Living Life As A Game: Through And Through 50 Father-“Son” Cha

Meanwhile, in Seoul Korea, a devilishly handsome younger-looking gentleman stopped the powerpoint presentation he was in the midst of presenting. Up until this point, the man had calmly and eloquently presented the latest prototype of Quantum Inc's s.p.a.ce-quaking Grenades.

"...Yes, this latest model has been used several hundred times successfully, bringing down the rate of accidents from the previous 5% unsafe benchmark all the way down to less than a tenth of a percent. I can say with complete confidence that this tool is more than ready for actual use in the..." Ring! Ring! Ring! The man stopped as the buzzing and ringing from his phone caused his face to turn downcast.

"Excuse me, I have to take this call. It's extremely important..." The people in the room were all very familiar with the man giving his presentation. Yet, never throughout the long and successful career, he had campaigned through, had they once seen his face turn even close to as solemn as it currently was.

"Kurt, we all understand if you need to take a minute or two..." One of the cleanly suited men sitting by the oblong meeting table said.

Kurt nodded his head and walked out of the room before he pulled out his phone and heaved a heavy sigh. There were very few things which would cause his phone to go off during a meeting; all intended to be horrific situations. And his son calling him const.i.tuted as one such thing. That cheeky kid… actually going out of his way to send him a message? If Kurt hadn't just read the actual contents of what "Adrian" wanted, he would have a.s.sumed that something horrible happened to him.

Still… his son wanted camping equipment? For what? Playing pretend? Was he being bullied or hara.s.sed on the internet? Maybe he found a girlfriend through the internet… Literally every other reason than the pursuit of going camping by need or for pleasure crossed Kurt's mind, as there was no way he would accept that HIS son would want to leave his room, never mind the house.

However, given that his son wished for camping gear specifically from the family company, Kurt was inclined to believe he wasn't playing around and was actually looking for the best of the best. He couldn't image what Adrian would want with camping, but for the sake of that nigh-impossible chance that it might actually be because he was interested in camping or hiking, Kurt made up his mind to further spoil his son as he wrote "ok."

At the moment he sent his message, he received another one from the same recipient which stated "Oh, and could you send it to this address?" followed by the dojo's address.

Now Kurt was actually beginning to get worried. Not a moment ago, he couldn't imagine his son leaving the house, so there was hardly a chance he would actually be the one receiving the camping gear, if Kurt decided to follow through with his decision. The thought that Adrian might be outsourcing the company's products did pa.s.s through Kurt's mind for just a split second before he discarded the idea as it didn't at all line up with Adrian's character. Kurt knew his son was a little "troubled," socially speaking of course, and with everything he could already want at the tips of his fingers, there wasn't a reason he couldn't think of for why his son might want to ruin the family company.

In any case, Kurt wouldn't get much of anything just guessing what was happening, so he wrote, "Son… Why do you want this camping gear, exactly?"

At the other end of the world, Elizabeth cursed her luck for being questioned. She thought, 'Tsk! I should have known he'd be asking questions… This really is way too abnormal for my "usual" self.'

She scrambled through a brainstorm, trying to figure out a good excuse, then furiously typed, "I'm trying to change as a person. For too long I've only worried about myself and kept isolated. I started going to this dojo and have even temporarily moved out of the house to keep myself active with the community, all in an effort to be a less… depressed kind of person. Soon my friends will be going on a camping trip to the north, and I want to go with them." Along with the message, Elizabeth also sent a picture of her room and the view from her window to road outside.

Before Kurt, could respond one final text was sent as Elizabeth placed all her chips in trying to get him to stop asking questions. She wrote "I know it might seem like quite the drastic change for me, but you have to understand... I've realized that I can't just spend the rest of my life playing games, alone and separated from the rest of the world. I want to be more like you and mom and live a fulfilling life. The last thing I want to say, is this. I read your message from last week and I want to warn you… The next time you see me, I want you to prepare yourself, as I won't be the same loser as before."

"..." Kurt read through the messages and squinted his eyes in skepticism. In just these couple messages, Adrian had talked to him more than he had the last he and his wife visited. Furthermore, this talk of changing himself was utterly ridiculous. For a solid minute, Kurt contemplated asking Adrian to start a video chat so that he could hear this from his son directly.

But, when he thought of how Adrian might really be trying to change himself for the better… That was the kind of thing a real man did as he knew from personal experience. For fear of shaking Adrian's resolve of wanting to truly make a groundbreaking change, Kurt refrained from interacting too much for now.

He just sent another confirmation message along with a string of cheesy emojis as he returned to give his presentation. In any case, he would be meeting with his son after just a couple more weeks, at that point, he would find out exactly what was going on. And, if it so happened that the one making such calls to his phone wasn't his son and something unexpected or even nightmarish transpired… Kurt had the wherewithal to deal with it all.

…

Back in Elizabeth's room, Elizabeth took on a half-hearted smile. She was glad her father stopped pressing her with more questions, but at the same time, addressing reality and confessing that she had previously been a loser and a failure to her own father… that kind of humiliation was hard to stomach; it didn't matter if she was antisocial or not.

Elizabeth put down her phone as decided to check through the pending notifications she had previously skipped.

[Status

Battle Summaries

3) VS 5 Late-Phase Mortal "Jackal" Beasts

Description: Upon breaking into a chase after that phenomenal breakthrough, young Elizabeth shot down five of her pursuers as she ran through the forest.

Outcome: +3.80 Endurance +.30 Speed +.75 Intelligence

4) VS 2 "Crocodiles," 7 "Jackals," 5 "Monkeys," and 2 "Snakes." All Late to Peak-Phase Mortal Realm Beasts.

Description: To decrease the risk of her escape, young Elizabeth momentarily stopped from an over half-hour's long sprint, to cleverly kill, if not wound, the fastest of her pursuers. In the end, managing to come out of this battle royale type fight with not a scratch on her!

Outcome: +.03 Strenght +1.45 Endurance +.80 Speed +1.21 Intelligence

Main Quests

Main Quest 1: Reach Level 5! (Complete!)

Difficulty: F

Objective One) Pick a weapon.✔

Objective Two) Enter the Shadow Realm and gain experience.✔

Description: P has given you your first quest to get you prepared for the inevitable Cataclysm. Level 5 will be nowhere near the level of strength you'll need to survive the Cataclysm but the purpose of the mission is to inspire a sense of pressure in you to get used to gaining experience and leveling in a short span of time.

Reward:

Choice of:

1) 1 Mortal Grade Reforging Crystal

2) 1 Mediocre Tier Elemental Affinity Stone

3) 1 Bad Tier Affinity Stone

4) Extra Break Time

BONUS: With the extra time remaining on your deadline, you'll be granted two days of break time. Meaning, the next Main Quest's time limit will not start until then. Use that time to as you please, either spending it at your leisure on the things you wish to indulge yourself in… Or, you could start working on your other quests if you please…

Main Quest 2: Reach Level 10! (Incomplete)

Difficulty: D

Objective One) Manifest Magic and enter the p.a.w.n Stage

Objective Two) Complete the p.a.w.n Stage to the crest of perfection.

Description: These will only get more and more difficult as your journey through the higher and higher summits of cultivation. The Cataclysm waits for no one — well that's not entirely true… you could certainly delay the arrival of the Cataclysm if you opt out of accepting any of the other rewards granted by completing Main Quests; though you'd be essentially inviting disaster by doing so, it's still an option… — thus you need to keep improving lest you find yourself ill-prepared to tackle the final battle and come out victorious.

Deadline: 11 Days (Locked via Break Time: 1D 22H 25M)

Training Summaries

Cooking:

1) Dissecting and cooking up all the edible material off a "Dog" and "Snake" Beasts.

Outcome: Principles of Precision and Accuracy increased to the Basic level, +.1 Strength +.15 Speed +.2 Intelligence

Forging:

1) Forging 15 Quartzite and 9 Marble Bullets

Outcome: +.5 Endurance +.75 Intelligence

2) Refining about a kilogram of Quartzite into basic arm and leg braces

Outcome: Principle of Refining approaches the precipice of breaking through to the Basic Level, +1.1 Endurance +2.1 Intelligence

Medicine:

1) Healing Sun: Bringing someone back from the grave, reconstructing a Dantian, breaking through one's limits

Outcome: + 5 Endurance + 9 Intelligence

2) Healing Atid: Mending some minor injuries, albeit a bit tough, considering the disparity in cultivation.

Outcome: + 1 Endurance + 3 Intelligence

3) Self Recovery From The "Dog" Ambush: Finis.h.i.+ng off what your meals couldn't, completing your recovery of then-minor injuries.

Outcome: +.33 Endurance +1.1 Intelligence]