Level 999 Returned to Day One

3

CHAPTER 3 — “Money is Power”

The next morning, I sat at my desk and stared at my bank balance again.

$1,247.63

My entire financial existence how Pathetic. In thirty days, food prices would triple. Within two months, money would become little more than paper.

But right now?

Money decided who lived long enough to see the System, and I needed a lot more of it. Fast. I opened my laptop. Savings account? Transferred. Investment account? Transferred. I sold everything I owned that had value. My old gaming console, my laptop backup, the camera I barely used. Even the watch sitting in my drawer.

Sentimental value was a luxury for people who expected the future to exist. By noon, my available cash had climbed a little higher, but still nowhere near enough, at least not for what I needed. I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes.

Think. Think like the man who survived ten years of hell. Then I remembered. Three days from now, a small logistics company would announce a government emergency supply contract. Their stock price would explode overnight. Seven days later, the company would disappear along with the rest of the market after the first global panic began. In my previous life, nobody cared. By then, everyone was too busy trying not to die. This time…I cared very much.

I pulled up the market page. There it was. Exactly where I remembered. Trading low. A slow smile spread across my face.

For the first time since waking up, it felt like I was finally using my greatest weapon. Not strength, not levels, Information. The future was the most valuable asset in existence, and I owned ten years of it. I invested everything, every dollar, no hesitation, no second thoughts. Because I remembered the numbers. I remembered the headlines. I remembered the exact day it happened. This wasn’t gambling.

I closed the app and set the phone down. For a moment, the room was silent. If any financial advisor could see this, they’d probably call me insane. Putting my entire net worth into one stock, but diversification was for people who didn’t already know the outcome. My gaze drifted toward the window. The city looked the same as yesterday. Twenty-eight now. The clock was moving, but so was I. Because before the System arrived, I intended to become rich enough to buy myself a future. And once the apocalypse began, I plan on spending every cent turning that future into survival.

By afternoon, my room looked less like a bedroom and more like a command center. My desk was covered in notes, Dates, Companies, Supply routes, and warehouse locations. Every piece of information I could squeeze out of ten years of memories. Most people thought surviving the apocalypse was about strength. They were wrong. Strength only mattered after the System arrived. Before that? Preparation decided who lived long enough to become strong. My phone buzzed. A notification from the market app. I opened it immediately. The stock had already started moving. Just a few cents, Nothing that would catch anyone’s attention. But I knew better; I remembered the graph.

The announcement would happen tomorrow morning. The government contract. The media frenzy. The sudden spike. Then the crash when the world ended, and money stopped mattering. For everyone else, it would look like luck.

For me, it was simply history repeating itself. I leaned back in my chair. “Grow,” I muttered. “Just for a few more days.” That was all I needed. Just enough to prepare properly. My thoughts drifted toward my list. Food. Medical supplies. Portable generators. Fuel. Water purification systems. Weapons. My pen stopped. Weapons. That would be difficult. Firearms would become priceless after the System arrived. Unfortunately, getting them legally before then wasn’t exactly simple. I’d figure it out later, one problem at a time.

A knock interrupted my thoughts.

“Kai?”

Mom.

“Yeah?”

“Are you coming down for dinner?”

Dinner. Back in the apocalypse, meals weren’t guaranteed. Sometimes raids lasted days. Sometimes all we had were rations bars and purified rainwater. Now…Dinner. For a moment, I just sat there.

“…Kai?”

“I’m coming.”

I looked around my room one last time before standing. Tomorrow was another day closer to the end of the world, and another opportunity to get ahead of it. I slipped my phone into my pocket. The market would open in the morning. If my memory was right, by this time tomorrow, my money would already be growing. The first domino had already fallen. Now I just had to wait for the future to catch up. Because once the capital came in….The real preparation would begin.

Dinner was quiet, painfully normal. Mom talked about groceries getting more expensive again. Dad complained about work. The television in the corner played some report about politics that nobody would remember in a month. I sat there in silence. In my previous life, this was one of the last normal dinners we ever had. Back then, I didn’t know that. Back then, I had been annoyed that Dad kept asking about my grades. Now I’d give almost anything to hear him ask again ten years later.

“…Kai?”

I blinked.

Dad was looking at me. “You’ve been quiet all day.”

“I didn’t sleep well.”

You don’t die in humanity’s final battle and wake up the next morning completely fine. He nodded and returned to eating. The conversation moved on, but my appetite never came. Because all I could think about was the date, July 1st. The next morning, I woke before my alarm. Old habits. In the apocalypse, sleeping too deeply got people killed. I grabbed my phone immediately. Market open, and my investment app loaded. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the numbers updated.

My eyes narrowed. There it was. The announcement had happened, exactly on schedule. The stock was climbing. A slow breath escaped my lips.

“It worked.”

Of course it worked. I already knew it would, but seeing it happen…..Seeing the future unfold exactly as I remembered made something settle inside me. My fingers tightened slightly around the phone. By the end of the week, the investment would multiply several times over. I stood and walked toward the window. Morning sunlight spilled across the city, I stared at my reflection in the glass. The same face.The same body. But not the same person. Because eighteen-year-old Kai Ardent had worried about exams. Level 999 Kai Ardent worried about extinction.

A notification appeared on my screen. The stock had risen again. I looked at the numbers for a moment before locking the phone. Money really was power. And soon…I’d have enough of both.