“I’m back!”
“Welcome home.”
Luke, who entered the house, looked busy somehow.
What could be going on?
He quickly kicked off his shoes at the entrance, dropped his bag, and, without even properly changing clothes, started searching for his computer.
“Yerna, where’s my computer?”
“Huh? The computer? Pyris is probably using it right now.”
“Got it! Pyris!”
Yerna tilted her head slightly at the sight of Luke quickly heading to the bedroom.
It’s rare for him to act like that.
What could he be so busy with?
—-
At that moment, Pyris was watching an episode of the manga “Spirit Girl Meruru” that she had been introduced to by Diana, focused intensely on the replay.
Since Diana had become deeply engrossed in it, any conversations they had inevitably included discussions about Meruru, and out of curiosity, they had watched it together a few times. Pyris found it genuinely entertaining.
Even though the form and appearance of spirits she knew were different, the mere fact that spirits appeared in a cartoon appealed to her, and the heroic narrative where bad people were punished with magic was fundamentally enjoyable.
Moreover, it was pretty fun to watch without thinking too hard about anything.
It felt like seeing a new world.
It was incomparable to the fairy tale books Luke read to her.
Of course, that wasn’t to say she disliked those stories.
There’s an undeniable difference between a story read aloud by someone and professional content with voice actors, direction, and visual effects.
“Wow! Meruru, transform!”
Whenever it came to Meruru’s transformation scene, Pyris would always mimic the pose.
Since she was, after all, a spirit, using spirit magic to change her clothes was easy.
After momentarily transforming into a spirit form, she quickly reappeared, wearing her now ill-fitting pajamas—an animal onesie.
With a hood featuring a cat’s face and ears pulled down over her head, Pyris waved her hands in the air while looking at Meruru punishing the villains.
It seemed she was trying to throw punches.
Although it looked like she was just flailing around, it was clear she was deeply inspired by Meruru’s impressive display on the computer.
“Hey, Pyris. Sorry, but I need to use the computer for a bit.”
“Okay, sis! I want to finish watching this!”
“I’m kind of in a hurry. Can’t you just watch it later? You can find it anytime by searching.”
“But it’s just about to get interesting…”
Pyris turned to Luke with a slightly sullen expression.
Seeing that, Luke felt a pang of discomfort in his heart, but there was no helping it.
Time was passing, and he needed to finish his research before next week if he wanted to return the Moonstone to Shirud without any issues.
“It’s something essential for my research. So, can you just wait a bit?”
In response, Yerna gently chimed in.
“She said she needs it for studying; please step aside quickly.”
With Yerna saying that, Pyris had no choice.
She wanted to see more, but she had to endure.
“…Fine, I guess I have to hurry up and give it back?”
“Yeah, I’ll return it once I’m done.”
As Pyris stepped away from the computer, she looked back with lingering regret.
Was she really that into Meruru?
‘It wasn’t that fun when I saw it before…’
Of course, it was a bit intriguing, but she never expected that Pyris would get so engrossed.
She didn’t pay attention to other parts thinking about the inaccuracies in the depiction of spirits—it must have had some unique appeal?
‘Watching it together later wouldn’t be a bad idea.’
For now, searching had to come first.
——-
“Alright, is this the program…?”
Luke began searching for the programs he had heard about from Marco.
Then, he discovered a website emphasizing “genuine products.”
Genuine, of course, it would be better to use a legitimate copy.
The value of a formal existence is naturally much higher than that of an illegal one.
Luke promptly closed other pages and opened the site in question.
Upon looking at the program’s download page, it seemed that registration was required to download it.
In the past, he would have needed help for something he couldn’t do himself, but that was no longer the case.
“Registering is easy now.”
He now understood what information needed to be entered in which fields and how to fill them out.
Back when Shirud helped him register, he had learned just by watching over his shoulder.
He no longer made minor errors like entering the same password in the confirmation field or writing a postal code instead of coordinates next to the address line.
Filling out all the blanks skillfully, he read the terms and conditions carefully before completing identity verification using his phone.
Finishing the registration smoothly, Luke inputted his newly created ID.
And just as he was about to click the download button, he was shocked by a pop-up window.
“Wait a minute, 2,000,000 gil per year?!”
He frowned at the outrageous price.
How could one function of a computer be more expensive than the computer itself?
He couldn’t comprehend it at all.
It was something that virtually didn’t exist—merely a blueprint for how to operate a circuit.
How could it be worth more than the price of a real computer? Luke, who grew up in a time with little understanding of ‘intellectual property,’ couldn’t wrap his head around it.
Moreover, hadn’t he been able to use functions like gaming and browsing for free all along?
The concept of making payments for something within the computer was entirely foreign to Luke, making that price even less understandable.
He would need to pay to receive information that was freely connected somewhere in the open internet?
It felt as if, after paying admission to a concert, he was being told to pay again to see the next performance.
“Could it be that this is a scam?”
Doubt crept in.
What if this was labeled as genuine but was actually a scam?
And rightly so, wasn’t it incredibly overpriced?
2,000,000 gil for a year for something that didn’t even exist?
He wasn’t willing to pay such a price for something he might not even use.
Luke decided to look for more information.
Revisiting his search, he found a method to download for free.
However, it was laden with unrelated advertisements that bore no relation to the program he was interested in.
No matter how he looked at it, it didn’t feel right.
To compare, the first site felt like a prestigious shop that specialized in that product, while this site felt like a roadside shop that sold a hodgepodge of poorly-made items from unknown sources.
Yet, still tempted by the free option, he was just about to click the download button when…
“What’s this…?”
He noticed a comment stating that the program contained a virus that could completely destroy computers.
“…”
Luke immediately canceled the download and closed the site.
He wasn’t sure if it was true or not, but he didn’t want to take any risks.
Whether he lost money to a scam or damaged his computer, it was still a loss.
Searching again, it appeared that computers could indeed get viruses.
To be precise, it was more like being brainwashed by someone else.
Perhaps it could be considered a form of necromancy?
Luke turned his attention back to the site that had been labeled as ‘genuine.’
Indeed, from the site’s design alone, it exuded a sense of trust.
It seemed to be genuinely advertising that program with only its relevant information listed.
If either of the two sites was going to scam him, he didn’t think it would be this one.
Browsing through the homepage, he found that there were also monthly purchasing options available.
Purchasing for one month would cost around 300,000 gil, but that price was still a significant burden for Luke at this stage.
Further exploring, he discovered a way to get a student discount.
With a student discount, it seemed he could get it at a 50% off price.
However, that still amounted to 150,000 gil.
He had no issue with buying it, but it would be a waste if he couldn’t use it.
“At least I should be able to know what it is.”
Isn’t it different from a physical material that he can see with his own eyes?
To rely solely on what the advertising people said and then make a purchase felt like he was being told to participate in an auction without seeing the auction items.
What on earth did people in this era trust to spend so much money on such intangible products?
“Wait, there’s a free trial here.”
As Luke continued to browse, he finally discovered a free trial version that allowed usage for about seven days.
“A free trial version, huh.”
Indeed, the people of this era weren’t foolish, they prepared for situations like this.
If he had seen that from the start, he wouldn’t have had to worry so much.
Luke relaxed his expression and clicked the download button.
Now that he was familiar with the process of downloading from having installed games, he could just wait leisurely for the information to transfer to the computer while reading the user manual.
——————
Thus, as Luke was about to undertake his first task using the computer, one could say he opened his eyes to a new world.
Of course, Luke was well aware that simple calculations could be done on a computer.
After all, he had immediately recognized that this magical device had that level of calculating functionality when he first saw it.
In fact, he had even been banned from his account before for optimizing the circuit calculation processes in past games, so he couldn’t be oblivious to it.
However, he never expected that it could also calculate such complex circuits and formulas.
He simply didn’t know how to input anything into the computer.
Moreover, many calculations were faster to do mentally anyway.
But drawing complex formulas and circuits was a different matter.
Previously, Luke had handled everything by hand, yet tasks that originally required enormous magical circuits naturally led to unavoidable errors when drawn on a sheet of paper.
Even if Luke had dexterity, it couldn’t compare to a dwarf’s precision, and thus, to clarify whether a malfunctioning circuit was due to his hand’s mistakes or design issues, he would need to draw the same circuit by hand several more times.
But wasn’t there no need to worry about that with circuitry created in a virtual space?
Simulation.
Gaining access to the perfect theoretical world, Luke found a staggering difference compared to when he worked solely by mental arithmetic and hand calculations.
“This is truly amazing!”
Luke found himself quickly enamored by the wonders of the virtual world.
“Sis~~ how long are you going to take~~ I want to see Meruru now~~”
“Just a little longer, I’m in the middle of something important. Why don’t you ask Yerna to read you a book over there?”
“I don’t wanna! I wanna see Meruru! It’s unfair! You keep playing on the computer! When are you gonna let me?”
“Results are about to come out, so just wait a bit.”
“How many times have you said that? It’s been two hours already!”
However, Yerna, who was watching the bickering between Luke and Pyris over the computer, felt uneasy.
‘Should I buy another computer…?’
