Chapter 12 Returning Home
Night slowly settled over New York.
The lights of the city shone brightly between the towering buildings, creating a sea of glowing windows across the skyline. Traffic moved endlessly through the streets below while distant sirens occasionally echoed through the air.
Inside the small apartment he had rented, Anshul sat quietly in front of his laptop.
Several charts were displayed on the screen.
Numbers shifted constantly as the financial market updated in real time.
Over the past week, the small investments he had placed earlier had grown steadily.
The profits were not enormous yet.
But they were consistent.
That was the important part.
With NZT enhancing his brain and his early AI program collecting data, predicting short-term trends had become surprisingly reliable.
Anshul leaned back in his chair and closed the trading window.
Money was important.
But at this stage, it was not his main focus.
His real advantage was knowledge.
And knowledge could be used in many worlds.
He opened the World Theater interface again.
Traveler Level: 1
Current World: Limitless
Story Progress: 15%
The number had increased significantly.
Which meant the story of this world was moving forward quickly now.
If everything followed the original plot of the movie, Eddie Morra had probably already taken NZT.
Soon he would begin rising rapidly in the financial world.
Anshul watched the number for a few seconds before closing the interface.
There was no reason to stay here and wait.
One of the most important rules he had discovered about the system was simple.
He could leave any world whenever he wanted.
He did not need to remain here until the story finished.
The timeline of the world would continue even without him.
Which meant he could focus on something else.
His original world.
Anshul stood up and walked toward the window.
The city lights reflected faintly in the glass.
For a moment he remained silent.
His thoughts drifted back to home.
Pune.
His family.
Both of his parents worked as lawyers.
His grandparents lived with them as well.
A large joint family.
Compared to the chaos of New York, the memory felt strangely peaceful.
But more importantly, his original world offered something the movie worlds did not.
Freedom to build something permanent.
If he created a company there, it would not disappear when a movie story ended.
It could grow.
Expand.
Become stronger over time.
And with the knowledge he was gaining from multiple worlds, that company could eventually become extremely powerful.
Artificial intelligence.
Financial systems.
Advanced research.
All of it could begin in his home world.
Anshul opened his backpack and checked the containers again.
The NZT pills were still there.
Carefully stored.
These alone were enough to change the future of an entire industry.
He closed the bag and returned to the desk.
The laptop screen displayed his unfinished AI program.
During the past week he had already built the foundation.
Data collection.
Market monitoring.
Information analysis.
But it was still very basic.
He would need much more time to turn it into a true digital assistant.
Still, the progress was encouraging.
Anshul typed a few commands and saved the latest version of the program.
Then he shut down the laptop.
For the first time since arriving in this world, he was ready to leave.
He opened the World Theater interface again.
The list of worlds appeared instantly.
Limitless — 15%
The Princess Diary — 0%
Princess Diary: Royal Engagement — 0%
Ella the Enchanted — 0%
Monte Carlo Journey — 0%
The Fashion Intern — 0%
Catch Me If You Dare — 0%
Money Game — 0%
Social Network Era — 0%
Elysium — 0% (Abnormal)
Anshul scrolled briefly through the endless library of worlds.
Countless stories waited there.
But tonight he was not choosing another movie.
Instead, he selected a different option.
Return to Origin World.
The moment he confirmed the command, the room around him began to distort slightly.
The familiar sensation of world transition appeared again.
For a brief moment, everything turned white.
Then the environment changed.
The next second, Anshul was standing inside his own room.
The quiet apartment in Pune looked exactly the same as he remembered.
His desk.
His bed.
The familiar bookshelves.
Even the faint sound of traffic from the street outside was unchanged.
It was as if he had never left.
Anshul checked the time on his phone and nodded slightly. A full week had passed in his original world as well. The World Theater synchronized time between all active worlds, meaning that every moment he spent in another universe was also passing here.
Anshul sat down at his desk and turned on his computer.
The screen lit up slowly.
The familiar interface of his home system appeared.
He opened a blank document and began writing.
Company concept.
Artificial intelligence research.
Technology development.
Financial strategy.
The ideas flowed quickly.
NZT had not completely faded yet.
His mind continued producing plans faster than he could write them down.
If everything worked correctly, the company he built here could become the foundation of something far larger.
A technological empire connecting multiple worlds.
Anshul paused and looked out the window.
The night sky above Pune was calm.
Far beyond that sky existed countless other worlds inside the World Theater.
But for now, his focus was simple.
Build power.
Build resources.
Build the future.
And this time…
It would begin in his own world.