"One hundred million!"
Cynthia had been holding it in for a while. When the number on the screen finally started with "100," she threw her hands up and shouted.
[Piano Tiles has reached 100 million downloads! Milestone unlocked!]
[Milestone Reward: "Universal Harmony"]
[Unlocked Path to Growth — Milestone? Milestone!]
[Download Milestone Stage 5 Unlocked] Gold Chest ×1
A gold chest?!
William didn't even have time to get excited—one system notification after another kept popping up.
[Partners]
[Task: Form business partnerships with three different types of companies, and develop a game with their help.]
[Reward: +30 Reputation Points]
[Paid Game]
[Task: Develop a paid game that earns a total of 1 million yuan in user purchases.]
[Reward: +50 Reputation Points, Bronze Chest ×1]
[Second Team]
[Task: Set up a second game studio.]
[Reward: +50 Reputation Points]
[Starting to Grow · Continued]
[Task: Develop a game that involves all employees.]
[Reward: Silver Chest ×1]
[The Ninth Art] (Part 1 of Series)
[Task: Create a game that earns 100,000 user reviews.]
[Reward: +100 Reputation Points]
Five new tasks dropped all at once—it felt like hitting the system's main artery.
"Why aren't you excited at all?!"
Cynthia had been bouncing around, only to see William still completely expressionless.
William finally took a deep breath and said, "I'm too excited."
And he meant it—this was his first ever gold chest.
Ding!
Ding!
Dong!
Suddenly, random musical notes filled his ears. He looked around and saw a music staff floating above Cynthia's head out of nowhere.
Seeing her still moving around, William quickly told her, "Don't move."
"Huh?" Cynthia looked confused. "What are you doing?"
William rubbed his eyes, trying to make sure he wasn't seeing things—and that faint music in his ears was still there.
"N-no, it's nothing."
Actually, it wasn't just Cynthia who had sound. William saw musical staff lines floating above Aunt Oliver's head too. In fact, anything he looked at now came with a staff line and some musical notes on top of it.
"What's going on?"
[This is your new ability.]
"New ability?"
William remembered the system's first notification.
The milestone reward: [Universal Melody].
So this skill basically made staff lines and a few disconnected notes appear over people and objects.
"What's the point of this?"
Other than hearing a mess of sounds, William didn't feel anything special about it.
[Please explore it on your own.]
"Fine."
"Why aren't you even a little excited?!" Cynthia repeated her question. She was still hyped about Piano Tiles hitting a hundred million downloads.
Right now, social media was full of trending posts talking about it, though part of that was because the Qin family was working behind the scenes to push the news.
Even though Aunt Oliver didn't really get games or download numbers, she knew that one hundred million was a huge deal. Even her own kid's net worth was only a few billion, and these two young people in front of her were clearly much more impressive.
"I'm heading back to my room."
William really couldn't hold it in anymore. Every second he wasn't opening that golden chest was torture. He wanted to rip it open right now, but he was afraid of looking too weird if he got overly excited.
...
"You think he might've gone dumb from shock?" Cynthia looked in the direction William left, visibly worried.
Aunt Oliver said, "Some people are just shy. Maybe he went back to his room to celebrate out loud."
"But he doesn't seem like the type…"
"How long have you known him?"
"Well, not that long."
"Then there you go."
...
William had no idea he'd become the topic of their gossip, and even if he did, he wouldn't care. Right now, the only thing on his mind was that golden treasure chest. He just hoped the system wouldn't mess with him again and would finally give him a real, useful skill.
Open the chest!
He didn't want to wait even one more second.
Blinding golden light lit up the whole private space, like a mini sun had just appeared, dazzling and overwhelming.
[You have received "Omniscient Compendium (Character Edition)"]
The moment he saw the notification, William felt a weight in both hands.
An encyclopedia?
He looked at the thin booklet in his hands—maybe a dozen pages at most. It didn't look nearly as impressive as its name suggested.
He opened it.
Blank pages.
"Are you kidding me?"
William almost threw the so-called "sacred book" to the ground. Was the system messing with him?
[Please say a name in your mind.]
"Marcus?"
He blurted it out without thinking. Right after, a photo and some information appeared on the previously blank page.
The photo was a full-body shot of Marcus. No idea where it was taken, but it looked recent and clearly showed his whole appearance.
"What's that symbol on his clothes?"
William noticed a small clothing icon next to the photo. Looks like this "Heavenly Book" wasn't a regular book.
Then again, that made sense—the photos and text had just suddenly appeared. They weren't there before.
[Just tap it and see for yourself.]
Hearing that from the system, William tapped without hesitation.
It's just a book. What's the worst that could happen—bite him?
He was full of confidence as he went to explore it, but the book did "bite" him.
"My eyes!"
The Marcus on the page really was the Marcus. One glance and you saw everything. It was way too much visual impact.
At the same time, Marcus, who was in the middle of a shower, suddenly felt a chill—like someone had just seen him naked.
[This All-Knowing Guide helps you fully understand the person you're curious about.]
Yeah, fully alright.
"What's the point of seeing someone naked?"
What's the point?
What's the point…
What's the point!
"Anyone at all?" William's mind started to drift.
[Yes, as long as you say the name and have a basic idea of who they are.]
Gulp!
William couldn't help but swallow. Sure, Marcus's photo had been hard to look at, but there were so many beautiful women in the world. Wouldn't that mean…
No!
A voice in his head stopped that creepy thought. This book had more meaningful uses. If he treated it like some dirty magazine, everything would be ruined.
But still… just one peek wouldn't hurt, right?
No!
William wrestled with himself, stuck between right and wrong, his sense of morality flip-flopping nonstop.
"No no no no no no no…"
He kept muttering under his breath. Outside the room, Cynthia, who had been eavesdropping, was completely confused. After hearing Aunt Oliver mention that William might secretly be the repressed type, she wanted to confirm it for herself. But what she heard wasn't quite what she expected.
What exactly was "not okay"?
---
Read +30 advanced chapters on my patre*n
patr eon.com/GustinaKamiya
Free Tier can read 3 advanced chapters
---