Chapter 1: Rock Bottom
Nolan Drake lived at the bottom of Grayport City.
Grayport was full of lights, tall glass buildings, luxury cars, and people in suits who never looked down. Nolan was always under them. An orphan kicked out of his foster home at eighteen, now twenty‑two and stuck in a tiny studio that smelled like damp socks and instant noodles.
He was tall, about 6'3", but skinny in a bad way. His cheekbones were sharp, his jawline clean, his dark hair fell nicely over his eyes. If you took a quick photo, he could pass for a model. But in real life, his arms were thin, his shoulders narrow, and his T‑shirts always hung loose on his flat chest. He looked like a handsome scarecrow that had not eaten in weeks.
Most days he skipped breakfast. Sometimes lunch too. He told himself he was saving money. In truth, he was broke.
Every day, Nolan went to Westridge College. He was in his second year, studying Business Management. After classes, he rushed to his part‑time job at QuickMart on Elm Street. It was a small store with a broken air conditioner and flickering lights. His job was to stock shelves, mop floors, and smile at customers who never remembered his face.
The pay was minimum wage. It was barely enough for rent and cheap food.
But Nolan had a reason to work so hard.
Her name was Lila Voss.
Lila was his girlfriend. Two years together. She was in the same year and department, one of the bright faces of the campus. Long blonde hair, blue eyes, long legs, curves in all the right places. She laughed easily and smiled like she was born to stand under a spotlight. Next to her, Nolan always felt like a side character from the background.
He knew she could do better than him. He knew people talked behind his back.
"Why is she with him?"
"Is she playing a dare?"
"Maybe she just feels sorry for him."
He had heard it all.
He also knew someone else was always near her.
Chad Harlan.
Rich family. Expensive watch. Captain of the soccer team. Loud, confident, always surrounded by people. Chad liked to shove Nolan's shoulder "by accident" in the corridor. He liked to bump him, joke about him, call him "twig" and "orphan" and laugh with his friends.
Nolan never forgot that.
He never forgot that Lila saw it.
She had watched Chad push him around more than once. She had seen Nolan stumble, heard Chad's jokes. She never told Chad to stop. She never once said, "He's my boyfriend. Don't touch him."
Nolan told himself she just didn't want drama. He told himself it was fine.
He held on to her anyway.
Because when she held his arm outside class and called him "babe," his whole world turned warm. He had never had anyone before. No real family. No one to stand beside him. Lila was his first girlfriend. His first love. His first everything.
Even though she had never slept with him.
They had kissed. They had held hands. They had hugged. When things got too heated, she always pushed him away with a laugh.
"Not yet," she would say. "We're still students. We can wait."
Nolan respected that. He thought it was sweet. He thought it meant she valued him, not just his body.
He had no idea she would give that "first time" to someone else.
So he worked. And worked.
He bought her little gifts with money he should have spent on food. A cheap necklace from his first paycheck. A soft stuffed bear. Flowers when he finished a long shift. He loved the way her eyes lit up for a second, even if they dimmed fast.
Sometimes she sighed and said, "Nolan, you don't need to buy me things. It's fine."
But he heard the boredom in her voice. He saw her scrolling social media, looking at rich couples on trips, at girls holding designer bags, at classmates posting photos from clubs with guys like Chad.
So he kept buying things anyway, hoping one day he could give her more.
That Friday night, rain poured over Grayport like the sky had holes in it.
Nolan's shift at QuickMart ended at 10 PM. His back hurt, and his hands were sore from carrying boxes. Still, he smiled when he checked his pocket and felt the small box inside.
He had bought Lila a silver bracelet from a pawn shop. It was not brand new, but it was real silver and had a tiny heart charm. It had cost him almost everything he had left this week.
"She'll like it," he told himself. "She has to like it."
He locked up the store and ran through the rain, shoes splashing in dirty puddles. Buses were slow, taxis were full, and his cheap jacket did nothing to stop the cold. By the time he reached Westridge College, his clothes were damp and his hair stuck to his forehead.
The dorm building buzzed with noise. Music, laughter, loud voices in the hall.
Nolan walked up the stairs to Lila's floor, heart beating fast. He pictured her smile, her kiss, the way she would say, "You didn't have to, you idiot," and hug him anyway.
He imagined giving her the bracelet and saying, "One day I'll buy you something better." He imagined her believing him.
Then he reached her door.
It was slightly open.
At first, he heard music from someone's speaker. Then he heard something else. A low, deep male laugh. A soft moan.
He froze.
Another moan. Louder. A bed creaking. Skin slapping skin.
Nolan's fingers shook as he touched the door. He should have turned around. He should have walked away.
But he pushed it open. Just a little.
The room was dim. Clothes were scattered on the floor. On the bed, Lila was on her back, hair spread over the pillow, face flushed. On top of her was Chad Harlan.
Chad. The same Chad who joked about him in the hall. The same Chad who shoved him in front of others while Lila watched and said nothing.
That Chad was between his girlfriend's legs.
Chad's muscular back flexed with every thrust. Lila's arms were wrapped around his neck, nails digging into his skin. She moaned into his ear, breath hot and desperate.
"Chad… ah… harder…"
Nolan's heart stopped.
His breath caught in his throat. The box with the bracelet slipped from his hand and hit the floor with a soft sound he barely heard.
She never even let me touch her like that.
The thought cut through him like a knife.
Chad laughed softly. "How does it feel, Lila?" he asked.
"So… so good," she panted. "You're so much better than that useless loser."
Useless loser.
Nolan's knees almost gave out.
He stared at Lila's face. This was the same face that had turned away when he got shoved. The same face that smiled at him in public, hugged his arm, and then ignored him when Chad was near.
There was no guilt there now. No sign of the girl who hugged him in cheap cafes, who called him "babe" in texts.
She looked alive. Wild. Happy.
Chad's voice came again, low and cruel. "You mean Nolan?" he said. "That broke orphan who stocks shelves and lets me mess with him?"
"Yeah," Lila gasped. "He spends all his money on those cheap gifts. So pathetic. I'm tired of pretending."
Nolan's chest burned.
She knew Chad bullied him. She knew exactly how low he felt every time the whole hall laughed.
And she still spread her legs for him.
Chad groaned and pushed harder. "Forget him," he said. "Stick with me. I'll show you what a real man feels like."
The bed hit the wall again and again.
Nolan couldn't breathe. He clutched the door frame so hard his knuckles turned white. His vision blurred, but he couldn't look away. His chest hurt like someone had punched a hole through it.
In his head, images flashed.
Chad bumping him in the hall.
Chad laughing with his friends.
Lila watching, pretending nothing was happening.
Her telling Nolan "not yet" when he tried to go further.
Her now, arching her back for Chad and screaming his name.
He wanted to walk in and drag Chad off her. He wanted to punch his face until his knuckles broke.
He wanted to scream at Lila, ask her why, ask her when it stopped being enough.
But he was tall and thin and weak. Chad could knock him out with one hit. Nolan knew it. His body knew it. His legs stayed frozen.
He was a spectator in his own life.
A tear slipped down his cheek. Then another. His throat made a small sound, half sob, half breath.
Inside, Lila cried out, body shaking. "Chad! I'm cumming!"
Nolan stumbled back from the door.
He did not remember how he made it to the stairwell. His legs moved on their own. His mind went blank, except for one burning thought:
I'm nothing.
He left the building and stepped out into the rain. Cold water soaked his clothes, but he didn't care. He walked and walked until the dorm lights disappeared behind him.
His hand brushed his pocket, but the bracelet was gone. He remembered it falling and felt a fresh wave of pain. That was his whole week of work. For nothing.
People on the street glanced at him, then looked away. To them, he was just another wet, crying guy in cheap clothes.
He reached Riverside Park, the one small patch of green between the tall buildings. The park was almost empty in the rain. Streetlights flickered weakly over wet benches and dark trees.
Nolan dropped onto a bench like a puppet with cut strings.
Rain ran down his face, mixing with his tears. His chest rose and fell in shaky breaths. He pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, trying to stop the pictures in his head.
Lila's smile.
Lila's moans.
Chad's laugh.
Chad's hand on his shoulder, shoving him aside in the hall.
Lila looking away like she didn't know him.
And then Lila under Chad, giving him what she never gave Nolan.
"Why?" he whispered. "Why am I always like this?"
He thought about his childhood. The foster homes. The broken promises. The times other kids got picked up by real parents while he watched from the corner. The times he was told, "You should be grateful you even have a bed."
Grateful.
He had been grateful when he got the QuickMart job. Grateful when he could buy cheap gifts for Lila. Grateful when she agreed to date him, even while everyone else wondered what she saw in him.
Now he saw the answer.
She had not seen anything.
He bent forward, elbows on his knees, face in his hands. His shoulders shook. A weak, ugly sob escaped his throat.
"I'm pathetic," he said to the empty park. "A joke. A tall, skinny joke."
For a long moment, there was only the sound of rain and distant cars.
Then something changed.
The world seemed to go quiet. The sound of the rain faded, like someone turned down the volume. Nolan lifted his head slightly, confused.
In front of him, above the wet grass, a faint blue light appeared. It grew brighter, like a small floating screen. It did not look real, but it was there, glowing softly in the darkness.
Nolan blinked and rubbed his eyes.
The screen did not vanish.
Lines of text appeared on it in clean, white letters.
[Wealth Surge System Activated.]
[Host: Nolan Drake.]
[Status: Broke, Humiliated, Pathetic.]
[Initial Balance: $10,000.]
[Main Rule: Spend money to gain power.]
Nolan stared, mouth open.
More text scrolled down.
[First Quest: Prove you are not trash.]
[Task: Spend $100 within 10 minutes.]
[Reward: Extreme Physique Boost + 300%.]
[Warning: Unspent balance will remain. Refuse, and system will shut down permanently.]
His heart pounded.
"This… this is a dream," he whispered. "I finally went crazy."
But the blue screen stayed, bright and clear. At the bottom, two options appeared.
[Accept System?]
[Yes / No]
Nolan looked down at his soaked pants, his thin knees, his trembling hands.
He remembered Chad's body over Lila. Remembered the word "pathetic." Remembered how she watched him get bullied and still chose Chad. Remembered how she had never let Nolan touch her like that, but gave everything to his bully.
His jaw clenched.
If this was a joke, it was a cruel one. If it was real…
He sucked in a deep breath, chest burning.
"Fine," he whispered. "Yes."
The moment he decided, the [Yes] option flashed.
[System Bound to Host.]
[Balance: $10,000 Loaded.]
[Timer Started: 10:00… 9:59…]
Nolan jumped to his feet as a strange warmth ran through his body. The rain suddenly felt lighter. Colors seemed sharper.
The screen shifted.
[Nearby Spending Options Detected.]
[Street food stall – 70 meters away.]
[24/7 clothing store – 120 meters away.]
[Cheap gym membership booth – 200 meters away.]
His stomach growled loudly. He hadn't eaten a real meal all day.
Nolan stared at the floating numbers, then at his own shaking hands.
"Spend money… to gain power…" he muttered.
Behind him, in the distance, the city lights of Grayport flickered like they were watching.
The timer ticked down.
9:12… 9:11… 9:10…
Nolan swallowed hard.
Then he turned toward the street food stall and started to run.