章 83: Chapter 77: Thoughts

Ryan's overprotective father had him spend at least one day in the hospital, despite having only minor scratches.

In a way, Ryan wasn't disturbed by this. Instead, he was happy because he realized how much his new parents genuinely loved and cared about him.

Ryan was left alone after Phil left. He felt bored and had nothing to do. He couldn't tease the nurse as the ward was closed off now. So he decided to open the system panel and count his loot.

He expected that they must have increased significantly as he saved Cam's life at the expense of him being severely injured.

"I wonder if I got a million points. Or 10 million points!" He drooled, and his dollar-shaped pupils started to dance in anticipation. He then calmed himself and reflected on his action today.

"So, did I hurl myself at Cam just to earn some measly points? Nah, that ain't it."

Ryan got out of bed and started to pace back and forth in the ward.

"So, was the real reason I hurled myself at Cam that I didn't want anyone to get hurt due to my interference in the plot? Essentially making it due to guilt? The answer to that is also no."

When the incident happened, Ryan wasn't really thinking about the consequences of his actions. All he did was react based on pure instincts.

"I guess it's all based on instincts, huh."

Now was that dumb, reckless, and unreasonable – as Nathan put it? The answer was yes.

Could Ryan's new fantastic life as a genius who plays two sports, writes scripts in a flash, and as a caring boyfriend have ended just like that? Yes, that definitely was a possibility.

He knew afterward just how risky his actions were. Still, he breathed in relief as he luckily created the best outcome possible. No one got seriously hurt in the accident.

"Would I do it again if I was aware of the consequences of my actions? Perhaps not, but what is the point of dwelling on something that has already occurred in the past?"

He couldn't change his choice now, so he decided to be in the present and not think about negative scenarios and adverse outcomes that would only depress him.

Based on this mentality, Ryan threw the issue into a dark and hidden corner in his mind, hoping never to revisit it. He recollected himself and changed the atmosphere by looking at his system interface.

"Nice." He muttered as he saw the number.

The point totaled 537,850 points, making it officially the highest number of points Ryan had ever gotten in a plot interference.

"With great risk come great rewards." He muttered.

The point made sense because he had saved someone's life by risking his own.

Ryan turned to the point history to see how the points were distributed.

[Points History Page]

Previous - 180,650

Jungle Tanya interaction - 3,000 p

Basic interaction with Dunphy's - 28,000 p (6k each for Claire and Phil, 8k each for Alex and Haley)

Basic interaction with Pritchett - 15,000 p (3,000 for Gloria, 4,000 for Jay, 8,000 for Manny)

Basic interaction with Tucker-Pritchett - 6,000 p (3,000 For Cam, 3,000 for Mitchell.)

Kissing Alex - 22,000 p

Feeding Alex/Copping a feel - 18,000 p

Stopping Haley - 12,000 p

Claire's acceptance - 25,000 p

Saving Luke - 18,000 p

Changing ending - 30,000 p

Saving Cam - 180,200 p

"The point is fair. But when did I cop a feel? I would remember if I did?" He muttered quizzically.

That's not the only thing Ryan didn't understand. "Why did I receive the same amount as Haley and Alex from Manny, even though I barely interacted with him? Also, why did my interaction with Haley get such a high score?"

Except for this unusual incident, everything else appeared to be in order. Ryan also reasoned that being a gentleman and arranging chairs counted toward feeding Alex. Otherwise, the system would be much less generous.

Ryan then went to check out the system mall because he hadn't bought anything new in a long time. He also wanted to see what all new things he could buy with such a massive total of points.

He also had a sly idea that he intended to carry out, and if it worked out, he could potentially be set for life.

Opening the mall interface, which looked like a translucent website floating in the air and could be manipulated with a single thought.

The first thing Ryan saw was a giant advertisement indicating that comic books were on sale and that if he completed certain purchasing conditions, he could even get a sketching skill.

"Last time, it was anime. The system sure is generous to give 'discounts' when it knows I have a lot of points."

Ryan opted to investigate this first since he was curious about how the system intended to provide sketching abilities as part of a package to sell comics.

Clicking the ad, Ryan discovered that all comics had a flat 35% off and that Marvel and DC comics were priced at 1,000 points for each issue without the discount.

Seeing this, Ryan checked for the sketching skill requirement and found that he must make a bulk of 250 comic issues to acquire the skill.

Ryan did some fast arithmetic, multiplying the current price of 650 by 250, and discovered that this skill bundle would cost him 162,500 points.

"Simple math…as if!"

Ryan then began to wonder if this was a sensible idea because the comic industry in this world didn't really exist. He understands this firsthand from his father.

He had found this from just how difficult it was to persuade his father to develop the recently bought anime. At first, his father just pushed the talk as he wasn't as interested in the animated artworks.

Then he even asked him to transform the script into a tv pilot instead of making it in a cartoon form. This wasn't even the worst.

The worst part was when Ryan asked Nathan why, and hearing Nathan's response rendered Ryan speechless.

"It wouldn't be lucrative in the least, and from what I've researched, it would take one to two years to make such a cartoon," Nathan had said.

"I'm sorry, kiddo, but I discovered that the cartoon business is just far too undeveloped."

"Not to mention that your sort of animation, with drama and sci-fi aspects, would not fit on any kid's channel, making it difficult to find a distributor as well."

Ryan had given up on acquiring new comics and anime from his system for the time being, but this did not imply he had given up on the business.

Instead, it was the opposite. Ryan felt he would buy them when he was older, had enough shows and movies produced, was more affluent, and had more of a say in such matters.

"Basically, if it is underdeveloped, it's my responsibility to develop it to become one of the most popular industries in the world."