System Wars: Here Comes the Heroes!-Chapter 29: Fortune and Fame go hand-in-hand

Following the System's prompting once more, SK made his way back to the Inventory screen and began looking through his latest quest rewards.

"Huh..."

Evidently, the rewards he received were kind of weird.

___________

Electrical Manipulation (I) Skill Crystal ×1

[Charlatan's Tarot] ×1

Hunting Instinct - Hound Skill Crystal ×1

Bird's Eye Skill Crystal ×1

___________

"I have no idea if my title actually affected what reward I received, but that's not important right now," SK concluded after briefly looking through all the newly received items. "But let's see the one that's been bugging my brain for the better of five hours."

When SK had initially read that one of the rewards for the quest, [Perform a Heroic Deed], included monetary compensation, he was a bit skeptical.

The value of money and goods varied from place to place, and he had no idea if this Superhero System understood the complexities of the global economy.

Hell, for all he knew, the System could consider a hundred or so gold coins of questionable value as viable currency.

Either way, as he stared at the box with the dubious name of [Maximum Compensation Case] and the even more dubious description that read, "The monetary compensation provided by this case has been calculated based on multiple real world variables", he started to get nervous.

"Fuck it."

Eventually, after much internal debating, SK decided to pull the metaphorical trigger, tap on the box and accept the prompt asking whether or not he wanted to open it.

"Alright, let's see how much I...huh?"

Evidently, the amount of money he had just received from saving his friend from an early death was significantly higher than he anticipated.

By about three zeroes.

_________

500000Gs has been added to the user's account.

This money can be used to purchase items from the shop,upgrades for the Hero Facility or converted into any viable currency on whatever plane of existence the user is currently on.

Based on the user's current geo location data, 1G is the equivalent to $50 USD.

Please spend responsibly.

_________

"What the fuck..."

The moment SK saw this number and the explanation attached to it he did some very quick and dirty mental math.

If he were to convert every single "G" in his System account currently, he would have a little over two million dollars credited to his bank account.

This was the most amount of money he had ever handled or seen in his entire life, and he SK reacted appropriately.

"What the fuck?!" SK shouted out of a mix of fear, joy, and absolute confusion. "System! I know you can hear me! Please explain to me how you calculated this reward value. I am incredibly curious!"

Ding!

Right on cue, a System window appeared before SK's eyes, explaining everything...yet causing even more questions to manifest in his mind.

...

[ The compensation calculated is based on the estimated cost of the collowing events occurring:]

[1. The life insurance policy that was placed on the citizen/indie journalist known as Rachel when she started working and living on her own, estimated value: 100,000 Gs]

The source of this c𝓸ntent is freewebnøvel.coɱ.

2. The avoided cost of a funeral, multiple therapy sessions for multiple individuals and the parts necessary to repair and cleanse a streetcar with a body count attached to it, estimated value: 100,000 Gs

3. The avoided cost of medical bills that could've occurred in the event that Rachel survived being impacted by a street car, especially after the insurance company denied the claim as being viable, estimated value: 50,000 Gs.

[The thoroughly avoided political campaign and memes that would've spawned from this video going viral as opposed to the one of Platiknight saving the day, estimated value: 250,000 Gs and a massive sigh of relief. ]

...

"Alright, the compensation now makes a lot of sense, but now I have questions," SK stated after reading through the System window. "If I ever had to cash out on these Gs, how would that manifest exactly? Like, will the money come in the form of a check from a shell company or will it come in the form of a treasure chest filled with gold bullions? Also, what the fuck was that last item on the list?"

[Notice: Due to the user's society relying predominantly on electronic methods of storing information, it is actually painfully easy for the System to credit such monetary gains directly to your account under through untraceable methods. Of which, none shall be mentioned for the purpose of plausible deniability.]

"Okay...now back to the viral bit?"

[Sending push notification, now]

Bing!

"Ah."

Checking his phone, SK was greeted by a push notification for the popular video sharing site, MeTube, that then directed him to a video titled, "HOLY SMOKES! A LITERAL KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR!"

"Oh...bollocks."

What followed after this acknowledgement of the notification was a string of video recordings of the moment Platiknight rushed in to save Rachel from her near death experience.

The amount of views on these videos were higher than the money SK had received as compensation for the deed, and this realization caused his brain to more or less hitch...much to the annoyance of the System.

"I...buh...huh?"

[...]

Realizing that this episode of SK's might go on for longer than what was necessary, the System decided to take matters into its non-existent hands.

[User has been found to be rendered mute and dumb due to information overload. Applying corrective electroshock therapy in order to correct the overload.]

BZZZT!

"GAH!"

Several thousand volts of electricity coursed through SK for less than a second before he finally got his brain got back into working order and he was able to think and talk once more.

"Please don't do that again."

[No promises.]

Now that he was cognizant again, SK took this chance to look through the comments on the videos of Platiknight to determine just famous or infamous Platiknight had become from his moment with the streetcar.

So far...it wasn't good or bad.

A lot of the comments were that of disbelief, a couple bot comments that tried to make a quick buck scamming people and several comments stating that this superhero rescue was nothing more than incredibly elaborate computer graphics or a prank.

Either way, Platiknight was now famous... probably.

"Huh...in the span of a day, I have achieved tangential fame and fortune," SK sardonically mused over the funny money he now had access to and the fact that a hero of his own creation had gone viral. "Wait, I was doing something before all this...right! The Hero Facility!"

Smacking himself in the forehead for getting distracted, SK quickly called up the System interface and went back to the holographic display of Miracle Maker Island.

"Ah, they're still in their rooms."

In the time it took SK to acquire the currency needed to upgrade the facility, SK assumed that Platiknight and Tin Star would've left their rooms at some point and explore the rest of the island, but that wasn't the case.

Instead, he was greeted by the sight of Platiknight performing some basic exercises in his empty room while Tin Star was taking a nap.

"Huh...how utilitarian," SK commented at the sight. "Alright, how do I make their rooms less prison-like..."

This time around, the System didn't provide any helpful(snarky) tip screens, leaving SK along to figure out things on his own.

"What if I...ah ha!"

Eventually, though, after much fiddling and button pressing, SK managed to pull up and option screen that read as follows.

...

[Would the User like to purchase furniture and items for the facility themselves, or would they like to bestow their familiars with a set allowance and allow them to customize their own room?]

...

"Well, this is a no-brainer," SK concluded as soon as he saw the options appear before him.

Feeling generous, SK chose the latter one and bestowed upon his superhero familiars about 50,000 Gs each.

In all honesty, SK could've bestowed the full 500,000 to them both, but he had the icky feeling in his stomach that he was going to be needing those funds at a later date.

Ding! Ding!

"What ho?"

"What in tarnation?"

The superdeformed superheroes were caught off guard by the System notification screens appearing before, but quickly recovered after reading the message that they were being bestowed with an allowance.

Shortly after they finished, reading, literal bags of gold appeared before them.

Needless to say, they were quite happy in receiving the bags of money.

"Huzzah! Funds to decorate my domain!"

"Jackpot! I'm gonna buy myself a nice cactus! Maybe three!"

"D'awww, that's adorable," SK commented as he watched his heroes go ga-ga over their loot.

SK continued to watch the heroes for a couple more moments, enjoying the sight of them decorating their respective homes to be more aligned with their preferences.

Eventually though, the two heroes had finished decorating and called it a night.

Watching them go to bed, SK figured he would do the same.

"Hopefully tomorrow will be less hectic," SK hoped.

Spoiler alert, it was just the beginning.