The corridors of the Royal Institute of Technology felt like a museum of ancient history to Xavier. To the other students, the sleek glass walls and high-speed Wi-Fi were the pinnacle of modernity. To Xavier, who had seen the floating data-cities of 2050 and the bio-organic neural networks of the future, this was like walking through a steam-engine factory.
Too slow, he thought, adjusting the strap of his worn-out backpack. Everything is so damn slow.
"Thorne! Stop right there!"
Xavier didn't stop. He didn't even slow down. He knew the voice—it was Professor Higgins' teaching assistant, Miller. Miller was a sycophant who spent most of his time trying to get into the Sterling family's good graces.
Xavier felt a hand grab his shoulder. In an instant, the muscle memory of a man who had survived a decade in the Neo-Berlin slums kicked in. He didn't use brute strength; he simply shifted his weight and applied pressure to a specific nerve cluster on Miller's wrist.
Miller let out a yelp and pulled back, his hand trembling.
"Don't touch me," Xavier said, his voice flat. He didn't turn around. "And tell Higgins that if he wants to know how to patch that leak, he can find me at my office. But my hourly rate starts at ten thousand dollars."
"Your office? You live in a dorm room that smells like stale ramen!" Miller hissed, clutching his wrist. "You're in big trouble, Thorne. Leo is already calling his father. You destroyed a fifty-thousand-dollar custom rig!"
Xavier finally turned, a chilling indifference in his eyes. "Tell Leo he should thank me. I just showed him that his 'impenetrable' fortress was made of cardboard. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a world to rebuild."
Leaving a stunned Miller behind, Xavier headed straight for the campus library—specifically, the basement where the legacy servers were kept. He needed more than his ancient laptop to do what he was planning.
He sat in a dark corner of the library, the blue light of his screen reflecting in his cold, calculating eyes. He opened a terminal window. It was time to check his resources.
Bank Balance: $52.14.
Xavier sighed. In 2050, he was a man whose brain could calculate trillions of operations per second, yet here he was, limited by a double-digit bank balance. But he wasn't worried. He knew a secret that the world wouldn't discover for another twelve hours.
April 2nd, 2026. The 'Aura Finance' Flash Loan Exploit.
In his original timeline, Aura Finance was a rising star in the DeFi (Decentralized Finance) space. Tomorrow morning, a mysterious hacker would exploit a logic error in their smart contract, draining $40 million in assets. The hacker was never caught, and the event triggered a massive crash in the crypto market.
Xavier didn't want to be the hacker. He didn't want the FBI or Interpol on his tail this early. He wanted to be the "lucky trader" who predicted the volatility.
First, I need a seed.
He opened a dark-web forum, one he remembered from his youth. Using a guest account, he navigated to a section for "Bug Bounties." He found a post from a mid-sized cybersecurity firm looking for a fix for a persistent server-side lag.
Xavier typed for three minutes. He didn't just fix the lag; he rewrote their entire load-balancing algorithm using a 2035 efficiency model.
He hit 'Send' with an anonymous Bitcoin wallet address attached.
Ten minutes later, a notification popped up.
Payment Received: 0.015 BTC (~$900).
"It's a start," Xavier whispered.
He didn't waste a second. He moved the $900 into a high-leverage trading platform. In 2026, the regulations on these platforms were still full of holes. He opened a 100x short position on 'Aura Token.'
To anyone else, this was suicide. The token was currently pumping, up 15% on the day. But Xavier knew the code. He knew that at exactly 2:14 AM tonight, the exploit would be triggered.
As he worked, a shadow fell over his desk.
"Xavier? Is that really you?"
He looked up. A girl stood there, holding a stack of books. She had messy auburn hair and glasses that were slightly too big for her face. Claire Vance.
In his past life, Claire was the only person who stayed by his side when Aether Corp ruined him. She was a brilliant coder herself, but she had died in a 'car accident' that Xavier later found out was an assassination meant for him.
Seeing her alive, young, and healthy sent a jolt of genuine emotion through his cold exterior.
"Claire," he said, his voice softening just a fraction.
"I heard what happened in Higgins' class," she said, sitting down across from him, her eyes wide with worry. "Leo is furious, Xavier. He's telling everyone you used a 'illegal hacking device.' They're talking about expelling you."
Xavier leaned back, a small, dangerous smirk appearing on his face. "Let them try. I'm done playing by their rules, Claire."
"But your scholarship..."
"I won't need a scholarship where I'm going," Xavier said, closing his laptop. "Tell me, Claire, do you still have that old server rack in your garage? The one your dad used for his data business?"
Claire blinked, confused. "Yeah, but it's junk. It hasn't been turned on in years."
"I need it," Xavier said, standing up. "Tonight. I'm going to build something that will make Leo Sterling's family look like street vendors."
Claire looked at him, sensing a change she couldn't explain. The Xavier she knew was brilliant but shy, always retreating. This man... this man felt like a king disguised as a student.
"Okay," she whispered, caught in the gravity of his confidence. "Come over after dark."
Xavier nodded. As he walked out of the library, he checked his phone. The Aura Token was still climbing. The world was oblivious. The sheep were fattening themselves up for the slaughter, and Xavier Thorne was the only one with a knife.
By tomorrow morning, his $50 would be $10,000. By next week, it would be $100,000.
The Tech Emperor had begun his climb.