A young man in his twenties, with messy black hair and lifeless eyes, was busy compiling data on his computer screen.

He sported a rather dull expression and appeared average in every way, but at least he had conviction as a worker. It was already 11 pm, and nearly everyone working in the company was gone.

As he drearily inputted lines of data on his computer screen, a muffled voice suddenly pestered him from the outside of his office.

“Bro Simon you work too much... When are you going to come with me to try out VR? You've already worked 30 hours of overtime this week!”

Hearing the voice outside, the man smiled faintly, his face showing hints of emotion as he stood up from his seat and stretched his arms.

“Good timing bro, I just finished compiling these final few balance sheets. But man, I really don’t know why you’re so excited about this VR stuff.” Simon said while shaking his head, before grabbing his coat from the back of his chair and making his way towards the entrance of the office.

In fact, this average looking man was Simon Ji - a farming genius in a medieval world of magic, who had been transported to another world a few months back!

Hearing this, Kenny chuckled from outside the door. “Bro, if you can still say that after experiencing VR I’ll double your pay for a week!”

“…” Simon let out an exasperated sigh as he pushed the door open. “You’ve already given me too much, stop it already!”

“Nonsense!”

Upon opening the door, his best bro, Kenny Li, was standing in front of him with a grin.

In terms of appearance, he was a man in his thirties and slightly chubby, sporting a rather decent physique otherwise. Not to mention, he had a charming face, and somehow managed to look both goofy and professional at the same time.

Without a doubt, this man, Kenny Li, holds a special position in Simon’s heart...

No, not like that!

He was in fact the man who had saved Simon from many hardships, sheltering him after his transmigration into the body of a random beggar on the streets.

At the time, despite him being a nobody, useless, and without a shred of knowledge of this world, Kenny provided him with lodging, information, and even a job, not even batting an eye in doing so.

Why?

Because he ‘Saw something special’ in him.

Despite the strange reasoning, Simon was still exceptionally grateful to his selfless bro. After all, without him, he may have simply ended up dead on the streets.

People as selfless as him were rare, both in his previous world and this new world.

However, Kenny wasn’t wrong. There was indeed ‘Something special’ about Simon… After all, he retained memories from his previous life where he was a genius farmer in a medieval world of magic. If that wasn’t unique, he didn’t know what was.

Kenny casually checked his phone as they made their way through the building, viewing a series of analytics. And as they walked, a smile slowly crept onto his face.

“I have to say, it was no mistake hiring you to my company. You’ve really gotten some outstanding results within the last 3 months!” he exclaimed happily as he patted Simon’s back.

That’s right, Kenny was also a big boss!

Nonetheless, Kenny insisted on being ‘bros’ with Simon, despite Simon’s insistence that it was inappropriate. Kenny’s insistence on the other hand, was as unrelenting as his friendship and... he would simply not budge on this point!

Eventually, Simon was forced to surrender under the ruthless ‘assault’, and accept being ‘bros’ with him. Just the thought of this situation made Simon feel helpless, yet fortunate.

The company that Kenny owned is decently large, with a headcount of a couple hundred employees and an illustrious name within the city. As its name of Future’s Verdance suggests, its focus is on distributing and advertising goods that are environmentally friendly - which was a business that was booming in this age of prosperity and information.

Simon smiled ruefully as he replied, “You helped me at my lowest point, adequate work is really the least that I could do.”

Kenny suddenly burst out in laughter and shook his head. “C'mon man, no need to be so modest! After you joined, the profits increased by 120% within a period of 3 months… And you call that just adequate? It’s almost like you cast some magic and solved all of our problems!”

Upon hearing this, Simon’s heart skipped a beat. Because he actually did use magic to solve their problems.

In fact, he retained a fraction of his mana reserves from his previous life. Using a portion of his dwindling supply of mana, he cast an enchantment that boosted his mental capacity. Under its effects, he ironed out many of the company’s inefficiencies in one fell swoop.

He did this to repay his bro; he was no ingrate, after all.

However, even to his trusted bro Kenny, he didn’t dare reveal the truth of the matter.

As, at the end of the day, it was information involving entirely different worlds; he could not take such information lightly. After all, who knew if some overseeing god would banish him if he exposed too much information? He was in uncharted territories and could not make any mistakes, as his many years of memories - his entire identity, was on the line.

By now, they had left through the back door of the building and into the parking lot next door. Under the starry skies, there was a gentle autumn breeze which greeted them as they walked through the lot.

The city was rather quiet at this time of the night, but as one of the largest cities in the country, it was obviously not fully inert; the occasional passerby could be seen within the vicinity of the company building, along with intermittent streaks of lights on the roads that were cars.

“You’re praising me too much! I merely have a knack for statistics and finance.” Simon said, feigning embarrassment.

In his previous life, he was a man in his forties who had gone through decades of hardship and tense situations; naturally, he had a wealth of experience and long since gained adept acting skills.

As a result, his act was not obvious at first glance.

However, Kenny was no fool; he had been around Simon long enough to determine what were acts, and what were real. Naturally, he knew that Simon was a man with secrets, but didn’t delve too deeply into it out of respect for him.

Even so, neither side exposed the other; it was a silent and mutual understanding that the two reached, forged from trust and respect.

“Pffft, with your skills, you at least deserve the praise!” Kenny said indignantly, as he placed his fingertip on his car’s fingerprint scanner.

Simon laughed it off as they headed into Kenny’s car.

Upon sitting down in the shotgun seat, the car quickly warmed up, and a myriad of neon displays sprung up spontaneously.

Indeed, Kenny’s car was truly marvelous.

It sported an exterior that was a deep blue color with a black tint - a color which was almost comparable to navy blue. More importantly, it had a futuristic, slick, and luxurious design - with a performance that matched its stunning appearance.

If one had to state its value, it would easily be worth half the cost of a typical house!

However, Simon was not fazed upon entering the car as he had long since gotten used to Kenny’s extravagant lifestyle.

After all, he had to adapt to an entirely new world. Whether it was “High end” or “Low end”, it didn’t make much of a difference to him. He had never experienced either, anyways.

Soon, they made their way to Kenny’s apartment while discussing old memories and work with high-spirits.

-----

20 minutes later...

Upon leaving the car, Simon was greeted with a towering and grand looking apartment, which resided in a high end residential area. After greeting the doorkeeper, they promptly entered the building.

The interior was rather lavish, with architecture reminiscent of the Renaissance; its trademark symmetry, arches, and columns were very prominent, and gave it an imposing, yet majestic feel.

Kenny and Simon quickly made their way through the reception hall and into an elevator, only stepping out upon reaching the 69th floor. As this was a high end apartment, there were only two massive suites that took up each floor.

Upon entering Kenny’s suite - which was rather organized, luxurious, and pleasant to the eye, an elegant and gentle voice called out from a room deeper inside.

“Next time come back sooner, you work too hard! Oh, and Simon is with you, yes?”

Kenny gently smiled upon hearing his wife’s remark. “Come on, you know how Simon works. In fact, I said the same thing to him! Anyways, I did bring him over tonight to try on my VR helmet.”

He couldn’t help but to chuckle, before continuing, “It’s crazy! You don’t know how much it took to convince him to stop working, haha!”

“Oh I’m sure... Simon, you’re too hard working! I’ll come out to greet you.”

“Don’t worry, take your time!” Simon called out with a smile, feeling warm inside.

They treated him so well that they may as well have been his actual family. How could he not feel warm?

Initially, Mrs. Li already treated him well. However, she was undoubtedly confused about her husband’s decision to take him in.

After all, Simon was only known as a random beggar out in the streets...

But after hearing of Simon’s dedication to his work, and subsequently, the results that he brought about, her confusion was immediately cleared and she attributed it to her husband's godly level of foresight.

Without a doubt, Simon’s stunning performance had brought great satisfaction to Kenny, who was questioned by many of his peers over his decision to take him in. This further reassured Kenny that his decision was the correct one.

Soon after they took off their shoes, a graceful and elegant figure popped up from the kitchen doorway.

She was roughly 5’8, with lush and black hair that flowed freely. Her most notable features were her sharp, inquisitive eyes, and a naturally reassuring demeanor. On top of that, despite actually being in her thirties, she looked not a year past the mid twenties.

With a casual outfit and a kind smile, she greeted Simon and Kenny, leaving the two men with an impression of both warmth and respect.

If Simon were to say, she would easily be an 8.5 in looks and a solid 9.0 in personality. In his opinion, Kenny, who was a solid 10/10 in personality and 7.5/10 in looks, was a good match for her. They were both genuinely good people, after all.

Unfortunately, that was something that Simon could not say for himself.

Although he was righteous and dedicated, he did not consider himself especially kind; kindness was almost an impossible trait for him to have, given his tragic past life.

In fact, Simon could not be said to be a normal person mentally. After all, he had dedicated his past life to enact revenge on the scourges that killed his family - the agricultural organizations of his previous life.

Would an unperturbed man really do such a thing? No... He was definitely crazy to an extent!

Still, he was not an unpleasant person to interact with and never crossed a certain line. If he had to, Simon would rate himself as a 7/10 in personality and 6/10 for looks. All things considered, it was not too bad.

The three of them then made their way to the dinner table and began eating with a pleasant and jubilant mood as they discussed various matters.

-----

Time quickly passed and soon, the meal was finished.

After thanking them profusely for a satisfying meal of rice, beef stew, and stir fried watercress, Simon followed Kenny into his so-called “Gamer Room”.

Equipped with the latest consoles, two triple monitor setups, acoustic foam, neon lights, a VR helmet, a snack box, and most importantly, two ultra deluxe gamer chairs... It was like heaven for gamers!

In total, the cost of this room had to be at least 500,000 F-Credits, which is the equivalent to nearly 10 times the annual salary of an average worker in the city.

With this price tag, it did not need to be said that it was exceedingly luxurious and over the top. However, the money seemed to be well spent. Thus, to Simon, this room contained the real magic!

After all, back in his previous life, even the most capable of mages were unable to do calculations as fast as these “computers”, and even the strongest of spells were unable to transport as much information as the “internet” could.

However, he was not very into games, which these “computers” ran. To him, reality was reality, and games were games; why would he waste his life away on some numbers on a screen?

But Kenny, on the other hand, had a very different opinion on this point, as his expression immediately brightened upon seeing his own computers.

“Come on bro, these babies are equipped with duo RTX-69420s, 69 quadrabytes of ram, 9001 hertz monitors with…

…and this is all fully outfitted with a custom liquid helium cooling system... Now, don’t tell me that these aren’t hella nice!” Kenny said proudly, gently patting his prized computers.

Simon simply nodded as he laughed.

Apparently, Kenny had an affliction called, ‘Hardware Addict Syndrome’, which would cause dedicated fans of technology to fervently list out the specs of their gaming systems... This syndrome even was capable of reverting even the most serious of men into squabbling children when it came to their prized hardware!

It was truly a frightening condition, but luckily, it did not seem contagious. At least, he hadn’t been infected with the affliction just yet.

“Alright man, I've tried those long ago - they are not bad! But you know how I am with games. Now you’re saying that this VR stuff is much better?” Simon said while shaking his head.

Kenny nodded vehemently as he replied, “Trust me, there’s this new game called Island Ascension Online and it’s trailer is extremely impressive. I only brought you here because you absolutely cannot miss this game!”

Simon couldn’t help but to raise a brow as he glanced towards the VR helmet laying on a side of the room.

Despite Kenny’s addiction to games, he was never this excited to show him one, so this must have been something big. Plus, VR actually didn’t sound too bad...

He had to admit that simulating a world, no matter how crappy, with an impressive feat.

“Alright, I’ll take your word for it! So what’s the procedure to use this thing?” he asked with a grin, as he went over and picked up the intricately designed VR helmet - the culmination of hundreds of years of technological development.

Kenny then proceeded to brief him over the procedures, which involved creating an account, navigating to the trailer, etc.

-----

A few minutes later...

As Simon laid down on a cot in a corner of the room, Kenny wrapped up his instructions.

“Alright, that should be it! You’re pretty capable, so you should be good.” he said, while raising both of his thumbs reassuringly.

After thanking Kenny for the third time, Simon slotted the VR helmet onto his head with a hint of anticipation.

‘Activate virtual world!’