BONUS CHAPTER
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While Caelan was opening his shop, Cassius was at home playing Chronicle of the Fierce Tortoise Warriors. The character he chose was none other than Michelangelo with his nunchaku.
After two days of practice, he had a basic understanding of this character. By comparing him to others, he could increasingly feel the nunchaku's power. The key to playing well was grasping the timing of the recovery animation.
Nunchaku—a weapon I've never heard of. Even the butler said he'd never heard of this weapon. Could it be something Caelan simply imagined? How did he imagine it?
Cassius pondered, his fingers ceaselessly controlling Michelangelo as he swiftly took down three minor enemies with four nunchaku strikes. As he slowly recovered from the animation, an elite enemy suddenly jumped onto screen, lowering its head and rushing toward him with outstretched arms.
Cassius decisively unleashed his ultimate skill—"Collapsing Mountain Dance"—sending it flying.
This elite enemy was tall and robust. If it grabbed him, he'd not only lose ten health points but also be immobilized for a second. Better to spend ten health points unleashing an ultimate.
After activation, Collapsing Mountain Dance attacked eight times in a 360-degree radius. The last hit sent everyone flying—except for specific enemy types and most bosses. The damage sequence was 12, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2.
First hit always dealt twelve points, subsequent hits decreased. It lasted 0.8 seconds, during which the user was invincible. Additionally, the user could move while performing this ultimate.
Cassius was currently on level seven—his fourth time reaching it. He hadn't seen the boss before, but this time he finally did.
On the way to pursue Shredder, a fierce alligator-tortoise-man blocked his path. The level seven boss—Alligator Snapping Turtle Tokka.
Because he didn't understand the opponent's attack patterns and characteristics, no matter how cautious Cassius was, he still quickly fell here. He hadn't even figured out the routine.
"Ugh!" Cassius leaned back, displaying a defeated, dead-fish expression for a while.
After some thought, he decided to take a break. As for how to rest? He'd go find the butler for a good sparring match.
In fact, Caelan's setting for the home version—which didn't allow continues—was a bit difficult for people. However, although everyone grumbled about it, no one questioned it.
In reality, looking back, without modifications or cheats, most old NES games were quite difficult.
At least Caelan himself had played so many games, and without cheating or using continues, he seemed to have only beaten Total Recall and Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers 2 purely with his own skill.
After searching his mind palace, he confirmed it was only these two.
All other games he'd beaten were modified versions, including TMNT 2 and TMNT 3, which he could only beat with thirty-life versions.
The ridiculously modified Chronicle of the Fierce Tortoise Warriors—based on TMNT 3—was even more popular than expected. Caelan was absolutely delighted.
In the afternoon, a middle-aged man approached the new shop, saw Caelan, and asked, "Excuse me, are you the Illusionist proprietor?"
Caelan was startled. "I am. Who are you, please?"
The middle-aged man looked close to fifty, but in this world, you couldn't guess age from appearance.
There were many powerful individuals who looked twenty or thirty but were two or three hundred years old.
"I just went to your Mare Street shop, and the female assistant gave me this address. I'm here to discuss a business deal with you."
After a brief exchange, Caelan understood. The other party had seen this new entertainment model, found it very promising, and had come to discuss wholesale.
He intended to purchase a large quantity of Caelan's engraved runestones at a cheaper price, then sell them to other cities.
Caelan was naturally very happy for his games to spread outside. Although mana feedback would be less from a distance, even a mosquito's leg was still meat.
Accumulated, the total amount would probably be considerable.
So the two discussed for a while. In the end, Caelan firmly held the price at ten percent discount, not allowing the other party any significant advantage.
"Mr. Riverdale, you know, my energy is limited. Engraving runestones isn't that easy, right?"
"Mr. Illusionist, I know engraving runestones is not simple. But I've observed for several days.
Your Illusion school runestone engraving seems much more convenient and faster than elemental runestone engraving. Moreover, it's well known the Illusion school has no risk of backlash."
The two continued to discuss for half a day, but Caelan still didn't budge.
The merchant named Edmund Riverdale could only accept the price.
He reserved ten days and ordered one thousand copies of Elemental Contra and one thousand copies of Chronicle of the Fierce Tortoise Warriors.
It seemed he was very optimistic about these two games. Then three hundred copies of Super Mario were ordered, and one hundred copies each of Tank Battle and Salamander as token gestures.
He also ordered one thousand copies of Chinese chess, which surprised Caelan—others could easily replicate that.
In fact, some people were already doing so. They just needed to make the board and pieces.
There were some for sale on Mare Street, both wooden and stone. The slightly inferior wooden ones even sold for only thirty copper bits, and their feel was much better than the Chinese chess Caelan conjured.
Anyway, the deal was settled.
Comrade Riverdale left thirty gold crowns as a deposit and departed, leaving Caelan sitting by the counter, inwardly delighted.
This fellow even specifically conjured an abacus and clacked away at it for a long time, only to awkwardly realize he'd forgotten how to use an abacus.
Finally, he retrieved the method from his mind palace and clacked away again, calculating the result: one hundred sixty-six gold crowns and fifty silver marks.
After deducting costs and necessary taxes, he netted over one hundred gold crowns.
If this continued, he estimated it wouldn't be long before he could completely buy this sublevel two warehouse. After all, Cassius had said he'd sell it to him whenever he wanted.
Looking at the bustling shop, Caelan once again hung the "Help Wanted" sign outside the door. This time, he planned to hire two more people. Security guards weren't needed—there were patrolling city guards in the market, which saved that expense.
"Hiring two servers. Monthly salary: 200 silver marks, paid on the 10th of following month. Working hours: 8 AM to 6 PM, one hour lunch break, lunch included. Ladies preferred."
He looked at the recruitment sign, picked up his pen, and added another sentence: "For details, please enter here and go down to sublevel two to the counter inside the shop to speak with the proprietor."
The handwriting was ugly, but it should be understandable... right?
Returning to the counter, he sat down, occasionally answering customers' questions about the game. Caelan would patiently give a few pointers, but for the most part, he let them explore on their own.
The fun of games, after all, lay in self-discovery.
After sending away another person who'd secretly come to ask for a code, Caelan pursed his lips, watching the disappointed figure walk away.
He was about to grumble inwardly when he noticed another person standing in front of his counter.
He casually asked, "What's up, kid?"
Looking up, he saw it was Victor. He couldn't help but exclaim, "Oh, Victor! What a rare guest!"
"Not that rare. At least I've been to your Mare Street shop a few times. And your new shop just opened today, so anyone who comes is a rarity," Victor said, annoyed.
Caelan offered an awkward but polite smile.
Victor glared sideways at Caelan. "Didn't you give Cassius an engraved runestone of Chronicle of the Fierce Tortoise Warriors the day before yesterday, even though it only released today?"
Huh? How did this guy know?
"Cassius accidentally let it slip yesterday in class," Victor complained.
"I even waited a day specifically hoping you'd give me a copy in advance. And here I thought I was going to treat you as a friend.
My family also has many storefronts—even better locations. If you wanted to rent one, it would just be a word from you."
Caelan indeed hadn't considered Victor, mainly because he'd been busy promoting the game and opening the shop. He hadn't paid attention to this matter.
But he certainly couldn't just honestly admit his mistake.
"Oh, Victor, you've misunderstood me. I just thought your attitude toward games was different from Cassius's."
He secretly took out an unengraved size 6 runestone tablet from under the counter. With a turn of mana, he input a brand new version of Chronicle of the Fierce Tortoise Warriors into it.
Plz give me Powerstones
Bonus chapter on every 300 Powerstones.