Parallel world.
Pearl Country.
In the capital of Zambales province, Iba.
Inside an old dirty apartment, Jay is sitting in front of his computer, waving at the camera.
"Alright guys, I'll leave for now. I still have some things to do, so, see you later!"
After saying goodbye to his 10 viewers, Alex ended his livestream.
Once he turned it off, Jay immediately slumped on his chair, looking like a soggy noodle.
Staring at the computer screen, he sighed dejectedly,
"Hais, what the hell am I even doing."
Jay is a 21 years old, third year college student in Magsaysay University.
Being in his third year, Jay has quite a lot of free time on his hands.
That's why after thinking for a while, he decided to do something that could earn him money.
That is, live streaming!
Living in the internet age, Jay has been exposed to all kinds of entertainment.
And live streaming is one of the most popular nowadays.
A lot of people who were unknown before became super popular thanks to live streaming.
So Jay, a normal guy with a bit of a handsome face, hopes to become like them.
Unfortunately, after live streaming for more than a month, only a few people actually stay to watch him.
There are even days where his viewers only stay at a single digit.
Probably because people don't find his live streams entertaining enough.
Anyway, after doing this for more than a month, Jay is already starting to lose hope.
He's losing motivation to continue live streaming and has been thinking about giving up.
"Am I really not suitable for live streaming?" Jay muttered helplessly.
Picking up a rubik's cube on top of the computer table, Jay played with it while such thoughts were running on his head.
It's said to be a rubik's cube but its appearance looks different from the normal one.
This one is only filled with the color black on all sides.
However, if you look at it closely, you will see that there is actually something written on each piece.
Like an engraving of a letter from an unknown language system.
Jay also doesn't know what it is and he doesn't care.
Because this rubik's cube is something that Jay found in the mountains in his hometown when he was younger.
As for its origin?
He doesn't have a clue.
Anyway, since it's just a rubik's cube, a toy, Jay just took it home to play with it.
Unknowingly, it's already been 10 years since that day.
…
Staring at his own image on the computer screen, Jay muttered,
"Should I just stop live streaming?"
"Maybe it's better to just apply as a crew member on some fast food chain. Then for sure I can earn money steadily."
Jay let out a deep sigh while his hands didn't stop moving for even a second.
Jay moved his fingers in a fluid motion. His movements are familiar, as if he's done this already thousands of times.
Along with his fingers, the rubik's cube also started moving at a fast speed, breaking the pattern before getting arranged once again.
It was like his body has long since memorized the cube thanks to him using it for more than a decade.
But just as he solved the rubik's cube, suddenly, a clicking sound attracted his attention.
Click!
"Hmm?"
Jay turned his eyes to the source of the noise, the rubik's cube in his hands.
As he did so, he immediately noticed something.
"Huh? What's happening here?"
The rubik's cube that was previously covered by pure black on all sides is suddenly emitting a golden light at this time!
To be precise, it was those unknown writings on the cube that's emitting golden lights!
Still in confusion, Jay didn't know what's happening.
Suddenly, a translucent screen appeared in front of his eyes, startling Jay.
"What?!"
To his surprise, he let go of the rubik's cube and stood up.
However, instead of falling, the rubik's cube actually remained in place, floating silently.
But Jay didn't notice that because all of his attention was on the translucent screen in front of him at this time.
Before he even recovered, a synthetic voice suddenly echoed inside his mind.
[Congratulations, you have solved the 'Cube' a total of 100,000 times. You are now the temporary owner of 'Cube'.]
These series of events stunned Jay.
He remained still for a few seconds before he took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
For now, he should try to grasp what's happening in front of him.
Jay turned his eyes back at the translucent screen.
"This screen says that I'm the temporary owner of the 'Cube'."
Jay moved his eyes to the floating cube right in front of him with curiosity.
"Just what the hell is this thing?" He muttered.
Reaching out for the cube, Jay was surprised to hear the synthetic voice once again the moment he touched it.
['Cube' ownership confirmed.]
[As the owner of 'Cube', a chance to awaken your soul talent has been given.]
The second that voice died, the cube suddenly started moving.
The small pieces of it moved away from each other, giving it an image as if the cube expanded.
In-between those pieces, Jay saw something glowing with soft white light.
It was a silver marble about the size of a thumb.
Without even having the time to inspect it, the silver marble suddenly moved and shot towards him.
Jay didn't get the time to react, the silver marble hit his forehead and disappeared.
"Huh? Eh? W-what happened?"
Only then did Alex react.
Touching his forehead, Jay didn't feel any pain at all, leaving him confused.
However, he didn't have to think long to know the answer.
"Wait… what?!"
Inside his body, Jay felt something welling up, flowing all over his body.
It was like a warm feeling that was traveling inside his body.
Jay suddenly experienced unimaginable relaxation wash all over him.
Unconsciously, he sat down and didn't move at all.
"Ahh~"