A week passed like this in my life. It was Sunday. I woke up early, anticipation buzzing under my skin like static. The sun was still not sunning but I was already lacing up my shoes, ready for my morning run. Running had become my meditation, my way to clear my head and think about my life.
I could feel how much my running skill had improved—my form was smooth, my breathing steady, my pace efficient. I was not faster as that depends on stats but you can say my running skill helped me use my stats very efficiently.
As I rounded the corner by the park, I let my mind wander back over the week. So much had happened it barely felt real. My relationship with Alex was going better than I could have hoped. We hadn't made it "official" yet because I wanted to ask her to be my girlfriend in a way that felt special, not just blurt it out in the hallway between classes and Alex was too shy to ask me to be her boyfriend but I know I had to do it before Alex and her mother gets the wrong idea.
But honestly, we were already acting like a couple. At school, we were practically glued together. Our friends noticed, of course. Josh kept giving me that look, like "dude, when did you get the game?" Even Leonard, who was usually oblivious to everything, had started teasing me about being "a normie".
Debbie started acting distant, she still ate with us and hung out but didn't talk much when Alex was around. I knew I had to do something about it but I didn't know how to approach that topic because it was awkward as hell. Debbie was a good friend and I can't lose her over this kind of thing.
I liked having Alex by my side, and the fact that we'd started sneaking quick makeout sessions during school breaks was just a bonus. I noticed a classmate named Sanjay giving me stink eye whenever I was with Alex. I remembered him from the show. He is the guy Alex ends up with but later he cheats on her in college. I just glared at him a few times and he backed away. School was on easy mode for me.
Chess was another highlight. I'd been grinding my skill hard, playing online, solving puzzles, even watching old grandmaster games for fun. My rating was solid, and I was honestly confident I could take on a grandmaster at this point. The tournament next week was all I could think about. I wanted to see how far I could push myself, how much my "gamer" edge would matter against real-world competition.
Work on Subway Surfers was moving, too. Leonard and I had started sketching out the core mechanics, but I realized pretty quickly that if I wanted this game to be as big as I imagined, and develop it fast, we'd need a team. So, we made a plan: once I got the money from the playstore, I would make a company and hire a few freelancers or employees to fast-track the progress of the game. Leonard was on board, excited at the idea of being part of something bigger than just a school project.
But the real surprise this week was music. After listening to Alex talk about her cello lessons, I'd picked up a book on music theory from the library, then a few more about songwriting and production. I wanted to bring some of the music from my old world into this one. The first time I tried singing, it was rough—like, dying-cat rough. But I stuck with it, practicing when my parents weren't home. I didn't want them to hear me go from zero to hero overnight and start asking questions. It was more believable to emerge as a music prodigy than improving so inhumanly fast.
The best part? I found a loophole in the system: humming leveled up my singing skill just as fast as actual singing. So I hummed everywhere—on my runs, in the shower, even while doing homework. After a week, my singing skill was sitting at level 60. I knew the climb would get steeper from here, but I would keep humming the shit out humming till I can sound better than Bruno Mars. I was confident that I can sing now and still make it big with a bit of autotune but I wanted to increase my singing level before actually singing to anyone. I will also buy an instrument today. I have called Alex to go with me to the mall to shop for the instrument and she was happy to accompany me.
All of that was background noise, though, compared to what today meant. Today was payday. The Play Store payout for my game was finally hitting my account. I'd been resisting the urge to check my earnings all week, wanting the surprise, not wanting to get distracted by numbers. My game was sitting at 950,000 downloads—so close to that million mark I could taste it. I knew I'd level up once it crossed over, and the anticipation of using my stats again was killing me.
I made a fresh PayPal account, logged in, and connected my account and then opened Google playstore to actually see how much I can withdraw as I didn't want to see it before as I wanted to surprise myself.
I definitely got surprised seeing the amount despite already expecting it. There was loads of information about how it was calculated—ads, in-app purchases, user engagement, CPMs, all that stuff. But I skipped that and after Google's commission, I had earned $9,067 from ads and $15,201 from in-app purchases. Total: $24,268. Just sitting there. In my bank account.
I had to sit down for a second, just to process it. Twenty-four grand. I was officially a rich kid by high school standards. The skins and backgrounds that I'd added for $2 each were printing money, and the numbers were only going up. If Flappy Bird could hit $50k a day just from ads, I was on track to blow past that, and fast.
I couldn't help but grin. All the hours grinding and all the late nights coding were paying off and this was just the first month. I always knew, that I'd get rich, but actually feeling it, seeing the money there, was something else. I could describe it as a kind of electric satisfaction, a buzz that made me want to run another lap around the block or shout from the rooftop.
The whole reason I'd even started game development was to be able to afford skill books. So, naturally, I immediately went to the nearest bookstore and bought nine books related to Spanish language—textbooks, workbooks, even a Spanish-English dictionary. I paid the cashier, feeling a little like a wizard buying spell scrolls, and hurried back home to try absorbing them.
My parents were not home today, which was perfect. I was excited to tell them about the money, but for now, I wanted to test my only power that was even remotely supernatural. I'd only ever absorbed two skill books before, but this was the first time I would use it with this many books. I wanted to see what would happen.
I touched the first book:
[Skill book: Spanish basics and grammar]
[Do you want to absorb it?]
[Yes / No]
I tapped yes, and the book vanished from reality. Instantly, the knowledge of that book slotted into my brain—no headache, no weird INT requirements like in The Gamer, just pure, clean data.
Then the second book, then the next. But after the fifth book, I got a notification:
[Limit reached for today]
[Increase INT to absorb more]
As I thought, there had to be a limitation to this system. Maybe every 2 INTs lets me increase the limit by one book. It wasn't that bad of a disadvantage, honestly, considering I could still read the books afterwards—there was no limitation on that.
Considering I could absorb 1,825 books in a year without any hard work, I wasn't sad. I was sad for the chumps who actually study.
I put the remaining books on my desk, a little disappointed but also kind of relieved. Turns out, even with a cheat code for a brain, there are still some rules to the universe. I guess that's fair. If I could just binge-absorb every book in a library, I'd probably break reality—or at least get bored way too fast. Besides, five books in one sitting was already insane. The Spanish basics, grammar, and a couple of phrasebooks were now floating around in my head, perfectly organized. I could already feel the words and structures lining up, ready to be used.
I decided to test it out. I opened up Duolingo on my phone and breezed through the first dozen lessons without breaking a sweat. The app kept giving me those little congratulatory animations, but I barely noticed. I was already thinking in Spanish, translating random thoughts, trying out phrases under my breath. "Estoy aprendiendo muy rápido," I muttered, grinning at how natural it felt.
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A/N: Feed me the stones and you shall receive the chapters.
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