That was everyone worth mentioning from school.

  The rest were background characters in a story that had already ended.

  It was a slightly different feeling when I thought about university. Unlike secondary school, there was no one I particularly wanted to maintain a connection with. The people who enrolled in that affordable university were not the type who would eventually become financial allies, investors, or influential decision makers. Most were simply trying to secure a stable job after graduation.

  There was nothing wrong with that.

  It just was not the frequency I operated on.

  Even during university, I had always been a loner. I attended lectures, completed assignments, passed my exams, and went home. I never cared much for campus politics or social circles.

  My objective there had always been simple.

  Get the degree certificate.

  Then step into the adult world as quickly as possible.

  The real game did not begin in school. It began in the economy.

  Now the time had finally come.

  It was the fourth quarter of 2017. My final university examinations were finished, and the degree certificate was finally in my hands. For the first time in years, I was no longer a student preparing for the future.

  I was an adult standing at its entrance.

  Of course, my preparation had started long before this moment.

  Back in December 2012, during the final year of secondary school, I had been closely watching a strange new technology called Bitcoin. At that time, it was trading at around thirteen dollars. In my previous life I had watched it rise from obscurity into a global phenomenon.

  Naturally, my first instinct after regression had been to buy as much as possible.

  Unfortunately, reality was not that simple.

  During those early years, the financial authorities in my country treated cryptocurrencies with extreme suspicion. Exchanges were either blocked, heavily restricted, or operating in legal gray areas that could easily attract unwanted attention.

  Breaking financial regulations for a speculative asset was not a risk I was willing to take.

  This was the country where I intended to build my life.

  I had no interest in starting that life by becoming a criminal in the eyes of regulators.

  So I waited.

  When local exchanges finally became more accessible around early 2014, the situation was not much better. Bitcoin had already experienced a massive rise followed by a brutal crash. News headlines were full of warnings about hacks, exchange failures, and speculation bubbles.

  The price began a long and painful decline.

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  In my previous life I had watched that decline unfold in real time. Back then, I had been too cautious, too uncertain to act. This time was different.

  But patience was still necessary.

  The bear market continued through 2014, grinding down optimism month after month. People who once believed Bitcoin would change the world were now calling it a failed experiment.

  That was exactly the moment I had been waiting for.

  By early 2015, Bitcoin had fallen to just a few hundred dollars per coin. Public interest had nearly vanished. Forums were quiet. Media coverage disappeared.

  Perfect conditions for accumulation.

  I began purchasing gradually through a regulated exchange, careful not to attract attention or create unusual transaction patterns. I transferred the coins into a cold wallet, keeping them completely offline and out of reach from hackers.

  In total, I deployed roughly one hundred thousand dollars.

  Not everything I had.

  Just enough to take advantage of the opportunity while still leaving a financial buffer for life expenses, university fees, and my mother’s living costs over the next few years.

  Then I waited.

  The bull market of 2017 unfolded almost exactly as I remembered. Slow at first, then accelerating, then exploding into global attention.

  By December 2017, Bitcoin had reached nearly twenty thousand dollars.

  I did not sell at the absolute peak.

  No one ever does.

  But I exited gradually as the frenzy reached its highest levels. The result was still staggering.

  After conversion and fees, my Bitcoin holdings turned into roughly seven million dollars.

  Seven million.

  The number looked surreal when I saw it on paper.

  In my previous life I had worked years just to accumulate a fraction of that.

  Now, before even starting my first full time job, I already possessed a level of wealth that most people would never see in their entire lifetime.

  For a while I considered the possibility of simply retiring.

  Seven million dollars invested conservatively could generate enough income for a comfortable life. I could travel occasionally, buy a decent home, support my mother, and live without financial stress.

  Many people would call that success.

  But when I thought about it carefully, the excitement faded.

  Seven million was comfortable.

  It was not extraordinary.

  It would not allow private jets, global investments, venture capital deals, or access to the circles where real power moved. It would not allow me to experience everything the world had to offer.

  And more importantly, I knew something most people did not.

  I knew that 2020 was coming.

  The pandemic crash.

  A moment when global markets would panic and assets across multiple sectors would become absurdly cheap. Stocks, businesses, real estate, entire industries would be shaken by fear.

  Those who had liquidity during that chaos would have the opportunity to multiply their wealth several times over.

  Seven million was a strong foundation.

  But it was not the final number.

  To truly capitalize on that future opportunity, I needed more than just money.

  I needed positioning.

  Access.

  Information.

  Reputation.

  And those things were rarely given to outsiders.

  They were earned inside the system.

  Which meant I would still have to do something that felt almost absurd considering my financial position.

  I would enter the workforce.

  Like every other fresh graduate.

  I would sit through interviews, accept a modest salary, and start climbing the corporate ladder from the bottom.

  Not because I needed the paycheck.

  But because the workplace was a battlefield of alliances, rivalries, influence, and access to opportunities that outsiders never saw.

  Inside that world, promotions could be engineered.

  Relationships could be cultivated.

  Future allies could be identified long before they realized their own potential.

  Even enemies could become useful resources if approached correctly.

  Seven million dollars might buy comfort.

  But influence required strategy.

  As I looked out from my small apartment window, watching the lights of the city stretch endlessly into the distance, I felt the familiar sensation of standing at the beginning of something larger.

  The school years were preparation.

  University was simply a checkpoint.

  Now the real story was beginning.

  The corporate world awaited.

  And this time, I was entering it with knowledge of the future.

  Every dollar would still matter.

  Every relationship could become a lever.

  Every decision would move me closer to the moment when the world panicked in 2020.

  When that moment came, I intended to be ready.

  Not with seven million.

  But with something far greater.