1999, February 26th

  William looked at the data. Just ten days after the browser was launched, they had already gained one percent market share in the browser market, which was roughly 1.5 million users, and was rapidly growing by the day. But he wasn't celebrating. Instead, he was preparing for the inevitable. Microsoft's counterattack. They were sure to strike back, somehow, and he would have to be ready.

  The company was finally growing, too. Previously, they hadn't really hired much, simply because they didn't need anyone else. Just the two of them, plus a few customer service workers, were enough, as all the patches and updates were handled by him, with marketing and the other side of the spectrum handled solely by Eve. And now, they've been getting overextended. And as they were adding the browser to their product list, they were going to need more employees to maintain and update these products. While William could technically do it, he could only continue by sleeping for three hours a day. That was not a sustainable lifestyle in any way. With that schedule, he had been waking up with 75% stamina every day.

  And since they were expanding their product line, they were going to expand into the digital payment field. Their only real competitor in the field would be PayPal or Confinity, as it was known back then. Pre-merged with X.com, a company owned by Elon Musk, Confinity was the best in the digital payment field, and after merging, they managed to maintain their dominance.

  It would be released in April, still too far away. William sighed. There was too much to do, too little time. Eve, lying on his bed with a Game Boy in hand, asked, "What's wrong, Will?"

  He sighed again, "I'm worried about Microsoft."

  She put down the Game Boy and looked at him with her stormy gray eyes, "Don't be worried too much. I've prepared countermeasures. I've already anticipated that they would move against us back when we signed with Dell, so I added some clauses that ensure that they would not be able to break the agreement without major repercussions. I've also been reaching out to more PC magazines and software reviewers to review our product. I've also been focusing heavily on marketing and PR so that the public perception of us is good. We've also patented everything so that there is no legal ground for Microsoft to attack us there. If they do, we can win quickly."

  He rubbed his chin, "Wow. I guess you've really done your homework, huh? I guess I'll leave all that up to you."

  She rolled her eyes, "So that's why they say if you do your best, you get more work with no extra pay."

  "What am I supposed to do? I have no idea about how to run a business. How about this? I'll give you a kiss?"

  "Is that your attempt at flirting? Terrible, Will. Absolutely terrible."

  He raised an eyebrow, "So... you don't want it?"

  "Welllll.... I didn't say that..." She smirked, "There's a difference between saying no and not saying no, genius."

  William grinned, "Ah, so that means yes."

  She rolled her eyes and smiled, "You're impossible. You're ridiculous, you know that, right?"

  He wiggled his eyebrows, "You mean ridiculously genius. And since you're clearly the brains of this operation, I'll just sit here... and cheer on you. Strategically, of course."

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  "Of course, of course. Very strategic. Very genius indeed." She rolled her eyes and got back on her Game Boy.

  "What about hiring? Do you need me there to vet some people?"

  "Please, god no. You'll just say something like, 'Are you stupid? You actually learned this?' or you'll be disgusted by their color and just send them back."

  "Hey! My chromesthesia is very accurate."

  She snorted, "Sure, whatever you say, my guy."

  "Hmmph. You clearly just can't appreciate my uniqueness."

  She waved her hand, "Sure, sure."

  He threw a pillow at her, hitting her square in the face, "Don't ignore me."

  She removed the pillow from her face and chased after him, "What are you? A kid?"

  "Might as well be. At least, I'll be far more comfortable," said he, as he darted across the room.

  "Not necessarily. You won't have many legal rights." She vaulted over the bed and landed on him.

  "Well, hello there."

  She hit him with a pillow.

  "Fair. I deserve that." Then, using his strength, he lifted her off him, "But just because I deserve it doesn't mean I'll take it!"

  He suplexed her into the bed.

  1999, February 28th

  William ran along the road, reaching the second lap. He rested for a while and opened his status.

  [Name: William Tudor

  Age: 18

  Race: Human

  Traits: ADHD, Chromesthesia, Adult, Genius, No Filter, Introvert, Gamer, Weeb, Caffeine Dependent, Night Owl, Intermediate Martial Artist, Entrepreneur, Amateur Businessman]

  Stats

  Body: 6

  Mind: 9

  Insight: 6

  Charisma: 4

  Willpower: 7

  Skills: Chromesthesia(LV6), Shut-In(LV7), Coding(LV9), Gaming(LV100), Languages(LV6){English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Russian, Arabic, Mandarin, Hindi}, Speaking(LV10), Crawling(LV10), Walking(LV10), Running(LV10), Hand-to-Hand Combat(LV4), Swordsmanship(LV4), Business(LV1+1), Law(LV1), Designing(LV3)]

  He frowned. While his Body and Mind raised by one, the others were still stagnant. But he was thankful the most important stat for him, Mind, rose. It directly correlated to his intelligence and many of his other cognitive abilities. He checked out the traits.

  [Entrepreneur - You have started a business, young businessman. It is still a question if it will succeed or not.

  Grants Skill Business(LV1)

  Increase Insight by 1 when buying or selling shares.]

  [Amateur Businessman - You have earned one hundred million dollars from your business, officially making you a businessman.

  Increase Skill Business by one level

  Increase Chrisma by 1 when in an interview or a press conference.]

  While these bonuses were certainly great, they didn't have much to do with him. Most of the business side of Quantum Innovation was handled by Eve. He only handled the product side. He had his plans. While he still didn't have any technical employees, he planned to get them when they officially launched the next product, QuantumPay. Wait, why was I obsessed with the word Quantum? He thought to himself. He seriously thought back. Oh, yeah. My failed company in my past life was named that. How could I forget that? He sighed. Back then, I was kinda fascinated by Quantum Theory. So I just named it Quantum Innovation.

  Pennyworth, do you miss our old world? He asked his old, trusted companion.

  [While I certainly want to miss it, I don't have much memory of it. I don't miss it.]

  That makes sense for you, I guess. You were just born when we got reincarnated here.

  [Certainly. Is this feeling called nostalgia?]

  Yeah. If you're feeling nostalgic about our old life, that means you had some good memories there.

  [Well, meeting you was the greatest day of my life, sir. So I must say, it has the fondest memory of my young life. So I do have to change my answer and say I miss it.]

  [By the way, Sir. You have two missed notifications.]

  Oh?

  [Yes, I wanted to tell you, but you were too busy with your work and you didn't see my lines literally appear in front of you. I tried to tell you again while you were free, but you were with Eve, so I decided not to.]

  [Happy Birthday! You've turned 18 years old! You have been granted the Perk System as a gift.]

  [Happy Birthday! You've turned 18 years old! You have been granted the Technology System as the last gift.]

  He sighed. He had neglected the System for far too long, and he had missed out on potential benefits for three months.