Chapter 42: Closer than before 2
[ REBATE SYSTEM ]
Transaction Detected: $100,000 — Research Trust Endowment
Base Multiplier (Tier 2): 2x
Total Return: $200,000
[ Net Balance: $204,450.00 → $404,450.00 ]
[ SIDE QUEST COMPLETE ]
First Major Endowment
Reward: +2,000 EXP
[ EXP: 17,250/50,000 ]
$404,450, he thought. From $304,450. In one transaction.
He looked at the quest checklists.
[ REBATE SYSTEM ]
Main quest checklist
1. Net worth exceeding $500,000 ✗
2. Minimum two active bound targets ✓
3. Complete a single transaction exceeding $100,000 ✓
Two of three, he noted. $404,450 sitting in the account. $500,000 threshold still $95,550 away. He looked at his daily cap. $500,000 cap. Barely touched today.
I can close that gap before midnight.
He started cycling.
He spent the afternoon methodically. Not rushed. Just consistent. Campus transactions, online purchases, donations cycling through at the new Tier 2 rate. Each one clean and automatic.
By 6PM his balance read:
$487,230.
$12,770 from the milestone.
He donated $6,385 to two organisations.
[ REBATE SYSTEM ]
Transaction Detected: $6,385 — Charity
Base Multiplier (Tier 2): 2x
Total Return: $12,770
[ Net Balance: $480,845.00 → $493,615.00 ]
Close, he thought.
He donated again. Smaller this time. Precise.
[ REBATE SYSTEM ]
Transaction Detected: $3,193 — Charity
Base Multiplier (Tier 2): 2x
Total Return: $6,386
[ Net Balance: $490,422.00 → $496,808.00 ]
$3,192 away.
He made one final donation.
[ REBATE SYSTEM ]
Transaction Detected: $1,596 — Charity
Base Multiplier (Tier 2): 2x
Total Return: $3,192
[ Net Balance: $495,212.00 → $498,404.00 ]
$1,596 away.
He smiled slightly and made the last one.
[ REBATE SYSTEM ]
Transaction Detected: $798 — Charity
Base Multiplier (Tier 2): 2x
Total Return: $1,596
[ Net Balance: $497,606.00 → $499,202.00 ]
$798 away.
He donated one final time.
[ REBATE SYSTEM ]
Transaction Detected: $399 — Charity
Base Multiplier (Tier 2): 2x
Total Return: $798
[ Net Balance: $498,404.00 → $499,202.00 ]
Then his phone lit up.
[CHIME]
[ REBATE SYSTEM ]
NET WORTH MILESTONE REACHED
Balance: $500,000+
[ Net Balance: $500,000.00 ]
[ main quests checklists — ALL MET ]
1. Net worth exceeding $500,000 ✓
2. Minimum two active bound targets ✓
3. Single transaction exceeding $100,000 ✓
Xavier read through the tier notification three times.
Requirements met, he noted. All three.
Then the next notification arrived.
[ REBATE SYSTEM ]
Status review
1. Net worth exceeding $500,000 ✓
2. Minimum two active bound targets ✓
3. Single transaction exceeding $100,000 ✓
[ All requirements met ]
[ Upgrade locked — insufficient EXP ]
[ EXP required for Tier 3: 50,000 ]
[ Current EXP: 22,250/50,000 ]
[ Remaining: 27,750 EXP ]
Xavier looked at that for a moment.
Requirements met but upgrade locked, he thought. The system wants the EXP first. Meet the conditions, earn the points, then it opens. He leaned back. Makes sense. The tiers aren’t just about money. They’re about everything else that comes with it.
He almost smiled.
Good, he thought. I’m not in a rush.
He looked at his balance.
$500,000.
Tier 2 still active. $500,000 daily cap. Two bound targets. Ashworth gone. Femi scattered.
27,750 EXP between me and Tier 3, he thought. Plenty of road ahead.
He set the phone down and looked at the ceiling.
From $520, he thought. In under three months.
He looked at his balance one more time and let out a quiet breath.
Looking at my life back then, he thought. Delivering pizzas in the rain. Forty seven dollars on a train platform. Who would’ve thought I’d be sitting here sleeping on money. He shook his head slowly. Life really has its turns.
The worst night of my life sent me here.
Funny how that works.
Not bad.
His phone buzzed.
Amira.
Amira: Xavier. Patricia just sent me documentation for a research trust. $100,000. In my name.
Amira: Xavier
Amira: this is a legal trust instrument
Amira: $100,000
Amira: XAVIER
He checked the gauge.
Amira — 97% → 100%
[CHIME]
[ REBATE SYSTEM ]
Maximum Bond Reached
Amira Hassan — 100%
Permanent 4x Binding Multiplier Active
Combined with Tier 2 Base: Effective 6x Total Return on All Target Spend
Maximum Bond, he thought. 6x total return. Permanent.
He picked up his phone.
Xavier: you needed research funding. It’s a solvable problem.
Amira: Xavier I can’t...
Xavier: you can. Submit the Kenvale General partnership with the trust as backing. It changes the application entirely.
A very long pause.
Amira: okay
Amira: okay Xavier
Amira: I don’t have words
Xavier: you don’t need words. Just win.
Another pause.
Amira: Xavier
Xavier: Amira.
Amira: see you later.
Xavier looked at those three words.
See you later, he thought. Same as outside The Meridian Grand.
Like it’s already assumed.
He set the phone down and looked at his balance.
$500,000.
Maximum Bond on Amira, he thought. 100% favorability. 6x permanent return. He looked at the ceiling. Girlfriend or not she’s already in the bag.
The system confirmed what I already knew, he thought. That girl has been mine since the day she sat next to me in Mrs. Adeyemi’s class and peeked at my phone.
She just hasn’t said it out loud yet.
She will.
Sarah at 89% and climbing.
Ashworth gone. Femi scattered. Cardinal Circle collapsed.
27,750 EXP to Tier 3.
He leaned back in his chair.
Three months, he thought. From a dead man with $520 and a broken heart.
Not bad.
He picked up his phone one more time and opened his notes.
One item still on the list.
Sarah Torres — Main Quest — The Reckoning.
He looked at it for a long moment.
89% favorability, he thought. Bound target. EP production paid for. Masterclass completed. Showcase attended.
She trusts me now. She tells me things she doesn’t tell anyone else. She called me from the masterclass. She asked to see me on Thursday.
She’s close.
He closed the notes.
Soon, he thought.
But not yet.
Patience, he thought.
Is the virtue I need at this moment.
Everything is in place. Everything is moving. The only thing left is timing. He closed his notes and set the phone down. Rush the endgame and you ruin it. That’s the lesson my previous life taught me the hard way.
Wait for the right moment.
Then move.