Chapter 853
Anton, Paul, and Eric spent the entire day exploring the Noble Section of the ship, yet they managed to cover only half of it. It was not because the section was particularly large, but because the three of them tended to stop whenever they found something interesting.
They ate at one of the many restaurants in the Noble Section before Paul and Eric hurried home to their families. Their fathers required them to show their faces at home every night.
Once Anton returned to his room, he spent a few minutes leveling up his Diablo Immortal character. In truth, however, he was not particularly motivated to work on that aspect of his Diablo System. Unfortunately, even the Diablo II section remained untouched, as Anton intended to focus on Diablo II only once the ladder season began, and that was still a couple of months away.
Most of the time, he simply returned to mindlessly browsing the internet before going to sleep. He mainly watched anime since many interesting series had recently been released, and he wanted to catch up on those he had missed.
Anton liked the fact that he still enjoyed watching anime. He knew that such interests often faded as people grew older. He once read a post on an anime forum written by an older otaku. The man explained that although he had loved anime immensely in his youth and could never imagine losing interest in it, his preferences gradually shifted as he got older. He found himself reading novels more often than watching anime.
The poster still enjoyed anime from time to time, but he became bored with new releases much more quickly, even those considered excellent. He had also started viewing some anime as shallow compared to novels. Furthermore, he was often disappointed by anime adaptations of novels because they rarely lived up to the quality of the original works. Eventually, he decided to avoid them altogether.
Anton could understand how life's responsibilities could interfere with one's hobbies, but the idea that someone could simply fall out of love with something they once cherished made him feel both sad and apprehensive. He knew such thoughts were somewhat childish. There came a point in every person's life when they moved beyond the things they loved as children.
Still, Anton felt that his otaku hobbies had saved his life back on Earth. Even during the lowest periods of his life, he had never lost his desire to live. He had never considered ending his life because there was always another anime to watch, another movie to see, another television series to enjoy, or another novel to read. The fact that it took an epidemic to end his life on Earth was proof of how much he loved his hobbies.
Because of that, Anton believed that his life would continue to revolve around otaku culture even in this new world. In fact, if not for the threat of the Undead Coalition, he imagined that he would have already established an otaku empire by now.
Even so, his interests had evolved. However, his dream of becoming a multidimensional adventurer was still rooted in his otaku nature. He could not deny that. If such things were possible, why should he not imagine himself aboard a starship like the characters from Star Trek or Star Wars?
Over the next few weeks, Anton lived much like an idle young nobleman. Together with Paul and Eric, he eventually explored every corner of the Noble Section and experienced everything it had to offer, at least once.
On the last day of the month, Anton informed Paul and Eric that he needed a few days of rest, so there was no need for them to meet during that time. In reality, it was time for him to meet his father and sister within the world of Sanctuary through the Multiplayer mode of the Diablo II section of his Diablo System.
During their previous meeting, the three of them had agreed to spend an entire day together. They would take a one-hour break for lunch, exit the game, and then return afterward. Anders and Anna were eager to continue leveling their Multiplayer characters and acquire stronger equipment, since the strength granted by those characters was extremely useful when delving into dungeons in Ormunda to level up their real-world classes.
Anton met his father and sister in Diablo II after breakfast and after submitting the portal scrolls to Ormunda through the ship's portal box.
It was around eight in the morning when they finally gathered inside Multiplayer mode. As usual, the first hour was spent discussing everything that had happened in their lives during the previous month.
Anton admitted that he had spent the past few weeks living quite idly. It was understandable, considering there was very little for him to do aboard the ship.
Since he planned to start over within one of the magical organizations in Izmorta, there was little point in pursuing formal magical studies. Any spells he learned would likely be forgotten after undergoing the rebirth process. He explained the details of the supposed rebirth to Anders and Anna, but assured them that he was confident his bloodline magic, which was what he called his Diablo System to others, would remain unaffected.
He told them that he might forget many of the standard spells he had memorized, but Anders and Anna knew that most of those were practical spells, such as Cleaning Magic, which could easily be memorized again.
Anton also mentioned that, with little else to occupy his time, he had spent a considerable amount of money trying out all the luxuries that the Melinda had to offer.
“Do you need me to send you more funds?” Anders asked.
“No. I still have plenty of coins left, and I also have a large amount of magic metals remaining from when I joined the campaign against the Undead Coalition. If I truly need money, I can create a magic item in less than an hour, and a flood of coins will come right back to me.”
Anders merely shook his head.
Both he and Anna had long accepted that the family would never be poor again. Anton possessed an extraordinary ability to generate wealth wherever he went. Furthermore, Anders and Anna had become highly capable in their own right. If they truly wanted money, they could easily earn large amounts of gold simply by delving into dungeons and collecting mana stones.
They had even adopted Anton's habit of leaving the wealth stored in the manor untouched. Whenever they needed personal spending money, they simply entered the dungeons and hunted monsters for mana stones.
All three of them understood that, at their current rate of wealth accumulation, their family could become one of the truly wealthy families in Ormunda within a few generations.
Anders was busy dividing his time between Rose Manor and the new manor in Oakswood, where his new wife and children lived. What surprised Anton and Anna the most was the news that their father's new wife was pregnant, meaning they would soon have another brother or sister. Technically, they already had new siblings through Sonya's children, but the news was exciting, nonetheless.
Anders continued managing his mercenary company in Ormunda several days each week. However, because he wanted to spend more time with his wife, he had temporarily refrained from dungeon delving, at least until the child was born.
Anton and Anna's father told them that, in only a few weeks, Oakswood Village had advanced by leaps and bounds, largely due to his assistance.
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