Mario barely slept.
Not because he was nervous.
His mind simply refused to stop working.
He had made his decision the night before.
There was nothing left to debate.
Now…
It was time to make sure he hadn’t overlooked anything.
Morning sunlight seeped through the apartment window, illuminating the notebook still resting on the table.
The words he’d written the previous night were the first thing he saw after opening his eyes.
Yuuya.
Mario got out of bed, brewed himself a cup of instant coffee, then sat down in front of the notebook once again.
He wasn’t choosing a destination anymore.
That part was over.
Now he was planning an operation.
There was a world of difference.
He took a slow sip of coffee before speaking quietly to himself.
“The biggest mistake people make…”
“…is assuming Yuuya is the cheat.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
“He never was.”
The protagonist had merely been fortunate enough to inherit it.
The true treasure had always been hidden beneath the house.
The door.
A seemingly ordinary wooden door connecting modern Earth to an entirely different world.
Mario closed his eyes, replaying everything he remembered from the series.
Yuuya inherited his grandfather’s home.
After moving in, he eventually discovered a hidden basement.
Inside…
A single mysterious door.
Crossing it changed his life forever.
He obtained extraordinary abilities.
A magical home once owned by a legendary Sage.
Legendary equipment.
The ability to grow magical crops.
An Item Box capable of storing nearly anything.
An Appraisal Skill.
An Endurance Skill.
A cheat-like leveling system.
An Asset Function capable of converting treasures into real-world currency.
Most viewers remembered Yuuya becoming overpowered.
Mario remembered something else entirely.
“The house…”
“…is the real inheritance.”
Everything else came after.
Without the house…
There would’ve been no Yuuya Tenjou as readers knew him.
Mario placed his cup down.
“The R.O.B.
gave me one visit.”
His fingers lightly tapped the notebook.
“One visit.”
“I don’t intend to break that rule.”
A faint smile appeared.
“I’m simply going to make sure I never need a second one.”
He drew a rectangle on the paper.
Inside it, he wrote one word.
Door
Then another.
Earth
Beside it…
Fantasy World
A straight line connected both.
Mario stared at the simple sketch.
“The restriction belongs to my World Travel ability.”
“The door belongs to that universe.”
“They’re completely separate.”
His smile widened.
“If I become the rightful owner…”
“…the connection becomes mine.”
He leaned back.
Everything depended on one assumption.
That ownership of the Sage’s residence would transfer to the first person acknowledged by the house.
According to his memories…
Yuuya hadn’t defeated anyone.
He hadn’t completed a trial.
He had simply entered.
The house accepted him.
Which meant…
There was no chosen one.
Only the first suitable owner.
Mario’s heartbeat remained calm.
His confidence grew stronger.
Then another memory surfaced.
The Item Box.
His eyes slowly widened.
“…Wait.”
He sat upright.
The Item Box wasn’t just storage.
It stored physical objects.
Weapons.
Armor.
Harvests.
Treasures.
Practically anything.
Mario slowly looked toward the apartment door.
Then back at his notebook.
“If it can store equipment…”
“…why wouldn’t it store…”
He paused.
“…another door?”
Silence filled the apartment.
Then…
“…That’s almost unfair.”
The more he thought about it…
The more obvious it became.
The magical door wasn’t rooted to reality itself.
It physically existed.
Which meant…
It should count as an object.
Objects could be stored.
Stored objects could be retrieved anywhere.
Mario slowly rubbed his forehead.
“The R.O.B….”
“You never said I couldn’t move the entrance.”
He imagined opening the Item Box inside this very apartment.
Reaching inside.
Placing the magical door against the living room wall.
Then simply…
Opening it whenever he wished.
One visit.
Unlimited access.
Not because he had cheated the gift.
Because he’d used another world’s artifact exactly as intended.
He couldn’t help smiling.
“I like this plan.”
His smile gradually faded.
Planning didn’t guarantee success.
He needed information.
Everything he remembered about Yuuya’s life became relevant.
Mario closed his eyes.
“Let’s see…”
“His grandfather had already passed away.”
“He inherited the house.”
“He lived there alone.”
“No parents.”
“No siblings.”
“No relatives checking on him every day.”
That simplified things considerably.
Yuuya attended school.
After classes…
He usually worked part-time.
Meaning the house would regularly be empty.
Mario nodded to himself.
“As long as I arrive before he discovers the basement…”
“…everything proceeds normally.”
His objective wasn’t Yuuya.
It never had been.
The young man was simply unfortunate enough to possess something Mario desperately needed.
He wasn’t planning to hurt him.
If everything went according to plan…
Yuuya would never even know someone had entered his home.
Mario reached for a fresh page.
Across the top he wrote:
Operation Door
Below it…
He began listing each step.
Step One.
Travel to Japan.
Step Two.
Confirm the timeline.
Step Three.
Locate Yuuya’s residence.
Step Four.
Verify he hasn’t entered the basement.
Step Five.
Wait until the house is empty.
Step Six.
Enter.
Step Seven.
Reach the basement.
Step Eight.
Open the door.
Step Nine.
Become the owner of the Sage’s residence.
Step Ten.
Acquire every available ability.
Step Eleven.
Store every magical item remaining beneath the house.
His pen stopped.
One final line remained.
Mario smiled.
Step Twelve.
Store the door.
He stared at the finished list for several moments.
Simple.
Efficient.
Minimal risk.
Exactly how he preferred operating.
Another issue soon crossed his mind.
“The Asset Function.”
He remembered one detail clearly.
Treasures sold through the system became money.
Useful.
Very useful.
Then reality interrupted his excitement.
“…Wait.”
He frowned.
“In Japan…”
“It produced yen.”
He leaned back in his chair.
“I’m Filipino.”
A strange mental image appeared.
Every week…
He walked into a Philippine bank carrying stacks of pristine Japanese banknotes.
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Business.
What business?
…Treasure?
Mario pinched the bridge of his nose.
“…That conversation would end badly.”
He imagined explaining that his income came from selling magical monster parts in another dimension.
Tax officers would probably call a psychiatrist before believing him.
He chuckled.
“Please.”
He looked upward.
“I sincerely hope magic understands local currencies.”
Another thought followed.
“If it converts into Philippine pesos…”
“…my accounting becomes significantly easier.”
The idea amused him far more than it probably should have.
Who would’ve guessed one of his greatest concerns before traveling to another universe…
Would be exchange rates?
Coffee finished.
Notebook complete.
Plan finalized.
Mario stood.
Everything that could be prepared…
Had been prepared.
The rest depended on execution.
He looked around the apartment one final time.
Small.
Plain.
Temporary.
“If everything succeeds…”
He quietly smiled.
“…I won’t be poor for very long.”
Not because he intended to abuse knowledge of the future.
Not because he planned to manipulate stock markets.
Those things would come later.
First…
He needed capital.
The Sage’s house would provide it.
Far beyond mortal perception…
Outside every timeline…
The Random Omnipotent Being lazily rested beneath an ancient tree whose branches stretched endlessly across creation itself.
Before him floated countless tiny spheres.
Every sphere represented a different universe.
One of them shimmered brightly.
Inside…
Mario closed his notebook.
The young man smiled.
“He found it.”
He had expected Mario to choose wisely.
Even so…
The answer still exceeded his expectations.
Most people thought exactly like heroes.
“I need power.”
“I need to become the strongest.”
“I need legendary abilities.”
Mario thought differently.
The R.O.B.
laughed softly.
“You aren’t stealing power.”
He took another sip of tea.
“…You’re stealing infrastructure.”
His golden eyes sparkled.
“The leveling system.”
“The house.”
“The crops.”
“The inventory.”
“The Asset Function.”
“The legendary equipment.”
He counted each one with obvious amusement.
“And most importantly…”
“The door.”
A wider smile spread across his face.
“You found the loophole.”
The R.O.B.
never intended to explain it.
He wanted to see whether Mario would discover it himself.
He had.
Without hints.
Without guidance.
Simply through observation and reasoning.
“…Excellent.”
The young man looked genuinely pleased.
“I chose well.”
His gaze returned to the tiny marble.
“Go on, Mario.”
“Let’s see how much history one analytical man can rewrite.”
Back inside the apartment…
Mario stood in the center of the room.
His heartbeat remained steady.
He took one slow breath.
Then another.
The familiar sentence echoed inside his mind.
World Travel.
The air around him suddenly became unnaturally still.
The sunlight froze.
Dust drifting through the room stopped moving.
Even the distant sounds from outside vanished.
Space itself rippled.
Tiny cracks of pale blue light spread across the apartment floor before slowly climbing the walls.
Mario watched calmly.
“So…”
“This is how it begins.”
The world shattered like fragile glass.
And his apartment disappeared.
End of Chapter 8