Ch.5Foreign Media Contract (3)

I completed the five sets of Korean language practice tests.

I need to continue this for at least 20 more days. Only then can I complete the deity’s quest.

[— Time remaining: 791 hours 01 minutes 08 seconds]

I sighed.

After concentrating for so long, it’s time for a short break. I opened my status window. A message from the deity had arrived.

[— The ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ feels satisfied with your concentration and diligence.]

[— You have received a sponsorship of 100 pron as a reward!]

A reward had arrived.

Now, what is this ‘pron’?

Simply put, it’s a coin given by the constellations. It’s a currency used for convenient transactions with deities.

However, unlike regular coins, one must be careful with possessing and using pron.

[— If your Pron (PN) level exceeds a certain threshold, you may experience status ailments such as mental confusion, hallucinations, vomiting, chills, aphasia, damage to the frontal lobe of the cerebrum, and death.]

Pron shouldn’t accumulate beyond a certain amount. Whether you like it or not, you need to periodically spend and get rid of it.

Otherwise, you literally go insane.

[— Note: The etymology of Pron (PN) is Prion.]

For reference, prions are infectious proteins. Mad cow disease, which many people know about, is caused by prions.

Considering that deities parasitize the brain, it’s quite a fitting name.

[— Note: The maximum pron units an ordinary human can store is up to 1000.]

An average person shows signs of madness after receiving about 500 pron. At 700 pron, hallucinations appear, and around 900 pron, one becomes a vegetable. Finally, reaching the maximum limit results in death.

Of course, one can increase the amount of pron they can store. For example, by training in Aether.

I don’t know how to handle Aether yet. My pron capacity is probably at an ordinary level.

Without expecting much, I checked my PN level for the first time.

[— PN level: 150 / NULL]

What?

[“What?”]

“…?”

[— The ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ is bewildered.]

NULL.

Literally “none.”

What’s this? Does it mean I have no mental capacity?

Confused, I scrolled up and down my status window.

[— The ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ is readjusting your PN upper limit.]

[— Cannot adjust!]

[— The ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ is readjusting your PN upper limit.]

[— Cannot adjust!]

[— The ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ temporarily sponsors 10000 pron.]

[— PN level: 10150(temporary) / NULL]

[— The ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ is greatly bewildered.]

The status bar scrolled down at an insane speed, like it was compiling.

The deity tried putting my PN level at something close to unlimited and even caused fractures in my body.

“Ugh…!”

My head felt like it was about to split. Tiny threads appeared before my eyes, as if they were cutting up the world.

My lungs felt like they were filling with water, making it hard to breathe, and my entire body tingled as if I was being beaten up.

What is this?

This sensation, I’ve felt it somewhere before…?

While experiencing this déjà vu, the pain stopped. The deity had tired as well.

[— Cannot adjust PN level.]

[— The ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ is greatly interested in your mental world.]

[— You have received 850 pron as an inspection reward!]

“Phew….”

I wiped away my cold sweat and lay down.

[— PN level: 1000 / NULL]

I haven’t done anything, yet my pron level is already at 1,000. This amount would be enough to kill a person and then some.

It’s like swallowing a whole pufferfish and still surviving.

Ding!

That’s when my status window updated.

[— Notice: Shop for contractors has been unlocked.]

A shop, huh.

Seems like the deity has prepared it.

A shop is a space where you can buy and sell advanced civilizational items from deities.

As revealed later in the story, deities are tangible physical entities. They reside in a 7-dimensional space where vector cross products are defined. There, they can rewind time or divide our universe.

Naturally, their civilization level is incomprehensibly higher than ours who live in the 4th dimension. This means there are abundant elements that can be helpful if utilized properly.

Additionally, the type and quality of shops vary depending on the deity’s capabilities.

[— Shop assigned to you: ‘Secret Laboratory of Cartesia :)’]

[— The ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ desires amusement. Browse the shop and strengthen yourself.]

I entered the shop. The real space disappeared, and a dark world appeared. White, glowing tentacles wrapped around the boundaries of this world. In front of me were stone tablets with inscriptions.

[Analytical solution of helium atom wave function: 1650 pron]

[Proof of Goldbach’s conjecture: 1770 pron]

[Answer to the Riemann hypothesis: 2800 pron]

Each tablet displayed the item for sale and its price.

All items I couldn’t afford yet.

In fact, ordinary people are never allowed to purchase these in their lifetime.

You can tell by the prices. For instance, to buy the “Answer to the Riemann hypothesis,” you’d have to die twice and go insane three times.

There were as many tablets as there were World War I veterans. Most were things I wasn’t interested in. What I was really looking for was something else.

[— Time remaining: 789 hours 59 minutes 45 seconds]

Time flows here too. I need to find what I’m looking for and return as quickly as possible.

“…Found it.”

Floating among the tablets, I stopped in front of a small stone.

[Thought Acceleration (+1%): 10 pron/each]

Something I need right now. And something I’ll need in the future.

In game terms, it’s the intelligence stat.

I plan to invest heavily in this for the time being. The Goddess of Wisdom tends to give quests that can only be cleared with good academic abilities.

[— Would you like to purchase ‘Thought Acceleration (+1%)’ in bulk?]

I’ll buy everything available.

[— 1000 pron has been spent.]

[— You have acquired ‘Thought Acceleration (+100%)’]

[— You are forcibly ejected from the shop due to insufficient pron.]

Flash.

“……”

Fast.

Definitely, I’ve become faster. The speed at which my brain works has doubled.

Whether it’s my own power or the deity’s help doesn’t matter. Time is short, and I can’t afford to be picky.

I decided to test my newly acquired ability right away. Without delay, I opened the next workbook to solve.

Whoosh.

Just then, I heard the sound of an automatic door opening. I turned around before picking up my pen.

“…Young master?”

A sky-blue bob cut that ended at the shoulders.

Snow-white eyes, pure as snow on a winter field.

Even the tail-wing decorations on both ears.

She was a beautiful android. She placed a strawberry sherbet she had made as a snack on my desk and exclaimed:

“Are you solving workbooks again?”

“Yes.”

“That’s already the third one today.”

“I’ll sleep after finishing the fourth one.”

Sonia was shocked.

“Staying up all night is bad for your health.”

“It’s fine.”

Because I won’t be staying up.

***

A week had passed since then.

During that time, Seti visited Eidel every day. Originally, she didn’t want to keep seeing that disgusting face. But he kept doing things that forced her to visit him.

– The third young master has subscribed to online lectures worth 3 million credits.

– The third young master has purchased college textbooks worth 500,000 credits.

– The third young master has ordered shrimp chicken…

“Ah, this is infuriating-!!”

Seti stomped her feet every single day.

‘How much money is that crazy guy spending?!’

She had earned 4 million credits over the past week. But he had spent it all. Seti was boiling with anger, wishing she could separate their finances immediately.

“The young master said he can’t resist chicken.”

“That…! Ah, damn! That’s not the point!”

What’s 30,000 credits for food expenses?

The important thing is that her half-brother is continuously wasting hundreds of thousands of credits on ‘useless things’.

Seti glared at Eidel and spat out sharply:

“Stop studying when it’s pointless.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Do you think you can get into Stellarium just by doing that?”

“I will.”

No matter what Seti said, Eidel’s response was cold. He replaced the nib of his tablet pen with indifference. On one side of the desk, there were more than a dozen worn-out nibs.

“You can’t.”

“If I can’t, then I’ll make it happen.”

Seti gritted her teeth with a crunch. She was fuming. It felt like steam was escaping from the top of her head.

“…Phew.”

It’s okay.

‘I need to be patient.’

There’s less than four months left anyway.

‘I just need to endure until the academy entrance exams are over.’

Once this year passes, this wretched blood relation will end. She’s endured for the past 10 years. It would be absurd not to wait for 4 more months. Seti took a deep breath and twisted her lips.

“Sonia, keep monitoring him.”

“I am.”

“This time, it’s really, really serious. Absolutely, don’t let this trash spend any money.”

“Understood.”

It feels like déjà vu, but she decided to let it go.

Seti is also taking the Stellarium entrance exam this year. Besides business, she needs to focus on her studies. She didn’t have time to lecture Eidel, who was lacking in both studies and character.

“Report any unusual activities immediately. Got it? I’ll be watching instead of father.”

“Understood… Ah, there is something unusual.”

“Oh?”

Seti, who was about to head to her academy, paused. She pushed back her cotton-white hair and asked:

“What is it?”

“The young master has become good at studying.”

“……”

Seti’s expression turned sour. She looked at her brother, who was scribbling with his pen. Eidel was solving workbooks without even glancing at her.

“He’s become good at… studying?”

“Let me correct myself. He’s become fucking good at studying.”

“…Are you using vulgar language just because we do?”

“Forgive my rudeness, miss. I couldn’t find a more appropriate word.”

“Fine, fine.”

Seti’s gaze fixed on Eidel once more.

‘Nonsense.’

…But it’s ambiguous to dismiss it like that.

‘He does seem different somehow…’

But she couldn’t quite pinpoint it.

‘Certainly, he’s been using fewer curse words.’

Seti approached Eidel from behind, muffling her footsteps. Just as Sonia was about to say something, she put her index finger to her lips, making a shushing sound. Sonia closed her mouth.

Peeking over Eidel’s shoulder, what Seti saw was…

‘…?’

Eidel solving a physics workbook.

No, can this even be called ‘solving’?

Scribble, scribble.

Flip!

Scribble, scribble, scribble.

Flip!

He literally reads, writes the answer, and immediately turns to the next page, repeating this endlessly.

No working out, no moment of contemplation.

‘Is he an idiot…?’

She barely suppressed a snort.

Is he memorizing the answers?

Or is he just pretending to solve while actually not understanding?

Either way, it doesn’t matter. This is a behavior that reveals his true colors. Such petty tricks won’t work in the Stellarium entrance exam. Regardless, she could breathe a sigh of relief.

‘How foolish.’

Seti clicked her tongue as she turned away.

Still, it’s clear that her half-brother has undergone some mental change. Coincidentally, Seti knew someone who had a good intuition for these things. She met this acquaintance at the academy, who was a year older than her and the same age as Eidel.

‘I should talk to Rustila about this.’

To ask if there could possibly be a lunatic in this world who can mentally solve physics problems.

***

[— The ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ is amazed by your spirit in ordering additional workbooks!]

[— You have received an additional sponsorship of 1500 pron!]

There have been many changes over the past week.

[Skill in effect: Thought Acceleration (+320%)]

First, I invested all the pron I earned in thought acceleration. With this, my calculation speed has far surpassed that of an ordinary person. I felt like I had become John von Neumann.

Additionally, Seti’s attitude seems to have softened a bit.

I’m still getting cursed at every day for spending a ton of money, but that’s unavoidable. What can she do if I say I’m using it for studying?

In return, I haven’t been harsh with her. I no longer make jokes about her father, curse at her, or mock her. No matter what my sister says, I just agree and let it go.

The stress is no joke, but it’s okay.

This treatment is only temporary.

Soon, I’ll bring Seti to my side.

And instead of messed-up me, I’ll establish her as the next head of this family.

With her business talent, she should be able to secure enough budget for the development of gravitational bombs.

I plan to rely on her a bit.

“Heh, heheh, hehehehe.”

“Young master, you’ve finally gone mad.”

With Sonia’s sigh, I finished solving the physics workbook.

Just one more…

No, I’ll sleep after solving two more books.