Matthew Atkinson
Oxford, United Kingdom
Time flew in the blink of an eye.
For the rest of August, Matthew worked on his upcoming book while also thinking about scenarios for the fourth layer and the equipment they could acquire.
He would have preferred to do this layer planning with Natalie, but he didn't want to risk his secrets because he didn't know where the experts' listening areas were covered and when they were listening.
This was the price of ensuring Natalie's safety.
Even though experts weren't invading Natalie's privacy, they had no way of knowing when, or even if, they were listening.
So, he spoke with Natalie, telling her to trust him and to save their detailed plans for the five-hour preparation period after entering the fourth layer.
Natalie had no problem with this. As long as Matthew told her to trust him, Natalie felt comfortable leaving things in Matthew's hands.
The book Matthew was working on and preparing to publish was none other than the Harry Potter series.
Matthew had completed all seven books in the series and delivered the entire collection to his publisher in the last week of August.
Frankly, the process had gone much more easily and better than he had expected.
One reason for this was that technology was more advanced in this world, and publishing both digital and physical books was faster and less expensive.
But the biggest reason was Natalie's involvement, her acting as an intermediary by contacting the publishing houses, and her willingness to be the face of the series, for free.
Hearing this, publishing houses lined up to sign deals with Matthew even before reading the first book.
Matthew and Natalie then selected the most professional and reputable publishing houses and sent them the first book for review.
And when these publishing houses read the first book of the series, the competition between them intensified even further.
After all, there was a massive difference for them between an ordinary book with Natalie as its face and a masterpiece with Natalie as its face.
The second option was nothing short of a money-making machine for them.
Matthew agreed with the publishing house that offered the best deal among them.
Of course, apart from the publishing rights to the seven books in the series, he retained all rights to the Harry Potter universe.
Regarding Natalie's involvement in this, Matthew had nothing to do with it.
When Natalie heard that Matthew was working on a book, she expressed interest in reading it, and Matthew sent her digital versions of the books he had finished.
Natalie became utterly engrossed in the books and became one of the first fans of the Harry Potter series. And when she heard that Matthew wanted to publish the series, she took matters into her own hands.
Matthew changed almost nothing in the Harry Potter series.
He only changed Harry's parents' names to James Matthew Potter and Lily Natalie Potter (née Evans).
Frankly, Harry's parents' physical features were quite similar to those of Matthew and Natalie.
Lily Evans, like Natalie, had red hair and green eyes.
Matthew, like James Potter, had black hair, only differing in eye color.
Matthew changed this detail, making James's eyes blue, just like his own.
The first book in the series was scheduled for publication in September, with all subsequent books to be released one month apart.
Matthew didn't want the series to drag on for too long. He had many more books in mind that he wanted to publish, and if he set long timelines for publishing them all, he wouldn't even have the opportunity to publish most of them.
Although he hadn't yet activated Superman's Super Brain Innate Skill, he possessed over 350 metal attributes. And he didn't want to let his brain, with its capabilities, sit idle.
And he had other plans in mind after activating the Super Brain.
Then came September 1st.
It was a little after nine in the morning.
The alarm clock woke up Matthew, and the first thing he did upon opening his eyes was to open his attribute panel.
......
Race: Human
Constitution: 1330 (↑220)
Mental: 372 (↑66)
Strength: 1330 (↑220)
Agility: 1330 (↑220)
Ability: Kryptonian Bloodline [Stell Body (3), Super Strength (3)]
Skills: [Fist/Galaxy Impact], [Armament Haki (Master)]
Attribute Points: 340
......
This was Matthew's current attribute panel.
This was the situation on the 124th day, 123 days after merging with the Kryptonian Bloodline Card on May 1st.
By adding 80 expendable attribute points to each of his three attributes, in addition to his initial standard human attributes, with his Kryptonian Bloodline improvement, Matthew's current attributes had reached a level no freshman could have ever dreamed of.
Seeing himself get stronger day by day, month by month, and seeing it in the attributes panel really made Matthew happy.
Perhaps before long, he would no longer need to live such a low-key life.
Then Matthew got up, washed up, ate a hearty breakfast, and then went to campus.
Today was the opening day of the Supernatural Realm.
When Matthew arrived at the campus, he saw that many sofas had already been set up on the training grounds.
These sofas must have been custom-made by the university. They were pretty long, enough for four or five people to sit down, and the backrests reclined at a steep angle, allowing people to lean back comfortably and assume a semi-reclined posture.
The reason these sofas were placed there was so that the first-year students would be going to today would be a layer they would enter solely with their consciousness.
Their bodies would remain in the Blue Marble world.
Blue Marble... Matthew frankly didn't like the name and found it strange.
He knew very well where the name came from.
The Blue Marble was a photograph of Earth taken on December 7, 1972, by Harrison Schmitt aboard the Apollo 17 spacecraft on its way to the Moon.
Viewed from around 29,400 km from Earth's surface, a cropped and rotated version has become one of the most reproduced images in history.
At least that's how it was in his old world.
And although his story in this world is a little different, a photograph taken from space was given this name again, and since then, the planet has been called Blue Marble.
Before, people called this planet Terra.
Frankly, Matthew was thinking of changing the planet's name back to its old name one day if he ever became strong enough.
Anyway, if the university didn't put the students on the sofas and let them lie down, their bodies would fall over when their consciousness separated from them.
Although they were all superhumans and it wouldn't harm them if they fell, it was still not a very nice sight.
Thankfully, the university wasn't so stingy as to not provide its students with a sofa.
So why was the university forcing students to come to the training grounds instead of allowing them to enter the supernatural realm while relaxing in their dormitories?
Of course, it was so they could know the students' situation as soon as possible.
Which students had returned and which remained forever in the supernatural world were matters of great concern to the university.
In addition, bringing students together made it easier to monitor their condition and collect their grade results.
When Matthew arrived at the training grounds, many students were already sitting on the sofas, chatting with their friends.
Before Natalie arrived, Matthew found a seat and waited to enter the supernatural realm.
A while later, Natalie arrived almost at the last minute.
Matthew was a little surprised to see the sweat on the girl's nose.
He couldn't help but ask, "Nat, you didn't go to training this morning, did you?"
Natalie nodded and said, "I did. Anyway, this time we're entering the Supernatural Realm through our consciousness, so our physical condition isn't important. It's okay to train a little more."
Matthew could only express his admiration for the girl's efforts.
"One minute left, everyone get ready," a university staff member shouted.
Upon hearing this, the students all lay down on the sofa and then held their teammates' hands.
The same applied to Matthew and Natalie.
One minute later, all the students tilted their heads to the side and completely relaxed their bodies.
Their consciousness had left their bodies and entered the supernatural realm.
...
Matthew's vision briefly blurred in white light, then the light faded, and he regained his sight.
When he regained his sight, he was no longer in the university's training grounds, but in a room entirely white. He raised his hands and looked at them, realizing they were translucent.
He still had his own body image and clothes, but instead of a physical body, he felt like he possessed a ghostly body.
Or perhaps a digital body would be more accurate.
Most likely, this was the state their consciousness had taken until they created their avatars.
Matthew then turned his head to his right and saw Natalie. She was also looking at her translucent hands.
Just as Matthew was about to speak to Natalie, a panel appeared before him, and a digital female voice echoed in his ear.
"Welcome to OASIS, Player."
---------------
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.119: Avatar Creation
Ch.120: Superman Hero Template Card
Ch.121: Shopping Spree and a Crazy Item