Preparing himself, Kaiden stood outside his door in formal attire, similar to the ones he wore to his high school graduation. Straightening his tie and sporting a firm gaze, he took his first step toward the upcoming meeting.
Like most 18-year-olds of normal families, Kaiden wasn't equipped with any car of the sorts as he was more focused on improving his physical body. As a result, he was forced to take the modern high-speed train.
It was always a relatively quick experience, so Kaiden held no complaints. Arriving at the train station, outfitted with highly updated automated technology. Kaiden waited for the next train at 10:13.
Taking in the view of the Metro-Corona City, Kaiden smiled. The modern design and futuristic atmosphere always pleased him. The mostly seethrough buildings, the grey sleek color of many buildings - while monotonous, it appealed to Kaiden.
Boarding the train, Kaiden closed his eyes peacefully as he gathered himself on the journey to the 'Sonic Star Media Group'.
---
Arriving in front of the 'Sonic Star Media Group' Headquarters with minutes to spare before his meeting, a nostalgic feeling overwhelmed Kaiden as some memories were involuntarily triggered.
Walking inside, Kaiden's face was amazingly calm - he was ready to wreak havoc on someone's voluntary conceit.
He made his way to the Reception Desk at an unhurried pace, symbolizing just how reassured he was. Walking through the doors of this media giant, he felt no intimidation, just courage.
Approaching the desk, he had a light smile, "Hello, my name is Kaiden Smith I have an 11'o clock appointment with the 3rd Head, he should be expecting me right about this time."
"Hold on sir, let me check the system...Ah! Found you, yes, you indeed do have an 11'o clock. Head through the elevator to your right and wait on the 39th floor. Someone will be with you momentarily.", replied the receptionist as he returned to his previous task.
Walking through the elevator as instructed, Kaiden arrived on the 39th floor. The scenery was comforting. The waiting area was decorated with plants carrying an aromatic scent, the chair held the shape of your physique providing ample support and the layout was what you would expect of a corporate office.
Not much later, a friendly yet authoritative voice was heard as the office doors adjacent to the waiting opened.
"You're here, come inside so we can get this underway. I promise you'll be nothing short of satisfied.", said the 3rd Head.
Showing a plain smile Kaiden nodded as he inwardly thought, 'Hmph, I know I will be nothing short of satisfied, however, you...I'm not so sure.'
---
Inside the office, Kaiden sat opposite to the 3rd as they stared at each other in the eye. The 3rd Head was aware that someone who could produce multiple announcements on the opening day of
"Ahem, first let's begin this by introducing myself. My name is Tyler Stevens, the 3rd Head of the 'Sonic Star Media Group', in charge of Human Resources as a whole. I call you here to see if we can establish a business relationship."
Nodding, Kaiden asks, "Alright, how exactly would you like to establish a business deal, in what aspect?"
"Straight to the point, I like it. Well, to paraphrase in the well being of you and the 'Sonic Star Media Group' I would like to endorse you. I was thinking of a 3-year endorsement contract. Of course, your payment will be more than suitable."
'3 years is quite long a lot can happen in that time frame. Let's keep letting him speak his piece.'
"What are the terms of the contract?"
"As of right now, it would be that every announcement you achieve the party name will have to be the company's name and you will receive an annual pay of $3.6 million."
Leaning forward acting as if the offer intrigued him, Kaiden put his palms together and resting his chin on his knuckles.
"Interesting, while it sounds good on paper. It has heavy stipulations. If I were to create a guild, this would prove detrimental as the exposure my guild would get would be limited, instead, your company would reap the benefits. Therefore, these contents need to be tweaked. Also, $3.6 million annually is but a 1/5 of what the last generation top gamers earned.", rebutted Kaiden.
Stumped by Kaiden's astuteness, Tyler uttered. "While it is true the contract can prove to be detrimental in that scenario, you are unable to tell the future, not to mention, the generational game monsters have yet to create their waves. Moreover, you can't compare yourself to the top gamers just because you've achieved a few announcements. That is just a bloated ego. At most, I can raise your remittance to $4.8 million."
"Ah, it seems you think I'm in a passive position. Let me correct your misconstrued mindset. While I am unable to be compared to the top gaming monsters who have been in this industry for years, there is the future. Not to mention I am an 18-year-old who..."
As a result of Tyler being close to Kaiden, he felt the change in the aura that Kaiden produced. He felt he was being touched, although Kaiden was only looking at him. As a result, his face turned to one of shock.
"A rudimentary grasp on one of the aspects of Control - Omniscient Influence! Have you taken Grade 6 VitaShakes already? Your adolescent body shouldn't be able to handle that."
Shaking his head, Kaiden declined that idea. "No, only Grade 4, but back to the conversation at hand, don't digress. My potential is immense, I can guarantee that. Moreover, with me 'Once a bridge behind me is demolished, there is no turning back. Bluntly meaning if you strike out here, then we are through."
Pondering, Tyler finally asks. "So what would you consider a good contract for you?"
'He bit the bait, not time to reel him in.'
Smiling Kaiden replied, "Simple, instead of a contract determined by length. We enter a dually beneficial contract with the possibility of negotiation down the road. I suggest you pay per achievement announcement."
Tapping his finger, Tyler nodded in agreement. "That's viable, but the question is, what would be the payment amount?"
"Hmm, achievements are unpredictable and the first contract had no set amount, which was another matter you should've considered. Therefore, I say $300,000 per announcement plus 25 bottles of Grades 4-6 each. As I know your name is credible, you must also have a source for VitaShakes."
"T-That seems a little pricy. How about $200,000 and the 25 bottles of Grade 4-6?"
"$250,000 is my lowest. I can not go under that. I am sure while I am sitting here multiple corporations have contacted me in-game. I'm sure you understand just how much revenue early exposure can provide in this deal, you still win in the long run." calmly smiled Kaiden.
"Okay, okay! It's a deal, let's formulate the basic contract," exclaimed Tyler.
Formulating the contract, Kaiden read over the contents making sure all the jargon and policies were correct as well as the personal NDA. Finding nothing out of place, Kaiden was overall satisfied with the contract. Reaching his hand out after signing, Kaiden began the relationship with 'Sonic Star Media Group'. An unknown subtle takeover looming over the unaware media group.
Kaiden also added, "I will allow up to a 3 announcement advance payment, if interested you can send the funds to this account and the supplies to this address."
"I'll take you up on that offer as it makes it more convenient instead of chasing you down right before the announcement. The funds and supplies for 3 announcements will be transferred within the hour.
Nodding, Kaiden left the high rise building in a jovial mood. There was a slight smile on his face as he was feeling very content about the way the meeting proceeded.
'Overall, I'm very satisfied with the meeting's results. Not only did I secure the funding needed to procure a Gold Rank Virtual Immersion Pod, but I also procured a decent stock of VitaShakes for me and possibly the others. However, that'll have to wait as I can't procure a building yet.'
Inside the train, Kaiden leaned against the windowsill, surveying the city he grew up in. 'I wonder if it will always look this clear.'
---
Finally, standing on his front step Kaiden's holowatch vibrated, sending him a notification.
'$750,000 has been deposited in your Checkings account, and is immediately available for use.'
'Finally, I can order the GRVIP now.'
Scrolling through the variety of GRVIP's models with different colors and designs, Kaiden finally came across the one that perfectly suited his taste. A sleek silver, black, and deep blue colorway with a sharp design similar to a wide torpedo. Despite $202,000 vanishing from his account, Kaiden was jubilant.
30 minutes later, whirring noise was heard outside the house as an express installment drone was hovering above the house.
Delivering the sizeable package, in due time Kaiden was standing in front of a 3 meter long and 1.5-meter tall pod, laying in place of his bed.
Supplying the Pod with the last 5 Grade 4 VitaShakes, Kaiden updated the settings on the pod to fit his personal needs, activating Statis mode which allowed up to 3 days of continuous play in a simulated sleeping state. As a result, the user of a Pod logged out feeling refreshed.
---
Opening his eyes back in 'World's Destiny', Kaiden once again sat up from the hotel bed. This time he left as he checked the leaderboards - the same person who was a level lower than him was now at his level.
Unbothered, Kaiden opened his character panel, taking a look at his status.
Name: Unsheathed (Human) *Adventurer
Lv.17 (56,340/125,000)
Class: Warrior | Profession: Ancient Spiritual Cultivator - Stage 1 (0/4,000,000)
Guild: Unaffiliated | Reputation: Lord (850/1,000)
Title(s):
HP: 3,570 (22 HP regen/sec)
Inner Energy: 1,400 (1,000 + 400) (2 per second)
Attack Power: 564 | Defense: 890 | Attack Speed: 4 | Movement Speed: 7 m/s
Critical Damage: 175% | Additional Damage: 25% | Abnormal Status Resistance: 30 (2%)
Elemental Resistance: 5 | Defense Ignore: 20%
Strength: 226 (59 + 122 + 45) | Vitality: 90 (32 + 40 +18)
Intelligence: 90 (32 + 40 + 18) | Dexterity: 200 (73 + 87 + 40)
Agility: 238 (97 + 93 + 48) | Spirit: 90 (32 + 40 + 18)
Endurance: 128 (32 + 70 + 26) | *Luck: 139 (71 + 40 + 28)
Unsealed - Basic
Passives:
[Versatility] (Racial ), [Untapped Potential] (Racial ), [Warrior's Might] (Class), [Holy Trinity Cultivation Method] (Growth), [Internal Property - Piercing Tenacity] (Growth), [Eidetic Memory - Enlightened Comprehension] (Growth), [Firmament Piercing Eyes] (Growth), [Auspicious Presence] (Growth)
Actives:
[Thrust] (Normal ), [Charge] (Normal), [Double Slash] (Normal), [Weapon Defend] (Normal), [Charging Slash] (Rare), [Fleeting Surge] (Rare), [Sword Wind] (Rare), [Sword Wave – Dispersion] (Special), [Gravitational Descent - Homing Pierce] (Epic), [1st Tempest Style - Origin Piercing Light] (Special), [2nd Tempest Style - Revolving Phantom] (Special), [3rd Tempest Style - Triple Assualt] (Special)
Attribute Points: 50
Mastery Points: 227
Inventory | 53,089 Gold, 82 Silver, 51 Copper
[Supreme Treasured Possession - Angurvadal] (Spiritual), [Flowing Assaulter Top] (Violet Gold), [Flowing Assaulter Bottom] (Violet Gold), [Flowing Assaulter Waist Guard] (Violet Gold), [Azure Boots] (Silver), [Kairo's Layered Spatial Ring] (Growth).
"OMG! I know my stats would be better but these stats... THEY'RE HORRIBLE!", screamed Kaiden causing the surrounding people on the street to look at him with disdainful gazes.
However, seeing Angurvadal hanging from his waist, that beautiful sword made everyone dumbfounded, it has such beautiful luster. One lackluster looking girl even approached.
"That sword is beautiful sir, may I touch it?"
Scrutinizing the girl with his gaze, Kaiden sourly responded, "No, my sword is off limits until I find a suitable girlfriend!"
Running away after his remark, Kaiden headed towards the field as he was going to rush to Lv.20 so he would be left without a worry.
'System: Player 'Intact' has sent you a friend request.'
Accepting the friend request, Kaiden advised his brother to meet him at Crescent Wake Town's entrance, as he felt his level was on the low side.
Meeting up not much later, Kaiden and Ezekiel partied as they ran together towards a completely different leveling field. The 'Crescent Valley' which was an Lv.20+ leveling field.
"Welcome to the Unsheathed Express, haha, please keep your hands and feet in your seat at all times.", quipped Kaiden as the brothers ran into their first set of monsters.
Lv.22 [Ravenous Boars] (Elite)
Health: 38,750/38,750 (100%)
"Zeek if you have Wind Vortex or Glacial Barrage, damage them so you get a higher percentage of experience."
Like other RPG if partied and friends, this game allowed you to power level someone on the condition that they were able to do damage at all, if not, their experience gained would be limited to 10% of the total experience.
Using Wind Vortex small, -16 damage values appeared over all 6 of the bull's head.
Noticing that his Wind Vortex fired differently from MagicsSlave, Kaiden asked "Are you playing Assisted?"
"Yeah, I tried Liberation but there's a big delay cause of this basic Helmet. So I switched to Assisted."
Speechless, Kaiden immediately told his brother. "Log out and go in my room, there's an Advanced Helmet on my desk, it's yours now.
Logging out, Zeek was back online behind Kaiden in exactly 2 minutes.
"Holy CRAP! Is that a GRVIP in your room? How in the world did you afford that?
"Early endorsement." smiled Kaiden as he added. "When I can afford it, you will have your own too."
Focusing on the group of monsters, Kaiden activated Sword Wind and Tempest Assualt in combination, firing Sword Wave - Dispersion.
-1,585 [-396], -1889 [476], -2,219 [-555], -2,538 [-645], -5,552! [-1,385]
In the mood to make quick work of these monsters, Kaiden instantly devoured a mass of the monsters Health. However, the attack was twofold as, after that attack Angurvadal's Aftershock passive caused took effect, the attack shockwave piercing through the group of 5 Boars.
It was an effortless slaughter, with his attacks now dealing 2 sources of damage, the "additional damage" modifier, each attack theoretically hit twice. Instead of the skill hitting once, each attack now had 2 lines of damage, illustrated by the numbers in '[]'.
Kaiden was in a euphoric state as this wouldn't be much of a boon for a Boss kill, however, it is a godsend monster killing.
Within 30 minutes, Zeek leveled up 2 times. Now reaching Lv.14. As for Kaiden, he was close to Lv.18. The difference in experience needed to level was becoming apparent.
'