Jax had been working non-stop since he bought the skill., and by now, the sky outside his apartment was painted with the dark hues of late night. He glanced at the time—11:04 PM. "Maybe I should take a break," he mumbled, leaning back in his chair. The glow of the monitor reflected in his tired eyes, but there was a strange calm on his face. Despite the exhaustion, there was something different.
He felt like he knew exactly what he was doing. Like he had done this a hundred times. Like making this game was just second nature.
Maybe it was the system skill working in the background. Or maybe, deep down, he was just... good at this.
Tomorrow was the weekend. No need to wake up early. No annoying supervisors. No fake smiles or cheap office coffee. That alone felt like a vacation.
He glanced at his bank app. The numbers glowed back at him.
$1,362.74
Jax stared for a moment. Then sighed.
"My life savings... all of it. What the hell have I been doing with my life?"
A pause.
"No, seriously. This is all I've got?" A short silence. "That's just depressing."
A minor existential crisis later, he rolled his chair back toward the monitor and cracked his knuckles. "Screw it. I'm finishing this tonight."
5:06 AM
The sun hadn't yet risen, but Jax had.
He slumped back in his chair, drained but proud. "Man, that's it for today. Let's get some sleep now. It's almost complete."
He stumbled to his bed and collapsed. Sleep hit him like a truck.
10:32 AM – The Next Day
After a bleary-eyed brunch that probably qualified as breakfast , Jax sat back down in front of his glowing screen.
Hours passed.
Lines of code, sprite tweaks, menu balancing—it all blurred together. But there was something beautiful about it. The work didn't feel like a chore. It felt... right.
And then it was done.
"Save Points Zero"
He stared at the project folder and let the name settle in. A pixel RPG with a surreal twist. He summarized the idea in his mind:
A retro-style 2D pixel world with floating cities and clockwork monstrosities.
You can turn literally anything you destroy into an Echo ally—even trash cans.
Enemies leave behind 'recorded actions' you can reuse.
NPCs change their responses based on what Echoes you've used.
A two-button combat loop that was fast, fun, and unpredictable.
Players could fuse Echoes into strange hybrids, from tank-cats to golem-bikes.
It was weird. It was cool. It was him.
"Felt like I've been doing this for years," he said aloud. "Not bad for my first game."
He opened his bank app again. Still the same number.
"Alright. Time to change that."
He scrolled through online indie publishing platforms.
Steam? Nah, fees. Too slow.
Itch.io? Possible, but oversaturated.
Then he saw one.
Inzio.g — 95/5 revenue split.
"Bingo."
He signed up, uploaded the game, added some screenshots, and hovered over the price field.
"Well, I didn't spend much time on it... and this was mostly for practice," he thought.
$3.99. Fair. Cheap even.
He clicked Publish.
It was live.
He exhaled.
"Let's see what happens."
Then he checked his system. Daily quests.
Water the cactus → 10 points
Organize bookshelf → 15 points
Do a light stretch → 5 points
Write a game dev log → 30 points
Total: 60 points.
He did them all.
Didn't spend any. Just saved them.
The rest of the day , he just toyed around with some new game ideas. But no pressure. Just vibes.
Then he woke up at 8 a.m. the next day and got ready for work.
His only prayer and hope was that it wouldn't be another boring day
The Stream – Yesterday, 11:14 PM
"Alright, chat," said RazzorBlade, a popular variety streamer with over 2 million subs. "Let's mix things up today. What do you wanna see?"
Superchat: "Play the newest, cheapest indie game on Inzio. Should be fun lol."
Razzor smirked. "That's chaotic. I like it. Let's do that."
He opened Inzio.
"Alright… sorting by newest… and lowest price… what's this? 'Save Points Zero'? $3.99?"
He clicked into it.
"Pixel art looks clean. This some kinda RPG?"
Game booted up.
Ten minutes in, Razzor blinked. "Wait… I just turned a mailbox into a party member?"
Chat exploded:
"WTF this looks actually good?"
"Yo that combo system is wild."
"Wait, he fused a trash can and a robot???"
"THE NPC REMEMBERED THE ECHO???"
"Bro this cost $3.99? I'm buying rn."
Razzor laughed, genuinely entertained. "This is insane. I'm hooked."
Back to Jax – Present Day, 6:30 PM
Jax was walking home from another dead-eyed day at the office. His bag felt heavier than usual. Maybe it was his soul.
"Man, today was crap," he muttered. "System didn't even give me any quests."
Passing by a small tea shop, he overheard two teens chatting.
"You can fuse ANYTHING," one whispered.
"I made a tree-frog hybrid. It used leaf kick. Insane," the other replied.
Jax blinked.
"Sounds familiar… huh. Probably some other game," he told himself.
He got home, dropped everything, collapsed onto his bed.
Reflexively, he took out his phone. Just muscle memory.
Opened his bank app.
He blinked.
$4,883.91
He stared.
Refreshed the page.
$5,204.17
Another refresh.
$5,621.43
"…what the fuc—"
He screamed.
"WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK?!?!"