John Smith was not an anyone, the name could even be mistaken as the alias of a mythical hero, the epitome of the success and entrepreneur. The one thousand dollars that he had which was approximately over 500 billion dollars made him one of the most powerful and richest people ever lived on the planet earth. He was not simply the richest man in the United States; rather, he was the richest man in the entire world and it is a title that commands respect but also contempt. He was the envy of every other successful entrepreneur around the world, and many hated him for this fortune. Economists were even willing to resort to conspiracy against him, hoping to bring him down.
If anything, John's riches were more than a tale, suffused with Grief, uneasiness and anguish. He had built everything that he possessed and each dollar in his wallet was a symbol of the blood, sweat and tears that he had shed in the course of the process.
John had always lived through struggles. At the age of 12 years, his life came crashing down on him. Leaving his mother and himself behind, his father, who was credited as the greatest entrepreneur of America, vanished from his life one day. No reason, no prior warning— like the wind he just disappeared. The consequences were heart-बreaking. His mother, who had been emotionally and financially devastated, could not bear the situation and fell into a depression. Even as she battled for her own, John's mother lost the fight, when John was only but 13 years, and she took her life leaving him in a vast and cold universe.
It was too much sorrow to bear. But when it came to the darkest hour within and around, John made a vow.
"I am John Smith and I will set up a company one day," he choked out in tears. "There will be done all and any. I shall be more powerful than my father."
It was then that the reproachless excuse for their behaviour kicked in and everything changed for him that very instance. It was the time when he was actually made.
Having no proper schooling beyond his basic education, he often explains why he had to skip school again. John was not able to continue owing to the pressure of getting money and also emotional pressure. But where regular schooling has failed, the tarmac has served as his "school." He hustled around the clock — doing various jobs to earn cash, gathering capital, and, most importantly, learning about the business to an insane level. He indulged himself in every reading material that was helpful to him, and especially those that gave him an advantage over. He was thirsty for information as a beggar was for food.
At the age of 18, after all the years of hardship, John made his first significant investment – a cheap, battered building in the suburbs of New York. It was not much, but it was the beginning of something big. After much painstaking effort in earning the money, John contracted himself and improved the property which was a mess. That very first deal was profitable and allowed him to put something back into the business from which John Smith Enterprises emerged.
The next several years were a blur of activity. Every penny's worth of profit was put back into the business with further growth in the Real Estate Firm. He was athletically unmatchable, constantly working up to 20 hours a day on various tasks – renovations, property management, and contacting potential investors for new projects. His age was sometimes a hindrance – in that age bent environment, very few vainly valued the opinion of a teenage boy – however, his aggressive drive for success began changing people's perceptions.
By the time he was in his mid-twenties, John had constructed a significant portfolio of buildings. Yet, he was not content with this. He went further and ventured into upscale properties serving affluent clients and builders. He had homework up his sleeve and knew the art of negotiation and when to aggressively step in his brand growing wealth further. He graduated to being a businessman, with the instincts that could cut glass and an insatiable appetite for success.
By the age of the three score and ten, John Smith was a known figure to the public. Smith Enterprises, his business empire had augmented
In contrast to the success he achieved, he faced even greater challenges. John also lost the more friends the higher he rose. Businessmen of his standing ever regarded him with disgust as an upstart now considered him a rival. They downed him all— bloodless coups, litigation, industrial sabotage, backstabbing. John had to be very careful every single moment for there were backstabbing snakes around him.
Still, John was very wealthy and powerful, but he was the most unloved man in the whole world. The all consuming betrayal of his father and the ever painful loss of his mother had incredible effects on him and trusting anyone in his life would definitely prove to be quite a challenge. Over these years, he has been isolating himself more and more. Most of their romantic relationships were not genuine to the core and that is before they ended. To John, love was no different to a business commodity. Love was something to be sacrificed in order to get something more advantageous.
When one fateful evening while sitting in a luxurious penthouse office on the 75th floor of Smith Enterprises reviewing papers ahead of a multi-billion dollar merger, John felt an unusual sensation in his chest. It started as a mild discomfort, and before long, morphed into excruciating agony.
"W-What is... happening?" he asked breathlessly as he struggled with the rapid beating of his heart and palms over his chest. He began to see shades and instead of air, only short rasps were coming from him. Fear crept in him, and he tried to rise, but his legs were weak.
"Are these the symptoms of a heart attack?" Many thoughts ran into his head on what he was feeling. "Someone must have poisoned me. Am I dying?"
He panicked as the ground blacked out beneath him.
As John stirred awake, he found himself in a different environment from his office. This time around, he was even more surprised to find he did not occupy his own body. After a short blindness, at first due to shock, then in a gradual manner, John's sight became accustomed to the dim lighting of what appeared to be an opulent room. It had walls covered in tapestries and an elaborate chandelier hanging down from the ceiling, mildly illuminating the room. It was almost like a dream.
"W-What happened?" he muttered under his breath, though… his voice did not seem like his own. There was a gentle, child-like quality about it. He quickly sat up, feeling strange proportions of his body, there was something off, he was smaller than how he thought his body would be.
That was the moment of realization – this was not his old body anymore. He looked down at his little hands and thought to himself, 'What is going on?' There were a thousand thoughts in his mind. 'Am I a… a baby?'
He was flooded with dread in an instant. He opened his mouth, but she only let out a crushing wail, a toddler's scream. Almost immediately, the room doors swung opened and several women in maid outfits barged in, looking frantic as they surrounded him.
They attempted to soothe him but John was not having any of it. He was in a state of full blown panic. "This can't be happening," he reasoned. "I'm… I'm a baby?"
Then, suddenly he could hear a low and soothing voice speak but to him in his head. "Hello there, John."
John's race of thoughts came to a stop when the voice went on. "I am a deity of this realm. You may address me as Red."
"What the hell is going on?" John's mind was racing at such rapid pace, it was trying to make sense of everything.
"You will understand in a few moments. You have been given another life in this realm, but not without the consent of this realm, and rationally your deities," Red elucidated. "I thought it was unfair the way you met your demise, and therefore I have decided to give you certain powers within this realm. Think of it as a new lease of life."
Before John's pupils, a semi-transparent three-dimensional display materialized as that of the real image projection systems appearing in the fantasy epics he used to read. The more he looked, the more baffled he became.
Name: John
Age: 1
Class: Jack of All Trades
Skills: Master of all skills, including magic, combat, knowledge, business, and leadership. Maxed stats in strength, speed, intelligence, durability, magic power, and luck.
John's eyes were nearly as happy as his face. "Jack of All Trades?" he pondered for quite a while. It was so much to take in – he had been given another chance to live in a world full of wizards and witches and he was feared the most.
"This… this can't be true," he muttered. But it was – the voice of the god resonated again.
"John, you are a jack of all trades. This Earth is yours to take over. Do not waste your talents."
The presence then left him, thereby leaving John in the new quietness devoid of the presence.
In the blink of an eye, almost three years had passed. John adjusted to the transition pretty easily since he was three years old in this new world, and yet he was not the feeble looking child his body would have suggested. His mind was still the discerning calculative mind of a thirty-three-year-old rich mogul, and all these years he had been busy with the sharpening of the tools that 'the god' endowed in him.
Before he even learned to walk he had already acquired most rudimentary knowledge of fighting and magic. By the time he began to speak, he was already drafting strategies for the new age – this new world would be his just as the old one had been. Day after day, he engaged in training to his heart's content, trying out his magic in secret, perfecting his fighting techniques, and getting acclimatized to this foreign country.
His innocent and childlike casting about for sympathy concealed latent power that no one understood. But John bided his time. Surely enough, it was not his first time building an empire, and with powers that he had never thought existed, he would do it again.
Inside the courtyard of the noble house where he had been born, John stood looking at the distance. "In this world," he whispered, "I shall climb even higher than I have before."