The Tycoon's Odyssey

Evan maintained his daily workout routine before heading to university to study. He divided his schedule into three parts.

First, he would go to the lab to practice his programming skills. Then, he would study in the library reading every book possible to expand his knowledge. Finally, he would meet Aria to receive guidance, who was genuinely surprised by his progress.

The sums he once took several minutes before were now taken care of in a few seconds.

Aria even doubted if Evan was pretending to be ignorant before, but she dismissed that thought away as she saw Evan's continuous improvement.

Host: Evan ????

[Stats]

Strength: 8

Dexterity:16

Vitality: 9

Willpower:29

Charm:18

Charisma:7

Skills:

Extreme comprehension

Intermediate Programming Skill (209/250)

Beginner Cooking (21/100)

Intermediate Academic skills (179/250)

Intermediate Mathematician (23/250)

Elementary Piano (Too low to display, the system is even ashamed to show this in the tab.)

Evan smiled as he reviewed his stats. They weren't outstanding, but for him, they were good enough. Except for strength and vitality which are below average, his other stats were great and he was confident that once he took care of his health, those would also improve to normal.

His body was already looking great. He had a straight nose, sharp chiseled jaw with good skin that had been recovered. He was sure that he had some foreign genes cause his complexion was quite good

As for charisma, he knew he needed to work on that.

Charisma wasn't something that could be increased by practice. It includes good leadership skills, the ability to attract people, and an invisible aura.

Sometimes, if you feel an invisible fear or a powerful presence from someone of a higher class, it is due to their charisma.

It is something that people are either born with or develop over time.

And Evan was determined to improve his charisma, even if it would take time.

"Hey, what are you thinking about now?" Aria's voice interrupted Evan's train of thought as he raised his head to look at her.

"Just wondering how to earn a few bucks," he replied.

"Ohhh!" Aria nodded with an understanding expression on her face.

"Even though it's a third-grade university, various companies still come to look for goats…" Aria said, clearly implying cheap labor.

Some also offer one or two-year internship contracts. As long as you are a decent programmer, you can bag a job with a 100k-200k package at the lowest and 600k Rs at the highest, that is, if you are a top student here.

Unfortunately, Evan missed the opportunity for the interview due to being in a coma.

Now, only the students with no skills and poor grades were left.

Rubbing her chin, Aria pondered for a moment and suggested, "Your only option, for now, is to take a one-year course in bigger cities and try to get into a company after you graduate. All placements have been finished and out of 120, only 40 have gotten a job offer. So even if there is a vacant seat, your chances to get a job are quite low."

"Do I have no other option?" Evan asked, wondering if he should work as a freelancer to gain some experience over the next two months.

"There is an option, but this depends on you," Aria muttered, staring curiously at Evan.

"What is it?"

"Every company performs a few tests on their products before releasing them into the market and gathers data. The R&D department and engineering departments when encountering problems often put a part of the problem or vulnerability on the web for help. These may or may not relate to their upcoming product and can be a test to promote programming. Anyone who can solve it will be given a cash reward."

"Also there is competition to eliminate the bugs."

When Evan heard this, he immediately became energetic and perked up, "Is there such a thing?"

Aria frowned, "Didn't you know this? The link should be posted in your group chart. The class leader was asked to inform everyone."

"Maybe I have been kicked out," Even shrugged as if it was a norm.

"People hate you too much. I think you should be a bit flexible if possible. Sometimes, we need to bow," Aria advised softly.

"If you keep on being adamant about your values, people will see you as an eye sore and won't let it go."

Evan's expression turned serious.

"Miss Aria, I have been adaptable and tried to compromise, but the results were worse. During the college farewell program, trusting them, I went to the bar."

"Do you know what happened?"

Aria's breathing halted, noticing Evan's darkened eyes and the cold look on his face. His previous gentle demeanor instantly turned vicious.

"In the beginning, it was fun, but then they started making fun of me as a poor pathetic fool trying to struggle uselessly. I just kept quiet and listened, not knowing what I could say. After all, it is true."

"After a few drinks, I got drunk and decided to take leave but they forced me to sit and drink more. They made me drink heavily to the point that I passed out. When I woke up I found myself in the garbage dump with a banner saying this is where I belong."

Aria gulped, feeling tense.

"What did you do to them? Did you confront them?"

"Take a guess," Evan said with a smiling face.

He was grateful for that incident because not only did it teach him many things, but he was quite satisfied with his revenge.

Aria wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead and looked at her watch which showed that there were just five minutes left for 3 PM.

"Lunchtime is over. I have a class to take. You can take a look at the questions on that computer. It's a spare computer and doesn't have anything personal on it. Just use that and I will send you the link,' 'Aria stood up from her seat with a smile, feeling a bit uneasy.

Her earlier suggestion was based on her own experience, but it seemed that Evan's situation was more brutal than hers and she didn't know of any way to comfort him and was worried that needless pestering might have quite the opposite effect.

Evan chuckled seeing Aria walk away.