21 Becoming rich is too easy

If someone that is aware of my current circumstances was to be let known of the wealth I've amassed in such a short time with seemingly such a small time investment, the viable explanations that person would come up with in their head would probably be among the following:

-He shamelessly plagiarized works of fiction from Earth in order to publish for money.

-He used his hacking skills to access other people's bank accounts and steal money.

-He blackmailed Ozpin to cough up some cash like a high-school bully taking the quiet kid's lunch money.

All of this options were available to him at this moment but if you were to question him if any of these are correct than your answer would be a resounding NO!

Unless it was an emergency, Jaune would prefer to not use illegal and immoral methods or risk ruining the working relationship he is trying to build with the immortal wizard.

Although depending on your point of view, his method for earning money can be considered just as shameless and exploitative of others as the previously mentioned despite being 100% legal and technically being all a fruit of his labor.

So...What is the correct answer?

Jaune Arc has developed a game.

So far it doesn't sound so bad as to warrant being called a 'shameless' or 'exploitative' method of earning money, but he didn't make just any type game. The game he made was one that has its only purpose being making money and nothing else.

He has created using his knowledge from his previous life a mobile Gacha-game.

Now, just hear me out!

It all started 2 years ago, a bit before he started his training with his grandfather.

He never had any worries about making money since he knew that with his skills he would never have any lack of it and in the future he would probably have more money than he can spend as long as his plans come to fruition.

But this was far into the future and he wanted some money in the short term in order to be able to buy gifts and pay his family back for everything they've done for him (despite their conflicts in regards to his future career choice at the time, it didn't diminish his love for them one bit).

Writing a book was too time consuming and he wouldn't be developing any useful skill in the meantime, using his hacking skills would be too scummy for his taste. So he made use of his skills in programing to start making a game in order to earn money.

And that wasn't a problem for him since while making the game was a much longer process, he would also be training his programing skills at the same time, so he wouldn't be wasting precious time that he could be using to develop himself.

From then onwards he continued to develop his game and improving his programing skills while his family was completely unaware of any of it.

All the drawing, animation and script were made by himself over the course of two years (much thanks to developing this skills in his previous life as a hobby) and it was finally released in the version 1.0 a few months after he entered Ryu-Bang's tutelage.

The game had very simple graphics in order to increase accessibility and run even on the Scrolls that were powered by potatoes, its low budget also meant that it had very little voice acting and there wasn't a lot of marketing or announcements floating around.

The game that was as mentioned earlier, a Gacha-game, it was "free-to-play" and was developed with the sole purpose of being a quick cash grab before being completely forgotten by the public.

And what tools did I use in order to squeeze money from the players?

Every single cash grabbing tactic that he has witnessed before, so much so that even greedy game developers back on earth would be impressed.

Micro-transactions, loot-boxes, additional paid content. Think of a method to try and grab money and I probably used it to make this game. And thanks to studying about law and legislature before, I was able to use loopholes and barely avoid it being considered full-on gambling and therefore restricted by the law.

This is so apparent that just by staring at the starting screen you can feel a phantom hand reaching into your pocket trying to take your hard earned cash.

But every game must have something to attract and entice the audience otherwise no one would be willing to spend a single penny on your game and to do that he also took inspiration on successful games and employed some of their tactics.

A repetitive and highly addictive gameplay loop, lots of grinding to emphasize the need to spend money, flood the players with small rewards to make them feel accomplished while keeping the bigger rewards just out of their grasp and most importantly a lot of waifus and husbandos just waiting to be unlocked.

Such was the importance of the last mentioned that despite the game's simple graphics the 2D drawing of the characters received some extra attention to be able to draw the players attention.

At the start the game had very little players thanks to the lack of marketing, so most of the players back then were the ones that saw a few character drawings, had a neuron activation and started playing because of it.

The first payments came a week later when the grinding had finally worn down their resolve but the urge to see some 2D drawings was just too strong for them to stop playing and throw away all their hard work.

This game was made as such that 90% of the progress to obtain anything was easy but the last 10% was a grinding RNG hell, making the players be aways on the cusp of achieving it while constantly tempting them to take the easy route.

After that, I expected the player base to slowly diminish before the game was completely forgotten having accomplished its goal and earning me some money.

But I was wrong!

I was so Oum damn wrong!

The player base didn't decrease, by the contrary! It started to increase explosively without any signs of stopping.

And the weirdest thing was all the comments that were left by the players afterwards.

[This game is garbage, but I'm physically incapable of stop playing it. Please someone send help!]

[I've played it for a week and don't recommend it. I'm serious! If you download it then you'll have your time, job and social life completely consumed by it just like I had mine]

[The developer of this game is a shameless money-grubber and I hope he steps on Lego, gets dumped by his girlfriend, chokes on all the money he took from us and dies. But please give us the next expansion before you do so, the wait is killing me!]

It felt like watching someone enter a restaurant and order some food, after it arrived and he tasted it he then started to complain to everybody that it was horrible, before proceeding to eat everything without leaving any leftovers and asking for a second serving afterwards.

That is how I became the developer of simultaneously one of the worst Scroll games ever made and one of the most famous to ever arrive on Remnant.

...

Silence...

Complete silence was all that permeated in the living room after I told my family from where the money comes from. Of course, concealing from them where I got the inspiration, adding a motive that'll put me in a good light and using different terms that are more common to people over here.

Most of them had their jaws dropped and sported weird looks as they heard my story, Saphron meanwhile was with her Scroll out and recording the whole scene while trying to suppress her own laughter.

But then my father asks with a stuttering voice and a embarrassed expression:

"W-Why have you never told us?"

"Because you never asked."

With this he takes back what he was about to say and decides to just remain silent.

Then his sisters start to question him "Is it true?" Rosemary murmurs in a soft tone.

"Hm? You still don't believe it?" I shot her a confused glance.

"No! I meant the reason that you wanted to make money." She clarified.

With that, I quickly realized what she really meant and proceeded to put my acting skills to the test.

I make an embarrassed expression and start to slightly fidget in order to sell them my acting before I start speaking.

"Y-Yeah" I speak maintaining my face turned to the ground "I mean, I just wanted to give you all a nice surprise using this money to pay you all back for everything you've done for me."

And the response was almost instantaneous, my sisters all became excited and touched with my "confession" and it was easily shown by their attitude immediately afterwards.

"Aww, little bro you didn't have to." Despite saying this Rouge was very interested in the money.

"I wonder what we did to deserve such a thoughtful brother." Aquamarine moves on to complimenting me.

"Wow, my youger brother is already rich and successful." Says Rosemary a bit out of touch with the situation.

"Little bro, you won't forget your super nice sisters and favorite sisters will you?" Opal and Lazuli didn't even try to hide their interest.

"..." Violet is quiet as always and shows the least reaction to the money itself, focusing more on the fact that Jaune did it for them and sporting a shy smile.

Neo after hearing this didn't show any outward reaction as her respect for her savior was already very high but now in addition to the various positive traits she has given him in her head, she now added 'capable' to them.

So overall, it all fell within my expectation and I managed to swiftly earn the approval of all my sister, leaving only two people left to go.

Turning to my father, I see him with a beaming smile and emitting your typical 'proud dad aura', which isn't strange. Afterall , which parent wouldn't be elated to know that their son is successful?

That left him with one last person to convince to allow Neo's stay in the Arc household and that person is also the one with the most power in our house. So I turn my look towards that person and watch her with apprehension.

Mom, different from the others has not shown hesitation or doubt at all when looking at her, showing that she has already come to her decision some time ago. She stares at us with a neutral expression making it hard to read her intentions.

She then suddenly stands up from the sofa and starts to make her way towards us in a steady pace, while the rest of the family just stares curiously at her unexpected actions and remain silent.

Neo, seeing her making her way while staring straight towards herself, ends up loosing her composure and shrinking in her seat while I reflexively put my arm in front of her and slightly shift my seat in order to get her behind me and I assume a defensive posture, which momentarily allows her to recover her composure.

Mom stops right in front of us and staring at Neo, asks a question still maintaining her neutral expression.

"If you are to join this family, you'll have to learn its customs and follow them to the letter. Do you unconditionally accept this terms?" Mom asks in a very serious tone.

Hearing this I become very relieved as this question means that she more or less already accepted Neo, so I move away and let her handle the question herself.

Neo doesn't hesitate to start writing and a short time later she presents her response.

{I'm still ignorant of this family's values and am yet to repay your son for all he has done for me, but I'll do anything in my power to change that. So I accept the terms and sincerely express my gratitude for your kindness and hospitality Mrs Arc.}

"No need to be so stiff, just refer to me as mom from now on." She says in sweeter and more friendly tone.

Neo is momentarily taken by the drastic change in attitude but then eagerly nods in affirmation.

"So, Neo will be living with us from now on?" I ask in order to get the definitive confirmation.

But I'm completely taken by surprise as mom's composure completely crumbles and she snatches Neo from my side in a tight hug hoisting her into the air.

"Muuu, of course she can stay with us! Who would be heartless enough to turn away such a cute and pitiful girl?" She says in a more childish tone as she squeezes the poor girl.

Eventually she lets go of Neo, who is momentarily dazed and turns towards the rest of her children "Girls, you can show our new resident her new room."

"Hell yeah!" "Looking forward to someone else to tease" "She'll be so pretty in a dress" "Your hair is so pretty, will you let me braid it?" Come the voices from my sisters as they drag Neo away into the second floor.

"And Jaune, you stay behind." Mom finishes while looking at me with a serious expression.

After Neo and my sisters leave, it only leaves three people left in the living room being me, mom and dad.

"Now let's decide what will be your punishment." Mom, says in a serious tone.

"Punishment?" I repeat with a incredulous expression not quite knowing where this came from.

"Yes, you have hidden this matter from us and failed to report all your activities as we told you to"

Crap!

"I-I was just trying to make a surprise, my first friend and all, I had just-"

"Jaune Arc" She interrupts me with a sharp gaze "I'm your mother, therefore I'm the one that knows you best, you can try and fool me with your innocent act all you want, but I already know how cunning you really are. This meeting was probably already planned by you in order to get our sympathy and make it harder for us to reject your proposal."

Double Crap!

I just stay silent and await for my punishment without any complaints.

"Let's see, how about entrusting him with cooking, cleaning and groceries for the next month as a punishment?" My father suggests to my mother.

"Too lenient! let's make it 2 months and call it at that, any complaints?" Both my father and I stay silent therefore settling the punishment as mother suggested.

Mom then leaves the living room, leaving only dad and I still in it. After exchanging glances for a bit he gets up and says to me:

"Son, I have something to tell you. Will you follow me outside?"

Hearing this, I nod and follow right behind him.