Money.

New York,

Kew Gardens,

14th street.

In a single-family house, Krace was lying on the sofa, eyes closed. Exhausted after searching on the computer for a long time, updating himself on the world's trends. Johnny's house was barely furnished, only the necessary things were there, maybe he works outstation often. There are two rooms and toilets, a washing machine, a bed and a refrigerator. 

[Krace POV]

It has been a week of researching and gathering intelligence on this universe. I have gathered a lot of information and compared it with my old universe, but there are some gaps in many data, especially history. It also didn't help that many books are not yet digitised into the internet.

From what I've been gathering, it also seems that many historical sources and information are for propaganda purposes. A case in point is the existence of mutants. A group of people similar to meta-humans, where they undergo an awakening or process that turns them into mutated beings, but contrary to meta-humans, very few are gifted with supernatural abilities, most turn into deformities that risk their survival and daily lives. 

Racial discrimination is through the roof with mutants. Exaggerated and unnecessary hate is widespread among the community as if it were forced, most of it came from the government or influential people, but what is strange is there have been no sightings or cases of mutants for the past month, so it should have not warranted the ongoing hate.

There are some among the society who are for mutants and one of the leading experts is Professor Charles Xavier, with his thesis and theory that it is inevitable that humans will become mutants in the next century as an evolution process.

There are also some countries that didn't exist in my universe like Latveria. A country shrouded with mystery but is said to be under a tyrannical monarch leadership by a house named Doom.

Similar to my previous world, the African continent is still unstable. There's not much difference in political situations between this world and the previous one. Most countries' political structures are also the same, practising different government systems. In this world, most countries practise some form of democracy, while others practice communism, socialism, and monarchy, like Wakanda and Latveria.

*Ding*

*A news pop-out on one of the tabs displayed.*

[Title: Stark Technology just launched a new groundbreaking phone without keypads and full screen.]

So, they have already introduced smartphones in the market. The technological development in this world also has a similar pattern. This means future successful companies are in their development phase, and I can use this opportunity to get more resources quickly.

Rare resources usually are hard to buy, legally, except if I were to enter the technological industry. But for that to happen, I need to make a company, and company needs assets. I can get that through hacking offshore accounts from corrupt politicians, but to make it believable, I need to have a cover-up.

Day-trading. After a week of research in this unfamiliar world, I have analysed the markets, dissected the patterns, study the economic landscape — global trends, political instability, inflationary pressures, and tech shifts. 

It's easy to gain money through trading. It'll serve as a cover for now. A temporary front until I set up a proper company.

A month. That's all I need. By then, I'll be a millionaire. And from there, the real work begins.

________

A month and a half later.

New York.

A multi-millionaire can be seen observing smartphones lined up on a shelf at the local mobile outlet. Bell chimes played in the background every few minutes as people entered the shop to buy the latest Stark smartphone. The shop's atmosphere was hectic as people were thrilled and intrigued with the breakthrough of mobile industry.

A lady wearing a service smile on her face said to the man standing beside her. "Sir, this one is the latest product, it comes with a wide screen and front-facing camera on both sides. While offering many services like emails, text messages and photos, It also lasts up to 8 hours of active screen. The price is very suitable, as cheap as 1000 Dollars."

As the lady explained more, the more people gathered, amazed by its application until she stated the price. People started to walk away, driven away by the price like bees met with water. 

Krace was not affected by the price, as he was a millionaire now. After a month of trading, he had amassed enough wealth to start a company, not accounting for the dirty money he took from politicians, but then, a string of Vincent's memories surfaced, showing him suitable games to play on the new mobile phones. 

So, he holed up in his house for another half a month to build two games named Candy Crush and Subway Surfer. He also built a basic AI to assist him in normal daily life, hacking normal devices and analysing simple things. Military or advanced encryption was too complex for the AI, they need a lot more time to be built. For the basic AI Krace named it Titus, a name similar to Damian's dog, as a reminder and resolve for him to return.

Exiting the shop, Krace walked home to publish the games and start his company, but a man called him from behind.

"Krace! Is that you?" Ben greeted. By his side was his nephew and wife. "How are you? You haven't contacted me since then. I thought you were dead."

"Oh, Ben and May! Yeah, sorry," Krace smiled as he raised his hand holding the new phone. "Couldn't contact you guys... until now. I missed May's cooking. What you're guys doing here?

"Oh, thank you very much. You're welcome anytime you're hungry. Peter wants to see the new phone. He has been noisy since yesterday because of the ads he saw on TV," May said.

Krace then looked towards Peter's eye glueing on his new phone. "Oh, haha. The kid loves gadgets, huh? Here, Peter, you can open mine and set it up."

Peter excited, squealed. "Woah! I heard they can shoot lasers out of the camera, and the screen pops out like a hologram, and you can know what people think from the camera, and it has a nuclear button if you're in danger. WOAAH!!"

"Haha, here you go, Pete. Be careful, or it might make the moon fall on us," Krace said.

"WHAAAT!! IT CAN CONTROL THE MOON TOO!" Peter screamed.

While Peter was engrossed with the new phone on a bench, handling it like it was fragile, Ben asked Krace "Hey, are you free this weekend?" Krace nodded his head to Ben. "Well I have a ticket to Johnny Blaze stunt, you know the daredevil. May is not interested and Peter will have a sleepover so, how about it?" 

"Sure, not much going on. I'm up for it. Here, take my number and ring me up." Krace handed a paper with his number written on it to Ben.

After more small talks between the Bens and Krace, Peter finished setting up the phone but his face was full of disappointment. There are no lasers, no nuclear button and no controlling the moon. 

Krace laughed at his antics and said "That's okay Peter, you just need to make one in the future. So, study hard."

"Ok, mister," Peter replied quietly, ending the reunion as they waved each other goodbye.

On the way home, walking by the streets of Forest Hill, Krace thought to himself. 

'Speaking of lasers and controlling the moon. It's almost guaranteed that this world doesn't have supernatural or exaggerated advanced technology through the research that I've done. That also included space manipulation, quantum technology, and atomic manipulation, meaning it would take me a long time to build a functional teleportation,' he sighed

'The closest superpowers that exist in this world is Captain America, but he is just a comic figure. Mutant on the other hand is said to be a deformity, like a disadvantage mutated change. For example, having an extra limb or growing horns. 

Whereas for Captain America, it was said that he could tear tanks apart, run faster than a car and jump higher than a storey building. Although it's fiction, there is still a possibility. Governments are well known for doing human experiments. It is in human nature to change and improve, be better and that includes advancing the human species as a whole.

Including myths and legends around the world, nothing can be certain.'

Reaching his house, Krace took off his jacket and sat in front of the computer.

"Now, it's time to start phase 2, investing," he said while searching the internet for companies that have started making social media, games, phones and basically any products that are trying to use the internet creatively. Without a doubt, they'll rake in a lot of profit, and he'll have a piece of the pie by investing in them.

__________

Saturday.

7:00 pm.

Ben arrived in front of Krace's house with his cream-coloured car, Krace entered the car while greeting him, and they began chatting along the way. The drive to the stadium, where the event was being held, took about half an hour.

After talking for a few minutes, Ben brought up a new topic. Krace's financial situation. He realised when he picked Krace up around two months ago from the side of the road he was not rich, more like economically disadvantaged, to put it nicely. 

"Krace, I'm not trying to pry, but I want to ask something," Ben began cautiously. "When I saw you two months ago, you were… well, barely able to afford a meal, that's actually one of the reasons I invited you to dinner. But this week, when we met, I saw you bought the new phone, and it wasn't cheap. I mean… you're not getting involved in anything dangerous, are you?" Ben asked, his concern evident. "I'm not trying to report or anything, you know. I'm just concerned." He continues, his tone was gentle.

Krace chuckled at the question, surprised by Ben's question. "No, I just won big from trading. Nothing illegal." Krace assured, trying to ease Ben's concern. 'Except for the offshore account,' he thought to himself.

"Oh, haha," a relief sigh escaped Ben's mouth. "I'm just concerned, you know. Especially the crime rate of the city has been on the rise lately," his brow furrowed with concern. "Although the cases mostly happen on the North side of the city like Hell's Kitchen and the Bronx." 

A few minutes later, they arrived at a massive stadium. The roads teemed with people, a sea of bodies moving together like sardines in a can, as they made their way inside, the air buzzed with anticipation. They parked a little bit far because the road was blocked.

A few minutes of walking after they parked the car, they arrived at the massive stadium, its towering structure looming above them. The roar of the crowds could already be heard, echoing through the air.

As they entered, they were swept up in the overwhelming energy of the crowd, tens of thousands strong, all buzzing with excitement and anticipation.

Suddenly, a high-pitched squeal from the microphone echoed through the stadium, cutting through the noise and quickly shushing the crowd. A moment later, the announcer's booming voice filled the air, signalling the start of the event and sending a ripple of excitement through the audience.

(AN: I'm thinking of stocking 10 chapters first and then released it.)