The transition from Secverse to the real world was instantaneous. One moment he was feeling exhausted beyond belief. The next, he felt just weird? Tom wasn't quite sure how else to describe it. His body felt fine. But his mind was telling it that it was supposed to be exhausted.

But then again, the Glatian administrator did say that only mental aspects would transfer from the Secverse to the real world, at least with his current hardware.

While Tom lay on his bed, he was feeling quite curious. So he checked how much the game capsule that would let him train his body while he was in the Secverse would cost.

But his curiosity was quickly killed, packed into the back of a van, and dumped into the ocean. The cheapest model costs a hundred credits. And apparently, its effectiveness was ridiculously low that you would be better off just by exercising for a couple of hours.

That gave Tom the idea that maybe he should also exercise a bit in the real world. As it might transmit into the Secverse, and even if it didn't, it would prime his body for his future cultivation. As he was sure that no matter what, he would keep advancing his cultivation.

Tom visited the bathroom. Then he cooked some rice and while eating he checked the news and surfed the Empire net.

Apparently, this week had the lowest amount of successful crimes ever. It was ridiculous to think that crime would be one of the things that wouldn't survive a planetary occupation by a greatly smaller force. One would think that the crime rate would skyrocket as people took advance of the chaos that would ensue after the occupation. And in a sense, they would be correct, as there had also been a record-high number of attempted crimes. But it did not take long for people to figure out that the moment you tried to break the law, drones would descend on you like they already knew what you were going to do, and they probably did.

One of the biggest driving forces behind the never seen drop in crime rate was the fact that none of these offenders have been seen or heard from ever since. Apparently, the Empire was a master at the whole carrot and stick method.

Naturally, the loved ones of the criminals started riots and demanded answers on what happened to them. But the Empire only said that they were fine and left the protesters alone and picked up everyone who went too far and broke the law.

It was quite clear that the Empire could not care less if there were riots or not, as what could an ant do to a giant? And it was a simple matter for them to take care of if they ever stepped over the line.

They had given everyone a fresh start, and now it was up to them to take advantage of it. There were already stories of some distilleries which had impressed the new overlords and gotten astronomical loans to boost their growth.

So they ignored everyone's dissatisfaction and crushed them if they went too far. And generously rewarded the ones that showed potential. The message was clear, you could choose for yourself if you wanted to adapt and get the carrot or try to stand against the tide of change and get crushed by it.

Every day the public opinion shifted towards approval. Of course, the Empire's start had been ridiculously good as over 99%[1] of the Earth's population got more wealth than they could earn in their whole lives.

So things were sifting towards stability at an incredible speed. The prices for food and other consumables had gotten a slight price bump. On the other hand, all tech products were basically free, as everyone could see how Empire net offered better alternatives for a cheaper. They would only have to wait for two days to get their hands on it. So most people who didn't have a pressing need for something just waited, who would pay more for something they could get for cheaper in two days?

So the atmosphere was like the calm before the storm, as most people were planning what they would do once they got everything they ordered. Tom also noticed that he was not the only one who realized the emphasis of Secverse by the Glatian who delivered the speech. So it was no surprise that a ridiculous amount of people had ordered a helmet for themselves. As where could one find as many opportunities? Then in a world that was completely unclaimed.

A news story that was in his feed caught his eye. Apparently, other people had done the exact same thing as he had. But they had decided to tell about it to the news anonymously just today. Tom was disappointed that he didn't have this idea himself, as he could have sold the same information to the news. And even if somebody followed his footsteps, they would only be losing money.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

The person had shared some information about the Secverse. Apparently, they had made the same choice as him. They told about a region that was full of lakes and swamps that were almost identical. Tom was immediately drawn to the story wanting to learn as much information as possible. The news reported. How the person was exploring near a lake and spotted a blue crystal beneath the surface. They decided to go for a swim to check out what it was. Only to find out that it was inside an alligator made out of water. This was the part that Tom was truly impressed by. They were not Tom, who managed to survive their first encounter just by pure luck. No, they had taken hold of the alligator and wrestled with it until they had dragged it to the shore. Where they flipped it on its back and hit its underbelly with a rock. After a while, the rock managed to hit the core, and the alligator just lost its shape and turned back into a water, but the core remained on the shore.

Tom was dumbstruck. He knew that he was behind in the physical department. However, he was not expecting that someone who clearly was second generation alfa, would be sharing the same advantage with him. This only further increased Tom's desire to grow stronger. He could already imagine it. How the next time that he faced an enemy. He wouldn't panic. No, he would stay calm and defeat the enemy without dying during the battle, and even more importantly after it, thanks to his stupidy.

The story ended there as apparently the person didn't wish to share any more information. But those who could read between the lines could put together one important piece of information. 'An exact copy of the universe' and a monster made of water? So it was not surprising that the number of people who said that they purchased a Secverse helmed was only rising.

Tom also did some socializing as he answered his friends' questions, who already knew that he was in the Secverse. Their enthusiasm had reached a new high after the news article about the early Secverse user was released. So he spend a good fifteen minutes answering their questions about if there truly was some mystical force in the universe to if the environment really felt like it was only a slightly different copy put next to a slightly different one. To say the least, after Tom finished speaking with them, they could not wait for it to be Sunday so they could get into the Secverse. The only thing Tom didn't tell them about was how he became a cultivator. Because, he could imagine how they would waste their time trying to do something that was literally impossible, as Earth's mana was non-existent.

Next Tom forced himself to do some pushups, situps squats, and other basic exercise moves until he could feel his body singing the holy tune[2].

After that, he stuffed his body full of food and water to maximize the time he could spend in the Secverse, and then he logged back in.

Tom wound himself once again on top of the hassock by the river. Now that he wasn't nearly as exhausted, he was able to appreciate the beauty of this unnatural nature. It was so perfect that it could be nothing else than designed. However, there were minuscule flaws everywhere. Otherwise perfectly level field of crass, but there were just enough different-sized grasses that it looked perfectly level but not man-made or maintained. This same theme repeated itself in everything Tom could see. But it all did look beautiful.

Tom was quite curious about how his body's recovery happened in the Secverse. As his body felt now perfectly fine. There was no pain anywhere. "Maybe I should periodically log in to check how fast my bodyes recovery happens," Tom thought. As it would be quite valuable information to have. He had spent around an hour in the real world, so he shouldn't have recovered yet, but who was he to argue with the results?

Of course, while Tom was in the real world, he had checked on some information packages just out of curiosity. And oh boy, was he shocked and disappointed at the same time. Because a guide named "basics of cores" cost a full ten credits, everything else was also out of his price range. He found a cheaper guide about cores, but naturally, they weren't nearly as highly rated. Tom also had checked how much the "How to form a core" guide cost. And it only twisted the knife in his heart more, as it cost seven credits. So he could have afforded it if only he had waited for seven days at the start. But it did not take long for him to realize that each of his searches was unrevealing more and more information. Once he noticed that, he realized that his status had switched from nothing to an awakened mind. Apparently, you could access more information based on your cultivation rank. That had somewhat lessened his despair. But he had also read that the trainers available in Secverse would be more affordable. So his state of mind did not improve that much.

But at least according to his rough calculations, it would be a great achievement if one became a cultivator only by using ten credits, as one needed guides and resources to achieve it. So in a matter of fact, he was ahead of the curve. But greed was a dangerous emotion, as he could not stop thinking if, on top of his current situation, he had eight credits. But there was nothing to it, hindsight was 50/50, and he just had to live with his choice and stop second-guessing himself. As he felt how even he was starting to get tired of his complaints [3]. And on top of that, he still had two days left.

Tom had had enough of lazing around. So he got up and started walking the river upstream. He was hoping to run into some other creature with a core so he could test how his awakened mind faced off against it.