[You have 15 points. Freely choose from the following characters to reincarnate with you in another world.]
[You start with 30 talent points. Choosing positive traits will consume points, while choosing negative traits will grant points. Select a cost-effective build to maximize your advantages!]
[Use fifty skill points. Select from the following skills to enhance. Skills of different levels consume different amounts of points.]
...No one should be a stranger to these kinds of memes or simulators.
At least, before Ryu transmigrated, this stuff was all over the internet in many different versions.
At first, he found it interesting and had even enthusiastically made a fan-made League of Legends version. But like any meme, it gets old when overused.
So he often spouted friendly and harmonious retorts like, "I choose to slap you in the face! You're always telling me to choose, but if I choose, will you actually give it to me?"...
—But he never thought they would actually give it to him!
He transmigrated for no apparent reason. Who the hell was he supposed to complain to?!
Thinking about it, his parents had already passed away, and he didn't have a girlfriend. It seemed he was the type with no attachments, perfect for transmigration... Single guys are getting discriminated against, huh!
If he had known that slacking off and lazing around would also incur the judgment of fate, he certainly would have been more careful instead of jokingly picking those two massive negative BUFFs for himself... The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to cry.
[Infinite System Card]!
That was the name Ryu gave it. Simply put, this thing refreshes on a thirty-day cycle—the time it takes for an hourglass to flip over. Each cycle, Ryu can draw a "System Card" with various entries for abilities and talents, allowing him to choose freely based on the points he's given.
It sounded great, but the problem was it had three rules:
One: The points and abilities chosen are essentially "limited-time trial cards." They disappear when the next cycle refreshes.
To keep them permanently, he needed to "make a payment"—perhaps because the meme he clicked on was on QQ, some strange mechanics had been mixed into the system.
Two: This so-called "payment" wasn't real-world money, but an item called [Destiny Coins]. The method of obtaining them was quite troublesome; he had to find "individuals with strong destinies" and forcibly change their predetermined life paths.
Three: The trait options on the System Card seemed random but actually followed a pattern, adjusting based on the "current environment one is exposed to."
Simply put, if Ryu had reincarnated into a world of sword and magic, it would likely offer abilities like "Elemental Affinity" or "Swordsmanship Mastery." But if he were in a galge, they would become "Gentle Aura" and "Lucky Pervert Constitution."
—This was why Ryu was so uneasy.
He had watched with his own eyes as his trait options refreshed from "Urban Business Warfare" to "Low Magic, Low Martial Arts" and then to "Urban Superpowers," while the world itself underwent many subtle changes.
And it seemed to be continuously deteriorating. Maybe in ten years, it would become a situation with Homelanders flying all over the place.
This world was becoming more and more abnormal...
Fortunately, although the trial cards only lasted a month, the experience and growth gained during that month would not disappear along with them.
For example, if Ryu obtained the [Swordsmanship Master] buff, he would not only gain master-level strength and techniques but also the corresponding insight and realm of understanding, as if possessed by a god.
If he were to "learn from scratch" on this foundation, his progress in swordsmanship would be phenomenal. A month would be enough for him to surpass many athletes who had trained for five or six years.
Even if he lost the master-level techniques and ultimate moves after a month, the insights from his own diligent practice during that month would remain!
By the same token, be it archery, literature, physics... as long as Ryu could "digest" it in time, he could achieve in a short period what many people take a lifetime to accomplish.
The logic is simple: a genius progresses far faster than an ordinary person, and a grandmaster progresses even faster than a genius!
Even a 'Long Aotian' protagonist leveling up on steroids isn't as fast as a Great Golden Immortal who has reincarnated to cultivate again. This is the absolute difference in experience and realm!
Of course, if he had a choice, it would ultimately be better to make the abilities permanent. That's why he had been actively collecting [Destiny Coins] all these years to build up his foundation.
And the difficulty of obtaining this thing was unexpectedly high:
Even if the destinies of ten thousand ordinary people were changed, it wouldn't add up to that of a single "protagonist."
This led to him having little success over the years despite casting a wide net. In the end, he could only try to find a way with characters he knew from his previous life, like Fujiwara Chika—perhaps they inherently possessed strong destinies, being figures favored by the worldview.
However, not all of these characters were suitable to approach.
...For example, the young lady of the Suzuki family and her best friend (the elementary school student), right?
Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. As the worldview gradually became more abstract, the number of fused works seemed to be increasing, and Ryu's chances of encountering special characters grew larger.
Right now, he had his hands on someone who was extremely important in a certain work, someone who was more of a "central figure" than even the male protagonist. And Ryu had made a series of arrangements targeting this person.
If this person's character hadn't changed significantly and they still went ahead with that incident from the original story, involving the lives and deaths of tens of thousands of people...
Ryu was confident he could use his prior arrangements to harvest a massive amount of Destiny Coins in one go!
This process might offend some people, but he didn't care. He had done similar things many times before, and from a cost-benefit perspective, nothing was more profitable than this!
However, because he actively interfered in many events, Ryu inevitably came into conflict with others. Then, with the help of certain interested parties, he gradually developed a bad reputation.
For example, he once helped a high school boy involved in a "false chikan accusation" lawsuit, hiring the most expensive but also the best legal team to successfully get "the Gotenjo case" retried.
But the story that spread outside was that he was shielding his cronies, using money to twist the truth and call black white.
Another time, he stopped the young daughter of a celebrity family from bullying someone on campus, leading to her utter ruin. As a result, some people thought he was the one bullying the weak...
There were many similar incidents. At the time, he was quite bothered by it and made an example of a few malicious individuals to assert his dominance. After that, no one dared to spread baseless rumors and slander him again, but the negative impression remained. He did not change his ways afterward, seemingly completely indifferent to outside opinions.
Those who truly understood Ryu, like Ruri, felt that Master was fundamentally a proud and aloof person who disdained changing himself because of others' opinions.
...In reality, Ryu was just too lazy to explain, because it wouldn't have any significant effect anyway.
I chose it myself, after all, pal!
—[Cute and Charming Villain]
This was one of the abilities Ryu had chosen before transmigrating. He was born with it in this world, and it was permanently fixed without needing Destiny Coins.
It was originally a great thing, like a starter pack gift. But Ryu didn't know about the divine plot twist that would follow; he just picked it because it looked interesting, and to get enough points, he even deliberately chose two negative ones...
~
[Cute and Charming Villain]
· Your words and actions are often misunderstood. Even benevolent acts may attract negative public opinion and views, making you a villain in the eyes of strangers, a perception that is difficult to explain with words.
This will cause you to accumulate "hidden charm points," which will instead attract those close to you. The more they interact with you, the more they will feel your charm, thereby increasing their bond with you.
Bonus: When interacting with organizations or individuals with the "evil" attribute, their hostility towards you will be lowered, and it will be easier to gain their favor.
[Unfortunate Constitution]
· Unrelated to your luck stat, but you are always prone to encountering unexpected incidents and meetings with unknown beings. You also easily attract the attention of others, drawing in all sorts of strange people.
Bonus: Calamitous Love Life.
~
Sounds like the setup for a light novel protagonist, right?
Ryu thought so too at first and even wondered why they were considered "negative BUFFs." But after experiencing them firsthand, he understood—
Dealing with this in real life really sucks!
In fact, over ninety percent of the "misfortune" encountered in life comes with no benefits whatsoever. Don't even think about little perks like the "Touma, open the door" scenario!
Most of the time, it's just stuff that messes with your mind for no reason!
The same goes for [Cute and Charming Villain]:
It might lower the difficulty of winning over certain characters, but the conditions dictate that this only applies to a few intimate people. Most people keep a respectful distance from Ryu.
Of course, Ryu himself isn't particularly fond of interacting with strangers and loathes being surrounded by sycophants, so this state of being feared is actually quite satisfactory to him.
And most of the troubles and unfortunate events encountered in daily life can be solved with the power of money, so he's managed to grow up in relative peace.
However, in return, his innate positive talent can completely offset all the disadvantages. In any case, Ryu has benefited greatly over the years. After all, a single [Golden Rule] is enough to make him invincible in the business world!
A metaphysical level of financial luck—not even the elites of Wall Street could calculate that, even if they worked themselves to death!
"Welcome home, Young Master." An impeccably dressed old gentleman was already waiting at the door. "The head of the family was supposed to return today, but he changed his schedule due to a last-minute matter and asked me to convey his greetings to you."
"He's not coming back?" Ryu's brow furrowed slightly as he asked, seemingly casually, "Did something go wrong with the negotiations in North America?"
"No, everything went smoothly."
The butler lowered his gaze, his eyes fixed on his nose, his nose on his heart.
"He simply ran into an old friend and decided to extend his trip."
"Is that so?" Ryu gave him a faint glance and said nothing more as he walked into the house.
Seeing that he didn't press the matter, the butler couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief:
This matter was something of an open secret in the family—
The relationship between the Kuse father and son was a bit delicate.
They used to get along very well. After Ryu entered the business world and began to make his mark, he became a source of great pride for his father.
But as Ryu's achievements grew larger and his reputation more renowned, to the point where his prestige within the group began to overshadow the previous generation, things started to become awkward.
After all, everyone is willing to follow a genius who can create enormous profits, much like the adoration soldiers have for the Champion Marquis or the Heavenly Strategist General...
If Ryu were in his thirties or forties now, and his father in his fifties or sixties and nearing retirement, the transition between generations would naturally be a matter of course.
But Ryu was not even twenty, and his father was still in his prime. Yet, his presence in the group was already being eclipsed by his son's!
Of course, given their father-son bond, it hadn't reached the point of mutual resentment. It was just that staying by Ryu's side for too long could make one doubt oneself. Deep down, the somewhat unconvinced elder Kuse simply decided to develop overseas business and has been away from Japan for a long time.
As a battle-hardened capitalist warrior, that man was by no means willing to retire now. He also wanted to achieve something great, to properly display a father's authority before his son...
Ryu only realized this after his father went abroad. He never had any intention of seizing power, so he still tried his best to bridge this gap with his father. But it was too difficult for his father to achieve something earth-shattering in a short amount of time; it was much simpler for Ryu himself to be a bit of a "spendthrift."
For instance, the project he was currently leading: collaborating with a certain scientist to develop a new generation of virtual games.
Kuse was fully prepared for it to be dead on arrival and suffer a total loss!
The main goal was to earn Destiny Coins, and secondly, to lure his father back. As a son, one must sometimes show a bit of immaturity to make one's father feel depended upon and needed.
—My act of 'spending a fortune to amuse a parent' would at least have earned me a nomination as 'Filial and Incorrupt' in ancient times!
"Which friend?"
Ryu asked casually.
Following behind him, the butler thought for a moment: "The Master's senior from university. He currently works for the United Nations and is lobbying scientific communities around the world to unite and build a peaceful organization that transcends national boundaries.
It seems he wishes to leverage the Kuse family's financial power and connections within the Japanese government. The Master has shown an unexpected interest."
Dad is as energetic as ever... but trying to make a name for himself through a UN non-profit is just too unrealistic.
"I see." Ryu nodded, not particularly concerned.
It was nothing more than environmental protection, love and peace, the human genome project, or some other fluff.
Whether politicians or capitalists, aside from their private deals, they had to engage in some charitable work to score brownie points if they wanted a respectable seat at the table.
The Kuse family supported quite a few such individuals and groups; Ryu had seen it all growing up.
A world peace organization made up of scientists?
I wonder if the theme this time is "environmentalism" or "the future," haha~
—Ryu nonchalantly pushed the matter to the back of his mind.
________________________________________
Get rewarded for helping with our community goals!
🎯 Reward for all: +1 bonus chapter at 50 Powerstones.
🚀 Tier Reward: Help us reach 20 members for +5 chapters on all stories!
👻 Join the crew by searching Ms. Medusa on (P). You know the spot! 😉