Mrs. Grant gave Tyler one last glance before shaking her head.
"Try to stay awake this time, Mr. Reyes."
She turned back toward the chalkboard, picking up a piece of white chalk and resuming her lecture like nothing had happened.
The classroom settled again—some students snickering, others already half-asleep themselves.
But Tyler wasn't paying attention to any of it.
He sat there, frozen, his hands resting on the old wooden desk. His fingers slowly curled into the grooves etched by years of bored teenagers. These familiar scratches had familiar feels.
His heart pounded as he scanned the room. Every face was younger and vaguely familiar.
But the most important thing was that there was smartphones or laptops in sight. Desks were arranged in straight lines instead of group clusters. The smell of worn textbooks and cheap cleaning detergent hit him like a wave.
This wasn't a dream.
For the final confirmation, he looked down at himself and he saw that his skin was smoother, his arms leaner, and he was wearing a hoodie he hadn't seen in over a decade.
This was real.
Just a few minutes ago, he had been stabbed and had bled to death in that elevator. But instead of dying, he suddenly found himself back in the past.
The heavens had answered his prayers, sending him 22 years back to the past, to when he was just a teenager.
Tyler wanted nothing more than to scream or at least say something to express the intense emotions he was feeling, but he controlled himself.
He didn't want to disturb Mrs Grant's class a second time, as she's not really lenient on repeated offenders.
He cracked a smile as fire danced in his eyes.
"This time, I will return the humiliation and contempt the world had given me in kind, and I will learn from my previous mistakes and leave no regrets as I progress."
There had been many regrets in his past life. Although his mind had always been preoccupied with work and him trying to make something out of himself, the regret and sorrow had persisted.
"Mom, Devin, I'm back and this time, I won't fail you. This time, I will go to hell and back to make sure you all have a good life."
Tyler lowered his head and clenched his fist, as resolution rose in his heart.
Tyler was born into an ordinary family in a small neighborhood in Oakland. His father had died in an accident two years after his younger brother was born, and his mother had been the one to raise them—alone, overworked, and constantly tired.
She worked two jobs—nursing during the day, housekeeping at night—just to keep the lights on and food on the table. She never complained, never asked for anything in return, except that her boys stayed in school and stayed out of trouble.
Tyler had always admired her strength, but as he grew older, life hardened him. The streets around them changed. Friends got lost in gangs, drugs, or bad deals. Opportunities were scarce, and the pressure to survive turned into desperation.
He tried to be the responsible one, especially after realizing how much his little brother, Devin, looked up to him. But even Tyler had limits.
By the time he graduated high school, his mother had fallen seriously ill, and no insurance plan was willing to cover the mounting costs.
He dropped out of college to work full-time, taking any job he could—warehousing, deliveries, cold-calling sales.
Eventually, he clawed his way into the financial world—not through connections or Ivy League degrees, but through raw grit and an obsession with numbers.
He studied at night, earned certifications, and finally, close tongue late thirties landed a junior position as a financial analyst at a mid-tier firm in Manhattan.
But even then, the system didn't reward him. Clients got richer off his insight while he collected scraps.
He was underpaid, overworked, and overlooked. And by the time his mother passed, he had nothing to show for it but regrets and a bitter younger brother who had blamed him for not doing enough, before he died in prison.
That was the life he remembered.
But he was no longer that person. He was no longer Tyler, the underpaid, middle age banker, who was struggling to survive.
No.
Now, he was now Tyler, a 16 years old high school student, with a lot of goals and ambitions.
And he will do everything in his power to realise those goals and ambitions, while protecting and providing for his family.
This time around, he will protect his mother and not allow that sickness claim his mother's life. And he wouldn't allow himself to be consumed by his goals, drifting away from hisyounger brother.
And in his life, using all his knowledge from the future, he will build an empire that would never be surpassed by anyone.
The next moment and out of nowhere, a transparent cyan screen materialised in front of him, nearly causing him to jump in surprise.
[Loading System...]
[Scanning The Host...]
[Name: Tyler Reyes]
[Age: 16]
[Strength: 3]
[Agility: 5]
[Stamina: 5]
[Intelligence: 6]
[Stat Point(s): 0]
[System Point(s): 0]
[Mission: None]
[Knowledge]
[System Store]
....
Tyler was baffled by what he was seeing. He even thought that he was hallucinating.
He closed his eyes but when he opened them, the transparent cyan screen was still right in front of him.
He reached out his hand to touch it and at that same moment, a smaller screen appeared in front of his finger.
[You received a starter pack.]
[Do you want to open the starter pack?]
[Yes] [No]
Tyler instinctively wanted to pull his hand back but someone suddenly pushed him from behind, and he accidentally clicked [Yes].
Tyler wanted to turn to the person who pushed him and give him a piece of his mind, but his attention was caught by what was happening in front of him.
[Opening starter pack...]
[You received One-Time Free Unlock (Primary + Specialized Knowledges)]
[You received a One-Time 99.9% Discount on Core Knowledge Branch Unlock. Available for the next 72 hours.]
[You received +5 stat points to be allocated freely.]
....
Tyler was still trying to make sense of everything happening in front of him when he felt that same push again.
He turned sharply—and saw that same familiar face, with that same familiar smug smile.
Travis... His high school bully.
The same one that used to shove him into lockers, beat him up, humiliate him and in front of girls and laugh whenever Tyler tried to fight back.
For a second, Tyler just stared, studying him. The guy hadn't changed at all—same greasy hair, same loud laugh, same over-inflated ego. But while he hadn't changed, he—Tyler wasn't the same either.
But Tyler quickly noticed that something was amiss. The screen in front of him — the one following his vision... Travis couldn't see it.
Not just Travis, but it doesn't seems like no one else could see it... except him.
Tyler quickly turned and looked around, but beside the strange look some of the students—mainly Travis' clique and the class' popular girls—there was nothing out of the ordinary.
He smiled to himself, realising what was happening.
"I'm the only one that can see it," he muttered in excitement.
But he wasn't allowed to enjoy the moment, as he felt a sharp pain on his back. He sharply turned back, this time visibly angry, and he was met with Travis' dagger-like glares.
"You fucking dare to turn your back on me? And even glare at me? You're so fucking dead. Meet me at the gym locker room after Mrs Grant's class if you don't want to die," Travis hissed.
One could sense the unconcealed malice and venomous intents in his threat.
Sensing it, Tyler smiled. To him, Travis had just sealed his fate.
"You don't need to bark too much, Travis. I will meet you there."
Immediately, another screen appeared with a new message.