff that he had been given, Ethan couldn't help the excitement building up. He ha been given time powers and the ability to split part of consciousness off to act independently. They may only work while he works, but still awesome.

Nothing.

  What.

  "What do you mean nothing? Explain." There can't be nothing right? The system always gives him something for his efforts.

 Host has yet to possess the functions that this achievement empowers.

  Ok so he does get something, but hasn't unlocked it yet? Now Ethan was even more confused. "Can you tell me when the 'function' that this is supposed to upgrade is unlocked?"

 Yes.

  Sweet! Wait a minute. Something doesn't feel right.

  "Can you tell me what the function is?"

No.

  The familiar anger of the system messing with him was starting to build. "What do you mean No?!"

System cannot provide data on unknown functions.

  "HUH! How can you know that you can't explain something without even knowing what that thing is?"

System is aware of possibilities, but cannot give information that it does not have access to.

  Ethan narrowed his eyes at the response. "Cannot or will not?"

Cannot.

  'Deep breath. Just take a deep breath Lambert and calm down. exploding at the emotionless AI will do nothing, but cause needless headaches.' Ethan thought to himself.

  "So is there anything you CAN tell me about these functions?"

...

  Strange. The system always responds, even if it is only to say that it can't respond. So why is there just nothing. "System, why aren't you saying anything?"

Requesting permission from Admin. Permission denied.

  "Explain what? You never tell me anything! The only info I ever get from you is whenever I'm just bored and look myself."

 Correct. Host had not asked in previous examples.

  "Not asked?! Of course I asked! What was different?" Seriously, why did this thing have to be so rude.

 When Host asked on subjects that Host is remembering, the proper functions and/or data had not yet been revealed. The system cannot act on data not present.

  "So why can't you just tell me?"

Host did not ask when functions became available.

  Eyebrows twitching madly, Ethan decided to save what little of his sanity. He started chanting a calming mantra that never fails. 'Change the subject before I break this computer. Change the subj-'

  "Hey system, tell me about Pokemon FireRed and OceanBlue's weekend profits."

  This weekends economic data analyzes that 107,378 copies have been sold.

  Yes, FireRed and OceanBlue. It was a way for Ethan to pay homage to the original Red and Blue without compromising the quality that the people are expecting.

  See while he loves the originals, they are still very much products of their time. For one they are in black and white. That alone would be seen poorly since it doesn't really serve to enhance anything like a noir style detective game would, so Ethan chose to purchase the templates of FireRed and LeafGreen. Both have sufficient graphics that the cuteness of the softer Pokemon and the coolness of the more intense species are able to shine through. It is all about connecting to the audience.

  By the way the Template for FireRed alone had cost him 10,000 points. By far the most expensive purchase he has ever had to make. Thankfully the cost of the LeafGreen template decreased to only 1,000 after, but still. Why did it cost that much?

  And they were just the templates! It is like purchasing a guide book, but then playing the game. Sure it helped, but you still had to deal with the AI and stupid spawn rates. Everything had to be programmed by himself at the end of the day even if he knew what 1 goes where and which zero goes there. But there were other problems that came from his purchasing the template of a game that was the tenth and eleventh main game in the Pokemon release timeline. Lovely.

  See, he may have forgotten how much extra content there was in the post game. The Sevii Islands were a problem as it had been designed as a way to allow for both Johto and Hoenn Pokemon to be caught. The work that he had to do to cover up those stupid islands had given him a migraine that refused to leave until the week after.

 I mean it is just covering up a massive portion of code that he actually wanted to keep, but not in its previous form and making it still worth while to explore. Instead he had to completely restructure everything that will be a challenge area as well as an expeditionary quest. What Ethan created was a mode to foreshadow Gold and Silver as Johto Pokemon become rare spawns throughout the islands and Kanto. In addition, he made it so that there is a 1% chance to encounter a Hoenn Pokemon randomly on the Sevii Islands however they will appear as question marks. Once the player captures one of these undiscovered Pokemon, Professor Oak will appear where ever they are and tell them that they will need to fill in these new entries by capturing them.

  This way Ethan can create new intrigue by planting them in advanced while still maintaining the fun of the sequels. Sure it'll only be 30 Johto Pokemon out of the 100 new entries. Though to be fair it'll be 15 to each the FireRed and OceanBlue as he had to make the different spawns matter for the purchase of the different games feel more worth it.

  Perhaps either in a moment of sympathy, or possibly evil who knows, Ethan made it so that there were going to be 10 Hoenn species that are running around with no changes to spawn rates. Both games will have the same ten. Regardless, the payer would never encounter the pseudo-legendaries or legendary/mythical Pokemon. And he will be operating on Gen 3 rules as the Dark Typing crucial for the mechanics to work properly.

   Seems that he chose well considering the big numbers appearing for the first 3 days of its release. Granted he had been doing a bunch of advertising on his mobile games. Side note, both products that were scheduled when he had gotten the boot from the system had done very well and quickly got 4 more employee bots.

  Subway Surfer was his way to perfect 3D platforming, kinda, and he is experimenting with better character cosmetics as well as accessories. Angry Birds was a necessary release in forcing Ethan to stop procrastinating and properly construct a proper physics engine. That had been a frustratingly mathematic disaster that proved to be very helpful when finalized as he could now use the parameters for future endeavors.

  "Forget it." He was done with this thing. Ethan thought that he would feel better after hearing the numbers, but it just ended up reminding him of his migraine inducing issues. "I'm out."

  And then he walked out the door.