Chapter 115: Superb

A week and a half had passed since the gang had graduated from high school.

At the same time, they were just a couple days away from releasing [Gothic Survivors] which they’d decided to price at $4.99 as well.

Considering they were launching on both mobile and PC day one, they figured they might as well stick to their prior price point given the endless replayability the game was set to have.

Having uploaded the single one-minute gameplay trailer he’d also made, it was safe to say that they had an healthy amount of people excitedly waiting for the game to launch.

Roughly 350K+ in wishlists... which if they were to go by the standard 10% to 20% conversion rate, then that meant about 35K to 70K players on day one.

That, was honestly a staggering number for a game they literally built in a week and had only just begun marketing a week ago as well.

It also helped that their previous track record did a whole lot to sell people on the premise, especially when they realized it was literally an expanded concept of the roguelite element from [Crashout: Sin City].

Then there were the army of gooners... most of whom had promptly wishlisted the game after the character arts Aiden illustrated had begun making their rounds on TweetTalk and had started going viral.

Safe to say, there was a very high possibility they would surpass the standard wishlist to player conversion rate by at least 5% to 10%.

Shaking his head in genuine concern as he stumbled upon yet another thread that was discussing ’assets’ of Banshee Wail, Aiden soon tapped his power button and pocketed the phone whilst muttering to himself;

"Yep. That’s enough internet for today,"

’And it’s only 8am in the morning. Fantastic.’ he thought to himself with a resigned sigh.

Grabbing his laptop from his desk, Aiden casually made his way out the room and walked down the stairs with a light, relaxed hum.

As Aiden was the only one at home--his Pops having gone to work earlier on--the house was quieter than usual.

Not that he minded.

There were still two very annoying bugs that he and Theo needed to work out in [Gothic Survivors], both of which they’d promptly decided to divide and conquer today.

Settling into the main couch, his head propped on the armrest, Aiden got down to work as his focus snapped into place.

Just as he was working through a particularly frustrating line of code, the doorbell rang, pulling the youth out of the zone.

Yet, Aiden wasn’t the least bit annoyed by it.

He had been waiting for the package to arrive since he’d been informed yestermorning afterall.

Upon opening the door, speaking to the delivery man, thanking him and signing off the package, Aiden looked notably giddy as he carried it into the kitchen and set it on the center slab.

Seated in the box were a nine early samples of all of his formulated drinks (three for each flavor), all of which he’d sent to SlurpPAK roughly two and a half weeks ago.

It then went without saying that Aiden was stoked to assess what the new gradings were after it had been produced industrially as opposed to his homemade givings.

-

› {Pineapple-Mint Coconut-infused Sparkling Water}

Created by Aiden North and refined by SlurpPAK, this lightly sweet, tropical sparkling water is built around a...

└ Quality: Superb.

-

Aiden’s eyes seemed like they would pop from its sockets when his eyes skimmed past the details and landed on the new grading.

"Holy...!" he exclaimed in clear disbelief, his expression stunned to no ends!

Given he’d assumed that ’Excellent’ was the top grading his {Insight} could confer, Aiden had never actually got around to utilizing his ⸢FAQ⸥ to confirm it.

Now that he was seeing this though, he honestly didn’t think twice before he sought out the information for clarification.

-

What is the grading system of the {Insight} skill?

└ Bad. Okay. Good. Very Good. Great. Excellent. Superb.

-

No sooner had Aiden seen that, he nodded to himself in satisfaction.

’Wait a minute...?’ Aiden suddenly frowned, his brows furrowing.

’If ’Superb’ was the highest possible grading, why then did {Midas Touch} only--’ the youth suddenly cut himself off in realization as he muttered;

’Oh... it always said; Potential Quality... not the Highest Quality...’

’Which means it only gave me, personally, a suggestive connotation of what it could become...’ Aiden’s thoughts continued as things clicked into place for him.

Considering Aiden had sent all the suggestions that {Midas Touch} had given him over to SlurpPak as well, it then meant that they didn’t just replicate Aiden’s formula and suggestions and called it a day, but actually improved upon it.

It was also why the youth was currently bobbing his head softly, clearly impressed by their work.

’Explains why Stellar Enterprises wanted them too.’ he thoughtfully added.

Brushing aside his thoughts, Aiden then began assessing the rest of the samples, his grin widening with each assessment.

-

› {Watermelon-Lime Coconut-infused Sparkling Water}

A clean and refreshing coconut-water sparkling drink infused with the delicate sweetness of ripe watermelon and the bright tartness of fresh lime created by Aiden North and refined by SlurpPAK, the naturally mild coconut base gives...

└ Quality: Superb.

-

› {Cucumber-Lime Coconut-infused Sparkling Water}

A crisp and sophisticated coconut-water sparkling drink made by Aiden North and refined by SlurpPAK, this mixture is infused with cucumber and lime, with the subtle sweetness and smoothness of the coconut base balancing the...

└ Quality: Superb.

-

Upon ensuring that all nine samples were of the same grade, Aiden retrieved his phone, then called up Nathan to give SlurpPAK a thumbs-up on a job well done and also to give them the go-ahead to mass produce all 25,000+ bottles.

Dropping the call immediately after, Aiden then rubbed his palms together in excitement whilst muttering to himself;

"Alright. I’d best get to it as well."

*

(Three days later...)

Today happened to be a Saturday, yet Aiden and his Pops were headed out quite early instead of chilling at home like lazy cats.

Keys twirling using a finger, Richard walked out of his room and into the corridor as he declared with a relaxed air;

"Alright, Champ. Let’s head out."

"Sure thing, Pops." Aiden replied, grabbing the handle of the cooler he’d formerly placed on the kitchen slab.

A second after, he and his Pops were out the door and the youth set the cooler down on the floor of the car’s backseat.

Slipping into the passenger’s seat afterwards, Richard ignited the engine and they promptly began their drive into the city.

With Death Wish turning out far better than he could have anticipated, the youth had decided to begin marketing it as early as he could and well ahead of its eventual launch.

Still, Aiden didn’t intend to go overboard at the moment.

All he just wanted to do, was spread the word around to the locals and get it in as many hands as he could.

It was also why, despite having two solid establishments and one potential one in mind where he planned to market his product, he still went ahead and contacted all the establishments around that could use a product like his on their shelves.

Naturally, Aiden received far more ’No’s’ than he did ’Yes’’.

But for the few establishments that did give him the floor and the opportunity to pitch his product, those were whom he and his Pops were venturing out to meet with today.

And though they were only five out of all the twenty-something that the youth reached out to, Aiden knew for a fact that when he finally kicked his main marketing campaign into motion, they would be amongst the first to come running back.

Unfortunately for them, he would have long held all the cards in his hands by then and there would be no more room for flexible negotiations.

Upon arrival at the first location, which happened to be the closest supermarket, Aiden and his Pops promptly met with the manager in charge and got down to discussing things.

Though the man had seemed skeptical at first--especially with the weird naming of the product, it really didn’t take long for his entire approach to flip when he had a taste of the product.

Within minutes, things were finalized and the man promised he’d have an order placed down for at least a thousand bottles when the product finally launched.

Granted promises were all Aiden could go off now and one thousand bottles in orders were rather small in comparison to the total number of bottles he planned for his trial run, he really didn’t mind.

There was no way any sane manager would want to pass up on a fantastic beverage with an almost 50% to 60% gain retail gain. Besides, it was smart of the man to not want to overcommit as it was literally a new product set to land in the market in the coming weeks.

Nonetheless, Aiden appreciated him for giving him the time of the day and he and his Pops promptly made their way out and headed to the next establishment.

Once again, upon arrival at the gym this time, the same situation played out and he was promised he’d be allowed to stock their vending machines with his beverage.

Before long, Aiden and his Pops had hit every spot they’d intended, all of which was a repeat of what had happened at the supermarket. Skepticism first, the genuine interest afterwards.

Once they were done, they then finally made their way over to Haute Cuisine.

PS: Read notice below in Author’s Thoughts.