The following week passed more smoothly than I expected.
For the first time since returning to the past, I had something resembling a routine.
School in the morning, tutoring in the afternoon, and studying whenever I had the chance.
At night, I would go over everything I remembered about the future and decide what I could safely use without drawing too much attention to myself.
The tutoring job with the Villareal family had already proven useful.
Clara was surprisingly easy to teach once she stopped treating me like some strange kid her parents had hired by mistake.
She asked a lot of questions, sometimes more than I expected, but I didn’t mind.
Explaining things to her forced me to think about how to simplify complicated ideas without relying on the advanced knowledge I had accumulated during my first life.
More importantly, Daniel Villareal had agreed to let one of his engineers look over my battery design.
That was a development I hadn’t expected to happen so quickly.
I still needed money—a lot of it—but for the first time, I had more than one path toward getting it.
There was the lottery, there was tutoring, and now there was the possibility that my battery design could eventually become something commercially useful.
I wasn’t going to become rich overnight.
That wasn’t the point.
I was building the foundation, and for now, that was enough.
There was another part of my life that had also started to settle into something I hadn’t experienced in years.
Rosalie.
We had continued walking home together whenever our schedules allowed it.
Sometimes we talked about school, sometimes about our families, and sometimes about completely meaningless things.
I liked those conversations more than I wanted to admit.
In my first life, I had spent years wishing I could have had moments like these.
Now I was finally getting them.
So when lunch came that day, I naturally headed toward Rosalie’s classroom.
I had barely stepped through the doorway when she looked up and smiled.
“Rafael.”
I smiled back.
“Did you bring your lunch?”
She lifted her lunch container.
“Of course.”
“Good.
I was starting to think I’d have to eat alone.”
She laughed softly.
“You’re the one who came late.”
“I had something to finish.”
I walked over to her desk, but before I could sit down, something caught my attention.
One of the desks near the window was empty.
Niel’s desk.
I frowned.
It wasn’t unusual for someone to miss class once in a while, but Niel wasn’t the type to disappear without anyone mentioning it.
I looked around the room before turning back to Rosalie.
“Where’s Niel?”
The change in her expression was immediate.
Her smile disappeared, and Jessa, who was sitting beside her, exchanged a worried glance with her.
“You don’t know?” Jessa asked.
“Know what?”
Rosalie lowered her eyes.
“Niel is in the hospital.”
For a moment, I thought I had misunderstood her.
“What?”
“He was attacked yesterday,” Jessa explained quietly.
I stared at her.
“Attacked?”
She nodded.
“Some students said Dante and his friends were involved.”
Everything around me seemed to fade.
Dante.
Yesterday.
Tomorrow.
The memory came back with perfect clarity.
Dante standing across the street, watching Niel.
The way he had spoken to me before we parted.
His final words echoed inside my head.
Tomorrow.
He hadn’t been bluffing.
He had done exactly what he promised.
Only he hadn’t attacked me.
He had gone after Niel because of me.
“How bad is he?” I asked.
Rosalie answered this time.
“He’s conscious.
His mother took him to the hospital yesterday.
Jessa heard that he has a lot of bruises, and the doctor thinks he may have fractured a rib.”
I slowly placed my lunch on the desk.
Something hot began building inside my chest.
I had seen far worse injuries in my first life.
I had watched soldiers come back from battle missing limbs.
I had seen people burned by energy weapons and crushed beneath collapsing structures.
I had spent years fighting monsters that could kill dozens of people in seconds.
But this was different.
Niel hadn’t chosen a war.
He wasn’t a soldier.
He was a fourteen-year-old kid who happened to be my friend, and he had been beaten because someone wanted to scare me.
Rosalie reached for my arm.
“Rafael.”
I looked at her.
“Where are you going?”
“To find Dante.”
Her expression immediately changed.
“Don’t.”
“I’m not going to let him do this again.”
“Rafael, please.”
Her voice was quiet, but I could hear the concern in it.
She was looking at me the same way she had when she noticed the bruises on my face, worried that I was going to get hurt.
I took a breath.
“I’ll be careful.”
It wasn’t really an answer, but it was the only one I could give her.
I turned and left the classroom.
I knew where to look.
Dante and his friends usually spent their free time around the covered court or near the older students’ classrooms.
I checked the corridor first, then the canteen and the area beside the basketball court, but they weren’t there.
I kept walking, my frustration growing with every empty hallway.
I wasn’t looking for a fight.
At least, that was what I told myself.
I wanted an explanation.
I wanted Dante to look me in the eye and admit what he had done.
Deep down, however, I already knew.
Then I saw them.
Four boys were standing near the covered court, and leaning against one of the posts was Dante.
He was laughing with his friends as if nothing had happened, as if Niel wasn’t lying in a hospital bed because of him.
The moment he noticed me, his expression changed.
Not to fear, but amusement.
A small smile appeared on his face.
I walked toward him.
Students nearby began noticing.
One conversation stopped, then another.
Heads turned, and whispers spread across the court.
“Isn’t that Rafael?”
“What’s happening?”
“That’s Dante.”
“Are they going to fight?”
I ignored them and stopped several feet away from Dante.
“You did it.”
Dante tilted his head.
“Did what?”
“Niel.”
His smile widened.
“Oh.”
That single word made my blood boil.
“You and your friends beat him up.”
Dante shrugged.
“Maybe he should’ve listened.”
I stepped closer.
“You told me yesterday that I’d see something today.”
His eyes narrowed slightly before he smiled again.
“So you figured it out.”
The students around us were getting closer, and I could hear their whispers.
Dante knew they were watching. This story is hosted at g.com.
That was why he looked so relaxed.
He wanted an audience.
“You dragged my friend into this because you couldn’t deal with me.”
Dante pushed himself away from the post.
“Your friend should’ve stayed out of it.”
“He was never part of this.”
“Neither were you.”
I stared at him.
For a moment, neither of us moved.
Then Dante gave me a small, mocking smile.
“You’re getting brave, Rafael.”
My hand tightened.
I remembered Niel’s empty seat, Rosalie telling me he was in the hospital, and most of all, Dante saying tomorrow.
Before I could think better of it, I stepped forward and raised my fist.
Dante didn’t move.
Instead, he smiled.
That stopped me.
Not because I was afraid, but because I suddenly understood what he wanted.
He wanted me to hit him right there, in front of everyone.
My fist remained raised as the entire court seemed to fall silent.
Dante looked directly at me, his expression almost challenging.
“Go ahead.”
I stared at him and then noticed the students surrounding us.
Some were watching with wide eyes, while others were already whispering among themselves.
If I hit him now, everyone would see one thing: me attacking Dante.
Nobody would care why.
Dante had planned this.
Maybe he hadn’t planned every detail, but he knew exactly what he was doing.
He had hurt Niel to provoke me, and now he wanted me to finish the job for him.
Slowly, I lowered my fist.
The whispers immediately grew louder.
“Rafael almost punched him.”
“Did you see that?”
“Why are they fighting?”
“I heard it was because of Rosalie.”
Of course.
The rumor had already begun.
Dante stepped closer until only a small distance separated us.
“You see?” he whispered.
“Everyone’s watching.”
I looked at him.
For someone his age, he was surprisingly good at manipulating people, but he had made one mistake.
He thought I was still the same frightened boy from my first life.
I took a slow breath before looking directly into his eyes.
“You made one mistake.”
His smile faded slightly.
“You touched my friend.”
For the first time, Dante didn’t have anything to say.
I turned away and walked back toward the classroom.
The whispers followed me, but my anger hadn’t disappeared.
If anything, it had become colder.
I had learned that anger was useful only when you controlled it.
If you allowed someone else to control your anger, then they controlled you.
Dante wanted me to fight him on his terms.
I wouldn’t give him that.
But I also wasn’t going to let this end here.
He had crossed a line when he went after Niel, and sooner or later, I was going to make sure he understood exactly what that meant.
The next afternoon, I arrived at the Villareal residence a little earlier than usual.
After everything that had happened with Niel, I had spent most of the previous night thinking about Dante.
I was angry, but I wasn’t going to let that anger make decisions for me.
I had already learned that lesson once when I almost punched him in front of half the school.
If I wanted to protect the people around me, I needed to become stronger.
Not just physically.
I needed money, resources, knowledge, and eventually something that could give me an advantage without forcing me to reveal what I really knew.
For now, however, I had a tutoring session to attend.
I knocked on the door, and one of the household staff let me inside.
“Mr.
Villareal is waiting for you in his office,” she told me.
That surprised me.
Usually, I went straight to Clara’s study room.
I thanked her and walked toward the office.
When I entered, Daniel Villareal was sitting behind his desk.
Several documents were spread across it, along with a small black case.
He looked up when I entered.
“Rafael.
Come in.”
I stepped inside and closed the door behind me.
“Is something wrong?”
He smiled.
“Actually, the opposite.”
My attention immediately went to the case.
“You tested the battery?”
“We did.”
He opened the case.
Inside was a cylindrical battery cell.
It looked ordinary at first glance, but I recognized the casing immediately.
My design.
“We built a prototype using the specifications you gave us,” he said.
“Our engineers made a few minor adjustments because some of the materials in your design aren’t available to us in exactly the form you specified.
But the basic structure was followed.”
I walked closer to the desk.
“And?”
Daniel leaned back in his chair.
“It worked.”
I didn’t react immediately.
I had expected it.
Still, hearing those words mattered.
“How well?”
“Better than expected.”
He handed me a report, and I scanned through the pages.
The results were close to what I had predicted.
The energy density was significantly better than conventional batteries available at the time, and the charging characteristics were improved as well.
More importantly, the thermal behavior was manageable.
There were still problems.
Cycle degradation needed more testing, manufacturing consistency wasn’t perfect, and the materials used in the prototype weren’t ideal.
But the concept worked.
For a moment, I simply stared at the numbers.
This wasn’t a theoretical design anymore.
It existed.
A small smile appeared on my face.
“That’s good.”
Daniel chuckled.
“That’s all you have to say?”
I looked at him.
“What do you want me to say?”
“You’re fourteen years old, you designed this thing, and you look like you’re reviewing homework.”
I couldn’t help smiling.
“I’m just glad the calculations were right.”
Daniel shook his head.
“That’s exactly what I mean.”
He closed the report and leaned forward.
“Rafael, I want to talk business.”
That got my attention.
“I’ve had my people review the design.
I’m interested in acquiring the rights to it.”
I already knew this was coming, but I let him continue.
“We could purchase the design from you.
You would receive a lump-sum payment, and my company would handle development, manufacturing, patents, and commercialization.”
I remained silent for a moment before asking, “What kind of payment?”
Daniel folded his hands.
“Three hundred thousand pesos.”
Three hundred thousand was a serious amount of money for a fourteen-year-old.
It was also far below what I believed the design could eventually be worth, so I didn’t accept.
Daniel noticed.
“You don’t think it’s enough?”
“Then?”
I looked at him.
“I don’t think you want to buy the design because it’s worth three hundred thousand pesos.”
His eyebrow rose.
“What makes you say that?”
“Because you’re not just buying a battery.”
I tapped the report.
“You’re buying the possibility of an entire product line.”
He leaned back slightly, and I continued.
“If the design performs consistently during larger-scale testing, you could adapt the same principles to automotive batteries, backup power systems, industrial equipment, and eventually other energy-storage applications.
You’re not paying for a single prototype.
You’re paying for the foundation of something your company could develop for years.”
Daniel stared at me.
“You’ve thought about this.”
“I had to.”
He smiled faintly.
“You’re asking for more.”
“I’m asking for a price that reflects what you’re actually buying.”
“How much?”
I gave him my number.
“One point five million pesos.”
Daniel’s eyebrows rose.
“One and a half million?”
“Yes.”
“That’s five times my offer.”
“I know.”
He leaned back and studied me.
“Rafael, you’re fourteen.
One and a half million pesos is a lot of money.”
“So is the design.”
He smiled at that.
“You really believe it’s worth that much?”
“I believe it’s worth more if your company develops it successfully.
I’m offering you the opportunity to buy it outright before that happens.”
Daniel tapped his fingers against the desk.
“What if I offer you five hundred thousand?”
“No.”
He laughed softly.
“That was quick.”
“Because the value hasn’t changed.”
“And if I offer you seven hundred thousand?”
“I’d still say no.”
“You don’t even want to negotiate?”
“I am negotiating.” I looked at him calmly.
“I’m just not going to negotiate against myself.”
For several seconds, Daniel said nothing.
Then he smiled.
“You’ve done this before.”
“Not exactly.”
“Then where did you learn it?”
I shrugged.
“I read a lot.”
He laughed again.
“You read a lot.”
“Yes.”
He shook his head before looking back at the report.
“What if I offer you eight hundred thousand?”
I considered it, then shook my head.
“If you’re buying the design outright, with no royalties and no future claim on the technology, I can accept one million pesos.”
Daniel’s expression became thoughtful.
“One million.”
“Yes.”
“You won’t ask for royalties?”
“No.”
That was an important part of my calculation.
Royalties could potentially make me more money over time, but they would also tie me to the company.
I didn’t have the infrastructure to manage licensing agreements, legal disputes, or corporate negotiations.
What I needed now was capital.
Money I could use immediately and turn into more money.
Daniel leaned back and studied me for several seconds before finally sighing.
“You’re difficult to negotiate with.”
“I’ve heard that before.”
He laughed.
“All right.
One million pesos.”
He extended his hand.
“Deal?”
I looked at his hand before shaking it.
“Deal.”
Daniel smiled.
“I’ll admit something.”
“What?”
“I expected to negotiate with a clever student.”
He glanced at the documents on his desk.
“I didn’t expect to negotiate with someone who already thinks like a businessman.”
I smiled politely.
“I just know what I have.”
He opened a drawer and took out the payment documents.
When I saw the amount written there, I had to remind myself not to stare.
One million pesos.
It was the largest amount of money I had ever personally controlled in either life at that age.
More importantly, I had earned it legitimately.
I thanked him and carefully put the documents away.
As I stood to leave, Daniel stopped me.
“Rafael.”
I turned.
“If you come up with another design like this, come to me first.”
I smiled.
“I’ll remember that.”
I left the office with something I hadn’t possessed when I woke up in the past: capital.
It wasn’t enough to change the country or build my secret laboratory, but it was enough to take the next step.
I knew exactly what I wanted to buy.
A diamond.
That evening, I carefully selected one that was large enough for what I needed without being so expensive that buying it would attract attention.
It wasn’t the largest or most beautiful stone I could find, but beauty wasn’t important.
What mattered was its structure, purity, density, and the way its crystalline lattice could hold and release Mana.
To everyone else, it was simply a diamond.
To me, it was a battery—a Mana battery.
I placed the stone on my desk and stared at it for several minutes.
The last time I had worked with something like this, I had been surrounded by equipment that humanity had spent years developing during the war.
I had access to laboratories, advanced materials, engineers, military facilities, and technologies that didn’t exist yet.
Now I had a fourteen-year-old’s bedroom, a secondhand desk, some basic tools, and one diamond.
It would have been almost funny if the consequences weren’t so important.
I took out the notes I had written from memory.
The first artifact didn’t need to be powerful; it only needed to work.
I wanted something simple that I could wear beneath my sleeve: a bracelet.
The runes would form a layered circuit around the diamond, allowing the crystal to release controlled amounts of Mana into my body.
The first layer would reinforce muscle output, the second would improve coordination and reaction speed, and the third would support mental endurance, allowing my brain to maintain intense concentration for longer periods without exhausting itself as quickly.
It wouldn’t make me superhuman.
My body was still fourteen, with all the limitations that came with it.
The artifact could only amplify what my body was capable of handling, and if I pushed it too far, I could injure myself.
That limitation was important.
I didn’t want a weapon.
I wanted an advantage.
I spent the next several nights working on the design.
The bracelet itself was simple, made from materials I could obtain without raising suspicion.
The difficult part was the rune structure.
I couldn’t simply copy the artifacts I had seen during my previous life.
Those designs had been created with technologies far beyond what existed in 2018, so I had to simplify everything: every rune, every connection, and every channel.
Eventually, after several failed attempts, the first version was ready.
I placed the diamond into its setting and activated the initial rune.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the stone gave off a faint warmth, and a subtle sensation traveled through the bracelet and into my arm.
I closed my eyes and felt my breathing become steadier as my thoughts sharpened.
The world seemed slightly clearer—not dramatically, just enough.
I moved my hand, then my arm, and noticed that the response was faster than it should have been.
A smile spread across my face..