REBORN WITH THE GOD-LEVEL CASH SYSTEM

6

Kaspar’s handcrafted leather shoes cut through the silence of a filthy alley in the West District slums. Beside him, Camille stepped with poise, wearing a tailored black blazer set and pencil skirt, holding a digital tablet linked directly to a satellite banking network.

On the third floor of an apartment building, the smell of cheap instant noodles and cold coffee filled a cramped twelve-square-meter room.

Thaddeus Drake—a twenty-eight-year-old man with thick-rimmed glasses and disheveled hair—sat in front of three flickering, outdated computer monitors. His eyes were bloodshot, ringed with heavy dark circles from forty-eight hours without sleep.

His computer screens displayed an analytical breakdown of the De Marly Group's stock market charts.

"Insane... this is insane," Thaddeus muttered to himself, his fingers dancing lithely across a dusty keyboard. "They faked their energy sector export liquidity reports by four hundred percent! Cedric De Marly is gambling the company's entire capital on short selling crude oil supplies. If someone buys up the black-market energy shares right now... the De Marly Group will go completely bankrupt within hours!"

Thaddeus slammed his fist onto the desk. He had once been the chief analyst at Wall Street's premier firm in the city, before he was fired and blacklisted by Cedric De Marly for refusing to falsify those very financial reports. Now, he lived destitute in this cramped room, lacking a single cent of capital to execute his brilliant analysis.

Thud.

The dilapidated wooden door to Thaddeus's apartment swung open without warning.

Thaddeus bolted up, nearly knocking over his coffee cup. "Who are you?! How did you get in—"

The words froze in his throat.

Kaspar stepped into the small room. His tall, imposing frame, combined with the aura of Divine Charm and the immaculate cut of his bespoke suit, instantly made the dingy apartment feel utterly claustrophobic and unfit for his presence.

"Thaddeus Drake," Kaspar said softly. His voice was calm, yet filled the space with absolute authority. "Former senior analyst at St. Claire Securities. Fired two years ago for refusing to manipulate De Marly Group bonds."

Thaddeus swallowed hard, adjusting his glasses with a trembling hand. "Who are you? And how do you know—"

"I don't need an explanation of your past," Kaspar interrupted coldly. He glanced at Thaddeus’s three aging monitors. "I see the analysis you just ran. You want revenge on Cedric De Marly through the stock market?"

Thaddeus froze, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. "My analysis is useless without capital. The De Marly Group injected fifty million dollars to manipulate the market this morning. It takes at least one hundred million in liquid cash to reverse the market flow and destroy them. No bank would lend that kind of money to a blacklisted outcast like me."

Kaspar offered a subtle smile. He waved his hand gently toward Camille.

Camille stepped forward, placing a slim, carbon-fiber laptop onto Thaddeus's dusty desk. The laptop screen lit up, displaying the Swiss Imperial Apex banking portal, locked behind biometric authorization.

"Place your thumb on the scanner," Kaspar commanded.

Thaddeus looked at Kaspar hesitantly, but the dominating aura radiating from him made refusal impossible. He extended his thumb, pressing it against the scanner screen.

Beep.

[Sub-Subordinate Access Authorization Complete.]

[Operational Account Bound: Eldridge Financial Sub-Account #09.]

[Allocated Balance: $100,000,000.00 USD.]

Thaddeus’s eyes widened behind his thick lenses. His mouth fell open in soundless shock. The bright green figures of one hundred million dollars flashed on the screen, accompanied by an unconditional liquidity certificate from the Swiss central bank.

"O-one hundred million dollars... in cash?!" Thaddeus's voice shook violently. He stared at Kaspar as if looking at a god or a demon descending from the heavens.

"Use that money," Kaspar crossed his arms, leaning against the apartment doorway. "The stock market opens in ten minutes at 8:00 AM. I want you to corner the entire futures supply in the energy sector. Force the De Marly Group into a position with zero liquidity."

Thaddeus looked from his monitors to Kaspar. The blood in his veins, frozen by two years of despair, suddenly burst into flames. The spark of his financial genius reignited.

"If I use this hundred million to take a long position on crude oil futures right now..." Thaddeus's fingers began flying across the keyboard with absurd speed, "...within two hours, the De Marly Group will face a margin call of two hundred million dollars! They won't have the cash to cover it! They'll be wiped out completely!"

[Daily Mission Complete: Recruit Thaddeus Drake!]

[Rewards Received: Skill 'Absolute Stock Manipulation' & 1x Physical Cleansing Elixir.]

Kaspar felt a surge of mystical financial intuition flood his mind. Absolute Stock Manipulation granted him real-time, micro-level foresight into the price movements of global financial instruments.

"You have two hours, Thaddeus," Kaspar said, turning to leave. "Once the job is done, your salary will be one million dollars a year, plus two percent of today's execution profits. Camille will take you to your new office on the fiftieth floor of the Grand Royal Tower."

Thaddeus dropped to his knees on the dirty wooden floor, bowing his head low toward Kaspar's retreating back. "Mr. Eldridge! My life and my mind belong to you from this day forth!"

8:15 AM. De Marly Group Headquarters, 30th Floor Boardroom.

Cedric De Marly sat in the executive leather chair with dark circles under his eyes and a rumpled suit. Before him, five of the city’s top stock analysts were frantically operating dozens of market monitors.

"What’s the situation?!" Cedric barked, spilling a bit of hot coffee onto his trousers. "Have energy stocks dropped yet?!"

"M-Mr. Cedric..." a head analyst stepped back, his face pale. "A... a secret institutional account entered the market five minutes ago!"

"What?!" Cedric stood up abruptly, knocking his coffee cup over entirely. "How much did they dump in?!"

"One hundred million dollars in cash! They bought up every single crude oil futures contract we put up for sale!" the analyst shouted in panic. "Energy stock prices just spiked three hundred percent in ten minutes! The market is in an unprecedented bull run!"

"Impossible! Who has a hundred million dollars in liquid cash just sitting around first thing in the morning?!" Cedric grabbed the analyst by his collar, his eyes bloodshot with frustration and panic.

Crash!

The boardroom doors burst open. Two men in gray suits carrying badges from the Stock Exchange Authority and Financial Supervisory Commission stepped inside, flanked by four uniformed police officers.

"Cedric De Marly?" the lead regulatory officer asked, his voice cold and unforgiving.

"Y-yes... what is the meaning of this?!" Cedric trembled violently.

"Your company has failed a margin call of two hundred and fifty million dollars due to market manipulation in the energy sector," the officer raised a legally stamped warrant. "All assets of the De Marly Group, your personal bank accounts, and your trading license are officially frozen, effective immediately."

"N-no... NO!" Cedric shrieked hysterically as two police officers grabbed his arms, snapping handcuffs over his wrists in front of all his subordinates. "It wasn't me! Who bought those shares?! Who was the buyer?!"

The regulatory officer glanced coldly at the transaction document in his hand. "The primary master account of the sole buyer is registered under Eldridge Apex Corp."

That name hit Cedric’s mind like a bolt of lightning out of a clear sky.

"Eldridge... Kaspar Eldridge?!" Cedric roared frantically as he was dragged out of his own lavish office. "KASPAR! YOU BASTARD!"

9:30 AM.

Kaspar stood on the expansive outdoor balcony of the Grand Royal Tower Penthouse, sipping warm black tea served by Camille.

Far below, the massive digital billboard on a downtown skyscraper broadcasted breaking news: DE MARLY GROUP DECLARES COMPLETE BANKRUPTCY WITHIN TWO HOURS; ELDRIDGE APEX CORP DOMINATES ENERGY MARKET.

Kaspar’s phone on the glass side table vibrated relentlessly.

The display showed an incoming call from a name Kaspar knew all too well: Beatrice Delacroix.

Kaspar answered the call and brought the phone to his ear in silence.

"Kaspar..." Beatrice’s voice on the line was broken by wild, uncontrollable sobbing and terror. "Cedric's family... Cedric was just arrested by the police... De Marly Group is destroyed... Kaspar, please help me... court bailiffs just seized our family home ten minutes ago!"

Kaspar looked out over the sea of clouds from the fifty-second floor.

"I know," Kaspar said softly.

"Kaspar! I’m outside the main gates of Grand Royal Tower right now!" Beatrice pleaded, her voice piercing through the hum of the city's rain. "The guards won't let me in! Kaspar, I was wrong... please forgive me! I threw Cedric away! I only want to be by your side again! Please let me up..."

Kaspar let out a cold smile. "Camille."

"Yes, Sir?" Camille stepped forward dutifully.

"Tell security downstairs to leave that woman standing outside the main gate," Kaspar said flatly. "In the rain. Until I get tired of looking at her."

Kaspar ended the call, turning to look at the gold-embossed invitation in Camille’s hand.

"What’s next on our agenda, Camille?"

"Tonight, sir," Camille handed him the gold card, "there is an elite charity gala at the Ritz-Carlton. And... the CEO of St. Claire Global, Miss Vivienne St. Claire, has personally requested your presence."