Changing wasn’t easy, but there were small steps I could take to start. The first thing I needed to address was sleep. I needed to increase that.
’Let me quickly check how many hours a person usually needs to sleep in a day.’
Opening up the browser and quickly searching, I got my desired result not long after, but…
“Huh?”
The answer I received was an unexpected one.
“Seven to nine hours? Are we serious?”
Wasn’t this a little bit too much?
That was like… two to three to four hours wasted. There were so many things that I could do in those hours!
“No, relax. This might just be wrong. Let me open up another page.”
But…
Same.
The answer that I received was the same, and my question went from [how many hours did a person need in a day?] to [Is five hours of sleep healthy?].
I was starting to get desperate. To the point where I clicked on every page that I could find that sounded remotely like it would agree with me, but…
None of them did.
“Fuck.”
Regardless of what page or search I made, the answer was the same. The ideal amount of sleep was seven to nine hours.
Anything below that was not healthy and manageable.
Looking at the results, I struggled to accept the search, but in hindsight, it sort of explained all of my headaches and constant fatigue.
’It’s also very likely one of the contributing factors for me forgetting something so obvious like the compass.’
It did say that not sleeping properly impaired thinking.
I sighed.
“It really looks like I’ll have to force myself to sleep more.”
I didn’t really want to do that, considering how much work I had, but given my most recent expedition, I understood that this was necessary.
“In that case, what else can I do?”
The goal was to improve in every aspect. I didn’t want to make the same mistakes as before.
I had to be ready at all moments. For that, I started to research more.
“To improve both mental and physical health, it’s essential to maintain a balanced diet and engage in regular exercise.”
I paused there.
That… sounded like a hassle. It wasn’t like my diet was that bad.
Sure, there were a lot of instant noodles… and maybe a few too many prepackaged lunches from the store. Pasta too. Pizza…
And…
“Shit.”
I groaned out loud. Thinking about it, my diet was also crap.
“But wouldn’t that mean that I’d have to start cooking? No, god… That’s even more time wasted. No, wait…!”
I suddenly recalled something. The Guild had a dining hall. Most of the people in the Containment Sector didn’t go there, but as far as I was aware, they provided extremely healthy and nutritious food at low prices.
In that case, I could eat there.
The problem was something else.
“Exercise…”
Just the idea of exercising made me sick. Not only did it feel like a waste of a few more hours, but thinking back at the pain that would come after…
I really didn’t want to.
But…
The more I didn’t want to do it, the more I knew I had to. This wasn’t just about my general health.
It was also to help me better deal with the anomalies. With better physical strength, I’d be able to run faster, and just overall not get tired more easily.
In that regard, exercise was also vital, and I added that to the list of things that I had to do.
“What else…?”
I started thinking about everything that I needed to do, and one thing came to mind.
’Right.’
It had something to do with the Section Chief and his interest in my games.
“If I can somehow convince him to use my games as training tools for the recruits, then maybe, just maybe, I can also ask him to help fund their development.”
My heart sped up at the thought.
’The Guild is extremely rich. If I were to somehow impress them with my games, and convince them to use them, then I can also convince them to invest in me.’
But since my games only affected those of the Second Order and below, the budget wouldn’t be too big.
’…It can affect those of higher order, but they’d need to be from different departments and have little to no experience in dealing with anomalies.’
It became awfully clear to me how important experience was when dealing with my games. The more experienced someone was, the less likely they were to be scared. After all, those with experience tended not to follow the script that I had envisioned for them.
“Well, that’s a starting point.”
I needed funding more than anything. Not because I needed SP, but because I needed a team.
It became painfully clear to me that I needed a team in order to churn out my games. I couldn’t do it by myself. Especially not when I needed to take some time to build some experience and learn more about this world and the anomalies.
’With enough funding, not only can I improve the games and have a team, but perhaps I can also start messing around with VR.’
VR was still uncharted territory for me. Something I had no clue how to navigate. But I was certain that, if handled right, it could elevate my games to an entirely new level.
That being said, that was still far into the future.
The main priority at the moment was improving my health and developing my multiplayer game. Once that was developed, I planned on going to the Section Chief and talking to him about potentially funding my games.
’…Hmm. Actually, wouldn’t it be better if I went to him tomorrow? If I can get some funding for a temporary team, I can churn out the multiplayer feature faster and be able to secure funding faster.’
“Yeah, I should do that.”
I wasn’t aware of how interested the Section Chief was with regards to my game, but since he had shown a little interest, that was enough for me to give it a try.
“Okay, I guess this is everything that I need to do going forward. It’ll be troublesome, but if I want to live longer, then it’s absolutely necessary that I follow the things that I said.”
I stood up from my seat and checked the time. It was around 10 PM.
Just about the right time for me to go to sleep.
However, just as I was about to leave, my gaze fell on the box again, and I was reminded of something.
’Right…’
I paused the moment I caught sight of the box and pressed my lips together.
’I’ve got two tries, but I’m still not entirely sure about how it works. There’s a certain someone that I want to give this new ability a try with. And it’s not like it’s going to be a waste since this directly aligns with my interests.’
Moving towards the box, I picked up the red ball and stared at it.
“Now, how exactly do I make this work?”
Was I just supposed to show it directly to the person?
“Hmm.”
Frowning, I went back to my laptop and did a quick search on my target.
’CEO of Nova Studios. Right, it should be this guy.’
I carefully stared at the image in front of me. He didn’t look particularly handsome. In fact, with his balding head and pot belly, he was anything but charming.
Staring at him, and then the ball in my hand, I started to ponder how to send the ball to him, when—
Swoosh!
“Hm?”
The ball directly faded from my hand.
My eyes widened in shock.
Especially when a notification appeared shortly after.
[Would you like to start haunting?]
▶ [Yes] ▷ [No]
“W… what?”