Monday morning came with absolutely no sympathy.
Damian stared at his alarm for several seconds before finally reaching over and silencing it.
For a brief moment, he considered going back to sleep.
Then he remembered the economics assignment.
He sat up.
"Right."
He looked at the clock.
"I’m already late."
Ten minutes later, Damian was walking across campus with his backpack hanging from one shoulder, trying to drink a bottle of water while checking whether he’d remembered everything.
His phone buzzed.
Ethan:
Where are you?
Another message appeared before Damian could respond.
Bro don’t tell me you forgot.
Damian typed back.
Damian:
I’m coming.
Ethan:
Professor is already here.
Damian stopped walking.
How long?
Ethan:
Five minutes.
Damian immediately started walking faster.
"Why does this keep happening?"
By the time Damian entered the lecture hall, Ethan was already sitting near the middle.
He raised a hand.
"Look who decided to join civilization."
Damian dropped into the seat beside him.
"Good morning to you too."
"You finished the assignment?"
"Obviously."
Ethan looked suspicious.
"At what time?"
"Does it matter?"
"Yes."
Damian opened his notebook.
"Three in the morning."
Ethan laughed.
"Of course."
"You literally reminded me about it."
"And somehow you still waited until the last minute."
"I work well under pressure."
"You work under pressure because you create the pressure."
Damian couldn’t argue with that.
The professor entered a moment later, and the conversation ended.
For the next hour, Damian focused on the lecture.
Nothing unusual happened.
No strange system notification.
No mysterious opportunity.
No sudden windfall.
Just university.
His life had changed dramatically over the past few weeks.
But university hadn’t.
The same classrooms.
The same professors.
The same assignments.
The same students complaining about deadlines.
It gave him something normal to hold onto.
When the lecture ended, Damian packed his things.
His phone buzzed again.
This time, it was Sarah.
Sarah Mitchell:
Morning, Damian. Are you available around 2 PM today? Daniel wants to discuss the student pilot.
Damian replied.
Damian:
Yeah, I should be free.
A few seconds later:
Sarah:
Perfect. We’ll meet in the student entrepreneurship building.
Damian put his phone away.
Ethan looked at him.
"Who was that?"
"Sarah."
"From Westbridge?"
"Yeah."
Ethan nodded.
"Business stuff?"
"Kind of."
"Don’t let them steal your soul."
Damian laughed.
"I’ll try."
Ethan stood.
"I’ve got another class."
"So do I."
"Exactly. Which means I’m leaving before you convince me to skip it."
"You’re the one who skips classes."
"Details."
Ethan walked away.
Damian watched him disappear into the crowd before heading toward his next lecture.
At two in the afternoon, Damian arrived at the entrepreneurship building.
He expected to see Daniel and Sarah.
Instead, Claire was standing outside the meeting room with a stack of papers.
She looked up.
"You’re late."
Damian checked his phone.
"I’m two minutes early."
Claire glanced at the clock.
Then back at him.
"Fine. You’re annoyingly punctual."
"I’ll take that as a compliment."
"It wasn’t."
Damian smiled.
Claire opened the door.
"Come in."
The room was small.
A whiteboard covered one wall, while a projector displayed Westbridge’s logo on the opposite side.
Sarah was already seated at the table.
Daniel joined through a video call displayed on the screen.
"Damian," Daniel said. "Good to see you again."
"Good to see you too."
Sarah gestured toward a chair.
"Take a seat."
Damian sat down.
Claire took the seat across from him.
Daniel brought up a presentation.
"We’ve finalized the first stage of the student pilot."
A slide appeared.
INITIAL TEST GROUP — 50 STUDENTS
"Fifty students," Daniel continued. "Different departments, different years, different levels of familiarity with business software."
Damian nodded.
"That’s a good spread."
"That’s where we need your help."
Damian raised an eyebrow.
"My help?"
"You understand the student environment better than we do," Sarah said. "We can build software. We can’t pretend we know exactly how students think."
Claire nodded.
"That part is true."
Damian looked at her.
"You sound surprised."
"I am."
He laughed.
Daniel continued.
"We’ve already prepared the basic onboarding process."
The next slide appeared.
A student signs up.
Creates an account.
Receives a tutorial.
Starts a trial.
Damian studied it.
Something bothered him.
He couldn’t immediately explain what.
He looked at the screen again.
Then at Claire.
"What happens after they finish the tutorial?"
Sarah answered.
"They start using the platform."
"For what?"
She paused.
"For their business needs."
Damian shook his head.
"That sounds obvious, but it isn’t."
Daniel leaned forward slightly.
"Explain."
Damian pointed at the screen.
"You’re assuming students already know why they need the software."
Claire looked at the presentation.
"He’s right."
Damian continued.
"If I’m a student running a small business, I might know I have a problem with tracking customers or expenses. But I might not understand how your platform solves it."
Sarah nodded slowly.
"So what would you suggest?"
"Give them a reason to explore."
Daniel asked, "Such as?"
Damian thought for a moment.
"A guided challenge."
Claire leaned forward.
"Like what?"
"Give them a simple task. Track five customers. Create a basic expense report. Generate an invoice."
He pointed toward the screen.
"Something they can complete in a few minutes."
Sarah began writing notes.
"And after they finish?"
"Show them what else they can do."
Daniel smiled slightly.
"So instead of explaining the software..."
"Let them experience it."
The room became quiet for a moment.
Claire nodded.
"That would probably work better."
Damian looked at her.
"Probably?"
"Don’t get excited."
He laughed.
Daniel looked at Sarah.
"Add that to the pilot."
Sarah nodded.
"Already writing it down."
Damian leaned back.
He wasn’t sure why, but the meeting felt different from the first one.
The first time he’d walked into Westbridge’s office, he had been an outsider trying to determine whether the company was worth investing in.
Now they were actually listening to his ideas.
That felt good.
Not because of the money.
Because he’d contributed something.
After the meeting ended, Daniel disconnected from the call.
Sarah gathered the papers.
"We’ll send you the updated pilot plan tonight."
"Sounds good."
Claire stood and stretched.
"That went better than I expected."
Damian looked at her.
"Why?"
"I thought you’d spend the whole meeting asking questions."
"I did that last time."
"Exactly."
"And now I have answers."
Claire smiled.
"Fair."
They walked out together.
"So," Claire said, "how did you get involved with Westbridge anyway?"
Damian paused.
He didn’t want to lie.
But he also wasn’t going to explain the system.
"I invested in the company."
Claire stopped walking.
"You invested?"
"Yeah."
"How much?"
Damian hesitated.
"Enough to get involved."
Claire stared at him for a second.
"That is an incredibly vague answer."
"I know."
She laughed.
"You’re weird."
"I’ve been told."
They continued walking.
Claire looked ahead.
"For someone who says he’s not experienced, you seem pretty comfortable talking business."
"I’ve been learning."
"From where?"
"Mostly reading."
"Books?"
"Articles. Reports. Whatever I can find."
Claire nodded.
"That makes sense."
There was no admiration in her voice.
No sudden fascination.
Just acknowledgment.
And Damian appreciated that.
She was simply talking to him.
Not treating him like some mysterious businessman.
Not treating him like someone special.
Just Damian.
At the entrance, Claire stopped.
"I have a club meeting."
"Good luck."
"You too."
She started walking away.
Then turned.
"Hey."
Damian looked back.
"Yeah?"
"Send me that idea about the guided challenge later."
"I will."
"Don’t forget."
"I won’t."
Claire nodded and left.
Damian watched her disappear into the building.
Then his phone buzzed.
This time, it was Emily.
Emily:
How are you? Are you good?
Damian smiled.
Damian:
Barely.
Emily:
We all have our days. I need the notes from today’s lecture.
Damian stared at the message.
Damian:
You just want my notes?.
Emily:
Yeah.
Damian:
At least you’re honest.
Emily:
Send them 😂
Damian shook his head.
He sent the notes.
A second later:
Emily:
Thanks, friend.
Damian smiled.
He remembered the first time she’d said that.
It still felt slightly strange.
But not unpleasant.
He put his phone away and continued walking.
That evening, Damian sat at his desk.
His laptop was open.
A notebook sat beside it.
On one page, he’d written several ideas for Westbridge’s student pilot.
He wasn’t trying to become some genius entrepreneur overnight.
He simply wanted to understand what he was getting into.
Westbridge had been his first investment.
His first real asset.
And now he had the opportunity to watch the company grow from the inside.
That was valuable.
Maybe even more valuable than the cashback itself.
His phone buzzed.
A notification from his bank.
Damian glanced at it.
He had made a small purchase earlier in the day—some university supplies and a few things he’d needed.
Nothing significant.
He put the phone down.
Then the familiar golden glow appeared.
Damian looked up.
A translucent interface hovered in the air above his desk.
«[VALID FINANCIAL PROGRESS DETECTED.]
[SYSTEM LEVEL: 1]
[PROGRESS: 82%]»
Damian stared at the number.
"Four percent?"
The interface remained silent.
He leaned back.
"Slowly getting there."
The screen disappeared.
Damian smiled.
He wasn’t in a hurry.
Whatever waited at Level 2 could wait.
He returned to the Westbridge notes.
A few minutes later, another notification appeared on his phone.
Sarah Mitchell:
Daniel approved the revised pilot structure.
Another message followed.
Also, we received an unexpected inquiry today.
Damian frowned.
Damian:
From who?
The reply took longer this time.
Sarah:
Another university.
Damian’s fingers stopped above the keyboard.
Another university?
He opened the message.
Sarah:
They heard about the student pilot through one of our partners. They want to discuss running something similar on their campus.
Damian leaned back slowly.
The pilot hadn’t even started.
Yet another university was already interested.
He looked at the Westbridge logo on his laptop.
Twenty thousand dollars.
That was all he’d initially intended to put into the company.
A small investment.
A chance to own a piece of something.
Now the company was beginning to move.
Damian smiled.
Maybe his first investment wasn’t going to be as small as he’d thought.
And for the first time, he wondered what would happen if he stopped simply looking for opportunities...
and started creating them.