1999, May 15th

  William sat in his room, practicing with a guitar. He had reached the level he had when he was younger. He hadn't even reached a good enough level to be in the skill section. But this time, it was easier to relearn and learn new things simply because he was now ambidextrous. His chromesthesia helped him along with the skill as well. The notes appeared as colors in his vision as he played them. Blue and green for lower notes, while bright gold and yellow for higher notes.

  He started learning by playing riffs. To be more precise, he started by learning the forbidden riff, Stairway to Heaven. He grinned but shook his head after a second.

  He had started practicing again two weeks ago. He was looking through his short-term and long-term goals, and he had hit most of them. But one of the few long-term goals he hadn't hit was learning how to play instruments properly. He played "My Heart Will Go On" on his guitar. He had been rewatching some movies with Sarah lately, in an effort to spend more time with her. His sleeping schedule was even more messed up than before, to the point of not having a sleep schedule at all!

  William played some more. He was not really trying to learn new songs for now, but instead, trying to practice his 'instinct' in playing music, so that his hands could move on their own without his input. He wanted to be able to close his eyes and play flawlessly.

  But he wasn't there yet. He would be there, soon, but not yet. And he wasn't particularly hurried. Learning had to be on its own pace. He had learned that in his past life, when he tried to study an entire subject on the last day before the finals. Obviously, it didn't work, and he barely passed. He didn't remember anything from the subject, and that remained as a reminder to him to be learning regularly.

  Ever since then, even though his ADHD protested a lot, he tried to study every day. But he couldn't, so he compromised. He read the study subject once every day, and that worked for him.

  Why am I thinking about the past anyway? He thought as he misplaced his finger and messed up a note. Damn, shouldn't get distracted. He continued practicing, ramping up the difficulty after each song.

  Hours passed. After two hours of non-stop playing, his fingers started to ache. He continued. He was halfway through "Wonderwall" when the notification appeared.

  [Music skill acquired.]

  [Music(LV1)]

  He frowned. Pennyworth, can you split the skill up? I don't want this skill to be like the language skill. I want more perks from it. His thought process was simple. If he kept the skill as Music, he could learn other instruments faster as well. Not only that, but he could also possibly learn singing and things fast as well. But that would mean fewer perks, as it would all be under one skill. If he could split the skill up, he would.

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  [Unfortunately, created skills cannot be split, Sir. If you'd like, I can make it so that all future skills are split.]

  He shook his head. Then, don't do it. In the future, he would have less and less time to learn about stuff like this, so he would most probably be trying to learn entire disciplines at once. Then, if it were split, it would be detrimental to him. He would become too busy chasing perks rather than learn anything worthwhile. So as much as he wanted to see many numbers go big, he had to control his urge.

  [As you wish, Sir.]

  He looked at the time. It was 6:37 pm. It was a little late for dinner, but he could still make it in time. He put the guitar aside, near his newly bought violin. It was his next target, after he had fully 'mastered' the guitar.

  He washed his hands and massaged his own fingers for a minute before finally going downstairs. Sarah and Eve were already eating, not waiting for him at all.

  Eve looked up from her meal, "Oh, look. The prince has arrived."

  William snorted, "Oh my. I didn't know you thought of me as a prince, Eve. Thanks for your compliment."

  Eve clicked her tongue as she bit into the chicken BBQ. "Shameless as fuck."

  Sarah chuckled, "Don't argue at the dinner table. Do it at your own time."

  William stuck out his tongue at Eve before taking a seat. In front of him was chicken BBQ, with fried green tomatoes as a side dish. "Thank you for the meal, Sarah."

  She smiled, "No problem, Will. Dig in."

  He complied. Sarah's cooking was still the best, despite her having no formal chef training. Her cooking tended to have a unique taste. He didn't know how to describe it, but it was truly to his taste.

  He slowly savored the meal.

  Sarah took a bite. "So, what have you been doing lately?"

  He smiled, "I've been learning to play the guitar."

  "Oh? I thought you already learned it when you were young?" Sarah asked.

  He shook his head, and he cut another piece of the BBQ. "No, I quit when I was young, before I fully learned it. So I forgot quite a lot."

  Eve took a sip of her orange juice, "That's fine and all, but let's talk some business. We've scheduled a meeting with Foxconn for June 12th. We're also having a meeting with TSMC on June 18th."

  William took another bite as he spoke, "That's good. Should I come with you?"

  Eve shook his head, "No need."

  He nodded as he took a sip of water, "Alright. Remember, Eve. We do not need them. We can get our own hardware manufacturing company for a few hundred million dollars if we save up on reinvestment for a few months. We don't really need a large manufacturer, so we'll be fine with a medium-sized one. If they give terrible prices, try to negotiate with them once or twice, but walk away if they don't budge."

  She clicked her tongue, "Stop bossing around, Will. I know that much. I wasn't going to give them an inch anyway."

  Both of them grinned. Sarah shuddered, "Stop plotting around me, you two. From now on, no business talk during dinner."

  Both William and Eve nodded, "Fine."

  They continued eating in silence. William smiled as he enjoyed the silence.