Chapter 9 009
One hundred and seventy six days felt like a long runway until Jared sat down and did the actual math.
The California Top 100 Wealthiest list started at approximately $480 million at the lowest entry point. He had eight million dollars, two properties, and a system that rewarded decisive action over hesitation. The gap between where he stood and where he needed to be was not a gap that could be closed through careful saving and modest investments.
He needed to think bigger. Much bigger.
He spent the evening at his desk with three things open. His status panel. Dr. Anita Sorel's card. And a legal pad where he wrote numbers by hand because something about putting figures on paper made them feel real in a way screens did not.
At nine that night he called Anita.
She picked up on the second ring.
"I want to start immediately," Jared said. "Tell me what proper wealth architecture looks like at my current position."
She did not seem surprised to hear from him. "Come to my office tomorrow at eight. Bring every financial document you have. We will build the structure from the ground up."
He was there at seven fifty.
Anita's office was on the thirty first floor of a tower in Century City. Clean, minimal, and serious in the way that communicated competence without needing to decorate around it. She had two analysts already at work when Jared arrived, both of them young and precise looking.
Over the next three hours Anita walked him through everything. Entity structuring. A holding company to sit above his personal assets. Tax positioning. Liquidity management. Investment vehicle selection. She was methodical and thorough and when she identified a weakness in his current position she named it without softening it.
"You are sitting on cash that is doing nothing," she said, circling a figure on the document between them. "Eight million dollars in a single account is not a strategy. It is a starting point that has already started costing you."
"Then tell me where it moves," Jared said.
She laid out a three stage plan. Stage one was entity creation and asset protection. Stage two was deploying capital into two specific sectors, commercial real estate and a carefully selected private equity position that Anita's firm had already vetted. Stage three was leveraging the asset base to access institutional credit lines that would multiply his purchasing power without exposing him to the kind of risk that had destroyed Damien Rothwell.
By eleven that morning Jared had signed the documents to establish Knox Holdings as his primary corporate entity.
\[System Notification: Knox Holdings established. Property Management skill upgraded to Advanced. Financial Architecture Mission Chain — Action 1 of 3 complete.\]
\[System Notification: New passive feature unlocked — Asset Tracking. All holdings now monitored in real time within status panel.\]
He left Anita's office and went straight to meet Raymond Chu for the Culver City closing.
The paperwork took ninety minutes. When it was done Jared stood outside the building on a quiet Culver City street and looked up at the three story structure that now belonged to Knox Holdings. It was not glamorous. But it was solid and undervalued and in a corridor that three separate market analysts had identified as one of the highest appreciation zones in Los Angeles over the next four years.
The system confirmed what he already felt.
\[System Notification: Commercial Asset acquired. Market Intelligence passive scan complete. Projected appreciation — 34 percent over 36 months. Property Management skill actively optimizing tenant acquisition strategy.\]
That afternoon Anita called him back.
"I have something for you," she said. "One of my existing clients is exiting a position in a private equity fund. Mid sized portfolio. Diversified across logistics, medical technology, and commercial infrastructure. The exit is distressed which means the price is attractive. The underlying assets are completely sound."
"How attractive?" Jared asked.
"Forty cents on the dollar," Anita said. "The client needs liquidity within seventy two hours. No one else in my network has the cash position to move this fast."
Jared did the numbers instantly. The fund's stated value was nineteen million dollars. At forty cents on the dollar he could acquire the position for seven point six million. His current liquid balance after the Culver City deposit sat at just over seven million.
He was short.
"System," he said internally. "Emblem Coin conversion. Full balance."
\[Emblem Coin Exchange initiated. 107 Emblem Coins converted. Credit applied — $1,070,000.\]
Combined with his liquid balance that gave him just over eight million. Enough to cover the acquisition and maintain a thin operating reserve.
"Tell your client I will take the full position," Jared said. "Transfer details within the hour."
Anita paused. "You are certain."
"I am certain."
\[System Notification: Private equity acquisition in progress. Business Intelligence skill active. Asset verification complete — underlying portfolio assessed as sound. Projected returns over 18 months — 180 to 240 percent.\]
The transfer completed before midnight.
Jared sat in his penthouse in the quiet dark and opened his status panel. The Asset Tracking feature Anita's structure had triggered now showed a real time picture of everything he held.
Knox Holdings — Culver City Commercial Property. Current value $3,900,000.
Knox Holdings — Downtown LA Penthouse. Current value $2,500,000.
Knox Holdings — Private Equity Fund Position. Acquired value $7,600,000. Stated value $19,000,000.
Total Asset Value — $25,400,000.
Liquid Balance — $680,000.
He was thin on cash. Dangerously thin by conventional standards. But the system was already moving.
\[RING! Side Mission Issued\]
\[Mission: Secure a commercial tenant for the Culver City property within 14 days\]
\[Reward: plus $400,000, plus 20 Emblem Coins, Property Management upgraded to Master Level\]
\[Time Limit: 14 days\]
He noted the mission and set it aside for morning. There was something else on his mind.
The private equity fund he had just acquired held a medical technology asset inside its portfolio. A small diagnostics company called Helix Bio that had developed a rapid screening device for cardiac conditions. Early stage but with a working prototype and two pending patents.
Jared stared at the asset summary for a long time.
His Medical Expertise skill stirred quietly in the background, processing the technical details of the device with a clarity that a normal investor would not have had. The technology was not just sound. It was genuinely important. The kind of thing that could scale from a regional product into a national standard if it received the right backing and the right push.
He made a note on his legal pad.
Helix Bio. Look closer.
He set the pad down and looked out at the city.
\[Name: Jared Knox\]
\[Level: 4 (67/200)\]
\[Title: Rising Dragon\]
\[Total Asset Value: $25,400,000\]
\[Active Mission: California Top 100 Wealthiest — 163 days remaining\]
Twenty five million in assets from eight million in six weeks. The trajectory was steep and getting steeper.
One hundred and sixty three days.
He leaned back in his chair and let the numbers settle in his mind.
The climb was nowhere near finished. But for the first time since the system had appeared in that hospital room, Jared Knox felt something beyond anger and ambition.
He felt momentum.
And momentum, he was learning, was the most powerful force in the world when you knew exactly how to use it.