Sage Arello, a 15 year old girl with a troubled past and her best friend Travis encounters the world of the hidden Valkyries, a secret project created during the last and final moment of need in a war between two different lands. The Puzzle Master has protected these overpowered winged beings from the world, for if anyone knew, another war would begin, along with the massacre of a whole land of people. The Puzzle Master’s plan involves bringing all the Valkyries to justice using Sage, who is the most essential part of the plan. She can save the world, or she can cause destruction behind her. But in the end, the choice is up to her.

*Alexa's POV*

I woke up with birds chirping on my window sill.

Checking the time, I noticed that it was only six in the morning.

Sighing, I stood up and banged my window hard, making the birds fly away. That's what they deserved, busy singing horribly and waking me up.

I went back to bed and messaged my online best friend, Cherry. I messaged her a 'Good Morning' and told her all about my brothers and the theory I had.

She wouldn't really understand much of it, though, as I was pretty sure that she had never read a mafia book before.

I didn't get a reply back, so I guessed she was either sleeping or doing her homework.

So on Wattpad, I went to my library and continued with my mafia book to find some clues for the puzzle I was joining together.

I was really happy to see that Wattpad was working as yesterday they had said that it wasn't going to be working for two days.

There was a small knock on my door before someone walked in, it was Will.

"You're up early," He said.

I shrugged,"Those stupid birds had to wake me up."

"Language," Will warned sternly before coming to sit on my bed. I quickly switched off my phone, not wanting him to see what I was reading.

"Anyways," He said,"What are you doing?"

It was time to act casual, I knew what to say as I had come up with a list of lies while reading mafia books.

"I was just looking for reading apps, I have Webtoon, Webnovel, Inkitt..."

I didn't mention Wattpad just to be on the safe side.

"None of them have caught my eye yet, do you know any good reading apps?" I asked.

"Well there's W-" Will started off,"Webtoon, but you just said that, so never mind."

I squinted my eyes in suspicion before shrugging it off.

"Anyways, I came here to wake you up for breakfast," Will said clearing his throat a bit.

I straight away sprung up, energy coming out of no where. I just realized how hungry I was.

Will chuckled, standing up as well.

"Carry me?" I asked, attempting to do puppy eyes. I knew I looked like a goat - no wait, that's just offending the poor goats.

Luckily Will said,"Just this once, don't want anyone to think that my sorella is a baby."

"Hey!" I exclaimed, but nevertheless wrapping my arms and legs around him like a koala as he took me to the dining room.

Am my brothers were there, surprisingly enough, even Elonzo.

"Good Morning!" I said.

I received five back as I knowingly slipped into the seat next to Blake, who had his phone out and staring at his screen.

"What you doing?" I asked him.

Blake just pushed my head to the side before murmuring a,"None-Of-Your-Bussiness."

"Ouc-" But I was cut off by Elonzo.

"We have a good day planned for you, Alexa. Blake, Ryder and Tyler are going to be taking you shopping," He said.

They all waited for me to say something.

What if I went out with my brothers and their enemies came out of nowhere ? I was too young to be shot!

I immediately shook my and four of my brothers gave me a weird look.

"I don't like shopping," I said, which was true.

Five minutes into shopping and I would start complaining to how tired I was. Like- just get me a hoodie and leggings and I was fine!

"You're lying," Blake straight away said,"Girls your age love to shop." He then showed my brothers something on his phone.

"It's true," They all sided Blake.

"Well then I guess I'm different," I said shrugging,"You can even ask mum, I'm not lying."

"You're still going," Blake forced.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Exactly," Blake said smirking.

I face palmed myself, why did it only work in books.

"I am not going, and that's final. Full stop."

"Bambina," Will said trying to convince me,"If you go, I'll buy you ice cream."

I brush out laughing.

"I-I don't even l-like ice cream," I said, finding it hard to talk.

"Fine then," Will said thinking,"What about cake?"

This just made me laugh harder,"I-I don't even like t-that either."

"Weird child," Ryder and Tyler said at the same time.

Will sighed and looked at Elonzo for help as my laughter died out.

Elonzo took one look at me, and I gave him my best -most probably ugliest- puppy look.

I don't know how it worked, but after his cold eyes searched through me, he sighed,"Forget it, she'll just stay home."

Blake snorted,"Watch her get bored and plead us to take her out."

He then showed my brothers something from his phone, completely ignoring for the fact that I wanted to see as well.

But I just pushed my plate, that was empty, away.

"I'll be in my room if you need me," I said.

The moment I got onto my phone, I checked if Cherry had messaged me, but there was nothing.

Where she lived, it was six in the evening. Why hadn't she messaged me yet?

I shrugged it off, she was probably busy with her own life.

I then decided to scroll through Tiktok as it has been a while.

Shopping for Alex had been difficult because most of what he liked seemed to be directly related to food and Claire had already filled his stocking with snacks. She ended up primarily getting him clothes because he owned so few of them but also got him a thousand-piece puzzle and a few board games she didn't already own. 
The Oreo pajamas had by far been the most sentimental gift she had gotten for him but he didn't seem to mind. He looked quite pleased with all of his presents. 
Claire's presents from Alex included cookie cutters, an illustrated plant guide, a new pair of running shoes, and some anime merch from shows they had watched together. Once again she was touched by his thoughtfulness. 
Ethan was probably the happiest out of everyone with his presents though. Most of her budget for him had gone into buying a used iPad so he would be able to watch movies on his own back at his foster home but she also got him a Lego set and a pair of Nerf guns with extra foam bullets. 
"These guns won't hurt anyone? They're meant to be played with?" he asked curiously. 
"Yep. Kids play with them all the time," Claire explained. "You and Alex can have a Nerf battle if you want. I'm probably severely outmatched against either of you."
And that was exactly what they did as she opened Alex's gift to Daisy, which ended up being a strawberry shaped cat bed that the cat curled up in the second it was opened. She cleared away the wrapping paper and started setting up Ethan's iPad with games and streaming service apps linked to her accounts as the vicious Nerf battle raged around her. 
"Make sure you find all of those bullets when you're done because if you don't I guarantee Daisy will chew on them," she advised as she settled deeper into the couch. 
"Got it!" they yelled simultaneously as they carried on. 
Nerf guns had been the right choice because no matter how skilled they were, they couldn't turn foam bullets with rubber tips into deadly weapons. The toys could only shoot them out with so much force. It was something familiar that wouldn't hurt anybody so Claire considered it a win-win. 
Once the battle was over and they had gathered up all of the bullets and stuck them in a plastic bag for safekeeping they came back into the living room and played some of the games Alex had gotten as gifts. Even Claire wasn't familiar with the rules for all of them so they had to check the instructions frequently. 
They snacked on various treats she had made throughout the day and had Thai leftovers for lunch in between playing games and trying to put that puzzle together. The day passed pleasantly yet uneventfully until it was time to go to dinner at Ray's house. 
He had texted her in advance to warn her that they would all be in their pajamas so she figured it would be fine for them not to bother changing. They put on their boots and coats and headed over there with the presents Alex had bought for Ray, Zoe, and Nolan. 
"This is for your whole family and these are for Zoe and Nolan," he explained once they arrived and Heather opened the door. 
"Thanks Alex! I didn't realize you guys would have someone with you. Who's this?"
"I'm Ethan," he piped up right as his fellow Numbers came out of nowhere and pounced on him in a sneak attack. He certainly seemed happy to see them, even though Heather made them quit wrestling before they accidentally broke something. 
"Which number was he?" Heather asked Claire quietly as she watched him talk animatedly with the others. 
"Fourteen. He's having a hard time in his foster home so we told him if he behaved that he could spend Christmas with us. Sorry to impose," she whispered back. 
The older woman shook her head. "No need to apologize. Poor thing. At least he looks like he's having fun now. You must have spoiled him this morning."
"A little."
Heather rushed off to take something out of the oven and called for everyone to come sit down a few minutes later. Her table normally seated six or seven (there was a bench on one side) but it looked like she had a leaf insert for it that made it barely long enough to fit everyone here after adding in some folding chairs. 
Claire's mouth watered as she saw the ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, and so on get set out on the table. It had been so long since she had a proper Christmas dinner. Her mom used to prefer ham over turkey too; rationalizing that they had barely had turkey at Thanksgiving. 
The food was delicious but being surrounded by so many other people was what made her truly happy. She had never had a Christmas dinner like this before with multiple children and multiple adults present, laughing and talking together. 
This was the kind of family she wanted for herself someday. Mother. Father. Kids. Extended family. 
For the longest time Claire had thought that sort of thing wouldn't happen unless she married someone with a big family but she was coming to realize that Ray and Heather included her among the ranks of her family already. She wouldn't have to wait for that on holidays after all. 
She was filled to the brim with happiness and appreciation for what she had all the way through the meal, opening the presents the two of them got her and Alex, and playing games with the Jorgensen family until it was time for the kids to go to bed. Forget being the best Christmas since her mom died; this might be the best one she ever had! 
Wherever her mom was now, she hoped that she was able to see her daughter having a wonderful holiday with people who cared about her. At the end of the night she thanked Heather and Ray profusely. 


Your typical boy meets girl love story...if the boy was a highly trained super soldier and the girl was a target he was hired to kill. Six knew there was something different about Claire Conway the moment he laid eyes on her but he never would have guessed how she would turn his entire world upside down!

*Cover art by polkadottedscrunchie*

The store reception for Lai Fu's Offshore Sea Store was exceptionally well received by the older generation. The discounts and offers that he had assigned for the first day made all the aunties and uncles rush in like mad dogs, snatching up almost everything he had on display.
Thankfully, being an experienced storekeeper for many years, he had previously ordered three months worth of stock to satisfy the demand for the frenzy buying. Lai Fu knew that the first day was one of the best times to earn quick cash to recoup the losses since people always wanted new stuff and a store opening usually resulted in the most substantial amount of customers.
Helping them out, Jin had developed a small little USB drive that could be connected to any sort of phone (as part of Lai Fu's request list). Those USB drives would act like temporary storage rings allowing them to put the items that they wanted to buy into it since most items were enchanted with anti-storage ring to prevent looting and theft from happening.
Either that or they could personally hand carry them on the carts provided. However, the technological advancement in recent years had made online supermarkets extremely popular, and the Offshore Sea Store was no exception in participating them.
With the help of the System, Jin had assisted Lai Fu in creating an online mart on the Pandamonium App as well as applying to the famous supermarket delivery services apps. As Lai Fu previously subscribed to be one of the sellers in those apps as well, the System merely aided him by instantly updating the items that were left in his store to those apps. Else, he had to pay an additional premium subscription fee to do that.
But because of the integration of the online market via Pandamonium App, users could also earn and utilise Panda Medals by doing so. In fact, every purchase in the Tiangong Tree Mall would allow them to earn Panda Medals which could indirectly be used to either obtain items in Jin's store or used as the premium currency for his mini games and dungeons.
During his downtime from the day before, Jin had planned a road map to revamp the usage of Panda Medals. Instead of merely using it as a sort of reward or extra currency, he was thinking of creating discount packages that utilised those medals too. Things such as free food delivery package for 10,000 Bronze Panda Medals or discount voucher package for 8,000 medals.
While he was merely copying ideas that were already on the market, they had proven to be successful, and Jin saw no reason why he could not get a share of the pie as well. Maybe in the future, Jin could liaise with other apps like the taxi and online market delivery to further integrate the Pandamonium App into society. Right now, he was satisfied starting small and just making sure that his Tree Mall was not only an overnight success but a continuous one.
Yet even though there was the online market app choice, most of the older generation prefer to go down to the stores to select their items. As long as it was not a crazy surge of people, the aunts and uncles would love to take their time in choosing their fruits and vegetables, picking the best out of the lot in the store's bin. In addition, the physical stores sometimes provided discounts that were not available on the online apps.
The same was true for Lai Fu's Instance Store. The current Day One discount was the biggest discount he had ever offered. By buying five items, one of the five cheapest items would be discounted at 99% (up to a certain price point of 100 Yuan). Hence, many people took the chance to buy the more expensive stuff all at once, mainly comprising the premium food stock from Jin's Agriculture Sector.
Even Lai Fu was shocked at how fast Jin's food stock vanished, and when he queried some of his long time customers, their reasoning made perfect sense. "There was no scent of pesticide used on these at all! The colour of the vegetables is very prominent too! It has been so many years since I saw this kind of naturally grown fruits and vegetables." the collective opinions of his customers who were equally health conscious in their advanced age answered him. (Things which Lai Fu already know when he personally examined the goods too, but verification from his peers sealed the deal for him even further.)
"Do you know that considering the quality of the products, the price you place on it is freaking cheap? Of course, I will get a bulk of them before it gets all sold out!" His customers said frantically and went to the payment cashiers where a team of Deep Ones were manning the cashier booth.
One scanned the items, the other two packed them up before the customer could choose between delivery to their house or self carry. Most were okay with carrying thanks to the power of the storage ring, but some did choose the delivery option, taking advantage of the Day One discounts to buy for their relatives too.
As Lai Fu began developing a friendly relationship with the Deep Ones, he even requested more of them via the Pandamonium App while they were still free. (He still would be charged according to their numbers starting next month). Sure, he still had some of his old employees, but many quit after the incident, with only a few loyal enough to remain behind.
Thus, Lai Fu ended up deploying them for all kinds of jobs. The owner used them for cashier services restocking the items and currently (maybe most importantly) for crowd control. Lai Fu believed that they were the ideal monster NPCs which were fierce enough to go against the crowd.
There were instances where those greedy uncles and aunties were tempted to take fresh stock from their hands, (mainly because of the discounts Lai Fu had provided) which caused the Deep Ones shouted at them and even scratched them superficially as a warning.
The customers in return demanded for compensation, but before Lai Fu could intervene in any way, the Deep Ones officially issued a duel challenges to settle the store. Should they accept and win the duel, they would get their compensation, fair and square along with an apology.
The ignorant older cultivators thought this was a simple fight and part of Lai Fu's new instance, so they fought against them recklessly. (The only ones who had the last laugh were the cultivators that had experienced Jin's stores and knew what capabilities these fishes had.
…So far, none had won against the mighty Deep Ones and the customers learnt the lesson not to disturb the Deep Ones during their restocking. What followed was an extremely ridiculous sight to behold. Lai Fu had never thought it possible to witness customers standing at the side, mere inches away from a Deep One, patiently waiting for him to finish restocking the items before pouncing on the goods and merchandise.
"Each Yuan for these angry fish is worth it." Lai Fu chuckled to himself as he sat at the side of the recently arrived Discount Pirate Ship and enjoyed some fishing.


In a modern world where cultivators need a place to cultivate or vent their boredom, there are private businesses that set up instance dungeons with the aid of technology and cultivation magic to enable cultivators to train and commoners to experience the life of cultivation. They are called dungeon suppliers.

Xie Jin's one and only dream was to be a dungeon supplier and when his only relative passed away, the relative's inheritance gave him a plot of land and surprisingly, a 'System' Module which the relative had previously used. 

With the help of the system, Xie Jin decided to pursue his dream of becoming the number one dungeon supplier.

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(13/8/2020) Author's opinion: At this point, this book had hundreds of chapters worth of content which I had planned for a long time. If you wish to undertake the book and appreciate the story, please read it up till chapter 300s to understand the sudden twist in chapter 100s.

i will admit that during that time, I am still a young budding author and could have expressed the story better in the early hundred chapters. But I assure you the story development is worth it. 




-----------

Discord channel: https://discord.gg/KkUXzjTKf9

If you have some spare change, please buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/moloxiv

"Nice tips.I could share it to someone....
but how..grand father said not to use the messages app since the messages travel slowly.What app do I use?".She was in a deep thought.Just then She said,"oof I forgot...I have Google right!.Why dont I just take help from my dear friend Google..google..where are you?.Wait what!.Where is it...it was right here..it is not a fly to just fly away.Ok let's take the help of finder.Oof it's right here.
At least I got the finder.Ok..G..o..o..g..l..e
Let's search as'best apps to message and share information to others.Hmm".
She read out,'The 7 Best Texting Apps : 
WhatsApp for a balance among features, security, and convenience.
Viber for public group chats.
Telegram for speed.
Signal for simplicity.
Wickr Me for security.
Facebook Messenger for doing more than just chatting.
Tox for a decentralized chat service.
Let's see whatsapp.Good app.Let's install it.Yes installing.I will message my friends when free".She was very calm and at last , the app was installed.She said,"vaah let's open.Yes I agree to the terms of service and policy etc...wow it has calls and video calls too.Superb!.We can do group study.At least it is not like normal studying which is boring🙄.We need to on the mobile data or wifi while using...ok...let me save all the numbers.
Yes done!".

3 friends aged over 18 find a secretively path which is a secret path/tunnel to a magical land where imaginary animals live, on a beautiful scenario.They found some extraordinary things they have never heard or seen or thought about but one day an unexpected thing came up.

Another schoolday came and went. My parents weren't home when I returned and their car was out of the garage, so I decided to take the opportunity to do something about my work-out area. All the equipment had been shoved against the walls with no rhyme or reason except to get it out of the way once the initial thrill of owning it disappeared.
It took nearly three hours to haul everything around to create a dedicated space at the head of the garage. My parents actually owned everything necessary to build their own home gym. They simply hadn't gotten around to putting it together. There were multiple stacks of interlocking black foam traction tiles in a plastic storage bin. Once they were put together, I had a gym floor. It wasn't a big gym floor, of course. I still had to leave room for my parents to park their car. But it was enough.
I moved the weight bench so it was perpendicular to the wall and possessed enough clearance for the bar to actually rest in the rack. I turned the treadmill so a wall would catch me if I tripped—a better option than being thrown into the other equipment. The multifunction whatchamacallit in the corner was too big to move, so I left it where it was, but I did find a lightweight row machine tucked against the wall behind it. I set that up next to the treadmill.
Leaving a walkway to the garage door, I arranged the other half of the home gym into a yoga-calisthenics area. I arranged all the free weights around the walls, found an unused laundry basket to hold yoga mats and stretch resistance bands, and left a good sized area for doing pushups and other floor activities.
My parents returned home as I was setting up a charging station for one of my older, outdated tablets. It wasn't the same as having a wall-mounted television or surround sound stereo for entertainment, but it would be enough to provide background noise while I worked out.
My parents hesitated to pull their car into the garage when they saw I'd reorganized it, so I waved them inside like an airport flagsman. They slowly rolled in. I wanted to cheer when the whole car fit without hitting anything in my gym area. As I thought, the garage had been made for a much larger gas guzzling SUV or truck—not my parent's little electric car. There was still plenty of room to move around.
"What's all this?" my dad said as he climbed out of the passenger seat.
I shrugged. "I thought it'd make it easier to work out."
"I still don't understand why you've suddenly become such a health nut. When you were growing up, I had to use a prybar to get you to go outside and play. Now look at this place."
"Are you mad?" I asked.
My mom laughed from the rear of her car, which she'd opened to retrieve several bags of groceries. "Honey, he's just confused. He's having trouble acknowledging that a game motivated you when he couldn't." She smiled as my dad arrived at her side and took the shopping bags from her. "I, for one, am very happy to see you becoming more energetic. The reason doesn't matter."
"I'm happy, too," my dad called out as he carried the groceries into the house. "And supportive! If you want us to sign you up for a gym membership or a dojo, just let me know."
I wrinkled my nose as I retrieved my share of the groceries and carried them inside. Jack and Jillian Trent were generous to a fault. Our family wasn't rich. My parents made enough money to cover the bills, but I knew supporting me devastated any attempt they made to build a savings account. They never said anything, yet I knew it wasn't easy for them to find money to buy me new clothes after every growth spurt, pay for my school supplies, and satisfy the black hole every teenage boy had in place of a stomach.
I did my best not to be a burden to them, but instances like this made it hard. I knew they sometimes felt like they'd failed me and they tried to spoil me to make up for it. I could say yes to make them happy, but then I'd feel guilty about adding to our family's financial burden. My parents weren't young and they were definitely overdue to start planning their retirement.
"I have my own gym," I said. "Why do I need to pay to go to someone else's? And a dojo sounds interesting, but that's a long-term commitment. It can wait. It'd be a waste of money to go now when I'm still only doing basic training. And there's no telling if I'll be able to continue playing in a month. The game subscription fee isn't cheap. I've read it's possible to buy game time using in-game coin, but that's something you can only do in a big city. I'm still in a starter area."
My statement distracted my parents from the dojo issue and they spent the next hour reassuring me I could continue playing as long as I wanted. And I believed them. The game's subscription fee wasn't cheap, but it wasn't exactly expensive, either.
Over dinner, I did ask for the one thing I needed to make my nightly playtime more enjoyable. "Do you think I can have twenty dollars to go to the 4D Arena tomorrow? Since I'm using a helmet, the game couldn't scan my whole body. Some of my proportions are off. The Arena has full-size capsules you can rent to update you rendering scans."
My dad had his wallet out before I could blink. I supposed it was the good side of living like a conscientious hermit. If I'd been the type of teenager who asked for twenty dollars every weekend and demanded designer clothes on top of it, they might have asked questions and been more stingy.
After dinner and an hour of watching the news with the family, I showered and laid down in preparation for logging in. Since it was the weekend, I set my helmet's secondary alarm for nine in the morning, giving myself a few extra hours of playtime. Of course, it meant I'd be asleep for almost ten hours instead of only eight, but I didn't think it would harm me as long as I didn't make it a habit.
When I logged in, I didn't immediately load into the game like I usually did. For some reason, I ended up floating in a completely white space.
"Hello, new user," a child-like voice greeted. "Sorry to interrupt, but your game 'Aetherscape' has queued a new update. Would you like to wait in your system lobby while it installs?"
"What's my system lobby?" I asked.
"Thank you for asking. Your system lobby is part of your 4D gaming headset's operating system. You can think of it like a full immersion version of the desktop GUI—that is, graphical user interface—on your phone, tablet, or laptop. In other words, it's what you see when you're not inside an application or program. Would you like to personalize your system lobby? There is a library of free environments provided by the system default or, as an Aetherscape subscriber, you can also select an Aetherscape premium theme."
"Can you show me the Aetherscape themes?"
"Aetherscape theme one is the Holy Cathedral of the Saints." The environment around him morphed into the interior of a large stone Cathedral with light shining through various windows. A nun standing at the front of the church waved at me and said, "Aetherscape theme two is Forest Camp." The scenery morphed again, placing him in a forest clearing with a campfire, a teepee, and a young huntress in leather armor. She gave me a feral grin and said, "Aetherscape theme three is—"
"Stop," I blurted to stop her from going to the next one. The scenery and the huntswoman disappeared, returning me to the original white space. "Those are great and all, but they're a little too immersive for a system lobby. Those kinds of environments will make me think I'm already in the game. Do you have something more minimal? All I really need for this space is access to the system tools."
"Falling Data is a popular theme and meets your specifications," the system AI recommended. The surroundings morphed once again, this time to a solid black with rainbow streams of ones and zeroes appearing at random intervals. They faded out of existence as they fell.
Holographic panels appeared in my immediate environment. One for system tools, one dedicated to Aetherscape, and one dedicated as a generic file explorer.
"This works," I said in satisfaction. I went into system tools first and discovered there were many free applications I could download for my 4D headset. There was a cellphone emulator that allowed me to copy my phone for use in my system space. There was a library emulator that allowed me to turn any digital book I owned into a full immersion copy I could read. I could play music, access video streaming sites, and explore the Net like I was using a regular tablet. The main difference was I could duplicate and resize the screens in the system lobby, making them as big as I wanted.
I didn't have words to describe how it felt to watch anime on a screen big enough to fit a movie theater.
And that didn't even scratch the surface of what was possible. There were also paid minigame apps available and advertisements for companies hiring night shift employees—data analysts, editors, translators, programmers, and so on.
It made it very, very clear it wasn't a waste to purchase the 4D headset without Aetherscape or any other game.
I turned to the Aetherscape main file before I could fall too far down the rabbit hole of exploration. It offered three free apps, three paid apps, a stylized Net browser for their site—including their wiki—and an avatar viewer. I opened the viewer first. A full hologram of my in-game avatar appeared a few feet away, dressed in my Atlantean gear. Surrounding the hologram was the equipment slots and stats I could see in my status screen.
I didn't know the average stats among players, so I had no idea whether mine were any good. I was happy to see most of my equipment slots had something in them. Only a few were empty—some jewelry slots, my shoulder slot, and my offhand weapon slot.
I noticed a weird shadowed slot off to the side. When I touched it, a notice appeared.
[Player's charm is not high enough to do this. 100 charm is required to unlock follower system.]
[Player's level is not high enough to do this. Player must be level three to unlock follower system.]
I used the game browser to look up information on the follower system. It didn't take long to discover it was a cross between a mercenary system and a gacha lottery system. Followers could randomly appear as filler in Guild spaces, housing spaces, and—if a player's charisma was high enough—actually assist them as backup fighters.
For now, it was something I could look forward to using and not something I could currently touch. I closed out of the avatar viewer and searched through the other apps to see if there was anything useful. The three paid apps were obviously meant for Guilds. One was an offline Guild space where players could meet up without actually logging in. Another was a raid assistant. The last one was AetherScan, an interactive map of the entire in-game world that updated twice a day.
As for the free apps, it took a few minutes to understand what they actually did. The first one was a portal to an offline copy of a player's in-game house, making it so they could play and decorate it without actually needing to log in. The second was a practice arena. Unlike in-game arenas, there were no prizes for beating NPCs or monsters. Its only purpose was for practicing moves without taking up valuable in-game real estate.
The last application was a relay. It allowing Aetherscape to connect to the system lobby's copy of my cell phone, which would in turn connect to my actual cell phone. Using it, I would no longer be cut off from the outside world.
Thankfully, I'd left my phone charging on my side table, so I didn't need to log out to pair the applications with my phone. I checked the time on the system clock before deciding to try it out. It was still early enough, my dad shouldn't have gone to bed yet.
He sounded very confused when he answered. "Eh? Jay? Why are you calling me? Aren't you in your room? When did you leave?"
I chuckled at his predictable response. "I'm still in bed asleep. I just learned out how to make calls from inside my headset. Do me a favor and call back. I want to see if the call gets relayed like it should."
He obliged, hanging up and calling me back. A holographic icon appeared to inform me of an incoming call and I only had to press to answer it. "Did it work?" my dad asked.
"It works even better than I expected. You should think about getting a headset for yourself. With this system lobby, you wouldn't have to stay up all night to get your work done. You could pair your headset with your laptop and just do it all in your sleep."
"Your mother would kill me if I came to bed with a gaming helmet on," he replied.
"Not if you get her one, too. I bet if there are more than one headset on the same wifi network, we could create a family lobby. You and mom can set it up to be like a beach retreat. She'd probably love that."
"It's something to consider for her birthday. Tell me more about it tomorrow. Okay?"
"Okay. Goodnight, dad."

Aetherscape's newest game update:  Aquatic Races!

Aetherscape is a full immersion game based on the theme of 'dreams'.  High school student Jay isn't a gamer.  He prefers to spend his time reading--preferably away from other people.  He incidentally reads a novel series based on Aetherscape and his curiosity is piqued.  He can actually explore the story's expansive world in full immersion?

How was a noob like Jay supposed to know Underwater zones are historically unpopular?  Not that he cares.  He prefers dealing with predictable NPCs over unpredictable players.

In a cave somewhere in Thousand Beasts Mountain Range, a black hole threatening to swallow anything surrounds it actually spat something out.

"Why couldn't God just drop me in a girls bosom, does it have to be the cold hard ground?!" After complaining I took out my phone, opening the flashlight to brighten my surroundings.

"It's pitch black here, where am I?" There were only stones here, not even a blade of grass

Seeking out a way out, I walked towards the faint light in front of me. After a few seconds of walking, I saw this new world for the first time.

"Amazing! This forest is legit!" I gazed upon towering trees which nested different colorful birds, there was squirrel-like creature gnawing on an acorn.

But just as I was admiring what I was seeing, a disturbing howl covered my surroundings which terrified all the little critters.

*Awoooooooo

"WTF? Was that a wolf!" I then returned my phone to one of my pockets as I tried climbing up a tree. Luckily, the branch was thick and sturdy, which made it safer to climb and far easier, just like rock climbing.

"This should be high enough." I was at least 1 meter high above the ground, It was a good thing that whenever mom's mad I always hide on the apple tree before at the old house.

Looking around I saw nothing but bushes.

A warm breeze swept up at my t-shirt, giving warmth to my body. Together with the nice atmosphere and the shy moon hiding in the clouds, one couldn't help sleep especially Me who's good at lazing around.

*Yawn

"I'll just sleep for a while" Just as I was about to close my eyes, I remembered how God said he'll put some upgrades on my phone. 'Anything can wait, but not my phone!'

Taking my iPhone XXX out I noticed that the battery icon was gone, only the digital clock and the 3G was left. Checking out my other apps, I found nothing different except for the camera. I pointed it at the moon as o zoomed in, and saw its craters crystal clear, instead of grey pixels!

Exploring out its other new features I saw the Camera mode options,"Mhh, there are new modes? Daylight mode? Ohhh, snap!" Excitedly leaning back at the trunk, and swinging out one of my feet while the other at the branch, I took a photo of me in this high-spec lenses.

"My first selfie! The definition is so clear! It seems to cut out from reality." I looked at the photo of me being truly handsome, 'No wonder, I'm their son,'. My mother was beautiful, enough to have a place on Earth's Top 100 beauties, although my mom wasn't a model, my dad was. He was in charge of keeping our body healthy, while my mom was in charge of keeping ourselves, fabulous as she was a fashion designer. It is quite obvious that they met on a "runway", maybe they even made in the dressing room.

While I'm stuck on my thought I just can't help saying, "Lemme take more!"

After 30 minutes of taking pictures and choosing the best ones, I eventually got bored. It was good that there weren't any mosquitoes like what I'll expect in a jungle, if only there wasn't a pack of wolves a few meters away it would've taken me hours taking photos if it weren't for the shutters. They arrived here a moment ago while I was taking pictures, so I stopped taking pictures. 

'Maybe Ms. Youtube has something in surprise for me, to defeat this wolves,'

Just as I was checking out on youtube for wolf's weaknesses, a gentle breeze passed through me again but this time my scent was included slowly wafting through the wolf's sensitive nose. 'Oh, Snap,'

*Snarl
The wolves snarled as they noticed me, and gave me the look of someone very hungry and angry.

"Hello doggies, I'm just a tree, not a human at all!" I tried talking to the wolves, the wolves were dark blue while their "under" part was light gray. Their eye's revealed vicious gleams giving them the look of savage beasts.

"Sigh*, I guess I'm stuck here for the rest of my life!" Climbing the tree a little up more, as the wolves manage to reach the branch that I was in a moment ago. They tried jumping on the branches, but they were just too heavy. The branches broke before their weight as the wolves tried climbing.

A branch fell off one after another until the branch I was at was the only one at the bottom, but still, I'm at least 3 meter high, 'How could they even jump that high! Well, I guess that's fantasy for you."

"I'll just play with my phone, Let's see which one can last longer my eyes or your patience" Ignoring the angry wolves, I proceeded to open a game, "Mobile Legends" which I always played to pass on time. When, Suddenly!

*Ding!

"Oh God messaged me!" Clicking on the bubble message I saw God's personal message! How cool is that!?

God: Your cellular data only includes unlimited browsing and streaming, as for "using" your games, you'll have to "up" your data package.

Don't worry there should be an app called GCash, you can buy data package from it. But you first need Virtual Money! You just need to use the "Scan" option there and it'll allow your "scanned" items to be converted into VP's.

I'll give you free 500 mb for your games this one time

P.S. You're not allowed to contact to contact people at Earth! Or tell anyone how you're at a fantasy world.

Me: Thank you, God! (y) (y)

Following God's instruction I successfully opened GCash, there were different packages and the scanning function. I tried using the scanning function on the now sleeping wolves, a warning message pop up, "Item cannot be converted, please try again"

*Snarl

The wolves literally barked at me, when they saw me scanning them with a weird light.

"Just die there, I'm gonna play ML" I shouted down below to the wolves, which they replied with deathly stares.

*Welcome to Mobile Legends!

After the game finished loading a notification was seen, which was supposed to be only seen on your first try!, "Ehh?!?! Why am I at the tutorial phase?!" Opening a bubble message, I pmed God something.

Me: God, my game restarted!

God is typing...

God: All your apps have now additional functions and your future apps too. I'm not free as you are you know so refrain from asking a senseless question

Me: Sorry...God...This will not happen again

God: better be!

...

The glorious sun was already rising over the horizon, but some creatures were still sleeping, which is unlikely for them, but last night was just too torturous for them. All throughout the night, a small part of the forest was kept wide awake as their sleep was being interrupted by "cursing" sounds.

*Welcome to Mobile Legends!

* Five seconds to enemy reaches the battlefield, smash them. 

*All troops deployed.

*First Blood! Double Kill! Triple Kill! Quadra Kill! Penta Kill!

*Wiped Out!

*Rampageeeeee, Holy Sh***T

Little did I know back then that the speaker was also upgraded to the max.

"Before you reincarnate to another world, do you have any requests?"

Mc: Can I bring my smartphone?

God: Sure, I'll even put a few upgrades like infinite battery life...

Mc: Really?!?!

God: Is that all?

Mc: Yes!

God: All right, text you later!

A vortex swallowed Jason as he starts unraveling a carefree life...maybe...

On March 22nd at 8:00 p.m., merely two days after the launch of Star Cloud 1.0 OS, Xing Hai Technologies released another software product, drawing attention from across the country and evoking a tremor throughout the globe.
Presiding over the launch at an indoor venue that could accommodate up to a thousand people, Chen Jin remotely controlled his avatar robot and introduced the world to Work Assistant 1.0.
"Our 8,324 top veteran programmers from within our country have ensured that every single line of code generated by Work Assistant will be equivalent to that written by virtuoso programmers…
"Once you are skilled in using Work Assistant, you will soon be coding on par with master coding talent!...
"It allows normal programmers to master many skills while specializing in only one. Programmers who only know Java can obtain a module of C++ code while not being fluent in C++ themselves. Back-end programmers can realize complex front-end interfacing…
"It can transform Android and IOS code into HTML5 and vice versa. It allows Java and C++ code to compile with each other, and it has certain transcoding and code translation functions."
Of course, these latter functions were yet to be able to transform the whole application layer, but they were working for simple logical algorithms.
Finally, Chen Jin described the product's pricing. Work Assistant would be provided in the form of computing power in exchange for a subscription fee. Every portion of computing power rated at 100 million times per second would be sold at 500 dollars.
Junior programmers could basically suffice with a single portion. This would improve their productivity by a factor of 1.5 to 2.5. Intermediate programmers could settle with 10 portions, boosting productivity by 3 to 5 times. Senior programmers could purchase at most 100 portions, improving their overall work efficiency by 6 to 10 times.
As for all 8,000 elite programmers who participated in Work Assistant's beta test, Work Assistant would always be free of charge for them without any limitations on computing power.
The launching of Work Assistant 1.0 caused an uproar within the programmer community. At last November's 7th World Internet Conference, Chen Jin had given a speech titled "How to Solve the Bald Crisis," and he had described Work Assistant, the programmers with a deeper understanding of programming had expressed their disbelief. They had thought that his thinking was sound but that he was vastly underestimating the difficulties in actualizing a working product.
In just a few months, however, the legendary Work Assistant was formally announced with great fanfare as the gospel for programmers. The so-called "bald crisis" might really be lifted, at least for the programmer community.
With this evening's announcement, however, programmers did have something to say about the product's pricing strategy. Many began voicing their dissatisfaction during the live broadcast of the press conference.
"How disgusting! Why must they foist limitations on such a good product, just like what Baidu did to their download speed? And the pricing is so damn high."
"I think I'd be considered an intermediate programmer. If I were to use this tool comfortably, will that cost me 5,000 dollars a month, which is one-fifth of my salary?"
"Too expensive! The most expensive software in history! Even the genuine Windows OS was only 880 dollars, and that was a one-time payment."
"Chen Jin explained that this is to prevent turmoil within the programming industry. If our work efficiency were to improve by 5-fold or even 10-fold, what would happen to the junior programmers? They'll all have to go home and plough the fields! The programming industry won't be lacking people for several consecutive years, and this will kill new talent in the field!"
"Okay, we can't rely on the conscience of capitalists. Only a higher cost will dispel their urge to lay off employees."
"If senior programmers want to utilize the entirety of Work Assistant, they'll need to purchase 100 portions of computing power, right? And that would be 50 thousand dollars per month? But programmers of this level can upload quality coding resources to Work Assistant's servers in exchange for contribution points. I heard that for each point they earn, they can use the tool for free without speed limitations for a day. A total of 100 points would mean they would get to use it for free for a hundred days. It would be like they're quenching thirst with poison. Xing Hai Technologies is getting better at their own games."
"Oh? Fifty grand and I can use Work Assistant for free without speed limitations?" At least one veteran programmer with more than a decade of experience thought the price reasonable and would give it a try.
...
The press conference now entered its second half, although typically after the announcement, it would have ended, but it didn't. In fact, the "real" conference had just begun.
To promote Xing Hai Technologies' Star Cloud OS, Chen Jin announced another few key bombshells!
"I believe that all of you here are aware of Google's overbearing behavior. With patent fees of 10 dollars for every mobile phone, plus taxes, the cost for each mobile device in the future will rise by at least 100 dollars. Not only that, but their tactics will also effectively grind down our local phone manufacturer's last speck of profit, and consumers will spend vastly more for their devices."
"A hundred dollars isn't that much, but I would like to ask everyone, Are you willing to spend this money?"
A few instances of sparse voices propagated from below the stage. "No!"
"Alright. Even if most of you are willing to spend this money and are able to afford it, what if Google announces increased prices the next time around? Patent fees might rise from 10 dollars to 20, 30, and more. When various fees start piling up, how will you react?"
"Should you continue to tolerate this?"
"Google is no philanthropist. They want money. Coincidently, in these past few years, we have become stronger and richer. If they don't earn from us, who do you think they will earn from?" 
"So, what should we do? If they want our money so badly, what could we do? Should we just present ourselves to be robbed?"
Chen Jin shook his head. "No, not me, and not you either. On the day they announced that they were going to impose a fee, we started making and using our own operating system."
He pulled out a phone from his pocket, tapped the screen, projected the phone's screen on the big screen behind him, and said, "From now on, use Xing Hai Technologies' Star Cloud OS, because it will be free of charge forever."
"Wow!"
Clap clap clap!
Cheering and applause exploded from the audience. On the phone of an unknown brand, the operating system embedded on his device was Star Cloud OS 1.0!
"The software ecosystem for Star Cloud OS has yet to mature. Currently, it has about 10 simple apps, but we are using this system to tell Google, You want our money? Dream on!"
Clap clap clap!
The crowd applauded fanatically.
Chen Jin was not evading the challenges Star Cloud OS faced, either. "Of course, we are aware of the Star Cloud system's weaknesses. The system is new, and it's still being perfected. Its ecosystem of applications is almost at zero. Comparing it with the Android system, which has a complete ecosystem of applications, I'm afraid that 99.9% of users might be reluctant to use this system."
"But we have determination, the capabilities, and the resources. We will strive to perfect the ecosystem of applications in the shortest time possible!
"Xing Hai Technologies will at all costs let users of the Star Cloud system say that: Not only is Star Cloud OS better than Android, it is also better than the Fruit company's IOS system!
"We will be establishing a League of Star Apps, and we welcome all hardware manufacturers within the country to join us. Together, we will build the Star Cloud system's underlying application ecosystem, fulfilling the customized needs of all companies.
"To all hardware manufacturers within the nation that are willing to join us, Xing Hai Technologies will provide interest-free loan assistance or financing services. We have earmarked 50 billion dollars for the first round of funds. If that's not enough, we will increase it to 100 billion or even 200 billion dollars! Whoever wants the money only needs to ask!
"In addition, Xing Hai Technologies will be launching a development tool called Star Cloud Studio 1.0. All programmers can download it for free from the Star Cloud official website It includes everything from technical documents, the Star Cloud Virtual Machine, and the software development kit. We welcome all programmers to join us in developing Star Cloud apps!
"Not only that, within the Star Cloud Studio, we have integrated a lightweight version of the Work Assistant, a tool that will be completely free and has no speed limitations. All programmers will have access to this tool. It will greatly curtail the difficulty of development efforts and expedite productivity by a significant margin… but it is only available for the development of Star Cloud apps."
"And last but not least…" Chen Jin prepared to announce the coup de grace. "To encourage programmers to participate in forging the ecosystem of applications for Star Cloud OS and enrich Star Cloud's App Store, we have decided to earmark another 10 billion dollars to reward our app developers."
"As long as the application you create is of good quality, receives good ratings, and has attained a certain number of downloads, you will be rewarded with a 1-million-dollar cash prize!
"That's right! Fees are required if you upload apps on other operating systems, but not only do we provide it for free, but there's also an opportunity to obtain a million dollars in cash!
"There are 10 thousand quotas for the reward, and anyone has an opportunity to claim it!
"In addition, for paid apps such as games uploaded by developers, 100% of the profits gained will be paid directly to the app developer. Whether you earn 1 billion or 10 billion dollars, we will not take even 1% from you."
Chen Jin held open his wide arms. "Join us, hardware manufacturers within our country. Join us, outstanding programmers, join us quickly! Xing Hai Technologies has nothing but money! We ask you to please believe in Xing Hai Technologies' technical capabilities. With the combined effort of everyone, Star Cloud OS can certainly exceed any foreign operating systems, but only if you are willing to join us!"
"The League of Star Apps welcomes all of you!"
Boom… The audience at the venue was overwhelmed with excitement.
Boom… The hardware manufacturers and programmers within the Z nation were shocked and in furor.
Boom… The higher-ups of Google were stunned and flustered.


Through a mysterious portal, Chen Jin arrived at this strange place - a post-apocalyptic world where civilization had been destroyed. 

Consequently, he found -

A piece of metal scrap
A robot trash collector
A battleground
A city
A ton and more of gold
A copy of high-tech documents
A...
In short, Chen Jin found a planet.

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