David's shoulders ached slightly from practice.
With a deep breath, he headed straight for the shower. The cold water shocked his system at first, but as it ran down his body, the tension in his muscles eased.
As he changed into his work clothes, his eyes drifted towards the waterproof bag he had recovered. Something about it nagged at him.
He sat down, unzipped it, and pulled out the playing cards, flipping through them absentmindedly. They were old, slightly bent at the edges. Nothing special. He tucked them into his wallet.
Then, his fingers brushed against something else.
A stack of papers. Photographs.
His brows furrowed as he took them out and froze.
One of the photos showed a damaged car, parked in an impound lot.
Even though it had been years, he recognized it instantly.
His mother's car.
His breath hitched. His fingers clenched the edges of the photo, his vision tunneling.
Rage flared in his chest, sharp and suffocating.
His mother's accident had never sat right with him. And now, staring at this photograph, a deep suspicion clawed its way back to the surface.
Why was her car in an impound lot? Who took this picture?
His hands shook. The anger burned hot, threatening to consume him.
He forced himself to take deep breaths.
Calm down. Think.
But the emotions were too raw. His mind was too clouded. No new clues presented themselves.
Just the relentless, boiling rage.
He exhaled sharply and shoved the photos into his inventory, out of sight.
Not now.
He needed a clear head.
---
---
By the time he had calmed down, he saw the clock and it was time for his shift.
David grabbed his jacket, double-checked his wallet, and stepped out into the evening streets. The air was crisp, the city buzzing with life as he made his way to the diner.
The routine of work was a welcome distraction. Taking orders, refilling coffee, wiping down tables. It was mindless, simple. A break from the weight pressing on his mind.
Joe dropped by during the shift, offering his usual teasing remarks before heading out.
Before long, his shift ended, and he clocked out.
---
---
On his way home, David stopped by a small grocery store. He grabbed the essentials—rice, eggs, vegetables, and a few instant meals for quick fixes.
As he left the store, his phone vibrated in his pocket.
He pulled it out and saw Joe's name flashing on the screen.
Joe: "Yo, Dave! Bar tomorrow night. No excuses."
David sighed, shaking his head before replying.
David: "Fine. Just text me the place."
Joe: "That's my guy!"
---
---
Back home, he unpacked the groceries, neatly arranging his fridge and cabinets.
It was a mundane task, but there was something grounding about it.
Next, he prepared a simple meal—rice, eggs, and some sautéed vegetables. Nothing fancy, but enough to fill his stomach.
Then, slipping into bed, he stared at the ceiling.
He couldn't sleep, so he grabbed his hoodie. Came out of his house grabbing his keys and his phone.
He needed some fresh air, so decided to made his way to the terrace of his apartment. Just as locked and turned. He bumped into someone, lady.
"Hey watch were you are going," the lady said.
I was stunned to see the woman, but quickly he replied, "I am really sorry." And quickly climbed the stairs made his way to the terrace.
While the woman could he hear murmuring, "did he just call me mam?" But she was too tired from her shift to deal with it. She quickly made it to he apartment which was the last in side of David's apartment and shut the door.
David by the time reached the terrace, he thought the place looked familiar, like he has seen it some place but he brushed it off.
He slightly leaned against the parapet wall looking down his apartment and, letting the cool night breeze wash over him.
The distant hum of the city below mixed with the occasional honk of a passing car. Up here, away from the noise of daily life, he could breathe freely.
His fist tightened unconsciously as he thought about the photograph. His mother's car. The rage threatened to bubble up again, but he forced himself to let it go—for now.
With a sigh, he pushed off the edge wall and sat down on a nearby ledge. His fingers absentmindedly tapped against his thigh before he remembered something.
He decided to check his system status.
Since hadn't checked his status in a while.
"Status," he muttered.
A translucent blue screen appeared before his eyes.
---
[STATUS]
[Name: David Arthur Brown
Age: 25
Race: Human
Strength: 9
Agility: 10
Intelligence: 12
SP: 65
Skills: Hand-to-Hand Combat Mastery, Parkour Mastery, Hacking Mastery
Inventory: Glock 17 (5 Mags, Leg Holster), $800 Cash, Knuckle Dusters (Hidden Knives) – 2 nos, 1 Random Lottery Card]
---
David's gaze locked onto the last item.
"Oh, right... the lottery card."
He slapped his forehead. He had completely forgotten about it. That was his system reward, and he hadn't even thought to check what it did.
Taking a deep breath, he reached into his inventory and pulled the card out.
"System, what does this card do?"
A mechanical voice responded in his mind.
[Random Lottery Card: Grants five random rewards. This card can only be obtained through mission rewards.]
David exhaled. Five rewards? He was surprised.
Then a small grin tugged at his lips. Finally, some good news. Without hesitation, he decided start the lottery draw.
"Use the lottery card."
As soon as the words left his mouth, the card dissolved into golden particles, and the system screen flashed brightly.
[CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE RECEIVED:]
-Perfect Recall (Skill)
-Character assimilation slot: +1
-100,000 Dollars
-Cooking mastery
-Bullet time (Skill)
When he saw the rewards especially the skills and assimilation slot he almost jumped and screamed with joy.
[Perfect Recall: The user can remember and recall everything that they have ever experienced, encountered or learned in their lifetime. The user needs only to read, hear, see, experience something once and they will never forget it.]
[Bullet Time: When under stress, the heart beats in excess of 400 beats per minute, resulting in a substantial release of adrenaline into the bloodstream. This heightened state enables the individual to perceive and react faster than usual.]
[Character assimilation slot: Allows the host to assimilate traits or skills from chosen individuals.]
These were the necessary skills he really needed for him. and with Assimilation, if his luck was high he would instantly become extremely strong.
And cooking mastery could help in making money if he becomes a chef or decides to start a hotel.
He quickly clicked the perfect recall skill to learn it, suddenly he had an ominous feeling but it was too late. The sudden rush of his suppressed memories knocked him out cold. he just fainted on the top of terrace floor.
--
--
[The Next Day]
He woke up early in the morning due to the cold wind, he sat up and shivered. He cursed under his breath. quickly got up and ran downstairs top his house.
After he got in he went bed and lied on the bed. He calmed himself down without getting angy on himself for his stupidity.
He could now really everything from both his lives. Before this it was becoming foggy to differentiate between which was what-whether past or present. Now he had perfect grasp of his memories, which almost made him drool of the possibilities he could use this skill.
His fingers twitched with anticipation. It was time to test them.
He grabbed his brand-new laptop, powered it on, and connected to the internet.
His previous theoretical knowledge had merged with his hacking mastery skill as if he had spent years mastering the craft.
He cracked his knuckles and got to work.
The first step was establishing an identity—one that wouldn't lead back to him.
He created multiple fake emails, each linked to different servers across the globe.
He set up a virtual machine with a customized OS, one stripped of any tracking features.
He installed a VPN chain with multiple rerouted locations, bouncing his connection between different countries.
Now, he needed a name.
He smirked. His old self had once dreamed of becoming a hacker, but he had lacked the skills. Now? He had more than enough.
After some thought, he typed:
Alias: Grey Phantom
Now came the tricky part—getting into the underground hacker community.
He applied to a mid-tier hacker forum under his new alias, using an encrypted message with code embedded inside to prove he wasn't just some script kiddie.
After a few minutes, a message popped up:
[Welcome, Grey Phantom.]
He was in.
David took a deep breath. It was easier than he expected.
---
---
Inside the forum, different sections were available—cracking, data retrieval, penetration testing, security bypasses, bounty boards.
He scrolled through the freelance requests, searching for something simple yet rewarding.
Then he found one.
---
[Job Posting]
Request: Extract personal messages from a social media account.
Payment: $5,000
Difficulty: Beginner
Status: OPEN
---
David leaned back. Simple social media hacking? Child's play.
His fingers hovered over the keyboard. He could do this in under an hour.
But before accepting, he reminded himself—this was the real world.
Did he want to cross this line?
He wasn't hacking for fun anymore. This was real crime, real consequences.
After a long moment, he clicked "Accept."
Time to put his new skills to the test.
Executing the Hack – David's First Freelance Job
Now that he had accepted the job, David needed to act carefully. He couldn't afford to make mistakes.
The first step was gathering information.
He checked the request details and found the target's username.
Using OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) techniques, he ran a quick background check.
Within minutes, he had a list of possible emails associated with the account.
Next, he needed access.
David had two options:
1. Phishing Attack: Trick the target into giving their login credentials.
2. Brute Force Attack: Exploit weak passwords or security flaws.
Since the request mentioned a social media account, he assumed the target was an average user, which meant weak security.
He decided to run a password dictionary attack.
David launched a script that automatically tested thousands of common passwords.
"Come on…" he muttered, watching the screen.
Within six minutes, the system beeped.
[Password cracked: sunshine123]
David let out a low chuckle. "Too easy."
He logged into the account, browsed through personal messages, and extracted the necessary data.
Before sending the information, he wiped all traces of his presence—no logs, no alerts, nothing.
Then, he attached the extracted messages to an encrypted file and sent it to the client.
Minutes later, a new notification appeared in his crypto wallet.
[Transaction Received: 0.083 BTC (~$5,000)]
David stared at the screen.
That was it?
He had just made $5,000 in less than thirty minutes.
It was faster than any job he had ever done in his life.
And it felt… too easy.
Since he tested his skills he decided to stop there. He would try it another time.
Just as he closed his laptop. He received a system quest.
[Side Mission:
Display your hacking skills.
White hat hacking: 0/10
Time limit: 1 month.
Rewards: +5 intelligence, 100 System points]
[Do you accept the Mission?]
[Y/N]
He grinned while he read through the mission description and accepted the mission.
The system issued his daily mission.
Decided to finish his morning chores and do the daily mission.
After finishing the daily mission he checked his status.
[STATUS]
[Name: David Arthur Brown
Age: 25
Race: Human
Strength: 11
Agility: 10
Intelligence: 18
SP: 33
Skills: Hand-to-Hand Combat Mastery, Parkour Mastery, Hacking Mastery, Perfect Recall, Cooking Mastery
Inventory: Glock 17 (5 Mags, Leg Holster), $100,800 Cash, Knuckle Dusters (Hidden Knives) – 2 nos, Bullet Time (Skill Card)]
He was satisfied. Ad decided to take bath.
While he took the shower he recalled everything that has happened yesterday and then it clicked.
"Holy shit the woman that I bumped into was Claire temple" he remembered from the daredevil series and the other marvel tv series she was in.
To Be Continued...