There is a box inside is another box and inside that is another box is there an end













Probably












Maybe
























?

Paul appeared in a white space, there was a desk with several small boxes on it, a chair, and a door with Another World written on it, the door also had a padlock and chains and above it the words 'updating' were hovering.
He sat at the desk and opened a box, it unfolded and a number of folders appeared on the desk, "last files accessed from external device" Paul said, many folders vanished leaving one, it was the same as last time, his game log had been copied and judging from the time this time it was definitely not Jack, it must be Mari.
After checking the Another world door he found the update would take hours, although he played the game he didn't know that much about it, he knew it was the best around the top of triple A games, but that was it. He spent several hours just watching videos and browsing random stuff, then logged out.
When the capsule opened Jack was already waiting for him,
"you're early Jack, had an easy day?"
Jack chuckles "you were my only client today and another world is still offline so i figured you'd be out early, by the way the steak was out of this world"
"what steak?"
"the one you made yesterday, when you told me you were at Grand-master i had to come and try your cooking, how could i not"
"that was you?! you looked so different i thought you were Military with the short hair and all"
"well in the game i can show off my personality in how I fight, out here i dress to impress"
Paul laughed as Jack dressed him and took care of his needs,
"Paul um... I wasn't going to say anything but... it's about Mari, she seems... how can i put this? under qualified? i mean we are trained to not even flinch no matter how bad the client is but..."
"yeah" Paul started "i'm pretty sure she's a fake"
"what?! what do you mean?!"
"you know about my accident right?" Jack nods "well the truly painful part came after....."
Paul describes the fragmented memories of the aftermath, being in intensive care, being so young he never even considered about medical insurance so his treatment was as basic as you could get, basically they saved his life and that was it, in this day and age where nano-tech could literally turn a mangled lump of human back into a fully functional person in days as long as they were alive, treating his wounds would have been simple with enough money.
"so what happened? you should have gotten compensation given how big the company you worked for is?"
"My Aunt had shown up and was trying her best to help, or so i believed, the company were great they sent over a lawyer who told me my job would be waiting for me and i would be compensated much more than enough to get treatment, he asked me if there was anything i specifically wanted and i told him about my plan to buy Another World, he personally registered me into the game with 2 years subscription, unfortunately i passed out at that point from exhaustion, by the time i woke up several months had gone by, my aunt was gone, the money was gone, and the company has blocked me from contacting them, the lawyer left a message telling me that trying to extort money from the company was something the wouldn't tolerate, and he blocked me as well."

After an accident and Betrayal by those he thought he could trust, Paul loses himself in a full dive game, he had no idea that the simple life he chose in this game would shake the world.

On the second day, the sales of Chen Feng's loot boxes entered a new height. By word of mouth, they became even more popular as more and more people find out about the existence of this cheap yet unique research paper.
Buy, buy, buy!
After being used to all sorts of expensive prices all this time, they were sure that these loot boxes of Chen Feng's sold at one point per box were in fact extremely cheap! A lot of them did not need the solution for too many of the problems, so by purchasing these loot boxes, they would be able to purchase the solution they wanted for an extremely cheap price! If they were lucky, only a slight amount of points would be required!
Besides that, a single point was sufficient for them to obtain the solution for one of the top 100 problems. The solution for these problems would normally be worth at least 30 points per solution! Now, if one was lucky enough, one would be able to get the solutions for the problems with the highest difficulty in one go, how profitable! Based on their experience, the solutions for these highest-difficulty problems would normally be worth 100 points per solution!
Here, Chen Feng was selling them like some random cabbages!
Buy, buy, buy, buy!
Everyone was going crazy. At all the branches, producers were going on shopping sprees.
Further agitating everyone was the news released this morning: Chen Feng's loot box would stop selling in one month's time.
That was also the time in which the competition for this year's excellence award would end.
Shua!
This caused an uproar.
"Damn, there's a time limit?"
"I knew Chen Feng was only selling it this cheap to get the excellence award…"
"Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah, quick, buy quick."
"I don't care if the solution I get is something I needed or not, just buy it first before deciding what to do with it."
Everyone was going crazy.
Even those who would normally not buy any research papers started buying a bunch of Chen Feng's loot boxes when they heard this.
This was simply the sale of the century. If they were to miss this, the same thing might never appear again. Buying the loot boxes became the only common topic of all producers.
In the learning forum… at all branches… almost all producers were talking about this.
Someone posted a thread. "Hahaha, I managed to get an SSR-tier drop with a single contribution point!"
"Wow, I envy your luck."
"Is this for real?"
"666666666."
Countless people replied.
Similar threads appeared without stop. There was nothing one could do about this, as the amount of people who had bought the loot boxes was simply too high. Due to the huge amount, there would be a small amount of lucky ones that managed to get a high-difficulty solution from the loot boxes, which would tempt the other producers to continue buying without stop. As for the unlucky ones, they were too busy buying new loot boxes instead of posting threads documenting their bad luck.
Chen Feng's public image and popularity were increasing without stop. This caused an uproar so huge that even non-producers heard of it. Once again, Chen Feng became the trending topic.
Currently, Chen Feng had secretly returned to his rented room at Gold City. He was silently reading all the posted threads as he lamented inwardly: What a bunch a naive kids…
In his memories, back then, when free to pay games with microtransactions had first been released, this was how he'd behaved as well. It was a free game! The spring of the gaming era had arrived…
Next… he finally got a clear understanding on what "free" meant, what "cheap" meant, and what "RNG" meant!
In this world where strength reigned supreme, economic studies were not popular. As such, the economic structure here was quite lacking compared to Chen Feng's previous world, to the point where items such as loot boxes had never appeared here before.
Shua!
Shua!
The figures running in the background changed without stop. Only the seller, Chen Feng, knew how terrifying this figure had reached. Based on the records, currently, the highest amount a single buyer had spent on the loot boxes was no less than 20,000 contribution points!
The amount of contribution points this guy had spent was still increasing. In other words, this sad brother here had failed to get the solution he'd wanted from the loot boxes?
Chen Feng tried checking his records. Mhm… This guy had a full collection of all R-tier and SR-tier drops. As for SSR-tier drops, he still lacked one to complete his collection.
He had gotten 200 sets of SSR-tier drops from the loot boxes. However, among them, he kept getting repeat drops from the loot boxes, with the highest repeat solution at 50 times while the lowest at 10 times. As for the particular drop he required, he had yet to obtain it from the loot boxes.
"How pitiful…"
Chen Feng mourned for him.
This brother here was truly extremely unlucky!
Apart from this brother here, there was also a huge amount of unlucky gamblers who had also spent several thousand or several tens of thousands contribution points. Nearly all of those who had spent this much were all trying to get some particular SSR-tier drop.
Chen Feng exhaled in relief. "Fortunately, I left Star City in time."
"Hu—"
From the amount of contribution points those people could afford to spend, it was obvious that these were all super-powerful seniors. If his location was discovered by them…
Mhm…
He might not be able to avoid getting beaten up. However, as Chen Feng studied the records, in two short days, the contribution points he had earned had surpassed 80% of the producers based at the research institute. Moreover, his contribution points were increasing without stop at an extremely fast speed, with the speed increasing as well!
This method of sale was truly quite scam-like. However, it was also undeniably an undefeated method. Naturally, the premise of this succeeding was to first ensure that his popularity and prestige were sufficient. Otherwise, he would most probably end up getting himself chopped into pieces by some angry gamblers…
He recalled that in his previous life, there had been one particular author called "Minus Ninety Degrees."
Although this guy was tall, handsome, and wrote some good stories, due to pirates, his income had been too low. There had been several times where he'd almost stopped writing because of that. Next, this author had requested Chen Feng's advice. Chen Feng had given this guy a good method of making money: RNG-style novels!
That's right, RNG-style novels. Only a single subscription point was required to read each chapter. However, for each chapter:
Fifty percent probability of it being a filler chapter.
Forty percent probability of it being a chapter where the main plot progressed.
Ten percent probability of it being a chapter where the story reached a climax.
One percent of probability of it being the conclusion of that particular arc.
What a perfect system!
It was rumored that, subsequently, in the first month after he'd implemented that system, his remuneration had reached six figures, creating a miracle. However, he had subsequently disappeared. According to the rumors, he was still being hunted by his readers or something…
As Chen Feng thought of that, he sighed endlessly.
To forge iron, one's own body had to be strong as well. This was a sales method not everyone would dare to implement.
"Two more days at most."
A toying smile appeared on Chen Feng's face.
Soon, these people would all experience for themselves the horror of RNG!
As of now, they were all still happily gambling on the loot boxes. For the casual gamblers who only spent 10 to 20 contribution points on the loot boxes, they would obtain a huge amount of R-tier and SR-tier drops with a low amount of repeat drops. As such, these people would start talking about their success online, attracting the envy of countless people. If one was lucky enough to obtain an SSR-tier drop, one would be able to create an uproar online.
Was that worth the contribution points? For these people, of course it was!
However, when the producers that truly needed these solutions to solve their problems saw this, their hearts would start aching as they noticed how low the probability was for them to get the solution they wanted out of the 100 solutions a loot box might contain.
This was especially true when there was simply no limit placed on repeat solutions one might obtain.
This was too scam-like, right?
If the solution they wanted was some R-tier drop, it was somewhat easier, since the amount of R-tier drops were higher. Hence, the probability for it to appear would be higher. If the solution they wanted was some SR-tier drop, it would be somewhat harder. If it was some SSR-tier drop… they might as well kneel down and start praying for good luck.
"Something seems wrong with this, right?"
Some started realizing the issue. Fortunately, these people were still blaming their luck for this instead of questioning Chen Feng's method of sale.
Suddenly, a thread called "Bastard Chen Feng! Refund me my contribution points!" appeared at the learning forum. This caused a huge uproar.
The content of the thread:
"Bastard Chen Feng, refund me my contribution points! All those SSR-tier threads posted on the forum must be fake, right? Do SSR-tier solutions even exist in the loot boxes? I doubt it! For a single SSR-tier solution, I wasted 10,000 contribution points, yet I have not even gotten a single SSR-tier solution! Not a single one! The f*ck are you f*ckers showing off at the forum for? My 10,000 contribution points! F*ck this loot box! Chen Feng, refund my contribution points!"
Bang!
This caused a huge uproar on the whole forum. The only reason for this was because the thread had been posted by a master producer.
If this thread was considered as the fuse, then the first reply to this thread would be the trigger for the fuse, for the upcoming storm.
Username: Unchanging Fate
Status: Master producer
Reply:
"Hahahahaha! Fake! It's all fake! There are simply no SSR-tier drops in this loot box! No, don't touch this king here! This king here does not want to eat medicine! This king here is not crazy!! Let this king go. All you traitors are trying to hurt this king!! Protect the king! Protect the king!"


Chen Feng, of modern earth, had suffered bad luck since birth. After finding the legendary “lucky artifact,” his bad luck peaked and he became the only person killed in an earthquake. By a twist of fate, he found himself transmigrated into a different and magical world! A world much larger than earth. A world only partially explored due to the dangers within. A world where human civilization centered around genes. In this world, human beings possessed all sorts of abilities due to genetic fusion. Some went on to create world-changing technologies with their mysterious genetic abilities, while others went on to become undefeated genetic warriors with their combat genetic abilities. How will Chen Feng fare in this new world?

One reason why you should not use expensive software for your freelance work because you don't get paid until your work is completed. You can use cheaper software that doesn't need paying yearly or monthly subscription fees but you can not use expensive software that has a yearly or monthly subscription like Autodesk Cinema 4d, Adobe and other industry standards software. Some people can use free and open-source software like Krita for concept art and matte painting and for movie and TV shows are Blender and other freemium software for VFX and animation software for their freelance work or startup business. Some people don't work but they use cheaper or less expensive hardware to start a VFX or animation or other business that is good for their budgets not over the budget. If your budget for your movie or tv series visual effects is not like Hollywood standard budget for your movie or tv series visual effects you can use freeware, alternative software, freemium and cheap or free and open-source for your VFX, modelling, animation and sculpturing and other things during the production, pre-production and post-production for your content. If you want to make your own video game you can use Unreal engine, Uchronia Project Blender Game Engine, Unity, armoury game engine and lot more. Blender is the best software that is used by independent game studios next to nuke, cinema 4d, lightwave 3d, Reallusion Iclone, TV paint, Krita, Unreal, Unity, CryEngine, Godot, Cocos2d,libGDX Panda3D, Construct and other software. Cinema 4d is less expensive than Maya and 3dsMax.

"Before birth, there's always a spark, tiny, miniscule inconsequential but quite capable of giving life to the greatest of forces, to the greatest of men, and women. To the greatest of heroes and villains, to the greatest gods and the greatest demons, and to the greatest of worlds.

But sometimes one spark begets two, being so unique and powerful that it would birth two of greatness, two of the same coin, a hero and a villain, a god and a devil, a living world...…and dead world. Gaia is the jewel of the universe, home, the bright place of everything that breathes, sleeps, eats, flies, crawls, swims, moves, lives and die...…but not much is know about her sister, her twin in power and might, in magic and grace, a world forgotten and untouched by the ever evolving hands of the chosen ones, of the immortals, of the players!

But she is unlike her sister Gaia, she's a world of games and bloodshed, a world of Kings and heroes. Nothing is gained or given in this world without the strength of your swords and thickness of your blood, it is a world that gives its power to the glory of it's Kings and it's 100 legendary heroes of unique repute. She's ready, she's opening up her gates to you, to the lost descendants, for she is your inheritance. She needs her Kings, she needs her heroes, come and claim your kingdom, come and claim your might! Take and take and take! Until there's nothing between you and the top, until your name resounds allover the place as Emperor as Legendary Hero!

Fight for pride, resources, wealth, pleasures and the ultimate throne, need her call, need her please to be remembered as she calls out to you, as Terra! Sings forth her song of battle. Will you be there, on the dawn, or on the dusk, or on the high noon and midnight of her noble self. All are welcome...…bring your best!"

(Tournament Of Terra: Of Kings & Heroes)

The narration for the tournaments trailer was amazing, but it went behind just what was being said to what was being shown. Endless strips of stable land, deserts, mountains, tundra and actual floating islands. There were battling platforms placed in the strangest of places, and then civilizations that seemed stuck in a stone age. Their fur clothes clinging heavily to their body, and even though they all had different races to fall back on, they all just looked like the were prehistoric.

Terra truly was a land untouched by technology, but it had magic and it very much had conflicts. There were werewolves and vampires, demons and what looked like angels. These placed seemed to be a little bit more supernatural than Gaia and the universe she was in, but that's understandable, when your basing it on the timeline, magic or not, a bunch of things would be attributed to gods and weird voodoo by the people of this era.

After the trailer, another one for the (A.R.I) Was shown, especially with the pitch that streaming services would be available for players and people who would be more willing to watch the tournament rather than participate. Of course to enjoy the streaming service a monthly subscription was required, but it was affordable for everyone, but of course said service would also be limited as there were three stages to it.

 The basic subscription, the premium subscription and the premium VIP subscription, each one correlating to the amount of popularity and power the individual or guild being streamed had.
For example an ordinary player looking to make his way in Terra could be watched by others using the basic streaming service, but once said player has a modicum of Fame and is quite popular amongst others, his subscription service would be bumped up to the premium. Also players have to register for the streaming service, they'll sign a bunch of legal documents, but on e the game starts, they earn a portion of the proceeds from the subscription service and a little bit more from viewers willing to gift said player money for his or her efforts.

The premium VIP would have really famous guilds and players in it right from the start, a contract has probably been sent to all of them by now, and there's no way they would disagree as quite a bit of money can and will be earned from it. Also there was also a measure of security, from the premium subscription upwards, players with subscriptions of their own will not be able to stream other players within the tournament. This is so that the secrets of players would be protected, sure people from the real world will see and probably expose it, but that's an attempt to keep an element of surprise and have every guild and player be at the tip of their toes. All in all it as a well thought out plans, seems like a cash grab scheme to me, but nevertheless the augmented reality interface had more practical applications in real life than to just serve as a portable television.

I switched of the holographic screen in front of me, only for me to get hit on my thigh. I looked down at Ron, he was just staring at the screens and now I had turned it off, I didn't even notice he was there, I looked at the time and had to grimace, it was a little past 2am and we both should be asleep. But those eyes of his, they're impossible to say no to.

"Five minutes! I don't care what you say or how cute you look, but after this we're both going to bed, deal!" he looked at my outstretched hand and then back to my face, then he raised his hands up asking me to carry him up. I couldn't help but sigh, I knew just as he knew that it didn't matter what deal I offered, he was going to get what he wanted no matter what. The holographic screen came up again, this time it was showing a simple map. Of Terra that was released to the public and preparations for the guilds hoping to establish their kingdoms, this was so they could plan ahead.

Of course not all information about the lay of the land was given, but there was enough to understand a basic demographic and make a choice. And then Ron moved his finger, pointing to a spot at the north-western edge of a continent right in the middle of Terra. It was uneven like most continents tend to be, but it was in the shape of a half moon, and the spot Ron was pointing at was right at the beginning of a mountain range, close to the western sea, to the east was a push and expansive forest that actually expanded to the ocean, a little ways south was the beginning of a desert, and North was the mountain range.

The spot was covered with trees and green, showing that it was also a part of the forest, setting up anything there was akin to being in the middle of nowhere, the only place that there seems to be access to it, was from the desert in the south. This was not a detailed map, so it's hard to tell if they're any official roads leading to that spot, but seeing as this world was rather primitive I would say no. It was right in the middle of nowhere, however...…

"Ron my sweet boy you're a genius!" I said to him as I pulled him close and gave a big fat missing his cheek and hugged him tighter. He giggled, probably a little bit tickled by the small beard that had grown on my face(I need to shave that). Then he turned and said.

"Go play there?" I raised an eyebrow, lost descendants online since it's inception has only been open to 18 year olds and above due to it's very graphic and adult nature, however maybe it time we bent the rules a bit. I quickly typed a message to the virtual reality department with a detailed plan, then I turned to Ron and said.

"Don't worry, daddy will go make a playground for you there, and then you can come play." I said to him with a smile as he nodded and continued to stare at the map.

The spot he had chosen was pretty much isolated from the rest of the world, we might be quite far away from.
Civilization, but we had access to all of the natural resources we would need to survive. The sea to the west, a mountain to the north, a desert to the South and if all should go well, a forest to the east or rather completely around us. But it was not just the idea of the resources, it was the idea of a place where the dragons could hatch without being discovered too early, where they can grow, and learn and train with everything they would ever need made available to them.....my very own dragon army.

Dragons, elves, pirates, and magic...in space!  Follow Aaron as he travels through a game world to gain clues to his dead mother's past, clues that would open up a new world for him.  All while trying to balance a child and a multibillion corporation left to him by a grandfather, who was more father than grandfather.  A scheming family, an assassin old maid, and a possible romance, all lead to a wild ride as two very different lives clash to make up the life of Aaron Wade. 


Disclaimer: don't own the image, just got it off the internet. Also if there are any similarities to persons, living or dead, or to other forms of media, I'm in no way whatsoever connected to them, unless it's to my other novels. There would be mentions and similarities to other media works, I repeat this is a completely original work and I don't own them neither am i connected to them in anyway. 

Support Me on Patreon 
https://www.patreon.com/KelvinCoKing

They went to the publishing company right away. 

Media Factory is quite a famous book publishing company, however, its scale is smaller than the first-tier book publishing company in this country since it is fully focussed on publishing both manga and light novels. 

Haru also had thought to publish a normal book in the future, but for now, he wanted to focus on both manga and light novels and made it the best company that would produce anime, manga, music, and games.

Why is he interested in this business?

Because the market of this business is very big and he also needs the IP (Intellectual Property) of the story in this company. 

Haru knew that the quest in the Group Chat might be related to the work of something in the manga, anime, or even a movie in this world. 

That was why he decided to win the company since he could learn the plot of each story faster than being a consumer. Being able to learn the plot faster meant that he could prepare the quest better before he entered another world for the quest. 

The trip was quite good and the four of them went to the Media Factory since it had officially become his. 

Haru had entered the company before and the employee of the company had also known him since it was also shocking news when they learned that their new boss was very young. However, at the same time, they were relieved since they knew that their boss was a writer and wasn't someone who was clueless in this industry. 

Haru along with Utaha, Seri, and Machida went together and entered the office together before being greeted by the receptionist. They went directly to the meeting room where the executives of this company had gathered together. 

Haru didn't change the personnel of this company that much since the result of this company was quite good, however, he also needed to check them and put his team into the department of finance. 

The executives of the company had gathered in the meeting room and they had been waiting for him for a while, however, they didn't have an annoying expression on their faces since in their opinion this little company was only a toy for Haru. They had also met him a week ago when he went to visit this company and they wouldn't think that he was a high school student. 

"Truth be told, that I'm very satisfied with this company," Haru said. 

Seri, Utaha, and Machida were beside him and didn't say anything. 

"I'll also put my novel in this company too," Haru said. 

They knew about Haru's novel which was known as Sword Art Online and 5 Centimeters per Second since they had also tried to poach him from other companies, however, they didn't expect him to buy this company directly. 

The talk between them was very smooth since everyone was familiar with the publishing book, especially light novels. 

Haru didn't only want this company to publish a light novel, but also an anime, music, and games. He knew that the IP from the company was very valuable, especially those high sales light novels. 

Then he also told them about his website that he had made and wanted them to take care of it. 

His plan had always been to create a video hosting website, however, that website wasn't something similar to a youtube, rather it was more similar to a Twitch, Niconico, or Bilibili.

What is so special about this video hosting website and what makes it different?

Bullet screen.

Haru wrote those words on the board. 

????

Everyone was confused by these words since they weren't familiar with it. 

Haru started to explain about "bullet screen" 

Bullet screens are a feature on video sites that allow real-time comments from viewers to fly across the screen like bullets. 

Haru told them with this feature it would make the viewers on the website think that they were able to talk to each other (which they don't...). 

They were very surprised by this video hosting project and felt that it had good prospects. 

"But it needs a very big server." 

One of the executives who was quite knowledgeable about the internet was quite concerned that the website would crash when there were a lot of people who accessed it. 

"For the server, you don't need to worry since  I own a computing cloud," Haru said. "No matter how many people will access our website, it won't cause a lag or crash." 

"...." 

Everyone was very startled at this moment. 

"Haru-sama, tell me why you have never told me about cloud computing," Seri said with a serious expression. 

"....." Haru blinked his eyes and said, "Let's talk about that matter later since I want to focus on this matter first." 

"Yes." Seri nodded. 

Haru continued with his talk to create the biggest community for animation, games, and music (ACG).

Everyone became more excited the more that they heard it. 

Haru told them how to operate this website along with how to get revenue such as advertisement and subscription. 

The conversation had become quite long and he also talked about a special method for someone to become a member of this website with answered 100 questions that they had prepared. 

For the content, Haru said to use all of the anime that they had made in the company with also inviting a famous dancer, voice actress agency, idol agency, mangaka, and a lot of more while also explaining the benefit of joining their website such as more income and to advertise their new work.

Haru told them to discuss the regulation of the website with themselves along with setting up the price of the subscription. 

The price of the subscription is very important since it can't be too expensive, but it also needs to give them a benefit 

Haru thought for a while and said, "How about 540 yen per month?" 

They thought that it was very cheap to only pay that much each month, but they also thought that it was quite a good price for the subscription. 

If they multiply 540 yen to 10 million people then it means that their income can reach 5.4 billion yen each month. 

It is also possible to become bigger in the future. 

They also didn't need to pay the server since Haru had a cloud computing making the cost of the website less since it was Haru's company. (They need to pay too since it is a different business, but of course, the price is cheaper).

Of course, to attract people to subscribe to their website, they also need to have good content. 

Their talk was quite long, but their eyes were full of spirit and they couldn't wait to set up a new division in this company. 

"The next one, I want to set up a weekly manga magazine," Haru said. 

"...."

10 chapters / week

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, business, events and incidents are the products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

---

He had been reincarnated, he thought that he didn't cheat until suddenly he noticed someone invite him on a group chat.

[Do you wish to join Dimensional Chat Group?]

MC: "Accept!"

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Cover not mine, it's from anime Yosuga no Sora

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Grammar sometimes sucks but bear with it.

https://discord.gg/Q3MFzds

If you want to tell me there is a grammar mistake.

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https://www.patreon.com/akikan40

Maybe I'll be full of energy to write your favorite fanfic.

When Celestial Bane reached 100,000 words, there were already as high as 150,000 bookmarks. At the same time, it ranked tenth in recommendation votes and was already competing with many other great authors on the list. The battle was a fierce one.
Things did not stop there when Celestial Bane reached 150,000 words and there was not the slightest hint of decline in support. On the contrary, it continued making headway. Bookmarks reached 250,000 in one fell swoop, climbing up the recommendation votes list and achieving third place!
To reach the third place on the recommendation votes list was a truly formidable result. Recommendation votes represented a work's popularity before the work was published!
Those votes could be regarded as directly correlated to the final score of one's book. At that moment, Celestial Bane has already caught the attention of Genesis Chinese Literature's big shot authors. It was a masterpiece that was expected to reach the same levels.
At 200,000 words, Celestial Bane's bookmarks had exceeded the 400,000 mark. It overwhelmed the recommendation votes and made it to the first in the recommendation list!
During the past few days, Celestial Bane received an influential banner recommendation from Genesis Chinese Literature. It was then that everyone realized how explosive it was!
The bookmarks skyrocketed to 800,000!
Even those renowned authors on the net could only watch and dream of such a result.
Ye Lingchen's editor Yogurt was stunned too. Although he knew that Celestial Bane would blow up, he never expected it to be so hot. It went against all odds, and if the result were to continue, it would surely suppress Genesis and set a new precedent of its own!
Celestial Bane's arrival kicked up a bloody storm within the web literature community.
Readers engaged in heated debates!
Every other web novel site besides Genesis engaged in heated debates!
Major editors within the web literature community engaged in heated debates!
Various renowned writers engaged in heated debates!
In short, Celestial Bane seemed to have ushered in a new era within the current web literature community!
It reached a point where many external editors tried their best to contact Ye Lingchen in an attempt to dig him out. Many more people were searching for Ye Lingchen's true identity as they hardly believed that such a work was written by a new author!
This situation developed into a horrifying state of affairs.
In the book review area of ​​Celestial Bane, comments numbering in the hundreds of thousands appeared every day. They were all compliments, leaving behind links in the hopes that Ye Lingchen could go to their respective websites. The attitude shown by those comments was that of absolute humility and respect!
Some were simple and direct—they offered him their highest offer and the best treatment on their website.
The sheer scope of comments made it impossible for Yogurt to do anything. It was a herculean task for one person to delete everything alone.
As a last resort, the situation could only be relayed to the higher-ups.
That short period of time was enough to shake up Genesis' top brass!
Goodness!
Celestial Bane was a masterpiece, a flagship of their website in the future. Did anyone think that they could dig out the author's identity?!
The website added an editor to the xianxia genre almost immediately, without much ado. The first task was to help clean up that portion of the comments from Celestial Bane.
In addition to discussing the title of the book, Ye Lingchen's pen name was also the subject of discussion.
Beep, beep, beep!
Yogurt the editor sent a congratulatory message to Ye Lingchen. "I am Y, congratulations, your results will make you a famous author. Within a month, your popularity can already surpass the highest record for new books on our website."
"Thank you," Ye Lingchen replied.
"It will be National Day in a few days and we recommend Celestial Bane to be published then since it's a holiday and that's when the traffic is the highest. With your results, it will be a hit when it's published!"
"Mm. Let's publish it on National Day then." Ye Lingchen suddenly realized that he had quite a lot of things going on during National Day. Huo Yuanjia was about to be released, Celestial Bane was about to be published, and the trip to Las Vegas with Lu Hao all coincided with National Day.
"Alright! It's set." The Yogurt replied. "There must be an explosive chapter when we are published, usually. Save up a few drafts, so when the time comes, you'll get famous in one fell swoop!"
Regardless of the outcomes or popularity for any novel, the simplest and most effective basis for measuring all of that was the subscription after publication!
Subscription did not simply enable authors to make money and feed their families. More importantly, subscription represented the number of people willing to spend money for one's work, because readers would only spend money if the creation attracted them!
In general, the standard by which an author is measured on a website was also based on subscriptions. When the subscription met certain conditions, the authors could then be inducted as big shots.
...
Dragon's Sky!
It was a dedicated online forum for the web literature community.
Throughout the month, the topic revolved around Celestial Bane and had yet to stop. A search of the phrase 'Celestial Bane' would reveal a shocking discovery—there were hundreds and hundreds of topics about Celestial Bane!
At that point in time, the post "Guess whether Celestial Bane can kill off big shot authors?" became the hottest topic of discussion.
[Replying OP, it's certain that Celestial Bane can kill off big shot authors! It just depends on how it wants to do it!]
[Let's all witness it when the big shot authors are killed off. Definitely going to be a beautiful sight.]
[Swear on my heart, Celestial Bane is an amazing read. I can't stop.]
[Every month there will always be one or two big-shot authors, but Celestial Bane should get first-place!]
[Have any of you seen Celestial Bane's data, it's just scary! The bookmarks have reached 800,000!]
...
Amidst those words of praise however, it was inevitable that there were some mixed reactions.
[Hehe, after reading so many comments, the only thing I want to say is, there are too many stupid c*nts!]
[Celestial Bane's data is obviously brushed[1]! How can a newcomer get such results? He's a brusher, shameless. Don't show your stupid face, get lost!]
[I can't even continue reading the first chapter of Celestial Bane anymore. What the hell are you writing? I can write better, you garbage!]
[What use does it do if it has plenty of bookmarks? We still have to look at it when it's published! News about Y has been really hot recently, and the author of Celestial Bane is 'I am Y'. It's obvious that he's trying to take advantage of the hype!]
[Agree with the commenter above. Many people are probably bookmarking it thinking that its Y, but few only genuinely bookmarked it.]
[Y'all upstairs are just jealous dogs. People are earning a living with their abilities, so you have what it takes to write your own, do it then, you stupid c*nt!]
Soon, two sides of the divide quarreled with each other and fast became the hottest topic in Dragon's Sky.
Everyone initially thought that the topic would end there, and the subsequent arguments were predicted to be simple little disagreements. However, a netizen named 3Logs commented below and upped the topic's intensity yet again.
[Before publishing, all the data is on paper, not on the table. I haven't read Celestial Bane, but the author called himself I am Y. Hehe, what does that mean? Now, assuming that Y represents the pinnacle of the industry and your name is Y? On what grounds?! Are you ignorant or arrogant, do you think you are number one on the web?!] 
Once that post appeared, the situation exploded in an instant!
[Oh f*ck! Oh f*ck! Oh f*ck! It's 3Logs, the big shot!]
[When a big shot appears, the idlers will make way. All hail the big shot!]
[The big shot is finally unable to take it anymore. HAHAHA. I knew that the name I am Y will sow hatred.]
[Are you going to fight Celestial Bane? Wow, wow, wow! The battle of the big shots is about to start, so exciting! So exciting!]
...
[1] 刷 – this is translated as brushing, a deceitful technique used primarily in e-commerce to boost a seller's rating through fake orders. In this context, it is likely referring to Celestial Bane's rating being boosted through the creation of fake accounts that leave fake reviews.


Ye Lingchen was a regular high schooler who struggled with exams and expectations from his parents.
All that changed after he woke up from a strange dream and discovered that he had been granted the 'Prodigy System'. His life changed from this point on. Reading a book allowed him to learn its content immediately. Listening to lectures granted instant understanding of the lesson. Observation of a technique imprinted knowledge of the technique used.
Learning had never been so easy, and as the saying goes, knowledge is power. In this case, he now had access to a ton of unbridled power. 
What does it feel like to become a 'prodigy' overnight? Follow Ye Lingchen on this journey to discover the limitless possibilities...

For a couple of weeks, the situation did not change that much for the Spacol members. In fact, it seemed like nothing changed at all, excepting from the fact that Keith, Leyla, Michael and Tyler were all working at the same place.
Other than that, the frequency at which they gathered inside of Project Overworld was substantially the same and their projects could progress as much as before. After only three weeks the group managed to finally complete their Moon base with ten greenhouses being connected to it.
It was a huge milestone for them since it would be giving them a lot more free time to focus on more 'industrial' projects such as the construction of their ice factory and the pipeline supposed to bring water all the way to their base.
'Things are going really smoothly as of recently.' Keith meditated. However, his complexion darkened after remembering the constraints they would be going through during their future inside this game.
Firstly, they would have to launch several times more resources towards their Moon base or essentially every project they would want to go through would require several months, nay years, to be completed. Of course, Keith's recent forum post aimed at solving this particular problem by recruiting more people into Spacol and making them produce loads of rockets for them.
However, this was not the only problem their company could be going through, in fact, their new work at the NASA could become quite troublesome in a few months. Once their job at helping NASA employees investigating Project Overworld began, they would have to go and meet with them at the World Spawnpoint. Obviously, they would only have to do so during their working hours, but they would not be able to make their way back to the 'SMB' every evening and this situation would quickly become really constraining for the four American friends.
'This is going to get quite complicated in a while... Maybe we should try and make new Project Overworld accounts for our work at the NASA?' Keith thought for a while. It seemed to be quite an acceptable solution, other than the fact they would have to buy another subscription to the game.
Other than that, Keith also had to spend some of his time filtering through the profile of the Spacol candidates. Since his job at the NASA would be quite separated from what he was currently doing with his friends, there was no way for him to 'recruit' those NASA employees into helping him on his own projects.
'I also have to take into account that this game's stability isn't guaranteed. Ever since they started having trouble with their servers, I feel like the developers of Project Overworld have had a hard time keeping everything in check.' Keith realized. The more he progressed into the game, the more he it turned out as a race before the servers shutted down.
He still had a last minute plan in case of the worst, though. If the problem was the huge amount of technological devices being produced and distributed every day throughout the world, he just had to destroy everything by himself. This kind of development was not something he was eager to make his way towards, especially after having followed the progress of Yggdrasil for so long. However, the future of humanity as a whole also depended on this game being up and running, and he could not let his own emotional attachment towards some virtual cities impacting his choices.
'Maybe I could convince the U.S governement to invest into this game or something? For the time being, though, it seems like we're about to reach some technological roadblocks and I'm really worried about it.' Keith concluded.
_______________
While extruding a piece of metal, Keith though about of impacting his work at the NASA had been on his personnal life. It has not been long, only a bit over a month in fact, but he has already gathered knowledge he was oblivious to up until now.
His technique as an engineer improved a lot since he had to take a lot more parameters into account upon constructing something from scratch, and this also made it so he had a easier time differentiating the physics of his favorite video game and those of the 'real world'. Keith was much more invested into this challenging job than he has been during his long stay at the perfume bottle factory.
His job back then mostly consisted of controling the production of machines and packing up boxes for their clients. Now, however, he was required to manually create some rocket parts and he could not be more happy about it.
He did not know if this this part of the job was only required of them because they were new recruits, but according to Horace Johnson their future job would be related to Project Overworld anyways so Keith did not worry about it for the time being.
In any case, this situation improved his motivation to work on engineering projects a lot more than before and it seemed like his friends also felt the same. The construction of their base was not really boosted by the new knowledge they gathered, in fact the way they were working up until now was mostly optimized regarding the physics of this game.
Although this was Keith's opinion on the subject since he has not been able to build a lot of things because he has been so focused on his human resource management for a few weeks. Not only did he have to think of better trials compared to the last time he organized a recruitement event, he also had to set the lower limits for a candidate to pass through each trial.
This was the hardest part of the job because he could not recruit more than a dozen players into Spacol, after which it would become pretty challenging to coordinate so many players at the same time. That was why, each trial had to be really challenging while letting at least a few people win.
Alternatively, he could select the best engineers from each batch but he did not know the global level of those players in advance. Last time he did organize such an event people accused him of being arbitrary, which was true, and he did not want this new event from backfiring as much as it did back then.
That was why, the first few phases would have clear objectives for the participants to reach in order to go through the next phase. Afterwards, Keith would be chosing the best candidates himself and have them working on the same project for the last trial.
This was how the young man viewed this competition in its globality. However, he still had to determine the details as well as building an arena to contain all those players at the same time. The last one had been vandalized after the first recruitement event, and Keith would have a lot of restoration job to accomplish to have something satisfactory.
_______________
Amber was pacing through her office, thinking of her future projects. Ever since she discovered about the technical difficulties the servers of this game were going through, every single one of her decision became really calculated.
Trying to give off soothing image to the public while to slow down the pace at which thing were currently being developed, she has had quite a complicated job to do as of recently.
'Keith is going to recruit new people, huh? Is he aware of the problems Project Overworld is currently going through? Should I try and contact him?' She meditated for a while.
The young man sure was a sly one, but the fact that he was recruiting again made her feel like he was totally unaware of the servers' limitations. In fact, having more people working on the latest technological improvement also accelerated the downfall of this game and it was really concerning to her. 
'Well, what would he do after being informed of this fact anyways? Slow down his own work?' Amber continued arguing in her head. 'Maybe I shouldn't say anything to him, after all. The goal of this simulation has always been to go as far a humanly possible, and since the servers are reaching their end I could only hope Keith manages to contribute to the History.' In fact, the woman was thinking Keith's work was the only thing worthwhile for humanity as a whole, and that was why she was deliberating whether she should be contacting him or not.
Up until now, only entertainement had been occupying her mind. However, the servers were now on a downward ramp and their own entertainement would be fairly limited during the incoming months, especially if 'Advanced Simulations' downgraded their game again for the sake of performance.
Project Overworld could always be reset, leading to some new kinds of enjoyement for the players who did not manage to make it into the first launch of this game. However, Amber was much more preoccupîed about the future than ever before. If this game was, indeed, reset, their entire progress would be going to waste.
The computers Yggrasil citizen were so proud of would only appear as gadget once they disappeared into the void, whereas the plans for the Spacol Moon Base could be used by various spacial organization in the 'real world' to study. It was nothing really impressive, but still something worth talking about.
Maybe if she did manage to slow down the progress of the various industries, dispersed throughout this game, could she be saving a few essential months for Spacol to develop new kinds of technology. She did not know that yet, but she had to try nonetheless.
'And here I was, thinking I was already quite busy. It's going to get a lot more complicated from now on, in the end.' Amber concluded.


October 12, 2032, the game "Project Overworld" would release its first server to the public.
Developed by the company "Advanced Simulations", this game aims to exploit the technologies behind virtual reality devices in order to simulate an entire universe.
The players would all spawn on the same planet and try to survive with or against other players while building up stocks of resources and defenses.
Eventually, they would be able to progress and exploit different resources to create technologies ranging from simple wooden spears to actual space rockets.

Long Jian excused himself and left their private dining room. He headed to the men's washroom to relieve himself. While doing his business, he heard a group of college students talking to each other.

"Man, I'm exhausted. I played this new game for the past two nights. It's called 'Supreme Ascension'. Do you know it?"

"Of course I know it! I'm actually one of the first people who bought a subscription when it officially launched last week. I discovered it at a gaming convention about a month ago. They let people play the sample. Before I realized it, I spent my entire time at the convention just playing the game. The story line is different depending on which class you choose. I think that's very cool. The graphics are just freaking awesome. And the world-building? Don't get me started. It's so detailed and so on-point that I think it's going to be the next big thing in the gaming world. I was so disappointed when they told me that it wasn't available yet during that time. That's why I've been waiting for its official release and immediately bought the subscription. And I'm telling you, it's so worth it."

"Ah, damn. I'm only playing the free version. Maybe I'll buy the subscription, too. The pricing is reasonable, as well. It won't bankrupt us poor college students."

Another slightly older man in his mid-twenties piped in. "Sorry to interrupt. I just overheard your conversation. Are you talking about the MMORPG 'Supreme Ascension'?"

"Yeah, man. You play it, too?"

"Yes! Actually my older brother was one of the beta testers of the game."

"What?! For real?! That's cool as f*ck, man!"

The newcomer looked pleased at their reaction. "Yeah. Apparently, it's made by a completely new gaming company called Planet Monkey. It also seems that the game developers are total newbies. Kinda unbelievable, right? With that kind of quality, you'll think that the game was created by one of the big companies with numerous other games under their belt. But no, this is apparently their first game."

"Wow. I didn't know that. That's insane. They must be loaded to be able to create such a high quality game and even build a company."

"Nah. My brother said that the CEO is only in his mid-twenties—that's around my age—and the CFO is in his late twenties. They aren't rich at all. Both were office workers living paycheck to paycheck before they decided to quit and build their own gaming company."

"Huh? Where did they get all of their funding then?"

"I heard that the President-Owner of the company is the one who's super rich. My brother has never seen the owner, but he heard from the employees that the owner is apparently a beautiful young woman. They say that she's very generous. Whatever they ask, she provides. That's why they have the best environment to create the game compared to other indie developers and maybe even some of the big gaming companies."

"Beautiful young woman? Come on! That's pure bullsh*t. The owner is probably a rich, young master who has more money than he could spend, plays video games all day, and has never had a girlfriend before."

They all laughed.

"But that is amazing, man. I wish I could be a beta tester, too. That would be so freaking cool."

"If you're serious, I can connect you with my brother. He's still working part-time as a tester for the company, even though the game is already released. Mainly to check for bugs and to evaluate user experience, that kind of thing. And he says that the job pays well."

"For real?! Man, let's exchange contact info! When I graduate, I'm so going to apply to Planet Monkey."

"Me too! But what I really want to know is if it's really true that the owner is a beautiful young woman!"

Long Jian washed his hands, feeling a little annoyed that these guys were being so noisy inside the washroom. He looked down on people like them. 

For him, any adults playing video games were lazy bums. That beta testing or whatever was not a real job. It could only be a side hustle for desperate people who were too lazy to put in the effort to get real jobs like him. 

A faint sneer marred his handsome face.

However, Long Jian envied the owner of that Planet Monkey company. He didn't care whether the owner was really a beautiful young woman or a rich young master. He wished that he could also have the freedom and the money to build his own successful business from scratch.

Even though he was a Long, his finances were limited to what he was currently earning as a corporate worker. His father stopped sending him allowance when he started working after graduating from university. 

Fortunately, his mother was able to invest in several small properties while she was still his father's mistress. She rented these properties to others, providing their family with a continuous stream of extra income.

He wasn't like Long Hui or Long Xiulan, the legitimate children, who grew up with silver spoons in their mouths. Their other half-sister, Long Jinjing, had a similar upbringing to him. Although he and Long Jinjing were richer compared to the average people, they were nowhere near as wealthy as the young masters and young misses from other affluent families.

Well, it didn't matter if he couldn't start his own company. He wasn't that interested in trying it anyway. Why start his own when he could get his hands on an already established and successful company? 

What he wanted the most was Long Industries. He would work extremely hard and do everything in his power, even sell his soul to the devil, in order to achieve this ambition.

As he made his way back to the private dining room, he thought about his youngest half-sister. He heard that Long Xiulan started her own company and begged their father for some sort of a business deal. He chuckled, the sound filled with mockery.

'What an idiot. A person like her who barely graduated from senior high school and never attended university started her own business? Does she think that running a business is that easy? What a joke. I'll bet that her business—whatever it is—will fail in just a few months. She has the money, yes, but skills? How laughable. Not everyone can be like the owner of that Planet Monkey who seems to run his or her company very well despite being a total newbie in the gaming industry.'

A world-famous hacker and daughter of the most powerful criminal family who ruled the international underworld for many generations is killed when their organization is annihilated in a single night.

She is reborn into the body of Iris Long, a teenage pop singer, wild party girl, and spoiled brat. For the former princess of the underworld who lived an overprotected and shackled life, this new life is a chance to finally live the life of freedom and independence that she always wanted.

Jin Liwei is the most powerful man in the country's business world. Cold and ruthless, he is someone only a few dare offend. When the infamous Iris Long, who used to chase his younger brother, wakes up from a year-long coma, his unfeeling heart moves for the first time and he falls hard for this unexpected genius girl.

She wants to fly freely and soar high beyond the sky. He wants her everything, to tie her to himself and to never let her go.

This is her journey to super stardom. This is his journey in accompanying her. Together, they will rock the world while facing many challenges.

But what will happen when she discovers that she can never escape from the shadows of her previous life? Will she still be able to live her dream life of freedom and independence? Will he be able to protect her from the dangers?

###
Instagram: Arria Cross (@arriacross)

HGWS Discord Server: 
https://discord.gg/cSUhBdz

The powers that be that crafted the world called Nohas carefully planned and designed their way throughout its creation.
In essence, from a far enough perspective, you could call them world builders – designing a world made by Awakeners, for Awakeners.
For instance, what they called "tutorial areas" were most often vast plains and meadows, with a walled town located at the center.
This town was one of many "beginner villages", called Brino.
And within the walls of Brino, there were multiple undeveloped districts; the largest of which were used as a makeshift barracks for the Awakeners lucky (or unlucky) enough to find themselves in this world.
Due to the width and breadth of what was now known as the "Barracks District", many tents were erected and arranged in a manner reminiscent of how ancient Asian armies set themselves up.
But something that has never happened in the town of Brino was taking place.
"Yes, of course. It had to hurt, had to make it stick, you know?" Jake asked as he saw the man shedding manly tears devouring the offered food. 
"Must have been tough. Still got some slices here. Need more?"
"Thank you," the man said in between bites, "First time in a long while I've eaten like this."
A man was seated on the edge of the unbelievably fancy four-poster bed, flanked by various packages of food, while consuming a slice of plain cheese pizza like a thirsty man in the desert stumbling on an oasis.
And the man with the boxes was smiling widely.
The unreality of the situation only matched the danger of the world outside these walls, and Jake Smithson knew it.
"Feel free to grab another one," Jake continued. "Man, is that plain cheese really that good you're actually crying over it?"
He wordlessly handed over another slice to the man, who proceeded to tear into it just as fast as the previous one, so much so that he didn't notice his head bob up and down in a nod, and Jake smiled at the development.
'Yes, keep eating,' Jake thought, 'the quickest way to a person's heart is through his stomach.' 
Jake smiled widely while watching the person eat, reminiscing about the days where he had several delinquents pledge their lives to him.
This situation was no different, and despite the hungry man looking older than Jake, the same reverence in his tone and actions was a dead ringer to the time when Jake was still young, wild and free.
'I just need to ask him the right questions, and I'll be all set.'
The delinquents that followed Jake weren't exactly pushovers themselves, but there was a method Jake did that earned him their loyalty.
'Carrot and stick, punishment and reward,' Jake thought. 'Give them a whipping on one hand and give them a reward on the other.'
'Show them what you do to your enemies and what you do to your friends and they'll be eating out of your hands in no time at all,' Jake continued musing as he picked out his inventory. 
'And then, I'm going to find that S.O.B. who ruined my reputation.'
Jake had spend some of his extra points on luxury food items in the Awakening Store, and they were in his inventory, waiting to be opened up and eaten.
Despite not being that useful as a healing item, it had an extra advantage Jake sought to use for all he was worth: it carried the taste of home.
'When I think about it,' Jake mused, 'they already paid half the price for this pizza in advance in the form of a beating. The other half is information. Time to get to asking, got a killer to catch.'
While food was indeed tastier when shared, that wasn't on Jake's mind at the moment – underneath the guise of a gracious host lay the instincts of an interrogator. 
And he was about to start plying his craft.
"So who makes the decisions for your team?" he asked, almost casually, and the man turned towards him, the second pizza slice already eaten.
If you discount his pathological addiction to buying things, Jake Smithson could easily call himself a realist.
It was why he leveraged his shopping prowess in this world rather easily.
And now, this way of thinking was helping him read the first of several Awakeners he'd interrogate.
First of all, people had needs.
For the Awakeners who had spent some time in Nohas, all they had to sustain themselves with were fruits, vegetables, and the odd potion when situations became dire.
As a result, if you give a man something as simple as a plain cheese pizza, he would enthusiastically say yes if you asked him to pick up his gear and go to the demon's castle and bring back the demon's head.
But that wasn't what Jake was after at the moment: there were questions that needed answering.
"Oh no, we don't do that sort of thing," the man began after wiping off his mouth with the back of his hand. "Some time back, Seamus led from the front with his team, but with what happened to him, we all gather as a group and decide based on what we talk about."
Jake's eyes narrowed imperceptibly – this wasn't the reason he gave this guy all that pizza, and this wasn't the answer he was looking for.
"However," the man continued, " there are some Awakeners who others instinctively follow."
'Finally, some headway.'
"Really, now? Who might those be?" Jake asked, keeping his voice even.
"Well…" the man answered, taking a second to think, "you already know Liam, who is one of the best of the best in town, including you."
"I know, he's good. Saw it firsthand," Jake replied. "What else?"
"Well, if Liam's not here resting, he's out there hunting," the man said as Jake nodded. "He also asked you for some help before, but it looked like he did it because many others were begging him to. From then on, he just kind of kept to himself."
'Interesting,' Jake thought as he gained some new insight about Liam the magic sword-wielder. 'Unfortunately, it's nothing I don't already know. I tend to gather crowds when I fight. Liam's magic is flashy, but the way he uses it shows his personality.' 
"Who are the other Awakeners that are followed around?"
"Oh," the man replied, "besides Liam, who is constantly training and hunting, there are several others. You already met Emmanuel; Charles leads the archers and rangers, and Kyle who is in charge of the mapping out this place while they hunt and train to be able to survive outside this town with minimal help."
The man took a breath before continuing. "Novices aside, most of the Awakeners here, tend to follow those guys."
Jake's smile widened just a little bit further.
"Do tell me more about them. How well do they get along with their fellow Awakeners?"
"Well, they're all good people," the man answered. "The three of them are some of the strongest here – besides you and Liam, of course – but they're humble and listen to other Awakeners."
"What about Seamus, did they get along with him?"
"To be honest… I don't know," the man admitted. "I'm not that strong so I don't know what is going on between the higher-leveled Awakeners. I've only become close with Emmanuel since I've started going on more hunting trips recently."
'Well crap,' Jake thought. 'I tried so hard, got so far, but in the end, it didn't even matter.'
'Yeah, I'll probably give this guy another pizza if he can give me more important information, but for now, we're done. There are still several people left to interrogate, and I'm just starting, so I don't see this as an absolute disappointment.'
"Okay," Jake said, standing up. "Thanks for answering my questions. The door's over there -- I'll call you back if I need to ask you something else later."
The man stood up, turned to leave, but before he could completely turn his back on Jake, stopped and turned back to him slowly. 
"Were those the last slices of your pizza? I am still very hungry…"
Jake stared at the man for a moment and then spoke up.
"Yeah, those were the last ones. My apologies," and it was as if the gloom of extreme sorrow had entered the tent and permeated the floorboards.
Jake's face took on a gaunter shape, as if they were sharing crumbs and the man took one crumb too many, and as soon as the mood of the room changed, the man's posture went ramrod straight instantly.
"No, I should be the one to apologize! It was the best meal I've ever had in this place! Thank you! I'm leaving now!"
"But if you need anything, please don't hesitate to call me!" the man continued, talking even as he made his way out of the tent, down the stairs and out of the building.
"Will do," Jake said softly towards the retreating man, a smile on his face as he saw the man leaving, all the while thinking about the items in his possession had that looked more like a supermarket inventory than a role-playing-game.
"Will do, indeed."
***
"How? Why? This is inconceivable! How?"
The sound of two palms smacking one's own head quickly following Kelderian's exclamation echoed throughout the Awakening Store office. 
"Please remain calm, sir! There has clearly been some sort of oversight, and the situation has somehow corrected itself!" a beleaguered man wearing a cheap suit – the only other Awakening Store employee here – said, in an attempt to calm down his boss Kelderian.
'Is this some sort of excellent or disastrous fortune?' Kelderian asked himself as he now faced what looks to be a very ridiculous situation. 
'You're already a Passionate Member? What in the name of all that is good and true and beautiful do you spend your time on aside from buying from this shop? Is the only thing you do in your waking hours shopping?!'
If he had met Jake face-to-face and asked that question personally, the answer would be a simple nod of the head and "yes".
Unfortunately – or is that fortunately – Kelderian didn't know that, and despite being in the black with all of Jake's purchases, there was some sense of foreboding surrounding this strange Awakener.
For someone working in sales, if you sell a lot of items, that is only a good thing. Who wouldn't want to make money off sales?
Kelderian's circumstances were different, though. He was in the throes of a full-blown panic attack as he saw item after item being purchased from the Awakening Store.
"What in the name of pennies, nickels and dimes is this guy doing? Buying all these items on the zero-interest installment plan?"
At this point, the Awakening Store was still in what is called a "soft opening", meaning they weren't distributing the full catalog of their products.
Not that it ever stopped a maniac like Jake.
Kelderian's assistant seemed to have a bit of understanding about this whole mess, and after handing a brown paper bag for his boss to breath in and out of before maxing out the air conditioning, finally pitched his idea as soon as the panic attack passed.
"Boss, you know the quote about a thin line between genius and insanity? I think our buyer's both."
Kelderian looked at his assistant like he grew a second head before turning back to the logs.
"What are these things he's buying? It doesn't make sense. Lucky for us, though – most of what he's buying isn't upsetting the balance of Nohas or something," Kelderian muttered as he looked through Jake's purchase logs – which was easy, since he was the only client of the Awakening Store so far. 
"King-sized bed, two aerodynamic down pillows, branded comforter, personal sofa, annual subscription to Crazy Eights' Pizza and Pasta Shop consisting of two pizzas of his choice in his inventory daily, annual subscription to General Tso's Chicken Bowl, lifetime supply of cup noodles from Simsim, fall catalog of Down's Shirts…"
Halfway through he was shaking his head.
"What's this all about? He's hunting monsters, right?"
"Yes, and due to his class, he only receives points for killing monsters, not EXP."
"True, but this? This is… I haven't seen anyone buy these items before… or know about their existence. It's uncanny."
"But check this out, sir. He also has purchased items like the chain-link armor, enchanted gold necklaces, and he also bought the 'Haste' skill. I think he's preparing another solo hunt."
"That's understandable – but why these items?" Kelderian asked, unable to put his mind around the fact that the points Jake earned in bloodshed and battle were spent on such frivolities.
It would be hard to understand if you thought of the Awakeners as working only to survive; but what Keldarian didn't quite get was that some Awakeners didn't just want to survive this world, they wanted to thrive.
And they did that by bringing in comforts from home, like things for sleeping in and food to eat.
It made sense, true, but Keldarian still couldn't quite grasp it. 
'Why would you prioritize your point spending in that manner?'
He gestured to the screen at a certain item in the sales logs. 
"It's a pack of cosmetic face masks! We just put this useless stuff in the store to make it look like a shopping mall from these Awakeners' home planet!"
Yes, the Awakening Store included a pack of V-line cosmetic face masks… literally.
Did it have any unique function for Awakeners because of its presence in the Awakening Store?
Not really.
It only helped exfoliate skin while one sleeps at night.
Keldarian's question was, if it was useless, then why buy it? Why buy a cosmetic face mask pack in a place where battle and bloodshed is reality, monsters walk the world and life and death can be measured in moments? Does this person still think this place is the world he came from?
"But sir, isn't this a good thing for us?" Kelderian's assistant asked, and his head whipped to the side to give him an odd glance.
"I mean, we were almost in hot water when he got that Passionate Member upgrade."
"Indeed," Kelderian replied, thinking back to the moment he saw Jake Smithson's membership get the upgrade, and thought it was an unmitigated fiasco.
Something like this happening would end with sweeping managerial changes, his spotless track record of managing his branch notwithstanding.
The relief on his face when he saw their customer spend points on frivolities and quality of life items over skills and items that could potentially break the balance of the world was like he had dodged a bullet.
For now, the crisis was averted.
It was a very close call, but the potential Jake had was, frankly, terrifying.
After taking a well-deserved bathroom break and making his way back to his office, Kelderian collapsed onto the table, emotionally exhausted from the events of the past couple minutes.
"I can't. I just can't. I go this way, that guy goes another. I put one sale and he buys himself real estate in town for a house. I don't get it. I don't think I can ever get it," Kelderian muttered to himself, lamenting the unpredictability of their first, and so far sole, customer.
"He's buying trinkets and junk. Trinkets and junk. We're all good for now. We're all good," Kelderian continued, putting away the thought that their customer was doing this to see how much stress he could take.
At the moment, things were looking up.
'He's basically locked out of the shop, he hit his monthly payment limit. We have time. The armor he has… may be a problem, but he doesn't know how it works, shouldn't matter much for now…' Kelderian thought as Jake's shopping spree literally bought him some time.
The fact that Jake hit the spending limit meant that Jake needed to start paying back as soon as possible: in other words, the Awakening Store is inaccessible to Jake until he pays back the points he borrowed.
But there was one worry still lurking in the back of Kelderian's mind: the armor Jake bought.
It had high defense and looked really, really good, making it both a good item for gameplay and for showing off.
Unfortunately, the armor also had a hidden property.
It wasn't just built for defense: when another item is used on it, it unlocks the armor's true power, giving the wearer tremendous strength as well.
But of course, only the Awakening Store staff knows that fact. 
'He will never buy that item. It's a piece of junk here,' Kelderian thought as he remembered that he placed the ability to unlock the armor's power on a random object.
He hoped that eventually, when the Awakening Store customers increased, he'd start an event to find that item.
Several minutes passed, and Kelderian considered punching out for the day and going home when he heard a familiar scream from outside his office growing louder and louder until his door swung open.
"Boss, you'd better look! It's horrible!"
If his assistant said it was horrible, then it was horrible. Kelderian had trained him personally, and was planning to endorse him to manage a different Awakening Store branch, hopefully without maniacs like that Jake Smithson fellow.
But now wasn't the time for that. He was instantly alert when his assistant saw trouble, and while he led him back to the sales monitoring area, he could see him shaking, too.
"What is it now?" Kelderian asked, and his assistant could only point a shaking finger at a particular item in the buy logs.
Jake Smithson bought the item that removed the seal on his armor's true power during his shopping barrage.
It was at that moment when a trap door opened in Kelderian's gut and he felt his heart fall through it onto the floor.

Jake Smithson was an ordinary man who lived an ordinary life and worked at an ordinary job... until he found himself on a fantasy world and tasked to fight off monsters.

While his old life revolved around one thing -- online shopping -- his way of life in this brave new world remained the same.

Despite his extraordinary circumstances... shopping, shopping never changes.

In a world so very different from his own, with his life turned upside down, he turns to the one thing he knows. Accompany Jake as he takes the first few steps on the journey of working and buying his way towards absolute power.

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