Shattered Dreams: The System Rises

Chapter 3: The System's First Secret Mission

I walked through the shopping center with my phone still in my hand, staring at the notification that had just appeared.

"Ding! New Daily Mission Detected!"

I stopped walking and opened the message properly.

"Mission: Sign in at the top of the Los Angeles Finance Building within twenty-four hours. Reward: Precision Sign-In Ability plus initial capital of fifty million dollars!"

Fifty million dollars. The number felt impossible. Three hundred thousand was already more money than I'd ever seen in my life, and now the system was offering me fifty million more? This couldn't be real. But I'd already proven to myself that it was real. The money in my account. The items I'd just bought. The confidence flowing through my body from the Divine Blessing ability.

This was happening. This was all actually happening.

I checked the time. It was already four in the afternoon. That gave me less than a day to get to the top of the Los Angeles Finance Building. But something told me the system wouldn't give me a mission I couldn't complete. The system was helping me. The system wanted me to succeed.

I decided to go home and shower and change clothes. I couldn't show up at a fancy building looking like a drowned rat.

My apartment wasn't much. One bedroom, kitchen, bathroom. The rent was cheap because the neighborhood wasn't great. But it was mine, and right now it felt like a palace compared to how I'd been feeling that morning.

I took a long shower and put on some clean clothes. While I waited for the delivery of my Fendi purchase, I opened my laptop and started researching the Los Angeles Finance Building. It was one of the tallest buildings in the city, owned by one of the biggest finance companies in the country: Morgan Capital Investments.

Wait. Morgan. That was my last name too. Probably just a coincidence.

The building had over a hundred floors. The top was on the one hundred and second floor, reserved for the CEO and his executive team. Getting up there wouldn't be easy, but the system had given me a mission, which meant it was possible.

My phone rang. It was the delivery service from Fendi. They were waiting downstairs with my items. I went down and supervised them bringing everything up. Bags and bags of designer clothes, handbags, shoes, and accessories filled my small apartment until there was barely room to walk.

It was surreal. This morning I'd been nothing. This afternoon I was drowning in luxury.

I opened one of the bags and pulled out a designer shirt. It felt incredible. The fabric was soft, the quality obvious, the style perfect. I put it on and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked different. I looked like someone who belonged in the luxury shops I'd just walked out of.

The Divine Blessing ability was still active inside me. I could feel it, like a warm current running through my veins. I wondered what exactly it did. The system had unlocked it as a reward, but I hadn't used it yet.

I spent the evening planning how to get to the top of the building. I could try just walking in and taking the elevator, but security would probably stop me. I could try pretending to be an employee, but I didn't know anyone who worked there. I could try scaling the building, but that was insane and definitely illegal.

As I lay in bed that night, surrounded by expensive clothes I'd bought in an act of revenge, I realized something. The system had given me money, abilities, and missions. But it hadn't given me a map for how to complete those missions. I had to figure that out myself.

That night I dreamed about the building. I dreamed about reaching the top and signing in, and the system rewarding me with fifty million dollars. I dreamed about being rich, being powerful, being someone that Olivia and Joseph would regret ever touching.

The next morning, I woke up early and got dressed in one of my new designer outfits. I looked like I belonged in that building. That was probably going to be my best weapon.

I took a cab to the Los Angeles Finance Building. It was massive. The lobby was impressive, with marble floors and crystal chandeliers and important-looking people in expensive suits walking around like they owned the place. Which, I guess, in some way they did.

I walked straight toward the elevators like I knew exactly where I was going. A security guard at the elevator bank looked up at me.

"Good morning, sir. Which floor?"

He didn't question me. My clothes, my confidence, the Divine Blessing ability flowing through me, all of it made him assume I belonged there.

"One hundred and second," I said calmly. "Top floor."

He nodded and let me pass. I stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the highest floor.

As the elevator rose, I watched the numbers climbing. Fifty. Sixty. Seventy. Eighty. Ninety. One hundred. The view out the elevator windows became more and more impressive as I went higher. The city below me was getting smaller and smaller.

When the elevator doors opened on the one hundred and second floor, I stepped out into a different world. This wasn't a floor with regular offices. This was a private floor reserved for the highest level executives. There was a receptionist desk, and behind it was a woman looking at me with surprise.

"Can I help you?" she asked, her tone suggesting she didn't think I belonged here.

I smiled confidently. The Divine Blessing ability was at full strength now. I could feel it.

"I'm here to sign in at the building's highest point," I said. "Where would that be?"

The receptionist looked confused, but before she could answer, an elevator behind her opened. A man stepped out. He was tall, expensive-looking, with gray at the temples and the kind of commanding presence that made you immediately understand he was important.

When he saw me, he stopped walking. His eyes narrowed.

"Who are you?" he asked quietly.

What would happen next, and why did this man seem to know me?