I actually got contracted, with was rather surprising.
I don't know what changes this brings to the Novel, but it happened.
Hum... I think that now I can get Gifts, which is something to look out for.
Hopefully, we'll get more exposition with this and grow even faster, your Powestones and support and well appreciated, including Reviews, those are always welcome.
Anyway, peace.
PS: I'm trying this Bonus chapter thing I got now that the options appeared, how does it look?
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Sometimes, before moving forward, one must take a step back...
/Somewhere in Japan, back in the real world, 2 hours after Dale came back from his adventure.../
On the topmost floor of a Large Manor located within a massive private property surrounding a small mountain…
"..."
A man sat in his favorite chair inside his extravagant Office, smoking a thick cigar as he overlooked the mountain outside of his window under the dim noise of an early 2000s song.
He was old, definitely over 80 years old, but his gaze was sharp.
Behind him was his Office table and on top of it was a strange device, a computer.
This computer however had no screen, instead, it projected images into the air like a hologram.
These images were none other than Rodi's stream… The one he had just finished watching.
Could this old man be related to him? Or was he interested in the hot news of the gaming world?
That wouldn't be surprising, video games had long taken over the entertainment industry thanks to full dive technology, and for the past few decades, nothing has ever reached close to even touching its feet.
"Hm…"
The old man puffed out a thick mist from his mouth, his expression was gloomy.
He turned around and moved his right hand, pressing it on his table.
This caused a small blue ripple atop it as if the entire table was a touch screen.
/Ding!/
... And a few seconds after, the bell to his room sounded.
"Come in." He said in his elderly voice as he put his cigar aside
/Creak…/
A middle-aged man with part of his hair gray entered the room, bowing in the process.
He had clear Asian features, probably a native.
He didn't say anything, instead, he waited for his orders.
"Any replies in regards to my inquiry?" The old man asked as he tapped on the table
"Unfortunately no, they've been postponing any meeting under the excuse of being busy."
"Hm…"
The man grabbed his cigar again, puffing out more gray mist…
"It's taking longer than it should've... But I expected this when I learned of it, albeit it's a shame they've once again done nothing outside of my conjectures."
"So be it, I'll give them as much time as they want, as long as they answer me when they're done."
He turned his gaze to the video, towards Dale… Not him in fact, but to the sword in his hands.
"It's too soon for such a thing to happen, it'll destabilize our predictions."
He smiled mockingly.
"I want to see how they'll fix it... What excuse they'll use to cover this up."
The butler nodded, saying:
"I'll notify them as soon as possible and come back immediately after their reply."
"Hm… Good work."
The butler bowed and closed the door, leaving the room.
"..."
The old man continued to smoke, thinking deeply.
/Buzz/
Until a small device started to beep.
[Incoming Call, Priority Level… 7] Said a Mechanical voice from somewhere in the ceiling
"7? Who is it?..."
[Sender… Little Brat]
"Hehe… It's that kid…" He said with a small smile
'He rarely calls me, all due to that fear of his...'
'His father did an awfully good job of making him fear me.'
'I don't blame him, I should've put more sense into that stubborn boy... That respect doesn't mean reverence...'
"I'm still his grandfather at the end of the day... Sigh."
'But if he is coming to me… I wonder what's giving him such motivation.'
'Still... What's the point of having expectations when I already know what this is about?' He thought as his expression grew into one of disappointment
"Put him on the line."
[Connecting…]
"..."
"..."
/Silence…/
Time passed, but no one said anything.
The old man shook his head in a mix of disappointment and sorrow before he said:
"If you don't say anything I'll end it here, I'm busy."
"N… No, please… Mr. Roger…" Replied the 'Brat'
"Sigh…"
'He doesn't even have the balls to call me Grandfather anymore… They are indeed cuter when they're kids.'
'If only he retained that personality of his from when he was younger...'
"You rarely call… Did something happen?"
"It-It's not like that I…"
The old man seemed even more disappointed as he heard his desperation to reply.
When did things go wrong? He would think to himself from time to time.
"Just tell me what you want." He said directly as he took a puff of his cigar
"I… Recently my Guild suffered considerable losses and…"
"You want support to recover?"
"Y-Yes… It doesn't need to be that big, I just… I'll repay everything two-fold... No, three..."
"..."
The old man let out a small sigh amidst his grandson's ramblings, taking out his glasses as he closed his eyes to message his eyebrows.
'If he only treated me more like family and not like his Boss I would've gladly helped him fix his mistakes… As that is what I'm here for, what his useless bum of a father should be doing as well.'
'But for now, he needs to learn more about managing... I wouldn't be good for his future if his little school project ended in failure.'
"What have I told you regarding such matters? I'll be waiting for it."
'Someone who'll one day support his father needs to learn how to do such things the official way...'
'At least, if you'll treat me like a Boss, then do it right.'
'And until you change that mindset of yours, I'll treat you like a subordinate and not a Grandfather.'
"Un-Understood." The boy said hastily as he gave him a quick nod
[Call ended]
"... Sigh…"
'I should've been there more often during his growth.'
'His father is committing the same mistakes I did to him when I was younger... And I have no one to blame but myself.'
'After all, the son after resembles the father, and as I taught him, he now does the same to his son...'
'Unfortunately, one cannot turn back time.'
'Such a shame...'
'Why the need to be so overly formal when I literally wiped his ass when he was younger?...'
[Incoming Call, Priority Level… 7]
"Another one? What a busy day…" He said as he rolled his eyes
[Sender… Little Sun]
"Oh!"
His mood suddenly brightened up.
'It's her.'
"Accept."
[Connecting…]
Suddenly, a large image of a girl took over the space on top of the table.
It was the face of a smiling girl with blond hair and dark eyes.
"Grandpa! How are you doing in Japan?" She asked with a big smile as she gave him a strange greeting, likely something youngsters her age did often
"Good night sweetie, it's been a while since we last met." He replied with a honest smile as well, the first of today
"Sorry for not being able to call sooner! You know, I've been waiting for this game's launch!"
"I've been playing it the entire day since launch..."
"In fact! Have you heard of what happened?... Of course, you did!"
"..."
'She's overly excited... But that isn't bad.'
The girl talked so much so fast it seemed she was on 2x speed, to the point that the grandfather didn't quite understand what she was saying...
But that wasn't due to her speed, but due to her unique vocabulary.
She spoke so fast that sometimes she forgot she was talking with her 80+ year-old grandfather and not her friends.
Nevertheless, he smiled as he listened, even if he couldn't quite understand what she spoke half of the time.
"/Clears throat/... Of course I know, it has caused me quite a fair bit of trouble with other investors…"
"Why though?" She asked as she scratched her chin in wonder
"The investors want it to last long so they can keep raking in profits..."
"And when such things meant for the future appear much earlier than expected, it can cause them to go berserk and even fearful."
"Inconsistency is like a curse for them as they love serial things, even if it means killing creativity, they're the kind that likes to kill the Golden Goose for money."
'Though it's more like squeezing it from its golden eggs, doing the minimal to keep it alive... Such is the predatory way Capitalism developed over the course of the Century.'
"It must be a bother."
"Nothing I'm not used to handling…"
'It has always been like this since I took after my father and learned what is happening behind the scenes...'
'I miss him sometimes... What would he say about all of this?'
'He... Sigh... Now I'm the old man now, I can't be that weak anymore.'
The old man then assumed a more serious persona after he shook his head.
"Then, no need to beat around the bush, what brought you to this old man?"
"Hehe… It seems I can't really evade your eyes…"
"Humph, you called me just after your brother, do you think I wouldn't notice?"
The girl smiled cheekily.
"Grandpa! Since you… You know… Work for the Company I was thinking of…"
"No, I can't give you a Legendary Item or anything similar you spoiled brat." The old man said with a firm tone
"No! I don't want that!"
She became a bit embarrassed as she said meekly:
"I… I decided to switch my starting point."
The old man's expression suddenly changed.
"Do you want to start again?"
'That could even be an opportunity... As long as she does as I said...'
"No!... I simply want to move to another place fast..."
"But... Why?"
'It seems I misunderstood, just what does this spoiled girl want?'
"It's not like you're at a bad place, isn't it?"
"I told you this place was the best one to start at. Literally, everything you need is there, and I doubt you aren't having fun."
'I choose a starting point for her and her brother just so they could grow at a stable pace while also having fun and enjoying the... Azimuth.'
'While they still can.'
"I know! It's just that… I've grown very interested in a certain place…"
"..."
'Sigh...'
The old man knew where this was going…
"Are you going to follow your brother and go there as well?"
"Pretty please?" She said cutely
The old man frowned.
"Look, why don't you do like your old man said?"
"Enjoy the game, train your skills, improve your gear, and Level up? Why go through such roundabouts to achieve the same results?"
"Yes yes… I heard that story many times… That Azimuth was special and that it's going to be big and that I should Level up and get stronger quickly so we can profit out of later on and yada yada." She said dismissively as she shook her hands
"It's much more complex than just that sweetie..." The Old man replied as his expression grew dark
"But it's just a game, Grandpa! You've always been so… So Hardcore in regards to it."
The old man started to get upset.
"You already went against my suggestion of starting as a Hardcore character, choosing to become a Standard player."
"And that wasn't even that, many of the things I proposed to you over the last year entered one ear and left through the other, especially when some of those things you requested off me yourself..."
'At first, she wanted to go somewhere else, and it took me a lot of effort to convince her to go to where I wanted... Somewhere within my scope of influence.'
"And now you want to go somewhere like Resko? For what?"
"Curiosity?" He said with sharp eyes
"Is it… That bad?" The girl asked confused and wronged
"..."
'She's playing dirty...'
The old man was visibly upset, his mouth trembled with the desire to say something when suddenly, an idea popped up in his head.
As they say, when you can't beat them, join them!
"Alright, I can help you."
"REALLY?! Thanks, Grandpa!"
"There isn't a way for you to move quickly from the Central part of the Continent to the Southern part, nor is there a way for me to maintain your current character ID and have you spawn there, let's just be clear about these conditions." He said as he got up from his chair
"But I can have a few people escort you quickly through the path, I'll send you a prediction of how long it'll take to reach Resko and you can make your preparations based on that."
'Ideally, she'll forget about all of this before the time comes...'
"YAY!"
"But… I have 2 conditions." He said with a smile as he tapped on the table
This made the girl deflate a little.
"First, you must reach Level 30, with that level, you'll have no problem surviving there."
'With all of the training I had her go through, if she can't do that much...'
'Then she isn't worthy of being there.'
"I can do that, I'm already Level 15 anyway…"
'Although I wanted to get there as soon as possible…'
"..."
'15?... She dares say that with confidence?'
'Just 15?... She's fooling around like always.'
The old man then continued:
"Second, you must reach the 6th floor of the Trial tower before that."
'At least this way, I can be sure her potential has reached the necessary requirements.'
This made the girl almost fall from her chair.
"The 6th?! I barely arrived at the 4th last time!"
"Humph, if you can't do it there is no help from me."
"And how about this, I'll give you a good item if you do reach the 7th Level."
'A bait... But can she do it?'
'The Trial Tower has 11 stages, with each stage becoming more mechanically complex as one climbs it.'
'One's bodily state does not change as they climb it, meaning, the only way to complete higher stages is by accumulating experience and being talented.'
'If she can beat the 7th Level, then it would mean she would be about the same stage as the High Rankers of the past despite her age.'
'I myself was only able to beat the 9th Level, but that was decades ago, and since then, the Tower has been recalibrated many times and its difficulty recalculated.'
'My capabilities may be higher... Or lower than before.'
'Even so, that was a story of decades ago, people advance and the bar of talent is ever rising... Not that it matters anyway.'
'I was never that talented, but I survived and built this empire while those that grasped at the sky all died under the weight of their ambitions.'
'I had to do nothing but witness their ends, one after the other...'
"..."
The girl thought for a while before she raised her head and looked at her grandfather, saying:
"Alright! I'll do it!"
"Don't forget your promise okay?!~"
[Call ended]
"... This child..."
The old man collapsed on his chair, his expression even more gloomy than before.
"One is too obedient and the other is like air, too unpredictable and hard to grasp."
'But at least… Despite it all, I managed to have her do what I wished.'
He looked outside and thought:
'My granddaughter, she needs to use her potential, she's holding herself up too much simply because she wants to have fun all the time, she doesn't really want to work hard at all…'
'In normal times, I would only try to restrain her a bit so she could learn about the weight of even the simplest of responsibilities...'
'But she needs to attain her true capabilities… Before her time ends.'
He got up from his chair and went towards the door.
"Albeit... My granddaughter… My little sun..."
"You're far from right…"
And as the lights automatically went off, and the curtains closed as he walked closer to the doors, he said one last line:
"Who told you this was a game?"
/Creak…/
He closed the door behind him, and his Office went into complete Darkness.
…
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Notes
This would've actually been a good place to end the Volume and start a new one, which I'm actually thinking if I should.
Anyway, peace!
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