In the upper middle corner, a "No Coins Challenge" label was displayed clearly on the screen.
From an over the shoulder third person perspective, Felix, using the character Jake with a zombie skin, ran through the game.
Jake was sprinting down the familiar subway tracks. It looked like he had just started the run, and as expected, his coin count stayed at zero.
Since it was a No Coins Challenge, he had to avoid every coin scattered along the way, dodging them like they were cursed.
He dashed forward, weaving past piles of gold coins that appeared in rows and arcs. At one point, he turned into a tight corner where the tracks narrowed and coins filled every lane.
He swerved to the far edge again and again, his movements sharp and frantic, repeatedly slamming into trains just to avoid touching a single coin.
If not for the pain setting being reduced to just one percent, he might have passed out from how much it hurt.
The game didn't hold back. Each impact rattled his character's body with enough force to make Felix grit his teeth.
When he went up on the train, he kept jumping to avoid the coins, jumping to the left and jumping to the right.
He even jumped across to another train to avoid picking up the coin magnet, which was blue and red and shining brightly.
As the game sped up, it became more difficult for Felix, but his coin count was still zero. He even grabbed a jetpack in the air and managed to avoid all the coins while flying midair.
He jumped and shifted his body to the side to dodge the coins in front of him. It looked almost like he was dancing just to avoid collecting them.
Felix makes this possible by constantly training in the holographic pod.
Kael, watching this, was stunned.
"Was that actually possible??"
He had been getting bored with Subway Surfer, but now, after seeing this challenge, he was itching to try it himself.
Felix's silhouette was starting to blur because of how fast he was moving.
He had definitely cut some parts of the footage to make it look faster.
In reality, it had taken a long run to reach that speed, like what was shown in the video. That was why he edited and uploaded the video this way.
Players didn't really care about the editing.
They just wanted to challenge themselves
After the game ended, the screen went black and immediately scrolled down to the replay options. Kael jumped back into his VR setup to try the challenge for himself.
He wasn't the only one.
Many others who had grown bored of the game were suddenly interested again, eager to attempt the same challenge.
All of this happened because of one short video on StarTok.
At first, people had been skeptical. Since the game was free, they assumed it probably didn't have much content. But after watching that video, they changed their minds and downloaded it.
More and more players began attempting the challenge.
One player uploaded their own run, where their silhouette blurred from how fast they were moving.
The video was shaky and fast, but you could still tell they had avoided every single coin.
Their movements were sharp and deliberate, dodging each glowing coin with impressive precision.
Even without flashy editing, the run was captivating.
More and more people tempting to try the game themselves.
Felix stared at the top game rankings.
1. Galactic Rift: First Contact
2. Starfall Offensive
3. Nebula Strike
4, 5, 6, 7 —
8. Subway Surfer
9. —
10. —
Subway Surfer was on the list.
He blinked. It was actually there.
Seeing Subway Surfer reach the top 8, Felix remained calm. He was already too old to feel excited over something like this. But he was proud, and he genuinely admired the creators of Temple Run and Subway Surfer.
The game had a unique mechanic compared to the others he had played before, and it left a lasting impression on him. Just like Sonic the Hedgehog once did.
The way his coins were increasing this week, he had already earned [975]so far.
It seemed like players were not getting too angry and were feeling happiness, unlike the first batch of players.
That was fine.
He would get a new wave of players soon.
Just then, a message caught his attention. It was an invitation from a company.
Felix froze for a moment as he read the name.
"Nebula Bloom Entertainment?"
A new message appeared in his inbox.
The tone was formal, but something about it felt a little too proud of itself.
[ Nebula Bloom Entertainment :
We have reviewed your recent success with Subway Surfer and find your design potential promising.
As one of the top developers in the galaxy, we believe your talents would be better cultivated under our guidance.
If you are interested in taking your work to the next level, respond to this message to begin the onboarding process.
We look forward to shaping the future of gaming together. ]
Felix raised an eyebrow at the message. It was polite, but the implication was clear, they thought they were offering him a once in a lifetime chance.
As if he should be grateful.
He remembered Nebula Bloom Entertainment well.
They were one of the top three companies in the industry, known for publishing Nebula Strike, one of the most successful games on the market.
But once he looked through the terms, it was obvious the offer wasn't as generous as it seemed.
The company would take nearly half of his earnings, and in return, they promised benefits like personal wellness support and improved living arrangements.
But even that was vague and underwhelming.
Their idea of treating employees well meant giving access to crowded lounges, cheap food plans, and minimal mental health check ins. It was just enough to sound good in a contract, but not enough to make a real difference.
Still, he didn't hesitate. He typed a brief, courteous reply:
[ Thank you for the offer. I'm not looking to join any company and plan to continue developing independently. I appreciate your interest. ]
With that, he closed the message and moved on without looking back.
Speaking of companies, Felix suddenly remembered something important.
He didn't actually have an official one yet. All this time, he had been working solo, uploading under his username, handling everything on his own.
But he had looked into it before.
He already researched the basic business requirements, read through the guidelines, and bookmarked the official registry. Without wasting time, he opened the portal again and started the process.
The steps were surprisingly simple.
The system guided him smoothly from one section to the next.
He chose the name Tierra Entertainment.
By the end of the day, everything was approved. Just like that, he officially had his own company
Now that he had a company, he needed a proper office to go with it.
If he remembered correctly from this body's memories, his grandparents had gifted him an apartment building years ago.
It was near the beach, quiet and a little old, but still his.
"Hmm… I should go check it out."
[ Yes, host, you should (^▽^) ]
He blinked at the familiar voice in his head.
"You're still alive?" he asked in disbelief.
[ I'm always alive, host! ]
Felix sighed. "System, if I remember correctly, there's a sale, like what happened before. Since it's summer on this planet…"
The system replied, [ Host, the calendar of this planet differs from your original world, so the timing is different. ]
Felix's mouth twitched.
He asked another question. "If you're a being for entertainment purposes, then where are the movies and anime?"
He opened the system interface and checked the library several times, hoping to find something to watch.
To his disappointment, even after searching through the entire system, there was nothing.
He was getting bored with the games and entertainment that existed in this futuristic world where creativity had plateaued.
The citizens of the Federation might be satisfied, but for someone like him, a person from the modern world, an ancient relic who had already seen what true entertainment could be — it all felt dull.
[ Since our host has been so hardworking lately, there's good news! A summer sale is live. Fourteen percent of games—not including AAA titles are now discounted for the month! ]
As expected, the system ignored his second question. Felix sighed again. As an adult, he could tolerate that, though boredom still gnawed at him.
In the end, he decided he might as well make more games to pass the time.
Felix stared fixedly at the list of AAA games. "Why didn't you include AAA games too?" His question went unanswered.
The system went quiet like it always did.
He couldn't help but complain a little. "Stingy," he clicked his tongue.
Felix knew the value of AAA games like Minecraft and Red Dead Redemption 2 and so on. But knowing how big and detailed AAA games were, it was understandable.
Felix sighed.
He immediately looked up the system shop and checked the summer sales. 「 My Talking Tom 」 and 「 Brawl Star 」 were both listed.
Felix hesitated for a moment.
The Talking Tom bundle was clearly still a gimmick.
One thousand coins? He could recreate that game himself just from memory.
Brawl Star, though… that was a steal.
But when he glanced at his coin balance, he sighed in defeat. Even after earning [ 975 ] coins, it still wasn't enough to cover the rest.
The system also provided emotional energy for his mental power, helping to ease the process of game creation.
Out of everything he earned, thirty percent was converted into coins, sixty five percent fueled his mental energy, and the remaining five percent went to the system.
To be honest, he didn't really mind the system taking five percent or even more.
Without it, he wouldn't have the chance to make games or experience this world's immersive virtual reality.
He was grateful.
At least he hadn't been thrown into a supernatural world where he had to be a hero and save the world.
He was more than happy to avoid that fate.
Felix observed how emotional energy accumulated in the system.
It seemed that anger didn't generate many coins in a short time. It mainly built up the anger of veteran players, while new players were less affected since they were still novices.
Happiness, on the other hand, benefited new players more than those who had played many times. Satisfaction was similar to happiness, and the number of coins depended on how satisfied the players were.
Even so, anger and happiness could still produce a lot of coins, with the sound of ding ding ding ringing out repeatedly.
It just happened slowly, not all at once.
Felix swiped further down the shop.
Most of the games weren't suitable for virtual reality, and he wasn't sure if he could make them better in that format.
Still, he added 「 Brawling Star 」 to his cart.
The system had thoughtfully included a shopping cart feature, which made things feel very professional.
He kept browsing and spotted another title, 「 Splatoon 」. This game had been popular back in his day.
He still remembered the short clips he used to see online, fast edits of the game that showed off its unique style.
The gameplay had stood out from other FPS games, and he had played it a few times himself.
Now that he thought about it, wouldn't this game be even better in virtual reality?
He checked the price and his expression darkened.
Splatoon cost 970 coins.
That was everything he had.
He didn't know if it was intentional or not, but he gritted his teeth and bought it.