Lone Cultivator In Another World

The four symbols covered in white glow had small pictures of ear, nose, tongue and eye. When Michael checked their descriptions, it appeared that all four heightened his senses, making them an extra quarter strong. Each upgrade cost 15 points.

"Glory, I only have enough for one ability, right?"

"Host is mistaken. Current glory points: 34". Michael blanked out for a second.

"That can't be right. I earned 20 for enrolling, 15 for helping Anna and 5 more for loving mom, weird as it sounds. There can't be a number ending in 4".

"Host did not take into account points that Glory did not announce".

"You are hiding things from me now? Wait, don't answer, I know you're still hiding a lot. More importantly, why didn't you alert me of these points?"

"All notifications are dictated by Glory's settings". Of course. He once again forgot that Glory was a program and not a person.

When Michael asked to see the settings, a window similar to the shop window appeared before him. It had several buttons: About, Settings, Customization, Notifications, Upgrade. Only the Notifications button was glowing, with the rest grayed out.

"I wanted to see the settings, Glory".

"Access restricted. Host's cultivation is too low".

Exasperated, Michael clicked on the Notifications button with his mind. Small menu transformed into a string of messages, detailing how many points he earned and why.

"5 glory points earned for filial piety…" said the lowermost one. The one directly above it was "20 glory points earned for enrolling in a good school…"

And then, Michael realized that the weekend he spent with his mother wasn't as uneventful as he had thought.

"1 glory point earned for organizing dinner and eating with mother".

"2 glory points earned for helping mother clean the apartment".

"1 glory point earned for cooking breakfast for mother".

All the messages described actions that helped Michael's mother in some way. He also cooked breakfast for himself, but Glory didn't consider that as something worth a reward. He understood that all his earnings continued the idea of filial piety, being helpful and respectful towards the older generation.

Notification logs weren't interesting enough to spend the whole day staring at them, so Michael returned to the shop. Now that he had 34 points, he could splurge a little and buy two different abilities. First, he turned his attention to Mind Lullaby. It said, 'Mind Lullaby. Intermediate mental technique. Allows one to fall asleep effortlessly. Cost: 20 glory points'.

This was much more attractive at first glance than the ability it evolved from, Mind Alarm Clock. On the other hand, after purchasing the latter, it was already much easier for Michael to fall asleep. More importantly, if he bought Mind Lullaby now, he wouldn't have enough points for sensory upgrades.

Michael decided to ignore senses of smell and taste for the time being. He wasn't a chef who could've made use of these abilities effectively. Instead, he decided to enhance his hearing first, on the rare chance that it would be useful. More useful than his already decent eyesight, anyway.

"Glory, I would like to purchase Enhanced Sense of Hearing".

This time, there were no images in his mind, but the sounds around him became louder and more distinctive. It was the end of summer, the windows were wide open, and a multitude of noises hit Michael's ears. Be it footsteps, rustling of leaves or a dog barking, Michael could tell more about where and how it happened.

To his surprise, the enhanced hearing ability's symbol remained unchanged, it still glowed white. Now it said 'Enhanced Sense of Hearing. Strengthens one's hearing abilities. Upgrades hearing from 125% to 150%. Cost: 15 glory points'.

Endless upgrades? Being able to hear better than a dog, better than a bat? Would that be possible?

"Host, no abilities in the shop can be upgraded without end".

"Glory, what is the upgrade limit on these four sensory upgrades?"

"Current upgrade limit is 200%".

Michael was already well-versed in picking up clues from Splendid Glory. It rarely told him everything, but it always told him the truth. 'Current' upgrade limit could very well mean that the upgrade limit would rise later.

"I got you, Glory, I got you. By the way, why is it that only the Mind tab is available? When will there be other tabs?"

"Mind tab is the only tab available in cultivation 1-stage".

"Now that is interesting. Do I have access to any information about the first stage now that I've entered it? Like, some description, or how many stars there are in total? Are stars just a way to divide stages into sub-levels?"

Splendid Glory answered all of Michael's questions in one go.

"Yes, host now has access to information about cultivation 1-stage. It is called Mind Enhancement and it centers on mental energy. It is necessary to accommodate host's nervous system to larger information and energy intake later. Mind Enhancement stage abilities increase host's brain function and nervous system's reception and output capacity. There are 10 stars in Mind Enhancement stage. Yes, host, stars only serve to separate cultivation stages into sub-stages."

"Then what is the second stage called?"

"Access restricted. Host's cultivation is too low".

Even though Glory refused to spill the beans again, Michael had enough information to go on. The first association that popped into his mind after hearing 'Mind and …' was body. Also, he was reminded of those 'energy field' and 'soul seed' Glory couldn't locate when it fused with him. Based on this, he asked Glory if further stages had something to do with body, energy and soul. Glory's reply made his teeth hurt.

"Host's guesses are not without reason. Glory underestimated host's intelligence in the past. Host, please do not be playful".

Did the damn thing have emotions or not? Michael felt that some of Glory's comments were biting or well-timed before, but this was the first time it evaded a question coquettishly and asked him to behave. And it'd thought he was dumb before?!

"Glory, do you have a section for complaints and suggestions? I'd like to leave my mark on this world in the comments section".

"Host is welcome to create complaint section when host gains access to Customization menu".

In his whole life, Michael had never heard a politer version of "You're too weak to criticize me" than that.

After purchasing another hearing upgrade, Michael played around with it, guessing s.e.x of passers-by and the type of shoes they wore by the sound of their footsteps. His life could not be better at that moment. He was with his mother again, sure to see his father later back in Russia. His life's enemy, Leon Moreau, wouldn't appear in his life for four more years, when he would transfer to 11th grade. Alice would transfer only in a year, become friends with Anna, and Michael would slowly conquer her heart when she is a bit older. For now, he had a year for himself.

"Well, not everything is peaches. Dad still has cancer, so my time is limited. I need to make some waves to develop a cure. I also need money, at least enough for mom to stop working so hard. It doesn't show yet, but her health is only going to get worse" Michael frowned. It was practically impossible for a 13-year-old to earn enough money to sustain his family.

As he lay on the bed again, going through various get-rich-quickly schemes he remembered, he couldn't choose one that wouldn't hurt innocent people financially. In his past life, he was most familiar with books and TV shows, but he couldn't just write a book from memory. Songs were easier, he could contact a talent agency and sell them some of the lyrics he remembered by heart. That required some research, to protect his ideas from being stolen. Michael fished out a pen from his school bag and started writing down songs he knew would be iconic for singers in 2008.

"I kissed a girl and I liked it…" he sang, writing down the lyrics. Michael couldn't really remember when each popular song was released, but he could guess by when the song was popular. "I kissed a girl" was popular in his 7th grade, and it was easily marketable. If its original performer Katy Perry didn't like it, he could sell it to another pop singer with a similar image.

Just to make sure, he googled the song and was surprised to see it in the charts. Of course, songs took time to record and produce. If he wanted to write a song new to this timeline, he had to think of a song from later years.

Then, Michael got scared. What if a song he prepared had already been written? He imagined a famous singer sitting with him at a negotiating table, showing him a draft of the same song in her journal and smiling, "Now isn't that a coincidence? Security!"

He spent hours, jotting down ideas and lyrics, searching the Internet, researching the ways he could contact the stars' managers. In the end, Michael came up with three songs that were definite hits. He was certain they wouldn't appear for at least another year or two. Another advantage of these songs was that they were written by the performers themselves, who wouldn't sit on these goldmines for long.

"Love the way you lie", by Eminem and Rihanna!

"Moves like Jagger", by Maroon 5!

"Rolling in the deep", by Adele!