Chapter 50: Marketplace

"Holy... shit! Is this even real?"

Kyle stared at the screen, barely able to believe the number of views displayed in front of him.

"Seven hundred and fifty thousand plus... I’m fucking famous for God’s sake!"

His eyes remained glued to the number.

It was his first full tape, and somehow, it had managed to gather an absurd number of views in less than a week. When he had first uploaded it, Kyle hadn’t expected anything remotely close to this. He had checked its performance obsessively during the first two days, only to find that it had barely crossed a few thousand views.

At the time, he had assumed that was probably where its growth would stop.

Apparently, he had been completely wrong.

The video was now sitting at more than 750,000 views, and it hadn’t even been a full week since its release. At the rate it was climbing, reaching a million didn’t seem like some distant fantasy anymore.

It was getting closer to one million than it was to five hundred thousand.

"Fuck..."

Kyle’s eyes suddenly widened.

"I need to upload the other parts of the tape too. I fucking forgot about that!"

He had completely forgotten that he still had three more tapes waiting to be uploaded.

Now that he had seen the numbers, there was no way he was going to let the momentum die.

"There goes the second video..."

Kyle quickly uploaded the second part.

He was practically convinced that it would perform even better than the first.

The first video had already attracted an enormous amount of attention, and from what he had seen in the comments and discussions surrounding it, people seemed particularly fascinated by how authentic everything looked. The amateur actors, the natural chemistry, and the lack of the overly artificial feeling common in professionally produced material had apparently become a major attraction.

Kyle scrolled through some of the comments, watching the numbers climb as more people reacted to the video.

"Look at these comments..."

He couldn’t help grinning.

The attention wasn’t coming exclusively from men either.

There were plenty of women in the comments expressing their attraction toward him, and seeing those comments gave Kyle an almost ridiculous sense of satisfaction.

Of course, there were also plenty of men talking about Stacy.

Kyle’s smile immediately disappeared whenever he saw those.

"These fuckers..."

He frowned at a particularly enthusiastic comment about her.

He knew there was nothing he could do about people finding her attractive. That was the entire point of putting the video online in the first place.

Still, seeing strangers openly lusting after Stacy rubbed him the wrong way.

Then he noticed another comment from a woman talking about him.

His mood immediately improved.

Kyle couldn’t help chuckling.

"Ladies... I only got one dick, but it’s for all."

He shook his head at his own stupidity.

The thought alone made him laugh.

’I’m really getting way too full of myself.’

Still, there was something strangely satisfying about knowing that people were actually attracted to him.

For most of his life, Kyle had never exactly considered himself someone women would fight over. Yet now he was sitting in his apartment reading comments from complete strangers who were openly expressing interest in him.

His ego was definitely receiving a dangerous amount of nourishment.

"These fuckers can only fantasize about her."

Kyle glanced at the comments from the men again and smirked.

"I’m the one actually with her."

He knew that was an immature thought, but he couldn’t help it.

The attention had gone straight to his head.

"This is definitely going to get me millions!"

Kyle firmly believed it.

The first video had already crossed 750,000 views in less than a week, and the second part contained considerably more material than the first. If the audience reacted to it the same way, he couldn’t see any reason why it wouldn’t cross a million views.

Maybe even several million.

He pressed the publish button.

The second video immediately went live.

Kyle leaned back with a satisfied smile.

"Now we wait for the money to roll in."

Before he could even continue browsing the comments, however, another system notification suddenly appeared directly in front of him.

[User, the Marketplace has been successfully upgraded!]

Kyle’s attention immediately shifted.

"Oh?"

He had almost forgotten about the marketplace upgrade.

He sat upright and opened it.

"Let’s see what you’ve got for me now."

The marketplace interface appeared before him.

Instead of immediately showing him the products, however, the system displayed a feature overview.

[User, you have successfully upgraded your Marketplace to Level 1.]

[The following features have been unlocked:]

[1. Trade]

[Description: You can now trade with other sellers instead of directly purchasing an item. You may exchange different types of items as long as both parties agree to the transaction. A fixed transaction fee of 1% will apply to every trade.]

Kyle raised an eyebrow.

"Not bad."

Being able to trade rather than simply buy things could prove useful, especially if he eventually obtained rare items that other sellers desperately wanted.

He continued reading.

[2. Rent / EMI]

[Description: You can now rent items from sellers or purchase certain items through installment payments. Failure to make an EMI payment will result in penalties. If a rented item is damaged or destroyed, the User will be responsible for the associated costs and any additional penalties that may apply.]

Kyle’s eyebrows rose again.

"EMI?"

He stared at the feature.

"Even the system has fucking installments?"

The idea was almost hilarious.

Apparently, capitalism existed across dimensions.

At least he wouldn’t have to immediately spend a fortune on something if the marketplace allowed him to pay for it over time.

Kyle continued downward.

[3. Sell — Locked]

[Description: You may now sell items through the Marketplace. Almost any item may be listed for sale. However, a minimum liquid balance of 10,000 System Points must be maintained to activate the Seller function. This reserve exists to cover refunds, disputes, and potential fraudulent transactions.]

Kyle’s excitement immediately became complicated.

"Ten thousand?"

He stared at the requirement.

"Ten fucking thousand System Points?"

He currently had only 1,766 remaining after spending 250 on the upgrade.

That meant he was still nowhere near the requirement.

"I wonder how the hell I’m supposed to earn 10,000 SP."

Kyle scratched his chin.

"That’s still a lot for me right now."

The thought of becoming a seller did interest him, though.

If he could sell things through the system marketplace, there was a chance he could eventually turn some of Earth’s resources into System Points.

But then another problem occurred to him.

"What would I even sell?"

Kyle looked around his apartment.

"Earth doesn’t exactly have anything interesting."

Compared with magical artifacts, supernatural resources, advanced technology, cultivation techniques, and whatever other absurd things might exist across countless worlds, ordinary Earth products didn’t sound particularly valuable.

Unless...

Kyle’s eyes narrowed.

’Maybe something that’s common here could be incredibly valuable somewhere else.’

The thought was worth remembering.

But that was a problem for later.

He moved on to the final feature.

[4. Level 1 Marketplace]

[Description: You can now access the Level 1 Marketplace. This marketplace contains products from multiple sellers across different worlds and dimensions.]

Kyle’s eyes immediately lit up.

"Now we’re talking."