章 10: Chapter 10: Sophie: What’s Up?
Four million pounds is no small amount by any measure.
Of course, Ronald knew that gambling is something you can indulge in occasionally, but you can't keep exploiting it; otherwise, the gambling company will definitely get suspicious. Moreover, since Ronald wants to pursue a career in professional football, he needs to avoid gambling altogether.
Therefore, after setting aside enough money for his daily expenses, Ronald plans to invest the majority of the four million pounds in other industries. Although the money won't be available until noon tomorrow, this doesn't stop Ronald from starting to think about investment strategies now.
As someone who has been reborn with knowledge others don't have, Ronald has a significant advantage when it comes to investing.
The most reliable investments at the moment would be in Apple stock or Bitcoin. However, Apple's stock has a long return cycle, and Bitcoin won't see a significant rise until 2013. Most importantly, Ronald isn't really interested in these investments that are just for the sake of investing.
He wants a quick return on investment, something that piques his interest, and something that guarantees a decent return. The best option, then, is to invest in the film industry.
As a football enthusiast, Ronald is also a big fan of movies. These two passions don't conflict at all.
With Hollywood's industrial film model, investing in a movie could yield returns in one to two years, or even within a few months.
Of course, investing in movies comes with risks—you have to pick the right film, as at least half of all films don't break even. But for someone like Ronald, who has been reborn with future knowledge, this risk doesn't exist.
Ronald remembers that the top-grossing movies in North America in 2010 included *Iron Man 2*, *Alice in Wonderland*, and *The Twilight Saga: Eclipse*.
Each of these movies had its own advantages. *Iron Man 2* marked the debut of "Black Widow" Natasha, played by Scarlett Johansson, who would later be hailed as the "Goddess of Bathwater." *Alice in Wonderland* starred "Princess" Anne Hathaway! And *The Twilight Saga: Eclipse* featured the 17-year-old melancholy beauty Isabella Swan!
All goddesses!
Four million pounds isn't much in the world of star-studded films. If he were to split his investment, he might not even qualify to invest in any of these films. So he has to pick just one.
But which one?
In his mind, Ronald pictured the seductive figure of Scarlett Johansson, the pure smile of Anne Hathaway, and the melancholic eyes of Isabella Swan...
They're all goddesses—choosing one feels like a crime against the others!
But for the sake of investment, he'll have to commit this crime.
Ronald sighed deeply, finally understanding a bit of the dilemmas that come with wealth.
In the end, Ronald decided that once the funds are available tomorrow, he'll invest the four million pounds in *Iron Man 2*, which stars Scarlett Johansson.
*Iron Man* was Marvel's breakthrough film, and more Marvel movies are set to follow. Investing in *Iron Man 2* now means getting in on the ground floor.
Moreover, Marvel was in desperate need of funds at this time. Even though *Iron Man* had some success, many in the industry had low expectations for *Iron Man 2* as a sci-fi sequel. Professional forecasts only predicted a box office gross of around $100 million.
But in reality, *Iron Man 2*, thanks to Scarlett Johansson's involvement, ended up grossing $340 million!
So investing in *Iron Man 2* before its release would guarantee the highest possible returns.
And who knows? He might even get invited to visit the Marvel set and have dinner with Scarlett Johansson.
Thinking about this, Ronald couldn't help but grin.
After finalizing his investment plan, Ronald began studying the "Personal Rating" system—this was the most crucial part.
Clearing his mind of distractions, he focused his thoughts.
"Ding~"
"Friendly Reminder: The host's current system rating is: D level."
"When the host obtains and uses 10 talent points, the personal rating can be upgraded to C level."
"Once the personal rating is upgraded to C level, the collection limit remains unchanged, but the collection range will increase from 5 meters to 10 meters. Additionally, when a bubble is generated, its contents will be displayed in advance."
C level isn't bad! Not only does the collection range increase, but you can also see what's inside the bubble in advance, so you can avoid picking up useless skills and save collection progress.
Wait! Talent points? What are those? And these bubbles? I've never collected one of those before!
Ronald was completely stunned.
"Ding~"
"Friendly Reminder: Talent points can be obtained directly from a perfect bubble containing 100 points of negative emotion or through professional training results. When the personal rating is D level, every 100 hours of training results can be converted into 1 talent point."
Oh! Got it! So, the previous collection of skills like 10 hours of ball juggling, 10 hours of lower body training, not only strengthens the basics but also accumulates to convert into corresponding football talent points!
The previously collected training results total 40 hours, so to exchange for 1 talent point, I need to collect 60 more hours of training results.
This system is kind of interesting!
However, a perfect bubble with 100 points of negative emotion is really hard to get.
Looks like it might be necessary to ask Sophie to help after midnight tonight.
I don't know why Sophie was so angry today, but hopefully, she stays that way.
After understanding the "personal rating," Ronald casually picked up the local newspaper, *Southern Football News,* and started reading.
Next Monday, just the day after tomorrow, I'll be going up against Rusty one-on-one for the school team.
I have to win this match, and I have to win it beautifully.
This is key to whether I can join the school team and participate in the national cup.
With my current abilities, ball juggling is naturally no problem, but in a real match against Rusty, I might still fall short.
If I could collect a professional player's skill bubble before Monday, that would make things much easier.
Ronald's eyes were suddenly drawn to a headline: "This Sunday, the famous football star David Beckham will be filming a Pepsi commercial on Southampton's famous Dune Beach. The beach will be temporarily closed until the commercial is finished."
Beckham is coming to Southampton to shoot a commercial?
Is it the one where he kicks the ball into a trash can from forty meters away with bare feet?
Ronald's eyes lit up!
A bold idea began to take shape…
That evening.
"Ron! Dinner's ready!" Sally Turner called warmly.
"Coming, Aunt Sally." Ronald washed his hands and sat down in his seat.
Sophie sat across from Ronald, her pretty face still full of resentment.
Seeing Sophie like this, Ronald felt much more at ease.
100 points of negative emotion—tonight is the night!
"Sophie, have some lamb kidney." Ronald smiled as he pushed his portion towards Sophie.
Sophie glared angrily at Ronald, "I'm full!"
With that, Sophie got up and stormed upstairs.
Andrew frowned and said, "This child is getting more and more out of line! Ron specially gave her such a delicious lamb kidney, and she didn't appreciate it—Ron, if you're not eating it, I'll take it. It won't taste good cold."
Ronald quickly said, "Uncle, you eat it."
Sally couldn't help but complain, "Sophie always eats so little, how can her chest grow bigger?"
Ronald buried his face in his wasabi mashed potatoes, feeling it was best not to get involved in this conversation.
"Mom——" Sophie shouted from the third floor, "Don't think I can't hear what you're saying!"
Andrew leaned over to Ronald and whispered, "She probably needs to change her pads."
Ronald almost spat out his food!
The family environment of foreigners is really open.
After dinner, Ronald went for a one-hour walk, then returned to his room.
At midnight.
Ronald picked up his phone and sent a text to Sophie, who was on the third floor: [Are you asleep?]
After a long while, Sophie didn't respond.
Ronald sighed, ready to sleep.
Looks like it's not going to happen tonight—getting a talent bubble with 100 points of negative emotion is really not that easy.
Just as Ronald was closing his eyes to sleep, his phone buzzed—
Sophie: [What do you want?]
end.
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Ilham_Yamin
Ilham_Yamin Creation is hard, cheer me up!
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