The First Opportunity
Panic was a useless emotion.
In his previous life, as a project manager facing impossible deadlines and catastrophic system failures, he had learned that lesson the hard way. Panic clouded judgment. It led to stupid mistakes. It got people fired.
Right now, it could get him killed.
So, he pushed it down. He took the cold, hard knot of fear in his stomach and compartmentalized it, locking it away in a mental box. The fact remained: he was an unnamed extra in a story that was barreling towards chaos and destruction.
But he was an extra who had read the script.
The initial shock gave way to a chilling, razor-sharp clarity. The world, which had seemed like an insurmountable mountain, was now a complex system with rules he understood. The plot of The Awakened Swordsman wasn't a death sentence.
It was a user manual.
He closed his eyes, leaning back on the living room sofa. The holographic news screen was still playing, but he wasn't watching it anymore. He was accessing a different database: his own memories of a half-forgotten web novel.
He needed a plan. A two-year plan.
Two years. That was the time he had before the story truly began, before Zane Cross and all the other major players converged at Vanguard National Academy. Two years to transform himself from 'Cole Harris, Mid-F Ranker' into someone who could weather the coming storm.
He began to outline his objectives with the precision of a seasoned manager defining project milestones.
Objective One: Physical Improvement.
His current body was pathetic. The original Cole's focus on theory had left his physical vessel neglected. A Mid-F Ranker's stamina and strength were barely above that of a normal, non-mana-using person. In a world where even a stray Goblin could be a lethal threat, this was unacceptable. He needed to train, to build a foundation of real, tangible strength.
Objective Two: Secure a Unique Advantage.
He couldn't compete with Zane Cross on talent. That was a fact. The protagonist was a cheat character, an Awakened with a heaven-defying Trait. Trying to match him was a fool's errand. Cole's advantage had to be different. It had to be something subtle, something foundational that no one else had. It had to be something from outside the novel.
Objective Three: Acquire Capital.
Resources were everything. Training, equipment, information—it all cost money. He was living in a stable, middle-class home, but the Harris family didn't have the kind of disposable income he would need to truly accelerate his growth. He had to generate his own funding.
Objective Four: Know Your Limits.
This was the most critical objective. He was an extra, and while that gave him a unique perspective, it didn't make him invincible. He didn't need to hide in the shadows, but he couldn't afford to pick fights he couldn't win. Every action had to be weighed. He had to know when to push and when to pull back, ensuring he never provoked an avalanche he couldn't weather. It was about self-awareness, not hiding.
The plan was ambitious, but it was a start. Now, he needed his first actionable step. He focused on Objective Two, digging through his memories of the novel's early chapters.
The academy arc had been full of 'fated encounters' for Zane. Hidden items, secret training areas, forgotten legacies. Most were too flashy, too high-profile. He remembered Zane fighting a rival over an enchanted sword in a public auction. He remembered him stumbling upon a secret chamber beneath it. Too risky.
But there was one, earlier on. Before the academy.
It was a minor event, a footnote in Zane's early power-ups. A forgotten tomb in a remote mountain range. Inside, Zane found an old, unassuming manual. It didn't contain a legendary attack or a heaven-defying spell.
It detailed a mana circulation technique called [River Flow].
In the novel, the technique was described as revolutionary. It didn't increase a user's total mana capacity, but it dramatically improved two things: mana efficiency and recovery speed. It allowed the user to do more with less, and to recover their spent energy at a ridiculous rate.
For a powerhouse like Zane, it was a nice boost.
For a Mid-F Ranker like Cole, it was a game-changer. It was the perfect foundational skill. Subtle, internal, and completely invisible to the Index or any outside observer. It wouldn't change his rank, but it would fundamentally alter his potential.
That was it. That was his first opportunity.
He remembered the novel describing the tomb's location vaguely. "The forgotten crypts of the Sunken Peaks, a place where the old kings were laid to rest."
Cole's eyes snapped open. He sat up, his fingers flying across the terminal's holographic keyboard. He wasn't searching for adventure. He was conducting market research.
He pulled up national maps, cross-referencing them with geological surveys. "Sunken Peaks" wasn't an official name. It was likely a local colloquialism. He searched for mountain ranges with high rates of seismic subsidence. One region stood out: the Cinderfall Ranges, a remote and sparsely populated area several hundred kilometers to the north.
Next, he dived into the national historical archives. He searched for "royal crypts," "ancient kings," and "burial sites" connected to the Cinderfall region. Most of the results were well-documented tourist sites. He filtered them out, adding keywords like "forgotten," "lost," and "unexcavated."
After an hour of meticulous digging, he found it. A single, obscure entry. A footnote in a self-published digital book by a mad historian, dismissed by the academic community. It mentioned a local legend from the Cinderfall region about a "Valley of the Sunken Kings," rumored to be the site of a pre-unification dynasty's burial grounds. The historian had even included a crude, hand-drawn map of the supposed location.
It matched the fragmented descriptions from the novel perfectly.
He had his location. Now for the next problem: logistics.
He was a seventeen-year-old high school student. A round-trip ticket on the mag-lev train to the Cinderfall region would cost a small fortune, not to mention the gear he'd need for the expedition. It was far beyond his meager allowance. He couldn't ask his mother; a request for that much money for a trip to the middle of nowhere would raise a thousand questions.
He needed to solve Objective Three: Acquire Capital.
His mind immediately shifted to his other unique advantage. The knowledge from Earth. He would act as a freelance consultant. To do that, he needed a professional front.
He dipped into his personal savings—money the original Cole had painstakingly saved for mana research materials. It wasn't much, but it was enough to rent a small, private server space and register a domain. In a world without a widespread concept of freelance websites, this alone would make him look unique.
He spent the next few hours building a simple but elegant website. It was his digital business card and portfolio. He created a fake identity: "Aetheric Solutions," a boutique consultancy specializing in operational efficiency. He populated the portfolio with fabricated case studies, complete with impressive-sounding metrics and glowing, anonymous testimonials. "Aetheric Solutions increased our guild's dispatch efficiency by 18% in the first quarter." It was all lies, but it looked professional. He set up an anonymous contact number and a secure email address.
With his professional facade in place, he identified his targets: five small-to-mid-sized courier guilds in the city, the ones big enough to have logistical problems but too small to have a dedicated in-house tech team. He studied their public interfaces, identified their inefficiencies, and developed a tailored, partial solution for each.
Then, he began to craft his pitch. He didn't write like a coder. He wrote like a manager speaking to another manager.
A Proposal to Enhance Your Operational Efficiency
My name is C, a freelance consultant from Aetheric Solutions. We specialize in identifying and resolving systemic inefficiencies to maximize operational throughput and profitability….
…
…Attached is a proof-of-concept script that demonstrates a fraction of this potential. The full optimization package, complete with a detailed implementation guide and limited digital support, is available for immediate purchase on our website's secure portal…
…To ensure client satisfaction, all transactions are handled through a secure third-party payment system offering a full money-back guarantee if the product does not meet the specified performance benchmarks….
….
He sent five customized versions of the email, one to each guild. Now, all he could do was wait. This wasn't a forceful demand; it was a professional business proposal. It might take days, even weeks, to get a response. But Cole's experience had taught him one thing above all else.
Patience was key. The first piece of his two-year plan was in motion.