Chapter 18: The Next Destination
The following morning arrived with a soft knock on Anshul's door.
"Anshul, are you awake?" his mother's voice came from outside.
Anshul slowly opened his eyes and glanced at the clock beside his bed.
7:15 AM.
He had fallen asleep late the previous night after reviewing several reports generated by his AI system.
"I'm awake," he replied.
"Come for breakfast."
A few minutes later, Anshul walked into the dining room.
His grandparents were already sitting at the table. His grandmother was reading the newspaper while his grandfather was watching the morning news.
His father was scrolling through his phone.
Everything looked like a normal family morning.
But the moment Anshul sat down, his father spoke.
"Your university sent another email."
Anshul paused slightly.
"I saw it."
"They said your attendance is extremely low."
His father looked at him seriously.
"You need to explain what you're doing."
Anshul took a sip of tea before answering.
"I'm building a company."
His grandmother lowered the newspaper.
"A company?"
"Yes."
"What kind?"
"A technology company."
His father frowned slightly.
"You're still a student."
"I know."
"And you think running a company is more important than finishing your degree?"
Anshul didn't answer immediately.
After a moment he simply said,
"For now, yes."
The room became quiet.
His parents clearly didn't like the answer, but they didn't argue further.
Finally his father sighed.
"We'll talk about this later."
After breakfast, Anshul returned to his room.
As soon as the door closed, he sat down at his desk and opened his laptop.
The AI system interface appeared immediately.
Several graphs displayed financial data collected overnight.
The program had already analyzed dozens of market patterns.
Anshul reviewed the results carefully.
The prediction model was improving steadily.
He opened his trading platform and placed two small investments based on the AI's recommendations.
Within a few minutes the orders were complete.
"Good," he murmured.
Next, he opened the World Theater interface.
The translucent screen appeared in front of him.
Traveler Level: 1
Current World: Origin World
Limitless — 38%
The progress bar continued moving slowly.
Time inside the Limitless world was advancing exactly as expected.
If his memory of the movie timeline was correct, Eddie Morra was probably already becoming extremely influential in the financial world.
Soon he would attract political attention.
And eventually he would gain control of the pharmaceutical company responsible for producing NZT.
That was the moment Anshul was waiting for.
Because at that stage, the perfected version of NZT—one without side effects—would appear.
Until then, interfering with that world was unnecessary.
Anshul closed the interface.
But instead of returning to work, he opened the World Library.
Thousands of movie and television worlds appeared on the screen.
Most of them were still frozen because he had never entered them.
Only one world was currently active.
Limitless.
His eyes moved across the list until they stopped on a familiar title.
The Princess Diaries
Anshul leaned back slightly in his chair.
Compared to many other worlds inside the system, this one was extremely safe.
No superpowers.
No advanced weapons.
No world-ending disasters.
Just a modern society and a small European kingdom called Genovia.
But that world had something incredibly valuable.
A future princess.
And potentially a perfect place to establish his multiverse headquarters.
If he could gain influence there early, it would become an ideal base for future operations.
Anshul thought carefully.
Entering a new world always required preparation.
Because once he entered, time would begin flowing there permanently.
And due to synchronization, time would continue passing in his original world as well.
He couldn't disappear for too long.
His parents were already suspicious.
The university was sending warnings.
Everything had to be carefully balanced.
After thinking for several minutes, Anshul finally smiled.
"This world should be safe enough."
He stood up and walked toward the window.
Outside, the city of Pune was already busy.
Cars filled the streets.
Students walked toward their universities.
Office workers rushed to their jobs.
Everything looked ordinary.
Yet Anshul knew that somewhere beyond this world existed countless others.
And he now had the ability to step into them whenever he wished.
He returned to his desk.
The World Theater interface still displayed the Princess Diaries world.
Anshul placed his hand on the keyboard.
"Let's begin the next chapter."
With a single command, the portal slowly began to open.