Xavier slouched back into his seat and stared at the front of the classroom.

What made me think coming back to this class was a good idea.

Dr. Michael was still talking about food systems and supply chains and Xavier was hearing the words the way you hear rain on a rooftop.He was Present but absent at the same time. His phone was face down on the desk and his mind was three steps ahead of everyone in the room.

I have over ten thousand dollars sitting in an account I didn’t have yesterday.Miracles does exist, at least this is sure proof that dying can still be a kind of good fortune. The rebate cap resets at midnight. He glanced at the window. And I’m sitting here listening to a lecture I don’t remember caring about the first time I lived through it.

The guy to his right was copying notes furiously. The girl in front had her hand raised to answer a question. Everyone was doing exactly what first year university students were supposed to do on their first day.

Xavier watched them all with the quiet detachment of a man watching a movie he’d already seen.

I died, he thought conversationally.

Stepped off a train platform, saw my whole life play back like a budget film, woke up six years younger with a supernatural financial system. And now I’m sitting here while someone explains protein synthesis.

He looked at the ceiling.

Okay.

Kelvin leaned back slightly from the row in front and whispered without turning around. "You good? You look like you’re having an existential crisis."

"I’m fine," Xavier said flatly.

"You haven’t written anything down."

"I have a good memory."

Kelvin looked like he wanted to ask a follow up question. Xavier’s expression discouraged it. Kelvin faced forward.

Amira beside him said nothing but he caught her glancing at him sideways from behind her glasses with the expression of someone quietly filing information away.

Good, Xavier thought. Keep filing.

He lasted until the end of the last lecture purely out of stubbornness and the vague awareness that disappearing completely on day one might draw more attention than it was worth.

The moment Dr. Micheal dismissed them Xavier was out of his seat before the echo of the words faded. Finally the terror had ended, he muttered in relief.

Outside he pulled up the cab app before he’d cleared the building doors.

The afternoon sun hit the courtyard and students spread out in every direction — some heading to the cafeteria, some to the library, groups forming on the grass with the organic ease of people who had already found their people. First days had a particular energy. Everyone performing a version of themselves they hoped would stick.

Xavier walked through it all without stopping.

Okay, he thought as the cab app confirmed a driver. Reorganise. Today was exploratory — I needed to see the landscape before I could move properly.

But the way I used the cap was sloppy.

Donations to outside organisations are fine and all but should’ve left some limits for miscellaneous and all. There was really a saying that when you get too much money you tend to lose your contingencies on money. I wouldn’t have guessed I’d complain even though I had 10000$ on standby and a system that doubles money hectic stuff fr.

He reached the gate and leaned against the wall to wait.

Unacceptable. New rule — if the cap is hit I stop spending until midnight. Full stop. At least it’s for my own good unless I’ll just throw away my progress and be unable to stack up dough for my get back plan.

I also need to level up, he thought. Tier 1 is functional but it’s a starting point not a destination. $10,000 daily cap sounds reasonable until you start thinking about what’s actually possible at Tier 2 or 3. The gap between where I am and where I need to be to complete that main quest is significant. He pulled up the system.

[ REBATE SYSTEM — MAIN QUEST ]

The Reckoning

Status: In Progress

EXP: 900/5,000 to next tier

Zero experience points, he noted. I’ve been spending but the system wants tasks completed not just money cycled. I need to actually engage with the quest structure.

The cab pulled up.

Xavier got in and the driver a young guy maybe a few years older than him, music playing low on the dashboard glanced back.

"Address?"

Xavier opened his mouth.

He hadn’t consciously thought about it. Hadn’t checked anything on his phone. But the address came anyway like muscle memory: street name, building number, floor clear and complete like it had always been sitting in a drawer he hadn’t opened yet.

This body remembers some things before I decide to, he thought, and recited the address.wild talk for a body that’s mine.

The driver nodded and pulled out.

Xavier leaned against the window and watched the university gates shrink in the side mirror.

I’ll probably skip school for a bit, he decided. Go explore the city. see what this system actually does when I take it somewhere bigger than a university courtyard.

He leaned his head back against the cab seat and looked up at the roof with a small, quiet smile.

New life. New system. New city technically — same place but I’m seeing it differently now. He thought about Sarah’s face at the notice board. The half second of dismissal before the polite mask slid on. She looked at me today and saw nothing worth looking at. That’s understandable as I am still some freshman low life scum.

He smiled,that bitch prolly does not know what’s coming for her.

I’ll drop here, Xavier thought as the cab approached the familiar street.

"Stop here," he told the driver.

The cab slowed and pulled over. Xavier stepped out, stretched once, and tapped the fare through his phone.

[ REBATE SYSTEM ]

Transaction Detected: $8 — Cab Fare

[ No rebate — Daily cap reached ]

[ Net Balance: $10,510.00 → $10,502.00 ]

The hostel sat on a quiet residential street two blocks from the main road — a two storey building with a small front yard and the particular atmosphere of a place that had been looked after consistently for a long time without ever being renovated.

Xavier stepped out of the cab, showed the driver his receipts and was halfway up the front path when movement caught his eye.

The side door opened and a small woman came out — mid sixties, wrapper tied neatly at her waist, reading glasses pushed up on her forehead, moving with the unhurried authority of someone who owned the ground she walked on even when she didn’t technically own it.

She raised a hand and waved.

"Welcome back ." Her voice carried across the yard easily. "How was school? Have you today?"

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