Matthew Atkinson
Oxford, United Kingdom
During his time living on campus, Matthew spent his days doing absolutely no training. The training sessions weren't doing him any good anyway.
Instead, he devoted his time to his books and to the OASIS software and technologies.
Therefore, time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, two months had already passed.
As for the seventh layer of the supernatural realm, which he entered on December 1st, it was another monster-slaying layer.
It was similar to the second layer. There were more types of monsters this time, each with different characteristics. And they had to go to different habitats to find and hunt the monsters.
The whole quest took three days, and it was the longest layer Matthew had ever encountered. At least, among the layers he could remember.
However, monster-slaying layers like that posed no challenge for Matthew now.
Therefore, he and Natalie not only easily passed through the seventh layer of the supernatural realm but also obtained another SSS-grade mission rating.
Frankly, finding and killing monsters with Matthew's Observation Haki was quite easy.
Therefore, Matthew devoted himself more to his work outside of the Supernatural Realm during these two months.
On November 15th, the third book in the Harry Potter series, Prisoner of Azkaban, was released, and on December 15th, the fourth book, Goblet of Fire, was released.
And frankly, the books' popularity was unstoppable, and their fanbase was growing by the day. Publishers were quite pleased with their sales as well.
Of course, Matthew's bank account was also starting to swell thanks to the sales. He was no longer a penniless university student.
Moreover, he had already paid off the debt he owed Natalie, even though Natalie didn't want it back.
In addition, as the series grew in popularity, many collaboration offers poured in. Talk show invitations, interview requests, licensed products, film, and TV series proposals...
Matthew only reviewed and accepted the licensed product deals. He turned down other collaborations, such as interviews, film, and TV series.
He didn't have time to attend things like interviews. Besides, attending an event with a fixed time and place would be like sending invitations to those chasing the bounties on his head.
As for the movie and TV series deals… He wanted to adapt the series for the screens himself.
Normally, this would be a naive thought for someone else, but Matthew had OASIS technology at his disposal.
The moment he activated OASIS in this world, he wouldn't have to worry about casting, production, special effects, and distribution. OASIS would allow him to do all of this much faster, more efficiently, and at a lower cost.
Moreover, he wouldn't have to share the cake with anyone. Well... except for Natalie. As his future wife, she would get half of everything he owned.
Because the Harry Potter series was doing well, Matthew decided to publish another book he was working on: The Lord of the Rings.
He planned to publish the series in three books: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King, just as the films had been released in his previous world.
He would publish The Hobbit later, after The Lord of the Rings.
The Fellowship of the Ring had already been released on December 15th, along with the fourth book in the Harry Potter series.
Publishers signed the deal with him without hesitation. Natalie didn't even need to act as an intermediary this time. In their view, Matthew was now a renowned author who had proven himself.
And after giving them the Lord of the Rings books to read, Matthew had managed to secure an even better deal than his previous one.
And, at Matthew's request, the Lord of the Rings books would be published three months apart.
Today was January 1st.
First day of the New Year.
For ordinary people, such a day was a holiday.
However, there were no holidays for the supernatural people.
Today was another opening day of the supernatural realm for them. And the day the freshmen would enter the eighth layer.
Early in the morning, the first thing Matthew did after waking was check his attribute panel.
.........
Race: Human
Trait: Ageless
Constitution: 2550 (↑550)
Mental: 749 (↑165)
Strength: 2550 (↑550)
Agility: 2550 (↑550)
Ability: Kryptonian Bloodline [Steel Body (4), Super Strength (4), Flight]
Skills: [Fist/Galaxy Impact], [Haki (Legend)], [Demon God's Descent]
Attribute Points: 1195 (↑450)
.........
These were Matthew's current attributes, and they were absolutely amazing for a freshman.
As for the number of expendable attribute points, it became 1195 because he and Natalie both received 450 attribute points in the seventh layer of the supernatural realm.
Each one of them received 350 basic attribute points, with an additional 200 split between them.
And today, they were about to embark on a journey to a new layer.
The team setup in the eighth layer was different from that in the previous layers.
Teams could still be formed with up to 4 people, but this time, 3 teams could come together to create a party.
However, these three teams had no chance to meet or work together in OASIS. Because in the eighth layer, each team would enter an independent OASIS world.
No other supernatural beings would be present in the OASIS world besides their teammates; everyone else would be native OASIS inhabitants.
However, teams within the same party could communicate with one another across independent OASIS worlds. This allowed them to share information and make plans together.
This time, Matthew and Natalie would pair up again, while Filip Walker and the others would form teams of four, reducing the party to 10 instead of 12.
And the party members were going to meet one last time today to finalize their plans before entering the eighth layer.
So, Matthew got up early and went to the campus cafeteria for breakfast.
After that, he met with Natalie and their party members in the lounge at 10 A.M.
The people in the party hadn't changed, and Matthew and Natalie formed a party with the same individuals who had previously been involved in the layers required for large-scale teams.
The University of Oxford was clearly pushing these students. And they even ignored other students' dissatisfaction, continuing to pair them with Matthew and Natalie.
"Matthew is here."
In the lounge, upon Matthew's arrival, Filip Walker immediately stood and greeted him.
Matthew had told Filip many times before that he was their classmate and there was no need for him to behave like this, but…
Even though Filip told him he understood, he kept behaving the same way every time they met.
Matthew couldn't be bothered to say anything more.
"Matthew, please sit here." Matthew nodded and sat down on the sofa.
Once everyone had arrived, he spoke up. "Even though the three teams will go in different worlds and have to complete their tasks independently, I'm in charge of the party's leadership at this layer of the supernatural realm. Any objections?"
His party members immediately shook their heads.
"Alright. Since no one objects, let's talk about the plan for this layer."
Matthew said, "The eighth layer will take place in OASIS, the same virtual world where the fourth layer takes place. I'm sure your professors have mentioned it. And the highest grade achieved so far in this layer is an A-grade."
"And at this layer, everyone has one life, and trying to push the limits in a death race is quite risky. Although the professors tell us not to push ourselves too hard and to settle for an A or B grade, I'm aiming for an SSS grade this time as well."
Everyone was surprised to hear this.
Leaving aside the SSS grade, no one had ever managed to earn even an S grade before, and, as Matthew said, in a world where they have only one life, attempting it would be pretty risky.
"Matthew, did I hear that right? Are you aiming for an SSS grade?"
"Wouldn't that be quite risky? I think it would be better to settle for an A-grade this time rather than taking the risk."
"Matthew, you and Miss Natalie are both very important to the university and to the country. Please don't make hasty decisions."
The party members chimed in.
"Guys. You should know me pretty well by now. I'm not the type to take unnecessary, hasty risks." Matthew said.
"So, does that mean you have a plan?" Denis Read asked.
"If you're asking if I have any plans to get an SSS-grade, my answer is no. But don't you think the situation at the eighth layer is strange?" he said.
"Strange? How strange?" Sam Harris asked.
"No one has ever won this race for two hundred years. I'm not just talking about not getting a grade higher than an A-grade. No one, including the natives of OSASIS, has ever finished this race." Matthew said.
"Yeah. Now that you mention it, I realize it, too. It's strange that not just the supernaturals but the OASIS natives haven't completed the race either. This means..." Natalie said.
And Matthew finished her sentence. "… there's something everyone hasn't discovered about the race yet."
"But this information is useless without knowing what it is, right?" Denis Read said.
"I just need time to figure out what it is. This time, the eighth layer will last 29 days. The first race will take place on the 7th day after we enter the layer. The others will be a week apart."
"That means we have 6 days until the first race and 27 days until the last race. I am only asking you to wait while I research the event. I hope I will have found something before the first race."
"Well... if all we have to do is give Matthew time to do his research, that's fine with me. But what are we going to do during that time?" Filip Walker said.
"In the eighth layer, teams' grades will be determined by two tasks. One is the result obtained in the race, and the other is the result based on the ranks of the vehicles to be built for the race," Matthew explained.
"So, you want us to focus on building our vehicles while you do your research?" Denis Read asked.
"Sort of, but not as soon as we enter the layer," Matthew said.
"What do you mean?" Emma Jackson asked.
"In the eighth layer, the Supernatural Realm provides everyone with a basic design program for building vehicles. But because it's insufficient, many teams are spending their coins on a high-end design program. And then they try to collect the necessary parts from the OASIS markets, right?" Matthew said.
"Yes." "The professors advised us to proceed this way," said Filip Walker.
"I don't think this is the right approach," said Matthew, and everyone was surprised.
"Did you have another idea, Matthew?" Natalie asked.
Matthew nodded and said, "Even though we can buy a high-level design program, we're not engineers, and we have almost no experience with OASIS. We can't possibly be as knowledgeable about vehicle parts and their markets as OASIS's native experts."
"I see. Instead of designing the vehicles ourselves, you're thinking of finding an expert to do this job," Natalie said.
"Yes." He said.
"But how? As far as I know, there isn't any shop in this expertise at OASIS," Denis Read said.
"Not true. While there isn't a shop, there must be people who specialize in building race cars. They just aren't publicly available. They are most likely working on a custom order basis. That's why I want you to look for an engineer when you go in, instead of spending your coins at the beginning." Matthew said.
"But if our searches are fruitless, won't we be wasting time?"
"We have plenty of time at this layer. As long as we get everything ready by the fourth race, there won't be a problem. So, we have nothing to lose by trying," Matthew said.
Then everyone agreed that Matthew's idea made sense, and they accepted his plans.
The reason Matthew was working so hard to achieve good grades for the other two teams, rather than just his own, was that in this layer, in addition to the reward for the team's grade, the party members and captain would also receive a separate reward based on the party's grade.
And Matthew had no intention of missing out on that reward.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.151: Finding a Middleman
Ch.152: Making A Deal
Ch.153: Transformers