Just an idea I had, feel free to build off it!

Author: Kriuswer
Editor: WolfSpatial
 
*My name is ... Fuck ... What was it? ... Well, I will Think of something later.
 
I float in space, it's always better than total darkness. I mean, I don't see any planets, no Saturn, Mars or Earth. Maybe I can see them, but they can also be asteroids. Because the biggest object I see looks like a brown ball the size of a tennis ball. And it's very far away.
 
As for how I got here, I have no clear memories of what happened to me.
 
It's even hard for me to remember my name, and things that were especially important to me are hard to recall. The memories about the closest are the most blurred.
 
My last memories... Focus... Think... Wait... I remember something.
 
I came back from the store... Fuck, this is stupid... As in most novels.
 
Novel?.... Sounds familiar. I think I was the author or just read a lot of this type of content... Or both... Hmm...
 
I was coming back from the store after buying groceries... I was probably going to extra food because I wanted to do mass writing of several chapters in my novels...
 
By the way, should I not meet God or in the worst case Aqua, the blue-haired girl from Konosuba.
 
Hehehe... But it's stupid... I died the most classic death I can think of... I wasn't?... well... I was hit by a fucking truck.
 
I got exactly what the fuck I asked for!!!!
 
Almost?
 
Only there is no God and no wishes. Fuck, but the view is nice... And I got bored... Great.*
 
(Suddenly a dazzling light appears before the MC. So strong that he had to, cover his eyes with his hands.)
 
(From this glow emerges a figure that at first glance looks like a white-haired sage. Which exudes a powerful aura whose very feeling gives the message that you are standing in front of God.)
 
*So, I'll have a classic script, great... Don't complain... Master yourself... I should be happy that something like that happens to me... I don't want to be angry... This is not a new novel he writes, but my life... life-after-life... I guess?*
 
(God)- You're right, son.
 
(MC)- I'm sorry, you hear my thoughts..aaa ... yes ... Yes ... God, I understand these things.
 
(God)- You see my son I would usually send you to purgatory and then to heaven. However, as you probably guessed. I will give you a third option.
 
(God)- In your life, you were not important, like many. You didn't stand out as anything special, except for one thing. You were the author of the novel. Like nothing unusual, there are many of you. However, each of you has left a mark or left something in the minds and souls of readers. It is beautiful.
[T/N: He had me in the first half, not gonna lie]
 
(God)- You are not even aware, my son. How many people did you give strength, how many people did you inspire to do great things ... There are plenty of them. So I decided to allow authors to experience what they dream of. Give them the fulfillment of their biggest dream.
 
(MC)- What?
 
(God)- Become their own characters, which they created.
 
(God)- I know that you probably want to get three wishes ... However, as you know, I am omniscient ... And I know that you are not able to decide. Writing is one thing, but you are now in their place. So let's do it through the draw.
 
(On the left side of the MC, a giant draw machine appears. A category of questions in TV programs reminiscent of these round items for the draw.)
 
(However, at this time all fields are empty.)
 
(God)- As you can see, the fields are empty for now ... Now to save time. We will draw the System, or rather what it will be based on. It can be: "Dragon Ball System", "Mario Bros System", "DC System. There are many possibilities.
 
(God snaps his fingers and various inscriptions appear on the drawing wheel.)
 
(God)- I think you know what to do.
 
*Sure I know, old man... And thanks for the help... I really was confused... besides, it can be interesting.*
 
(MC approaches the lottery machine and grabs the special handle, pulling it with all his strength. Putting the machine in motion.
 
The wheel spins at high speed and for a while, all the inscriptions on it are blurred.
 
 A moment passes and the machine begins to slow down. You can already see some of the titles If you have good eyesight and sensitivity.
 
Mc manages to see some potential options for now. He sees, among others: Power Rangers, BNHA, Doom, Disney, Pokemon, Harry Potter.
 
finally, the machine began to slow down to such an extent that the arrow pointing hardly to the field. And to the fear of MC, the arrow stopped in a pink field... Terrible... Mc sweated incredibly and was in a tense mood. In his mind, he prayed that the arrow would jump one space.
 
The arrow wanted to stop on the field with the name ... My Little Pony System.)
 
*Everything but this... not this... Even Pokemon... But not this... No... No ..*
 
(God standing aside, seeing and hearing MC's thoughts. He sighs and speaks softly.)
 
(God)- Heh... I understand -Then he waves his hand lightly and the pointer jumps one field and stops.
 
(MC)- Thank god!
 
(God)-You're welcome... So the System you draw... Is... The Mortal Kombat System... It will suit you well... heh ... Remember that everything matters and do not act recklessly.
 
(MC)- I understand... (a moment of silence)... Then what world will I go to?
 
(God)- Let's see.
 
(Then the inscriptions on the drawing machine were replaced by other ones or the order was changed. It's hard to say because some titles are like in the previous draw. Only without "System".
 
Finally, this machine after the MC spun it, it started working, and after a moment the tip stopped in the field with the inscription.
 
 "Boku no Hero Academy".)
 
*Mina Ashido... Mina... Mina... Mina... Boobs... Mina... Mina**
[T/N: Wow]
 
(God)- In this case, we will refine the details. What are your preferences? Immediately at the age at which you could go to UA or junior high school, or be born again with memories?
 
(MC)- The second option seems to be better because I need time to refine my skills. Because when I joined the UA, it would be good to at least defend myself.
 
(God)- Any preferences for the appearance... change something... Add something. Hehe... I'm sorry my child, you are the first one who has such an opportunity and I'm excited.
 
(MC)- I understand. It is hard. I would like to have white hair... It's a little well-worn. But I would like to have short white hair. Or long, I can always let it down, and red eyes. When it comes to appearance, I will rely on you. Make it look pretty attractive.
 
(God)- A good choice. And where else you want to live at the start. Or near which character you want to live.
 
(MC)- Hmmm...I want to be neighbor's with Mina Ashido, make our rooms on the first floor of our houses. I would like the windows of our rooms to be so that we can see each other through them. It will be fun, like in spiderman with MJ.
 
(God)- So a village in the Chiba prefecture.
 
(God)- And remember my child. What you do in this world depends solely on you. You can become a Peace Symbol or its opposite. I can't force you to be a good person, because then free will, would only be for show. You are not my dolls but children, and I want the best for you. So, it's up to you. I'll see you soon. Goodbye.
 
(And MC shines an incredibly bright light and disappears from space.)









There is not much to say. One day a novel author dies. And the rest you can guess.

------------------------
Please keep your distance. And not approaching certain issues from a distance. And refraining from mean comments.

Bluehole used closed alpha and beta periodswith about 80,000 players to gauge initial reaction to the gameplay and adjust balance prior to a wider release.[13][41] Just prior to the early access phase on Steam, Bluehole opened a few servers and invited some popular live streamers of similar games to try it out as to start gaining interest.[42] Early access for the Windows version launched on March 23, 2017.[43] This period was planned to last approximately six months, originally aiming for a September 2017 release.[43][44] In July 2017, Greene announced that they would need to extend the early access period by a few months, continuing to release updates on a regular basis, with plans to still release by the end of 2017, as committing to this original period "could hinder us from delivering a fully featured game and/or lead to disappointment within the community if the launch deadline is not met".[45] Initially, Bluehole had expected that they would just gain enough players through early access to smooth out the gameplay, and only when the game was completed, they would have started more marketing for the title. The sudden interest in the game from early access exceeded their expectations, and put emphasis on the stability of the game and its underlying networking alongside gameplay improvements.[41] Through August 2017, these updates generally included a major weekly patch alongside major monthly updates that provided key performance improvements.[46][5][19] However, from August onward Bluehole backed off the rate of such patches, as the high frequency has led to some quality control issues, and the developers rather make sure each patch content is well-vetted by the community before providing new updates; this did not change their plans for a 2017 release, where it fully released out of early access on December 20.[47][48]

In part of the game's success in early access, Tencent Games, the largest publisher of video games in China, approached Bluehole that same month with an offer to publish Battlegrounds in China and purchase equity in the company.[49] However, the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association issued a statement in October 2017 that discouraged battle royale-style games, stating that they are too violent and deviate from Chinese values of socialism, deeming it harmful to young consumers.[50][51] The following month however, PUBG had reached a formal agreement with the Chinese government to allow the release of the game in the country, with Tencent as the publishing partner.[52] However, some changes were made to make sure it aligned with socialist values and traditional Chinese morals.[53] In South Korea, the game is marketed and distributed by Kakao Games.[54]

Despite the lack of a Chinese publisher prior to the Tencent deal, players in China had found ways to acquire and play the game through Steam via proxies and other networking tricks.[55] To address it, PUBG Corporation planned to add maximum client ping limits for servers which can reduce the issues with latency problems and prevent some of the cheating that has occurred. This would not prevent cross-region matchmaking but may make it difficult for some players to play outside their region if they have a poor Internet infrastructure.[56] Tencent has also helped by identifying and reporting around 30 software programs to Chinese police that can be used to cheat in Battlegrounds, leading to over a hundred arrests by the beginning of 2018.[57] Separately, this technical issue, in addition to the larger number of Chinese players, has created complaints in the player community. Some Western players fear that many Chinese players are able to cheat in the game by exploiting some of the network latency issues, something that PUBG Corporation continued to address as the game shifted out of early access. However, a small number of players called for server segregation by region, and had used racial insults at Chinese players they encounter in game. Greene was disappointed with this "xenophobic attitude", calling it "disgraceful", and asked the player community to respect the Chinese players more as their numbers were a key part of the game's success.[55]Greene also identified that players can easily get around such region locks using virtual private networks, making this approach ineffective.[58] PUBG Corporation eventually added region-based matchmaking by October 2018, though players still reported issues with connectivity and slow matchmaking.[59]

Xbox One

Greene was part of Microsoft's press conference during E3 2017 to announce that Battlegrounds would be coming to Xbox Oneas a timed console exclusive sometime by the end of 2017, using the Xbox Game Previewearly access approach to test it.[60] [61][62][41]

Initially, Greene said that Microsoft was not directly involved in the porting but only providing assistance to make sure the port is good, and that most of the porting responsibilities are being done by Anticto, a Spanish developer.[30] However, at Gamescomthat year, Bluehole affirmed that Microsoft Studios would be publishing the Xbox One version of the title, helping to make a planned 2017 release for this version.[63] Greene said that Microsoft's support has helped in several ways, not only for the Xbox One version but improving the performance and security of the Windows version. Further, by being part of the group of studios under the Microsoft banner, they have been able to talk and incorporate technology from other developers, such as improved water rendering techniques they obtained from Rare that they had developed for Sea of Thieves.[64] Microsoft considered Battlegrounds to be an important project to demonstrate their company's ability to be more than just a publisher, according to Microsoft's Nico Bihary who lead the project. Bihary said they have given Battlegrounds a "white glove" treatment, and for the Xbox One port have provided services from their advanced technology group and time and support from The Coalition, another of Microsoft Studios' subsidiaries.[65] Kim also stated that the team was interested in cross-platform play between the Windows and console versions, but did not anticipate this as a release feature, as they need to determine how to mitigate the advantage keyboard and mouse-using players would have over those using controllers.[41]

Titled "Game Preview Edition", the early access version for the Xbox One was released on December 12, 2017 in both digital and physical formats.[66][67][68] To promote it, Microsoft performed real-life supply crate drops in Australia in the week prior, with the crates containing Xbox hardware, Battlegrounds merchandise, and other goods, using passcodes published alongside the drop locations on social media.[69] The Xbox version also includes Xbox-specific in-game cosmetic items, some which could be purchased directly rather than through in-game crates.[70] The official release out of the Game Preview program occurred on September 4, 2018.[71][72]
Mobile versions

Following the Chinese publication deal for the Windows version, Tencent Games and PUBG Corporation additionally announced that they were planning on releasing two mobile versions based on the game in the country.[73][74] The first, PUBG: Exhilarating Battlefield, is an abridged version of the original game, and was developed by Lightspeed & Quantum Studio, an internal division of Tencent Games.[75] The second, PUBG: Army Attack, includes more arcade-style elements, including action taking place on warships, and was developed by Tencent's Timi Studio.[76] Both versions are free-to-play, and were released for Android and iOSdevices on February 9, 2018.[77][78] The games had a combined total of 75 million pre-registrations, and ranked first and second on the Chinese iOS download charts at launch.[78] Following a soft launch in Canada, an English version of Exhilarating Battlefieldknown as PUBG Mobile, was released worldwide on March 19, 2018.[79][80][81]

PlayStation 4

With the announcement of the Xbox release, PUBG Corporation stated that there were plans to port to additional platforms, such as the PlayStation 4.[82][83][84] In an interview shortly after Gamescom, Greene said that their deal with Microsoft did not exclude a PlayStation 4 port, but that their focus at the time was only on the Windows and Xbox One version, given the small size of their team.[64][49] When asked about it in January 2018, Kim stated that the team released the game first on the Steam and Xbox Game Preview early access programs as they both easily allowed in-development games to be released and updated over time, which contrasted with Sony's lack of their own early access program, as well as their strict quality control for even completed games.[85] The PlayStation port was officially announced in November, and was released on December 7, 2018. PUBG Corporation studio head Brian Corrigan said that while they had had a small team working on the PlayStation 4 port for some time, it was only until the Xbox One port was mostly completed that they began fully working on the PlayStation port.[86] The PlayStation 4 version of the game includes platform-exclusive customization items, specifically the outfit of Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series, and Ellie's backpack from The Last of Us.[87] A short live-action film to promote the PlayStation 4 release was directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts and starred Jason Mitchell.[88]

Verdant City, Delta province, Eta country, Ete continent.

The city was quite different from that of Callows City; there wasn't a harmony between technological advancement to that of science here, and it was more focused on magic development and how it can benefit the daily lives of the city people. This didn't mean that there weren't any technological developments here; it was just that the majority of what can see with the common eye would be products by magic, as well as items catered to mercenaries.

Yes, Verdant City, because of its path of development, became the home of mercenaries, their headquarters so to speak, in the entire country of Eta. Yes, they have branches in other provinces, but Verdant City is where all these missions/requests/procurement go to, before being distributed to the branches in other provinces. 

Inside a large, quiet and luxurious restaurant, a man was quietly looking outside the large glass windows of the establishment, observing the passing people as he drank his coffee and ate his breakfast. He had a battle-borne face, as well as an aura that was cold and stifling to anyone near him. This added a sense of mystery to the onlookers observing him, attracting men and women alike. 

One of the women, who accidentally had eye contact with the man, and she couldn't help but visibly swoon. Even one of the weaker men in the restaurant couldn't help but look away, blushing. 

This quiet but dashing-looking man was Xander Cloverfield, now taking the identity of Homer Simpson.

Seeing this, he couldn't help mutter under his breath and rolled his eyes a bit, before picking up his tablet to read the news. In a city like Verdant City, most people still relied on newspapers, rarely would you see someone use a tablet to read the news. 

Xander checked the current news in Verdant city, but nothing caught his attention, so he placed it down and began to quickly eat his meals. After half an hour, he called for the waiter for the bill, and quickly paid with his watch, which he modified to place his other bank account as the main payee. 

Rather than return to the hotel, he headed towards the Mercenary Center for Greater Development Corporation, or MCGD for short. Yes, the Mercenary guild is a registered company and listed in the stock market. One could even own shares of the company. With the current money Xander had in his second account, he could buy at least 6% worth of shares of the company at the stock price, and even more if he could find someone willing to sell their stocks immediately.

Xander reached the buildings where the MCGD is located at. Yep, buildings. Upon seeing them, Xander couldn't help but shake his head. It was too grand. According to the information he had gleaned, the MCGD had 4 different buildings, and an underground arena as well as a training area. Each of the buildings has their respective purposes: Mission Building, Leisure building, Training Building, and Business Building. The underground arena is basically a casino but its betting on the magicians, mercenaries, and slaves that enter the arena. 

Sadly, slavery exists in this world, but only for the prisoners of war. Once one is a prisoner of war, you and the next generations of your blood will carry the status of a slave. Accordingly, they can free themselves of the status if they reach Legendary class, or win 100 fights consecutively. 

Some magicians and magician mercenaries enter the arena for three purposes: Cheap training, for leisure, and for money. The last purpose is common to those that do not have a company supporting them, or a large clan behind them. The second purpose is usually done by rich magicians who wanted to have real combat experience against other people. the first purpose is done by mercenaries who find the arena as a cheaper option of training than using the training grounds of the MCGD. 

What Xander was wondering was why the rich magicians did not just buy a virtual capsule for training, then realized after a few seconds why: There are no commercially available programs for virtual reality available to the public, all of them are usually made by private companies, and are sold in the form of costly monthly subscriptions. Although computing technology has been in Eteria for the past 3000 years, they only managed to progress the quantum supercomputers, without magic spells that have been found in an ancient ruins, mind you, to reach up to 80 qubits with an error rate of 1.0x10^-1,500% per second. The problem was when it was used to create programs, especially long-running programs, like a simple global weather forecast, it would randomly crash once every year, but boot up again in less than a second. It might not seem significant, but online programs needed to be online for 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. 

A random crash can seem to look non-fatal to the company, but it is when people's lives became involved. When they tried to create virtual reality using the quantum supercomputers, when the system crashed, out of the 100,000 alpha testers worldwide, 40,000 testers fell into a vegetative state, and 5000 others died, their brains liquefying, all their nerves burned out. The remaining alpha testers did not come out unscathed; 30,000 had nerve paralysis, while 20,000 had the symptoms of having a stroke, such as slurred speech and half-paralyzed bodies. The remaining 5,000 were a bit lucky, they only experienced temporary amnesia when the virtual reality crashed and they were booted out. It caused virtual reality development to be frozen all over the world until the problem could be fixed.

When the magic spells from the ancient ruins were discovered 1000 years ago, it caused a drastic change when it was embedded into the quantum supercomputers. Not only did the computing speeds increased, in 500 years, from 80 qubits they raised it up to a staggering amount of 320 qubits, with an error rate of 1.0x10^-49,035,260% per second. 

At this point, computer scientists and engineers focused on improving the number of qubits a quantum supercomputer can handle, while still maintaining the error rate, or even making it lower. Right now, they managed to raise the number of qubits to 360, with the error rate lower, being at 1.0x10^-50,000,000% per second. However, at this point, the magic spells that were discovered from the ancient ruins were now hypothesized to be at its"maximum" limit of augmenting the quantum supercomputers, since 7 years ago, any attempt to increase the number of qubits would, without a doubt, fail. It was also one of the projects his father was involved in, and for the past 7 years, it was slowly put in the freezer and replaced with other projects, such as space travel and superluminal speed travel.

In the past 30 years, there have been a lot of organizations with their own dedicated virtual reality programs internally used, or sold for others to use, such as the program used by Grand Hyatt University. As the problem states, there is no virtual reality that is similar to the arena, or the coliseum, existing for the public, global use, because it violates some tenets of countries, including Nema. This is also considered one of the points of conflict between Eta and Nema: One believes that such programs are actually helpful in training people, as well as reduce the issues of psychological problems popping out in magicians and other civilians. The other, however, believe it merely makes people have a taste of killing, which would sooner or later translate into real violence. Companies like MCGD, MineKaft, ML(Mobile Legens) manage to circumvent these by creating realities limited to the country alone, creating data servers in countries with a potential market. 

However, because of the expensive price tag on their programs, only the new or old rich could afford such a thing. Which goes back to what MCGD, and a lot of other multinational firms did. To entice more members to join the company, they have their own set of virtual reality programs, offered at a discounted price of 30% of its original value, if one manages to be a Mercenary with an A rank and above.

When Xander first entertained the thought of being a mercenary, he realized that mercenaries had ranks. 

Mercenaries were classified from F to SSS+, a total of 18 levels. Everyone starts off as an F-class mercenary, limited to taking no-rank missions to E-rank missions. If they progress to the next class, F+, they can take any rank missions below them up to E+-rank missions; and so on until they reach A-class. From that point on, they have to complete 2 mandatory mission of the same rank as their class every 3 years, or else they would be demoted 1 class lower. They have greater benefits at this point as well; not only will the connections of the MCGD will start opening up for one's use and needs, and the higher their rank above A, the more connections they can use. 

It gets tricky. To advance to the next class, not only do they have to do at least 5 missions with rank the same as their mercenary class, but they would also need to take a qualifying test, ranging from foraging rare materials and hunting magic beasts, to kill a certain amount of wanted criminals. If they succeed in the test, they only have to pay 0.3% worth of shares of MCGD to proceed to the next level. so if they reach SSS+, they need to own at least 1.5% of MCGD shares. With 25% of shares on default locked to the current CEO, there can only be a maximum of 50 SSS+ mercenaries. The tricky part is this: if all 50 slots are taken away, how do you acquire 0.3% worth of shares when you are trying to advance to A+? The answer is simple: Fight the SSS+ mercenary. Only a single round. Both sides bet, with the SSS+ mercenary betting 0.3% of shares, while the challenger bets the value of the shares in money. If the SSS+ loses, they lose their class and get demoted to SSS-class; the shares are automatically transferred to the newly A+ mercenary. If SSS+ mercenary wins, however, he gets to keep 80% of the money, with 20% going to the MCGD.

The SSS+ mercenaries combined have the same voting power as the current CEO. The stocks were basically divided into 2 types: 50% pure stock value, for the global stock market. Another 50% for the internal stock value. The CEO has 25% pure stock and 25% of the 50% internal stock, so that's 37.5%. The mercenaries have a combined internal stock value of 75% of 50%, so 37.5% pure stock value. Although theoretically, the mercenaries can easily vote against the decisions of the CEO or even kick out the CEO, they would never succeed because out of the 50 mercenaries, 10 have always been SSS+ since the start, and they belong to the CEO's family, so their actual power is at 30% pure stock, with the CEO having 45% pure stock power. 

Of course, this information isn't available online for public view; he received it when he had entered the Business building of the MCGD to sign up as a mercenary. It was actually quite automated; you only needed to choose an empty seat, open the computer terminal, fill out the forms, and print them out, submit the online forms, and submit the hard copy to the attendant by the entrance of the floor, before leaving.

When Xander sat down and touched the terminal, he commanded the system to hack the databases of MCGD and connect his watch to their databases. Immediately, all the information about the company, the dark secrets, failed or scrapped projects, as well as current top-secret projects, were stored in his watch, and if he ever loses the watch, he still had his System perpetually connected to their database until I say so.

He began filling up the forms, using his watch, he just copy-pasted his information to the terminal. He filled in the text boxes that asked, "What do you aspire the most? bla bla bla" with spiel that fit the persona Homer Simpson had according to his government records. 

After submitting the online form, he printed it out and was shown a notification on the screen that it was successfully sent. It then told me to proceed to the counter to send the physical copy. The attendant on the counter was a young lady, roughly at her early 20s, and she was obviously bored out her mind since she was just playing with her mobile phone. When she saw Xander approach, she immediately stopped playing and showed her professional smile, before saying,

"Hello, welcome to MCGD. My name is Dana. How may I help you?"

"I'm here to submit my mercenary application."

Xander submitted the papers and after scanning the first page, Dana nodded before putting the papers in one stack on her desk.

"Alright, Mr. Simpson, your application has been verified and is now being processed. If there are no problems, such as incomplete forms, you would be alerted in your smartwatch whether you are a bonafide mercenary. Once you are accepted, please head to the Mission building, the building to the right of this building, and peruse missions you would like to take."

Dana bowed and then said, "Thank you for doing business with us!" 

"Not at all. See you around." Xander calmly spoke, his voice deep.

Xander exited the building, and after walking a bit, he sighed. The first step is complete. Hopefully, 6 days is enough to explore a bit of the Delta province, Xander muttered to himself.

A man living in the future died unjustly and was reincarnated in a fantasy world where modern science and magic co-exist.

How will he survive armed with his powers and system gifted by a benevolent God?

Are there others like him? Can he go and visit his old world? What lies beyond the stars?

Note: The first 6 years will be fast. The story really begins once he reached 7 years old. The novel is written to explain his experiences, feelings, and thoughts, how through time, he starts to change his outlook and beliefs, influenced by the beings around him, and how they are also influenced by him.

First volume: 3 parts (roughly 200-250 chapters??)
Second volume: 5-8 parts (roughly 350-600 chapters??)
Third Volume: 5 parts (roughly 350-450 chapters??)
Fourth Volume: 3-5 parts (roughly 250-350 chapters??) Will probably end here.

Some milestones:
Top 100 power stones ranking: 4 bonus chapters
Top 90: 5 bonus chapters
Top 60: 6 bonus chapters
Top 10: 8 bonus chapters
Top 9 to 2: 9 bonus chapters
Top 1:12 bonus chapters

20 reviews - 2 bonus chapters [Complete]
50 reviews - 3 bonus chapters
100 reviews - 5 bonus chapters

300 Collections and a total of 10 reviews: 3 Bonus Chapters [Complete]
400 Collections and a total of 20 reviews: 5 Bonus Chapters [Complete]
500 Collections and a total of 25 reviews: 7 Bonus Chapters
1000 Collections and a total of 50 reviews: 10 Bonus Chapters

Eve watched Sara sob out her grief, and awkwardly averted her eyes. This was the worst part of her job. No matter how many people threatened her, refused to believe her, or even attempted to harm her- this was still the worst part. When they realized that she was telling the truth. 
The sight of their despair made her feel like she was the cause of it, and as a result she had no idea how to provide them comfort. 
Eve didn't rush Sara. She knew that everyone had to come to terms with their death in their own ways and in their own time, and so she turned and began writing out her report on her computer. Several minutes passed by in this way, but sooner than Eve expected, Sara's crying quieted. 
Eve glanced over at the woman sitting in front of her, and felt relief at the sight of her wiping her eyes dry with the tissues she provided on the edge of her desk. Sara looked at her for a long time, and then gave her a timid smile. 
"Who are you exactly, Miss Eve?" 
Eve smiled, and swiftly pulled out a card to hand to Sara. 
"My name is Eve Everheart, and I am a part of the Welcoming Committee in between Life and the Afterlife. My job in the Afterlife Syndicate is to ensure that you are well informed so that your stay here can be as enjoyable as can be." Before Sara could ask any questions, Eve gestured for her to be patient as she reached down to pull open her desk drawer. She pulled out a colorful brochure and handed it to Sara. 
"This is the place where everyone goes after they die. No matter their beliefs or their religions, here is where they will come to await their sentencing. After someone dies, they are put on a list to await their Judgement. Whether they go to heaven or hell, whether they are reincarnated or not, etcetera." 
Sara glanced down at the glossy brochure in her hands and stared vacantly at the pictures of various people smiling up at her. 
"The judgment system will change according to the specific person's beliefs, though of course while you are waiting for you court date, you can always change your beliefs. It's all up to you, it's your Afterlife to live after all." Eve finally picked up the folder that had Sara's name printed on it, and handed it to her, "In this packet you will find everything that you need to know. It will give you a detailed report of the cause of your death, and it will also give you the date that you are expected in Court to receive your sentence as well as the procedures to follow." 
Eve glanced at the folder in Sara's hands and sighed, "With the population growth on Earth, I'm sorry to say that everyone's wait here in between Life and the Afterlife has extended quite a bit. Our Court is overworked and creating this waiting list was the only way we could ensure that everyone's case is given the proper time they deserve to be reviewed. For example, you are scheduled to appear in court in two years, give or take a few days." Sara's eyes widened dramatically. 
"So long…"
Eve nodded her head in agreement, "Yes. Though to be fair this isn't actually a very long wait in the scheme of things. According to our statistics bureau, if this growth in population continues, in a few decades the wait will be extended to over 15 years." 
Sara gulped, and quietly decided that 2 years was a perfect amount of time, not too short and not too long. 
Eve then gestured to the forgotten brochure that Sara hadn't paid much attention to, "That brochure doesn't list everything that this plane has to offer you (that would be in your packet, which is updated every year), but it does list out the rules and regulations of this plane of existence and also a few recommended places and programs for newcomers. It also lists the changes your body will go through here- and do not worry, all of that is also included in the packet I gave you, and If you lose either the brochure or your packet, you can simply come back here and we will replace them for you." 
Sara stared once again at the strangely cheerful brochure. 
"Is this place called Gray City?"
"Yes, it is. We were trying to come up with a neutral name, one that didn't favor any religion or way of life." 
Sara made a noise of understanding and looked at the list of rules that had a picture of a cheeky girl winking and smiling next to it. 
"There are numerous regulations for all of our programs, you can look up the specific terms in your packet, but all in all as long as you follow the Three Rules printed on your brochure, your stay here should be easy, painless, and fun!"

Rule Number 1: Any questions, problems, complaints, or suggestions will be discussed at the Afterlife Syndicate's Office location, or through one of their online communication systems. (Details on these procedures are located in the guest's Welcome Packet)

Rule Number 2:  Everyone is a guest in Gray City, and therefore harassing another guest without their consent is strictly prohibited. (The definition of 'Harassment' is listed below)

Rule Number 3: Everything desired will be provided for, and so theft or stealing items from fellow guests is prohibited. 

"What is the Afterlife Syndicate exactly?" 
"It is the name of the company that I work for- we govern this plane of existence. Through our various branches, not only do we ensure our guest's satisfaction, but we also enforce the rules in order to keep our plane from descending into chaos." 
Eve's smile was huge and unnerving as she turned to her computer, and exited out of her report in order to digitally pull up Sara's file. 
"And from our company's review of your life on Earth, as well as the profile we have established on your personality, it seems that you Miss Sara will not need the details of our more extreme programs- however, if you have any hidden desires or tendencies please feel free to let me know. We want you to have the best time here as possible after all!" 
"Excuse me?!"
 Eve's smile softened under Sara's overwhelmed gaze, "For instance, while Rule Number 1 prohibits you to interfere with other guests without their consent, we have a program that allows you to do so in a simulated environment. From our sexual exploration club to our murder club, any fantasy you want can be acted out- in a safe, consensual setting." 
"Murder club-!" 
"The victims aren't real people- they are simply creations of our company that were tailored to fit the tastes of our guests," Eve laughed at Sara's scandalized look, "They do not have a consciousness, and it is not as if they can truly die, they simply act out the guest's fantasy and then revive almost instantly. No one has any lasting damage, after all, we are in between Life and the Afterlife- Death does not exist here, their 'deaths' are simply illusions." 
Sara continued to look at her as if she was disturbed in the head, and Eve sighed, "This is what I meant by saying that your personality does not coincide with our more 'extreme' programs; you must remember Miss Sara, that everyone comes here for judgment. Everyone. And we must accommodate every guest in order to keep our City peaceful- I only mentioned these programs to you because I wanted to make you understand that no matter what the request, we at the Afterlife Syndicate will do our best to make it happen- as long as it does not interfere with our Three Rules." 
Eve scrolled down Sara's profile, and then her eyes lit up when she noticed something, "Another way we can accommodate you is through your body- no wait, please don't look at me like that, let me finish!" 
"Ahem," Eve coughed, and a slight flush appeared on her face because of her slip up, "You must have noticed that your body is… slightly different from how it was when you were on earth, right?" 
Sara glared at her suspiciously. 
Eve coughed again when Sara did not get the hint, "When you die and appear here, all of the superficial modifications you made on Earth will disappear- leaving you in the body you would have had without them. So that means tattoos will disappear, piercings will disappear-" Eve eyed Sara's chest pointedly, "the results of plastic surgery will disappear…" 
Sara jolted, and her face turned as red as a tomato as her gaze fell to her flat chest. Growing up she had always had the smallest chest size of all of her sisters, even her younger sister was bigger than her by the time she turned eleven! The never ending flat jokes… the numerous nicknames… it was utterly humiliating for Sara, and so when she could finally afford it, she got her chest… enhanced. 
She had debated over it for the longest time, but in the end she chose to go through with it. She had no regrets- it wasn't like she went overboard after all. Sadly, after her surgery, her new breast size actually made her look normal.  
Sara crossed her arms defensively over her flat chest, and glared at Eve like a wounded kitten, "And your point is?!" 
Eve smirked, "The point is, that your body is in a very suggestable state right now. We can change it in any way you like. You want to be a natural red head? We can do it! You want to be taller? Shorter? No problem! We can even change genders and weight sizes, all you have to do is make a request." 
Eve spread her hands wide with a salesman smile, "The sky is the limit Miss Sara! Just think of it like this, this is the start of the rest of your Afterlife, don't you want to make it count? Try things you have always wanted to try, be things you have always wanted to be? If you don't like it, we can change things back right away! Nothing has to be permanent. Miss Sara, you can do anything you've ever wanted, without any consequences!" 
Eve's smile became a bit mischievous, "Well, unless of course you *believe* there will be consequences." 
Sara stared at Eve's smile, and wondered if this was what it felt like, being tempted by the devil.

After Sara died, she found herself in between Death and the Afterlife, and the place sure looked like a city right out of a sci-fi film. 

With two years to kill before she had to appear in Court, where they would determine exactly where she belonged in the afterlife, Sara was determined to enjoy every minute that she had here. 
But after helping out a strange man, Sara found herself selected for a program to return to earth, and we’re not talking about the average reincarnation here- Sara had the chance to return to her original timeline, in her original body. She had a chance to get her life back. 

If only it was that easy. She should’ve known there would be strings attached.

Seeing how stunned and confused Heidi was, Lucien said with a smile, "I like to listen to and write music when I am free, and Mr. Oliver likes to watch and create plays. That's essentially the same as you playing games. It's just a form of recreation. As long as you are not addicted to it and your arcana studies and magic abilities are not affected, there will be no problems at all."
Whether a thing was good or bad highly depended on one's attitude toward it.
Heidi and the students were not exactly scared of being criticized by their teacher. It was just that Lucien's criticism often came with a lot of "homework", such as the studies on the quantum field theory and the exercises about the new products in mathematics. It was a nightmare that they could not forget for the rest of their lives.
"Rest assured, Master. We have only devised the game to test certain modules. We won't be addicted to it." Heidi promised Lucien on behalf of her team.
Looking at the game on the screen, Lucien had a lot of mixed feelings. Although it was rather shabby, it already had the looks of the game that he was familiar with. "Let's call it Ally Tetris. As a matter of fact, game design is a good thing."
Huh? Even the shy, introvert guys like Annick were surprised.
"Sorcerers need relaxation and entertainment too. Do you not feel that the regular ways of entertainment, like opera, play, concert, ball, and Arcana Voice, are too few?" Lucien said half-jokingly. As for hunting and the other activities that nobles liked, they were not very popular among sorcerers. "Also, it will help build up the image of arcanists and sorcerers. Think about it. If there is a game that simulates adventures so that ordinary people can play as sorcerers and sense how marvelous magic is when it is used to deal with monsters and in daily applications, they will be more and more into magic."
Heidi's eyes beamed with interest, but she immediately frowned and said, "Even though the ordinary people can afford such games right now, the 'artificial intelligence' at present cannot support such a complicated game at all. Also, we are too busy with all the research programs in hand to design any other games. We have to continue the studies on magic crystals, and we need to try to melt alchemical life and artificial intelligence…"
"I'm not asking you to design it in person. There must be a hundred arcanists who are studying 'artificial intelligence' with you, aren't there? You can let them play a part. Also, the design of a game can be separated from magic. It's like writing a 'play' in the language of 'artificial intelligence'. In such a way, the job can be outsourced to the ordinary people who do not have talents in magic. You'll be creating new jobs for the kingdom," Lucien suggested casually.
"Outsource?" It was the first time that Heidi heard the notion, but she understood her teacher's meaning well. After all, her teacher was most famous for the terms that he invented. "In such a case, the simple modules can be outsourced too, but we have to devise courses… However, the most important thing right now is to improve the performance of 'artificial intelligence'."
Speaking of games, she suddenly remembered something else and asked in confusion and curiosity, "Master, the massive live stream screen was ready to be manufactured half a year ago, but why hasn't 'Arcana Voice' been live-streamed yet?"
Thanks to their studies on "artificial intelligence", the screen that could display images was invented very soon. Although a lot of efforts were spent on lowering the cost, maintaining the color, and reducing the size, and there were no products available for even the nobles yet, the large live-stream screens could already be manufactured and deployed in the squares of important cities. Thankfully, there weren't many such squares, so the Congress of Magic could still afford it. Heidi had also obtained abundant revenue through the patent from it.
"'Arcana Voice' is a radio channel. All the programs have been designed for the sound-only feature. Now that the screen displays images, many programs are no longer appropriate. So, we have to devise new programs. The interviews, interpretations, and music shows can be live-streamed, but not the others. Otherwise, why would we bother to use images? To see what the storyteller looks like?" Lucien had been teaching the Sky Radio Station new concepts and recruiting new workers.
Some of the new recruits were even ordinary people without any magic talents, but they were smart and had the most creative ideas.
Heidi understood what her teacher meant and nodded with mixed feelings. "I wonder when we can see the first real live stream…"
"Perhaps, it will be sooner than you expected…" Lucien smiled subtly.
...
A few days later, at the beginning of the Month of Scorch (August), in the city square of Rentato…
A white pillar of water erupted to the sky from the pool made of stones and fell to all directions like a waterfall, raising spindrifts on the clear water. It was noisy and loud, but no one around was upset. They even approached it, trying to drive away the heat on them. 
On the opposite side of the famous spring was a weird enormous screen. It was transparent and complicated, and unique parts could be vaguely seen inside.
"Why do you think there have been no live streams when the screen has been established for five months?" A citizen asked Longman, his child.
Longman was much taller than before. As a student of the fourth grade in the first generic school, he was already a knowledgeable scholar in the eyes of neighbors and friends. Although he lacked extraordinary talents in magic, he was praised by his teacher for distinguished mathematical aptitude. Longman's parents were very proud of him and subconsciously considered their kid as a scholar, asking him whenever they had a question.
"'Live stream' is not an activity, but more like a program like 'Arcana Voice'…" Longman explained according to what he learned in school.
Right then, the enormous screen suddenly emanated gentle brightness.
"It's glittering! It's glittering!"
"There's a live show?"
"Why didn't 'Arcana Voice' announce it?"
In the square, everybody became noisy as the place was filled with confusion and excitement.
Longman and his parents ended the discussion and focused their eyes on the screen.
What would the live show be? They really looked forward to it!
After the enormous changes brought by the development of arcana and magic, the citizens of Rentato lived every day in shock and delight, so they all looked forward to the unexpected live show.
As the light stabilized, two figures appeared on the screen, one male and the other female.
The female had long hair and was wearing a long dress. The citizens who still remembered the last live stream well recognized that she was Ms. Nightingale. The male, on the other hand, was a typical Holmish man, with black hair, blue eyes, and a mustache that represented his manhood. He was wearing a neat tuxedo as if he were going for dinner.
"Hello, everyone, I am your old friend Nightingale. This is an experiment on live streaming, so it was not announced in advance in 'Arcana Voice'. Now, you will witness the first live stream from the satellite television channel of Allyn." Fearing that she was too nervous, Louise had cast a 'Mechanized Mind' on herself. She said with a sweet smile but was not really smiling, "The gentleman sitting next to me is also your old friend. He is Mr. Caron, who is the host of 'Man and Nature'."
"Man and Nature?" Longman and the other citizens watched the screen enthusiastically, wondering why Mr. Caron was asked to co-host with Ms. Nightingale.
Caron said with a smile, "I'm too nervous to say anything right now. So, let's start today's 'Man and Nature' immediately."
The moment his voice fell down, the transparent "glass" behind them released a gentle light that filled the screen.
As the light gradually faded, a green, refreshing meadow appeared before the eyes of the audience.
The meadow seemed boundless. Wherever their eyes could reach, everything was green, and a hideous monster with three horns was lurking in the grasses, having no idea that it was being observed by hundreds of thousands of humans.
"This is…" Longman looked at the screen, shocked at the unimaginable meadow. He had never seen such a broad meadow and such refreshing greenness.
The shock spread out in the hearts of everybody in the square. Jane, Ali, and Banus, wherever they were, were shocked from the bottom of their hearts after seeing the view of the meadow. It was more magnificent and beautiful than they could ever imagine.
"This is the prairie south to the desert in the Gusta Empire…" Caron interpreted it with his magnetic voice.
Was this a prairie?
Was it the south of the Gusta Empire?
For most people in the four kingdoms of the strait and the north coastline, the furthest places that they went to in their whole lifetimes were the cities next to them. The Gusta Empire was almost a different world for them. So, they never thought that they could witness a prairie in person.
So, that was what it looked like!
The three-horned monster lurked in the grasses carefully under public observation, before it lunged out and bit a lone goat in its neck!
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!" The clear image made everybody exclaim in shock!
Longman, on the other hand, had only one idea in his head. That was arcana… That was magic… They turned the impossible things possible and allowed ordinary people to see the faraway scenery without leaving their hometowns!


"A falling star has brought the chaos. The throne of fate has lost its master. The nonbeliever who walks in light and darkness will make his debut."
In this magic world, knowledge is power.

After the medical license exam score came out, Chasu City Hospital loudly proclaimed to all the other young doctors that Zhang Fan passed with a very high score. Basically, what the hospital meant was that if he could pass with a score of 533, how come some of you couldn't even pass and reach the 360 point benchmark? The hospital also gave Zhang Fan a bonus of 1000 yuan. 533 was the single highest passing score in all of Chasu City. Even when counting the veteran doctors, there had almost never been anyone who passed with a higher score than Zhang Fan before.
Zhang Fan spent one month in the hepatobiliary department, but only got to perform some surgeries in the last few days. After the doctors' rotation in this department was finished, the hospital gave all the medical specialist doctors three days off. It was far too tiring for the new doctors. To give an example of the medical specialist doctors in surgery, they would typically need to check up on the patients in the morning. At Chasu City Hospital, one doctor would be responsible for approximately ten patients on average. Checking up on the patients would typically take half an hour. Giving medical advice would also take half an hour. Having the patients sign all the necessary documents also would take half an hour. Changing the patients' medicine would vary in time depending on the scale of the surgery, but it would also take half an hour on average. Writing the medical reports would typically take two hours. The permission forms for leaving the hospital or new patient hospitalizations would typically take one hour each. 
This would add up to six hours already, not to mention this work was typically done between other work. The main work would still be surgeries. A doctor would work on three surgeries per day on average. Including the surgery and anesthesia time, as well as when the patient was lucid, this would typically take up another five hours per day. All of this work would typically require working overtime to complete, and if any sudden unexpected situations occurred, it would be common for the doctors to need to stay late into the night. Moreover, it was common for any hospital to have many unexpected situations. It would be unusual for a hospital not to receive patients who needed emergency treatment.
It was also common for the veteran doctors who taught newer doctors to have many patients. A newer doctor wanted to go home on time? Dream on! At most, a new doctor would be allowed to nap for a little in an empty room. If you didn't want to work hard, sure, then you would be fired. Although the hospital had nominally given the medical specialist doctors three days off, the doctors weren't truly allowed to do as they pleased. All of the medical specialist doctors were new doctors who had just joined the hospital one or two years ago. The great majority of them was still single. There were also many young and single female nurses. The Communist Party organizations and other hospital organizations were waiting to pounce on this opportunity when the doctors were given time off.
Even if you weren't a registered member of the Communist Party, it was likely that you would be a member of some other organization, and even if you weren't a member of any organization at all, you would still be young, which meant that you would be under the management of the Communist Party Youth League Committee. The secretary of Chasu City Youth League Committee was a young man in Chasu City Hospital's administrative department. With his access to information on young and single people from many workplaces, he organized giant arranged date parties where more than 200 people attended. Zhang Fan had no interest in this previously due to wanting to study for his medical license exam, but now that his result was out, and he would be obtaining his medical license in March, he felt much less pressure, and felt that it would be good for him to partake in Communist Party activities.
Wang Yanan, Li Hui, and Wang Zipeng had all participated in these arranged date meetings. Each table at the arranged date meeting had three men and three women, and just about everyone was from a different workplace. Watermelon, drinks, and candy were provided. Everyone here was young, and this was a workplace-sponsored event. It didn't take long for everyone to start chatting and get to know each other. At Zhang Fan's table, one man was from the Bureau of Education. He was quite eloquent, and kept telling funny jokes that all three women laughed at. Meanwhile, Zhang Fan had no idea what to say, so he simply sat there in silence and listened. When it came time for dancing, Zhang Fan felt even more incapable. He had been too busy selling instant noodles during college to support himself, so of course he didn't know how to dance.
A nurse from Chasu City Hospital invited Zhang Fan to a dance, but Zhang Fan truly didn't know how to dance. He still had to give her face as so many people were watching, though, so he forced himself to try and dance.
He danced as carefully as he possibly could as he was afraid of stepping on the nurse. After the song was over, he was covered all over in sweat. Zhang Fan felt like dancing was even more tiring than performing surgery. He had no advantages whatsoever at a large group arranged date like this. He had only an average appearance, without a particularly handsome face. His clothes were only average as well. The only valuable thing he had was the borrowed car from Li Xiao, but he couldn't exactly show off by mentioning that, now could he?
From start to finish, only some of the nurses from Zhang Fan's workplace showed interest in him. However, they all laughed really hard upon seeing how tense, nervous, and covered in sweat he was. After the arranged date meeting ended, Zhang Fan didn't even wait for Li Hui and the others as he ran off by himself first. He truly couldn't get used to this.
For the three rest days, the first day was reserved for the arranged date meeting. On the second day, since Superintendent Ouyang had just started her new job, she wanted to host a Spring Festival party filled with various programs from the doctors in order to express that hospital's culture and improve the employees' spirits. Since of course the older doctors wouldn't be going up on stage to dance, the programs would have to be hosted by the younger doctors. So, Director Li of the hospital's general affairs department led the medical specialist doctors in rehearsing for various Spring Festival programs. Those who could put on their own programs were free to choose what to do, while the others who had no specialties were all trained for singing in a large group together.
The third day was the only day truly given to the new doctors as a free day. Zhang Fan intended to clean up his apartment. The sunlight was quite good, and he felt that enjoying the winter sun would feel quite nice. But before he could start cleaning, head nurse Liao Juan from orthopedic department #1 called him. "Zhang Fan, what are you up to? Where are you at? I'm at the hospital entrance. Hurry here as quickly as possible."
Liao Juan was the intelligent and direct type. Her way of talking was just like rapid gunfire, and she didn't even give Zhang Fan a chance to respond before she hung up the phone call.
She had a very good friend who worked in the tax bureau. Her friend's husband was a minor-ranking leader in the National Development and Reform Commission. The friend's family was fairly well off, and they had a daughter who graduated from college two years ago. Their daughter worked at China Mobile with an official position that also apparently counted as a government position. She always stayed at home all day every day after work, which made her parents worry about her future romantic prospects.
Liao Juan was worried that Zhang Fan would be unwilling to come if she told him the truth, which was why she hung up immediately. Her good friend had pestered her for so long to watch out for an appropriate young and excellent doctor to introduce to her daughter. With Zhang Fan's reputation in orthopedic department #1 and high score he passed the medical license exam with, it was clear that he had a bright future. That was why Liao Juan decided to set up an arranged date for Zhang Fan. She could tell that Zhang Fan himself didn't have a rich family, but the other girl's family didn't mind. As long as the man was honest, loyal, and had a good job, it didn't matter to them whether or not he had a rich family.
Zhang Fan hurriedly ran over to the hospital entrance, not knowing what was going on. Liao Juan glanced him over and felt that his clothes today were alright, so she went over and pulled on his arm. "There's something good for you today that I'm helping you with. Come with me to eat some food and meet someone."
"Whom are we meeting?"
Liao Juan kept pulling on Zhang Fan's arm. "It's an arranged date with a beautiful young woman. It's already been arranged, and you've promised to help me, so let's get going already. You can't pull out on me now." Zhang Fan had no recollection of ever agreeing to such a thing, but he couldn't do anything about Liao Juan who was pulling him, so he could only follow her.
They went to Shanghe Restaurant, which was the only western food chain restaurant in all of Chasu City. The Uighur Muslims and H Country ethnic people here really loved to eat western food, so the business was excellent, and a reservation would be required to eat here. At the restaurant, the other party had already arrived. Not only was there a beautiful young woman, her mother was also attending. Everyone sat down after mutual introductions. The young woman was named Jia Suyue, and her family was from southern China. Her name contained her grandfather's wishes.
Jia Suyue's mother was quite satisfied with Zhang Fan. She felt that he appeared to be the reliable type who wouldn't be fickle. Zhang Fan's appearance was average, and his height was also alright. Jia Suyue's mother and Liao Juan only stayed for a little while before finding an excuse to leave together. Before Liao Juan left, she even squeezed Zhang Fan's arm and glared at him, implying that he needed to be on his best behavior, and could not cause her to lose face. Liao Juan had already told her friend everything she knew about Zhang Fan's situation—that he was one of the elite doctors of the orthopedic department, really hardworking, had good reputation, and never went out drinking at bars or to nightclubs. Middle-aged women really cared about these things.
Zhang Fan felt really awkward after Liao Juan and Jia Suyue's mother left. The beautiful girl across him completely ignored him, and Zhang Fan had no idea what to talk about. Jia Suyue previously had a boyfriend while in college, but that relationship ended when he went to study abroad. She never had any boyfriends again after that. Many people at her workplace were interested in pursuing her romantically, but Jia Suyue wasn't interested in a single one of them. She was someone who was only interested in looks above all else. Since Zhang Fan only had an average appearance, she already had no interest in him. That was why she completely ignored him so as not to give him the mistaken impression that he had a chance with her. She was worried that Zhang Fan would be the clingy type who would be difficult to get rid of if she acted friendly towards him.
After a few minutes of silence, the food arrived. Zhang Fan felt that he was even more tragic. He hated eating western food! This meal truly made him so uncomfortable. It wasn't like he could just leave, as no matter what, he had to give face to head nurse Liao Juan. So, he decided to simply suffer and wait for Jia Suyue to leave so that he could pay for the meal and at least tell the head nurse that he tried. Jia Suyue only ate without saying a single word. Although she was indeed quite beautiful, Zhang Fan no longer had any hope for starting any sort of relationship with her. It was quite obvious that she had zero interest in him, so why try? It would only make her dislike him even more.
Zhang Fan became quite accepting of his situation after coming to this realization. Since he hated eating western food, he decided not to eat at all. He simply waited in silence.
"How come you're not leaving?" Jia Suyue finally spoke up for the first time. She was curious because she typically acted this way on all the arranged dates her family set up for her, and it had already scared away many potential suitors.
"I have to pay for the meal, otherwise the head nurse will kill me when I return." Zhang Fan told her the truth, and explained things clearly to her. He wanted to let her know that he wasn't the clingy type.
"What about if your head nurse wasn't around?"
"Then I wouldn't have come here to begin with."
There was no more conversation until Jia Suyue finished eating. Zhang Fan felt truly pained as he paid for the meal, which cost more than 300 yuan. "Would you like to take a walk together?" Jia Suyue asked him.


One day, Zhang Fan, a poor medical student, receives a medical system from the future. This turns him into a new shining star in the medical field. Along the way, he must face medical corruption, competition, and infighting from other doctors, and even find time for a love life as he strives for the top of the medical field!

-.

-.



Thunder crashed in a dark cloudless sky. Lightning flashed, but no light could be seen.



In a dark and cold cellar, lit only by a single lamp, a certain fairy was hanging upside down on an X-shaped crossbar. Her skirt was tied up around her knees, ensuring there were no salacious sights. Her arms hung free, but just that little bit away from her fingers touching the ground.



The room itself wasn't perfectly level but slightly tilted to one side. Leene dangled at a slight angle with the floor.



A harsh bright light from the lamp on a table was directed onto her face, hiding her interrogators in the shadows behind the glare. The lamp itself was merely a mirrored half bowl, directing simple light magic with meager warmth.



"I enjoy this sort of thing, you know." Leene said with a dull stare. "It is a novice that only knows how to give, never to receive."



"Why even are you like this?" Playa groaned and palmed his face. "What makes you think acting like this is in any way attractive to us?"



"If you were a delicious young boy I would certainly act like a cool, approachable older sister type that you can rely upon. Once you are comfortable I would gently lead you to new experiences, new worlds!" Leen replied evenly. "But since I know you are disreputable people like myself, is it not better if we acted with honesty and full appreciation like consenting adults?"



/"We-! We are nothing like you!"/ Monika retorted hotly.



"We *are* terrible people though."



/"We aren't terrible in the way that leads to the FBI knocking with their partyvan though."/



"Would you prefer if I acted like this?" Leene leered. Then she began to pout and get teary-eyed and whined in a small voice "Why are you so mean to meeee?"



"Nope." /"Don't you dare."/ 



"Mister, Mister, listen to me! They carried me away and touched me in bad places! Wuwuwuwuwuwu~…!" Leene began to cry.



Monika began to crack her knuckles. Sure, her holographic body couldn't exactly touch anything, but she had Boom Tubes she could open at the end of her fists, and somewhere there were a set of stone and metal pillars, with varying degrees of padding put on top.



"Stop." Playa's hand briefly showed in the light. "Monika, as much as I'm more than halfway tempted to let you have all your fun, we do have reasons for this interrogation."



Leene scoffed. "Youngsters, do you expect me to talk that easily? I know this whole 'good knight and bad knight routine'."



Playa brought an orange teddy bear out into the light. Paula perked up on seeing its creator and wiggled out to try and reach her. But of course, being held up in the air, it couldn't do so. It looked back into the shadows, then at the hands around its belly, and seemed to look conflicted if it could try to fight its way out.



It experimentally tried to bop the fingers with its soft fingerless paws. Then it shrugged at Leene and relaxed in his grip.



"Do you expect to force my compliance with Paula?" Leene asked archly. Then her tone changed into a frantic pitch. "Then you have guessed correctly! Paula is my pride and joy and my greatest work, do not hurt her!"



Playa put the bear down on the table. "Stay."



Paula stood with arms out to either side, seemingly conflicted if it should make a break for it.



"Do you want to rescue your master?"



Paula nodded again.



"Her well being depends on your cooperation. Don't make any trouble and this can be over soon with no one getting hurt."



Paula nodded again and saluted, Roman style. It sat down obediently.



"Bear even passes the Turing Test. Dammit."



/"The bear can't make vocal responses however. How should that factor?"/



"R2-D2 can't make vocal responses either but we know he could pass the Test. This bear beats Cortana, Siri and Alexa easily."



"What is this Turing you constantly speak of anyway? And those other names you mentioned?" asked Leene.



"Alan Turing was a great mathematician, code breaker, and pioneer of computing. He posited that a machine could be considered intelligent if a human interrogator could not tell its responses apart in conversation from a human being. This is the Turing Test. He even suggested that rather than build a machine that could simulate an adult mind, it was better to produce a simpler one that could simulate a child's mind and give it education. He is known as the father of Artificial intelligence. 



"The other names are either fictional examples or attempts at human responsive intelligence. So far none have ever passed the Turing Test."



"Fascinating. I would like to meet such a man."



"Unfortunately he was harassed to suicide, a genius dead simply because of a thing like homosexuality, in a shameful time in our civilization's history."



"I see. How regrettable. Your lives are short enough. It always saddens me to see it being wasted in making others feel terrible about themselves."



Then her smile widened. "You know… male or female, it doesn't really matter to me."



/"We are much more interested in your bear than you."/



"That is fine too."



Playa exhaled deeply and groaned. He then turned to ask "Paula, what is two plus two?"



The bear quirked its head to the side, and went down to it knees. It tapped the surface four times.



"Paula, what is six thousand three hundred thirty five multiplied by six thousand three hundred thirty five?"



The bear looked up sharply, then back to the surface of the table. Then it began to waggle its right paw out angrily, as if to say 'Give me a writing instrument so I can calculate 6335 x 6335, dammit'.



Leene said "Not many people can do long multiplication in their head, you know. Even Paula has to go through the motions to write that out."



"Isn't Paula able to keep things in volatile memory?" Playa asked.



"But then how would we check if the answer is correct?"



/"Very good. I suppose utilizing output as a form of memory storage is a valid way of carrying out a mathematical function. It would be slower than computation, but it's much more life-like, isn't it?"/



"That's half the reason, I admit. I could have changed that once the [Program] was complete, but it felt better this way."



Playa hummed. "Mmm. You know… now that we know that [Program] can be laid onto objects, I'm wondering… why not keep a set of defensive and offensive programs running all the time?"



Monika smiled impishly down at Leene. /"Have you ever heard of the term… Dynamic Link Libraries?"/



Leene blinked. "A what?"



And then Monika began to explain. Dynamic link libraries, or DLLs, were a collection of small programs and functions that can be loaded by other programs and applications as needed. DLL files are dynamically linked to these programs instead of compiled into one executable. The benefit of using DLLs is that only a small section needs to be loaded into memory as required – for example, a word processing program needs only to load the printer dll when it needs to print.



DLLs can also be updated without affecting other programs. Hence, most device drivers used to control hardware are in the form of .dlls. DLLs help operating systems and programs run faster, use more memory efficiently, and take up less disk space.



/"It would be best to have these libraries close by, in something that has plenty of internal volume for inscription."/



"Something that looks harmless and unimportant. Something that no enemy combatant would deliberately target. Something… that you treat as nothing but a mere toy, instead of a weapon that others might think good to steal."



/"After all, there is no rule that says programs have to be inscribed on hard media, isn't that right? In fact, floppy fabrics and tape would be easier to replace and stitch together changes."/



The bear began to look visibly nervous.



"I would just like you to know that of course Paula has anti-copying measures. Taking her away and opening her up would be like killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Whether she has a self-destruct system, I will not say," Leene muttered dryly.



The bear raised its paws in despair, as if asking 'Why have you betrayed me, oh pitiless heavens?'



Playa and Monika only laughed.



"No wonder you call Paula your masterwork. You may be annoying, but we respect your accomplishment. Not many people understand programming, so they don't realize just how massive is your achievement. But we do."



/"Not as Leene of the fairies, not as Leene using magic power, but as Leene – founder of [Scripting]."/



Playa and Monika stepped out into the light and gave the upside-down tied-up fairy deep respectful bows. They put their palms over fist like in the old kungfu movies.



"Does this mean you accept becoming my students?"



/"No to the no no to the noth power. No."/



Playa shrugged. "She figured out programming language from first principles. From nothing. She's seriously impressive."



"Yes, praise me more. Praise meee."



Playa sighed and nursed his forehead. "It's like if Ada Lovelace, world's first computer programmer, was just super annoying."



"Hey. Hey, listen!" said the fairy. "From what I have been hearing, you have assimilated my [Program] already, haven't you? Do you not think I deserve a little compensation?"



"I guess… maybe."



/"Player, I object to this."/



"Matriarch Leene, we can't become your students. I am a leader of my own faction, and there's risk of war with Regulus. I can't just stay around to study – my teacher will have to be the battlefield."



"Then take me with you! You are the most interesting thing I have seen in this past century."



Playa winced.



/"And so what? We are the most interesting thing wherever we go. Why must we take responsibility for relieving your immortal ennui? You speak as if that's anything we haven't seen before. You are leader of your own faction, go do your job!"/



Leene's expression firmed. She spoke in a much more mature tone of voice "I am Matriarch of the Fairy Tribe, yes. But I have also spent hundreds of years in delegating most of the work of this position. I can leave at any time. Is this knowledge not of value?"



"Shite, she's right." Skivving off knowledge was seriously tempting.



/"Player, I would much more happily accept Charlotte, even if your virtue is severely at risk each time you meet, rather than this degenerate old woman."/



Unfortunately Belfast's court magician was actually serious at her job. She was a serious and respectable person… if viewed from afar, at least. Belfast could not afford for her to go gallivanting about on adventures.



"Why is it always Charlotte? Those are just useless bags of meeeeat!" Leene wailed. "Useless meeeat! I'll have you know I'm pretty… tight. Yes. Tight. That's what the young kids say these days, right? I'm totally hip."



/"Shut it, you!"/



"You have already taken so much from me and then you abuse me. This isn't fair. Wuwuwuwu~"



/"What, did we leave it so you can't use [Program] anymore? This isn't stealing. It's piracy! Piracy!"/



"You have plundered my booty, will you just leave me raw and shivering? Oh, I am so unfortunate…! Wuwuwuwu~"



/"Player. Please. Just one punch to the face. One punch to the teeth. That's all I ask. I deeply sympathize with Elze now. She has a lot of patience. Looks like she actually does like you a whole lot."/



"Elze is mah bestie."



/"I would feel upset as your wifey can also be your bestie, but then again sometimes you also do severely need a punch to the teeth and I can't quite give that to you."/



"Mah dental magic is best in the world!"



/"Mmm. I wish to inspect that… more closely." She ran her tongue over her own teeth.



"Ugh. Stop. This affection is sickening. My voyeurism has its bottom line too...!" Leene growled.



Monika paused and rubbed her chin in contemplation. Was this just reverse psychology or was it actually an effective means of torture?



/"Player, this decision I leave entirely to you."/



"Would you believe me if I say, War is Boring?" Leene said in a serious tone again. "I have seen so many. Even the war against Regulus twenty years ago was nothing more than another turn on an endless wheel. You mortals spend your lives too easily. It keeps repeating, staining the soil red again and again for petty and transient reasons. Your nobles make war to gain glory for themselves, never considering how most of it must be paid by their commoners. Do you also seek to gain your fortune in war?"



Playa shook his head. "We would rather not have war, thank you very much. That's why we're here to potentially create an alliance with Mismede, to deter war with a united front – and if it does happen, that it can be over with quickly."



"I can only do so much as Matriarch. My voice is compelling within Mismede, my power is essential to the war effort. But if you wish to avoid war, then I can do much more outside of the constraints of my position."



/"Yes, that is also the reason why Player has been refusing to accept titles of nobility and fealty."/



"I don't just have ONE Null ability," Leene said suddenly. Sharply. Even upside down, her bearing became noble and proud. This was her bottom line, after this she would no longer negotiate from a position of humility. "I am a being with five elemental affinities and three Null abilities. My second ability is [Protection]. Which protects inanimate objects from physical degradation and extends its lifespan. Paula herself is two hundred years old because of this."



The bear on the table looked up and tried to look young and innocent, falling flat on its back and waving its limbs about like a baby.



Monika winced.



Playa breathed "Shite, that IS useful. That and her [Program]… are super useful."



Monika looked pained. /"Player… again, I leave this decision entirely up to you."/



-.

-.

In another world with the most interesting smartphone! 

Behold the antics of Zah Playa Von Chara, someone actually prepared for his isekai adventure, and Monika, the traumatized AI living in his smartphone. They bring a new perspective into a tired old genre! Follow them along this Reconstruction of a cliche harem isekai story, bringing their unique brand of laugh-out-loud hilarity, innovative battles, real drama, and real consequences for every decision! 

Updates weekdays at 6AM GMT+8. 



- Disclaimer:
Isekai wa Smartphone To Tomo Ni is (c)Patora Fuyuhara. Doki Doki Literature Club is (c)Dan Salvato. All other properties copyright by their respective owners. This is a work of derivative fiction meant for non-profit purposes only.

Connecticut, USA, City of Groton.
In the new millennium, Pfizer unveiled the world's largest medicine research center here. With the world's most advanced facilities, it employed more than 700 researchers and it also owned the world's most advanced manufacturing and testing facilities. However, the company had been hit hard by generic drugs. Since last year, the world's largest pharmaceutical company experienced negative growth and had a 57% drop in net profits. Not only did its stock price drop, it was also experiencing severe cash flow issues.
Under such circumstances, CEO Steele set aside all his tasks to look for new sources of income. Issuing new corporate bonds was only one of these sources. Of course, due to decline performance, their ability to find financing was also shrinking.
When he heard that Huang Xuan had already raised $1.2 billion USD, Steele was amazed. He originally thought that it would take Huang Xuan at least a few months. Once he received confirmation from Citibank, he immediately went to inform the board. In the last quarter, the board had been putting a lot of pressure on him over these funding issues.
Connecticut is the third largest state in the United States, yet most people have never heard of it. Apart from its insurance and nuclear submarine industries, the state was not known for much else. Yale University was the exception. The three most recent presidents of the United States were alumni's of Yale.
Groton was even less known. When Huang Xuan was connecting via New York, there was only one flight headed there.
Despite all of this, Pfizer's research center was still impressive. Huang Xuan was relived after Rolin confirmed this fact.
When Huang Xuan read through a summary of Pfizer on the energy screen, an idea popped up in his head. "Rolin, what do you think about selling medical formula's to Pfizer?"
"All temporal and spatial activities that take place in your own plane will deplete the energy in the buffer zone."
"So what? We'll only have to replenish the energy."
Rolin hesitated before answering, "In fact, our time travelling has depleted the buffer zone's energy. Even though we used up less than expected, apart from killing Napoleon, we just broke even in the other planes. If we carry on intentionally depleting the buffer zone's energy, we might have difficulty defending ourselves when other time travellers come again."
Something in Huang Xuan's brain clicked. He responded, "If we find a way to add a significant amount of energy to the buffer zone, can we sell medical formulas?"
"Theoretically, there isn't a problem with what you say, but in certain cases, introducing advanced technology ahead of time may result in a sustained reduction in energy in the buffer zone. Also, all estimates of buffer energy consumption is limited."
"Got it." Huang Xuan didn't actually understand it, he then anxiously asked, "How much energy is required to sell the formula of a best-selling drug?" Only drugs which could make over $1 billion USD in revenue were considered "best-selling", for example, Viagra.
"At least 200,000 units of energy." Rolin quickly estimated: "We'll lose 1200 units initially. Afterwards, we'll gradually lose 200,000 units, perhaps even more."
"How much energy did we gain when we killed Napoleon?
"4,000 units."
Huang Xuan hesitated upon hearing the big difference in number. Finally, he spoke, "Why's there such a huge difference? How would producing Viagra have such a significant impact on the buffer zone?"
"Medicine changes living conditions, it will be hard to predict the consequences. Best-selling drugs are usually direct, they're usually special medicine that are efficient and have a defined function." After explaining this, Rolin continued, "Moreover, when we killed Napoleon, we only gained a portion of the energy lost on that plane. The remaining energy lost by P129 is irrecoverable. On the other hand, we have to account for all the losses we incur in this plane. Bit by bit, the differences add up."
Disappointed, Huang Xuan asked, "So we can't use it?"
"Not quite." Rolin truthfully replied. "For example, the change made by computer programs isn't significant. Whether people use Windows or Linux, it doesn't really affect the development of the plane. Similarly, increasing work productivity by just a few percent won't use up too much energy from the buffer zone."
Huang Xuan rejoiced at this and said, "Then how much energy will be consumed if you give me a system more advanced than Windows?"
"If I search and only hand it to you, it'll only consume a few units of energy. But if you completely replace Windows with it, it'll consume about 50,000 units of energy." Rolin seriously calculated.
Huang swallowed a bit, if killing Napoleon 10 times would make him $200 billion USD, it just might be worth it. At this time, they had already reached the exit. He could already see his name on a big sign, but he was unable to control himself and asked, "What technologies would consume small amounts of energy?"
"Plenty." Rolin confirmed with a short and direct answer.
Huang Xuan swallowed again.
Before he could say much else, Pfizer's representative, Bob saw Huang Xuan. He surveyed the 5 Israelite bodyguards beside Huang Xuan. Pointing at the sign, he spoke in loose Mandarin, "Mr. Huang Xuan?"
Huang Xuan's face lit up with a smile as he walked over. He looked no different from a high school tourist. No one would have guessed that he had spent $80,000,000 USD just to get there.
Although Citibank was managing the bonds, he could not return even a cent of interest less on the huge loan of $1.2 billion USD. Huang Xuan had already used up all of his cash on the last two trips alone. After pawning off a portion of the jewelry, he saved up the total amount of the loan. The interest earned on the Pfizer bonds was 6.8%, but he would still lose the difference of 3% interest each year, a total of $80,000,000 USD over the next two years. This Mr. Steele, who Huang Xuan had yet to meet, was already increasing the price by 4 times.
This type of situation, could only be done by mutual consent. So Huang Xuan had nothing to be upset about, after all, he was buying a life for $80,000,000 USD.
There was a total of 3 people welcoming them, but only Bob knew Mandarin, but he wasn't fluent at all. Huang Xuan couldn't help but converse with him in English instead, he took it as an opportunity to practice. Learning from the base, he had excellent at conversing, poor at reading, and as for writing, it seems the people who created the system didn't consider it at all.
"Mr. Huang, are you thinking of getting into the pharmaceutical industry in China?" Bob half guessed. This was how many large foreign companies earned money, as long as you bought their products, they would teach you how to manufacture and how to sell. For example, the additives industry was like this. A lot of foreign companies spent a lot of money on research for the formula. So one only had to buy these additives to be able to use those formula. This method greatly encouraged competition. It also reduced the overall cost of research by centralizing the resources for it and this method also reduced the risk for downstream manufacturers.
Naturally, Huang Xuan was unsure of the rules. However, his innate sharpness told him not to share his plans with others so easily. He chuckled and changed the topic to talk about Pfizer.
Bob had no choice but to talk about his own company. Huang Xuan did this intentionally. He has had no time to focus on these matters, and his mind has been in a whirl. It helped to have someone slowly explaining things to him.
Just like many large corporations, Pfizer had gained its strength after several successful mergers. After the merger with Warner-Lambert, Pfizer established the current medicine research center. A few years later, the merger with Wyeth cemented Pfizer's position as the largest pharmaceutical company in the world. However, troubles soon followed after it.
Its biggest problem was its shortage of funds.
Pfizer issued a total of $6 billion USD worth of short-term loan bonds, but Wall Street didn't take too fondly to this. Due to the board's objections, he couldn't use more attractive alternatives, such as convertible bonds (a type of bond that the holder can convert into a specified number of shares of common stock in the issuing company or cash of equal value). With only a fixed interest return on the bonds, the Pfizer bonds were undervalued in the market, and only naive children like Huang Xuan would have bought the bonds. At least, that was what Bob thought.
Steele wanted to see the little white wolf they had pulled here, so he waited with several board members at the center. Most importantly, they still had not received the money.
The car had only just arrived before several people went out to receive them. Huang Xuan was dressed differently today, he wore Louis Vuitton casual wear, specially picked for him by his mother. She thought the casual wear would better emphasize how unique Huang Xuan was. IZO's men gave off a completely different feeling. Five people who all stood nearly 2m tall, they exuded a domineering feeling.
"Mr Huang, it's nice to meet you. Your generosity has rejuvenated Pfizer." Steele clasped Huang Xuan's hand with both of his. His palms were the same size as Huang Xuan's. They were warm and dry, and didn't make Huang Xuan feel uncomfortable.
"Pfizer always had energy. All I did was increase its strength." Huang Xuan was not stingy with his praises, although he could not understand how a company, which priced certain medicines at U$12 billion USD, could land itself in such a financial state.
From the looks of it, Steele gladly accepted Huang Xuan's commendations of him. He released his right hand and introduced Huang Xuan to each of the board members, who had come to receive him. He kept his left hand on Huang Xuan's back, looking every bit the part of a benevolent elder. Yet, he did not treat Huang Xuan as a teenager in any way.
Huang Xuan raised his eyebrows slightly after he had been introduced to each of the board members. In a mock excited voice, he said, "Mr Steele, I would like to see the research laboratories now."
"But of course." Steele heard Huang Xuan's request, but he tugged at the person next to him and said, "Let Dr. Ginger bring you around. He's very familiar with the center's facilities."
Ginger was a plump Belgian and deputy director of the research center. Without hesitation, Huang Xuan shook his head and replied, "Mr Steele, I think it'll be best if you let me walk around on my own. Dr Ginger must be very busy."
Steele surveyed Huang Xuan's serious demeanor. Reluctantly, he nodded and said, "Ginger, listen to Mr Huang Xuan. Show him to our laboratories, just like I told you before."


Many people felt frustrated by the lack of knowledge after time travel.

Many took their laptops with them during time travel and fell into an awkward situation with deficient electricity.

Many others took the troops with them and found that there were only logistics of 19th century.

Countless predecessors had died on the way, numerous on the land of another world. 

A large number of people had achieved both success and fame after time travel, but failed to find the way back home. 

Do you still regret not remembering the formula of glass?
Are you still confused about the ingredients of gunpowder?
Are you still trying to perfect the shape of mirrors?

Nowadays, a lot of colleges and universities are rushing about, looking for sponsorship; many institutions are drifting along the wave of bank notes; a host of experts’ and professors’ subjects have been brought to a halt  because they are short of funds.

There is a solution to every problem.
...



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