HideousGrain
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Forgotten Lands - Chapter 17 (Book 1)
🕑 Added 2024-02-13 14:01:15 +0000 UTCThe auction of the four Common Cards he put on sale wouldn’t end until four hours later. That was more than enough time to talk to his brothers. Precisely, Zayn was ready to brag to them about his earnings like there was no tomorrow.
It was currently 10 am and Forgotten Lands had yet to be launched for one full day, yet he obtained several bids for each of the Cards he was selling. Even if there were no more bidders he would earn more than 4,000 Credits within the first 26 hours of Forgotten Lands’ launch. That was certainly enough to brag to his brothers and plant the seed of greed and curiosity deep inside their hearts.
“How about you guys join Forgotten Lands as well?” Zayn asked lightly right before showing the bids some Players had made on his Cards. Nicolas snatched Zayn’s phone and stared at the screen, his eyes widened.
“What the…” He murmured, only for Percy to take a peek and rub his eyes in disbelief, “You earned this much in less than a day? Did you rob a bank or something like that?”
Zayn chuckled lightly, but shook his head, “I played the entire night. It was not easy. And no, I didn’t rob a bank.”
Natalie began to jump around like a headless chick. She began to sequel loudly, “Zayn is rich rich rich. I can finally get more toys! Yay, yay!!”
Zayn walked over to Natalie and picked her up, “That’s right. I will get you some toys. What do you want, my little Princess?”
Natalie was already 13 but she was a spoiled brat. Unfortunately, the brothers couldn’t resist her puppy eyes even at this age. It was also not really helpful that Natalie was tiny and that she looked younger than her age suggested. If anything her size made it even harder to ignore her.
Nicolas and Percy looked at each other and frowned deeply. However, their eyes pulled back to the phone screen as new notifications came flooding in. More people began to bid for Zayn’s Cards.
The brothers swallowed and returned Zayn’s phone.
“Do you think we can earn like that as well? We never played a VRMMORPG but you know us, right? You said that you weren’t lucky and that you worked hard…so Percy and I should be able to do the same as you did, right?” Nicolas asked hesitatingly.
“It depends. If you join Forgotten Lands now it should be feasible to make some quick bucks with rather ordinary Common Cards. If you take your time it will be harder to earn that much money as fast as I did,” Zayn responded, the corner of his lips curling upward.
He figured that he was getting somewhere. Zayn put Natalie down after she planted a kiss on his cheek and he began to talk with his brothers about Forgotten Lands, the difficulties of the game, and various factors. He gave his brothers a neat explanation of the game structure, how to achieve certain things, and special tricks on how to grow stronger faster. Most of the content Zayn revealed would be released in a few weeks, either way. If they decided to join Forgotten Lands soon they could catch up with the others who joined Forgotten Lands when it launched. As long as they worked hard enough and listened to Zayn’s tips and tricks, they would be able to overtake everyone, even professional Players until some more secrets of the game had been exposed.
His brothers’ increasing interest in Forgotten Lands and the fact that he could explain almost everything about the game with great details, yet simple enough to make everyone understand the most crucial points of his explanation in an instant made Zayn think. His mind drifted back to the guides he’d wanted to release in a few days, or maybe even weeks.
‘I want to earn as much money as possible in the shortest period and ensure that all Players grow stronger rapidly. Should I release the guides earlier than I planned?’
Zayn had still four hours left before the Common Cards would be auctioned off, and if he was honest with himself, spending the next four hours writing the Guides and maybe even creating some videos about Forgotten Lands sounded much more enjoyable than spending the next four hours grinding Soul Essences and Card Shard by cutting down Inferior Demonic Treants.
“If you two help me out with something for the next few days, I will buy two Basic VR helmets right after I get my first Credits!” Zayn offered his brothers, trying to solve several issues with a single offer.
“That’s 2,000 Credits…Don’t you think you’re being too generous, Zayn?” Percy asked. “I know we’re brothers but if you manage your finances like this, mom will kill you.”
While Percy was listing reasons why Zayn should reconsider giving them something this expensive in exchange for a little bit help, Nicolas eyed his youngest brother for a while. Zayn smiled slyly and his entire posture screamed confidence. That couldn’t mean anything good.
“I know that you wouldn’t offer something this expensive without a plan in mind. What do you want from us?” He asked sternly.
Zayn’s smile widened.
“Actually it’s pretty simple. All I want is to write a few guides and make some videos about Forgotten Lands. I will write down the details and important information, but I do not want to spend more time than necessary outside the game. I will record the videos in-game, and create the draft for all guides I want to write. Meanwhile, you and Percy do the rest. You guys will manage the release for each guide and video, and make sure that the videos and guides are edited, that they have clickbait covers, intriguing titles, and so on. All in all, we will release roughly a dozen videos and guides altogether. As long as you split your workload properly you can finish everything within a few days and enjoy your free VR helmet.”
Percy shut his mouth. He didn’t expect Zayn to have such a plan in mind. His brother smiled calmly as if he knew what his older siblings were going to say. It felt odd and unfamiliar. Zayn was not usually like this. He gained more confidence and it felt like he turned into a businessman. Was he really the same brother he knew?
“It looks like you have a plan. What are you thinking about?” Nicolas asked.
“Actually my plan is pretty simple. I want to create short and compact videos and guides one for each topic. The topics will revolve around Monster Hunting, Equipment Grinding, Droprate, Foundation Orbit, Heart Deck, Dangers, Ranked Weapons, Enchantments, How to treat Forgotten Lands’ citizens to generate more Quests, Quests, Special Rewards, and much more. In fact, a dozen videos and guides might not be enough, but I don’t want to overdo it right from the bat. I want to see how much exposure the Guides and Videos will get and how much money I can make from them.”
“That means your focus is to generate a fortune. Does that mean you will upload the Videos and Guides on all platforms, or only on the recently released Forums where you can watch the first 10-30 seconds of a video for free before you have to remove the paywall? The same schema exists for the books as well. You can read five pages before you have to pay for the rest,” Percy joined the conversation with a question.
Zayn gave Percy a thumbs-up and nodded.
“That’s the plan. But I do want to release the Videos and Guides everywhere. Not only on the Ancient Forum. Many players will probably move to the Ancient Forum soon, but many use MeTube to search for tips and tricks. I want the first Video and Guides on Yamzun and Metube and every other media distributor before pulling everyone interested in more information to the Ancient Forum. One compact video and beginner guide ought to be enough to realize that I know what I’m doing and that I’m worth the money. Forgotten Lands is a game that forces Players to pay to learn everything that has to be understood to breeze through the regions and earn a small fortune.”
One of the most important steps in this plan was to earn a fortune, but that was not everything. Zayn desired to gain exposure and allow Players to grow stronger much faster than they did in his last life. As long as he gained more attention from Players the easier it would be to influence everyone once the World Bridges appeared all over the globe. At least, that was what Zayn was hoping for.
“If you earn a fortune from the guides, give us a share,” Nicolas said half-jokingly, agreeing to help his little brother to take Skynet by storm.
“Of course. As long as I earn enough I will gift you and Percy a Gaming Pod!” Zayn responded seriously, taking Nicolas by surprise.
“I rather get a sports car. But a Gaming Pod is fine as well.”
Zayn smiled at the response of Nicolas. His attention moved to Percy who agreed as well. He didn’t demand anything, but it was clear that a spark had been ignited deep inside him.
Now that Zayn solved several problems at once, it was about time to get moving. The Guides wouldn’t write themselves and the video material wouldn’t appear out of nowhere either. The three brothers spend the next 20 minutes creating a thorough plan of their next few steps. After that, Zayn spent three hours writing down the most important information about each guide. He then rushed into the game to record the necessary video material which Nicolas and Percy put together to create several amazing videos.
Watching Zayn explain everything in great detail in the game while showing off the magnificent environment around him took Nicolas and Percy by surprise. Their excitement reached new heights. They wanted to play Forgotten Lands as well.
Zayn felt reassured seeing their excitement. Since they would start playing Forgotten Lands much earlier than last time it was highly likely that they could grow much stronger than ever. They would exceed the limitations of their past, gain more and better Cards, and procure more Ranked Equipment. Heavy stones rolled down from his heart, relieving him from the heavy pressure that had weighed down on him since he traveled back in time.
‘Things are going to change. I can change my future…our future!’
Once the countdown of the auctioned Cards reached 30 minutes, Zayn stopped working on the Guides and Videos. He had recorded enough for half a dozen videos, whereas the material for the guides was neatly stacked near Nicolas. Both Nicolas and Percy had tons of work left to do. However, they didn’t seem stressed. If anything, they were excited because they could learn a lot about Forgotten Lands while working on the Guides and Videos.
As long as they retained half or less of the information they worked with, making money wouldn’t be a problem. But money was not the only driving force at this point. The scenery in Forgotten Lands and the ability to use magic in a game that felt just like reality seemed to bewitch his brothers.
Zayn left his brothers and started working out. He underwent a 30-minute workout that trained the vast majority of muscles inside his body. It felt like he was dying after 30 minutes of hard work, but he wanted to prepare his body for the Gaming Pod and the Foundation transfer.
At last, his mother returned with the groceries, only to see her little boys working hard. She was exhilarated at first, after all, it was a rare sight to see her boys working on assignments at the weekend. Unfortunately, her bliss was destroyed in no time as realization dawned upon her.
They worked hard to join Forgotten Lands as well…
