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Currently I have so many ideas for new stories and directions I want my old stories to go, but I don't have enough time to write them all down. Even a buck will help so please help me out with anything you can. That way I can spend some more time bringing a little more joy to both of our lives.
The next year brought about a lot of changes in my life; I was not only out of debt but moderately rich now, I had reached professional fighter level of fitness, and I had run out of things to study. It was alarming how fast you could learn if the first thing you learned was how to increase your learning speed. And that was all I did for the first month, I learned how to study, speed read, and make sure I learned the how and why not just brute force memorization. It took me a while because as I was learning how to do all these things I had to sort through the information that wasn't really needed. Even with my enhanced brain there was a lot of stuff out there of people talking out of their ass. But as I learned how to sort through the information I became faster, and learning how to speed read really cranked it up to eleven. Before I would read through a book like a normal person, one word at a time.
Only now I had perfect recall so I could look at a page as a whole and memorize all that information. The thing holding me back now was how fast I could turn a page or how quickly a website code load, something a few of the prizes I won helped with. Learning languages was probably the hardest because they had a spoken component as well, at least the ones that were still spoken. So while I read articles on cultural development or pushed myself through one of my workouts I would listen to my own voice list every word in a dictionary pronounced phonetically correct. The recordings were made when I practiced the actual words, so while I probably had the weirdest accent ever I could speak with pretty much anyone on the planet. While I was doing my learning binge I was pushing my body as well, this went a lot slower as the NZT only enhanced my mind, not my body.
So my progress was better than a normal first timer at a gym but it wasn't anything special. After I finished learning how to learn, I moved on to how to improve my body, without any… extras. Part of it was how to eat, but beyond that it was just consistency. Some of the information I got online told me that people would just stop once they didn't see immediate improvement. But I could not only understand how much I improved every day, I could also predict where I could achieve in the future if I kept at it. Learning how to exercise properly helped speed things up too, but not that much. It definitely stopped me from getting injured and setting back my progress while I recovered but if I hadn't done that I still would have been fit, just not as fit and it would have taken longer. I also didn't just do a million pushups and situps and learned some martial arts as well, but it was even more iffy than the accent thing.
However I did figure out another aspect of my super brain, thanks to my knowledge of the human body I was able to copy Baki's image training. Then by learning the different styles of martial arts through reading even more books I was able to spar against different opponents using my mind. No idea if it actually works and even if it did I know this would be no match for actual experience or a real teacher but I am not looking to join the spandex brigade. Though right now it is just Iron Man that is public, so the Iron Legion? Anyways, I still learned enough to be able to defend myself from getting mugged. I'd still get my ass kicked by anyone that knew what they were doing, but it made me feel a little safer. The daily games helped as well, every so often I would get a game that would require me to fight hand to hand, or hand to claw, or appendage, or tentacle. Some of the games are really weird and let's leave it at that.
I won some pretty neat prizes too, with my brain enhanced I was able to get the maximum amount of points in some of the puzzle games and once my body started to improve I won even more than that. Before NZT I never lasted more than a couple hours in a game but now I could spend weeks in a single game, which also let me know that the games happened between the blink of an eye. I never really noticed before because I never needed to go anywhere, so whenever I woke up from my game I would just start my day. Well a few months after the boost I got a game that really reminded me of Pokemon, I wandered around fighting different monsters. For three months. And to make matters more difficult most of these creatures had magical powers, hence the pokemon comparison. But after I woke up it was still the same day, I didn't have a clock in my room so I didn't know exactly what time I entered the game but it couldn't have been more than an hour.
The very next day I tested it out and I went into the game at 6:23:42 am and checked my phone again at 6:23:52 am. I knew no time had passed because it took me three seconds to put my phone down and enter the game and 7 seconds to pick it up and check it after I came out, I counted. I didn't get a very good prize out of the game that morning but I did the morning I noticed the time difference. A pair of gloves that could either give my hand elemental properties or shoot out a bolt of energy with those same properties, like a fireball or an icicle. It could use the elements from any monster I defeated in the game. Which put me in a funk for a while because I had always run whenever I came across a monster that could manipulate space or time. I thought at the time it wouldn't be worth it and went to fight weaker monsters instead, until one monster I thought was weak… wasn't.
But even though they weren't as powerful as they could have been, the gloves were still cool. Thanks to the NZT running through my brain I won quite a lot of prizes, and soon my junk shop wasn't just filled with junk anymore. I still kept the best stuff for myself but there were things I simply didn't have much use for that ended up on my shelves. Various tech, some nice furniture from a Sims like game, and then the spare parts I got when I took apart some of the things I got. This was a junk shop after all, I needed to offer at least some odds and ends. But the more unique items in my collection started to pile up after a while, some were magical and would attract the wrong type of attention to my shop and I wasn't ready for that yet. Others were just weird. A door frame that would open to a different random location every time it was opened, which made for some good views as nothing from the other side of the door could affect my side.
Watching the formation of a star was still one of my favorite views to have, when you've seen something like that regular TV doesn't really hold any appeal anymore. Of course not all of the unique artifacts were so benign and could really hurt a lot of people if they fell into the wrong hands, or even the right hands. So I kept them in the apartment above my shop for now, but soon I would need more room to store them. As time passed and I kept improving myself I was winning more and more games, and while that was a good thing it also meant I was gathering more and more unique items. I was hoping that I would come across a magical game that could teach me more about what to do with this stuff. Or maybe just something that would give me more space, I had my finger crossed for an enchanted trunk from Harry Potter or even a TARDIS like contraption that would give me practically endless space.
I hadn't had any luck with either of those so far but I also hadn't run across anything too bad, that doll was still the creepiest thing I had run across so far. On the financial side of things I decided to diversify and send different books from my old world and even a couple from the games I played under different names to different publishing houses. I felt a little bad about basically plagiarizing the stories so I would always make sure to use the author's original name or nom de plume as it were. Most of them did pretty well, a couple of them flopped but that was alright, I only lost an hour of my time. I hadn't moved past books yet because it was a lot easier to be anonymous with a book than a movie or game. But I was working on something for that so soon this world would finally have some good entertainment. I don't know why but it seems like creativity suffered a lot in this world, I think it kind of had to do with Captain America, because they still had stuff from before he showed up and right after.
It was like people weren't interested in bland stories when they had a real life superhero, everything else must have seemed so bland and people just lost interest. There were a few exceptions like the Great Gatsby and Star Wars, and the Shrek movies for some reason, although his memes haven't caught on yet. Thank god for small mercies. Music wasn't affected though so I could have released big hits before they were even thought of by their original artist but it wasn't meant to be. Like with language and martial arts I could learn the motions and the technicalities but I could put my heart into it and it ended up coming out soulless. Even with my perfect recall and insane body control I could not bring the funk, or rock out, or any other genre specific saying for playing music. But moving on from my short lived career as the next Taylor Swift I did end up meeting with the person that had been buying my enhanced computer equipment.
And man was it weird seeing her in the flesh and she was younger than I thought she would have been as well. But I guess it did make sense Daisy 'Skye' Johnson wouldn't get black bagged by SHIELD until after the invasion and that was still about a year away. But she came to my shop at least every other week, and we eventually struck up a friendship. When her living situation eventually came up in conversation I tried to get her to move out of her van and into my spare room. She just smirked and called me a creepy old man before guessing that I was trying to lure her to my lair where I would have my wicked way with her. I could tell that she didn't really think that and was just using humor to mask her discomfort on the subject so I let it go. Who could blame her? With just what I knew I could see why she was hesitant to let someone get close.
But just because she turned down my offer it didn't mean I was going to stop trying to show her a little bit of kindness. I wasn't going to let her live out of her van if I could help it, we had grown pretty close during her visits to my store. The first time she called me old man I thought I had been hit in the gut and let out an actual grunt. She got this glint in her eye and from then on it was all she called me. I was only 26 this time around, I may have made it to my fifties in my previous life. But that didn't count… right? When I finally recovered from that sucker punch I had asked her why and what she said through me for a loop. "Dude, I call it like I see it. You act like an old man. I keep expecting you to start yelling at some young wippersnappers to get off your lawn." That got me into a contemplative state of mind, I knew I thought about things more now then I did when I was this age last time but I didn't know it was that obvious.
I guess it didn't really matter, if someone ever commented on it I could say I was an old soul. It was technically true too. As time passed Skye did end up commenting on the increase in high end equipment that showed up more so I gave her an empty response, "I have my ways." I didn't give a real answer as I didn't want to lie but the truth was unbelievable. What was I even supposed to say? I get rewards that show up out of nowhere after I play a game everyday. Yeah that will go over great. It'll probably make her run out of here faster than I can finish explaining. My other favorite customers started to show up less when I started focusing on more exotic items, when I asked Ben about it he was honest. "Money is kind of tight so even with your story discount we can't really afford to come here very often and you are running out of the spare parts that we can afford."
If it so happened that the next time he came in I suddenly got an influx of spare parts that were priced way below what they were worth then it was a complete coincidence. Even the disbelieving look Ben shot at me wasn't able to break my will before Peter's puppy dog eyes broke his. Besides, it gave me practice taking apart all the various odds and ends I collected, some of which I was only able to put in the story after it was disassembled. Seriously, there was one that formed an anthropomorphic duck that could fold up into a real duck, and without using any magic or even unique parts. And while it was definitely interesting it would attract a lot of attention if I tried to sell it. Not the spy kind, at least I don't think so, but just a lot more people would come to raid my shop trying to find more oddities. I was satisfied with the amount of customers I had now and I didn't want that to change.
It was easier to make decisions like that now that I was making enough money to support myself. And that brings us up to the present, laying on my bed, ready to begin my next game. This time after the wheel disappeared the words that replaced it made me pause, [Casino Royale. Survive and Thrive in the Most Dangerous Den of Destitution in the Entire Universe.] I had never seen a game quite like this, there had been games within games like in the maze over a year ago but an actual casino? I didn't have time to think any further as I was drawn into the game, and in the next moment I was standing in front of the most gaudy building I had ever seen. It was all gold and flashing neon lights, and when I say all I mean ALL, not an inch of architecture was spared. Even the people around the entrance were dressed in colorful evening wear that sparkled everytime they moved in the lights.
Which of course meant they all looked absolutely ridiculous, but I paled when I realized the game would usually choose clothes that would let me blend in. I braced myself and slowly looked down before sighing in relief. I was wearing an off white tux and snow white dress shirt paired with a dark purple tie. It was not something I would normally wear so I wasn't sure what the color is actually called. But even if it wasn't something I would be caught dead in, it was better than what I was seeing around me. Some of the clothes I saw should be considered a safety hazard, they could send a person into epileptic shock with all the flashing lights that reflected off them. After I got used to being blind I made my way to the entrance but I had to stop short once again when I saw what was inside. Every game I had ever heard of was here and quite a few more I hadn't.
But the games were not the ones you would find in the family game room, some of them looked normal enough, like slots or the poker tables. But most of them would hurt the people playing them, some only inflicted pain like an electric shock or a broken finger. However a lot of them dealt a concerning amount of damage to the people participating, everything from knife wounds to actual maiming. I flinched when one of the slot machines landed on three guns and a real gun popped out and shot the person sitting in front of the machine. The man grunted but reached up and pulled the lever again, even with the stomach wound bleeding profusely. I looked around the room in alarm but everyone was acting like this was completely normal. A couple people glanced over at the gunshot but went back to playing their games right after they understood what happened.
I shook my head and started to walk to one of the counters on either side of the entrances. There wasn't anything I could do to change this place and why should I even try? When I tried to change things in a previous game the people acted like I was crazy and I did not perform well in that game. Of course I didn't give up and tried a few more times during the games that had things I didn't want to participate in. The Hunger Games look alike was the last one and I tried to convince the other participants to refuse to fight. But all I won was a knife in the back as soon as I turned away from someone I thought I succeeded in convincing. After that I just played the games I could convince myself to play and gave up on the ones I couldn't stomach. Luckily the ones I couldn't handle were rare and I only came across half a dozen. I freaked out a little when I noticed I was slowly becoming accustomed to the more violent games.
The game that drove it home took place in a colosseum and I was forced to fight a bunch of other people. I was a little queasy when some of my opponents received a thumbs down and I had to kill them. It was only when I came across a younger opponent that I realized that I had changed since I came across the Hunger Games. The realization hit me so hard that I just stood there and let my opponent run me through with a sword. As I collapsed and bleed out my thoughts speed through all the games I had refused to play so far and I smiled as the child swung the sword down on my neck. When I opened my eyes in my bed the smile was still on my face, I may have become more jaded by playing some of these games but there were still lines I would not cross. I was not becoming completely apathetic, these games might not be real but that didn't mean I should treat the people in them like objects.
Because once I started doing that I was worried it would bleed into the real world. I was in a world that I once thought was fictional, what would keep me from thinking the people here weren't real. That was a slippering slope and it wasn't one I wanted to fall down. When I made it to the counter I saw the man standing behind it was a stereotypical devil; red skin, little horns, pointed tail waving behind him, and a pair of folded leathery wings behind him. He smiled at me when I stepped up and I tried not to flinch at the mouth filled with way too many sharp teeth. His grin only grew wider but he got himself under control, "Hello. I don't think I have seen you here before. Would you like to know the rules of the Casino Royal, or would you rather try and work them out yourself?" I didn't even have to think as any information I could get would improve my chances, "I would like to know the rules please."
"Alright. Please note that once you have asked for the rules I am unable to stop my explanation at any time." After that disclaimer I spent the next couple hours being bombarded by the rules of every game in the casino. It was tedious and definitely done in that way so people would unintentionally break rules, if a person breaks a rule then they have to participate in a token game. Usually token games are done so someone can earn tokens, with each one giving out a specific amount of tokens for surviving. But depending on the rule you break you would have to participate in a token game and even if you survived you would not receive any tokens. These games themselves could be played even if you have tokens and like all other games you could bet on the outcome. The only real difference was that the token games always had a chance of death, while some of the other games only had a chance of pain or minor injury.
Still not something I wanted to participate in without being rewarded, so I used a rule that was explained an hour and a half into his tirade. "I would like to withdraw my Pity Tokens." I took not a small amount of satisfaction from the way his smile turned into a frown. Just because I could remember every word of his explanation does not mean I enjoyed having to hear it. He opened a drawer from behind the counter and took out a small stack of tokens. After he placed them in front of me he growled out his required statement, "Here at Casino Royal we enjoy having a player that knows who to use the rules to their advantage. We hope you have a fruitful time here and wish you luck towards your next endeavor." It looked like it physically hurt him to say that but I decided to be nice and not point out his pain, so I picked up the ten pity tokens and made my way onto the floor.
As I made my way through the maze of tables I saw a few games that made me a little nostalgic. Live Chess from Doctor Who seemed just as popular here as it was in the show and a couple of the player's were literally smoking from the shocks they received. I would be sure to come back to that later but I wanted to try something a little more tame to start out with. A little deeper in they had a couple of large fighting arenas. In some of them people would participate in good old fashion gladiatorial fights with beasts while in others adventurous, or perhaps foolish, groups of people would try to slay a dragon. Oops or failing to slay a dragon, wow apparently metal armor heated by dragon fire will actually burn and not just melt. But after walking around for a while I found a game that I had always wanted to play but never got the chance, 3-D chess.
It looked exactly like the game from Star Trek and I almost ran over there when I saw what must have been a Vulcan sitting in front of one of the sets. I sat down in front of him and placed three of my chips as my bet and he was able to match it easily as the pile beside him must have been at least four times what I had. Now let's see how my wits match up against a Vulcan, after the bet was in he gestured for me to begin "You may have the first move." I studied my opponent for a minute but that Vulcan stoicism made it impossible to read him, I would have to see if that continued to hold up as we played. After I made my observations I looked at the board and thought back to the rules for this game when the Devil was making his spiel. It looked like even if I knew how to play it would take some time to figure out how to play well, well no time like the present.
The current advanced chapters are:
Millennium Ch1
Haven Ch1
Who is a Zoo? Ch1
God of Games Ch6
Breathe Ch1
Another Wayne Ch1
Salvation Ch1
Guide Ch1
Growth Ch1
I Wanted a Real Gamer System Ch6-8
Ark Ch2-5
A Real Gamer System Ch3-5
Tinker Ch1
Further Ch2
Puzzle Maker Ch3
A Thousand Words Ch1-2
Free Range Ch1