Distant footsteps sprinted down the corridor. They closed in on Moko’s bedroom, making a long, dashing advance to his door. Panting grew louder, and the steps became heavy. The knob twisted with the door opening. Moko turned to the stirring entrance, where a person emerged behind the threshold.
His father appeared with eyes darting around the place to spot Moko. With rapid breathing, he glanced at the boy standing a few feet away. He sighed, catching his absented calm before he could muster any word.
“Oh, Dad,” Moko said with a nervous chuckle. He fiddled with his cursor awkwardly.
The father hung his words at the tip of his tongue. His eyes glimpsed the chaotic sight of Moko’s room. Craters covered the walls. Papers scattered about with glass shards mixed in. The bedsheet appeared damaged, and the shelves were uneven. He faced Moko again, coughing raggedly from his run and scratching his beard.
“What’s going on?” He asked.
Thinking of what to say, Moko pondered, resulting in a long pause suspended. “Uh, so…” Moko stammered on his words but streamed his explanation in the end.
Moko was lying on the bed the next morning, his mind new. He brushed yesterday’s events to the side as he looked up at the half-lit ceiling glowing by the rising sun beaming from his windows. His troubled self ceased. No bother remained. His eyes observed his entire room.
The walls once marred by dents and craters were now evenly leveled. Blue and turquoise paint adorning the walls returned and branded the surface. The shelves once claimed victims from the past reverted to their usual features. Every jutting wood was gone, leaving only a flat surface where new books rested, replacing the old and shredded ones. They filled the entire upper shelf of the shelves, 20 books—20 volumes.
“Minus 800,000 Envelopes,” Moko whispered, cringing his face at the thought of that number. When he grabbed his Cookie resting on the side of his pillow, the screen popped into view and he looked at his numbers.
73,274 Cookies
2.2 CpS
Owned: Buy: Upgrade: Cursor – 22
Cursor – 815 Cookies ??? – 100 Cursors
–Even my numbers aren’t in the quarter range after 8 hours. If it took that many envelopes to repair the room, then how much was the cost of this room at the start?
At that moment, he glanced at the gradual rise of the cookie count, mildly surprised at how much it accumulated during the night’s rest. If being nowhere close to reaching his parents’ Systems didn’t satiate him, then seeing the numbers in the 5th digit would. Beginning with that note, he purchased as many cursors as possible before washing.
[+22 cookies idly produced by Assets → 73,296 cookies]
(–815 Cookies)
+1 Cursor
2.2 CpS → 2.3 CpS
(–896 Cookies)
+1 Cursor
2.3 CpS → 2.4 CpS
(–985 Cookies)
+1 Cursor
2.4 CpS → 2.5 CpS
(–1,083 Cookies)
+1 Cursor
2.5 CpS → 2.6 CpS
(–1,192 Cookies)
+1 Cursor
2.6 CpS → 2.7 CpS
(–1,311 Cookies)
+1 Cursor
2.7 CpS → 2.8 CpS
(–1,443 Cookies)
+1 Cursor
2.8 CpS → 2.9 CpS
(–1,587 Cookies)
+1 Cursor
2.9 CpS → 3.0 CpS
(–1,745 Cookies)
+1 Cursor
3.0 CpS → 3.1 CpS
(–1,920 Cookies)
+1 Cursor
3.1 CpS → 3.2 CpS
(–2,112 Cookies)
+1 Cursor
3.2 CpS → 3.3 CpS
(–2,323 Cookies)
+1 Cursor
3.3 CpS → 3.4 CpS
(–2,555 Cookies)
+1 Cursor
3.4 CpS → 3.5 CpS
(–2,811 Cookies)
+1 Cursor
3.5 CpS → 3.6 CpS
(–3,092 Cookies)
+1 Cursor
3.6 CpS → 3.7 CpS
(–3,401 Cookies)
+1 Cursor
3.7 CpS → 3.8 CpS
(–3,741 Cookies)
+1 Cursor
3.8 CpS → 3.9 CpS
(–4,115 Cookies)
+1 Cursor
3.9 CpS → 4.0 CpS
(–4,526 Cookies)
+1 Cursor
4.0 CpS → 4.1 CpS
(–4,979 Cookies)
+1 Cursor
4.1 CpS → 4.2 CpS
(–5,477 Cookies)
+1 Cursor
4.2 CpS → 4.3 CpS
(–6,025 Cookies)
+1 Cursor
4.3 CpS → 4.4 CpS
(–6,627 Cookies)
+1 Cursor
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
4.4 CpS → 4.5 CpS
(–7,290 Cookies)
+1 Cursor
4.5 CpS → 4.6 CpS
1,245 Cookies
4.6 CpS
Owned: Buy: Upgrade: Cursor – 46
Cursor – 8,018 Cookies ??? – 100 Cursors
Moko wiped his face with a towel and placed it on a hanger. Unlike previous encounters, he actively gawked at the doorknob to twist it. He got into the interactive environment of his bedroom. His feet reached the closet and his hands opened another set of doors. Reminding himself of the stark contrast of living between Scholomark and this Domain, Moko closed and opened the closet a couple of times. He went and flicked the light switch a good amount before his eyes stung.
Dressed in a leisurely outfit of jeans and a simple shirt, he hurried to grab the Cookie on the bed and put it in his pocket. But when shoving it down, half of its shape never got past the entrance. It was too big.
Muttering random words, Moko decided to just carry it with him. He left his bedroom and entered the corridor, traversing in the direction of the production zone. A few doors away, he passed through a two-door entrance into the dining room. Its spacious interior reaching up two stories and clean air-ventilating atmosphere invited him right in. Nothing had changed except that his parents were already sitting around the table for breakfast. At the moment of his arrival, their heads turned and faced him. Smiles slowly curled up and hands waved. Likewise, Moko gave them a warm greeting, yet his face quickly gloomed.
“What’s with the look?” The mother asked, gesturing for Moko to sit. Father sat beside her on the other side, in the same spots.
“I was just,” Moko said, placing the Cookie on the table and sitting down, “I was wondering how much 800,000 envelopes are for you and Dad.”
“Oh, so you’re curious how much 800,000 is worth for us?”
Moko nodded.
She chuckled. “Our Dual System would take about 30 seconds to produce that many envelopes.”
“We make 26,000 EpS,” the father added. He fiddled with his System screen, dancing his fingers in the invisible air again. “26,292 EpS to be exact.”
Moko lightly gasped at the presented number. He pressed his chest against the table and scrunched his face. “E– What? Did I hear that right?”
“This is the result of years of dedication,” she said, mingling her fingers. A short time later, white orbs appeared and attached to her fingertips. “You’ll reach this height soon enough.”
“Yeah, probably when I’m dead,” Moko scoffed half-jokingly.
“With your System, I find that sensible,” she teased back. Moko grunted, rubbing his forehead from a mild headache.
She then swung her arms in his direction, sending the white spheres on the table. They rained down and glued to the surface, slowly expanding and melding into various shapes. With the exterior dimming into physical objects, one turned into a clean plate holding two steaming hot fried eggs and crispy portions of bacon neatly arranged.
The next orb popped a small glass of milk. Its surface was coated in water droplets precipitating and sliding down onto the table. Another orb presented a smaller plate with buttered toast—an even brown layer scaling the bread. The final one rested beside the rest, forming into utensils for use.
She pulled out another set of white spheres and sent them to her forefront. As a result, food appeared for her too. The father had done the same, presenting the same menu. Moko hadn’t focused on theirs as much as he did on his. He gaped at the greasy bacon and hot eggs.
“Hurry and eat,” the mother said, picking up her fork and knife. “I’ll give you seconds if you want more.”
Grabbing the fork, Moko advanced in his pleasure of eating his breakfast. The family ate in silence, enjoying the birds chirping outside and the sound of machinery muffled by the thick walls. After some time, Moko asked with his mouth full, “Are these all Applications?”
She nodded and replied after finishing her bite. “Think of Applications as purchasable things that we can’t easily access. If you could find a person with an Egg System, you could obtain free eggs from them if they’re courteous enough. But since they’re not here in Kartha, we rely on Applications to buy eggs.”
From there, they continued spewing new information to Moko—a couple he recalled from learning in Scholomark.
They addressed the costs of the common food they eat and the price of new rooms. To his easily concluded conclusion, he was nowhere near buying any of the food menus, not even a glass of water. He could purchase a drop of water for 100 cookies if possible, but that was humiliation. In his confusion, he asked where these varieties of food, appliances, and purchasable items came from, and they answered with a question. And this question made Moko quite uneasy:
“If Systems use their Entities for gain, where do you think all of our and everyone else’s spent Entities go to?”
Moko assumed it to be a joke, but something about it provoked some thought.
The parents emphasized that every System should have these three core sections on their screens: Assets, Magnifications, and Applications. But there were instances when a System had one section absent. This was a rare phenomenon where the “deficient” System possessed alternative characteristics deviating from conventional ones.
The parents only witnessed one of these Systems in the Lei Realm. A woman with a Sugar System possessed Magnifications and Applications, but no Assets. But in replacement of that missing section, she could claim other’s Assets through consent. Not only that, she had more control over her Assets, which was a luxury. A simple word of “Yield” would make her possessions freeze. There was an entire language about this—commands, really. The System didn’t have the power over them. It was the woman.
These kinds were sprinkled here and there. Yet Moko was the first they experienced having nothing—no Assets, no Magnifications, and no Applications. They didn’t want to conclude that his System was dysfunctional only because the cursor was doing its job, though barely. The production of Entities was five times below the expected amount.
“On the positive note, if it really is,” the father said, “you can throw your Asset. I don’t know what you’re going to do with that, but that’s something. Our Systems couldn’t throw cursors when we had them, so it was quite a surprise seeing your room in a mess.”
“With this oddity,” the mother added, finishing her breakfast, “don’t expect to live here for too long.”
Moko looked at them, sipping his milk and clearing his plate of food. “Is there nothing else to teach me?”
“More like it’s pointless,” she said. She gestured her fingers in the open suspense, causing the empty plates to react.
“Return.” She ordered. Suddenly, forks and knives rolled back and forth at a rapid pace. Empty plates followed suit, shaking and intensifying with each passing second. All of their utensils and glassware shuddered. Then a thin layer of light outlined their shapes, thickening and coating them all around. In the next second, they got lifted from the table, jerking up and retreating with speed. They were basking in a white light that blinded their appearance and the simple adorning patterns.
Altogether, the plates, cups, bowls, forks, and knives flew up in the air. They ascended higher and higher before they rained down on the mother’s open hand. Their rounded shapes altered and malformed, reverting into spherical balls—all descending and converging to one point. They landed on her palm, melding into a singular dot of which she clasped. Her fingers wrapped around it and covered the gleaming light until no remnants escaped between her skin.
After a few seconds, she revealed her empty hand, devoid of any light. Lowering her arm, she said, “With so many things we don’t know about, we’re not sure what is worth considering your time. There is no reason to explain Applications when you don’t have them.”
The parents stood up, encouraging him to do the same. Moko watched their eyes peering back with mild concern, the sense of leaving things unfinished. He asked, “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
“Why not,” they said. “The Lei Realm is of peace. No harm will be done now that you have a System. It’s not like the other realms where injuries are probable. This realm will definitely keep you safe—a perfect place to expand your knowledge, at least for starters.”
“Then how long do you plan on keeping me here?”
“As long as you like. But the longer you stay, the more you realize that living with us is not ideal.”
“Let us know if you need anything, or if you happen to break something, our System will detect it and we’ll check up on you. But from here on out, you’re pretty much on your own. Have fun, honey. We love you.”
The mother left a kiss on his forehead with a warm smile contouring her young face. She departed with the father, leaving Moko behind in a state of abeyance. He rubbed his forehead and glanced down at his Cookie resting on the table.
His hand reached out for it but stopped midway through. The fingers remained uncurled, along with his lips. His mind mirrored the motion of gears hissing and turning in the Domain. The words from his parents kept rewinding, recalling all the things they’d spoken. He pressed his lips and went to grab his Cookie. As he stared at the emerging screen, he gradually understood the meaning of their final words.
[+9,660 cookies idly produced by Assets → 10,905 cookies]
10,905 Cookies
4.6 CpS
Owned: Buy: Upgrade: Cursor – 46
Cursor – 8,018 Cookies ??? – 100 Cursors