Crypto Lord: The Digital Dominion System

Chapter 4: The System Awakens

His half-dead phone screen dimmed, then sparked like static. For a second, Ethan thought his vision was failing. But no, something else was actually happening. A strange holographic screen erupted in front of him, shimmering with glitching codes and pulsating with led circuits that bent reality itself.

Ethan sat upright. His breath caught in his throat.

“Wh-what the hell is this…?”

The lines of cascading numbers flooded across the holographic screen, rearranging themselves into words, the words that made the blood in his veins freeze,

“System Initialization Complete

Welcome, Host: Ethan Cross.

Status: Rock Bottom.

Mission: Dominate the Global Crypto Sphere.”

Ethan’s eyes widened. He rubbed his face with his hands, thinking he had finally gone insane from starvation. But the screen didn’t fade. It grew brighter and sharper, filling the air with a low hum.

“Dominate… the crypto sphere?” he whispered.

A new line of text burned into existence right in his vision. 

“First Quest Issued! Objective: Turn $1 into $1,000 within 24 hours. Host has a reward: The Beginner AI Bot, Scalper-X. Penalty: Permanent Ban from All Trading Activities.”

Ethan’s lips parted in disbelief. His heart raced. “Turn a single dollar into a thousand In twenty-four hours?”

It was absurd, impossible and it looked like  madness. Yet the words stared back at him with the weight of a decree.

The screen flashed again, vibrating with an electric hum as though urging him to decide.

“Accept Quest? Y/N”

Ethan clenched his fists, trembling. His entire body screamed with hesitation. Failure would mean complete ruin. But what ruin was left? He had no home because his father sent him packing, no money, nothing left  but broken pride.

His father’s voice rang in his skull, “You’ll never make it, Ethan. You’re destined to be a nobody.”

And then, faintly, like a whisper from another lifetime, his mother’s gentle words echoed, “One day, you’ll change the world, Ethan.”

He swallowed the lump in his throat. His hand reached out instinctively toward the glowing interface.

“Accept.”

The moment the word left his lips, the system roared to life.

The holographic screen expanded, wrapping him in a prism of led light. His head snapped back as torrents of information flooded into his brain, trading charts, candlestick patterns, algorithms and global market data spanning decades. 

It was as if the entire knowledge of Wall Street, crypto exchanges, and black-market finance had been compressed into raw energy and forced directly into his skull.

“Aaaaghh!” Ethan screamed, clutching his head. His vision blurred with rapid graphs, flashing red and green candles, streams of liquidity and order books surging like ocean waves.

It felt like drowning and flying at the same time.

Ethan collapsed to his knees, drenched in sweat and his chest heaving like a man dragged out of the sea. The holographic screen stabilized, pulsing calmly before him.

“Tutorial Uploaded: Complete

System Functions Unlocked: Trading Analysis, Market Prediction, Risk Assessment and Psychological Reinforcement.”

Ethan gasped for air with his hands shaking. His hands trembled as he raised his head. His eyes burned with something he hadn’t felt in few hours and that's hope.

“This… this is real.” He echoed with disbelief. 

But the system wasn’t done. Another notification chimed:

“Host Resources: $1.00.”

A digital coin shimmered on the interface, representing the single dollar the system had allocated him. Ethan’s throat went dry. One dollar to his name and that was all.

“Countdown: 24:00:00.”

The timer ticked down, second by second in a merciless reminder of the impossible task.

Ethan stood with his adrenaline burning hot through his veins. Around him, the financial district’s skyscrapers loomed. Their glass towers reflect the neon glow of the system. The hum of traffic filled the night, but to Ethan, the world had narrowed to a single truth,

He had twenty-four hours to climb from nothing to something or lose everything forever.

“Fine,” he muttered, wiping sweat from his brow. “Let’s see what this system can do.”

The interface flickered again, revealing a glowing icon,

“Scalper-X Preview Locked: Earn to Unlock”

Beneath it, rows of trading charts and market data stretched infinitely. Ethan tapped one, and suddenly the hologram expanded into an interactive globe of all major crypto exchanges, Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, KuCoin, and even hidden darknet markets he had never heard of.

His jaw clenched. “This… this is power.”

The system’s voice echoed yet strangely commanding as it rang in his mind:

“Host, you stand at the edge of annihilation. You have one chance. Use it, or perish.”

Ethan’s fists tightened. His mind was no longer clouded by despair and his blood boiled with fire.

Damien’s sneer replayed in his head. Clara’s words echoed in his head, “You’re just a loser delivery boy.”

“No,” Ethan growled. “I’m going to rise. I’ll make you all choke on your words.”

The countdown ticked louder in his mind, “23:58:42.”

But behind the  thrill of his awakening, Ethan knew Damien and his allies had manipulated the last market crash. If they could rig the game once, they could do it again.