Zero to Trillionaire: The Scholar’s God-Tier System

Sign-In: $10 Million

I stood in the middle of the empty lab, staring at the blue screen floating in front of my face. My breath was still heavy, and the salt from my tears tasted bitter on my lips. The world was still frozen. It was just me and this... thing.

[Sign-in Reward Pending...]

[Would the Host like to sign in for Day 1?]

I didn't even think about it. "Yes," I croaked. My voice sounded small in the silence.

[Ding! Sign-in Successful.]

[Day 1 Reward: $10,000,000.00 (Cash Asset) & Perfect Chemical Logic (Passive Skill).]

Suddenly, my head felt like it was being cracked open. It didn't exactly hurt, but it was a massive pressure, like a wave of cold water rushing into my brain.

Everything changed.

I looked at the sink where Bryan had destroyed my research. Before, I just saw a mess of black sludge. Now? I saw formulas. I saw the exact concentration of the sulfuric acid he used. I could calculate the rate of reaction in my head down to the millisecond. I looked at a bottle of copper sulfate on the shelf and instantly knew its boiling point, its density, and three different ways to turn it into a deadly gas or a life-saving medicine. My brain was no longer a student’s brain. It was a supercomputer.

Then, my phone buzzed in my pocket. The vibration felt like an electric shock because the rest of the world was so quiet. I pulled it out.

“Bank of Northwood: Your balance has been updated. New Balance: $10,000,008.50.”

I stared at the zeros. One, two, three... six zeros. Ten million dollars. This morning, I was worried about whether I could afford a $2 bus ticket to the hospital. Now, I could buy the whole bus company.

The blue screen flickered and vanished.

Snap.

The sound of the world returned. The fly buzzed away. The clock ticked. The hum of the air conditioner kicked back in. Everything was back to normal, except for the fact that I was now a multi-millionaire standing in a pile of trash.

I reached down and picked up my bag. I needed to move. I needed to see my mom. But before I could take a single step, my phone started ringing. It wasn't a text this time. It was a call from an unknown number.

"Hello?" I said.

"Ethan Vance?" The voice on the other end was sharp and professional. A woman. She sounded like she had never smiled a day in her life.

"Yes, this is Ethan."

"This is Amanda Davis from the Montgomery Legal Group. I’m calling to inform you that a civil lawsuit has been filed against you by Northwood Institute, sponsored by our client, Bryan Montgomery."

My heart skipped a beat. "A lawsuit? For what? He’s the one who destroyed my work!"

I heard the sound of papers shifting on her end. "The report filed by the University Dean and Mr. Montgomery states that you intentionally sabotaged the high-end spectroscopy equipment in Lab 4-B during a mental breakdown following your expulsion. The estimated damage is $450,000. Since you have no insurance and your scholarship is gone, we are seeking immediate payment or a court order for the seizure of any assets you or your family own."

$450,000?

They weren't just kicking me out. They were trying to send me and my mother to the streets. They knew my mom was in the hospital. They knew she had no money. They wanted to kill her to get to me.

"I didn't break anything," I said, my teeth clenched so hard my jaw ached. "Bryan smashed the beaker on the floor. He poured the acid."

"That’s not what the security footage shows, Mr. Vance," the lawyer said coldly. "Or rather, the footage from that specific ten-minute window seems to have been  lost due to a technical error. We have three witness students who say you went crazy and started smashing things."

Bryan’s friends. They were his lapdogs. They would say the sky was purple if he paid them.

"You have twenty-four hours to respond with a settlement offer of $500,000—that includes our legal fees," she continued. "If not, we will proceed with an emergency injunction. We’ve already contacted St. Jude’s Hospital. Since you are the primary guarantor for your mother's medical bills, her accounts will be frozen as part of the suit."

The room went cold. "You contacted the hospital? She’s in the middle of treatment! If you freeze those accounts, they’ll stop her medication!"

"Then I suggest you find the money, Mr. Vance. Have a nice afternoon."

I sat down at the lab bench—the same one Bryan had shoved me against. I didn't leave. Instead, I opened my laptop. It was an old, slow machine with a cracked screen, but with my new "Chemical Logic" and the System's influence, it felt like I was typing on a spaceship.

I didn't call the lawyer back. I didn't call Chloe.

First, I logged into the hospital’s payment portal. I typed in my mother’s patient ID.

Outstanding Balance: $14,200.00.

Required Deposit for Surgery: $40,000.00.

I didn't blink. I typed in my new bank details. Pay Full Amount. Transaction Successful. Thank you, Mr. Vance.

Next, I went to the Northwood Institute's internal donation page. The school was always looking for money. I found the section for departmental Funding.

I saw that the Chemistry department, my department was struggling to buy a new mass spectrometer. The cost was $1.2 million. The Montgomery family had promised to donate it next year, which is why the Dean was so busy kissing Bryan’s boots.

I typed in the amount. $2,000,000.00.

In the note section, I wrote: “A gift from a student who knows the true value of research. Please use this to replace the equipment Mr. Montgomery is too cheap to buy.”

I hit send.

My phone buzzed almost instantly. A notification from the bank.

“Spent: $2,054,200.00. Remaining Balance: $7,945,808.50.”

I still had nearly eight million dollars left. And the day wasn't even over.

I felt a strange hum in the back of my head. It was the System.

[Ding! Host has demonstrated Sovereign Composure.]

[Hidden Quest Triggered: The Counter-Suit.]

[Task: You have the money, now get the proof. Hack the Northwood security server and find the 'lost' footage.]

[Reward: $5,000,000.00 & 'Advanced Hacking' Skill.]

I looked at my old, cracked laptop. Before today, I barely knew how to use Excel. But now, with "Perfect Logic," the code on the screen looked like a simple puzzle. I could see the holes in the university's firewall. It looked like a fence made of toothpicks.

"You want a lawsuit, Bryan?" I whispered. My fingers flew across the keyboard, the clicking sound filling the silent lab. "I’m going to give you a war."

I could see it already. The look on the Dean's face when he saw the two-million-dollar donation. The look on the lawyer’s face when I showed up with a legal team that cost more than her entire firm. And Chloe...

I wanted to see Chloe’s face when she realized she had traded a trillionaire for a guy who was about to lose everything.

I wasn't the scholar-beggar anymore. I was the one holding all the cards. And I was going to play every single one of them until Bryan Montgomery was the one begging for a hundred dollars on the street.

I closed my laptop and stood up. I had work to do. And the first thing on my list?

Buying a suit that cost more than Bryan’s car.