Brandi Ratcliff descended the spiral staircase and walked down the long, drafty corridor until she reached her dormitory.

She pushed the door open. The room was exactly as she remembered it-neat, filled with books, and completely suffocating. She looked at the familiar furniture, feeling absolutely nothing in her chest.

She walked straight to her bed and picked up the high-grade space bag resting on her pillow. It had the silver peak crest embroidered on the front. She had won it in a tournament, bleeding for this academy.

Heavy, rushed footsteps echoed in the hallway.

A squad of academy enforcers shoved their way into her room, blocking the doorway. They were acting on Obadiah's direct orders.

The captain of the enforcers stepped forward. His face was a mask of rigid authority.

"Hand over all academy property," the captain barked. "By the Dean's direct order, that includes your identification badge, the uniform on your back, and the Silver Peak space bag you won in the tournament."

Brandi let out a short, cold laugh. She reached up and unfastened the silver clasps of her elite academy robe. She shrugged it off her shoulders and let the heavy fabric drop to the wooden floorboards.

Underneath, she wore a simple linen shirt and a pair of worn riding pants. She had bought them with her own money in the town at the base of the mountain. They belonged to her.

The captain frowned, his eyes dropping to the space bag in her hand. He held out his palm. "The bag. Now."

Brandi didn't hesitate. She tipped the bag upside down over her mattress.

Several vials of precious mana recovery potions, three advanced rune manuals, and a handful of glowing Mana Crystals spilled out, clattering against each other.

Greed flashed in the captain's eyes. He quickly scooped the items into his arms, then snatched the empty space bag right out of Brandi's hand. His greedy gaze briefly swept over her form, pausing for a fraction of a second on the hilt of a worthless, rusty iron dagger tucked into her boot. He sneered, completely dismissing the piece of junk in favor of the glowing crystals in his arms.

Brandi dusted off her palms. She turned toward the door, ready to leave.

Two enforcers crossed their long spears in front of her, blocking her exit.

"We need to search you," the captain said, his eyes narrowing. "To ensure you haven't swallowed any micro-storage rings."

Brandi's blood ran cold. Her eyes darkened.

She raised her right hand. Instantly, a highly compressed ball of fire ignited at the tip of her index finger. The heat was so intense it warped the air in the small room, making the edges of the enforcers' faces look wavy and distorted.

Her magic circuits were damaged, but her past-life combat experience allowed her to manipulate mana with terrifying precision.

The two enforcers holding the spears stumbled backward, the intense heat searing their skin. Fear widened their eyes. Their hands shook violently around the wooden shafts of their weapons.

The captain swallowed hard, taking a step back. He knew a compressed fireball like that could blow a hole straight through his chest.

"Get out of here," the captain yelled, trying to sound authoritative while his voice cracked. He signaled his men, and they scrambled out of the room, eager to divide the stolen loot.

Brandi extinguished the flame. She walked out of the dormitory and stepped into the wide, open courtyard of the academy.

Hundreds of students stopped and stared. Whispers hissed through the cold air. Some pointed at her plain linen shirt, mocking her for crossing Seraphina. Others just watched with cold, indifferent eyes.

Brandi kept her chin up. She didn't look at a single one of them. She walked with steady, measured steps until she passed through the towering iron gates of Silver Peak Academy.

She stood at the crossroads outside the walls. The biting wind sliced through her thin linen shirt, raising goosebumps on her arms. She shivered.

She shoved her hands into her pockets. Her fingers brushed against three rusty copper coins. It wasn't even enough to buy a stale piece of bread in the town below, let alone a room for the night.

She lifted her head and looked toward the jagged, dark peaks of the Magical Beast Mountain Range in the distance. Heavy grey clouds hung over the trees. It was a death trap for a weakened mage, but it was also the only place where she could find unclaimed resources.

Without a second thought, she turned her back on the safe, paved road to the town and stepped onto the dirt path leading into the mountains.

The moment she crossed the tree line, the sunlight vanished, blocked by the thick canopy of leaves. The low, guttural growl of an unseen beast echoed through the damp air. The atmosphere grew instantly heavy, pressing down on her chest.

She slowed her pace. Her eyes scanned the underbrush, using her past-life knowledge to avoid patches of toxic moss. She needed to find a cave before nightfall.

She trekked through the dense, unforgiving woods for what felt like half the day. Her thin shoes sank into the mud, and her muscles ached with every step. She had narrowly dodged two low-tier shadow-wolves by hiding in a hollow log, holding her breath until her lungs burned, and managed to forage only a few miserable, low-value bitter-root herbs. Just as the crushing weight of despair began to settle over her, the sharp, metallic scent of blood hit her nose.

She stopped dead in her tracks.

She crouched down. Smeared across the dead leaves was a trail of fresh blood. It wasn't red. It was a dark, sickly purple.

Purple blood meant someone had been poisoned by a high-tier magical beast, or they were suffering from dark magic backlash.

Brandi had no intention of playing savior, but her instincts told her a dead mage might have a pouch of crystals left behind.

She reached into her boot and pulled out a rusty dagger-the only weapon the enforcers hadn't found. Keeping her breathing shallow, she followed the purple stains deeper into the thick, thorny bushes.

Brandi Ratcliff pushed aside the thorny branches, the sharp needles tearing at the sleeves of her linen shirt.

Laying in the mud, half-submerged in a puddle of dirty water, was a young man. His black hair was plastered to his forehead, and his clothes were soaked in blood.

She tightened her grip on the rusty dagger and crept closer. Her boots made no sound against the wet earth.

A deep, jagged gash tore across the boy's chest, exposing the white gleam of bone. Thick, black mist seeped from the edges of the wound, eating away at his flesh. His eyes were squeezed shut, his jaw clenched in absolute agony. His pale fingers were locked in a death grip around a shattered defensive rune stone.

Brandi crouched beside him. She used the tip of her dagger to flick open the ruined collar of his shirt.

She saw his face clearly for the first time.

Her breath hitched. Her pulse slammed against her throat.

It was a face she had seen on a thousand wanted posters in her past life. The sharp cheekbones, the straight nose, the devastatingly handsome features that would one day belong to the man who slaughtered half the continent.

Cason Strong. The ultimate villain.

Right now, he was just a broken, bleeding teenager. His breathing was shallow, his chest barely rising. He was minutes away from dying of blood loss and mana deviation.

Brandi's grip on the dagger tightened. Her knuckles turned white. If she slit his throat right now, she would save millions of lives.

She raised the rusty blade, aiming the tip straight at his carotid artery.

Looking down at Cason's dying form, the suffocating memory of her past life washed over her-the agonizing helplessness of having her own magic circuits drained dry, of being nothing but a disposable tool for others' gain. A bitter, icy resolve hardened in her chest. No. In this life, she absolutely refused to be the sacrificial lamb on someone else's altar. She was going to be the one holding the capital, the player controlling the board.

Just as her muscles tensed to strike, a cold, mechanical voice echoed directly inside her skull.

[Target with Supreme Destiny detected. Karma Investment Engine activated.]

Brandi froze. The dagger hovered an inch above Cason's neck.

A translucent blue panel materialized in the air in front of her. It hovered over Cason's bleeding body, displaying a list of his critical, failing vitals.

[System Prompt: Invest karma in this Destiny Target to receive high-yield returns. Current available investment: Save his life.]

Brandi's mind raced. Killing him offered her nothing but a corpse. She was broke, her magic circuits were damaged, and she was alone in a deadly forest. She needed resources. Fast.

She lowered the dagger and let out a harsh breath.

She grabbed the hem of her only clean linen shirt and ripped a long strip of fabric free. She pressed the cloth hard against the gaping wound on his chest.

To stop the black mist from spreading, she forced her damaged core to push out a sliver of mana. A sharp pain stabbed behind her eyes, but she gritted her teeth and cast a basic purification spell.

A faint white glow spread from her palms, covering the wound. As her purification spell touched his shattered core, she felt a sudden, terrifying jolt of resistance-a stubborn, violent surge of dark energy that crackled against her magic like dormant black lightning. The black mist hissed and dissolved. Cason's facial muscles relaxed slightly as the burning agony subsided.

Brandi tied off the makeshift bandage. Her vision swam. She collapsed backward into the mud, her chest heaving as she gasped for air. Her body was completely drained.

The blue panel in front of her suddenly erupted in a blinding golden light.

[Investment Successful! Rated as 'Lifesaving Grace'.]

[Congratulations, Host. Reward: 100,000 High-Grade Mana Crystals, and one perfect-quality Foundational Healing Potion.]

Brandi stared at her empty hands. A heavy leather pouch materialized in her left hand, clinking with the sound of dense crystals. In her right hand, a small glass vial appeared, swirling with a glowing emerald liquid.

One hundred thousand high-grade crystals. That was more wealth than Silver Peak Academy saw in a decade. She had gone from a beggar to a billionaire in ten seconds.

She didn't waste time staring. She popped the cork off the vial with her thumb and downed the perfect-quality healing potion in one gulp.

A wave of intense, burning heat exploded in her stomach and rushed through her veins. She heard a faint popping sound inside her own body as her torn magic circuits forcefully reconnected and expanded.

The color rushed back into her pale cheeks. The lingering pain from severing the soul contract vanished entirely. Her mana reserves felt deeper and more volatile than ever before.

She curled her fingers into a fist, feeling the raw power humming under her skin. Her eyes burned with a feverish intensity. This system was the ultimate cheat code.

A low groan broke the silence.

Cason's fingers twitched in the mud.

Brandi instantly wiped the thrill from her face. She smoothed her expression into a mask of cold indifference and stood up, looking down at him.

Cason's dark eyes fluttered open. The moment he registered he was alive, pure, lethal hostility flooded his gaze. He looked like a cornered wolf, ready to bite through bone.

He tried to scramble backward, but the movement pulled at his chest wound. He hissed, his jaw clenching tight as cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

He looked down at his chest, seeing the crude linen bandage and feeling the absence of the dark magic. He looked up at Brandi, confusion warring with the violence in his eyes.

Brandi didn't offer a soft smile. She didn't ask if he was okay.

"If you're awake, get up and walk," Brandi said, her voice flat and devoid of any warmth. "Don't die next to me and attract the beasts."

She turned her back to him, her boots sinking slightly into the mud, and prepared to walk away.

Brandi Ratcliff took her first step away. Her boot snapped a dry twig, the sharp crack echoing loudly through the damp, silent trees.

Cason lay in the mud, his dark eyes locked onto her retreating back. His mind was a chaotic mess. The memories of his past life-the endless betrayals, the knives in his back from people who smiled at him-clashed violently with the reality of the crude linen bandage wrapped tightly around his chest.

He gritted his teeth and tried to force mana into his legs to stand. A blinding, tearing pain ripped through his damaged core. His muscles gave out, and he slammed back into the wet earth with a heavy thud.

Brandi heard the noise. She paused for a fraction of a second, her index finger tapping lightly against her thigh, but she didn't turn around. She kept walking.

She was about to disappear behind a thick cluster of thorny bushes.

The primal instinct to survive overpowered Cason's deep-seated paranoia. His throat was raw, his voice cracking as he forced the word out.

"Wait."

Brandi's lips curved into a tiny, victorious smile. She instantly wiped it away, replacing it with a look of deep annoyance as she turned her head to look over her shoulder.

She raised one eyebrow. "What? I stopped you from bleeding out. My charity ends there."

Cason swallowed hard, the humiliation burning in his chest. "Take me with you. Get me out of this forest. I will... I will repay you. Whatever you want."

Brandi rolled her eyes inwardly. A villain's empty promise meant nothing to her. She wanted the system's instant payouts.

She pretended to weigh her options, her eyes scanning his broken body. She walked back to him and stood over him, extending her pale, dirt-smudged hand.

"My name is Brandi Ratcliff," she said coldly. "I'll take you. But you are dead weight right now. You do exactly what I say."

Cason stared at her hand. He hesitated, his jaw ticking, before he finally reached up and gripped her fingers.

The moment their skin touched, the mechanical voice chimed in Brandi's head.

[Initial bond established. Daily investment task triggered: Share water.]

Brandi hauled him up. Cason's legs buckled, and he stumbled forward, his heavy frame crashing into her shoulder.

He instinctively tried to shove himself away from her, hating the vulnerability, but as he moved, he caught the scent of her hair-a faint mix of crushed herbs and fresh blood. The scent bypassed his defenses, forcing a strange, tiny knot of tension in his chest to loosen.

Brandi didn't complain about his weight. She grabbed his arm and threw it over her shoulders, wrapping her arm around his waist to support him. Together, they began the agonizingly slow trek through the dense forest.

After half a mile, Cason's breathing grew ragged. His skin was burning with fever, and his cracked lips were bleeding slightly.

Brandi stopped walking. She leaned him against the rough bark of a massive oak tree.

She reached into the deep pocket of her riding pants, secretly accessing her system inventory, and pulled out a leather flask filled with cold, clean water.

She popped the wooden cork and shoved the flask toward his face.

"Drink," she ordered, her tone harsh. "I'm not carrying a corpse."

Cason eyed the flask suspiciously. He took it with shaking hands and brought it to his lips. He drank greedily, the cool water soothing the raw burn in his throat.

The system panel flashed gold in Brandi's vision.

[Investment task 'Share water' complete. Reward: 50 Premium Mana Crystals.]

Brandi's heart did a happy leap, but her face remained a mask of stone. She snatched the flask back the moment he finished and shoved the cork back in.

Cason wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He stared at her sharp profile. The contradiction was driving him crazy. Her words were venomous, but her actions were keeping him alive.

"Why are you doing this?" Cason asked, his voice low and laced with heavy suspicion. "You don't know me."

Brandi knew exactly how to handle a paranoid villain. If she claimed she was just a good person, he would never trust her.

She let out a harsh, cynical laugh. "Don't flatter yourself. This forest is crawling with beasts. If something jumps out of the bushes, I need a meat shield to throw at it while I run."

Cason blinked. Then, the tension in his shoulders completely vanished.

That was it. That was the brutal, selfish logic he understood. It made perfect sense in this twisted world. He actually felt a wave of relief wash over him. He found this cold, calculating woman far more tolerable than the hypocrites who preached righteousness before stabbing him in the back.

They rested for a few minutes before Brandi hauled him back up.

Just as the sun began to dip below the horizon, casting long, bloody shadows through the trees, the dense foliage finally broke.

They stepped out of the tree line onto a wide, packed-dirt road. In the distance, the warm, flickering lights of a sprawling town illuminated the dusk.

Clearwater City.

Brandi stared at the lights, her index finger tapping a slow rhythm against her thigh. That city was a goldmine, the perfect place to start pouring her new wealth into her favorite investment project.