March, the beginning of spring.
The hazy sky stretched in gray and black, emitting a heavy sense of oppression. It was as if someone had splattered ink onto drawing paper, letting it soak into the sky and smudge the clouds.
The clouds folded over each other, merging together. After that, streaks of lightning could be seen shooting out, accompanied by thunderous rumbling.
The classroom window was open, letting the spring breeze drift in freely, gently caressing the youth's face. A quietly handsome boy sat at the back of the classroom. The only sound that could be heard was the chalk in Teacher Nathan's hand as he wrote formula after formula on the board in a relentless manner, a smile on his face.
He was quite content in his heart.
The youth in the back sighed while enjoying the weather. "Ah… today's weather is too good to be true…"
Right as he was thinking about the weather, Teacher Nathan said, "Okay… this is advanced math. What I wrote on the board is calculus. Now, who wants to solve this equation?"
As he said that, he started staring at everyone in the class, but all of them tried not to meet his gaze. If they did, they would be doomed. While everyone was panicking, Teacher Nathan saw one student staring through the window.
He smiled.
"Finn, do you want to solve it?" he asked, a bright smile appearing on his face.
In response to hearing his name, Finn stood up with a calm expression and walked toward Teacher Nathan while thinking to himself:
This teacher never ages… When I first entered this school, he was exactly like this, and after a couple of years passed, he was still the same.
The chalk was handed to his white, slender hand. Though his fingers were slow at first, Finn started solving. The first equation was quite easy, like drinking water. It was an integration equation. Solving this kind of equation might seem too hard for a regular high school student, but for Finn, it was just like drinking water before breakfast.
"Finn Wilson, you have so much potential and such a deep understanding of mathematics. What you just solved was one of the hardest integral equations—even among university-level math classes. So why don't you participate in any math olympiads?"
Originally, he liked math because he truly enjoyed it. But all of those things surged in, and he no longer had any space to do it anymore.
Burnout was something else. I guess this world is truly boring… or maybe I'm just too dumb for it, he thought.
Using his money, he simply disappeared from everyone's sight and flew to a different country. In order not to worry his parents, he enrolled in a rural school in that country.
Nowadays, he just liked to play games after finishing school.
To his teacher's question, Finn replied, "Teacher, I'm just too lazy for that, and I'm not interested in math anymore."
Teacher Nathan showed a slightly surprised expression.
"Anymore?" he repeated. "I guess I was right—you really are a genius. But I won't ask why you stopped."
And this is the first time I've seen you not sleeping in my class." At least that was praise, Finn guessed, as Nathan spoke with a smile.
Finn always appeared to be low-key rather than attracting everyone's attention. He was always introverted—not like some shy kids who were even scared of communicating with people. Yet for Finn, there were very few things that truly attracted his interest, and he had very few friends.
"Kids, you're saved today thanks to Finn. Next time, I'll choose another student," Teacher Nathan said with a smile.
"Okay… today's class is over, and the assignment deadline is next week. Make sure you don't miss it, or else your points will be deducted." After saying that, he left in a cheerful manner.
After that, everyone sighed and started talking, as if a huge burden had been lifted from their shoulders.
Somehow centre of attention directed to Finn as Teacher left.
Blonde girl was sitting right next to Finn as she asked with shy expression:
Finn, can I ask you a question?" Her cheeks flushed slightly as she looked at him with big, cute eyes, her chest subtly rising and falling as she tried to steady her nerves.
"Of course, Hanna" Finn said.
He had already thrown away the "crazy genius" title just to live a normal life. He wasn't against starting a relationship with someone—he even wanted to, in his own way.
But for normal people, someone was simply someone.
For Finn, someone felt far away… and the girl who truly fit his criteria still hadn't appeared.
Hanna was a shy girl with long blonde hair, big doll-like eyes, and tender, pale skin. Overall, she looked like a doll.
When Finn enrolled here, he was told to sit beside Hanna. By nature, she was very diligent in her studies, and because of that, her grades were perfect. She seemed almost perfect—except that she was very bad at physical activities. Her movements often seemed sluggish and slow.
Despite all of that, she was a fairy among the boys and a princess in the eyes of many girls.
Despite sitting together for almost a year, because of Finn's lack of communication, they never really had a real conversation. Hanna tried to talk to him, but most of the time, Finn was asleep.
Today, however, was a rare sight. The handsome guy sitting beside her wasn't sleeping as usual, and the teacher had even called him a genius. It caught her attention.
In her usual soft voice, almost like a whisper, she asked:
"Finn, how did you solve that intricate, complicated equation in such an easy manner?" she asked courageously, looking him straight in the eyes
Finn turned to her and met with her eyes directly, and said:
I was just quite lucky to understand the underlying principles behind that equation. If you want to learn university math, I can help you with that. But just explaining isn't enough—you need to understand it yourself," he finished.
Hanna's eyes widened as she looked into his deep, mesmerizing dark eyes. It was the first time she had ever seen him talk to her so long time. She was shocked. From the many rumors around the class, Finn was often described as an arrogant brat, a spoiled child, and things like that. But in that brief moment, there was no arrogance in his eyes—nothing at all.
Only deep, dark eyes she would never forget. Smiling brightly, she said, "Thank you so much, Finn."
After that, their conversation ended.
As he was listening to the piano, almost daydreaming because of gaming, he noticed two students sitting in front of him.
One was a girl, and the other was a boy—their appearances were completely opposite. The girl was very beautiful, with long dark hair and blue eyes. On the other hand, the boy was quite tall; even while sitting, it was obvious. He looked like someone who had lost all of his money to gambling—his brown skin had paled from hours of gaming, and dark circles hung under his eyes.
"Hey, Finn. Did you really defeat that demon king in a solo battle?"
"Yes," Finn said casually, his face pale from too much screen time. He had been a gamer since he was young, and one of the games he truly loved was Demon's Cradle, a game mainly about defeating demons and earning EXP to level up
"How did you do that?" the boy asked, wearing a pathetic expression.
"Karl, are you dumb? It's obvious. The game mainly consists of demons and humans. While humans are weak by nature, there are many ways to kill demons using various methods."
And there was no way to clear this game, because obliterating all demons was nearly impossible. But the game maker, Ziva, was an absolute genius. Even though the game had no ending, it still brought in more players every year, and some people even chose to live inside it just to escape reality.
"And what I defeated was only a minor Abyss demon. Even if it was the king of its branch, it was still nowhere near the real Demon King. You should understand that," Finn said casually.
"I used traps to stop its body from escaping, then used my sword to cut off its head. That's all."
The game was truly addictive. In it, a weak human could rise all the way to the strongest possible.
The scene changed.
He was already in his apartment. Even though he had enough money, he didn't waste it on useless things. Simply a roof over his head was enough.
Of course, a public apartment was noisy. Because it was cheap, most of the tenants were university graduates working toward their first salary, or people who simply wanted to save money.
The door opened with a sound as Finn came home. Inside, there wasn't much furniture—just a large refrigerator, a sofa where he slept, a big TV, and a small dining table in front of it.
He changed his clothes, drank some water, and then turned on his VR headset, entering the world of Demon's Cradle.
Vision completely changed.
He opened his eyes and woke up in the same place he had logged out last time.
A triangular wooden roof hung above him, and moonlight slipped through the gaps, lighting up his face clearly. He hadn't changed his avatar—dark eyes, black hair, and a sharp nose that matched his real appearance. A wooden table sat beside the bed. Finn stood up.
A calendar was hanging on the wall. Fifty-seven days were circled.
He slowly walked over and circled the fifty-eighth day.
September 3rd, Year 1201.
This world was completely different… even its timeline.
After that, he stepped out of the wooden lodge and carefully walked down the curved stairs, one step at a time. If someone was careless, they could easily fall.
"System, show me my stats," he said.
A familiar chime echoed in his ears.
Ding!
A blue screen appeared in front of him.
Name: Finn Wilson
Gender: Male
Level: 34 (200 EXP to next level)
Balance: 2 Gold
Occupation: Swordsman (Low Rank)
Current Job: Demon Hunter (Low Rank)
Passive Skills:
Quick Draw (Dagger) — Draw daggers instantly in combat.
Demonic Worm Poison Resistance — Reduces poison effects by 70%.
Finn stared at the screen for a moment, then let out a small breath.
"This game really is something else…"