Chapter 5: 05 - Money Making

    "Why do you sell your comics?" My mother asked confused.

    "I want a guitar." I said good-naturedly, not really caring about these manga since I didn''t really like them anyway.

    Not to mention that I could read them on the computer if I ever felt like it.

    But my mother felt differently. "You know we can give you a guitar, right?" she said uncertainly.

    Seeing the way she looked, I knew she was thinking about what she couldn''t afford to buy to get me the guitar, but I knew about the financial problems at home, especially after seeing how my father was worried about the bills this morning, so I just shook my head and answered. "It''s okay, I''ve already read it and I''m not going to read it again, it''s a waste of money to have it lying around in the bedroom."

    She realized I noticed the way she was acting, so she nodded and smiled a little embarrassed.

    -------- Lauren''s comment --------

    Sitting on the sofa with her head down, Lauren said in a sad voice, "I think Noah has realized that we''re in financial trouble... Jonathan is looking for a better paying job, but even though he''s a great stock assistant, the company he works for has no plans to promote him..."

    With a disapproving smile, Lauren looked into the camera as she sighed. "He''s only doing this because I can''t work... I''ve tried everything, but since Ethan was born, I can''t take my mind off things for a second, thinking that the kids at home might be in trouble, and I don''t know anything about working from home..."

    "I just hope Jonathan gets a less tiring job that pays better..." She sighed disappointedly to herself.

    -------- Comment End --------

    Negotiating the price of manga has given me a new skill haha.

    [Negotiator Lv 3

    When you negotiate the price of something, you have a 3% higher chance of convincing the other person to accept your price].

    Yes, the skill was already at Lv3 because of the time we spent negotiating until I got $136 for my manga collection.

    That was a lot more than I thought it would be, which made me very happy.

    With cash in hand, I quickly went to a used instrument store and asked for the cheapest guitar they had.

    Looking at the faded brown guitar in front of me, which the clerk said was $48, I gained another level in my [Negotiator] skill, raising it to level 4, and managed to buy the guitar + a set of new strings, a capo, and a cover for $50.

    When I tested the guitar with the new strings, I quickly gained my new skill.

    [Guitar Lv 14

    By playing the guitar, you learn 14% faster and have a 14% higher chance that other people will enjoy listening to you play].

    I can save the remaining $86 for an emergency. I thought with satisfaction as I walked out of the store with the guitar on my back.

    Since my guitar skill was at Lv14, the level was already somewhat acceptable as I could play the songs I liked from my previous world, but it was still nothing impressive and I still made a few mistakes.

    So my goal was to get my guitar and singing skills up to Lv 20, and as soon as those skills reached Lv 20, I would record my first song to post on MeTube.

    With my plan set, I returned home satisfied.

    When I arrived home with my guitar, both my mother and Ethan looked at me in surprise.

    My mother because she never imagined that I would actually buy a guitar, and Ethan because he was curious to know what was inside such a big case.

    Smiling a little, I explained the same thing I''d told my father: "I''m just unhappy with my body and I''ve started to exercise, this morning I went for a walk, now I''ve done some weight training, all very carefully so as not to overload myself, don''t worry mom."

    Seeing the relief on her face, the affection I felt for her grew a little.

    I had never felt anything like that in my life, it was a very good feeling...

    When I got to the bathroom and looked in the mirror again, I was shocked to notice another change in myself.

    Not only was my face a little prettier because of the point I''d gained in Charisma, despite the fat it hid, but I had apparently lost a little fat.

    When I stepped on the scale, I was surprised to see that my weight had changed again.

    From the 149.3 kg I weighed myself this morning, I was now 148.6 kg, which was 700 g less, a total of 1.4 kg that I lost today!

    I''m losing weight much faster than I thought! I thought excitedly as I took a shower and practiced my singing skill, getting it up to level 6.

    When I got out of the shower, I was surprised to see my father and mother looking at me with pride.

    My mother must have told him that I was practicing, and he must have told her that he saw me walking in the morning.

    Ignoring their expression, as I didn''t know how to deal with it, I just went back to my room and started practicing my singing skill again, looking for another useful skill to learn on the computer to make quick money.

    Considering that I needed quick money to stop the copyrights of the songs I wanted to release, I remembered a skill that the old Noah had.

    Opening PhotoArt, I looked at the illustrations of manga characters that Noah did in his spare time and was quite surprised by the quality, especially considering that he did it all with his computer mouse since he didn''t have a tablet to draw on.

    I decided to try something similar and tried to draw a werewolf.

    As soon as I finished the drawing, I got the notification I''d been waiting for.

    [Digital Illustration Lv 27

    With Digital Illustration, you get better 27% faster and have a 27% higher chance that other people will like your art].

    Level 27?! I was shocked when I looked at this, this was the highest level skill I had so far, and it was 5 levels above Math, which was my highest level skill at the moment!

    There, now I knew what I had to do to make money fast. If there was one thing I remembered from my previous world that shocked me, it was a girl in my class who made a lot of money just by drawing animal characters to sell on Twitter, apparently she sold each drawing for at least $100... what was it called? Furra, Furre, Furry! I can start selling these artworks for $30, which will help a lot to pay for the things I need in the beginning, but if I gain fame, I can raise this price in the future!

    Decided, I made a Twitter account for this world, Twipper, and used the werewolf art I made as my profile picture.

    Of course, I used a pseudonym because I never wanted others to find out that I drew this kind of character to sell, especially considering that if I became famous in the future, it would be a stain that would be hard to erase from my history...

    So I created the persona @JacobTheWerewolf, something that probably only I would find funny in this world, since no one would know this character since his movie doesn''t exist in this world.

    While writing an ad, I realized that I still lacked a portfolio to convince the public to buy my art.

    Anyway, I''ll publish the ad with just my werewolf drawing as a portfolio, then I''ll make more art...'' I thought. I thought without worrying too much as I posted.

    I saw that the furry community in this world was much smaller than in my previous world, as if it was still in its early stages, the other art still had a bit of the amateurishness that my current art no longer had after copying some of the style of art I saw in my previous world.

    Even though I wasn''t part of that community, and even made fun of it with my friends, every now and then some art in that style would pop up in my feed, and after a few years of seeing it, it''s hard not to pick up on the style behind it.

    Seeing that it was bedtime, I turned off the computer and went to sleep, as did Ethan, who was already passed out in his bed.

    Unbeknownst to me, shortly after I went to bed, a message arrived in my inbox from someone interested in one of my artworks.