Chapter 13: The First Step Toward an Empire
Morning sunlight slowly filled the room as Anshul opened his eyes.
For a moment he simply stared at the ceiling, letting his mind wake up completely. The events of the past week replayed in his head one by one.
The World Theater.
The Limitless world.
NZT.
And the countless possibilities that now existed in front of him.
Sometimes it still felt unreal.
But when Anshul turned his head and looked toward the drawer beside his desk, the small transparent container inside reminded him that everything had truly happened.
Inside that container were several NZT pills.
The drug that had changed the direction of his life forever.
Anshul slowly sat up on the bed and stretched his arms.
Even though he had slept only a few hours, his mind felt extremely clear. The effects of NZT had faded long ago, but the habits he developed while using it remained. His thinking was sharper, more structured, and far more disciplined than before.
After getting dressed, he walked toward his desk and turned on his computer.
As the screen lit up, several windows opened automatically.
Financial charts.
Programming environments.
Documents filled with notes.
During the past few days, this room had practically turned into a small command center.
But just as he was about to start working, his phone began vibrating.
Anshul glanced at the screen.
Mom — Calling
He hesitated for a moment before answering.
"Hello?"
"Anshul, where are you?" his mother asked immediately.
"In my room."
"Your university called yesterday."
Anshul expected that.
"I know," he replied calmly.
"They said you haven't attended classes for several days. What exactly are you doing?"
Anshul leaned back in his chair and sighed quietly.
Ever since returning from the Limitless world, university lectures had felt almost unbearable. Listening to professors slowly explain basic concepts that he had already surpassed was simply a waste of time.
But explaining that to his parents would be impossible.
"I'm working on something important," he said.
"What kind of work?"
"A business project."
There was a short silence on the other side of the phone.
His parents were both lawyers, and in their eyes education was the safest and most respectable path.
Finally his mother spoke again.
"Just don't neglect your studies. Your father is already worried."
"I understand."
After the call ended, Anshul placed the phone on the desk and rubbed his temples.
This problem was unavoidable.
Because time moved synchronously across all active worlds, he couldn't simply disappear into other universes without consequences.
Days passing elsewhere meant days passing here as well.
His family would notice.
His university would notice.
And eventually they would demand answers.
But that was a problem for later.
For now, Anshul opened a document on his computer.
At the top of the page was a simple title.
Company Formation Plan
During the past several days he had carefully researched everything related to starting a company in India.
Corporate registration procedures.
Startup tax benefits.
Technology grants.
Investment networks.
Normally studying all of this would take months.
But Anshul had completed it in only a few days.
His fingers moved quickly across the keyboard as he finalized the last section of the document.
Company Name:
After a moment of thought, he typed two simple words.
Giri Technologies
Anshul stared at the name quietly.
It wasn't flashy.
But it represented something important.
This company would become the foundation of everything he planned to build.
Not just in this world.
But across multiple worlds.
He opened the official registration website and began filling out the final form.
Name.
Address.
Business category.
Founder information.
After double-checking everything carefully, he clicked the final button.
Submit Application
A confirmation message appeared immediately.
Application Received. Processing Time: 2–3 Days.
Anshul leaned back in his chair and smiled faintly.
The first step had been taken.
He closed the registration page and opened the World Theater interface.
The familiar translucent screen appeared in front of him.
Traveler Level: 1
Current World: Origin World
Limitless — 19%
The story progress had increased slightly.
That meant time in the Limitless world was still moving forward.
Anshul crossed his arms thoughtfully.
If the timeline followed the original movie, Eddie Morra had probably already taken NZT.
Soon he would begin dominating the stock market.
Eventually he would even gain control of the company responsible for producing the drug.
And when that happened…
The perfected version of NZT would appear.
A version without side effects.
For Anshul, that was the most valuable thing in that world.
Until then, he would simply observe.
He closed the interface and opened another window on his computer.
Lines of code began filling the screen.
This was the early version of his AI assistant program.
Right now the system was still very simple.
Its main function was gathering data from public sources across the internet.
Financial market information.
Technology news.
Startup funding announcements.
Global economic reports.
All of it flowed into the system automatically.
But Anshul's plans for this program were far bigger.
Eventually it would evolve into something far more powerful.
A digital intelligence capable of analyzing enormous amounts of data.
Monitoring multiple worlds.
And helping him manage his growing empire.
For the next several hours, Anshul focused completely on coding.
The room remained quiet except for the sound of the keyboard.
Occasionally he paused to analyze financial charts or adjust parts of the algorithm.
By the time he finally leaned back in his chair again, the sun outside was already beginning to set.
The streets of Pune were slowly filling with evening traffic.
Anshul stood up and walked toward the window.
From here he could see people returning home from work, motorcycles weaving through traffic, and street vendors preparing food for the evening crowds.
Everything looked ordinary.
Yet Anshul knew that his future would be anything but ordinary.
Because somewhere beyond this world existed countless others.
Worlds filled with technology.
Magic.
Resources.
And opportunities.
All waiting inside the endless library of the World Theater.
Anshul smiled slightly.
Today he had taken the first step.
And someday soon, Giri Technologies would grow into something far larger than anyone could imagine.
An empire that existed not in one world—
but across many.