Chapter 1: The Day Nova Calder Became a Walking Wallet
The main cafeteria of Aethercrest Academy in downtown Astro smelled like overcooked fries, cheap soy-burgers, and the unmistakable stench of public humiliation.
Nova Calder stood dead center of the food court, plastic tray rattling in his shaking hands, while two hundred phones rose like a tidal wave of judgment.
Because Neina Calyx his girlfriend of eleven months, two weeks, and four days (he had counted) was ending him live on every social feed in the city.
She looked perfect, as always. Platinum blonde hair cascading in artificial waves, glossy lips curved into the influencer smile that got her 1.2 million followers, wearing the limited-edition white bomber jacket he had queued overnight to buy for her birthday.
"I'm not trying to be cruel, Nova," she announced, voice pitched perfectly for the cheap ceiling speakers to catch every syllable. "But let's be real. You're broke. Zero Vyr awakening. Zero prospects. I can't keep dating someone who can't even afford off-campus coffee."
Laughter rippled outward like a gunshot.
Neina flicked that expensive hair (extensions he had paid for with three straight weeks of 2 a.m. delivery shifts) and turned the knife a little deeper.
"I'm with Cassian Ryde now. At least he's top-ten on the Apex Roll and actually has a future in this world."
Cassian Ryde didn't even bother stepping forward. He just leaned against a concrete pillar in his black-and-gold House Ryde jacket the one that cost more than Nova's entire childhood and gave the crowd that lazy, royal smirk. Silver hair catching the fluorescent lights like he was born under a filter.
Neina stepped closer to Nova, dropping her voice to that fake sweet murmur she used when she wanted to sound intimate while still being recorded.
"I gave you a chance to level up, babe. You stayed level zero. We're done."
She held out her manicured hand, baby-pink nails glittering.
Nova stared at it like it was a loaded gun.
Because it was.
Slowly, like his body belonged to someone else, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the spare keycard to her riverside apartment the one he had been paying forty percent of the rent on for the last six months so she could "focus on content creation."
The little silver card slid from his fingers into her palm.
Cassian finally moved. He slung one possessive arm around Neina's waist, leaned in, and whispered something against her ear. Whatever it was made her laugh that bright, bell-like laugh she used to save only for him at 3 a.m. on the roof when they talked about running away together after graduation.
Now it belonged to someone else.
They walked away.
The cafeteria detonated.
Laughter. Slow claps. Someone actually yelled "Ratio!" like this was a gaming stream. A freshman in the corner started a countdown: "Ten… nine… eight…"
Nova's tray finally gave up. Soda fizzed across his already ruined sneakers. Fries scattered like confetti at a funeral.
He didn't move.
Couldn't move.
Security showed up eventually two bored sophomores in yellow vests and gently steered him toward the exit while the crowd kept filming.
Outside, Astro's evening rain hit him like cold needles.
Downtown glittered in the distance: neon billboards for Vyr enhancement clinics, floating ads for the newest Aether blades, luxury air-cars slicing between the skyscrapers of Celestine Heights.
And here he was in Ashen Row, the part of Astro the tourism ads never showed, with exactly $37.42 in his account.
Rent due in four days: $820.
Phone bill: $68.
And the girl he'd been planning to propose to next year on the Skybridge with the $300 ring he'd been saving for since summer… had just executed him in front of half the academy.
Nova walked until his legs gave out, then punched the nearest brick wall until his knuckles split and the pain finally overrode the one in his chest.
"Fuck this city," he hissed, blood mixing with rainwater. "Fuck Vyr. Fuck money. Fuck love. Fuck everything."
Something inside his chest cracked not a metaphor.
A blinding golden panel exploded across his vision, visible only to him, glowing through the rain like a cruel joke.
[DING!]
[Resentment Value: MAX]
[Heartbreak Damage: Critical Hit]
[Virgin Soul Shattered: 100%]
[Binding Supreme Sugar Daddy Cultivation System… 33%… 67%… 100%]
A lazy, sultry female voice purred directly into his skull, playful and mocking at the same time.
[Congratulations, Host ♡ You've officially hit rock bottom. Perfect place to start printing cash.]
[From this moment forward, every dollar you spend on a real, genuine girlfriend comes back multiplied. Spoil her rotten ascend to godhood. Simple ]
[The more you love, the richer you become. The more you spend, the stronger you grow. Welcome to the Sugar Daddy path.]
Nova blinked rain and blood out of his eyes.
"What the actual fuck kind of trash system is this?"
[Trash? Host, this is the single most broken system in all of Eryon. But first things first…]
A blood-red countdown materialized, ticking down in real time.
[Main Quest: Secure your first girlfriend within 7 natural days]
[Reward: Official activation + First Blood bonus]
[Failure Penalty: System permanently unbinds. Host remains broke for life.]
[Current girlfriends: 0 ]
[Time remaining: 6 days, 23 hours, 58 minutes, 47 seconds…]
The panel vanished as quickly as it came.
Nova stood in the downpour, bleeding, soaked, laughing like a lunatic.
"Find a girlfriend? In seven days? After that public execution?"
He wiped his face with a trembling, bloody hand.
"I'm so screwed."
He had no idea he was about to become the most dangerous kind of screwed known to man: Infinitely, ridiculously, obscenely rich.