(Volume IX: Placeholder)
As the saying goes, the morning sets the tone for the day.
But when Shu opened his eyes and saw a large face practically pressed against his own, he really wanted to say...
Never mind...
"Why are you in my room?" Shu asked calmly, still lying in bed.
He looked over at Kiana, who was leaning over his bedside, with an air of someone who was all too used to this.
"To wake you up, of course!" Kiana said as if it were the most natural thing in the world. But even through his blurry vision, Shu keenly caught the fleeting guilt in her eyes.
The corner of Shu's eye twitched. He let out a long sigh, sat up, and reached for the glasses on his nightstand. After putting them on, he casually reached for the bottom drawer.
Smack!
A hand shot out and grabbed Shu's. Expressionless, he looked up to meet Kiana's pitiful gaze.
They stared at each other in silence. Shu remained impassive while Kiana did her best to squeeze out a few tears, trying to look even more pathetic.
The standoff lasted for a few seconds before Shu sighed in resignation and averted his gaze.
"These are all expired, aren't they...? You really shouldn't eat them. If you get a stomachache, Mei will definitely find out."
Kiana chuckled sheepishly. "I'm super healthy! I'll be totally fine!"
"Besides..." Kiana trailed off, then lowered her head and mumbled, "I don't have any money to buy fresh snacks right now..."
Kiana's words made Shu pause. He stared blankly at her for a moment before asking, completely baffled, "What money?"
Since when did Fire Moth use currency?
Ever since he got back yesterday, Shu had shut himself in his room, even skipping the welcome party spontaneously organized by the Fire Moth staff.
Theresa and the others had taken him back to his villa via a secluded route, and this was the first time he had seen another person since.
So, Shu's current understanding of Fire Moth was minimal, mostly based on old impressions.
Like, for instance...
"Shu, do you want to go check out the ninth floor? It's packed with people now, so lively!" Kiana said, her eyes sparkling. "Mei, Bronya, and I went to see it yesterday. There are so, so many shops!"
"It's just... we don't have any money... hehe..." After saying that, Kiana shyly poked her fingers together.
"I don't have any money either..." Shu said, shaking his head in frustration. Forget having money; he didn't even know what kind of currency Fire Moth used or what its purchasing power was.
"Um..." Kiana started, then hesitated. It was Bronya, popping up from behind her, who finished the thought.
"Actually, we do have money," Bronya said. Shu looked up in confusion, just as Mei walked in carrying a tray with a bowl of congee, an egg, and a fried dough stick.
Are they treating me like a patient?
Shu stretched his body, which was a little sore, probably from sleeping too long, and fell into thought as he looked at the breakfast Mei had brought in.
"How could we have money?" Shu pointed at the nightstand, gesturing for Mei to put the breakfast there. He quickly got out of bed, clearing some space for people to sit in the small bedroom.
"The currency used by Fire Moth now is Contribution Points," Bronya explained, which made Shu's eyebrow twitch.
Seeing Shu's reaction, Bronya immediately looked as if she'd found a kindred spirit. "It's a system right out of a video game, isn't it?"
It really was like a video game... just like some arbitrary point system.
But undeniably, a virtual currency like this was a good way to quickly issue and establish a mature system.
And that name...
"You get Contribution Points by making contributions to Fire Moth, or rather, to humanity. Recycling raw materials, labor, participating in combat—all of these things earn you Contribution Point rewards," Mei explained, setting down the breakfast and sharing the intel she'd gathered the day before.
As she spoke, under Kiana's nervous gaze, Mei suddenly bent down and yanked open the bottom drawer.
A drawer packed to the brim with snacks was revealed. Kiana's soul nearly left her body. She spun around to flee, only to find that Bronya had been standing at the doorway the whole time, blocking her escape.
I'm toast!
Even before Kiana could shoot him a desperate plea for help, Shu gave her a look that said, Sorry, can't help you. Kiana glanced around the room, feeling as if the world were a cruel and unjust place.
Mei expertly hoisted Kiana up with one hand while continuing her explanation to Shu. "And right now, the fastest way to earn Contribution Points is to form a City Exploration Team."
Shu already knew about that. He had learned about City Exploration Teams on [Spark] before. It was another very game-like profession.
Shu even suspected that Otto had lifted the idea from some isekai game, copying the settings wholesale.
But Shu's knowledge of City Exploration Teams ended there. However, as he looked at Bronya's expressionless face, he couldn't help but feel that she was in a state of suppressed excitement.
"So, does our money have something to do with these City Exploration Teams?" Shu still didn't understand why Bronya had claimed they had money. "Are we considered a team or something? But we haven't accepted any missions..."
It couldn't be embezzled funds, right? If that were the case, they might as well all put on ski masks, blow up Otto's private vault, and grab some spending money.
"Actually, we've completed a lot of missions," Mei said, taking Shu's phone and pulling up an interface for him.
Shu took his phone back and glanced at the screen. The golden emblem for [The Strongest City Exploration Team] was so gaudy it nearly blinded him.
This made it feel even more like a game, and one with the distinct vibe of a cheap, low-quality MMO.
Otto definitely had the ability to design a better interface, but making it look like this... Shu could only assume Otto's twisted sense of humor was acting up.
Does the guy think he's building a player guild or something?
A million retorts sprang to mind, but Shu suppressed them and continued reading.
"Mission Complete... Annihilate the Champion, Annihilate the Herrscher, Clear the Base... All of these count?" Shu was surprised.
Would Otto really include these?
These missions were anything but easy. If they were all counted, then the Contribution Points earned by their little [City Exploration Team] would be...
"Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands..." Shu counted up the digits, his voice getting slower and slower. "Hundred thousands, millions, ten millions... a hundred million?"
Shu fell silent, his eyes glued to the ridiculously long string of numbers, staring blankly.
Perhaps for the others, this string of numbers wasn't a huge deal. Kiana was the current young master of House Kaslana; she'd never had to worry about money.
Mei was the little princess of ME Corp, a pampered heiress doted on by her father, Ryoma. A number like this probably wouldn't even cover the taxes on one of her family's projects.
But for Shu and Bronya, this figure was on a completely different level.
This was a hundred million!
Wait, what if the purchasing power is really low? If this was a currency on the level of the Zimbabwean dollar, then a hundred million would be worth...
"Five Contribution Points can buy you a full meal—the kind with two meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, and a soup," Mei chimed in, perfectly addressing Shu's concern. "I noticed the prices yesterday when Theresa took us to the cafeteria."
At that, Shu's breathing hitched completely.
"We really have a hundred million?" The number was so staggering that Shu had to ask again.
Mei smiled and nodded at him. Kiana, still dangling from her grip, suddenly burst with energy. "That's right, Shu! We have a whole hundred million! I can't even imagine what we could possibly eat to spend it all!"
"No, we can also use this hundred million to acquire many other things," Bronya offered a different suggestion. "Bronya has seen some computer components on the market. With sufficient funds, Bronya can assemble an exceptionally powerful computer."
"Let's not be so extravagant..." Mei tried to rein in their spending urges. "A hundred million... it's a lot of money, but that's no reason to waste it. Besides, we need to ask Shu for his opinion, too." Mei turned to him. "Shu, what do you think? Is there anything you want to buy?"
"I..." Shu almost subconsciously started to list something, but when the words reached his lips, he suddenly realized... he didn't really have anything he wanted to buy.
But why did I open my mouth instinctively? Did some part of me think there was something I wanted?
But with the three of them staring at him expectantly, Shu opened his mouth again, trying to pluck a single desire from the chaos of his thoughts.
Buy some snacks like Kiana? It had been a while since he'd had any... But Mei's cooking was always so delicious and filling, and his appetite had been a little... off lately.
What about assembling a powerful PC, like Bronya suggested? No, network issues aside... would he even have time to use it? And for the tasks that required a computer, didn't he already have access to a quantum cluster computer?
Then... should he just save it, like Mei suggested?
But it was a hundred million... Was he really going to become a penny-pincher now that he was rich?
"I think I'll just eat first," Shu said, using it as an excuse to escape his analysis paralysis. Under the watchful eyes of the three girls, he walked distractedly to the bathroom to wash up.
Watching Shu leave the room, the three girls who remained exchanged a look and let out a soft, simultaneous chuckle.
"I don't think we've told him that the hundred million is actually his personal asset, have we?" Bronya said, pulling out her own phone.
The screen displayed her personal account. Compared to the outrageous nine-digit figure on Shu's account, Bronya's assets were a mere seven digits.
It was a difference of dozens of times, but Bronya had already looked into it yesterday. The average savings for a person in Fire Moth hovered around a few thousand Contribution Points.
Official, full-time members might have tens of thousands. The wealthiest individuals only had a few hundred thousand at most.
By that measure, the four of them were now bona fide rich!
As for Shu's hundred million... the girls actually felt he deserved far more for everything he had done.
But the number would have been astronomical, effectively no different from a hundred million anyway, so Otto had simply rounded it to a nice, clean figure.
It was no longer about whether Shu had money or not.
Even if some legendary figure managed to earn that much in the future, for Otto, adding a few more zeroes to Shu's account was a trivial matter.
Of course, if people found out how Shu got his money, they might complain that Otto hadn't just added a few more zeroes to begin with.
Of course, for all their talk, the money was currently unusable. For some reason, their accounts had been frozen. To unfreeze them, Shu would have to go see Otto.
Hmm... that was probably the real reason the accounts were frozen. Otto just wanted an excuse to make Shu come to him, rather than the other way around.
They had already submitted most of their reports from the trip, but there were many things that only Shu could explain from his perspective, things he needed to tell Otto himself.
Kiana and the others didn't get it. Maybe this was what people called that strange, competitive pride between men?
In reality, that wasn't it at all. Shu was simply stuck in his room recovering from the side effects of his [Wish].
Otto, in turn, was using this situation to give Shu plenty of space, allowing him to come and find him whenever he felt ready.
When Shu returned from the bathroom, he was still in a bit of a daze. The shock of having a hundred million was just too great for him to process.
He was just a guy from the bottom rungs of society—no, he was someone who hadn't even really stepped into society yet. How could he have ever seen so much money?
Even if the money was earned jointly with Kiana and the others, his share would still be at least ten million, right?
Ten million... Ten million...
Shu mechanically peeled his egg, crushing the shell into tiny pieces, his gaze still lost in the distance. The girls beside him exchanged glances, and finally, Kiana reached out and patted his shoulder.
"Shu, let me ask you something," Kiana said, leaning close to his stunned face with a very serious expression.
Shu nodded, gesturing for her to go ahead.
And so, Kiana asked a question that was both completely random and utterly unexpected.
"Have you ever... bought any merch before?"
Shu: "?"
Mei: "?"
Bronya: "What kind of merch?"
Kiana glanced around, then lowered her voice and whispered her true question in Shu's ear.
"You know... Mei figurines, body pillows, themed t-shirts... Ow, ow, ow! Mei, I was wrong, I'm sorry!!" Before Kiana could even finish her sentence, Mei had once again seized her by the scruff of her ill-fated neck.
"Since you like merch so much, Kiana... why don't you try out the biggest piece of 'merch' of all..." Mei's expression darkened slightly, but she maintained her smile.
Kiana looked at the sandbag-sized "merch" that Mei was raising—her fist—and shook her head in terror.
She was completely in the wrong here! There was no way she could take a punch that big!
Just as Mei's fist was about to descend, Shu's reaction—delayed by what felt like an entire century—finally arrived.
"What merch?!"