The next day Jack woke up with a clear head and a smile on his face. His face shined as he still had perfect skin without trying.
After soaking in the warmth of his bed Jack stood up and picked up his phone as he walked to the bathroom. As Jack brushed his teeth, he scrolled through his phone when he suddenly got a text from Sarah.
Interested in why she was sending a text message so early in the morning, Jack pulled up her text message and read it.
"I'm heading over at around noon. Hopefully my card is all ready for me by then." Jack muttered.
His eyebrows rose and he was just about to ask her what she meant when he suddenly realized it was Saturday.
Just a few days ago, Sarah had mentioned she was coming over to collect a card which he completely forgot about.
He didn't even look for her Magic the Gathering card that he stol-borrowed.
"Where did I put my Magic the Gathering cards again? The closet?" Jack muttered to himself as he recalled he had left them in the closet.
After brushing his teeth and cleaning himself up, Jack felt refreshed and motivated. He wrapped a towel around his waist and walked into his bedroom.
Going straight for his closet Jack saw that it was just as he left it yesterday. An utter mess.
His clothes weren't organized at all with half of them just half hazards tossed into boxes and hangers. It was troublesome to move and try to organize everything so he had been putting it off for the last two years.
"If I remember correctly the box should be here."
Jack moved a pile of his clothes to the floor to expose a beat up cardboard box. Written across the cardboard box in red marker was the sentence Magic the Gathering Cards.
Hester had such a good collection that when Jack had arrived and began making preparations to move out he had to give it their own box. It was almost as good as his own card collection back in his previous life.
Unfortunately, those cards were all lost or destroyed through the years. So Jack had made sure to pack up these cards properly so that he could play with them later.
It hadn't been touched at all since he moved in.
Now that he was getting the opportunity to unpack his glorious collection Jack was getting a little excited.
"Come to papa!" Jack whispered with excitement.
He opened the box and saw a dozen full binders filled to the brim with cards. Most of them were in great condition and categorized.
But the one that Jack was looking for was a white binder whose cover was a single white sheet with two words: Borrowed Cards.
"As expected of myself. I really did just borrow these cards or else why would they be in the Borrow binder." Jack said with a smile.
After finding the correct binder Jack opened it and flipped to Sarah's section. The very first card was a Gaea's Cradle.
Back in his previous life, this card had seen a massive increase in value and with the good quality of the card it could fetch him a few hundred dollars.
Unfortunately, in this universe things turned out very differently. No one wanted to spend their precious hard cash on something that held no inherent value.
Even with the rise of the entertainment industry its value was much lower in comparison to his old world.
"What a good card. Sarah is so lucky. I really need to have her open a few more packs when she is here." Jack muttered as he wondered if he should quickly buy a few packs before shaking his head.
He was currently tight on money so spending it on card packs wasn't wise. Even if Sarah used her lucky hands to draw something good he might not be able to convince her to let him borrow it.
So he could only dismiss the idea for now.
Since he found the card, Jack put it away and went on with the rest of his day. After his break day, Jack felt as if he was working in overdrive as if he went into a trance.
By the time he took a break several hours had passed by which was when his phone buzzed.
[Sarah Griffin]: I'm here! Let me in!
Jack silently sighed as he felt a bit of pain thinking about the fact he was about to lose such a valuable card. Even so he also was a bit excited to see a friend so he quickly saved his current progress before standing up and opening his door.
Standing on his doormat Sarah was smiling. She was wearing a black t-shirt with chibi versions of Demon Slayer characters, tucked into her high-waisted black skinny jeans, comfy black sneakers, big round glasses, and lastly a crossbody bag that was covered in anime pins.
She definitely was going for the nerdy girl look.
"Sup," Jack said with a smile and gestured to Sarah to come inside.
"Sup, is my card ready?" Sarah asked with excitement in her voice.
She couldn't wait to get her card back. She had dreamed of this day.
"No greeting first. Whatever, follow me, it's in my bedroom." Jack said as shrugged his shoulders.
As they crossed the living room, Sarah's eyes looked around the apartment with curiosity. She saw that it was a bit bland.
There was only a single long couch, a few picture frames of Jack's family and friends. One of them included her when they went on a school field trip.
The floor was made out of wood and there wasn't a single carpet in sight. She could imagine how cold the floor would be when winter arrived.
Sarah's eyebrows scrunched as she noticed that there was clearly a spot for a TV but nothing there.
"Hester, what happened to your TV? I thought you took the one in your room with you when you moved." Sarah asked with curiosity.
"Oh that old thing, yeah I sold it and bought another one. Unfortunately, the new TV had a little infestation that made me donate it." Jack said casually as he struggled to describe his TV being haunted without sounding insane.
"Like ants? Or spiders? Don't tell me it was Golf Ball Slugs. " Sarah asked repeatedly as she felt a shiver crawl down her spine.
She hated bugs.
"No, but something similarly creepy. It should be gone now." Jack said with a pleased smile.
"I don't know."
"If the TV was infected with bugs then your apartment is probably too. You need to do a deep cleaning or call the bug exterminators or something to prevent them from coming back." Sarah said softly as she scratched her arm.
"Let's go. Knowing you have bugs in your apartment is freaking me out." Sarah said as she pushed Jack along.
Jack shook his head but agreed with her analysis. He should buy a few holy decorations once he has some money. Maybe even hire a priest or a shaman.
When they finally got to his bedroom, Jack took out the binder and flipped to Sarah's section to show her well taken care of cards.
Her eyes sparkled seeing the collection, especially her Gaea's Cradle card.
"You really took care of it. It's been like five years." Sarah muttered as she tried to take out the card.
Jack stopped her as he coughed.
"Please, let me. I've got the perfect sleeve for it." Jack said as he went back into his closet and took out a small plastic case made for a card.
He gently pulled the Gaea's Cradle card out of its slot and gently set it into the case before closing it and sealing it. He wiped the sweat off his forehead as he reluctantly gave it back to Sarah.
"Are you serious right now?"
Sarah's lips twitched seeing how well Jack was treating her card. He treated it with more importance than their friendship.
"What about my other cards?" Sarah asked while pouting her lips.
Jack closed the binder as he said,"You can't, I'm still borrowing them."
"But they're mine."
"I don't make the rules, I just follow them." Jack retorted and stared into Sarah's eyes.
She stared back at him as they locked eyes. After a few seconds they both tsked and looked away.
"Fine, I'll take them away later. At least I have this bad boy back." Sarah kissed the case.
"Alright, now that you have your card back are you planning on leaving?" Jack asked with a hurt expression on his face.
"You're kicking me out like that," Sarah rolled her eyes and sat on his bed while looking around with curiosity.
"Can't you show me around? It's been awhile since we hung out by ourselves. We can use this time to catch up." Sarah said with a smile.
"There really isn't much to show other than this. It's a small apartment for two. The other bedroom has been converted into my office where I work." Jack said as he put the binder away.
Sarah's eyes lit up as she jumped up and said, "Well show me your office. You must have pretty high tech with how quickly you're making your game."
"Uh, I wouldn't say all that." Jack muttered as he scratched his head.
Although he called it an office it really was just a desk with a computer and two monitors. Nothing fancy.
It was only worth a few thousand.
"Come on, show me. You don't have to be so humble. If you don't show me I will just go there myself." Sarah said with a cheeky smile as she walked to the door.
Jack stood up and coughed into his hand.
"Fine, I will show you. But don't make fun of it. I'm sure your college has the latest and greatest tech so mine isn't going to compare." Jack said as he walked ahead of Sarah.
He guided her further down his hallway and opened the last door. Sitting inside were his two monitors that were currently on the code for Windor's Siege. While his good old gaming chair had been converted into an office chair.
With his computer hidden below the desk along with the wires. You know what they said, if you don't see the messy wires they can't hurt you.
Sarah looked around and walked into the small room. Her eyes brightened up as she immediately locked onto the two monitors as she sat in his chair.
Sarah eagerly sat down on his chair and with familiarity adjusted it until she was eye level with the monitors.
With the same familiar movements she tested the current version of Windor's Siege causing a new screen to pop up, starting a brand new game.
"Oh, you changed the starting music. Even some of the background information is different." Sarah muttered as she briefly played a quick round before losing miserably.
A bit frustrated and embarrassed after hearing Jack laughing his ass off behind her, Sarah closed the game window and looked at the game files.
"Hehehe, so this is the code for Windor's Siege. It's so complicated." Sarah said with astonishment.
She looked at the dozens of files and casually scrolled through the code that was detailed and sectioned.
"This is my computer science teacher's wet dream. It's so neat and understandable. Even someone unfamiliar with programming could follow it." Sarah complimented and looked at Jack who was standing next to her.
He clearly didn't mind her looking at the source code so she continued to go through and ask him questions about how certain portions of the code were designed in certain ways.
Jack patiently explained it to her and smiled seeing that she had approved of his skills. He didn't spend thousands upon thousands of points to level up his Software Development, Game Development, Debugging, and Multi-Platform coding skills so high for nothing.
He was definitely at a high level in the industry even if he was still very far from being at the very top.
A college student like Sarah who was still learning was behind him in almost every aspect. Although with the help of the latest tech software she would be competing with him.
Sarah absorbed what he said like a sponge as her face slowly changed from curiosity to one of learning from an expert in the field.
"So these files are only for compatibility with different platforms?" Sarah asked.
"Yup, they check the system's stats to see if it recognizes what machine it's on. If recognized, it will run the prepared code I made."
"If not, it runs this file to check if it meets the minimum requirements to run Windor's Siege. If it does, it will run it according to how the system it runs does things." Jack explained calmly.
"I see. A bit cumbersome though. Why not just limit it to the basic systems? Wouldn't it simplify the code?" Sarah asked quickly.
"This is just more efficient for me. If I didn't do this it would actually take me longer." Jack said truthfully.
Sarah understood before sighing, "Hester, this is incredible. How on earth did you get so good at programming in just two years?"
"The learning programs of that Shadow Gaming Company must have been good."
"They were mind-numbingly good. Everything they taught me is stuck in my head." Jack said as he poked his head.
"Can you teach me?" Sarah said with sparking crimson eyes.
"Of course…not. That's what your classes are for." Jack said as she rolled his eyes.
He had no intentions of taking an apprentice so early in his career. He himself had a lot to learn.
Oh there is also the reason that it would make getting more money from Sarah more awkward than it already was.