Abel woke up and took a look at the time, it was currently 4:55 am.
He had logged out in a daze a few hours ago and went straight to bed after stuffing himself full of the leftovers in the kitchen. He was quite exhausted after spending the entire day in concentration, forging the many different pieces of equipment for his future use.
'There was something I wanted to do… What was it again… Ah right!'
He had completely forgotten his earlier intent on messaging that streamer in thanks, he hadn't even checked his coalition bank account to see his current funds. He grabbed his phone from the bedside table and logged in to the PNC app.
'WHAT! Did I somehow log into to someone else's coalition account…'
His eyes winded and his mind cleared of any remaining sleep fog, he was absolutely stunned at what he was seeing and found it difficult to accept this was his own account. He was skeptical at first but after seeing his information details and account number, his heart started pounding in excitement.
Account Holder: Abel Hawthorn
PNC-ID # 102255999100
Date-Time: 03/05/1036 Pax Novus New Calendar (PNNC) – 4:56 am
Current Balance – Savings Balance : 19,693.78 CC – 0 CC
'If I subtract the slightly more than 3,000 I already had, that means I got… more than 8,000 views!'
He found it difficult to hold in the excitement he felt. He couldn't understand why so many people would pay 2 credits just to see a short clip of the palace grounds but he didn't want to think about such a thing. The more people that had this curiosity, the better! After shooting up from bed and nearly hyperventilating in his room, he slowly calmed down his beating heart. He had never seen so much money and never imagined he'd make so much from a paid post.
'This is where the real money is… no wonder so much information is missing from the public forums, people put that stuff behind a pay wall. Of course, I should have thought of a simple thing…'
After a few minutes of thinking things over, he realized he couldn't use all this money. First, he had to pay his taxes and insurance. The tax would be the minimum due to his status of being "unemployed" but it wasn't that big of a difference from the usual tax for a minimum wage worker.
A minimum wage worker was required to cover a 12% annual tax but an unemployed person that made money through other avenues would only be required to hand over 10% of their earnings. The insurance payments would be dependent on a person's age and prior medical history. The most expensive years would be 65+ with the prior age bracket reducing in price. With Abel's prior history and current age, he still had to cover a payment of 540 credits, it amounted 45 credits per month.
He slowly made his calculations and decided to put aside 3,000 credits for these impending expenses. The time for annual payments would differ from person to person, depending on when they started working after the age of 18. He had started his job at Epicurean World Market right after graduating high school so he had to make the payment by the end of the current month.
'That still leaves me with around 16,000 credits. I also need to transfer my share of the bills to Frankie but that shouldn't be too much.'
He started thinking about what to do with the money, while he wanted to keep some credits to tide over a rainy day, he definitely wanted to spend some of it to enrich their lives. He thought for a few seconds before an idea came to him, it was something he once imagined but thought it would take him a very long time to actually achieve.
'I should talk to them first, I should get their opinion… but I can still convince them if they disagree.'
Having made his plans, he joyfully went to brush his teeth and wash up. He wanted to do some Tai chi, it might help him come back to a more natural level of tranquility after all this excitement so early in the morning. It proved useful as he started visualizing the different energies with each movement, bringing his mind to a serene peace, like the water on a still lake without any rippling emotions. When he was carrying out his cool down exercise, he heard Frankie coming out to complete his morning ritual.
"Good morning Abe, you switched up your schedule for good?"
"Yeah, it's too hot to exercise during the day and I actually prefer sleeping at night. I was just forced to flip my sleep pattern because of the first couple of days in the training citadel."
"You sound cheerful… What's going on, did something good happen?" Frankie picked up on Abel's mood right away.
Even though he calmed down, his mood was great and why wouldn't it be. He had made so much money over something he thought of on a whim and the best part about it was that it might increase more with the passage of time!
"I'll tell you guys about it over breakfast, I'm going to take a quick shower."
"What is this, groundhog day?" Frankie grumbled in response but just waved him off, probably thinking something good happened in-game that he wanted to share with them.
After a quick shower, Abel made his way to the main house and found Frankie and Melly enjoying their breakfast. Frankie had a day off today but Melly had to clock in at work as usual, her day off was in a couple of days.
"Hey guys, can you stop for a second. I have something I wanna tell you…" Abel first asked them both to stop eating, he didn't want a repeat of the choking incident that happened last week.
"What's going on Abe. Frankie said you have some good news?"
"Well, I want to ask you two… do you want to play the game?"
The kitchen went silent as neither of them knew what Abel was getting at. They were both a lot more curious about Realm Quest and the world of Faeron, especially after Sam and Esme's visit.
"Well of course but you know we can't afford a pod. Even if we start saving from now, it'll take us close to a year to save enough for a used pod. What are you getting at? Just spit it out Abe…"
"Well, I can buy you both a pod if you want. Brand new, just consider it an early wedding gift from me." Abel gave a mischievous smile but neither Frankie nor Melissa paid any attention to his cheeky look. They were both stunned at what he just said.
"Wha-what the hell are you talking about… did you come across another high-priced ore or something?"
"Yeah Abe, what's going on… you still need to cover your payments. Don't go spending that bit of money you made."
Abel went on to explain how he heard of Coinweaver's way of making money off the dungeon's information, he then took a video on a whim when he entered the palace grounds and put it behind a paid post on the forums. He thought he'd only make a couple hundred credits at most but it apparently blew up online and brought him thousands of credits instead.
He took out his phone and showed them the video as well as his current balance, proving he was telling them the truth and then told them that this was the first thing he wanted to do with his new funds.
"Look, I can make much more money just trust me on this. I want to do this for you, even if you aren't married I'm sure it'll just be a matter of time anyway so let me do this. If you still want to work then you can switch over to working part time so you can have more time to spend together at least."
The couple stayed silent, not knowing how to answer him. They were both eager to get a pod but they didn't want to leech off their little brother. Abel seemed to tell what they both felt so he spoke up decisively after seeing their reaction.
"I'm going to order 2 pods for you guys, like I said you should consider it an early wedding gift. If you don't make use of them or don't even get married for that matter, then that's on you guys. I'll have nothing to do with it."
After hearing his reasoning, Frankie couldn't help but sigh and Melissa rolled her eyes but they were both smiling. They had to admit, if they were in Abel's shoes then they would have thought of the same thing, this was what family would do. They'd want to bring joy and comfort to their loved ones so they shouldn't refuse their little brother's goodwill.
"Alright little bro. We won't refuse and I'll fill out the paperwork to switch over to part-time. What about you Mell?"
"Yeah me too. Maybe if we do as well as Abe we can even quit in the future…" Melissa sounded hopeful for such a day, she absolutely hated her job but it paid the bills so she couldn't constantly complain about it.
"Alright, it's settled then!" Abel smiled as he spoke, relieved they didn't put up a struggle in his attempt to have them join the game. He suddenly remembered something and looked hesitant.
"What is it Abe? Why do you have that constipated look on your face?" Frankie asked as he started eating again.
"I just remembered that I'm leaving Velskryn so I can't take you guys leveling… I'll message a couple of acquaintances and see if they can help you out."
"Hey don't worry about it, we can handle ourselves. We might not have done as much research as you about Realm Quest but we've used the NeuroNex before."
"Trust me, it-it's just different. I thought I was ready but the immersion, the realism and the freedom in-game… it's something else entirely."
Abel went on to describe the game in more detail, he filled them in on a lot of information. From the realism of NPC's to the training citadel's skill and stat increase and many other bits and pieces of information that might prove useful. By the end, he was so parched that he gulped down an entire glass of orange juice.
"Anyway, I'll get in touch with the people I know in Velskryn and see if they can help you out. For now, you should quickly finish up breakfast, you wouldn't want to miss the bus Mell."
"It really feels like groundhog day…" Frankie mumbled but still hurriedly started eating, he intended to go with Mell so he could file his change in employment.
After his reminder, the couple quickly finished up their meal and headed off to get ready. Before they left for the bus stop, Melissa popped her head in to the kitchen and reminded Abel to have the pods setup in her old room.
It was actually Grandma Meng's son's room but it turned to Melly's room after the binary eclipse. After Grandma Meng passed away and Frankie moved in, it slowly turned into a spare bedroom. They wanted Abel to move in to it in the beginning but he found his courtyard more comfortable. He wanted some privacy and at the same time, he wanted to leave the couple with their own space and comfort in the main house.
'I should order the pods and log on to the forums…'
After he cleaned up the kitchen, Abel made his way back to his room. He really needed to thank that streamer.