Huh? You Aren’t The Old Bastard

Upon finding the definitive answer of his regression being true, Connor immediately set out to make plans.

The first thing he did was save his father.

Why?

That's because in the future, his father died first. In the following months, his brother soon joined him.

Thinking this, Connor immediately set out to warn his father. Ever since young, his father had always been skeptical about his second brother.

Though he seemed naive to others, Connor's father is a very smart man. He just tends to let his guard down when it came to his family.

A man who inherited a 500MG company can't be a complete idiot. Therefore, Connor's father at least had some suspicions even while he still loved his uncle.

Ten years ago, his father had given Connor and his brother, Jett, these code words if they or the family were ever in danger or being watched: "The mantis stalks the prey, ready to strike while the fly has 3,000 eyes."

Connor repeats those exact words to his father who stands in front of him.

Seeing his father now, alive after 25 years, Connor almost tears up.

'I won't let you die this time. Even if you're my adoptive father, I still can't. I won't,' Connor declares in his mind.

The code words Connor spoke were about someone plotting against them in the shadows and that they may be watching and listening at that moment.

After saying that, Connor's father asks, "The lion, the witch, or the wardrobe?"

In this phrase, the lion is his father while the witch is his mother. The wardrobe? It's the entire family.

"The wardrobe. Including the shoes," Connor replies, all seriousness in his voice.

When he adds "including the shoes", Connor means the business as well as the family.

Nothing will be spared.

His father, surprised, then inquisitively asks, "Who? When?"

"First, when the morning star shines at dawn tomorrow, the lion's dusk will be at hand. As for who?

Scar."

As the movie The Lion King is their favorite movie as well as the Chronicles of Narnia, his father knew all too well who Scar was.

Unable to cope with the words being spoken to him, Connor's father then asks another question.

"What about the others?"

"After the lion's dusk, the first cub will be next… months from now."

"Alright, son. What's the probability of Darwin's theory coming to pass?"

This meant how sure was Connor in the statements and what are the odds of him surviving.

"With 100% certainty. The lion should stay with his pride to avoid dethronement. The lion should trust no one but the pride. All others are questionable and hostile. I think the lion should plan accordingly with meticulous thoughts. No errors. Lest he loses his life."

With the brief conversation Connor had with his father, he was able to successfully prevent his death in this life.

Thus, subsequently changing the way his father thought. No more was the man who believed innocent until proven guilty.

No, it was kill first until proven innocent.

A month passed by and Connor's father was able to successfully see through his uncle's plans to kill again and again.

'Now that I saved Father, my brother is next. However, his death is on the same day as the launch of Shattered Realms. Forget it. I'll have Father secretly station a shadow guard in his room.'

Thinking this, Connor set that as his later goal. Right now, he needs his family to heavily invest in Shattered Realms.

As of now, only a few big companies have invested. Other companies haven't due to the limited information about the game.

Chronos Corp. has kept a tight shut on any leaks about the game. Furthermore, if there were any leaks, the information would be suppressed in a heartbeat. Chronos Corp. has its ties in the IT and software industries.

Nevertheless, Connor was going to have his family invest 100MG immediately.

***

{A/N: For simplicity, 1 gacha is equivalent to 1 USD. Gacha is the currency used in the real-world of MC.

In addition, I'll also add a "G" (for gacha) to a number when dealing with real-world currency.

Example: 100MG is 100 million gacha or 100,000,000 gacha. Or I'll just say 25G which is for gacha and not grand. The letters follow:

KG= thousand gacha

MG= million gacha

BG= billion gacha

TG= trillion gacha.}

***

Once the true value of Shattered Realms was discovered several weeks after its release, it would be too late to invest as the stonks for Shattered Realms would explode to the point of insanity.

No one would be able to afford to invest at all. Not a single share could be bought by small businesses.

Only national or international businesses could potentially buy a few shares.

However, if his parents invest, they would reap the utmost benefits. With that, they would go from a state-level family to a nation-level family worth over 1BG.

This is enough to put them on par with most families in New America. Only those families with hundreds of years of wealth and solid foundations could pose a threat.

'With just this much this early, and with my father alive, no one will dare to even think about crossing my Lin Family.'

Chronos Corporation itself was already the world's biggest conglomerate with more than 20 multibillion gacha companies of all fields in its control.

With a lineup like that, no wonder they're leading the world with an iron fist. And the owner?

Horus Amunet.

The public has not been able to see even a wisp of this man since the founding of Chronos Corp. 99 years ago.

Even 22 years into the future, Connor still has no clue who the powerful man was.

Everyone knows that Chronos Corp. is the creator and supplier of the Dietary Solution 60 years ago.

The Dietary Solution was created to supply the human body with nourishment after exhausting workouts or extreme mental pressure.

Thus, the era of fitness and health began globally.

The solution helped in breaking through the human genome and improving one's genetics and health overall.

Specifically, the breaking of the human brain. Like muscle, it too can be worn out.

Despite knowing this, there weren't any methods that could energize and repair damaged cells quickly to the point of duplicating even faster.

Not to mention enhancing the neurons in the brain.

But, what if there was something that could be used to repair the mental workout fatigue and you could go right back to work with no side effects?

One could be able to bring out more and more of the mental potential through the use of the Dietary Solution.

This was a known fact in the future.

The catch is that the solution won't have its true value explored until players, specifically Secondary Job players and Magic Users, expended their mental power from forging or making magic circles.

Before, it was just a body enhancement with very minor mental enhancements.

The Dietary Solution would become an even bigger necessity to all players after they completed their Rank Quests.

No matter which graded solution players consumed, they would all see an increase in their mental power.

Thus, enabling them to play longer and see the world of Shattered Realms in a new light.

The higher the grade of solution, the stronger the effect.

That is the main reason Connor wants his parents to heavily invest in Shattered Realms.

Once a company or person invests a large sum of money, the least amount is about 100MG, Chronos Corp will immediately send out 50 bottles S-Grade Solution, 100 bottles of A-Grade Solution, 200 bottles of B-Grade Solution, 1000 bottles of C-Grade Solution and 10,000 bottles of D-Grade Solution.

The current cost of just a single bottle of D-Grade Solution is 2KG. Each time a person went up a grade when buying Solutions would notice a 10x increase in pricing. It won't be that price for much longer. It will quadruple!!!

Not giving these matters any more thought, Connor went into action. Two weeks go by as Connor's father finally finishes the investment in Shattered Realms.

Within two weeks, Connor had his father build a freezing room big enough to hold up to 20K bottles of solution while keeping them at 20°F.

On the 15th day, two giant armored trucks pull into the gates of the Lin Estate.

Upon parking in front of the estate, a guard gets out of the truck and walks up to the waiting Connor.

"Good day, sir. I have a delivery here for the Lin family. Are you a verified delivery contact? State your first and last name," the guard addressed Connor respectfully.

"Yes. I am Connor Emy Lin," Connor replies formally.

"Alright, I gotcha. Sign here, here, and here." Connor puts his signature where the guard instructed.

Once finished, the guard says, "Okay, the packages are all yours."

Without missing a beat, the guard, along with his coworkers, then takes all the cases they have in the trucks and unloads them into the freezer's designated area.

Five hours later, they leave.

Connor then arranges for two of his father's shadow guards to guard the freezer at all times.

Essentially, the freezer is a safe with a current value of 100MG. In the future, the price will receive a 10x increase. Going from 100MG to a worth of 1BG. No way was it going to go unguarded. Especially with that traitorous Uncle of his.

***

Months go by and the release of Shattered Realms is in less than 24 hours. It took a full day to completely set up his fully immersive cabin needed to play Shattered Realms.

During this time, there are three options for one to play Shattered Realms.

One is by buying a VR helmet. In this case, players get a 60% immersive experience.

This means players could only use 60% of their senses when playing Shattered Realms. Which, for casual gamers or those just trying the game out, is completely fine.

The next option would be through the Brain Wave helmet equipped with nerve sensors.

With this level up, players would be able to play the game with more fluidity in their movement along with an increase in immersive realism sensitivity.

At 80% immersion, people in the future compared it to the likes of lucid dreaming. Players can tell the realism of the game but still know it's a game.

However, all of that changes when one plays the game with 100% immersion. With the cabin as your body, your consciousness takes a complete dive into the world of Mytholgia. Every blade of grass, every breeze, every raindrop could be felt with the utmost realism.

One could not tell the difference between reality and fiction!!

Some otakus even questioned if they had somehow transmigrated to another world.

At present, Connor achingly awaits the time in which Shattered Realms goes online.

***

Looking up at his iWatch, Connor sees the countdown time.

[4:59…4:58…4:57…]

'Almost time. Let me get ready.'

Prepping his mind for immersion was a habit he picked up from a good friend of his from another raiding team.

Relaxing your mind and thinking about immersion with calm thoughts makes the immersion much smoother than having random thoughts clouding your brain.

That would make the machine have to adjust to your brain waves.

"Sonia, lock all doors and entrances to my room. Also, activate Protocol: Witness Protection. I don't want even a fly wandering into the gaming den without my knowing," Connor orders his newly upgraded room AI.

Back in the future, Connor could never afford to upgrade his room. This was supposed to be a birthday gift to him from his mother.

However, the untimely death of his father and brother took them by surprise. Not to mention the unsightly contract he'd signed himself on his brother's behalf.

That was the dumbest thing he could do but he needed the…closure.

With this newly built security system by Chronos Corp., Connor feels much more secure about logging onto Shattered Realms. The same goes for his brother Jett.

Not thinking any further, Connor lies down. The hatch to the capsule closes with a his, keeping all outside noise and air from coming in.

A hum sounds aloud from the cabin. Then, a subtle vibration begins to massage Connor's body. As Connor begins to drift off to sleep, he is abruptly awakened. Well, he awakened, but not in his body. He awakened in space.

An all too familiar scene appeared in front of him when he came to.

'Sure enough. Shattered Realms, I'm back.'

Connor smiles while looking onward, confidence and determination lacing his features.

Looking at the giant countdown numbers, Connor patiently waits.

Just as soon as the countdown time hit zero, Connor could feel and see himself get sucked into a wormhole. The kind that bends light in on itself.

He blacks out only to be awake in a completely white hall.

Familiar with this scene, Connor calmly waits for the Introduction Goddess, Elsie to show.

That is the name the players dubbed her upon seeing her for the first time.

Specifically, the male players. Many tried to flirt and even touch her. That was a bad mistake as she would completely obliterate them.

They'd pixelate where they started and she'd do it again until the Players either shut down the game and deleted their accounts or they fell on their knees, begging her to stop.

A plethora of Players posted their experiences with her on the official Shattered Realms forum. Warning all new players to beware the Introduction Goddess.

As the goddess appears high in the sky and slowly descends in front of Connor, she smiles. An unmistakable aura of devotion emanates from her body. This feeling makes one want to be a devout follower of hers forever.

However, Connor is a semi-prime master. His cognitive strength reached a terrifying level. He could never fall for such tricks.

Despite that, he still has difficulty resisting due to his past body not even reaching the apprentice level.

Even though Elsie is a low-level goddess, she is still a goddess and is far stronger than the current and future Connor.

Seeing a newcomer resist her Aura of Devotion, Elsie is shocked.

'A beginner immortal soul can actually resist my Aura with no side effects? This millennium's batch of God's Children might be worth paying attention to,' Elsie, the Goddess of Impressions remarks in her mind.

Just as she was beginning to speak, a loud crack similar to the sound of thunder after a quick lightning strike shook the entire White Hall.

Two feet in front of Connor is a wormhole crackling with blue and purple lightning.

Even before exiting the wormhole, Connor hears the intruder loud and clear.

"Old Man, I've found you. You dare to steal my ca—"

A man with golden armor steps through the wormhole. A double-lapeled purple cape flows down his back while a golden headband adorns his head.

The man himself stands at 8ft tall and built very stockily. He even had a bit of a belly.

Noticing someone in his way, he kicks out at the goddess.

"Move, b*tch!"

To which the she is promptly propelled away at high velocity.

At this moment, Connor is gobsmacked. Never in a million years would he have thought that another god could invade the White Hall.

He knew that they were AI with incredible human intelligence, but to actually go against protocol and just barge into the introductory room?

Wasn't this a bit too much?

Opening his eyes, the new god in front of him appears to be confused.

"Huh? You aren't the old bastard."