I spent the next few days experimenting with my new ability. Luckily for me, I had a normal lycanthropy, or I don't know how much use I would have gotten out of turning into a full wolf. The full transformation made me a pretty canonical werewolf: wolf face, claws on my hands, more sprint-friendly paws, and almost human proportions. In general, I couldn't hold a gun in combat with these hands, but it was easy to tear my body apart - even Kevlar wouldn't protect me - though I had to use acceleration to do it. Fortunately, after a few dozen failed attempts, I managed to enter an intermediate form. I don't change much in it: the transformations are reminiscent of the Wolfman series, but I only get a 10% increase in abilities. Among the frustrating things is the lowering of intelligence in full form: transformed and ten points say bye-bye.
The playlist, on the other hand, has been a treasure trove of riches and my spiritual happiness. In addition to music, it also happened to contain copies of audiobooks, so for two days now I've been recording The Fellowship of the Ring. And it's only now that I realise why I've been given time acceleration. And no, not for battles, as you might think, but so that I wouldn't have to sit through the entire plot of the KVM at a keyboard, transcribing the books from dictation.
Having finished writing down the now "my" masterpiece, I headed off to a medium-sized publisher, Red Book. No, I had considered going to the big companies like the Pengu Group, but knowing how they work, I could only get a pittance, and their contract doesn't allow me to see more than 10% of sales. So I'm sitting in front of their representative right now, discussing the terms of my printing.
«Mr Pearce, I want to say that we really like your story and we are prepared to give you a contract for 100,000 copies.
«I understand your concerns about the novelty, but let's talk about a larger print run.
«How many are you proposing?
«I think we can start with 700,000 copies.
He choked on his coffee when he heard my suggestion.
«Mr Pierce, you don't seem to understand how things work. No publisher will publish a book by an unknown writer in that quantity. Do you have any idea the financial loss to us if they don't buy it? I think you need to curb your appetite and the maximum you can get is 300,000 copies.
«All right. (chuckles) Then take a look at the contract I prepared. It said 500,000 copies and that I would pay for the cost of printing each unsold book six months after it went on sale, and you would give me 30 per cent of the profits from the first print run, and if you had to run more than 1,000,000 copies of my book in the year after the agreed period, then my percentage would remain the same for each print run. There was also a stipulation that if you agree to the terms of this agreement, the next book that continues the story will be printed by you as well.
«I need to discuss your offer with my higher-ups.
«Please, I'm in no hurry. - You might ask: why did I include their receipt of the second part, because they, having tasted the candy, will want to take it for themselves and will definitely try to reduce my percentage in the contract for the second part, since I can't go to another publisher without paying them a hefty sum? But I'm willing to take that "risk" because of one simply unnamed word: "trilogy". Which part of the story do you think fans most actively run to buy? That's right! The finales. Those are the ones that garner peak sales, and I dream of seeing their faces when they find out it's a trilogy.
As I expected, they took me for a stuck-up rich kid who doesn't know where to put his money and thinks he's the new Ray Bradbury. He came out smiling as if I had announced that he had won the lottery. We quickly concluded the contract and said our goodbyes. It will be interesting to see what kind of smile he'll have when I come to contract for part two.
As a man who will soon start earning money for his trouble-free life on his own, I couldn't help but suffer from just sitting around in school. I noticed a long time ago that nothing new would be taught to me there, and after my intelligence jumped beyond 50 points, I was able to operate more easily with what I learnt and started clicking assignments 3 grades above me. That's why I decided to finish this useless pastime as an external student, and for this I just had to submit the necessary papers signed by my parents and be an excellent student for at least 3 years in a row. There were no problems with grades, and to be sure of passing the tests and talking to teachers, I sat down at the textbooks for the whole week in the accelerated mode.
My father, to my surprise, was even glad that I was such a genius who was skipping over the remaining grades and who only had an institute to go to, although my statement that I didn't want to enrol for another year and a half and was going to travel puzzled him, but he put it down to adolescence and the adventurousness of teenagers. Of course, I would be travelling with at least two bodyguards - that was his condition. I realised that my bodyguards would probably be Hydra, but I had to agree, because otherwise he wouldn't have signed it.
I was scheduled to start my inspections the following week. While I had some free time, I decided to quickly start a career as a composer, singer, and generally very talented plag... ahem... person. I decided to release a few singles first, although I already had an idea for an album that would make my dad happy, but more on that later.
You should have seen the faces in the studio! I could tell they were expecting some crap that would require smiling and waving my thumb to divert attention from the blood pouring out of my ears, but I thought I could surprise them. This body had a simply gorgeous voice, and by experimenting with tiny metamorphoses from addresses, I'd also learnt how to tune my bass.
«Well? What do you think, Penny? How bad is it gonna be tonight?
«Oh, come on, why would it be bad? If he agreed to a full-service, no-questions-asked price, he's a rich bum?
«Yeah, yeah, of course, because we've had rich talent come in all the previous times, or are you just defending him because he's handsome, huh?
«No! I mean, no, I just felt he had talent.
«If he's talented, I guess I'm the fairy godmother.
«Oh, come on.
«Okay, we're ready. You may begin on your marks.
Well, it's time for the world to hear some good music. Let's start with Legends Never Die.
Legends never die when the world is waiting for you.
You hear them, they're calling you.
Legends will not die, for they are a part of you,
In the hour of your pursuit of the great.
Survive tirelessly.
Hope is their friend,
When there's cold and fighting all around.
Hope is within.
They go into the smoke where the fire burns.
Cheer up, my friend, cheer up!
Legends don't die when the world is waiting for you.
Hear them calling you
Legends won't die when they're part of you,
In the hour of your pursuit of the great
The legends will not die!
Their names are in history,
♪ But you'll never see the scars ♪
That was the price they paid.
.....
.....
.....
When I finished, you could see the shock on their faces mixed with hope that it wasn't just luck with one song, but they were really lucky to have stumbled upon talent.
«Peenniiiii...
«Yeah?
«Order me a magic wand!
«...
«All right. Now give me the other one.
Lions Inside
If you leave me to my fate,
It's not in my nature to compromise.
This city's like a jungle
I must conquer it
Take my fear out of sight
♪ Destroy the fuss, for it's better to have all the rights ♪
In a game where the strong survive
Only the strong survive
These chains won't hold me,
They won't hold and they'll fall to the ground.
I can't tame these lions inside.
Power reigns as if
Thunder, ready for battle.
These lions inside,
These lions are inside.
.....
.....
.....
«And me.
My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)
♪ Be careful what you wish for in the dark ♪
You can't be sure when they'll hit the target,
♪ And besides, at the same time ♪
I'm dreaming of tearing you apart.
I'm in parts with the devil,
So that now the world will never be able
To get me on my level,
I'll just put you in a cage,
♪ And my youthful lover's rage ♪
Just needs a spark to ignite.
♪ My songs know what you did in the dark ♪
So set 'em on fire
Set 'em on fire
Set them on fire
I'm on fire
So set 'em on fire
¶ set 'em on fire ¶
¶ set them on fire ¶
I'm on fire
In the dark, in the dark
.....
.....
.....
«This guy is a godsend!
I left the studio in high spirits.
«Life is getting better.