Chapter 2: The First Rule

I blinked, squeezing my eyes shut for three full seconds before opening them again.

The translucent golden screen was still there, floating serenely against the backdrop of the hallway.

Am I losing my mind? Is this a concussion from hitting my head earlier?

I raised my uninjured left hand and reached out. My fingers passed right through the light like warm mist, but the interface reacted, its crisp text glowing slightly brighter at my touch.

To prove it to myself, I squeezed my right fist. The torn skin over my bruised knuckles stung sharply, sending a spike of raw pain straight up my arm.

It wasn’t a dream. It wasn’t a hallucination. The blood dripping onto my worn sneakers was real, and so was the floating panel in front of my face.

A strange, breathless laugh escaped my throat. Ten seconds ago, I was staring at total ruin, completely powerless against people who could destroy my future with a single phone call. Now, the universe had handed me a cheat code.

My heart pounded against my ribs, heavy and fast, driven by a surge of pure adrenaline.

I tapped the screen, pulling up the account details.

[Investment Funds Available: $100,000]

(Note: Funds are held in a secure, offshore proxy account and can only be transferred to qualified Investment Targets.)

[Host Personal Balance: $0.00]

"Ten grand..." I whispered, my eyes burning into the digits. "No, wait. That’s one hundred thousand."

A dark, lethal smile slowly spread across my face. Julian thought he could crush me with his daddy’s money. Dean Vance thought I was worthless because I didn’t have a checkbook.

They wanted to play a game where money dictates who gets to survive? Fine.

I wiped the trickle of blood from my hand onto my jeans and stood up straight, rolling my shoulders back. The weakness, the despair, the pity—it all evaporated into cold, focused eagerness.

I needed to test this thing. I needed to find a target, spend a single dollar, and see if this system was as real as the pain in my knuckles.

I opened the System’s internal scanning function, tapping through the interface to figure out how this power actually operated. A set of rules and parameters immediately materialized before my eyes.

[Target Scanning Active...]

[Filter Applied: Current Score ≤ 3.5 | Hidden Potential Score ≥ 8.0]

[System Rule: Cashback is calculated based on Target’s Glow-Up Progression, not initial capital spent. Higher potential yields exponentially higher cashback multipliers.]

It wasn’t just a blind money-throwing scheme. The System rewarded actual transformation. The more overlooked and suppressed a target was, the higher the returns when she reached her true potential.

I walked straight toward the campus library, the golden HUD constantly scanning the crowd as students passed by.

Score: 4.2 / Potential: 5.1 — Ineligible.

Score: 6.8 / Potential: 6.5 — Ineligible.

Score: 5.0 / Potential: 5.5 — Ineligible.

Then, near the back stacks of the quietest floor, the interface flashed a brilliant, pulsing purple.

[Target Detected!]

[Name: Chloe Vance]

[Current Score: 3.0 / 10.0] (Severe lack of confidence, poor nutrition, oversized clothes, heavy mental strain)

[Hidden Potential: 9.1 / 10.0] (Peerless visual potential, top-tier academic intellect, hidden lineage)

[Investment Return Multiplier: 20x Cashback on Full Development]

I stopped dead in my tracks, my jaw tightening as I read her last name.

Vance.

Sitting at a corner table behind a massive stack of outdated textbooks was a girl huddled into a faded, oversized grey hoodie. Her thick glass frames slipped down her nose, and her hair was tied back in a messy, uncared-for bun. She looked entirely invisible, practically blending into the shadows of the library.

Chloe Vance. The Dean’s black-sheep niece—the quiet girl who worked two part-time campus jobs just to afford her own textbooks because her family treated her like an unwanted charity case.

I looked down at the 20x multiplier floating over her head, then back at her trembling hands as she furiously scribbled notes.

The Dean had just destroyed my life to protect a rich brat. How poetic would it be if I used his own neglected relative to build an empire?

I pulled up her detailed profile panel, reviewing the conditions required to fully unlock her potential:

[Target: Chloe Vance]

[Potential Unlock Requirements: Proper Nutrition & Wellness, Wardrobe & Grooming Overhaul, Optimized Study & Living Environment, Confidence Reconstruction.]

[Completion Reward: 20x Cashback on all total funds expended.]

The objective was clear. To get that massive payout, I needed to overhaul her lifestyle completely—nourish her, fix her wardrobe, get her into a proper environment to learn, and build her confidence from the ground up. But to do any of that, I first had to bridge the gap between us.

I adjusted my torn collar, walked down the narrow aisle between the bookshelves, and stopped right in front of her table.

She didn’t look up at first, her pen racing frantically across a worn notebook as she leaned over a stack of heavy, outdated textbooks.

I pulled out the wooden chair opposite her.

"Is this seat taken?" I asked softly.