Early morning, the sky still looked gloomy as light rain drizzled outside the window.
James was woken by the vibration of his phone. Picking it up, he saw notifications from various banks transferring funds into his personal account.
It seemed his parents' hard-earned business empire was beginning to crumble away in James's hands.
James stared absentmindedly at the phone screen, a tinge of apprehension rising within him. Taking a deep breath, he got out of bed.
Entering the kitchen, he saw the brand new cabinets untouched by any cooking smoke. Opening the fridge revealed an array of fine champagnes and beers, but not a single vegetable or egg.
In his previous life of destitution, this former rich heir had learned many things, including cooking.
James sighed wistfully, some habits are hard to break.
'Why not go to the market and buy some vegetables?'
The thought suddenly amused James.
Since he had experienced ordinary life before, he might as well continue being mundane for now. At least until [ Celestial Realm ] officially launched - grounding his restless emotions a bit would be good.
It would also allow him to carefully consider his next steps. With that in mind, James headed out.
The surrounding villa scenery felt both unfamiliar yet familiar. Arriving at the vehicle garage, he pressed his fingerprint and the large door slowly lifted.
Inside sat a Koenigsegg Regera, a model with only ten units across France.
Was he really going grocery shopping in this hypercar?
As the engine roared to life, its ferocious aura was like an awakened dragon from the depths belting out a mighty roar.
After inputting the settings, this outrageously eye-catching supercar smoothly exited the villa gates.
Everyone they passed simply had to gawk at it!
As the Koenigsegg hit the main streets, James gradually accelerated while still getting reacquainted with the incredibly powerful sports car.
Flooring the accelerator released an explosive burst from the four exhaust pipes as they burned rubber leaving everything behind.
Time flew by, and by the time James returned to the villa it was already noon. Parking in the garage, he retrieved the plastic bags of goods and meats from the passenger seat before heading inside.
While at the market earlier, James had received a call that his [ Celestial Realm ] top-tier gaming pod had arrived. So he remotely disarmed his home security to allow the installers access.
Entering the spacious yet minimalist bedroom, James immediately noticed the sci-fi styled gaming pod installed there.
This device was all too familiar from his previous life, where James had spent countless days and nights inside it.
With everything prepared, James laid down inside and began the biometric identity linking process.
[ Collecting personal information... ]
[ DNA authentication complete... ]
After the final confirmation, the scenery shifted as James suddenly found himself atop a towering castle wall, overlooking an endless siege force stretching to the horizon below. Observing their regimented ranks, bloodthirsty blades, and heart-pounding war drums roused an overwhelming sense of fervor.
"Men! Today we conquer the realm!!"
"James...your arrival in this realm has forged a destiny bond." A powerful voice boomed from the heavens.
"Ah! The ancient sacred imperial crown still awaits its wearer. Are you prepared to ascend to the throne?"
"Then in this plane of strife, leave your mark!!"
The tone abruptly shifted as a cold, impersonal system voice spoke:
[ Please name your in-game character... ]
[ BladeRunner ]," James said softly.
[ Name set. This will be your dedicated ID in the game. ]
[ Celestial Realm officially launches on September 28th, 2187 at 10:00 AM - 6 days remaining. Please wait patiently... ]
The game then automatically logged out as the seamless gaming pod slowly retracted its upper shell, bathing the interior in a soft blue glow.
James stood up energized by the novel experience. With quick movements he returned to his computer and accessed the official website.
There he saw the top recharge ranking for France had climbed to 5 million, under the ID [ DaddyCool ].
James recognized this as the leader of the DragonSlayers Guild, a wealthy man in his 40s who was quite formidable.
Second place had recharged 3.5 million under the name [ BeggarProMax ] - someone completely unfamiliar to James.
But observing the fluctuations in ranking, it seemed [ DaddyCool ] was reacting to the threat from [ BeggarProMax ] by constantly one-upping each other's recharge amounts.
Taking a deep breath, James knew his moment of destiny was upon him as he navigated to the recharge page.
-[ Enter the recharge value ]-
He saw the maximum single transaction was capped at 100,000, feeling a tinge of frustration that time was quickly running out to finish recharging.
Without hesitation he entered 100,000 and confirmed. After verifying the SMS code on his phone, the recharge was successful.
James stoically proceeded to repeat the process...
...
An hour later, James checked the time and saw he had already recharged 3 million. Shaking his head, it seemed he wouldn't have time to cook lunch today.
Glancing at the rankings, [ DaddyCool ] still led at 5 million. James smiled faintly, having chosen to remain anonymous - meaning his recharge amounts would not appear on these public leaderboards no matter how high.
He needed to stay low-key. If people knew beforehand how heavily James was investing in this yet-to-launch game, it could trigger butterfly effects.
The sheer recharge amount James intended would utterly shock everyone.
He pressed on.
-1:30 PM – Total Recharge Value: 4 million
-2:30 PM - Total Recharge Value: 6 million
-3:30 PM - Total Recharge Value: 9 million
-4:30 PM - Total Recharge Value: 14 million
Getting too hungry to continue, James headed to the kitchen and cooked up some noodles - the first time the brand new kitchenware was being used by its owner.
Order takeout? Truthfully, in his current state James didn't have the mental bandwidth for anything else. Whenever hungry, his first instinct was to cook for himself - a habit solidified during those destitute years of his previous life.
Some habits really are hard to break.
He hurriedly finished the plain, unseasoned noodles, lacking any appetizing ingredients or condiments.
Back at the computer, James prepared for an all-nighter and called his personal assistant.
[ Margaret, get me some of that special liquid medication... ]
Hanging up, James resumed recharging.
-7:30 PM - Total Recharge Value: 20 million
*Ding dong*
The doorbell rang. Pulling up the CCTV feed, James saw an elegant woman around 26 or 27 years old, dressed professionally and holding a bag.
This was his personal assistant. A flicker of complexity crossed James's eyes before he pressed a button, remotely unlocking the front door.
Soon after, a knock sounded at his bedroom door.
"Come in."
The door opened and James paused his work, swiveling* in his leather chair to face the entering woman.
Note*: to turn around
Truthfully, she was quite beautiful with an alluring poise fitting her role as James's handpicked assistant.
Flashing a smile at James, her melodious voice held a tinge of seductiveness. "Young master, I've brought what you requested."
"Just leave it over there," James replied dismissively, not elaborating further.
Setting the bag down, the assistant pursed her pouty lips, finding James's current aloofness quite strange compared to his usual demeanor.
"Anything else, Sir?" she asked.
James shook his head, giving her a sidelong glance. "That'll be all. You can go."
Sensing his coldness, the disappointed assistant nodded and retreated from the room. Passing through the kitchen, she couldn't help noticing the distinct cooking smells wafting about - clearly the kitchenware had been used, which was unprecedented before.
Puzzled, she stole a glance back towards James's room before departing the villa.
Watching her leave on the CCTV feed, James sighed and shook his head before refocusing on recharging!
-10 PM - Total Recharge Value: 37 million...
Keep going!
By 3 AM, the dead of night, James massaged his stiff neck and stretched his body to alleviate fatigue.
He had now cumulatively recharged 75 million.
To any outside observer, this would seem utterly insane. No person of sound mind would ever do such a thing.
Only James knew that if he didn't recharge his astronomical account balance within these few days, he would never get another chance once the game launched and the AI core awakened - just waiting for all that money to become worthless scraps.
The excruciating pain of destitution was something James never wanted to experience again.
Exhausted, his heavy eyelids struggling to stay open, it had been a long time since James last pulled an all-nighter. He eyed the medication his assistant had procured and decided now was the time to use it.
It was a green liquid supplement that, when diluted in warm bathwater, could rapidly rejuvenate the body from fatigue - albeit not recommended for frequent use.
After soaking in the therapeutic bath, James reappeared at his computer feeling fully reinvigorated, any trace of weariness now gone.
The first rays of dawn peeked through as birds began their morning calls outside.
James lit a cigarette, a relatively infrequent indulgence even in his previous life.
Checking his recharge log, he had topped up 130 million so far.
James hadn't actually calculated it, so he was unaware that 130 million was over 50 million higher than the entire cumulative global total on the public rankings.
Five days remained until launch, time to really step it up, James thought as he stubbed out the spent cigarette while gazing at the breaking sunrise.