Howdy folks,

So, I'll be at LitRPGCon for the week, which means I won't be releasing any QuestWright chapters. However, Tycoon's 2nd and 3rd are done, so I'm replacing this week's QuestWright with those so you still have something to read.

I'm also trying to find something interactive like the Reader Quests for this new story, but I'm drawing a blank. If you think of anything let me know.

Now, since this is a preview, please feel free to openly discuss anything you want and I promise I'll give you all the time in the world to respond to my responses. This book seems like it's going to be a monster, and I'd like to get any feedback I possibly can on it.

Here's the link for chapter one if you don't remember it: https://www.patreon.com/abnormalvaverage/posts/litrpg-tycoon-c1-160968697

And off we go. This is going to be a double post, and it's early, so nothing this weekend.

Chapter 2: My Pre-Initiation Introduction

The man next to me had a short, cropped cut of dark hair, a naturally wide stance to accommodate his tall height, and enough muscle to make an action figure look flat. It took a second before it clicked.

“Jerry Barnes?”

“Yeah? I know you?”

I recognized Jerry from watching TV and the news. He was a linebacker for San Francisco, who’d been impossible to avoid for the last few years. Shoe ads, fitness magazines, highlight reels, the whole media machine had been at his beck and call. Jerry was a major celebrity.

And now, he was in the same place as me. A soaked, broken, me.

I tried to stand, then gave a light scream as the pain in my wrenched shoulder kicked up a notch. As the scream settled and I needed to take a breath, my ribs protested that too. I tried to think of something snarky to say as I caught my breath, but then more sounds came to us. 

Like a dam cracking, my scream had broken the quiet in the room. Everywhere around us, isolated, panicked yelling echoed back as people shrugged off the shock and took in the reality of teleportation. 

After all, what else could it be?

Trying to get up on my own again was a non-starter as a few whimpers escaped my lips, but Jerry took pity on me. Noticing how my shoulder was turned, he took my other arm and gently stood me up.

“Thanks.”

“No problem, man. What’s your name?”

“Evan Teller, and no, you don’t know me.”

He looked pensive as he said, “That name sounds like somebody who sells shit on QVC after midnight.”

“You’re not far off the mark,” I gave a slight laugh, and my ribs reminded me I was an idiot as it died in a wheeze. “Where are we, Jerry?”

He shrugged mountainous shoulders, “Fuck if I know. I was having dinner with my girl before this shit kicked up.”

“I was driving off a cliff, thus, you know,” I motioned to my whole body as Jerry frowned.

“Why were you driving off a cliff?”

“Seemed like the thing to do,” I deadpanned. “How do you think your lady friend is doing right now?”

“Oh, damn, I bet she’s worried. She’s not the type to take me disappearing well.”

“Are you not worried?”

Jerry shook his head, “I’m not stupid enough to ignore fear. Fear motivates you.”

“You’d know,” I said shortly.

I looked around, considered counting, and quickly gave up as there were simply too many people. I knew it was a lot, and that was enough at the moment. Jerry was turning to look around, too, before he yelled out, “Oh shit!”

“What?”

“Look behind you!”

I gently shifted my body. There was a blackened corpse steaming just a few feet away, its melted, skull-like face held in a rictus scream. The smell was odd, and if I was honest, not terribly bad. As that thought settled and found root, I couldn’t help myself; I vomited right there onto Jerry’s nice shoes.

“Fuck, man.” He said, taking a step back, then he vomited right after, but was kind enough to miss both of us. Jerry was a good guy.

“What the heck is happening?” I asked, wiping the excess away from my mouth.

“My shoes!”

A bell-like sound rang out three times in succession, shutting everyone up except for a few lone screamers. Then, words appeared in front of me.

Evan Teller

Congratulations on receiving a sponsorship from Altius Acquisitions.

Initiating the Basic Pre-initiate package.

Step one: Basic Healing. 

I didn’t have the chance to say a word as a pulse of heat rocketed through my body. It started with my head, and I felt a slight burn on the back of my skull. I was just starting to think that wasn’t so bad when my headache became just a memory, then it hit my shoulder. Holding back a scream, I felt all the damage my arm had sustained from the accident repair itself in overdrive. It felt like insects crawling under the skin, re-attaching things in a completely unnatural manner. Then, as quickly as it came, it disappeared.

Step one: Basic healing complete

I tested my shoulder, and it was still a little sore. But my ribs? They hurt like hell and didn’t get a single finger of the healing juice this thing was putting out.

Disgruntled, I called out, “Hey! I’m still hurt here!”

“Dude, look,” Jerry said, causing me to look at the poor soul behind us again. The burnt-up body was now somewhat recognizable. I wanted to say it was a woman, but all the magical healing had done was add some veins where they had no business being anymore.

I mumbled, “Basic healing.”

“What?”

“Basic healing. The keyword being basic. My ribs are still busted, but my shoulder doesn’t hurt as much anymore. It was the strangest feeling, man. Like being swarmed by ants with medical degrees.”

Jerry actually smiled, “More like a deep tissue massage where they use one of those spiked up massage balls. I kinda liked it. Dude, they fixed up my knee. Look.” As if to prove his point, he waggled his leg back and forth, so I just smiled, not knowing what it looked like before. 

“That’s great!”

“Old injury from college.”

“Ah.”

I looked at the corpse and said a silent prayer for whoever they were, then gazed around the room again. Some people looked happy, which confused the hell out of me. Almost everyone else was either looking around like me or staring off into nowhere.

“You think they died before getting teleported, or after they got here?”

Jerry shook his head, “I got here a few seconds before you; people didn’t arrive all at once. There was nothing in that spot before.” 

“Huh,” I scuffed my shoe, but the floor didn’t show a mark. “So, magic’s real. Could go with the old quote that sufficiently advanced technology could seem like magic, but I don’t know about that. This is feeling pretty real. Pretty magically real.”

“Can’t fault your thinking,” Jerry said, still bouncing around as he tested his knee. “Just makes me wonder. If they went to all the trouble of bringing us here and healing us up, basic or not. Something bad’s gotta happen.”

“Pessimist?”

“Not always.”

“Well, not always, I’m inclined to agree with you.” I inched my head at the corpse behind us. “They certainly didn’t get here in the best of ways.”

“Do you think we’re both messed up. You know, in the head? Never been around a corpse before.”

“Maybe a little. Or maybe that’s part of the magic as well, and any minute now I’m going to curl up into a ball and cry like a little girl.”

“Sounds like your Saturday nights.”

“You can’t be handsome, athletic, and funny, Jerry.”

Step two: Basic Pre-initiation Introduction

Your world is approaching functional mana exposure as it grows and spreads throughout the Multiverse.

This is normal.

Your species’ lack of preparation is also normal.

Mana exposure is survivable, and the following examples have been selected for clarity, rather than comfort.

Unwillingly, my awareness somehow shot away from the white room filled with people. I tried not to panic as everything went dark. Like a slap in the face, light hit my vision as I blinked my eyes…all four of them.

What the fuck is happening?

I was in some kind of prehistoric swamp as my new, fragmented sight took in the surroundings, but I quickly realized that I wasn’t in control of my body.

Whatever process was controlling the wheel had thrown me into someone… or something’s mind. My body was inching forward in a weird, up-and-down gait that I didn’t understand before a shockwave boomed in the air.

The funny thing was, I didn’t seem to have the ears to hear it. I only knew it was a shockwave because my multi-eyed vision looked up right as an immense, slashing crescent of rainbow energy rampaged across the horizon.

Even as I watched the energy approaching, I came to realize I was in the mind of some kind of giant, alien worm watching its world undergoing a mana–pocalypse of some kind.

Its segmented body freaked me out, as for a brief moment, I thought of it as my own.

The wave knocked down the body I was inhabiting, and Worm guy’s vision ended as everything started to sparkle. Those sparks touched on everything in sight, including my wormy friend.

Green plants became greener. Blue fruit, hanging low from the trees, looked even bluer. I think that whatever or however the rainbow wave worked, it enhanced everything it touched. Then, only darkness remained. 

Did he die? Did I die?

Thankfully, the light came again, and I found myself in a different body and was relieved to still be alive. This time around, I had fingers and hands, which was a nice surprise. The people around me all had green skin, big dark eyes, and tiny, nub-like antennas sticking off their heads. We sat at a long table, speaking in a language that I couldn’t hope to understand. 

Strangely, it felt like a business meeting.

The wave and sparkles returned, but they affected things completely differently than the first vision. Rather than take on brighter colors, the buildings around my host began to dull, losing their former opulence. Then, they started to collapse. My second vision ended when my host began to fall from a huge skyscraper, screaming in an unknown language.

Don’t be in a tall building when Mana comes around, got it.

The third vision put me into what I thought was a soldier in a techno-heavy society. The cow-like creature I inhabited had guns with several doodads and gizmos splashed across it. But after the wave, he started shooting tiny bolts of electricity from his hands, the weapon left on the ground forgotten.

Frickin magic, I knew it. 

More visions appeared. I was the size of a mountain, then a pea, then I was in a spaceship with tentacles for arms and a man in chains before me. Each time, the world melted, parts of it sloughed off, or even expanded. Sparkles were everywhere, altering and changing not only the world it reaped across, but the people and creatures too.

Desperate and beginning to realize the magnitude of what these visions implied, I marked down everything I saw in my mind, absorbing it to the best of my limited ability. There had to be a good reason I was being shown this, so whatever I learned now would pay for itself later.

Only one thing was the same in each vision. The shockwave and immediate change. Then, in the darkness, new words appeared.

Basic Pre-initiation Introduction complete…

Step Three: Basic Sponsored Pre-initiation Introduction

As a Sponsored Pre-initiate, the difficulty expectation for your planet has been raised.

Wait, what now?

The visions came back, only this time, as the mana arrived, time and again, so too did domineering armies of various alien races.

Not the friendly, E.T. kind. Some were metallic automatons, others resembled creatures from pictures and stories I’d paged through when I had time to waste, while some defied human imagination of what a living thing should look like.

I lived through several moments, watching the native species get powers, fight, beg, and yammer on in their unknowable words. The invaders brutally killed anyone who didn’t bend the knee. 

Some of the worlds fought back and won. But not many, and I didn’t know what happened to them after the vision concluded.

I made sure to pay special attention to the visions where the natives did win. I was no war strategist, but it seemed to me that in the end, it all came down to a few powerful individuals who came out fighting with total brutality or organizing others very skillfully.

The last vision was a squirrel-like humanoid, resting in a tree bigger than any skyscraper my world had ever built. He had a family, as evidenced by smaller creatures flitting about their many rooms within the bough. Then the shockwave. Then the invaders. I’d almost grown numb to it at this point.

Then I watched his family die. 

As if I hadn’t been punched in the face with enough trauma, whatever entity was showing me these visions decided to triple down as the vision faded.

Basic Sponsored Pre-initiation complete…

Step Four: Basic Sponsored Preview

Planet: Earth

Sponsor: Altius Acquisitions

Sponsorship: Basic

Sponsor group: 20,000

95% by Sponsor choice, 5% by random selection

Time remaining until Initiation: 20 Earth years

Twenty years until… all that happens, to Earth.

Any apathy or humor I had left in me disappeared. If this were to be believed, then Earth was in for an incredible amount of hurt. Maybe annihilation. Not a single scenario that I lived through showed the invading aliens as kind-hearted pacifists who just wanted to hold hands.

I needed to do something, but I was only one man, and not a fighter at that.

Thoughts of my girls came upon me, and I didn’t push them away. How would they do during all of this? They were just kids right now, but in twenty years, they’d be as old as I was at this precise moment. 

There would be monsters to fight, and fighting just wasn’t in my wheelhouse. I knew that with absolute certainty. But fighting was never the whole machine. Maybe that could still matter. I just needed to figure out how.

I was still considering my options when the words faded.

Basic Sponsored Preview complete…

Step Five: Facet Response

This is the first time it doesn’t say Basic. There’s probably some unknowable reason for that, which I’ll find out twenty years later or on my deathbed.

The darkness abated, and I stood before a perfect reflection of myself. Beside him, a list of my modest achievements appeared. It wasn’t anything special, just a laundry list of small victories I’d achieved across the entirety of my time on Earth. It was honestly a little depressing.

They say your life flashes before your eyes just before you meet your maker. I guess I got to see mine early, and I started to wonder where it got this information from in the first place. My memories? Had whatever power or entity behind everything been watching Earth all this time?

Then the feeling around me changed, like the sudden stillness of a powerful wind quickly stopping. I was shunted out of the dark space and found myself back in the white room surrounded by people.

Then, writing appeared in my vision.

What is your goal?

Goal? Like, to-

“To beat those bastards,” Jerry said just nearby. Another person down the way said, “To become powerful.”

I didn’t say a word, as apparently that was how this thing was going to interpret our choices. Wording mattered. 

This is like a survey. I have a feeling anything I say right now has to be thought through, as it’s going to affect what happens next. That other guy said to become powerful, but what is power?

That led me down a rabbit hole. After all, the whole reason I was here was because of Altius Acquisitions, whoever they were. By ‘sponsoring’ us, they’d dragged Earth and my family into a more difficult situation. 

The tell was in the name. My guess was that they had bought some kind of claim. How much money did they have to spend to do that?

My thoughts were interrupted when Jerry spoke again, “Strength.” 

He was followed by a woman on my left, almost out of my hearing range, “I care about others.”

What the hell is the second question?

I pushed them out of my mind as more people answered around me, each one giving me another piece of a test I badly wished I’d studied for. Since waiting had helped me so far and there didn’t seem to be a hard time limit on answering, I continued to stare at the words and listen in on the others. Then Jerry spoke again.

“I don’t quit.” He gasped immediately after speaking, and then I didn’t hear from him. I waited and waited as more people gave odd answers, but never heard another peep. I couldn’t say anything, as that would screw up whatever was happening here.

Not long after, the only voices I heard were far away. My mind kept replaying the events I’d seen, and especially the preview of Earth. 

I wasn’t like Jerry. I wasn’t a big, meaty guy who recognizes fear and pushes past it. Who could immediately answer questions from an unknowable source with such surety. There’d been no hesitation on his part. 

Me? I was a semi-successful marketeer who had been on the brink of being something more, but I just didn’t have the time to get there.

All of these people’s answers were pushed by the visions. They were emotionally charged. They saw the world going up in smoke and wanted to fight back. 

They wanted power. 

But power could be misinterpreted. Power was in the eye of the beholder. And since the only thing I knew for sure was that Altius hadn’t punched, prayed, or powered their way into Earth’s future, I said the only thing that made sense to me.

“Money.”

Chapter 3: My Class

If the powers that be felt my choice was strange, I couldn’t tell, as the second question rolled right in.

What is your greatest strength?

Holy shit, Jerry said his greatest strength was strength. How baller is that?

Now, all of the others who’d spoken up before filtered into my mind. That one woman had said caring for others. That was an interesting choice that hadn’t even entered my mind. Not that I thought of myself as a bad person; it just didn’t compute in the moment. 

A piece of a memory surfaced, in which I recalled another person far off saying ‘ambition’.

Strength itself, caring for others, and ambition. That’s what the selected people of Earth chose, but I’m not like them. I need to play this smart.

I need to think of something that goes with money. 

If word choice matters a lot to whatever this Facet thing is, then combining similar terms should pay off in a big way. So what would be a solid strength that played off of money?

I pitched several ideas to myself. I knew for a fact I was highly observant and loyal, almost to the point of tragedy when you considered my ex-wife. I was good with people, and I loved my daughters. I once played baseball and learned it wasn’t my thing.

But none of those worked with money.

Then it hit me. 

The mana-pocalypse was coming, and here I was with a chance to do something about it before it arrived. Times were going to be tough ahead, probably deadly for many, and I wanted the ability to ride things out, no matter the circumstances. Because of that reasoning, the answer came to me with clarity, and I was sure it was a good one.

“Resourcefulness.”

The words arrived without a pause.

What is your greatest weakness?

Fucking hell, Jerry. Your weakness was, “I don’t quit?” What happened in your life that made you think persistence is a bad thing?

Wait, no. 

Stupid, Evan. That’s not what he did. He presented a strength as a weakness, almost like an inane interview question.

So that tells me Jerry thinks this thing is probing us? But it knows everything about us; that list of my inadequacies told me so. Still, it’s not a bad idea.

Present a strength as a weakness.

Maybe it’s looking for a weakness that it can help us fix. Like, if I said I’m dumb, the thing would make me smarter. Or I’m sick all the time, and it makes me the picture of health.

But my weakness has always been the same: opportunity. Always playing catch-up with the world, all the while watching the people I grew up with have their best lives start early. 

Though I knew it was the right word, it didn’t fit right in my mind. Then again, opportunity was just money wearing a nice suit. 

Money has always been the thing I needed most but had the least of. It was easily the most consistent problem, from my inability to attend university to taking care of my girls as best I could. Even holding onto my wife. 

My world has rotated on a pinwheel around my lack of money. And with Altius Acquisitions, it looked like the greater universe ran on it, too.

So my third answer was also simple. If you’re going to roll the dice, may as well roll them twice. I even smiled as I said it.

“Money.”

To confirm, you, Evan Teller, are stating that your greatest weakness is lack of money.

Well, that makes me a little nervous. Does it not like the answer? Is that not allowed?

…fuck it. In for a penny, in for a pound.

“Yes.”

Understood.

Assessing hidden trait…

Trait? Like, a quirk?

Trait located.

Unrealized Potential…

Frickin figures. I’m quirky enough to have never reached my true potential. Thanks, god of kidnappings.

Facet Response Complete

Step Six: Archetype Selection

Archetypes populating...

Okay, looks like using money twice was accepted. I didn’t screw anything up.

I wonder what the hell Jerry got? Probably something ridiculous, much like the man himself.

Man, this is taking a while. Was it because of my choices? I wonder what it means with limitations and compen-

Archetypes populated.

Make your choice, Evan Teller.

—

Singular Facet Archetypes:

Please note that Facet priority directly influences Archetype design.

Merchant

Money

A basic money-oriented Archetype commonly seen across the greater universe.

The Merchant-Archetype provides triple the standard starting funds.

Scavenger

Resourcefulness

A low-resource Archetype that works through finding value where others see waste.

The Scavenger-Archetype offers dozens of starting locations.

—

Single facet, so just one of the responses I gave.

Merchant’s good. Triple the starting funds, heh, I won’t say no to that. More money is good money.

Scavenger is interesting, but that’s not what I had in mind for resourceful. I don’t really want to end up in a place where I’m scrounging through trash to find something to sell.

The god of words decided that I’d read them through and changed to the next page.

Double Facet Archetypes:

Entrepreneur 

Money-Resourcefulness

A venture-focused Archetype built around creating value, solving needs, and expanding from substantial starting capital.

The Entrepreneur-Archetype offers unique opportunities dependent upon the chosen starting location.

Hustler

Resourcefulness-Money

An Archetype with a low reputation, but one that can often find the gap between what something is worth and what someone is willing to pay.

The Hustler-Archetype offers access to low-trust markets and a starter pool of System contracts.

—

System contracts?

System…System…

Is the God of Kidnappings the System?

What a lazy-ass name for something that can teleport people out of drowning in their car. At least call it Jesus or Yahweh. At least Jesus would walk on water.

Entrepreneur sounds incredibly focused on whatever starting location you get. What if I picked some place that looks nice, but is home to some dick-eating demons and I’m on the menu?

Then again, that could be true of any choice I make here.

Venture-focused is key in that description, though. Ventures are risks, like a Silicon Valley startup or braving a new business idea in a place that doesn’t fit the bill. Hell, if I go with how specific the wording is with the God of Kidnappings, venture is part of adventure.

It’s all about the dangerous journey.

Hustler sounds shady as shit though. Like yeah, I could make some money that way. Work some black market stuff, maybe. But jobs like that tear into your soul. That’s all about incremental demon-finding.

As I stood there considering my options, the page turned one more time.

Triple Facet Archetype:

Tycoon

Money-Money-Resourcefulness

A wealth-focused Archetype built around ownership, acquisition, and expansion across multiple enterprises.

The Tycoon-Archetype offers low starting capital, offset by earlier access to greater acquisition opportunities and broader eligibility for ownership-based progression.

Tycoon…

I stared at the word. Tycoon had a lot of history behind it back on Earth. Magnates like Carnegie and Rockefeller. Robber barons like Musk and Bezos.

Rollercoaster Tycoon.

These were people who built empires and massive money-making machines in a time when people had trouble finding a place to sleep. They were myths, legends…

Assholes.

But they made a LOT of money. 

That’s what I need to do if I’m going to save my girls and my planet. I need to make so much money that nobody will want to fuck with us. Ever.

I looked over the description a second time to get a feel for it. If anything, it sounded like an upgraded version of Entrepreneur, only it started out with low funds but a higher ceiling.

In for a penny, in for a pound, right? Some British guy said that.

Besides, my Trait is called Unrealized Potential. If I pick an Archetype right off the bat that is all about expanding possibilities, that has to help, right? It’s like Craig said the last time we went out to dinner as family+1.

In the business world, it’s all about synergy.

The God of Kidnappings somehow felt my intent as the wording changed.

Evan Teller, are you certain you would like your Archetype to be: 

Tycoon

I didn’t speak a word, but all the same, the thing in charge recognized my choice.

Archetype Selection Complete

Step Seven: Class Formulation

Chosen Archetype and Trait interaction ongoing.

…

Unrealized Potential has become Unrealized Profits.

—

Unrealized Profits and the Tycoon Archetype have manifested Evan Teller’s starter Class:

Peddler

I did not gasp.

Peddler Abilities Set.

“What abilities?” I asked between the updates.

Class Formulation Complete

Step Eight: Starting Location Options

“No, really. What abilities?”

Captain Kidnapper didn’t respond as five locations appeared before me. Five. Just five. All of them planets that were assuredly not mine.

And to top off this shit sandwich of a day…

“None of these are Earth.”

Pre-initiates may not return to their native planet until three days prior to Earth’s Mana Advent.

The Basic Sponsorship package will automatically transport you, no matter where you are in the universe.

“So you’re forcing me into a car accident, throwing me into a random room with ‘basic’ healing, then like a skipping stone, tossing me out into the universe to what? Survive?”

Growth is imperative to succeed in what’s coming.

Please select your starting location.

A big part of me wanted to tell the God of Kidnappings to go fuck itself. A very big part. That wouldn’t go over well for me, even if I still wanted to do it just for the satisfaction. Like a really, really long, fuuuck you.

But then I thought about my girls.

They’ll be in their thirties when I get back. Heck, I bet they’ll think I’m dead. My car’s in the ocean with a window kicked out and no body to be found. It’s only logical to think that.

Twenty years.

They’ll have gone on to college, pursued careers, and built lives beyond anything I now know. This whole thing is stealing me away from their childhood. I might even get back to find out I’m a grandfather.

But I need to get back. And when I do, it needs to be with something more in my pocket than well wishes.

With that in mind, I did a gentle ‘wussah’ in my head, then scrolled through all five, reading them back and forth.

One was out because the air was mostly methane. That probably wouldn’t go well for me.

Another two were out because the planets looked mostly barren. If I wanted to make a lot of money, fast, I needed a populous place to sell anything I could find. Empty planets need not apply.

That left only two, and the choice wasn’t easy.

The first planet was called Veyr, and the starting location was on a coastline. There was even an included picture showing a very calm, relaxed-looking beach. The place had a stable market; seafood was the primary export, and there was a spot at the bottom saying something fishy.

Mana Density: Controlled; Nominal

The other place was a planet called Grask. The starting location was right outside a dense forest, and the market made my mind stutter.

Primary export: Monster parts and salvage

The last line didn’t help either.

Mana Density: Unstable

So, Evan, you have two options here. Go with the safe, relaxing coastline and sell fish for the next two decades.

Or…

Pick the monster planet with unstable Mana that has the potential to be something more.

What are you going to go with, Evan, you stupid bastard?

What’s going to bring you back to Earth, ready to win against the apocalypse?

I sighed, unable to refute the truth. “I choose Grask.”

Starting Location Selected: Grask

Step 9: Teleportation

Good luck, Evan Teller.

I tried to say thanks in the most sarcastic way I could, but all that came out was a quick gasp before an unfamiliar landscape met my eyes.

Where before, I had been in a white room, surrounded by my fellow Earthers, I was now standing in front of a small, two-story shop wearing a white outfit that was close to leather. And what was most confusing about all of this was that, when I looked at my clothing, words appeared in my vision without being blocked.

Pre-Initiate Ensemble

Value: Rare

Price: 10,000 Credits