Before I got the sugar mommy though, there were some interesting events that led me to her. Unbelievable events that would never happen to an ordinary person.
But they did to me.
As always, I was sitting on my laptop in my tiny one-room apartment, writing my new novel. After graduation, I didn't really find any good job so I began writing. Lo and behold, people love braindead slop and considering I love them too, we suited each other really well.
I write normal, wish-fulfillment novels and get more than enough to get by. It wasn't enough to live a better life, but a decent survival life was also pretty good, especially in a country filled with unemployed people.
That was when I got the shock of my life. Literally. Apparently, my dear laptop decided to turn into a freaking electric eel. The shock knocked me unconscious and the next time I woke up, I found a blue screen floating before my eyes.
"Fucking hell!" I screamed in surprise. "Did I start hallucinating?"
I slapped myself, hard enough to leave a sting. The screen didn't go away, meaning I slapped myself for nothing. It just hovered there like an overly patient pop-up ad that refused to be closed.
After a solid minute of panicking and making sure this wasn't a hallucination just because I took thousands of volts inside my body... okay, that was an exaggeration but it still hurt a lot. Not recommended at all.
I took a deep breath and actually read the damn thing.
[Congratulations, Host. You have been chosen as the World Hopper of verse FUY47G77. As the World Hopper, you get a few main abilities. They all depend on your title as the World Hopper.]
[World Hopping: You can travel between Earth and another world (not a fantasy one, you nerd). Its population is near extinct so your responsibility is to save them from complete eradication. If worst comes, settle there and pump up some kids. (Note: System ain't giving you any beauties.)]
So I got myself a system, an idiot one but still a system. Alright, cool. Very cool.
I read that last part again. Pump up some kids. Was this system made by a drunk god? Because that sounded less like a sacred mission and more like a dating app bio.
Still, I wasn't complaining. I scrolled down mentally, since the screen responded to my thoughts like some kind of brain-linked interface. Fancy. I feel like renaming myself. Tony Stark would be good.
[Inventory: A pocket dimension for storage. Current capacity — 1 cubic meter (You'll fit inside). Expandable through World Hopper achievements.]
[Physical Enhancement: Passive. Your body will gradually strengthen through exposure to the other world's environment. Rate depends on activity and survival.]
[Transfer Cooldown: 24 hours between each world hop. (System also needs sleep)]
One cubic meter...That was basically a large suitcase. For starters, that was pretty good.
I sat there on my creaky bed, staring at the floating blue screen for a good ten minutes. My mind raced through every novel I'd ever written, every system I'd ever designed for my characters. And now I had one. An actual, real, functioning system.
I was ignoring it's stupid remarks for the moment, as I didn't want to ruin my mood.
A grin spread across my face. The kind that would make anyone watching deeply uncomfortable. A shit eating grin.
"Hell yeah!"
Look, I know what a normal person would do. They'd probably freak out, call someone, maybe even go to a hospital. They would question their sanity for a few days, maybe weeks.
But I wasn't normal. I was a web novelist need who spent eight hours a day writing about protagonists getting cheat abilities. I had been mentally preparing for this moment my entire career without even knowing it.
The system said the other world's population was near extinct. That meant danger. Zombies? Monsters? Nuclear fallout? It didn't specify, but considering it mentioned the world wasn't fantasy, I was betting on something grounded. Sci-fi apocalypse, maybe.
Which meant I needed supplies. Food, specifically. If the population was nearly wiped out, food would be the most valuable currency there. Gold meant nothing to starving people, but a bag of rice? That was enough for people to beg around.
As for how I was making these assumptions, it wasn't hard, really. Anyone who had read many books could guess it. I was perfectly normal.
I jumped off my bed and raided my kitchen. And by "raided my kitchen," I mean I opened the three cabinets that constituted my entire food storage situation.
Instant noodles. A bag of rice. Some canned beans. A few packets of biscuits. Two bottles of water. Half a loaf of bread that was one day away from growing its own civilization.
Not exactly a feast, but for a world where food was supposedly scarce, this was treasure. It was a gamble anyways.
I stuffed what I could into the inventory... which, by the way, felt incredibly weird. I've written stuff like this but it still felt weird.
You just hold something and think store and it vanishes. Like a magic trick, except the magic trick was real and my instant noodles actually disappeared into thin air.
The rest went into my old college backpack. I also threw on a hoodie, jeans, and my sturdiest pair of sneakers. Not exactly survival gear, but it was all I had. I wasn't about to go shopping for tactical vests at eleven at night.
'Who would even sell those to me?'
I stood in the middle of my apartment, backpack on, heart pounding, and took one last look around.
Such small room with a cuttered desk. My dear laptop that had nearly killed me. The manuscript of my latest novel still open on the screen.
"If I die," I muttered, "at least I won't have to finish that deadline."
I was quite happy about it.
With that incredibly motivational thought, I focused on the system and selected [World Hop].