Damian woke up five minutes before his alarm.
He stared at the ceiling.
Then at his phone.
Then back at the ceiling.
Something was different.
Not dramatically different.
He still had class in the morning.
He still had an assignment he hadn’t finished.
And Ethan would probably complain about being hungry before noon.
But yesterday had changed things.
Level Two.
Fifteen-times cashback.
Damian reached for his phone and opened his banking app.
He stared at the numbers for a few seconds before locking the screen again.
He had learned something since getting the system.
Looking at his balance too often didn’t make him richer.
It just made him think about money more.
And he didn’t want that.
He got out of bed.
"Grades first."
That sounded responsible.
At least until he remembered he had an economics quiz coming up.
"... It all better be worth it."
By the time Damian reached campus, Ethan was already waiting outside their lecture hall.
He looked annoyed.
Damian stopped beside him.
"You look terrible."
"Good morning to you too."
"You didn’t sleep?"
"I studied."
Damian raised an eyebrow.
"Really?"
"Yes."
"For how long?"
Ethan hesitated.
"That’s not important."
"How long?"
"Twenty minutes."
Damian laughed.
"That’s not studying."
"It was intense twenty minutes."
"What did you study?"
"The title of the Chapter."
Damian shook his head.
"You’re finished."
"I’ll survive."
They entered the lecture hall.
Ethan dropped into his usual seat.
Damian sat beside him.
Nothing about the morning seemed unusual.
Professor Williams entered a few minutes later.
The room settled down.
Damian opened his notebook.
For the next hour, he focused.
He actually enjoyed the subject more than he expected.
Not because he suddenly understood everything.
He didn’t.
But over the past few months, he’d started paying more attention to how businesses actually worked.
Investing in Westbridge had forced him to.
Before, terms like valuation, customer acquisition, retention and operating costs had been things he read about because the system told him a company was worth examining.
Now they were becoming concepts he could actually understand.
That difference mattered.
When class ended, Ethan stretched.
"Food."
"You’ve eaten twice."
"Not enough man."
Damian stood.
"You’re unbelievable."
"I’m a growing boy."
They headed toward the cafeteria.
Halfway there, Damian’s phone buzzed.
A message from Sarah.
Sarah: Daniel says the updated investment documents are ready. Everything has been processed.
Damian smiled.
His second investment was official.
Another $50,000.
Another piece of Westbridge.
He put his phone away.
Ethan glanced at him.
"Good news?"
"Westbridge."
"Ah."
Ethan nodded.
"Your mysterious company."
Damian smiled.
"It’s not mysterious moron, they have an branch here."
Later that afternoon, Damian found himself standing outside a technology store.
He hadn’t planned on coming.
But he’d been thinking about something.
His laptop had survived.
Barely.
It had become the center of almost everything he was doing.
University assignments.
Research.
Westbridge documents.
Financial research.
It wasn’t exactly ideal.
He’d been putting off replacing it because the semi new laptop still worked.
But now that his financial situation had changed, there was no reason to keep using something that struggled whenever he opened too many tabs.
Damian walked inside.
He spent almost an hour comparing different models.
He didn’t choose the most expensive one.
He didn’t need the flashiest machine in the store.
He chose something powerful enough for his work, reliable enough to last several years, and reasonably priced.
At the counter, he paid.
The receipt printed.
Damian took the laptop bag.
Then stopped.
The golden interface appeared in the empty space beside him.
[VALID FINANCIAL TRANSACTION DETECTED.]
Damian’s eyes moved across the screen.
[PURCHASE VALUE: $1,240.00]
He already knew what came next.
[CASHBACK MULTIPLIER: 15X]
Damian’s eyebrows rose.
The system calculated.
[CASHBACK GENERATED: $18,600.00]
He stared.
Even after knowing the multiplier was fifteen times, seeing the actual number was different.
Eighteen thousand six hundred dollars.
From a laptop.
Damian slowly exhaled.
"That’s..."
He stopped himself.
The system wasn’t giving him free money without conditions.
The purchase had cost him $1,240.
He had genuinely needed the laptop.
The cashback was simply the absurd reward attached to it.
Still...
Eighteen thousand six hundred dollars was hard to ignore.
The system continued.
[CURRENT CASHBACK MULTIPLIER: 15X]
Then the screen disappeared.
Damian stood there for another second.
A smile slowly formed.
"Okay."
He looked at the laptop bag in his hand.
"That was worth it."
He met Ethan outside the store.
Ethan looked at the bag.
"You bought a laptop?"
"Yeah."
"What happened to the old one?"
"Still alive."
"Then why replace it?"
Damian shrugged.
"It was getting slow."
Ethan stared at him.
"Since when do you replace things because they’re getting slow?"
Damian paused.
Fair question.
A few months ago, he’d probably have spent another six months trying to squeeze life out of the old machine.
"I needed a better one."
Ethan looked at the bag again.
"How much?"
Damian hesitated.
"Enough."
Ethan narrowed his eyes.
"That answer isn’t quite straight."
"It’s a laptop, Ethan."
"Exactly. You should be acting like you bought a spaceship."
Damian laughed.
"Let’s go."
They started walking.
After a few steps, Ethan glanced down at Damian’s clothes.
Then at his shoes.
Then back at him.
"You’ve been dressing differently."
Damian looked down at himself.
A clean shirt.
A better pair of sneakers.
Nothing expensive enough to draw attention.
"Have I?"
"Yeah."
"Maybe I’m finally learning how to dress."
Ethan nodded slowly.
"Don’t get too cocky."
"Why?"
"Because I’ll still beat you in football."
"That’s unrelated."
"It’s always related."
Damian laughed.
Their conversation moved on.
No questions about bank balances.
No interrogation about money.
Just football, class, food, and the quiz they both knew they should probably study for.
That evening, Damian placed the new laptop on his desk.
He opened it.
Everything felt faster.
Cleaner.
Better.
He transferred his files and set everything up.
Then he leaned back.
His eyes drifted toward the empty space in front of him.
"System."
The golden interface appeared.
[SYSTEM LEVEL: 2]
[CASHBACK BOOST: ACTIVE]
[CURRENT MULTIPLIER: 15X]
Damian studied it.
"Is fifteen times permanent?"
The system remained silent.
He waited.
Nothing.
"Of course."
He rubbed his face.
He had expected that.
Still, he had another question.
"Are there limits?"
The interface changed.
[SYSTEM FUNCTIONS ARE SUBJECT TO SYSTEM CONDITIONS.]
Damian frowned.
"That’s a pretty technical answer."
Silence.
He stared at the screen.
The system stared back.
At least, it felt that way.
Eventually, Damian dismissed it.
He wasn’t going to spend the evening interrogating a magical financial interface.
He had something more important to do.
He opened his economics notes.
Ten minutes later, his phone buzzed.
Ethan: Bro.
Damian ignored it.
Another message.
Ethan: Damian.
He continued reading.
Another.
Ethan: Important.
Damian finally picked up the phone.
Damian: What?
Ethan: Do you know there’s a quiz tomorrow?
Damian stared at the message.
Then looked at his notes.
Then back at the phone.
Damian: Yes.
Ethan: Good.
Ethan: Because I didn’t.
Damian laughed.
Damian: You studied the Chapter title.
Ethan: Exactly.
Ethan: I’m beginning to think I’m not so prepared.
Damian put his phone down.
His smile lingered.
Then he returned to studying.
Because no matter how much his life changed...
Tomorrow morning, Professor Hayes couldn’t care less.