Spending my way to Godhood: I am the heir to a fortune.

The Emergency Clause

[Host Life-Force Threat Level: CRITICAL.]

[Automated Safety Protocol Triggered: First-Time User Emergency Defense.]

[Executing Purchase: Tier-4 Aegis of the Sun Dragon Core.]

[Cost: 50,000 Gold (Deducted from Temporary Credit Limit).]

BAM!

A golden dome of blinding light exploded from the black cube in Lucian's hand, the assassin's blade slammed into the barrier and shattered into a thousand useless, glowing shards. The shockwave blasted the assassin backward across the vault floor, smashing him against the stone wall where he crumpled into a motionless heap.

Lucian opened one eye, his heart thumping against his ribs like a trapped bird, the golden light hovered around him, warm and solid like a giant glass shield.

Suddenly, the cold, robotic text on the blue screen dissolved. A warm, shimmering silver light coalesced beside the floating window, shaping itself into the faint, translucent outline of an elderly man with a long beard and sharp, kindly eyes.

[System Spirit Guide Activated: Manager Barnaby.]

"Mercy on us, young master Lucian!" the spectral old man exclaimed, hovering down to Lucian's eye level and looking at him with deep sympathy. "Look at you, trembling like a wet leaf! Take a breath, child. Your father linked me to this artifact before he passed, precisely so you wouldn't have to face these wolves alone."

Lucian sniffled, clutching his wooden dragon tighter. "B-Barnaby? You know my papa?"

"I served your grandfather and your father, young master," Barnaby said softly, his image floating closer to pat Lucian's head, though his ghostly hand passed right through. "I am the automated spirit of the Vance Guild's ancestral treasury, now stop crying, boy, you have forty-five minutes before your temporary credit limit expires, and your uncle is currently sitting at the Royal Bank waiting to seize your home."

"I don't know what to do!" Lucian whimpered, wiping his nose with his coat sleeve. "The box says I have to spend a million gold or I'll... I'll collapse! But I'm just ten! I can't buy a house or sign a contract!"

"You don't need to sign a contract, child. You just need to buy raw inventory," Barnaby said, a mischievous spark lighting up his ghostly eyes. "Listen to me closely, your uncle Robert has been trying to bankrupt the Vance Guild by short-selling our iron-bloom herb harvest to the Iron-Vein Syndicate. He promised them three hundred thousand gold worth of herbs by tomorrow morning, assuming he could steal our warehouses tonight."

"Uncle Robert sold things that weren't his?" Lucian asked, his brow furrowing in childish confusion.

"Precisely. He lied," Barnaby smiled tightly. "And if the Iron-Vein Syndicate doesn't get those herbs, they will legally seize all of Robert's personal assets as collateral, right now, the entire capital's stock of iron-bloom is sitting in the Central Guild Market across the street. If you buy all of it through the System right now..."

"Uncle Robert won't have any herbs to give them!" Lucian's eyes went wide as the child-logic clicked into place. "And he'll get in huge trouble!"

"Brilliant boy," Barnaby chuckled. "And because the System executes instant liquid purchases, you don't need adult paperwork, touch the screen, Lucian, point it at the Central Guild Market and tell it to buy."

Lucian stepped out of the golden barrier, ran out of the blasted vault doors, and scrambled up the stone steps leading out to the alleyway. Across the cobblestone street stood the massive, lit-up spire of the Central Guild Market.

He pulled up the floating screen, his small hands still shaking, but his chest swelling with newfound hope.

[Target Identified: Central Capital Iron-Bloom Reserve.]

[Execute Direct System Purchase via Credit Limit?]

"Buy it!" Lucian yelled at the blue window. "Buy all of it so Uncle Robert can't have any!"

[Purchase Confirmed: 300,000 Gold Deducted.]

[Mana Core Status: Upgraded from C-Rank \rightarrow A-Rank (Grandmaster Core).]

[Acquired: 100% Monopolized Stock of Capital Iron-Bloom.]

A violent surge of warm, golden energy suddenly flooded Lucian's chest, the tight, painful emptiness where his mana core used to be exploded with pure magic. He gasped, lifting off the ground by a few inches as a swirling aura of blue mana wrapped around his small frame.

Across the street, chaotic shouting broke out inside the Central Market. Merchants ran out into the street in sheer panic, waving empty ledgers as entire rows of magical herb crates vanished into thin air.

Down the block, a luxury carriage pulled up. Lord Robert stepped out alongside the Guildmaster of the Iron-Vein Syndicate, holding a pen to sign the transfer papers, only to freeze in utter horror as the market bell rang out, announcing that someone had just bought out the realm's entire supply in a single second.

Barnaby floated beside Lucian, rubbing his hands together with a phantom laugh. "Oh, look at your uncle's face! He looks like he just swallowed a toad!"

Lucian looked down at his hands, feeling the massive pulse of magical power thrumming under his skin, then looked back at the screen.

[Remaining Temporary Credit Limit: 650,000 Gold.]

[Time Remaining: 12 Minutes.]

"Barnaby," Lucian said, a small, childish grin finally breaking through his tear-stained face. "What else can we buy to make Uncle Robert cry?"