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"Next up is the Game Forum," Caelan announced, already moving his mouse pointer toward the icon.
"This Game Forum feature can only be accessed by console players—it's an exclusive benefit of owning the hardware. You can browse posts that other players have written, leave your own comments below their posts, engage in discussions, share strategies, and build a community around the games." He double-clicked to open the interface. "Everyone can explore the specific features at their leisure later—I won't bore you with excessive detail right now. The interface is fairly intuitive."
The forum window populated the screen, and everyone leaned forward to read the currently sparse list of posts:
"The Functions and Usage of the Five Elements in Elemental Contra"
— Posted by: Illusionist
"Wind, Thunder, Water, Fire, Earth—Who is the Strongest Character in Chronicle of the Fierce Tortoise Warriors?"
— Posted by: Illusionist
"Beautiful Player 'Qin of House Purplethunder' Completes Elemental Contra on Hard Difficulty with One Life (Video Included)"
— Posted by: Illusionist
"Super Mario All Green Mushroom Locations"
— Posted by: Illusionist
Somewhere in the crowd below the stage, a young woman with sharp eyes and even sharper reflexes felt heat suddenly flood her cheeks. Qin of House Purplethunder stared at the words "Beautiful Player" displayed so prominently on the screen, her embarrassment rapidly transforming into indignation.
She glared fiercely at Caelan on stage, her expression promising future retribution for this public calling-out. Several people around her noticed her reaction and started whispering, clearly trying to figure out if she was the person mentioned in the post.
Caelan, blissfully unaware of the death stare being directed at him from the audience, took his time drinking some water. He'd been talking for quite a while now, and his throat was getting dry. The cool liquid helped, and he used the break to gauge the crowd's attention level.
When he felt the timing was right, he leisurely walked back to the console, manipulated the mouse to exit the Game Forum, and moved the pointer to hover over the "Spacetime Communication" icon. With a decisive double-click, a new interface instantly appeared on screen.
The design was simple, clean, and immediately reminiscent of early instant messaging programs from his previous life. A penguin-like aesthetic, though he'd been careful to avoid any direct trademark issues. The interface showed a friends list, a chat window, status indicators, and group chat options.
Caelan's expression became more serious, more formal. This was the feature he was most excited about demonstrating.
"Next," he said, his voice carrying a note of barely suppressed pride, "I will solemnly introduce 'Spacetime Communication' to everyone."
He paused for effect, making sure every eye was on him.
"Spacetime Communication represents a completely new type of communication method. It can break through the inherent limitations of traditional written correspondence—the slow transmission times, the delays, the uncertainty. It transforms communication into something instant, immediate, real-time."
He'd delivered those sentences with what he thought was impressive gravitas, but looking at the audience's faces, he saw only collective confusion. Blank stares, furrowed brows, heads tilted in puzzlement.
Caelan inwardly groaned. My public speaking skills still need serious work. I'm explaining this like a technical manual instead of making it exciting and accessible.
His mind raced, searching for a better way to convey the revolutionary nature of what he'd created. Then inspiration struck—a simple, concrete example.
"Let me put it this way," he said, starting over with a more conversational tone. "Imagine you're here in the Moonwatch Empire, and your friend is thousands of miles away in the Dragonspire Empire. Both of you have consoles with Spacetime Communication open. If you write a message here and send it to your friend, they will receive it within one second. One second—regardless of the distance, regardless of the terrain, regardless of any barriers between you. Instant communication across continental distances."
"Whoa!"
The collective exclamation erupted from the crowd like a physical force. Understanding had finally dawned, and with it came shock, excitement, and a cascade of immediate questions shouted from various directions.
"That's impossible!"
"How does it work?"
"What about magical interference?"
"Can it really—?"
Caelan had been prepared for this reaction. He'd long known that Spacetime Communication would be the most shocking feature, even with the runestone radio having paved the way for long-distance magical communication. But he'd thought—hoped—that the radio's existence would make this revelation less jarring.
Apparently, he'd underestimated how revolutionary two-way instant communication would seem.
"Caelan!" A familiar voice cut through the general commotion. "Are you telling the truth?"
Cassius had suddenly leaned over the edge of the stage, his usual composed demeanor cracking to reveal genuine anxiety beneath. Caelan glanced at him and noticed that Nicole was standing close beside him, her hand resting lightly on his arm. Victor sat not far away, maintaining a careful, diplomatic distance from the couple—far enough to give them space, close enough to remain part of their group.
Caelan smiled, understanding exactly why Cassius looked so intensely interested. "Of course it's true. This means you and Nicole can chat anytime you want, regardless of where either of you happens to be. No more waiting days for letters. No more wondering if your messages even arrived."
Cassius's expression shifted rapidly—joy at the personal implications, then concern, then something approaching worry. "Of course I'm thrilled about that possibility, but Caelan... with you creating something like this, I'm genuinely afraid you're going to become extremely famous. Perhaps more famous than is safe."
Caelan shrugged with practiced nonchalance, though internally he appreciated his friend's concern. "Not necessarily. The runestone radio can also receive news across unlimited distances, can't it? People have already accepted that technology."
"That's completely different," Cassius said, his tone almost exasperated. "The radio is one-way communication—you receive broadcasts, you can't respond. Yours is two-way, interactive, personal. And I have a very strong premonition that your system is far more powerful and versatile than the radio could ever be."
Caelan didn't have a good response to that, so he simply continued with the demonstration.
Throughout the hall, those with discerning business minds had already made their decisions. The gaming features alone would have been interesting, worth investigating. But this Spacetime Communication function? This changed everything. Just for this feature alone, they would definitely purchase consoles—multiple consoles. The business applications were staggering.
Caelan proceeded to demonstrate the specific operations of Spacetime Communication. He showed how to add friends using their account numbers, how to compose and send messages, how to see when someone was typing a response. He demonstrated the status indicators—online, away, busy, offline. He showcased the chat history function that stored previous conversations.
Then he revealed the group chat feature, which drew another round of excited exclamations. The ability to coordinate with multiple people simultaneously, to have real-time conversations with entire teams or families—the implications were immediately obvious to everyone watching.
Using the messaging demonstration as a natural transition, Caelan also properly introduced the keyboard component he'd been largely ignoring until now.
"The common language characters used across our continent are primarily composed of approximately eighty distinct symbols," he explained, gesturing to the keyboard's layout. "I've arranged them on this keyboard for text input. The forty most commonly used characters are set as the default keys, while less frequently used symbols can be accessed by pressing this 'toggle' key—similar to switching between cases in handwriting."
He demonstrated, his fingers moving across the keys with practiced ease. Letters appeared on screen, forming words, then sentences. "If you become familiar with the layout and build up muscle memory, the typing speed can actually become quite impressive—possibly even faster than handwriting for extended compositions."
Several people in the audience were already mentally calculating how quickly they could learn to type. The merchants, in particular, were envisioning business correspondence, contract negotiations, order processing—all conducted at unprecedented speed.
"Now," Caelan said, preparing for the next major revelation, "let me introduce the Elite Edition console—the version designed for broader civilian purchase."
He gestured, and one of his assistants brought out a smaller console unit. This one measured roughly thirty by forty by fifteen centimeters—noticeably more compact than the Supreme Edition, more portable, less imposing.
"Its basic usage is similar to the Supreme Edition," Caelan explained, "but there are several important differences you should be aware of. First, transmission speed—both for downloads and for Spacetime Communication—will be significantly slower than the Supreme Edition. This difference will become much more noticeable over greater distances and with larger data transfers."
He touched the Elite Edition's surface. "Second, the Elite Edition is not locked to a single individual through facial recognition. Instead, it requires you to login with your account credentials and password each time you power it on. After login, it will perform a facial recognition scan to confirm you are an authorized user of that account, but multiple people can potentially share a single console if they all have proper account access."
"This makes the Elite Edition more suitable for families, businesses, or shared spaces," Caelan continued, "while the Supreme Edition is designed for individuals who want absolute privacy and security."
The audience nodded, following along. The tier system made sense—premium features for premium price, basic functionality at accessible cost.
"Which brings us," Caelan said, taking a subtle breath, "to pricing."
The hall went very, very quiet.
Caelan projected the pricing information onto the wall behind him in large, clear text:
Exclusive Version for Tycoons: Supreme Console
Price: 200 gold crowns
(Includes all eleven current games, plus automatic access to future releases)
Version Barely Affordable for Civilians: Elite Console
Price: 10 gold crowns
(After account creation, choose any three games except Super Street Fighter)
The silence lasted approximately three seconds.
Then chaos erupted.
"Two hundred gold crowns?!"
"That's more than most people earn in five years!"
"Ten gold crowns for the basic version—that's still expensive!"
"The Supreme Edition comes with all the games though—"
"But who can afford two hundred?!"
Caelan had expected this reaction. He'd agonized over the pricing for days, running calculations, consulting with Victor and Cassius, losing sleep over the balance between profit and accessibility.
The Supreme Edition's actual production cost was only about five gold crowns—expensive materials, yes, but not outrageously so. Caelan felt absolutely no moral qualms about charging wealthy tycoons forty times the production cost. They could afford it, they'd still buy it, and he needed the capital for expansion.
But the Elite Edition... that was trickier.
The average monthly salary for most low-level workers was currently around 1.5 gold crowns. Ten gold crowns represented nearly seven months of wages for a common laborer. That wasn't exactly "barely affordable for civilians" no matter how he labeled it.
But what choice do I have? Caelan thought, maintaining his calm expression despite internal turmoil. Even with workers helping me manufacture these, daily output barely reaches a thousand units. The Supreme Edition takes even longer. If I price the Elite Edition too low, demand will completely overwhelm my production capacity, and I'll spend all my time fulfilling orders instead of developing new content.
Besides, he added mentally, I have no idea how much merchants will mark these up when they resell them in other regions. If I need these merchants to help distribute consoles across the continent, I can't restrict them too severely. And honestly, there's no practical way to enforce price controls anyway.
While Caelan was still lost in these justifications, the merchants below the stage had recovered from their initial shock and were already clamoring to place orders. Voices overlapped in a cacophony of bids and requests.
"I'll take fifty Elite Editions!"
"Can I reserve five Supreme Editions?"
"What's the bulk discount rate?"
"Do you have payment plans?"
Caelan's mind palace activated automatically, his consciousness expanding to encompass the entire venue. In seconds, he'd counted and catalogued every merchant present, cross-referenced them with his customer database, calculated optimal distribution, and arrived at a strategy.
He raised his hand for silence, and the hall gradually quieted.
"Due to limited inventory and production constraints," Caelan announced, "I'm implementing purchase limits for this initial release."
Groans and protests erupted immediately, but Caelan pushed through them.
"On-site merchants are limited to one Supreme Edition console per person, and twenty Elite Edition consoles per person."
The groans transformed into outright uproar.
"One Supreme Edition? That's all?"
"Twenty Elite Editions won't even cover my regional demand!"
"I traveled thousands of miles for this—those limits won't even cover the teleportation fees!"
"This is unacceptable!"
Merchants were standing now, gesturing emphatically, voices rising in volume and indignation. Several were calculating out loud, demonstrating how the purchase limits would result in net losses after travel expenses.
Caelan maintained his position, expression sympathetic but firm. He let them vent for a few minutes—sometimes people just needed to complain—then raised his hand again.
"I understand your concerns," he said, projecting calm reasonableness. "Believe me, I want to sell you more units. But the inventory is genuinely limited."
He gestured toward the back storage area. "If you don't believe me, I'm happy to show you the actual stock. I'm not artificially creating scarcity for manipulation—this is the real production capacity limit."
Several merchants demanded to see the inventory. Caelan obliged, having Jaren escort a small delegation to verify the count. They returned looking resigned but less angry—the numbers backed up his claims.
After extensive back-and-forth, with various merchants proposing compromises and Caelan calculating on the fly, they reached a revised agreement:
Revised Purchase Limits:
Two Supreme Edition consoles per merchant
One hundred Elite Edition consoles per merchant
"That's my final offer," Caelan said firmly. "Those limits ensure fair distribution while respecting my production constraints. Take it or leave it."
The merchants grumbled but ultimately accepted. One hundred Elite Editions represented significant profit potential even after markup, and two Supreme Editions were valuable luxury items that could be sold to the wealthiest customers in any region.
Caelan absolutely refused to budge on the base prices themselves. That was non-negotiable. As for what prices the merchants could sell them for in their home territories—well, that was their own business. Free market economics. If someone wanted to buy an Elite Edition for fifteen gold crowns in the Shattered Lands, that was between them and the merchant.
Some enterprising merchants tried to find loopholes in the purchase limits. Could they have their assistants purchase additional units under different names? Could they register multiple business entities to multiply their allocation?
But Caelan had anticipated this. Using his Mind Palace's perfect memory, he had catalogued every merchant, their assistants, their business representatives, even their bodyguards and family members who'd accompanied them. He projected a comprehensive table onto the wall—a list of every person associated with each merchant entity.
"These are the individuals I've identified as being part of your respective organizations," Caelan said, his tone pleasant but unyielding. "Only one purchase allocation per merchant group. No proxy purchases. No splitting entities to game the system. I have perfect recall of everyone in this room and their affiliations."
The merchants who'd been planning exactly such schemes deflated visibly. Several actually looked impressed despite their disappointment—that level of memory and organization was genuinely remarkable.
With the rules clearly established and loopholes closed, the actual business could proceed.
"Ella, Jaren," Caelan called to his staff, "you're responsible for coordinating with the merchants' representatives for order processing and payment collection. Make sure everything is documented properly."
He then turned to his friends. "Victor, Cassius, Nicole—could you come with me to my office for a moment? I have something for you."
The three exchanged curious glances but followed him away from the chaos of the merchant negotiations. They wound through the warehouse, past the production areas, into Caelan's private office space.
The moment they entered, Caelan gestured toward his desk with an almost theatrical flourish.
"As my friends," he said, grinning, "don't say I don't take care of you."
Four large cubic runestones sat arranged on the desk, each significantly larger than even the Supreme Edition units. These measured sixty by ninety by thirty centimeters—true behemoths of magical engineering.
The three visitors stared at the massive consoles, clearly trying to process what they were seeing.
"These are..." Nicole started hesitantly, her voice trailing off as she tried to calculate what such large units might cost.
"These are what I specially made for you," Caelan said warmly. "Call them friendship editions of the console—custom builds with enhanced capabilities beyond even the Supreme Edition. Better processing power, faster transmission speeds, larger storage capacity. The best I can currently create."
Cassius and Victor exchanged meaningful glances, some unspoken communication passing between the cousins. After a moment, Cassius spoke carefully.
"Won't they be too valuable? I mean, these must have cost..."
He trailed off, clearly uncomfortable with the implication.
It wasn't that Cassius considered a few hundred gold crowns—or even significantly more—to be unaffordable. House Everflame had substantial wealth, and his personal allowance alone could cover extreme expenses. Victor's family was similarly well-off.
But that wasn't the point.
"We've only known each other for about a month," Cassius continued, his voice sincere. "And while I genuinely consider you a close friend now—one of my best friends, honestly—receiving such valuable gifts so soon feels... excessive? I don't want you to think I'm taking advantage of our friendship for material gain."
Victor nodded in agreement, his usual playful demeanor replaced by similar seriousness.
Caelan appreciated the sentiment, truly. But he'd anticipated this reaction and had his response ready.
He leaned closer to them, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "The actual production cost isn't as astronomical as you're thinking. Yes, the materials are expensive, but remember—I make these myself using my abilities. There's no retail markup, no middleman costs, no labor expenses beyond my own time. And frankly, your friendship, your support, your early belief in my games—that's worth far more to me than the material cost of these consoles."
He straightened up, speaking at normal volume again. "Besides, consider it an investment in my social life. I need friends who can actually test my features, give me feedback, help me understand how real users interact with the technology. You're not just receiving gifts—you're becoming my most important beta testers."
And, he added silently, having the heirs of two powerful houses openly using and endorsing my technology is worth more in social proof and publicity than any amount of gold I could spend on advertising.
Cassius and Victor visibly relaxed, the explanation providing them with a framework to accept the generous gifts without feeling indebted.
"Alright then," Cassius said, a smile returning to his face. "We gratefully accept."
Victor was already examining the consoles more closely, his fingers tracing over the smooth surfaces. "So there's one for each of us four, right? You, me, Cassius, and Nicole?"
Caelan shook his head, grinning. "Not including me. I can conjure game interfaces anytime I want and don't need dedicated hardware. These are for you, Cassius, Nicole, and..." He paused meaningfully, looking at Victor with a knowing expression. "Your future girlfriend. Whoever she turns out to be."
Cassius and Nicole both laughed at that, the tension completely dissipating into warm camaraderie.
Victor laughed too, but his grin turned mischievous. "Then you've made a critical error in your calculations, my friend."
"How so?"
"You've given me far too few." Victor's grin widened. "I'll definitely have more than one future girlfriend. I'm going to need at least a dozen of these friendship edition consoles."
Caelan grabbed a small cushion from his desk chair and threw it at Victor's head.
The room filled with laughter, and outside, the sounds of successful business negotiations filtered through the walls.
It had been a very, very good day.