It was already early in March and Ben still didn't receive an answer for AND-189, which made him quite depressed.
´Why didn't I just put a closing phrase? How do you know what is the right decision?
You never know. You can only see the result of your decision!
Maybe, he makes already more profit than thought?! Or he just didn't look at his laptop?
No, can't be! How would he send the AND-189? No, idea.
There is no reason to reproach yourself with it! You will only lose energy and time.
I need to concentrate on the things I can influence or control.
Efron called me many times for more information about the drugs.
It seems like they are still a long way from succeeding.
For now, I have to begin with exam preparation. School should not be neglected.
I just love the feeling of having good grades. My parents are proud of my results, a convenient side effect is that they are trusting me a lot more.
The only phrase I have to hear from time to time is to find a girlfriend.
But it isn't easy to find a matching girl. Not like I tried to look for a girlfriend.
I am more the passive searcher. Where would I even go to search?
I don't like bars and I don't talking to a stranger on a street just because I like her look.
Somehow ironic! I know that in life you have to do something to achieve something.
The same for fighting! You have to train to get better and kill stronger monsters.
But somehow I can't persuade myself to look for love.
Somehow I want to experience the happiness of love, on the other hand, I don't even know if the girl I like would accept me.
Would I always have to hide a part of myself? Probably. It is probably my destiny.
I should focus on becoming successful and lead humanity to a better future.
My progress in computer science is quite slow. I am waiting for achieving 18 points in Intelligence. After the formula of Intelligence divided by 2,2. I will be able to create another skill without side-effects.
It is only a matter of time before I manage it. No, I already learned over a month computer science. It seems that It doesn't raise my Intelligence significantly. In my last life, I never trained my Intelligence a lot as it doesn't increase my combat ability directly and is quite time-consuming.
I should research on google how to exactly increase my IQ. Maybe I am unaware of some training methods. ´
Searching on the web about simple methods to increase your IQ, Ben found many different information from different sources.
Most of them, he knew them. Like supplements, cardio training, and reading.
For example, Ben knew that learning a language or a new instrument would increase his IQ, but he just wanted to increase one point the fastest possible. Both wouldn't help him in the future, which demotivated him to even try it.
He also found articles about games increasing your intelligence. He directly downloaded Dual N-Back for his smartphone and asked Amadeus about some ego-shooter games. It wasn't clear how Ego-shooter influenced your brain, but every new thing you learn increases your Intelligence. Ben wanted to give it a try, it would give him a feeling about accuracy and movement. He thought that it would also help him in fighting with guns.
Another technique to increase Intelligence is mediation. Ben hated the idea of mediation. The idea of meditation was for him the same as killing time. As a kid, he tried it once and was bored every second of it. He continued researching about it.
´So Intelligence is divided into two types.
Crystallized intelligence is the information, skills, and experience you learn from the process of living and knowledge you pick up along the way. Simply put, it's what you "know" and how you use it. Logically, this accumulates as you age and starts to decline around age 65.
It is how I increased my intelligence till now.
Fluid intelligence doesn't depend on your education, learning, or experiences. It's the ability to identify patterns, solve novel problems, and use logic in new situations. In other words, it's your ability to think on-the-spot. Fluid intelligence isn't about how much you know. It's about being creative, aware, innovative, and visionary.
New studies show that meditation can dramatically improve your fluid intelligence fairly quickly and up your overall IQ. The studies recommend to meditate regularly, 20 minutes a day is enough.
I never expected that meditation would give such a high advantage. No wonder that the few surviving mages all meditated when they could.
From now on, I will at least meditate 20 min each day!
So what does this website suggest to begin meditating.´
„Sit comfortably, with your eyes open, in a quiet room free of distractions. Find an external, visual object on which to focus, such as a single carpet thread, a doorknob, a button on your shirt, or a candle flame – not your breath, a mental visualization, or a mantra.
Keep your eyes glued to that one object and all your attention focused on it.
When your mind strays from the object, and it most definitely will, gently guide it back to the subject again and again." Ben read loudly and tried it for the next 20 minutes.
...
In the following day, Ben trained diligently with his work-out, then meditated and in free-time played Dual N-Back.
This morning, Ben locked at his status and was pleasantly surprised.
´Status open.´
<0/10>
´Finally! I would like to know what did help more. Meditation or Games? I somehow believe it is Meditation, but who knows. Today I have to work hard. I will continue to learn C# and tonight I will create my Skill. Can't wait for it.´
...
After school, Ben went home like always. The only difference was that Ben tried to meditate on the train. Learning on the train was cumbersome, Meditation was a lot easier to practice in a quiet place.
If you want your muscles to grow you have to increase the difficulty. The same applies to meditation.
He prepared a timer and closed his eyes.
Amadeus seeing Ben's action interpreted it as Ben being tired and trying to sleep. So he shut up and played Clash of Clan on his phone.
COC was still very popular in 2032 on the smartphone. Amadeus played the account of his father, which now had Town Hall level 14.
Arriving home, Ben went to the Empire Market. He was hoping that today GameAddict189 finally responded. Ben was dissatisfied that a little bit of profit killed him already so much time.
To his surprise there was a message:
„Hey bro,
I am willing to sell my formula, but it won't be cheap.
I give you the formula and all flacons I produced till now for 40 million dollars.
To ask me to give a price, you seem to be quite rich. How about it?"
´This piece of shit! Who does he think he is? Even if I may still have a little bit of profit, there is still a risk about selling and producing. Your few flacons won't help me. What a rip-off! I was willing to pay a few million. Not a few dozen million. It seems like I will have to reverse engineer it!
Oh. Is this what merchants call to probe the price? Probe Pricing Strategy. The seller gives a higher price to the bidder. This is done to find out or probe the reaction of the buyers towards the price.
So what should I do? Answer that I lost interest and hope that he gives another selling price.
Or sending a price I would be willing to pay like 1, 2, 3, or 4 million.
What should I do? I can't really predict how much flacons I will sell in the future.
I have to think about research, production, and marketing cost.
No need to worry about that. I will just answer that I lost interest and give him the lowest price I hoped to pay. That way he will answer with a high chance at a very near price.´
Ben wrote a message, which he sent a second later.
„I wouldn't even pay a tenth of your selling price.
As you don't show any sincerity, my last offer is one million. If you are not interested in my price, don't even answer my message.
Farewell, GameAddict189!"
´I admit that I didn't think that it would sound as domineering. But It conveys my feeling. Either you give me a lot back or you can f*ck off. I can win money as fast by investing in companies. A little chemist, who was lucky in creating an awakening drug, is not a worthy foe. I can still profit by reverse engineer AND-189.´
Following this, Ben studied C# with YouTube-videos.
At the end of the day, Ben finally could create a new skill.
´I can so understand why games are popular. To be able to achieve your goal after only working a few hours. Nothing feels better. The only difference is that I am succeeding in the real world and that it takes so much more time than in a …´ Ben stopped his thought process, giving a deep yawn.
´Time to sleep.
Create Skill Computer Science.´
Finally overcome by tiredness, he is brought to restful sleep by the sandman.