The next morning, Damian sat in the back row of his economics lecture and tried very hard to pretend his life was normal.
It wasn’t working.
Not even slightly.
Professor Williams was explaining something about market efficiency, but Damian’s attention kept drifting.
Yesterday, he’d invested another fifty thousand dollars into Westbridge Solutions.
And last night, the system had finally reached Level 2.
Damian still hadn’t gotten over that.
He glanced at the clock.
Thirty-seven minutes left.
Beside him, Ethan was fighting for his life.
His notebook was open.
His laptop was open.
His eyes were closed.
Damian nudged him.
"You sleeping?"
Ethan opened one eye.
"No."
"You’re literally sleeping."
"I’m listening with my eyes closed."
"That’s not how listening works."
"It is when you’re talented."
Damian shook his head.
Professor Williams turned toward the class.
"Mr. Brooks?"
Ethan immediately sat upright.
"Yes, sir."
"Since you appear to be paying such close attention, perhaps you can explain the relationship between consumer demand and price elasticity."
Ethan stared at him.
Damian looked away.
A few students laughed.
Ethan slowly turned toward Damian.
"Traitor."
Damian whispered, "You were listening with your eyes closed."
"Exactly. You ruined my technique."
Professor Williams sighed.
"Anyone else?"
Damian lowered his head to hide his smile.
For the next twenty minutes, he managed to focus.
Mostly.
When the lecture finally ended, Ethan packed his things.
"You’re coming with me."
"Where?"
"Food."
"I just ate."
"That wasn’t food. That was whatever you call the thing you bought from the cafeteria yesterday."
"It was a sandwich."
"It had the structural integrity of cardboard."
Damian laughed.
"Fine."
They left the lecture hall together.
For a few minutes, Damian forgot about everything else.
No Westbridge.
No system.
No investments.
No mysterious golden screens.
Just him and Ethan arguing about whether a university cafeteria could legally call something chicken.
It was strangely refreshing.
Then his phone buzzed.
Damian looked down.
A message from Sarah.
Sarah: Morning, Damian. Just wanted to let you know Daniel has started preparing the additional investment paperwork.
Damian typed a quick response.
Damian: Thanks. Let me know if you need anything from me.
He put his phone away.
Ethan looked over.
"Business?"
"Westbridge."
"Of course."
Ethan sighed dramatically.
"One day I’m going to find out what they actually do."
"They make software."
"I know that."
"Then you already know."
"I mean what do you actually do there?"
Damian shrugged.
"Not much."
Ethan stared at him.
"You invested twenty thousand dollars into a company and now you’re saying you’re doing nothing?"
"I’m a student."
"That’s somehow worse."
Damian laughed.
They continued toward the cafeteria.
But the moment Ethan disappeared into the line to get food, Damian’s expression changed.
He found an empty table and sat down.
He needed to understand what Level 2 actually meant.
Damian glanced around.
Nobody was paying attention to him.
"System."
The golden interface appeared in the air.
Only Damian could see it.
[SYSTEM ONLINE.]
He looked at the display.
[SYSTEM LEVEL: 2]
[CASHBACK BOOST: UNLOCKED]
[STATUS: CALIBRATION REQUIRED]
Damian frowned.
"Explain calibration."
The system remained silent for a moment.
Then another panel appeared.
[LEVEL 2 CALIBRATION REQUIREMENT]
[COMPLETE THREE QUALIFYING FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS.]
Damian stared at it.
"That’s it?"
The screen didn’t change.
"Three?"
Nothing.
He leaned back.
"So you’re not going to tell me what qualifies."
Silence.
Damian sighed.
"Right."
He already knew the answer.
He wasn’t going to start throwing money around just to make the system happy.
He had made that decision before.
The system was useful.
That didn’t mean he had to become stupid because of it.
He dismissed the interface.
Ethan returned carrying two meals.
He dropped one in front of Damian.
"Here."
Damian looked at it.
"What is this?"
"Food."
"You said you were getting food."
"I did."
"This looks suspicious."
"Then don’t eat it."
Damian picked up his fork.
"Fair enough."
Later that afternoon, Damian stopped by the university bookstore.
He needed several new textbooks for the semester.
His old ones were filled with notes, highlighted pages, and enough coffee stains to qualify as historical artifacts.
He selected the books he needed and paid.
The moment the payment went through, the golden interface appeared.
[VALID FINANCIAL TRANSACTION DETECTED.]
Damian glanced around.
Nobody reacted.
[LEVEL 2 CALIBRATION PROGRESS: 1/3]
He smiled.
"So that counts."
The system disappeared.
Damian picked up his books.
That was actually convenient.
He had spent money on something he genuinely needed, and the system counted it.
No waste.
No forced spending.
Exactly how he wanted things.
As he walked out, his phone buzzed.
This time, it was Claire.
Claire: Are you free later?
Damian typed back.
Damian: Depends.
Claire: I need your opinion on something for the pilot.
Damian: Then probably.
Claire: "Probably"?
Damian: I’m a busy man.
A few seconds passed.
Claire: You’re a university student.
Damian smiled.
Damian: Same thing.
Claire: 4 PM. Entrepreneurship building.
Damian: Fine.
At four, Damian found Claire sitting at one of the tables with her laptop open.
She looked up.
"You’re early."
"By two minutes."
"Still counts."
Damian sat across from her.
"What happened?"
Claire turned the laptop toward him.
"We’re reviewing the guided challenge."
Damian read through the document.
The basic structure was there.
Students would be introduced to Westbridge through several simple tasks instead of being given a long explanation of every feature.
Create an invoice.
Track customers.
Record expenses.
Generate a basic report.
It was straightforward.
But Claire had changed one part.
Damian pointed at it.
"Why did you remove the reporting section?"
"Because I think it’s too much for the first session."
"They need to see what the software can actually do."
"They need to understand what it does first."
Damian looked at her.
"So we’re arguing again."
"We’re discussing."
"That’s what people call arguing when they’re being professional."
Claire smiled.
"Exactly."
Damian looked back at the screen.
She had a point.
If students were overwhelmed during their first interaction, they might never get far enough to appreciate the software.
"What if we move reporting to the second challenge?"
Claire paused.
"Explain."
"First session stays simple. Customers, invoices, expenses. Once they complete those, the second challenge introduces reporting."
Claire thought about it.
"That could work."
"And instead of explaining the report, let them generate one using the information they already entered."
Her expression changed.
"That actually makes more sense."
Damian leaned back.
"Unfortunately, I’m occasionally useful."
"Don’t get used to it."
He laughed.
Claire closed the laptop.
"There’s something else."
"What?"
"The second university."
Damian’s expression became more attentive.
"You heard from them?"
"Not directly. Sarah mentioned they’re still interested."
Claire paused.
"They apparently want to see how the first pilot goes before making a decision."
"That’s reasonable."
"It is."
She looked at him.
"You really think Westbridge can pull this off?"
Damian didn’t answer immediately.
He thought about the system’s analysis.
The increased valuation.
The rising growth potential.
But he didn’t mention any of that.
"I think they have a real chance."
Claire nodded.
"That’s what I think too."
There was a brief silence.
Then Claire smiled.
"You’re still weird, though."
Damian stood.
"I’ll take that as a compliment."
"It wasn’t."
"Too late."
That evening, Damian sat at his desk.
His textbooks were stacked beside him.
His laptop was open.
His phone was charging.
For once, there wasn’t anything urgent demanding his attention.
He opened his banking app and looked over his recent transactions.
The Westbridge investment was there.
$50,000.
It was strange seeing the number.
A few months ago, spending fifty dollars required serious thought.
Now he’d transferred fifty thousand without having to worry about whether he’d still be able to eat the next day.
He didn’t want to lose sight of how strange that was.
Damian closed the banking app.
"One more."
The golden interface appeared.
[SYSTEM LEVEL: 2]
[CALIBRATION PROGRESS: 1/3]
He needed another legitimate transaction.
Damian thought about what he actually needed.
His laptop had been working harder lately.
University work.
Research.
Westbridge documents.
Everything was piling onto it.
He decided to purchase a legitimate software subscription and a few productivity tools he’d been considering for school.
Nothing excessive.
Nothing purchased simply because the system existed.
He completed the transaction.
The golden screen appeared.
[VALID FINANCIAL TRANSACTION DETECTED.]
[LEVEL 2 CALIBRATION PROGRESS: 2/3]
Damian smiled.
"Two."
He leaned back.
"One left."
The screen disappeared.
For the first time, he felt genuinely excited about the system again.
Not because of the money.
Because of the unknown.
What exactly would the Cashback Boost do?
How much stronger could the system become?
And what would Level 3 look like?
He didn’t have the answers yet.
But he would.
Eventually.
The following afternoon, Damian was walking across campus when Ethan caught up with him.
"Bro!"
Damian turned.
Ethan jogged toward him.
"You disappeared after class."
"I had things to do."
"Business things?"
"No."
"Westbridge things?"
"No."
"Secret billionaire things?"
Damian laughed.
"You spend too much time online."
Ethan pointed at him.
"That’s exactly what a secret billionaire would say."
"I’m broke."
"You’re the worst liar I’ve ever met."
Damian shook his head.
"You have a quiz tomorrow."
Ethan’s smile disappeared.
"Oh."
"Exactly."
"I forgot."
"Obviously."
They continued walking.
Normal conversation.
Normal problems.
Normal university life.
Damian liked that.
Whatever happened with the system, he didn’t want his entire life to become numbers on a screen.
He still wanted this.
Classes.
Friends.
Arguments over food.
Football.
Assignments.
The ordinary things.
His phone buzzed.
A notification from his bank.
Damian glanced at it.
A small legitimate payment he’d been planning to make had finally gone through.
He stopped.
The golden screen appeared.
[VALID FINANCIAL TRANSACTION DETECTED.]
Damian’s eyes widened.
[LEVEL 2 CALIBRATION PROGRESS: 3/3]
The screen flickered.
[CALIBRATION COMPLETE.]
Damian’s heartbeat quickened.
The interface expanded.
[CASHBACK BOOST IS NOW ACTIVE.]
He stared.
Another line appeared.
[BASE CASHBACK MULTIPLIER: 10X]
Then:
[CASHBACK BOOST: +5X]
Damian’s eyes widened.
[CURRENT EFFECTIVE CASHBACK MULTIPLIER: 15X]
He stared at the number.
Fifteen times.
Not ten.
Fifteen.
A purchase that once returned ten times its value would now return fifteen.
That difference might not seem enormous on a small purchase.
But on something significant?
It could become ridiculous.
Damian slowly smiled.
"Okay."
He dismissed the interface.
Then another line appeared before the screen vanished completely.
[NOTICE: GREATER FINANCIAL OUTPUT WILL RESULT IN GREATER SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS.]
Damian’s smile disappeared.
He stared at the empty air.
"...Of course."
The system vanished.
Ethan looked at him.
"Why’d you stop?"
Damian looked over.
"Nothing."
"You looked like you saw a ghost."
"Just thinking."
Ethan shrugged.
"About?"
Damian looked ahead.
About how quickly his life was changing.
About Westbridge.
About Level 2.
About fifteen times cashback.
And about whatever the system had planned next.
"Nothing important."
Ethan frowned.
"You’re weird."
Damian smiled.
"Apparently that’s becoming a theme."
They continued toward their next class.
Behind Damian’s calm expression, however, one thought kept repeating.
Fifteen times.
The system had just changed the rules again.
And Damian had a feeling the real game was only beginning.