Waking up from my comfortable bed, feeling the apathy of trying to get up, I was met with a bright flame-like orange screen that had a single line of glorious text that removed all my apathy.
[Points: 304,994]
'... WHO... WHAT... WHEN!?!?!?!?!?!'
I shot straight up and launched from the bed, slamming onto my face as my telekinetic powers went on the fritz slightly. Ignoring my fall I ran over to my desk and immediately noticed a massive influx of new purchases. The number was still rising as I stood there, hovering over the top of the desk in a white bra and panties.
[Points: 314,994]
Blinking my eyes rapidly I sat down and started to scan the places where my game had been streamed or shown. Straight away I saw Spidersidekick streaming to an audience of ten thousand people on Twitch. He was directing people to openly buy the game and had moved onto the Junk Town questline, clearing the 'butchers' there and the crime gangs whilst securing information on some integral factions in the upcoming acts.
[Points: 336,214]
Looking at YouTube people had started to drop tonnes of videos of their own gameplay. All of the figures were unfamiliar to me but one thing they all had in common was their love for my game. They too were putting links to my steam page, encouraging people to play for themselves.
Questioning their incentive I scanned their descriptions, noticing right away that they were getting multiple hundreds of thousands of views. Some of the more prolific such as 'Pewdiepie'; a really weird name, were even getting millions of people swarming and talking around and about the game.
My work had become a phenomena on the internet and apparently this wasn't the only thing going on as people were discussing the potential update soon coming... This was mostly rumour made by Spidersidekick on the grounds of me being an 'update whore' of a DEV.
'That's! Not... true...'
It felt weird to be called out like that as I already had a massive update planned for today...
After seeing that rumour spread I started to lurk in chats, watching interactions and gameplay. Much like Elden Ring and other types of super popular games Fallout was utterly full of content, fights, storyline and unique people.
Many of the streamers were trying new builds or straight up doing meme builds to entertain their audience, or in the case of a certain British man, break my game. Spiffing Brit was his name and he was hilarious with his tea advertisements and more absurd with his attempts to break the game.
At first he had attempted to break the inventory system, trying to dupe items and such. It failed. Moving on from that he began testing common failures of other games. Passing from him to someone else I noted a distinct progression on this streamer, as they were playing a very ranged-damage build that focussed on distance and percentage chance in hits. They were up to the HUB section of the map and were beginning the quests in that area, including one that would lead to eventually finding the water-chip.
[Points: 371,329]
"Okay calm the fuck down!"
Shaking my head I started to think on all of the things I could do.
'I could buy some things in the shop, make more content for Fallout... Maybe start working on another game...'
'No, I will finish Fallout first and then I'll work on that!'
'First, should I check my shop? It's been two days since I got my Telekinesis.'
\SHOP/
DAILY SPECIALS---
Adamantium Bar ( 10,000,000,000P down from 100,000,000,000P)
Cigarettes (10P down from 20P)
Nano-tech Clothing(1,000,000P down from 5,000,000P)
Spatial Expansion -For Structure- (1,000,000,000P down from 1,500,000,000P)
---BATTLEPASS---
*Have ten people purchase your game* : Single Bed, Silken Sheets (COMPLETED)
*Update a Game three times* : Dishwasher, Cutlery Set (COMPLETED)
*Introduce a Unique Feature that could enhance your popularity* : 100P (COMPLETED)
*Surpass 100 active players in any one game* : 1000P (COMPLETED)
*1 player reaches 100 hours played in one of your games* : Air-conditioning, Internet (COMPLETED)
*Buy 5 enhancements and apply them to a game you have created* : TV, 5 Sets of clothes (COMPLETED)
*Reach 100,000 Purchases in one single game* : Unlocks the Apartment
--SECTIONS--
SKILLS--
SUPERPOWERS--
MAGIC--
ITEMS--
MAGIC ITEMS--
SCI-FI ITEMS--
FOOD--
CLOTHING--
SLAVES/COMPANIONS-- (Access restricted)
///
Nothing interested me much in the daily specials and thus I started to search through some of the sections. Most were filled with small insignificant items but as I got further down the lists I started seeing really expensive things.
One in particular was ridiculously expensive... Despite having a really weird name...
\SECTION- MAGIC ITEMS/
Mind Stone- 1,000,000,000,000,000P
Space Stone-1,000,000,000,000,000P
Time Stone-1,000,000,000,000,000P
Power Stone- 500,000,000,000,000P
Soul Stone-10,000,000,000,000,000P
Reality Stone- 10,000,000,000,000,000P
///
The price for these stones were ridiculous, but given the cost they were most likely very powerful. Ignoring them for now I limited the cost of the items down to my price level. Instantly it was more sane, having items for combat, defence, utility and other miscellaneous effects.
\SECTION- MAGIC ITEMS/
Blessing of Midas- 400,000P
Pendant of Mind Protection- 320,000P
Bracelet of Chi Manifestation- 280,000P
Necro-protection Necklace- 100,000P
Spell Book-50,000P
Ring of Hiding-20,000P
Ring of Unknown Description- 10,000P
///
I wanted none of them. They all seemed so specific or needing of intense study to use. To be honest I was considering just using the points to feedback loop into my incoming income stream. Essentially meaning I was going to invest into Fallout more heavily.
And, the more I thought about that, the more it seemed intelligent. I could choose stuff when I was in the millions with points. At least then I would have more options and potentially impactful choices to make.
With that decided, I moved away from the shop and started to search through my options in adding stuff to the next update... Which lead to me looking through an infinite list of different textures, ideas, graphical styles, systems, mechanics and numerous other things.
After the first hour temptation almost spread to me and I almost released the update, just to escape the tediousness. Moving past that feeling though I eventually found what I wanted.
These were all elements of gaming back on my original world, but unlike with normal game-making software, these were integrated directly into the VR aspect of the game and had a much higher contrasting affect to all sensory outputs and inputs. Essentially I was investing in the brain of the game itself, upgrading it from an 'Open World RPG (Basic)' style game to an 'Open World RPG (Intermediate)'
Only downside to this was the bugs it would cause as It auto updated the system's save files of the game to fit the latest upgrades and then implemented them to each terrain, biome, city, region and map. Pixilation would be decimated with this and become semi-realistic. A fitting change to come with the introduction of all the Acts...
[Points: 139,864]
'Let's work on these bugs and we can then update!'
...
Meanwhile, at Midtown Highschool, Queens. Ned was walking next to a rather slim looking kid around his same age. This teenager had brown hair and brown eyes and had a rather strong jawline. He was full of curls and currently had a bag strung over his back whilst leaning in to listen to Ned.
"I tell you Peter, it is really awesome! You can feel the items in your hand, you can smell the creatures and blood... You can even taste the iron in the air after you paste some bad guys."
He almost stumbled into a nearby person only to be grabbed by Peter and yanked away just in time. Peter apologising for him as they continued out towards the exit of the Highschool.
"Do you have to get any special equipment, or...?"
"None! It's really awesome! All you need is a computer to download it and then your consciousness will enter into the game character."
"Wait, you go unconscious?"
"No... You enter into the game as the character, when you wake up you are still in your body."
Peter frowned slightly whilst listening, his brain slowly working away at the idea of the game as Ned continued.
"Peter, you can leave whenever you want if that is your worry... It's not like that one anime..."
Having his thoughts so easily divulged to himself by his friend made the teen rather flustered but that was soon put to the side. Peter looked at his best friend in the world who was super excited to share this with him and sighed. He knew he would be playing this as well, judging off his friend's level of enthusiasm.
It was at this point that the duo of nerds passed by a group of girls, one in specific catching Peter's attention as she gave him a coquettish glance before continuing to chat to her friends.
"MJ..." He held out his hand as if to stop her but his words were whispered, his hand slowly dropping as his chance once again faded.
"So are you going to play Fallout???"
"U-uh, sure, why not..." Shaking his head, Peter moved onwards with his friend through the front entrance of the high school, amidst the shouts and calls of hundreds of relieved students. A single girl looking at Peter Parker as he exited, Mary jane; MJ.
...
Wayne Residence Gotham...
Damian was currently obliterating a punching bag with consecutive punches as each hand held a punch dagger. Sand scattered everywhere in spouts of kinetic impact. Out of nowhere an arrow punctured through the air towards Damian only to be slapped from the air as Damian backhanded it right after finishing a strong left hook into the punching bag.
"Good deflection, Damian."
A perfectly dressed butler with receding hairline and prominent black hair stepped from the nearby shadow as he pulled straight his pristinely white gloves. Wrinkles and grooves in his face portrayed the man as a fatherly figure, but belying that was the small white scars that casually sported his chin, his nose and his brow in a few places.
He walked with confidence and superb eloquence as he drew a dagger and handed it to Damian this time. With bristled feathers so to speak, Damian accepted the dagger and began inspecting it as the sound of a car approaching the front of the manner met both their ears.
"This dagger is much better than those that you are using, see fit not to destroy it, as they are from my time in the military."
"I'll be sure not to Pennyworth."
"Mmm, good. Then it is my pleasure to inform you that your father will be attending dinner tonight and he wished to speak to you about a certain matter..."
Damian looked confused as he pressed the knife into a pocket in his exercising outfit.
"What matter?"
"I believe that is for him to ask of you, Damian. Now, be ready by ten, dinner will be served at that time."
Alfred walked off towards the entry door of the gymnasium, closing the doors softly behind him as his footfalls faded quickly. Damian being left to his own devices.
'My dad wants to talk to me...? This is news.'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have a Patreon where you can get exclusive Discord roles, vote on Fan fiction decisions, and even suggest Extra Chapters for me to write. Join here: patreon.com/user?u=111976696.
If you'd like to further support my work, here's my PayPal: paypal.me/RBSMFF.
Feel free to join my Discord community here: https://discord.gg/wVZXpPpUQn.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------