After Roland returned home on the public bike, his parents stopped him.
The dazzlingly bright LED home-use light hung high above. Roland’s parents sat across the table from him.
His parents wore serious expressions, their faces stiff like statues.
“I heard you quit? Why didn’t you discuss this with us?” Roland’s father asked with a tone that clearly attempted to suppress his anger.
Roland knew this day would come. He nodded in response.
“What plans do you have without a job? Were you wronged at the company?”
Roland’s mother’s tone was much softer. However, as their son who interacted with them for twenty years, how could Roland not know what their game was?
One played the good cop while the other played the bad cop. As a child, he always thought his mother was on his side. He would tell his mother some secrets after she systematically and patiently guided him to do so. In the end, his father would know in less than two hours. If the situation was optimistic, his father would solemnly educate him on virtues, and if the situation was grim, he would take a boot to the butt.
As he grew older, he saw through his parents’ game and understood their painstaking care.
The majority of parents wished the best for their children.
“It has nothing to do with the company.” Roland sat across them and replied with a smile, “It’s simply because I found something more interesting.”
“What?”
Roland’s father questioned as he looked at his unperturbed son, feeling somewhat disappointed. In the past, Roland would definitely appear somewhat panicky when interrogated like this, but now his son appeared calm and collected.
“I’m playing a game.”
His parents frowned almost at the same time. They couldn’t be blamed for this. In the eyes of the older generation, playing games would never be a proper job.
“These are my current bank savings.” Roland took out his phone and placed his bank balance in front of their eyes. “All of this was earned within two months of playing the game.”
Both parents took a look and saw that there were already nearly 300,000 in savings. Honestly speaking, their combined savings were roughly this figure.
A lot of the time, when you claim how impressive you are, other people might not understand.
For example, if you say you’re a level-ten machinist[1]... people who didn’t understand this would assume that it was just a rank evaluation for a kind of technical job, one that paid a little more.
In essence, this understanding wasn’t all that wrong, but in terms of awareness of details, it would be far from the truth.
If Roland said how impressive this game was—how it could subtly increase lifespan, train social, fighting, and learning skills—his parents definitely wouldn’t believe him or try to believe him.
They didn’t understand what an immersive cabin was.
However, once he placed his bank account numbers in front of them, they understood.
Oh... this game can make money, lots of money.
Upon seeing this balance, his parents were both somewhat doubtful and in disbelief, but they trusted that their son wouldn’t lie to them about such an important matter.
“Games are ultimately not a proper path—can you play for your entire life?” Roland’s father thought for a moment and said this.
Roland’s mother also chimed in. “I think it’s best to be more realistic.”
After some thought, Roland eventually said, “How about this, Mom and Dad: if I don’t have one million inside the bank account within two years, I’ll listen to you guys and take the functionary exam.
The job title of a functionary was one that the majority of parents liked.
The functionary exam in large cities was truly a single-log bridge. It was even possible for several tens of thousands of people to contest over a single popular post.
However, in an eighteenth-tier small city, the functionary exam wasn’t difficult. There were many posts that stayed open for several periods, unable to gather enough exam-takers.
Roland graduated from University of Luo, and he had always been an excellent student as a child; it was a sure bet for him to pass the functionary exam in a small city.
The reason why he didn’t become a functionary right after graduation was none other than the low salaries of functionaries in small cities.
After he returned home from graduation, he made inquiries. The lowest functionary base salary was near 3,000, in addition to all sorts of benefits and wage subsidies, but the total amount still couldn’t surpass 4,000.
The advantages of being a functionary in a small city were only that it was comfortable and easy and that it provided five types of insurance and a housing accumulation fund.
When Roland said these words, he had a serious look, without a sliver of doubt.
Roland’s father contemplated quietly for a while and said, “You’re an adult now, it’s normal to have your own thoughts, so it’s settled. Remember, two years’ time.”
“Okay.”
Roland smiled. He assumed that it would take quite a bit of effort to persuade them, but unexpectedly, his father had agreed so easily.
It was probably the bank balance that played a big part in this.
After speaking with his parents for a little while longer, Roland returned to his own room, opened the forums, and discovered that topics regarding him were still in discussion.
At the same time, many players expressed that in the future, they would find ways to discover bugs.
After all, if one found a bug, they’d be rich and famous—which youngster didn’t like that?
Perhaps only some of the truly rich would be able to view this matter with equanimity.
At night, Roland punctually lay down inside the immersive cabin.
Right when he logged on, he received a system notification.
“You’ve learned a unique specialty: Roland’s Zeal (True).”
Roland opened the specialty panel to discover that this specialty truly had its effects doubled.
Then, he went down to the fifth floor to carry out some tests.
He released over twenty consecutive spells, almost emptying all his mental power.
Because there was a special magic array that suppressed the power of spells on this floor, Roland’s spells didn’t cause any damage.
Once he almost emptied all his mental power, he sat down to the side and read a book while waiting for his mental power to naturally regenerate.
During this process, he could sense that there were large amounts of magical elements in the air replenishing his body. Before, he wouldn’t have sensed this so clearly.
After roughly two hours, Roland felt that his mental power had been fully replenished.
One hour and fifty-seven minutes... since I had some leftover mental power, it’s two hours to completely regenerate all magic power?
Since I have double the effect, the other Mages will take roughly four hours to completely regenerate magic power?
This was pretty good. If he had equipment that sped up magic regeneration, this time would shorten even more.
Even without double the effects, Roland’s Zeal was an extremely practical specialty, not to mention the psychological spell resistance it brought.
Because under normal circumstances, the majority of Mages had to wait for at least over ten hours for magic power to naturally regenerate.
People with poor resistance attributes would probably take even longer.
With this specialty, the Mages’ problem of endurance could completely be resolved.
In the future, when selecting Mage equipment, he could simply consider just the number of attributes on it, or focus on strengthening his defensive power.
At this time, Vivian walked up to this floor. Her eyes lit up when she saw Roland, and she walked over and said, “Deputy Chairman, there’s a Golden Son looking for you outside.”
Roland assumed it was Betta. In the end, he found Hawk when he went down.
Roland brought him to his study and asked him to sit. Meanwhile, Vivian promptly served up pastries and fruit wine.
Hawk watched Vivian leave, and then with an envious look on his face, said, “The secretary takes care of everything, and when there’s nothing... You’re living quite the life.”
Roland rolled his eyes helplessly at him. “Can your thoughts not be that filthy? Talk, what matters bring you here personally? Did you encounter troubles with the plan to gather beggars?”
“It’s a little related.” Under Roland’s somewhat puzzled gaze, Hawk continued, “I told this matter to the guild leader, and the leader thinks it has potential, but to gather and establish a force of beggars, a large amount of funds is needed in the early stages. That’s why the guild leader wants to establish long-term cooperation with you!”
Roland asked curiously, “What sort of cooperation?”
“We purchase your gold coins in bulk at market price. However much you’re willing to offer is however much we’re willing to buy!”
[1] A nonexistent level, just a Chinese legend denoting people who have hands that are as accurate and fast as machines