They had to perpetually deal with a network of people as they were. They had received many challenges and had transactions with many people, but had never met anyone who sent demands in a foreign language. Even in an email six months ago from the Japanese Nakagawa Technology Group, it was still written in French.
"To the French government, there is a good thing here! When I was diving in the Atlantic was diving by chance..." Sonnenfeldt frowned and read softly.
Since both parties used translated versions, there were a lot of mistakes in the grammar, which made it difficult to read. The good news was that the content was straightforward and understandable.
"After you confirm the authenticity of the voicemail, please take out $500 million. And please use the top 20 languages in the world." When he had finished, he kept pinching his chin.
His first reaction was that the man was completely bullsh*tting and taking his cell phone to record the sound of the submarine when he was diving. Then why didn't he smash it with his fist? If the submarine sound was so easy to obtain, then the world's sonar anti-submarine network would be a joke?
"This must be some boring hacker using bad psychological tactics!" Sonnenfeldt smiled. "Isn't that just want you want? To arouse my curiosity, let me download this attachment, then let your virus play a role?"
As a 17-year-old, he successfully hacked into an online gaming server and changed his equipment to the highest level. At the age of 21, he was hired as a special technician expert for six Internet companies. Of course, he was good! He was outstanding! And he was certainly confident.
So he went to the computer to test the virus. He would download the attachment and see what the other person was trying to do.
More than 20 MB. It would take only a few seconds to download. Sonnenfeldt first cut off the network connection, then used a security tool to carefully examine it.
"Huh... the technique used to hide it is advanced!" He was like a woman seeing a flash of jewelry. The more advanced it was, the more excited he was.
Clicking on the audio file called "123123", Sonnenfeldt squinted his excited little eyes, ready to see what the person was up to.
Anyway, his testing computer would send all the unknown files which were tested to hardware technology to a empty hard disk, and by connecting to the Internet only at the moment the file downloaded, he simply didn't have to worry about any destruction.
Unexpected processor frequency increased. Memory was unaccounted for. Some files were just background noise.
It was difficult to describe the sound of the sound, and through the two stereo speakers, Sonnenfeldt felt as if he was suddenly plunged into the sea, surrounded by an endless ocean.
As time passed, the furrows on his forehead grew tighter. He had never been a submarine soldier. He didn't know if this was a submarine mechanical noise, but his intuition told him that this round was not coordinated buzz that was synthesized in a technical way.
"Hello, is this the secretary's office of the Élysée Palace? I received a copy of the audio file on the presidential official website, and it was found that there was no virus," he said. "The other party claims that this is the sound of our ruby attack submarine, and I'm sending this to you."
Sonnenfeldt didn't dare say that the other person was extorting $500 million. He was afraid of being asked by the higher ups, "Stupid! You do believe this?"
"Okay!" The voice on the phone was as cold as ever!
At the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées, the Élysée Palace was as famous as the White House in the United States, Buckingham Palace in Britain, and the Kremlin in Russia. It was the presidential palace in France and the symbol of the highest power in the country.
After the email arrived, a few of the palace staff heard it and felt that it was worth paying attention to. So, after some communications, the news eventually got transferred to the naval command.
"Ridiculous!" Anniston, who was assigned to the voiceprint, had serious doubts and was angry. A bunch of staff that just sits in an office, and if a guy says there's an Ultraman, do you have to go and verify it?
Absurdly absurd! But Anniston was only able to sit sullenly on the black sound analysis machine and work with the black headphones. What could he do since it was a command from the Élysée Palace?
They tested the sound of the submarine, not just the crew, but with two stereo systems. It was going to be determined in terms of Hertz, band, frequency, and so on.
In the dim and secluded environment, Anniston, with a bitter face, pressed the transmission button.
Buzz, buzz, buzz. The sound of the condenser was heard, and Anniston's cheeks turned pale. Then he looked at the waveband on the detector, Hertz...
"Ah!" His eyes widened bigger than a dog's head, popped out, and almost broke through his titanium glasses.
"This... This is... This is... This..." Anniston was shocked. Stumbling out of the room, he banged open the door of the chief's office.
"Sir, we're done for... "
.........
Half an hour later, at the east end of the Champs-Élysées, the presidential office of the Élysée Palace…
"Mr. President, what do you say we do?" Admiral Bailiffe, the commander of the navy, sat down on the red nan-wood chair, and his white brows were almost forced into a line.
The sound of a nuclear-powered submarine was stolen and was the one stationed at the naval base in Djibouti. The investigators had boarded the plane 10 minutes before to fly there, but he knew that there was probably little possibility of it being their own people. Because, from the sound pattern analysis, this was basically from an external device that had snuck up on the submarine and recorded it.
"Did you find out which country did it?" President Kosaki looked at the information in his hands. Who was trying to extort France?
"Not yet!" The one who spoke was the French Network Information Security Chief Earls. He was sitting on the left side of the president and whispered, "The email was sent by an ordinary Google mailbox registered to a server in Japan. We have invaded the server and stolen his registration information, but didn't get any useful information."
"The United States, Japan, Russia, China, these countries are the most suspect! Our ruby submarines are not the most technologically advanced, but at least they have to be at the same level to get access to them," said Admiral Bailiffe.
"But if you want to get this close and record the sound..."
Here he shook his head. "Even the American Ohio and the Russian North Wind have absolutely no way to do that."
"That's right!" The navy commander Chief Bailiffe suddenly thought of something. "Mr. President, last time when we were in the Gulf of Djibouti, we happened to intercept an unknown submarine, but all the sonar was destroyed by an unknown weapon, and then the torpedo used to block it suddenly exploded. The next day, when the deep-sea robot went down, it didn't find the wreckage of submarine nearby, so I have every reason to believe that this incident is related."
"I'm asking what country it belongs to!" President Kosaki thumped the table, sulking. "It's not clear who the enemy is. What is the point for you say this to me?"
"And you!" President Kosaki said in a different tone. "Did the other person say to reply to the message? I believe you will not let me down!"
"Mr. President, please rest assured!" Information Security Chief Earls gave a slight smile with a confident tone, as if he were solving a primary school math problem. "Our security team is prepared. As long as they send an email, we will definitely find out their real address!"
"That is best. They have such advanced submarine technology, so they would also have the best network technology personnel. All you have to do is to trace their true identity," President Kosaki waved and looked tired. "The secretariat will give you the email content to reply back in a minute. Go!"
Half an hour later, 15th and Andornen Street, French Network Information Security…
In the 10-meter-deep underground PXT mainframe room, Sonnenfeldt, who was the first to find the email, looked like the other 21 members of the team. All of had a face prepared for a war. The email was sent out 10 seconds ago, and what they needed to do now was to take advantage of the technology and break down the barriers and finally get the real address.
"The other person is likely to be the at the top of the network world and will have a super large tandem processor computer that is faster than our computing speed," said the Chief of Information Security, Earls.
"But I only ask you one thing: Do you have the confidence to win this war?!"
"Yes!" No one hesitated.
"Ok, starting from now on, monitor the mailbox all day long. Try to get the real terminal address in one minute!"
..........
Zhongyun City, Bolan Garden, at 7:00 p.m. local time…
Chen Fan, with two large plastic bags full of drinks and snacks, was ready to drive to the dock at the seaside. After such a long time, the other side should have confirmed that his email was true or false. He had to go and see if there were any reply.
As usual, he took the capsule to the stone tower inside the cave. He opened the nuts with force and tossed a handful into his mouth. Chen Fan connected the optic cable and then opened his laptop.
"There it is!" In the PXT mainframe room, Sonnenfeldt suddenly jumped three feet high and dropped a bombshell in the silent machine room.
"GO, GO, GO!" Not knowing who shouted it, and then the whole machine room was filled with typing sounds on keyboards.
The speed of the hands was very outstanding and could have broken the world record.
The backdoor to the Japanese website server had been found by them, and they were constantly monitoring. The only thing to do now was to find the real terminal address of the other party.
"Pa!" After a dazzling array of operations, Sonnenfeldt hit the return key, and a series of ASP source code popped up on the screen, all of which was about the connection information of Chen Fan's mailbox.
"Lock the first springboard IP!" In only seven seconds, Sonnenfeldt reported the IP of the Japanese Google website.
"Ah!" Five seconds later, Sonnenfeldt's eyes popped out, the... the other side did not use the springboard, they were using real I... The I... IP for Internet...
At this point, a member of the team with glasses, shouted, "IP has been identified. The other side is using the maritime satellite network. Right now the North Pacific Communications Satellite is in charge of access."
"F**k you!" Chief Earls smashed the table. Using satellites to surf the Internet, making it difficult to find locations.
Of course, that was just a little difficult!
"Immediately switch our network to a satellite network mode and then use the SPX satellite's Doppler waveband for signal detection."
As time passed, the keyboard tapping sound continued to fill the room. As France's national network information security, they not only had multiple high-speed optical fiber network connection modes, they had 3G wireless network and even national satellite network connection sharing.
Fifty-three seconds later, Sonnenfeldt banged the table and said, "The signal range is locked. The other party's network terminal is 50 nautical miles northwest of the Japanese oil valley, and it is 50 miles ahead of South Korea."
"Concrete coordinates!"
"North latitude 34.49.26, east longitude 129.53.12, signal error not exceeding one nautical mile... "
"Then the other party must be on board!" He took two deep breaths, and this time the President gave him the highest authority to mobilize any needed tools.
"Eames, you immediately inform the defense department that we have locked in the enemy's position, let them calculate the orbit, and find the military reconnaissance satellite that will fly to that area as soon as possible."
Half a minute later, the ministry of defense heard that there was a reconnaissance satellite that was about to arrive in the vicinity of the area after seven minutes and 39 seconds. And one hour and 21 minutes later and eleven hours later, two reconnaissance satellites passed by.
"Let them take digital pictures of them for two miles!" Then he walked up to Sonnenfeldt, stared at the screen, prayed to god, hoping that the other side would not move, so that the satellite would be better able to take pictures.
Maybe God really heard his prayer, and the source of the other party remained fixed and did not move.
After what felt like half a century, the machine room was suddenly filled with a loud bang. "The ministry of defense has transferred photos!"
"Immediately open the pictures with the big central screen!" Earls ran to the huge liquid crystal display wall two meters high on the east side... waiting!


Because of an accident, Chen Fan obtained the power to possess an electric eel!
Of course, being an ambitious guy, Chen Fan just HAD to explore his Electric Eel Avatar thoroughly!
Captains, are the Somali pirates still giving you a headache? Come and hire me online, and I will guarantee that your ship will be even safer than protected by an American aircraft carrier!

He came home from gym. He started to play black ops ||| which he had gotten for free from the place where he bought the Xbox from. He played a few online matches. The player base for other games except crystal wars had decreased significantly but it was still not too low. He played a few matches but he noticed that he would die more times than he could kill.

He then asks Andy if Andy had a way to improve his gaming skills. A notification resounds in his PC which makes him ecstatic.

[ Hidden function unlocked. ]

" Interface ",he said.

He noticed that he had a stats tab added to the UI. He clicked on the stats tab. He noticed that his creativity option from the profile tab had been transferred here along with two new options Endurance at which he had 1.5 points and gaming skill at which he had basic proficiency.

He currently had about 20,000 dev coins. Currently his games were really famous. So he naturally had many new registered users every day. He used 15,000 dev coins to max his proficiency in gaming skill to expert level.

Unlike the game development related skills, this gaming skill didn't make him feel pain and were also comparatively cheaper. After that he decided to play the game again. This time, he didn't die even once. Earlier he had noticed that the top killer would get 30-40 kills but he killed more than 60 and over three fourth of his kills were headshots. He had literally become a god in playing games. He noticed that he could do this just by instinct.

He then played till dinner. Then, he went to sleep.

Next day, he went to college. The first and second classes went by smoothly. In the third class, the selection were happening for various games for forming e-sports team. Shuvam tried for the COD team, his gaming skills had astounded the crowd. They were in awe as to how good of a player he was.

Few of his classmates also asked him if he wanted to join the crystal wars game. He just said that he didn't play the game and hadn't registered in it. He brushed them off while saying that.

He was selected in the COD e sports team of the college. The next national competitions was after 4-5 months.

He also noticed that a few players in the game ' crystal wars ' just logged in using their accounts and then let other people play the game in their stead.

After college ended, shuvam went back home. He quickly ordered the programmer bots to work on a update for the game. He told them to make an update that the player who was currently logged in had to be currently scanned in the webcam constantly. If the currently logged in person is not there and the seat is taken by someone else, then the game freezes and the new person's iris is scanned and the new user's account is opened.

So it was necessary for every player to have their webcam constantly turned on. He immediately released the update of 100 megabytes.

Remembering how the gamers at his college were talking about when Mr. Hood would organize a e-sports competition. He decided to start the national competitions after a month and the world championships later.

He quickly asked the bots to form a teleportation gate like things in every base. They were currently inoperable. He also asked them to make extra maps for the championships. These maps would be new to every participant and were exclusive to this years championships. He formed fifty different maps for the nationals championship and thirty more for the world championships.

He decided to host the game in each and every country in the world. He had also decided that the championship would be a 10 person group match. People with consent would sign up and compete.

The top 3 teams in the matches would get 1,000 , 750 and 500 dollars as prize for first, second and third prize respectively. 

The championship would be held after a week of  the nationals. The prize in the championship were fairly better. The 31-50th place would get $2,500 each. Thirtieth place would get $5,000 , twenty ninth place would get $6,000 and so on till tenth place who would get $25,000. From then on, there would be increase of 2500 dollars for every one increase in position till the second place who would get $45,000 and the first prize was $50,000.

The championship prize money for the nationals would cost about 700,000 dollars altogether and the world championship prize would cost another 700,000 dollars. Currently he had about a million dollars in his dark web account. He decided to wait about a month, by then he would have more than the required sum for prize money and required attention for the game.

He still kinda felt that this was not enough but he was currently low on cash and wanted to host these competitions quite early. He secretly decided that next year the prize money would be $100,000 for the world champion team.

Shuvam looked at the time remaining for the bots to set up all these things like making 3D models, game codes, etc. It would take about two days to finish it. He just kept the PC on and went to his room to draw sketches.

Before going back to his room, he didn't forget to upload a video and details about the upcoming national and world championships on to his website and his YouTube channel.

The days went by pretty quickly. He was going on and on with his daily life. It had already been about a month since the start of college. The national competition for the crystal wars was going to start in a few days and it had caused massive stirs in the gaming community.

More and more people started playing the game. Shuvam had about 2.5 million dollars in his deep web account and this was more than enough to handle the costs of all the prize money.

Today something unexpected happened. Shuvam had finished college and was going to the parking space to get his bike when Alisha approached him. She looked kinda angry and nervous and asked, " Do you only play games and study ? "

" Yes, that is what we are here for. Aren't you ? ", he said with an cold voice.

" Yea. But you are way too into studies. "

" It is how it is supposed to be. "

" Still, Don't you know there are other things in life ? Hmph.. Since you are always so lonely I will go home with you today. ", she said while pouting.

" Sorry. I am in a rush and I don't mind being alone. ",he said and rode away.

Alisha was amazed to how this couldn't catch her ' obvious ' advance towards him and straight out reject her. ' He really gets on my nerves. This guy… ',she thought and went to her friends while pouting.

Shuvam had a low EQ but he knew what was happening but he still didn't react and decided to ignore the girl.

He went home and made final adjustments for the upcoming competitions.

Shuvam got an software that is an amazing piece of tech. See how he uses it to make his career as an anonymous game developer who is known for for making the most complexed games of uncrackable nature.
Watch him make his dreams come true, help his family, get admired by gamers and be the best indie game developer.

"Young master, are you ready?" said an old man in a butler uniform. This was Gerard. The person who raised Miles from the moment he was born.
Miles' family was rich. Actually, that might be an understatement. They were CRAZY rich! Miles' parents were the Co-CEO of the world's third-biggest company Greysteed. They had started out as a tech company years ago but thanks to the genius of his parents now the company had shares in almost every business venture. The family was very happy to get an heir like William, Miles' father, who made them one of the richest families on earth instead of just an ordinary rich family. They were even happier when he had married another rising star of the business world, Ailsa. She was a little foul-mouthed thanks to the Scottish blood running through her veins but as long as she could make money they could tolerate it. So when the two of them came together the Greysteed Conglomerate was born.
That didn't come without a cost, however. Even though they made so much money, they didn't have enough time to spend with their son. That didn't mean, they didn't love him or ignored him. Actually, to them, Miles was the most important thing in the world. That was why they had worked so hard to earn this much money. It was all for him!
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Miles asked as he tightened his arm around Gerard's. He didn't want to get his hopes up over nothing. He didn't want to end up disappointed like all the other times.
"Don't worry young master. This old servant can assure you that it will work. According to old master, it has already been tested before and it worked. They are actually waiting for you on the other side" said Gerard as he laid Miles into the capsule.
This was a new product one of the Subsidiaries of Greysteed Conglomerate created. It was a new gaming device. After the fail of Oculus Rift or the VR in general, people had lost hope that it was just a dream. People would not be able to actually feel like they were inside the game. However, they had actually done it. They had even gone beyond just VR. They were able to create a capsule that was able to transfer the consciousness of its user to the game itself. Basically, they would be able to feel everything their character felt, even smell it!
This was way beyond of their time, at least by a century. Even the world's medical science was not that advanced and there were so many ways they could utilize it!
When William and Aisla saw the fund application for this project they didn't even hesitate before sinking in hundreds of billions of dollars into it. Nothing came out of it for five long years and the board of directors were doubting the decision of this married couple. They had already invested close to half a trillion and they wanted to shut down the project. They just weren't able to see the bigger picture. Of course, if the research had shown some results they wouldn't be this sceptic but there was nothing on the horizon at all! Most importantly the researchers kept on asking for more funds and the married couple just gave it to them without any questions. 
Finally, in the sixth year after funding them they had come out with this technology. They weren't even any complications with the tech. There were so many ways they could use this. So many ways to make money out of it. However, the decision of the couple baffled them once more. Instead, they had learnt that they already had an idea about what they were going to use this piece of magnificent technology and it was a game! A game! Were they crazy? Who knows? But the board of directors certainly didn't have the guts to object them. They were already wrong once. So how could they claim that their decision was wrong? To their bafflement, they had learnt that the game was already completed. They just needed to release it immediately. Without any advertisement or anything. 
When asked why they just answered the tech itself was already good attractive enough and currently it was the only game of its sort. Even if they didn't advertise it themselves, others would do it for them. So they had decided to release both the 'gaming capsule' and the game tomorrow.Yes, this discussion was going on the same day Miles was getting ready to get into the game. Because his parents were the founders of this project Miles and his family was given an Early Access. They could have started even earlier if they wanted but their purpose was not to get all the good stuff and dominate the game. It was just to spend a single day together without any disturbance from the outside world. They were going to have a whole world to themselves just for today. 
Gerard closed the capsule and the machine started to give out light indicating that it started to work.
"Welcome to the World of Rappelz!"
A gentle female sound announced to his arrivial into this new world. There were bright lights everywhere and Miles' eyes hurt. Miles' furiously blinked his eyes to get used to the light. He was in a library-like room. But Miles did not pay any attention to any of them. He was actually crying. No, he was not sad. These were his tears of joy.
"I can see!" shouted Miles towards the sky.
He was born blind. His parents took him to all sort of doctors around the world but none of them was able to cure him. They had even tried to give him an eye transplant but there was no such thing. Basically, you could not transplant the optic nerves connecting to the brain. So he was destined to be blind his whole life. This was the reason his parents had funded this project upon lying their eyes onto it. They had seen a hope for their son to see. Since it was sending their consciousness directly into the game they had bet onto the possibility that it would work and it did. Not just for blindness, this technology could actually temporarily cure other disabilities like being deaf or mute. Of course, they would still be disabled outside the game but those people at least had a place where they could feel normal now.

Miles Greysteed, the favoured son of heaven. Born to one of the richest families in the world, never in his life he had to ask for anything. There was always someone to solve his problems.

However, heavens must have been too jealous of him that they have taken something very important away from him.

Now, Miles journeying in the world of Rappelz. Can he find what he lost in there?

"Hitman"?
Never heard of the game. Is it a mini-game made by foreign developers?
Ren Suo glanced at the clock. It was near noon. He ordered food to be delivered, then peed and washed his face. When he was done, he settled on the couch in the living room and started playing the Mini Worlds Gaming Console.
The apartment his uncle rented out to him was well-designed, furnished with a sound system, a 4K TV, couch and other furniture. It was a haven for a single inhabitant. And even more so with a girlfriend.
So Ren Suo bought his dream girlfriend – the fourth princess, a.k.a. Hell4PRO.
Having washed his face, Ren Suo felt fully awake. Only then did he recall that he had bought his games separately from his gaming console.
The order confirmation in his mobile phone showed that his "Unparalled Hero 8" and "Curse of the Evil Spirit 2" was still on the way. It would probably take a couple more days to reach him. So, even though he had the console, it was useless.
"Unparalled Hero 8" was the latest arcade game, while "Curse of the Evil Spirit 2" was a hardcore action RPG. Ren Suo had taken a long time to decide on these two games. He was ready to throw a few months into them till he became a platinum player and till he started work.
Because buying these two masterpieces had nearly emptied Ren Suo's gaming fund, he wasn't intending to buy digital copies of games on the Hell online game store. Digital copies were typically more expensive than physical copies. Unless there was a discount, Ren Suo would not consider them, not to mention the collectible nature and resale potential of physical copies.
If he were to become rich in the future, Ren Suo would collect game discs as trophies of his glorious days;
If he were poor, then he would sell them away to recoup his losses. After all, these games cost him quite a fortune.
Because of these two reasons, Ren Suo chose to buy physical copies despite their long delivery time.
Without the games, Ren Suo had no choice but to leave the Hell4PRO in the garage and play "Hitman" on Mini Worlds.
He clicked on [Free Game of the Month]. The game description of "Hitman" introduced the game was an action RPG – an immersive assassination game. The gamer played the role of a modern hitman who had the skill "Bullet Time" and was a master of all weaponry and combat styles. He could even pick other assassin characters. It looked pretty impressive.
After selecting to download the game, a message popped out:
[Player has chosen a free chapter. The free chapter of this month is Hitman's "Bloodied Banquet". Difficulty of game: 1 star.]
[This free chapter has a difficulty rating of 1 star, hence the exclusive reward is canceled (exclusive rewards are awarded only to 2 stars or above).]
[The time left in this free chapter is 14 hours 23 minutes 51 seconds. This game will be deleted when the time is up.]
"What? I can only play one chapter in the free game, and I'm left with less than 15 hours?" Ren Suo complained. But having seen the likes of too many freebies in Xuan Nation, he wasn't too surprised.
Yet, the download speed of this game was crazy quick. In less than five seconds, Ren Suo received the message that the download was complete. That took away any hopes Ren Suo had about the game. Although the apartment boasted Xuan Telecom's 200M fibre optic cables, a game that could be downloaded via WIFI in less than 5 seconds couldn't have been more than 100M in size.
Even if it was just a single chapter, the music, software, images…etc. had to be downloaded still. Such a small game was either cut to its bare bones or tiny in scale to begin with. Although size didn't equate to a game's quality, it limited how impressive a game could be.
"Looks like it's just a mini game… Wait?"
Ren Suo suddenly realized that he had not connected the Mini Worlds Gaming Console to the apartment WIFI.
But this Mini Worlds Gaming Console was omnipotent the moment it appeared. It could connect to Hell4PRO's game controller and the DaMi TV. It wasn't too much of a stretch for it to be able to connect to the apartment's WIFI automatically.
However, the moment he entered the game, Ren Suo's slain expectations revived immediately!
On the screen, rain drops fell off the roofs of the buildings on either side. Pitter patter, they hit the murky alley floor. In the distance, the lights on the skyscrapers and the streetlamp outside the alley became the only source of light in the alley.
And in that dark abysmal alley, a figure shrouded under a black umbrella stepped leisurely through puddles of water till he occupied the center of the screen. He was dressed in a suit, his bearing straight, like an aristocrat in the rainy night.
Just then, the camera zoomed in under the umbrella, giving the player a clear view of this man's face-
[Please configure the hitman's appearance.]
"What the-? This isn't CG, it's the actual graphics in the game?" Ren Suo was stunned. Even now, the rain-soaked alley was visible behind the character. The play of light, the rain drops, the buildings, the details, the ambience, the character… they were unmatched even by that so-called highest-performance game "Log Horizon"!
"No way this is a mini game. This is definitely a triple-A heavy-hitter!" Ren Suo's interest was piqued. He noticed that the character in the game was automatically set as a fearsome looking bald man. After he selected to change his appearance, a series of face-changing options popped out, intimidating Ren Suo.
Although he liked to control cool-looking characters, Ren Suo was really not that interested in changing their appearance, especially when appearance attributes are so finely calibrated now that a single facial adjustment involved changing a dozen of digits. As a terminal patient of laziness, Ren Suo wasn't going to waste his time on this.
Typically, one who liked good-looking characters but didn't want to waste time like Ren Suo would simply search for other players' records, copy their facial attributes and paste it into his game to make a character he liked. At most he'd adjust the pupil colour, hair style and hair colour. And voila – that'd be Ren Suo's character!
But when Ren Suo searched "Hitman" online, while he did find other games with the same theme and title, none of them had graphics like Ren Suo's version. And none of them allowed the player to change the character's face. So Ren Suo's lazy tactic couldn't work.
Thankfully, in the menu there were options like [Recommend a face] and [Recommend a character].
In [Recommend a character], apart from the initial 'Bald Hitman', 'Clown Hitman', 'Demon-Hunter Hitman', there was also [For more characters, please purchase Characters DLC].
Ren Suo looked and realized that apart from the looks and voice, the choice of characters would affect their skill and abilities. For instance, the Bald Hitman's skill was [Bullet Time], which affected the speed of time;
Clown Hitman, who sported make-up on his face, had the skill [Shapeshifting], which needed 30 merit points to unlock;
the white-haired wrinkly-faced Demon-Hunter Hitman's skill was [Abyssal Wolf Sword Art], which needed 30 merit points to unlock.
Not only that, even their starting expertise were different. Bald Hitman's was [Combat Master] and [Weapon Master]. Clown Hitman's was [Weapon Novice] and [Throwing Expert]. Demon-Hunter Hitman's just [Grandmaster of Sword]. 
Among the three [Recommended Characters], only Bald Hitman was recommended for first-time players and free to use.
Till now, Ren Suo had not figured out how he could top-up credit in the game. Regardless, he was not going to burn cash on a game that would be deleted in 14 hours. So he picked Bald Hitman.
But of course, he wasn't going to use the default face settings. In the [Recommend a face] option, he picked a sharp-looking Xuannese face and added a teardrop shaped red mark on his forehead to make him look even more sick.
[Please name the hitman.] The message popped up after he confirmed the character.
Ren Suo just named him "Hitman". In the next instant, the image on the screen moved as his controller vibrated. The hitman smiled at him under the umbrella; he could now control this character.
Just then, a homeless drunkard appeared in front of the hitman. Stepping through murky puddles of water, he lifted his bottle like he was looking for a fight.
Through the process of subduing this drunkard and walking out of the alley, Ren Suo learnt the basics of the game. After knocking out the drunkard with his combat skills, the message popped out: [Find a way to enter the Lamperouge banquet on the 8thfloor of the Blackthorn Tower using a legitimate identity by 2000HRS.]
The camera moved upwards. In the screen, a bright majestic tower right in front of the alley rose up into the sky. A green inverted pyramid mark appeared above the tower. Looks like that's the target destination of the player.
Ren Suo controlled the hitman to walk out of the alley. Branded sportscars and lamborginis lined the road outside the tower. Ushers holding umbrellas came greeted and welcomed guests outside the tower.
He walked nearer to take a closer look. Those finely dressed social elites would produce an invitation before entering the tower. Only after the ushers had verified their invitations could they enter. Moreover, these ushers had impeccable service and manners; their eyes stayed on the guests all the way up till the point when they entered the elevator.
For example, Ren Suo saw a young gentleman who had parked a distance away and had filthy water splashed onto him. When he approached the building and flashed his invitation, the usher immediately said, "Mr. Ricard, we have spare suits and dryers up in the tower. Allow me to take you there."
"Thank you."
Truly, the usher's service was faultless. He led this young gentleman all the way to the elevator and told the usher inside the elevator about the gentleman's needs. Throughout the whole process, at least three ushers had their eyes on him. Looks like it was absolutely impossible to sneak in.
Ren Suo controlled the hitman and made him attempt to enter the tower. Naturally, he was stopped by an usher. The usher spoke a few lines of English and simultaneously, a dialogue box popped up beside his head, "Sir, please present your invitation."
At this moment, four options appeared at the bottom of the screen. Ren Suo could pick them using his direction pad, but he had only 10 seconds to do so, otherwise the first option would be picked for him by default.
①"I left my invitation at home."
②"I'm one of the people in charge of the company up above. I need to ride the elevator up to pick up a document."
③ (Attack him) "Since when do I take instructions from you?"
④ (Take out 5 pounds) "Cousin! It's been such a long time…"
Wow, he could pick a response? Ren Suo wasn't all too alien with this sort of gameplay. These options basically decided how the player would get past the obstacle. Based on Ren Suo's many years of watching gameplay videos, he believed that ① was pretty much a useless option;②was a tactic of talking his way through the obstacle;③ was surely charging through with brute force;④ was an option to bribe his way through. 
Tentatively, he picked the seemingly cost-free ② - "I'm one of the people in charge of the company up above. I need to ride the elevator up to pick up a document."
Usher: "Oh? Unfortunately, the tower's been closed since 1800HRS. Please come back tomorrow."
Ren Suo: "What gives you the right?"
Usher: "The fact that this tower belongs to the Lamperouge family."
Ren Suo: "..."
So his first attempt failed. Ren Suo decided to try again with the other options.
But this time, the usher frowned. "Why are you here again? Security, take this man next door so he can cool down."
Two nearly two-meter tall security personnel, dressed in blue uniforms, strode over and grasped the hitman, one on each side. Ren Suo assumed that the mission had failed. Soon, however, the hitman was taken to an alley.
"Don't start trouble, kid," the security guard patted the hitman's head, then turned around and started to leave. Subconsciouly, Ren Suo pressed a button on his controller and the hitman automatically seized the guard's neck and snapped it with a crack.
Ren Suo was momentarily stunned. But not the other guard. He immediately pressed something in his ear and shouted, "A hostile has appeared. Position – Palen Alley. Terry's been killed. Send reinforcements, send reinforcements!"
He pulled out his baton and pointed it at the hitman, retreating out of the alley slowly while he reported the hitman's deeds to his superiors.
Ren Suo watched as the security guard exited the alley. In the screen, the dead body of the guard began to glow a faint yellow. He made the hitman turn and examine the body. Three options appeared above the body: Search, Drag and Handle.
[Search] allowed him to strip the guard of his clothes and equipment and use them himself; 
[Drag] would mean to move the body; but when Ren Suo clicked [Handle], the game prompt appeared: [You do not have any tools to handle the body.]
Just then, a dozen men in black armed with guns appeared outside the alley and started shooting at the hitman. Blood burst out of the hitman and the game screen turned into black and white.
[You died.]


The extraordinaire has disrupted the silence of the world and ever since then, technology has taken a different path. 
When humans find a path for evolution in the dark, I’ll remove my ribs, burn my heart and burn the midnight oil to become their pioneer. 
This is the process of a gamer manipulating the world.
Mini world of endless fun awaits.

Le lendemain ,boruto est allé compléte une mission qui était afficher sur les mur . la mission que boruto  apris , c'est d ' escorte une fourniture de médicaments au champs de bataille avec d'autre ninja

Boruto s'est rendu sur la place de rendez -vous oû il a vu les ninja qui devenait participate dans la mission.


Quand toute le Monde se sont rassemblés. Nous sommes partis ver le champs de bataille.

Durant les jours que boruto Voyager , rien s'est passé. le matin ,ils vogayé car la nuit tomber , nous nous reposions .


Cependent , lorsque nous étions près du champs du bataille , une five de ninja apparu devent nous . Ils étaient masque et leur intention n' était pas bonne .Alors boruto s'est mit en mode d'alerte .

Alors toute le Monde s'est arrêté et se mit en position de combattre.  car nous étions à seulement  quatre ninja .Nous étions désavantage. L 'un a ensuite disparu et a appru derrière moi car il pensait que j'étais le plus faible. car il a lancé balançé son kunai ver ma gorge.  


J'ai activité son raiton et a esquive , ensuite j',ai apparu derrière lui et l' a transpercé avec mon kunai.


Toute le Monde était chocque par ma force et vitesse . comme l'un était morte , nous ne Somme plus désadvantage .Alors chaqu 'un a pris un ninja qui s'est avoré en nôtre faveur. 
Après dix minute , tous les quatre ninja ont était tués . 


Alors en route ,  les ninja ont commencé à me parler comme ils savaient que je n'étais faible comme il le penser. Mais comme ils était très amicale .

Le lendemain , nous étions arrivé dans le campemant de konoha , alors le captaine de mon équipe a dit ce qui s'est passé en route. L'autre captaine qui écouté contente que nous avons même reussi d'avoir pu s'enoccupé. IL a aussi rémercié boruto parce que c'est grâce a boruto qui sont tout les en vie.

Ensuite mes équipé sont parti au village mais j'ai décidé de reste pour combattre sur la champs de bataille. Alors on m'a donné un campement pour camper. comme la bataille était en suspendre , boruto n'a eu de mission . Alors il est allé se reposer pour demain.

Cod: We need to find weapons.
Zober: Yes we can't fight without weapons.
Jackson: What are we going to make?
Min: I think first we need to plant fruit trees because we need to eat and then we are going to find weapons.
Cod: Good idea.
Jackson: I am going to plant trees.
Cod: I am not going to send a stupid like you.
Zober: Ok I am going plant trees.
Cod: Ok now listen Zober you are going to plant trees, Jackson you will guard and me and Min is going to find weapons ok. 
Min: Let's start our work.
(5 hours later)
Cod: Min we find some weapons Let's go back to our city.
(1 hour later)
Min: Ok we do our work nicely great.
Cod: Let's cut some trees and find some rope.
Jackson: How can we do it?
Cod: We find 2 knife, 1 axe and a sword.
Jackson: What are we going to do with those weapons.
Cod: Zober and Jackson you're going to find rope and me and Min is going to cut trees.
Min: What are we going to do with those things?
Cod: I tell you later now go for this mission

Zombies are invading earth. Me and my friends are going to survive and find new survivors.

As Lu Zhiyu took down the super computer that was in front of him, he observed it closely. It was an optical brain, which controlled the entire spaceship and was a representation of the high-end technology of the civilization of Atlantis. Lu Zhiyu urgently needed the information that was stored inside this computer, which was way beyond the imaginations of the earthlings.
When Lu Zhiyu touched the optical brain with his hand, his mythical cells started to penetrate that bio-optic brain, and the structure of the computer started to assimilate into Lu Zhiyu's power. At the same time, the structure on the surface started to change.
Only after a long while did it stop changing. By that time, it had turned from an originally transparent ball to a silver, shining semi-transparent ball. It looked just like the main computer that was in Lu Zhiyu's god kingdom. What's more, it looked like Lu Zhiyu's original body!
"Now, I can call it a bio-optic brain!" Lu Zhiyu exclaimed.
The original bio-optic brain had now been combined with the bio-computer that Lu Zhiyu often, and the combination of the two showed Lu Zhiyu's impressive calculating powers. After the bio-optic brain was successfully reconstructed, Lu Zhiyu took it down.
Lu Zhiyu now knew that this was the greatest gain of this trip to the spaceship. Now, thoughts and ideas that he had been wanting to make realities but had never had the chance to do so flooded his mind.
Lu Zhiyu didn't try to touch the consciousnesses that were remaining inside. This was because if he tried to combine the consciousnesses, it would bring too much trouble to the mythical creature.
After Lu Zhiyu left the spaceship Hope, he immediately went back to his Floating-space City. As Lu Zhiyu was about to enter the main control room of Floating-space City, a great amount of light shone upon him, while scanning him.
The light only allowed Lu Zhiyu entry after confirming his identity. At that moment, the manager of Floating-space City rushed in, a slight panic on her face. But, when he saw that it was Lu Zhiyu, he was relieved and started to relax a little.
"Master! You're back!" he exclaimed.
In Maria's World time, Lu Zhiyu had been gone for a couple of years. However, there were still some issues that Lu Zhiyu had to deal with on earth.
In fact, Lu Zhiyu hadn'texpected to come back here this soon, but his discovery of the spaceship Hope and the civilization of Atlantis had interrupted his original plans.
"Yes, I came back early," Lu Zhiyu said.
He then reached out his hands and took down the picture that was hanging in the main control room. This picture was the only protective screen that led to the dimensional space, and as such, it was the main access authority of the crystal wall that Lu Zhiyu had created.
However, Lu Zhiyu gradually realized that this picture actually didn't exist, at least to some extent, as nobody except him was able to touch it. They could only look at that picture.
Hence, it seemed to be an object that only existed in the conceptual mind, as physically and material-wise, it didn't actually exist. It was more like an authority that was ingrained in the deeper area of Lu Zhiyu's soul and consciousness. The picture was only an image, a silhouette that had been created.
When Lu Zhiyu came back here, he had brought back a living creature. It was a giant ball that had a diameter of thirty feet. It had instantly attracted Eva's attention, yet the only thing that Eva could observe about it were the terrific consciousness ripples that were inside the ball.
After leaving spaceship Hope, the body of collective consciousnesses that was locked by the force field of the mythical life immediately started to accept the laws in this material world, causing it to begin to wither away. However, the optical computer was still penetrated by Lu Zhiyu's power, so the body of consciousnesses was still deeply locked inside and couldn't go dissipate entirely.
"What is this?" Eva wondered aloud as she moved closer to the bio-optic brain.
"This is a bio-optic brain. This will be the key that enables the crystal wall to take the next step and improve itself," Lu Zhiyu explained.
He then added, "It'll be a semi-perpetual machine and the perfection system and control system of the crystal wall. As such, it will be the most important key and access authority of the entire crystal wall."
Lu Zhiyu had only come up with the idea of a semi-perpetual machine after he created the Abyss World. The Abyss World was not a normal world, but was more like an upgraded version of the god kingdom, a world that was between the states of illusion and reality.
It was a world that was an extension of matter, soul, and the power of mythical creatures, just like the devil species. The most noticeable characteristic of the Abyss World was that it didn't consume any of Lu Zhiyu's energies, nor did it consume the material of the crystal wall.
Yet, it still kept enlarging and improving itself. To some extent, it was already a perpetual machine, as it didn't consume any of the material energies from the crystal wall, but at the same time, somehow was able to continuously increase in size!
When it came to comparing all of the dimensions and levels, it was not technically a real perpetual machine. This was because it was extracting the power from other dimensions in order to improve itself, and idea that Lu Zhiyu first came up with for a semi-perpetual machine had actually stemmed from that.
If I can create a machine or a facility that can extract energies from the universe in other dimensions, then it'll be a real perpetual machine for this crystal wall! It won't need any energies in this world, yet it can still be operated and create everything in this world! Lu Zhiyu thought.
It will keep extracting energies from the universes of other dimensions, and it'll keep creating even more dimensions in this crystal wall! In this way, it can continuously improve this enormous crystal wall universe!
A semi-perpetual machine was actually a decoy perpetual machine that stole energies from the universes of other dimensions in order to remain operational. In this way, not only could it operate itself, it could also provide endless material energies for Lu Zhiyu to use.
From the perspective of all of the dimensions of myriad universes, it wasn't actually considered to be perpetually functioning. Instead, it was kind of stealing energies from the universes of other dimensions.
Yet, to the crystal wall itself, it was indeed a perpetual machine. That was why it was called semi-perpetual, as it was only perpetual relatively speaking.
This was similar to how Lu Zhiyu used a picture to extract the material energies from the earth universe, yet this time, it would be a real, perfected portal facility, and it would create an eternal portal in the world universe to steal the material energies from the earth universe. Meanwhile, it could avoid the trouble that often resulted from a long period of keeping a portal open so that both sides can stay stable.
Lu Zhiyu approached the bio-optic brain with the picture in his hands, then reached out his hands and saw that the brain was swallowing the picture gradually. All of a sudden, a gleaming light came out of the bio-optic brain, while countless scenes started popping out on the screen.
Scenes from Maria's World, the Zerg world, and the Abyss World suddenly were circulating on the bio-optic brain. These scenes were all showing the histories of those worlds, including the scenes where Lu Zhiyu had created the crystal wall and all of the dimensions, as well as all of the majors in all eras and the heroes that arose from those chaotic periods.
Lu Zhiyu saw the queen insect, the war of the insect race, and the grand escape. He also saw Ahenaten and himself in the past, fragile and naïve.
He saw himself hiding in the castle of space, testing and editing the genes and creating one creature after another. He also saw how he had become stronger and stronger gradually.
Then, he saw one star god kingdom after another surging into the sky. This scene was followed by one that depicted the changes in the Abyss World and the evolution of the demon race.
After that, lots of data and special symbols kept flooding across the screen. Most of the symbols kept blinking in a weird three-dimensional structure. The information that kept blinking was so vase, Lu Zhiyu felt like his brain was about to explode as he looked at it all.
When the picture finally merged with that bio-optic brain completely, it replaced the original picture and became the true controller of the authority of the universe of the crystal wall. Meanwhile, this bio-optic brain also became a part of Lu Zhiyu's body.
The enormous bio-optic brain floated in the control room of the Floating-space City, and the silver flowing light from the brain soon filled the entire control room. As Lu Zhiyu waved his hands, a hologram of the entire crystal wall appeared in front of him.
Now, the entire crystal wall now was like an empty and hollow structure. There were only two dimensions, Maria's World and the Abyss World, and Lu Zhiyu couldn't even find their locations with his naked eye. Instead, he needed to zoom in so that he could find where they were located in the vast astral world.
At this moment, when Lu Zhiyu touched a location at the edge of the astral world, a trace of light shone down. A dimming light spot immediately started to extend.
This was an embryonic form of a dimensional world that was just born, and it seemed to be extracting the energies from the outside realm. It kept morphing at a very slow speed, which was contrary to how Lu Zhiyu had quickly extracted the energies all at once.
However, the portal was now stabilized, so there wasn't any hidden danger. A stable portal that could flow naturally was exactly what Lu Zhi needed most right now!
"I've succeeded!" he exclaimed, his voice filled with excitement.
Lu Zhiyu saw that the stabilized portal was working, so he knew that his plan for a semi-perpetual machine had succeeded. This bio-optic brain was already successful, having been deeply ingrained into the deep area of the earth universe! It had opened a stable and fixed portal somewhere that even Lu Zhiyu didn't know about and had extracted the energies therein!


By accident, Lu Zhiyu found the entrance to a low-dimensional world, and thus began a totally different journey!

Free to control everything in the low-dimensional game, Lu Zhiyu felt like a gamemaster, and even God.


PHASE 40 - MY DAILY LIFE WITH A PUPPY AND KITTY


Living with two girls in the same condo unit is a lot harder than it sounds. Sure, I have tried living with them two years ago, but that's different. During the first book, we lived in Heushac's house together with her sister Helena, the homunculus Key, and sometimes Kristoff who tries to tag along and get some handsome points from Amy. It was chaotic back then, and I can't get along that much, but there's Heushac whom I can always talk to keep my sanity.


Now that my best friend is gone and I'm stuck with two of the girls that mainly causes the chaos, and being the only man in the house, I can safely say that this is more stressful than last time.


As the lone man, I am in charge of doing the labors. If there's a defective faucet, or leaking pipe, or flickering lightbulb, or whatever-the-heck-problem is present, I'll be the one to get wet and dirty to fix it. If there's a spider in the house, I will be the knight and shining armor of the two idiots. 


Sometimes, Tiara would help me do some chores. But letting her touch any of the mess will make everything messier. She's still as clumsy as always, if not clumsier. She once volunteered to help me kill a cockroach, and she ended up using <Shenlong Drive>. She killed the cockroach, but she ended up shattering some appliances in the background.


That Jeannette I rescued from the underworld now acts like she's the queen of the house, and I hated it. Tiara pays no mind to it, however, and she would only get angry if I get angry at Jeanne. Talk about angry-ception.


Every school morning is a struggle. You know how long it takes for girls to prepare themselves, right?  What I'm experiencing every morning is doubled. The girls only want to use the toilet and shower rooms first before me, so they created a schedule where Jeanne would be the first one to use it, then the second would be Tiara, and last would be me.


Each girl stays in the bath for one hour, so that means I have to wait for two hours before my turn. Before I knew it, I would be late again. I shouldn't have bothered transferring places if the whole shower-waiting time is longer than my travel time from Mirose Grande.


Good thing my girlfriend is so understandable. She would only end up using fifteen to thirty minutes of her shower time just for me to catch up. She isn't bothered even if she forgot to dry her hair or even comb it as long as I can use the bathroom earlier. Tiara is the best girl, and certainly best waifu.


Jeanne was able to enter the Dradecim National High School. Mrs. Martha Fontaine was able to fabricate a story where Jeannette Amiella Fontaine von Noctis was mistakenly announced as dead, but she was studying abroad until last month. I don't know how she did it, but I'm glad that her story worked.


Jeanne managed to fit in this universe quite fast. She was able to fit in Amy's place with no problems at all. Maybe the people in her universe are not different than hers, so she can adapt quickly. She also did what Amy used to do such as being a class representative, being an official to the Feminazi Club, and even doing cosplays for the weebs. She's as smart as the Amy we knew.


If there's one thing that's different from the Amy we knew and her, it would be her eyes. Her eyes are near-sighted, so she had to get eyeglasses. No wonder she's not as good as Amy in terms of firing a gun-type Weapon Gem.


Enough about her. Let me go back to my daily routines with the girls.


Every night is a girl's night. They would often have Netflix marathons, more specifically, romance series and movies. Every night I'm stuck with these two girls who are addicts in musicals, childish cartoons, and cheesy Korean dramas. If that's not enough, there is a segment on the night where Jeanne will tell a story about the version of the show in her own universe. 


In her universe, Spongebob is black, that princess in Beauty and the Beast is a transgender, and that guy from the K Drama Goblin is a social justice warrior who fights aliens that look like Trump. I kind of wanted to see that last one, too bad her universe was destroyed. I guess Hades was a racist.


When it's time to go to bed, my designated sleeping place is on the sofa. Sometimes I would get bitten by ants due to the bread crumbs that Tiara left whenever she eats a snack. Sometimes I would feel achy on my back due to Jeanne's hairpins and earings laying around in my bed. 


Everything changed however when they both surprised me that they have bought a sleeping mat for me to sleep on the floor of the bedroom. It was so thoughtful for them two to spend money for me and let me sleep with them in the same room. So every night, the two girls would share the same bed while I am separated. I have tried negotiating Jeanne to swap beds in order for me to have cuddly nights with Tiara, but Jeanne always says no. She deserves the Most Annoying Cock-block award of this year.


As of the moment, the Eidolons rarely attack. Peace and order in Dradecim City have reached its peak, and the crime rate has never been lower. We barely fight Eidolons once a week, and sometimes we can't see any of them at all.


Because of this, the Black Cross Legion; the mother legion of Gate Guardians has not yet issued any mission for us Aether Crusade members. Some independent Gate Guardian legions from different cities started to pop up like mushrooms that did some of our supposed investigation jobs, so we are good as on vacation as of the moment.


It's like our lives have become normal once again.


It's already been three weeks, and I have finally adapted to this kind of living. 


We are only waiting for the go signal of the Kozukata Shrine to use the twelve God Cores. It takes one more week before the God Cores' energy replenished, and until then, we have to wait.


Once the God Cores and Tiara is in full power again, we can finally cast the <Song of Salvation> to bring everyone back. Heushac, Eliseo, Emily, Key, and all other people who got unlucky during the fight against the Fake Outsider will step to this world once again. And this time, we'll make sure that the song will work.


<>


The bell rang from the tenth floor of the campus, signaling the end of the day once again. It's Friday. Friday. Gonna get down on Friday. Tomorrow is Saturday, and it's my free day. 


I don't intend to sing one of the most hated songs on Youtube, but I can't help but feel excited. 


I have a plan of gaming tonight till morning. It's been a while since I played with the online squad I don't really know personally. I will play battle royale shooting games, jumping from Fortnite to COD to PUBG until I get one of those chicken dinners, baby!


However, it seems that my plan of having a good time will not be allowed by fate.


When I was jollily humming while putting my books on my backpack, Tiara and Jeanne approached me. I already assumed what they will say, so I immediately talked to them.


"I'm sorry, gals. I won't be joining you with your bullshit K Drama marathon tonight." I said happily. "I will be gaming until my eyes become black, so do whatever you want!"


"That's not why we're here, idiot." Jeanne sermoned. "Tiara and I wanted to tell you something about the future."


"Huh?" I tilted my head, confused. "What future?"


I saw Jeanne elbow Tiara's stomach. She whispered, "Come on, tell your boyfriend."


"A-Ah! Right!" Tiara blushed for a moment, and then she locked eyes with me. Then she delivered a sentence that is not ought to be spread in this school environment. "Rikkun… I want to expand our family."


Suddenly, time stopped. No, only our perception of time stopped. All those students who heard Tiara's words, including me and Jeanne, were stunned. The girls who heard Tiara's declaration immediately blushed, and then they started to giggle like retards.


"Wha…" My jaws hung. All the blood in my body elevated to my face which made my cheeks red. Windows have stopped responding.


One, two, three. After three seconds, Tiara finally recognized what she just said. Her brain immediately exploded as her cheeks blushed.


"T-THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!!!"


It was too late. Our classmates who were eavesdropping on this conversation. The girls are not spreading the wrong news, declaring "Tiara wants to have a baby!" and some other misunderstood things. 


"Auuuu…" Tiara cried in the corner. "That's not what I meant! That's not what I meant!"


Jeanne and I sighed. We both know that Tiara often misleads people with her words, so it's nothing outside the ordinary.


"It looks like the Tiara in this universe has a poor choice of words too," Jeanne said with a disappointed sigh once again. She held her forehead sassily as if she's having an imaginary headache. "Anyway, that's not really what she meant."


"So what would you two wanted to talk about?" I said coldly.


"Tiara and I talked about this earlier. We both have this suggestion that we should hire some people for the Aether Crusade."


I forced a smile. "So that's what Tiara meant about 'expanding our family', huh…"


Jeanne continued as she ignored my side comment. "I have seen the members, and your Aether Crusade is pathetic. There's only you, Tiara, Helena, Kristoff, Drex, and Benedict as members. My Aether Crusade in my universe has at least fifty members." 


"I don't intend to compete with the number of members, and your Aether Crusade is dead," I said with a smirk, trying to roast her.


"No!" Jeanne pounded the table. "You have to be more careful! Tiara will sing the <Song of Salvation> after six days, and you need to sturdy up your defenses! You don't know when Hades will attack!"


Seeing Jeanne slightly freaking out is a sign that I shouldn't take lightly. She seems to be overestimating this Hades. I'm pretty sure I can take him with my Aether Armor.


Suddenly, the image of my friends being killed by the Fake Outsider flashed on my mind. The scene of Tiara slowly being covered by ice haunted me. I don't want that kind of scene to appear again. I don't want to lose Tiara once more.


Maybe I need to take some precautionary measures, just in case. We need to make sure that the <Song of Salvation> will work perfectly this time. 


I rested my shoulder and made a deep sigh.


"Fine. We'll hire more Gate Guardians tomorrow."

Since the beginning of time, the world has been the slaughtering ground of the Eidolons; mysterious beings from a parallel universe that contaminates the mind of the people to commit deadly sins. In an ambitious struggle to put an end to this evil corruption, warriors with extraordinary abilities; the Gate Guardians relentlessly fight these monsters.

One day, Alaric ceases to become a regular high school student - He becomes trapped in the crevice of dimensions and suddenly attacked by an Eidolon. Coming to his rescue just in time is a Gate Guardian named Tiara, his weird new classmate. 

So now, he is stuck with this clumsy maiden who swore to protect him from these extradimensional monsters! 

A wacky romance between the two will start to unfold!

But unbeknownst to them, a much darker force lurks in the shadows that will lead to Tiara’s brutal murder...

This is a song of love.

This is a song of hope.

This is a song of laughters.

This is a song of tears.

This is the Song of the Frozen Soul.

Due to the inferno burning within one's eyes, those who practiced the Divine Eyes of the Ninth Netherworld would find their sensitivity toward colors fading as time passed, and eventually, the entire world would appear to be nothing but black and white to them.
Due to the nature of the injury, it was an irreversible symptom. There was no way to recover from it.
This was not listed in the flaws in the Library of Heaven's Path, but through Zhang Xuan's deep understanding of the Way of Medicine and cultivation, he could still deduce this much from working backward.
"Color blindness? What's that?" Sage Kui was stunned by the foreign term.
He had never heard that terminology from anyone's mouth before.
"You don't know what it is?" Zhang Xuan was startled for a moment before realization struck him.
Due to the difference in worlds, it was indeed possible that the notion of color blindness was not as prevalent or common in this world.
So, Zhang Xuan pondered for a moment to decide how he should explain the concept. "Color blindness refers to a lack of sensitivity of one's eyes in perceiving different colors. Take my clothes for example, what's the color that you see?"
"Gray," Sage Kui replied.
"It's light-blue, not gray," Zhang Xuan stated with a shake of his head.
"Light-blue?" Sage Kui frowned.
Is this supposed to be what light-blue looks like? Why doesn't it seem to be the case?
"Let me ask you a different question instead. How many colors are there in a rainbow?"
While saying those words, Zhang Xuan waved his hand and created a rainbow bridge of seven colors in the sky.
"I can discern a couple of colors from it, but… there doesn't seem to be seven colors in the rainbow you have created. Furthermore, most of the colors are of similar tones, so I can't really say for sure either…" Staring at the rainbow intently, Sage Kui felt a ripple of shock striking his mind.
He had seen plenty of rainbows when he was younger, and he could accurately distinguish seven colors from them. But now, he could only identify three colors in total, and the difference between the three was very vague. Could he really have been suffering from color blindness, just as the other party had said?
Was this really the side effect from practicing the Divine Eyes of the Ninth Netherworld that his teacher had left behind?
For so many years, he had harbored absolute faith toward the optic art that his teacher had created. However, under the persuasive and logical analysis of the young man before him, he could not help but begin doubting.
"Then… is there a way to resolve the problem?" Sage Kui asked.
"So far, I only managed to analyze the flaws in the optic art. I haven't really found a way to resolve them yet…" Zhang Xuan shook his head.
The Library of Heaven's Path would only reflect the flaws of techniques, and Zhang Xuan had not come into contact with any optic art manuals before, so he could not compile anything with the Divine Eyes of the Ninth Netherworld to perfect it.
"However, since we have identified the problem, it will only be a matter of time before a solution is found!"
As long as Zhang Xuan could find sufficient optic art manuals to perfect the Divine Eyes of the Ninth Netherworld, those problems would be resolved as well.
Back then, there had also been many faults with Ancient Sage Qiu Wu's Heavenly Demon Great Sorrow Palm, and cultivation of the technique could have caused one to go blind, too. Nevertheless, through compiling it with many other cultivation techniques, he had resolved that problem.
"Let's hope so…" Sage Kui nodded. "So, will you still be cultivating the Divine Eyes of the Ninth Netherworld?"
Sage Kui knew how powerful the Eye of Insight was as well, and it would indeed a pity to go blind as a result of cultivating an optic art.
"I think I'll hold off cultivating the technique for the time being. I'll try to resolve the current problems before cultivating it," Zhang Xuan replied.
Despite its flaws, the Divine Eyes of the Ninth Netherworld was still an extremely formidable battle technique. He would have to find some way to access optic art manuals so as to compile them together with it and perfect it.
In any case, there was no rush for the time being. What he was lacking in the most at the moment was not battle techniques but his cultivation.
If his cultivation was too low, no matter how many formidable battle techniques he had, he would still be unable to faze the Zhang Clan and the Luo Clan.
"Un, that would be good, too. For the next three days, you should try to gain a complete understanding of the Divine Eyes of the Ninth Netherworld. If there's anything that you are unable to comprehend, feel free to ask me. You won't have any more opportunities to clarify your doubts once you leave this land in three days!" Sage Kui nodded.
"Thank you, elder!" Zhang Xuan replied before sitting on the ground.
While he appeared to be staring at the words in the air, his consciousness was immersed within his mind as he tried to fully grasp everything concerning the Divine Eyes of the Ninth Netherworld.
There are more than thirty flaws to the optic art all in all, and every single one of them poses great damage to the body.
After a moment of studying the optic art, Zhang Xuan rubbed his glabella helplessly.
It was not that he did not want to cultivate the technique, but there were simply too many flaws in it! How could a perfectionist like him possibly swallow something like this?
If he forced himself to cultivate it, he might very well die from repulsion before anything else.
Seeing that Zhang Xuan had paused on the spot for some time now, Sage Kui asked with a kind smile, "How is it? Is there anything concerning the Divine Eyes of the Ninth Netherworld that confuses you? I can address your doubts here!"
Knowing that Sage Kui was asking out of goodwill, Zhang Xuan hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. "There are quite a few aspects of the optic art that confuse me, but it's fine. I don't think that you'll be able to address them either."
It was not that he was underestimating Sage Kui, but it was likely that even Ancient Sage Bo Shang himself would have been unable to address his doubts! Otherwise, there was no way he would have ended up blinding himself.
"You are saying that I won't be able to address your doubts?" Sage Kui frowned in displeasure. "I've spent several centuries cultivating the Divine Eyes of the Ninth Netherworld, even reaching the second realm of it. As long as it's a problem regarding its cultivation, I'll surely be able to answer it!"
He knew that the young man before him possessed an exceptional eye of discernment, being able to notice such a major flaw in the optic art with just one look. Nevertheless, he had still cultivated the technique for many years now, and not to mention, he was also a powerful cultivator. He was confident that with his deep understanding of the battle technique, he would be able to address any questions that the young man could come up with.
"You'll surely be able to answer it?" Seeing the confident look on Sage Kui's face, Zhang Xuan turned his gaze over and smiled lightly. "Very well, I do have a few questions that I would love to have some answers to. I would be very grateful if you can answer them. Firstly, in the Gaze of Deities and Demons, what is the exact form that the demons and deities should assume? If it's just based on personal conceptualization, won't the effectiveness of the optic art be compromised?"
"This…" Sage Kui was startled by the abrupt question.
In this world, there was no one who had seen a true deity or demon before, so naturally, they were beings that were extremely hard for any human to truly imagine.
In fact, whenever Sage Kui cast the technique, he would instinctively attempt to imagine bloodshed and carnage, intending to use killing aura as a substitution for the conceptualization of deities and demons to instill fear in the hearts of others.
Just as Sage Kui was about to reveal his method, the young man before him had already spoken up once more. "If what we are going to image is just plain slaughter, once the killing intent corrodes one's eyes and consciousness, how would one be different from the Otherworldly Demons? Furthermore, what demons and deities stand for should be supremacy, not slaughter. If we use slaughter to replace the concept of supremacy, wouldn't that be an inaccurate interpretation of the technique?"
Hearing those words, Sage Kui's face turned pale.
Indeed. As a result of his frequent conceptualization of bloodshed and carnage, there was a period of time when he found himself unable to control the killing intent within him anymore, and he ran all the way down to the Subterranean Gallery to slaughter Otherworldly Demons to vent his emotions.
In a sense, using the concept of slaughter to substitute the demons and deities would turn the technique into a depraved art, which was at odds with the standing and beliefs of a master teacher.
"My second question!" Seeing that Sage Kui was unable to answer his first question, Zhang Xuan decisively decided to move on.
"The Gaze of Deities and Demons utilizes one's eyes as a medium to attack another's soul. However, for the attack to reach its target, one must first absorb a hint of the target's soul energy in order to lock the attack onto the other party's Primordial Spirit. However, if the target is aware of this aspect of the technique, they could use it as an opportunity to overwhelm one with their soul energy, putting one in a perilous position. Taking a step back, even if the target isn't aware of this opening, if the target's Primordial Spirit is far stronger than one's own, a forceful attack would inflict significant damage upon one!"
Sage Kui fell silent, unable to speak a single word at all.
This was another flaw of the Gaze of Deities and Demons, and even his teacher, Ancient Sage Bo Shang, had been unable to resolve it.
But while this was indeed a potential opening, considering the fast pace of a battle, there would be very few people who would be able to notice it and use it against them.
As such, it could not be considered a major flaw.
Just that… since the other party had pointed it out, it would not feel right to say that it was a negligible flaw.
"My third question. In order to cultivate Asura's Wrath, one must use the inferno to reforge one's eyes and the frigid ice to temper them. Through the intersection of hot and cold, one will be able to form a balance of duality within one's eyes, which is aligned with the nature of the world as well. However… while two contrasting powers in one's eyes can enhance the strength of the formation maps and strengthen the lines of insight, it will also suppress the strength of one's soul as well, reminiscent of a seal. This will inadvertently result in the weakening of one's Primordial Spirit…"
"My fourth question…"
Zhang Xuan posed all his questions one after another.
With each question asked, Sage Kui's face turned paler by a shade. By the time the tenth question was asked, his silhouette had already turned faint, and it seemed as if he would vanish at any moment.
At this point, he was no longer shocked but horrified.
While the Divine Eyes of the Ninth Netherworld was created by his teacher, it was inevitable that it would have its own flaws as well. Nevertheless, under normal circumstances, these flaws were not too apparent, so they would not cause much of a problem in its execution.
Yet, with just a single glance, the young man was able to see through all of these flaws, reciting them one after another precisely. If the young man had been an enemy, with just this knowledge, the young man would have been able to overcome his optic art easily and blind him with a single move!
The realization of this made Sage Kui break out in cold sweat.
He had thought that after learning the Divine Eyes of the Ninth Netherworld, there would be hardly anyone in the world who would be a match for him. In any battle, as long as he utilized the optic art, he would be guaranteed victory.
But after hearing the young man's words, he realized that the only reason he had remained undefeated for so long was because he had never encountered a true expert. If he had encountered an enemy of the young man's caliber back then, it was questionable whether he would still have his eyes with him at this moment.
As the saying goes, 'the most proficient of swimmers can drown in water'. Complacency would eventually bite back at one.
He was able to discern so many flaws with just a look… and I actually tried to offer him guidance…
Sage Kui's body stiffened. He felt so stifled that he could not even speak a word.
It was just a moment ago that he had declared confidently that he would offer the young man guidance, but as soon as the young man starting stating his questions, he found that he could not even answer a single one of them.
The searing sensation on his face left him feeling like burying himself in a hole.
"This is my thirteenth question… Never mind, I'll just stop here today. Elder, have you thought of the answers of any of them?"
There was a momentary silence before the young man spoke with a comforting voice. "There's no need to rush into it; you can slowly take your time to ponder over them. In any case, we still have two days more here. For the time being, I'll take a rest first and sleep for a while. Feel free to wake me up when you're done, and I'll continue asking the other questions I have in mind."
"Cough cough!" Sage Kui's lips twitched wildly as his silhouette faltered.
This was supposed to be a session to clarify doubts, but why did it seem like the young man was assessing him instead?
More importantly… he knew that there was no way he could come up with a fitting answer to those questions!
Putting aside him, even his teacher would have been unable to do so! If his teacher was really able to answer these questions, he would have improved the Divine Eye of the Ninth Netherworld already.
Given so, there was no way he would be able to answer those questions even if he were to ponder over them for two years, let alone two days!
The reason he had left behind a sliver of his will was to assess the later generations, but now, he found himself being stumped before them instead.
Just where in the world did this monster came from?
After contemplating for some time and deciding that there was no way he would be able to answer any of the questions, Sage Kui could only turn his gaze back to the young man helplessly. However, what he saw was the young man deeply asleep on the ground instead. Saliva was dripping down from his opened mouth, and there was a sweet smile on his face, as if he was having a good dream.
This… Are you the first-generation sanctum head, or am I?
Sage Kui's vision immediately turned dark. The sheer frustration that he felt left his very existence faltering non-stop, as if he would dissipate at any moment.


Nang mapunta siya sa ibang mundo, nagulat na lang si Zhang Xuan nang malaman niyang naging isa siyang teacher. Kasabay nito, lumitaw ang misteryosong library sa isipan niya. 
Basta’t nakita niya ito, tao man ‘to o isang bagay, agad na gagawa ng libro ang library tungkol sa mga kahinaan nito. Dahil dito, naging napakalakas niya. 
“Emperador Zhouyang, bakit ayaw na ayaw mong isuot ang salawal mo? Bilang isang emperor, bakit hindi mo bigyang pansin ang pagpapaganda ng iyong imahe sa publiko?”
“Fairy Linglong, lagi mo ‘kong pwedeng puntahan sa tuwing hindi ka makatulog sa gabi. Magaling ako sa pagpapatulog!”
“At ikaw naman, Demon Lord Qiankun! Pwede bang bawasan mo ang pagkain ng bawang? Gusto mo ba ‘kong patayin sa amoy niyan?”
Ito ay isang kwento tungkol sa mga teacher at estudyante, ang pagsasanay at paggabay sa pinaka mahuhusay na eksperto sa buong mundo!


Drew was very strict in what I could and couldn't do, but I wasn't in a position to argue. He lectured me the whole time as he covered my arm with gauze, some padding, and then wrapped it. "This will help only a little. Try not to foul off a million pitches like normal. Pick one to swing at. Ideally, if you could walk at every at-bat, then we could prevent you from swinging and aggravating the cut."

"I only earn walks by fouling off the balls in the zone." I pointed out. 
His face twitched. "Okay. No. I'll talk to Coach for you. I don't know if he'll allow you to play with this restriction, but for now, go jog some." 
Drew spoke with Coach as I jogged around, but Coach seemed okay with what he had to say since I was still in the lineup when he announced it before game time. 
1 1B Julian Wilson
2 2B Jake Hollander 
3 LF Garret Knudsen 
4 CF Zeke Atkins
5 RF Mahki Holstrom 
6 C Kelvin Bender 
7 3B Jason Morris 
8 SS Noah Atkins 
9 P Dave Atkins 

"This is it boys." Coach said in a calm voice. "This is what we worked for. CIF. You're here. Today, you'll have to put in 110% effort to match up with these kids. They're just like you, league champs and they're working for the same goal: CIF champs. You'll have to prove that you want it more."

"This is just a stepping stone." Noah smirked. "Quarterfinalist doesn't sound as good as champs, Coach."

Coach nodded in agreement. He glanced at Zeke. 
Zeke looked at all of us. "I don't want the season to end just yet."

"Yeah!!" The team echoed. That's all Zeke had to say to get the excitement going in the dugout. 
Coach turned in our lineup slip to the umpires and Zeke went out to shake hands with the opposing captain. The stands had started to fill up, but not with kids. It was mostly adults, probably parents and grandparents, and then scouts. A lot of those men in the stands had notepads in their laps and pens in hands. 
"You still have a chance to get noticed, Jules!" Noah nudged the senior that was putting on his helmet. "Community college is such a waste."

Julian shook his head at Noah's statement. "Everyone has their own path. A four-year college isn't always the best idea. Especially without scholarship offers." He grabbed his bat and left the dugout. 
"Is he really so worried about money?" Noah said to himself. "He could always get student loans."

"Don't be so nosey." Garret slapped Noah on the head. "Everyone's got their own set of problems, ya know."

"I know, I know." Noah pushed Garret away. He glanced to me. "Are you ready, Jake?"

I lifted my bat and rest it upon my shoulder. "Ready."

He pat the helmet on my head. "Good. Go get them."

I smiled, trying not to laugh. Sometimes it felt like Noah was trying to be a mini Zeke. Very serious. Very encouraging. I moved to stand outside of the dugout just as Northwood ran out to take the field. 
The stadium here had a broadcasting system and somehow we still had an announcer to call out the names of the starting members. I thought it would be a somewhat quiet game since this was a neutral location, but I guess not. 
Coach and Zeke went back inside the dugout and started to talk to one another. 
"I heard their pitching is really good." Julian said to me in a low voice, stepping closer. 
I nodded. I heard that too. Mr. Cameron said so. "Undefeated."

Julian's lips thinned out as he made a face. "Don't get hung up on records. They don't show everything after all. For all we know, their wins could have been a difference of one run." He glanced at the pitcher. "Just play like you normally do. I'm sure you'll be great."

I stiffened up. "I can't."

Julian swung his head back my way. "What?!"

I leaned in, trying to get closer to him so I could whisper. "I can't foul any pitches. One swing. Drew said so."

Julian looked surprised. 
"Now batting for Watsonville High, first baseman, Julian Wilson." The announcer said over the broadcasting system. With it, Julian had to step up to bat. There wasn't anything he could say to me anyways. It's not like he could tell me to not listen to Drew. 
Julian's at-bat was important to him, to the team, and to me. Being unable to foul off any pitches was really limiting on how I could face a pitcher. So I could only study the at-bat before mine for now. Unfortunately, I didn't say anything to Julian about studying the pitcher during his at-bat. I couldn't blame him for swinging on the first pitch, which looked to be down the middle. He connected and sent a hard grounder to short. 
The shortstop got in front of the ball, and fielded it like it was a routine play for him. The throw beat Julian easily. 
"Now batting, second baseman, Jake Hollander." 

"Go, Jake!"
"Bambi, don't be afraid!"
"Get on base, Jake!"

A few shouts came from my dugout, making me turn red as I approached the batter's box. I tried to tune them out as I picked the lefty's box. Out of habit, I almost did a practice swing, but I caught myself in time. Be calm. Be cool. I took a deep breath and pulled my bat back as I got into position. 
The pitcher on the mound looked at the catcher's signs, nodded, then completed his windup and motion, throwing the first pitch. It was inside the zone. I let it pass for a called strike. 0-1. The next pitch went outside for a ball. 1-1. The third pitch followed the same path, but came in the zone for another called strike. 1-2. 
With my back against the wall already, the only thing I can do now, is protect the plate. Anything close and I'll swing. The fourth pitch was a curve, starting outside, but came on in. I happily swung, hitting to the opposite field, sneaking the ball right past the third baseman. 
I sprinted, rounding first, but the left fielder got the ball back before I could make a run for second base. I stayed where I was, happy with the hit. I felt a stretch in my injured arm, but hardly any pain. With Garret and Zeke up next, I just had to focus on advancing. 


Jake has it rough: a missing dad, an abusive mother and a hidden talent for baseball which sends his mother off the deep end. Sent to live with a foster family, his love for baseball is revived, and with their help, will Jake start to shine like the future superstar he is?
Venmo: @alwaysbroke (my profile pic is a baseball field). 

Please read on Webnovel!

Thanks for letting me turn your review into my new summary, Tashady!

**Names, faces, and places aren’t real. A work of fiction. Nonetheless, it is my work of fiction so please don’t post it without permission. *I have used school names that do exist though, but I would like everyone to know that I have no affiliation with them. Nor do my views reflect their views. 

**Also, I bought the royalty-free license for my cover. Which means I can use it without having to pay royalties. If you have any questions, comment on my latest chapter or reach me on discord.

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