LIGHTNOVELONLINE 66 – Skyrocket in Popularity
Floating within his mental world, Zeref was testing a new...approach to spectating his customers. Surrounding him like shattered glass were viewing screens that showed an amazing view of the player and their surroundings.
Logan was fighting tooth and nail by himself, using nothing but an iron sword and shield against a great many Draugr while he delved deeper into Bleak Falls Barrow in search of the Dragonstone.
Kyle made his way through the wasteland; eyes focused on one thing and one thing alone: a distant Oil Rig.
Harley ran around Riverwood, attempting to act as a matchmaker between Faendal and Sven for Camilla, helping the girl choose who she wanted to be with while definitely not sleeping with both the Elf and the Nord behind Camilla's back, accidentally getting their attention focused on her instead of Camilla.
Alfred roamed a desert in Minecraft, desperate to find some water and escape from the heat.
Natasha Romanov was fighting the undead in Resident Evil, easily making it through the levels due to her expertise and training. However, she thought the puzzles were confusing at times.
Coulson was forced to play Skyrim and was on his way to meet with the Jarl of Whiterun, Jarl Balgruuf.
Swamp Thing was wandering the wasteland without a care in the world, doing whatever it wanted as it witnessed all of the destruction of a world it once knew. It's mind pondering how the world may have looked before the destruction done by mankind. How beautiful it must have been...but completely destroyed within the span of a single day.
Mr. Freeze was roaming the floating city of Columbia, continuing his journey in understanding and reverse engineering the tonics and medical serums that could miraculously edit and change the DNA of those injected, giving them specific powers and abilities that most would consider...superhuman.
Waylon moved on from Fallout to Infamous, experiencing the ups and downs of Cole McGrath's life through both Infamous 1 and 2.
Due to the way Zeref was now spectating his customers, he would only need to use a single fragment of his mind, while the other fragments could focus on other things, focusing manpower, so to speak.
Focusing outside of his mental realm and the players, he realized that there was a growing crowd outside his store that was staring at him and those inside.
'Right...I forgot about the new entrance and the fact that my store is now in the middle of a fucking plaza, of all things.'
Seeing the people cluelessly stand outside the store, keeping the door open and taking pictures, Zeref sighed, knowing he would have to do something about this; otherwise, they would start bothering him...customers and some of his customers can be quite cranky, and will possibly kill when aggravated.
Floating up from behind the counter, Zeref slowly made my way towards the door.
Before he knew it, the crowd screamed and ran away, leaving me confused.
'I didn't even do anything, though? Why'd they run away?! I am not that scary, am I?'
Floating back to the counter, he resumed stalk-...observing the players when he heard the door slide open again, revealing a seemingly average girl who stopped in their tracks upon seeing Zeref's form.
It turns out that even though most would be apprehensive upon seeing Zeref's form or flee, some were willing to see what Zeref and his cafe were about after Zeref showed no signs of hostility.
Selling the girl a simple Sunset Sasparilla, Zeref waved the girl away, not at all aware that the girl would cause him quite a bit of headache, along with stress, as he failed to notice the phone hidden in the girl's pocket that recorded everything.
...
Not long after the girl left the store, a new video appeared on several social media websites under a single profile and username.
If one were to watch the video, they would be met with a recording from some kind of camera that was recording a rather large crowd gathered around a small store with the sign 'New World's Cafe' above two sliding doors. Rather suddenly, the crowd before the camera began to move away before suddenly running away, screaming. The recorder also ran, but not far, seemingly deciding to take cover from something behind a nearby car.
Seeing and hearing nothing, the labored breathing of the recorder could be heard before they seemed to calm down and take deep breaths.
To the viewer's surprise, the recorder began moving, creeping back towards the supposed cafe to get a closer look at whatever made the others run away, pushing aside whatever danger could be there. A foolish action that far too many have made that caused their deaths.
When the recorder reached the sliding doors, she looked inside, only to find a surprisingly dark room that she couldn't really see the inside of due to the darkness.
Doing something stupid, the recorder stepped forward, causing the sliding doors to open. The next scene caused many to jump. A horrifying monster made of vibrant energy and covered with floating rock suddenly snapped its head toward the direction of the camera and the recorder.
Those who were watching this video across various websites began commenting, but the creature continued to stare.
"Well? Are you just going to stare? Come, come," The creature beckoned the recorder closer.
After what felt like an eternity for both the viewers and the recorder, the recorder stepped forward, showing surprising bravery.
"What can I do for ya?" The creature asked, seemingly friendly, boosting the confidence of the recorder, who stuttered, "W-What are you?"
"Just a humble Cafe owner, what would you like? I have quite a range of goods and services that you may like," The creature quickly went on a tangent as it showed off various and seemingly random goods that ranged from stuff like raw ore, food, and drink to even a gun!
Having no idea what to choose and not wanting to insult the monster, the recorder, which was a girl based on the pitch of their voice, purchased a soda using something called...Karma and what the Creature explained only made the recorder and whoever was watching think the monster was crazy. The way it explained that a person could use the Karma they have gained over their life to purchase goods and services? Insane. However, such a thing did intrigue quite a few viewers. What qualifies as a Karmic action? How was it calculated? How would the monster even know about such things? Then there was the thing that it could be good or bad actions, so long as it affected the world in some way, shape, or form.
The girl who foolishly showed her Karma balance revealed it only to have a few hundred points, a far cry from the balance of the other customers.
With her Karma, the girl purchased a 'Sunset Sasparilla,' a cold beverage that she and none of the people watching the video had ever heard of or knew existed. In fact, after some research, people found that most of the goods in the store were not available anywhere else. They were unique to that Cafe.
As the video spread across social media, some thought it was a hoax, a quick way to fame. Others thought it could be legit and searched for the store themselves, most discovering that the store did, in fact, exist in the Mall's plaza in Metropolis.
More people traveled across the city, wanting to see the Cafe, to the point where the Cafe's popularity skyrocketed from relatively unknown to known by millions of souls across the world.
When Zeref received his 100th customer, something changed.
...
Floating in the air of an entirely pitch-black realm, Zeref, who still looked oddly similar to the Dark Star, Xerath, Zeref seemed to be undergoing a... metamorphosis as his form evolved, for lack of a better word.
The slate and rock of his form began to refine and become harder, forming some kind of dark purplish alloy that formed a sort of suit of armor around the pulsating cosmic energy that acted as his flesh. At the center of his chest, a black hole tore itself into reality while the crest on his 'head' took upon a golden shine, almost divine in nature.
His size grew and grew in the dark void as the energy of his body pulsed with cosmic energies. Stars and celestial bodies around him, floating aimlessly in the void, began to crumble and twist apart, harvested and transformed into more energy that flowed into Zeref's body; within moments, his body grew to staggering heights. His size rivaled celestials in sheer mass and size, and with a flick of his hand, entire solar systems tore apart while their stars went supernova as the very dimension around them began to seize and crack.
...
Meanwhile, outside the mental realm, his change wasn't so...flashy, other than the sudden black hole that grew at the center of his chest.