BXBX NOVEL Chapter 59 The Forums
As far as Arthur could remember, his landlord wasn\'t really a people person.
If anything, he hated being bothered the most and wouldn\'t care for anyone unless it was harming his own interest. Thus seeing a visitor for him was unusual.
"Why do you want to meet Boyd?" Arthur asked feeling curious along with being concerned about the woman.
He didn\'t wish for her to be yelled at by the man, especially when she already seemed to be in a bad condition.
"I… I know him." The woman replied.
"Well, I don\'t know how much you know about him. But if you turn up at his doorstep, he\'ll be pissed. He\'s an annoying man." Arthur warned the woman. "Though… it is strange that he isn\'t at his house. He usually is at home." He added.
The woman went silent and bit her lip before a determined expression appeared on her face.
"I still need to see him." The woman replied.
"You can try to wait but—" Before Arthur could finish speaking though, the door behind him opened again.
~Ding~
"Why are you two standing at my door?!" A harsh voice was heard.
Arthur turned to look and saw the man with a receding hairline.
"Boyd…" Seeing that it was the man they had been talking about Arthur got a bit nervous.
"Who\'s this?" Boyd looked at the woman, finding her to be unfamiliar.
"This is—" Before Arthur could say anything though, the woman spoke up.
"I\'m Cassandra… Cassandra Tills." She quickly stated.
Boyd\'s expression of annoyance was stilled before it quickly turned to that of confusion, as if he was close to realizing something.
"Cassandra.. Tills?" Boyd repeated, as a few memories appeared and his expression changed to that of realization. "You… you are her daughter? Mia\'s?" he asked with hesitation.
"Yes and you are… My father." Cassandra answered, much to the shock of both men.
Arthur awkwardly watched the revelation, not knowing what to do.
\'Well… this certainly wasn\'t what I expected upon waking up today.\' Arthur thought to himself.
Thankfully, Boyd didn\'t wish to continue this out here either.
"Come with me!" Boyd said as he pulled her into his apartment, the door slamming shut behind him.
"Well… That was… Weird. Didn\'t know Boyd had a daughter that old." Arthur wondered if it was true.
As far as he knew Boyd was in his fifties and the woman looked to be in her thirties.
\'If that is his daughter, Boyd must\'ve had her early on.\' Arthur thought as he made his way to his room.
Arthur put down the groceries he had got before sitting down at his desk. He leaned to turn on the refrigerator that had been shut for months.
"I need to keep the veggies and eggs fresh." Arthur muttered to himself.
He had shut down the fridge a while back to save on bills and wouldn\'t turn it on normally. But now that he knew he could get money soon enough, he didn\'t mind making use of stuff again.
Next he quickly boiled some water and prepared his instant noodles, adding some chopped veggies and an egg to it. While it wasn\'t the best thing, it was still a bit more balanced than what he was eating before.
\'Not like I\'ll gain weight… I\'ve always been skinny.\' Arthur shook his head as he started to eat.
While eating, he continued to scroll through the Grand Nexus Forums looking for any interesting news.
The Grand Nexus forums were basically the biggest gaming forums in the world. They were what every gamer used, and a lot of e-sports events were also sponsored by them. But that wasn\'t all, as they also provided various guides and tips for almost every game in the world.
This was also how Arthur had obtained most of his information in the last life. If not for the Grand Nexus Forums, he would not have the advantage he had today. And it was this same forum that would be allowing him to make money.
"Time to write some paid guides…" Arthur wiped his face and put away the empty bowl of noodles.
~Ding~
The lid of the Dream Pod V3 lifted with a mechanical hum, allowing Arthur to comfortably lay down in it.
>User Identified<
>Logging in!<
Arthur felt his vision turn dark for a moment before he appeared in the familiar virtual environment. He hadn\'t entered Morpheus Online though, he was merely in the browsing section of the Dream Pod.
Several icons floated in the field of his vision, from which he picked a web browser.
>Please authenticate Login credentials for Grand Nexus Forums<
A new notification popped up.
"Ah yeah, I haven\'t bound the auto login yet." Arthur quickly entered his password manually.
>User \'Grey Watcher\' has been confirmed<
Grey watcher was the user name Arthur had for Grand Nexus forums. He had been on the forums for a long time too, more than a decade if he counted his last life.
>Would the user like to link the Biometrics for auto login?<
"Yes." Arthur replied.
>Auto login activated<
A new screen appeared in front of Arthur, showing him the front page of Grand Nexus.
>Morpheus Online: Too good to be true?<
>10 tips you need to know before starting Morpheus Online<
>Use this one trick to level up quick in Morpheus Online<
As soon as Arthur saw the front page, he couldn\'t help but chuckle.
"They\'re as fast as ever, huh…" Arthur muttered. "At least they haven\'t pegged it as a verified post." He said as a smile appeared on his face.
He read the articles just to check before confirming his plan.
"Well then… Time to put them out of business!"
Arthur quickly started to write an article, the words appearing faster than ever since he didn\'t need to type it manually. He simply needed to think and they would appear on the screen.
In just five minutes a new article was ready, and Arthur was done.
>Would you like to publish the post \'Fastest way to reach level 5, 100% Verified! (vouching with trusted badge)\'<
"Do it."
With the post published, Arthur closed the window.
\'Need to let it simmer for a bit before it gets attention.\' Arthur thought to himself.
With the number of posts that were appearing on the forums, Arthur knew he wouldn\'t get attention right away. But once he did, it would pick up momentum really fast.
"With me betting my trusted badge, there will be people bound to try it." Arthur knew.
On the Grand Nexus forums, users were divided on the basis of what badge they had. New users had no badge, and the older their account got the more badges they would get. Of course, these were just basic badges and weren\'t much other than a way of bragging.
Originally they were made as a way to prevent Spam accounts, but once biometric authentication were added a few years back, that problem basically died down. Spam accounts were shut down quickly and troll accounts needed to consider their reputation before posting anything.
This was also when special badges such as verified and trusted badges appeared.
These were higher up in the hierarchy of the forums and were people who had done things to merit it.
Arthur had the Trusted badge, which was relatively difficult to obtain. To get it, one needed to contribute to the forums with good posts and articles that had helped the members. They would then need to reach a specific popularity and then need to be checked by the site officials.
A user would get the Trusted badge once they had contributed several such articles.
With the badge, others would have an easier time believing them and their words would carry more worth.
\'Never thought my days of writing free guides in the past would help now.\' Arthur thought to himself.
Before Arthur had stated to play Morpheus Online, he used to write articles as a part time gig.
Since they also allowed him to earn a bit from the ad revenue, Arthur didn\'t mind it. After all, there wasn\'t much he could do when he was still at the orphanage. He couldn\'t exactly get a job outside, as it was simply not allowed for the students at that point.
But Online work was something he could still do.
It was this Ad revenue that had allowed him to have some respite and savings over the time. Even though almost all of it would get spent, Arthur was still grateful for whatever he got.
The amount wasn\'t that high, since it was mostly for mobile games that were small, but every little bit was important for Arthur who lived in poverty for the most part.
And now, it was the same work that was coming in handy for him. The trusted badge he had earned from a few years of work would now be the thing that would allow him to earn a lot more.
\'First to lure them with free content as bait then push the better paid content.\' Arthur smiled with glee.