FB: Chapter 3 – Financial Windfall

Two weeks later the closed alpha test ended. Public reports, medical records, and reviews were released. Three days after that the price reached a high point as orders flooded into the company. I sold my shares for $125 each. That was around the six times increase I had heard about in my last life.

I smiled at the amount, since my worries melted away once the money entered my account after the sale of the stock. My initial investment of $405,000 turned into $2.3 million. I immediately paid the 20% taxes, bringing me down to $1.84 million. I transferred Rodrick $22,000. I kept $6,400 to pay for the transfer fees, taxes, of his portion, and for investing on his behalf.

With that done, I went to an office supply store and purchased four laptop carrying bags. I then went to the bank, took out $75,000 from the bank after filling out some forms. I then dropped the money off to the first loan shark and then went back to the bank to get money for the next one. I got a lot of looks, but thankfully there were no questions. I had the money in my account.

There were no complaints or issues paying the loan sharks back. They all seemed a bit surprised I was paying them back early and in full, but that didn’t matter to me. Their surprise wasn’t my problem. After paying off the loan sharks and signing the documentation to prove that I had paid. I had $1.518 million dollars left in my account. The order tiers wouldn’t be announced until tomorrow, due to the manufacturing delays and to increase overall capital by making higher tiers more expensive than the initial $200,000 price tag. That was when I would put an order in for a capsule.

After getting home, it was the middle of the day, and no one was home. I began packing my luggage and sent out a text message. The first message I sent to my parents.

Found high paying job. Will be traveling tonight to handle some work in upstate New York, be back tomorrow to talk about it.

The next text message was to my brother.

Sent money to your account. I paid the taxes and fees already. Your sis is rich!

Once that was done, I loaded up my car and set off. My phone pinged with some new text messages.

You actually did it!!! OMG :>
Best sis ever!

My brother was clearly happy. My mother told me to be careful and wished me a safe drive and to let her know the hotel I was going to be staying at. My father wished me good luck. It took four hours for my Car to drive to the town where the QAI node would be built. I quickly found the realtor for the property I wanted.

“Paid in full right away, no loans needed, it needs to happen by tomorrow or I find someone else,” I said to the realtor and that got the wheels quickly rolling. I was paying asking price of $320,000, but the people in the house had to move out by tomorrow morning. I offered $5,000 for a moving company if they were gone by noon tomorrow and transferred the title over. The older couple quickly signed the paperwork and moved out, happy to get the money along with payment for moving. The realtor was more than happy to hold the money in escrow until the keys could be handed over and arranged for a lawyer through their office to speed up the title transfer. Cash made everything happen quickly.

I spent the morning they were moving out, finding a contractor to make the changes I needed to the house. It took a bit of effort, but one was able to meet with me that afternoon. The older couple was already packed up and gone. The house was a bit of a mess with some stuff left behind, but I didn’t mind. The realtor looked nervous as I took the keys from them and there was a mess, but I didn’t care about that.

The contractor came over as the realtor left so we could talk about exactly what I wanted built. I explained my needs and e-mailed over the documents I had written up to his phone, explaining my requirements in detail.

“So, you want a heavy-duty anti-vibration pad, backup battery system, high voltage power, set up in the living room. Also, the bathroom and the kitchen redone as well. High quality, but it doesn’t need to be custom furnishings. Clean cut, white or metallic, with a modern look. Also switch out the locks right away with heavy duty security doors and windows,” he said.

“Yes. How long and how much?” I asked.

“Depends, you wanted this right away?” he asked.

“Time is important. It needs to be done in the next 20 days,” I said.

“I have other jobs lined up.”

“Push them. How much?” I asked and demanded at the same time. I needed to get right into Exponential without delay.

“I don’t like doing business like that. Leaves people with a bad impression if things are delayed for them.” I could understand that, but the one thing that would always be true was that money talked.

“Then give them a small discount from the extra I will pay you. How much?” I asked again.

“Normally it would be $125,000 and three months. If you want it done in the next 20 days, double. Half up front.” That was a huge jump in price, but time, cost, or quality, pick two. I wanted time and quality, so the cost was going to be quite high. I cared more about speed than money right now.

“That is fine. Let’s sign a contract and I will make the downpayment.” The money was transferred, and he said he would have his crew out first thing tomorrow morning. With that taken care of, I went to the internet provider for the area.

I had a similar conversation. A trunk line would need to be installed, and the area was a bit remote. It wasn’t far from the highway, but a trunk line with fast speed would have to be laid down next to the road to my property. That was fine and I got handed over to a senior manager. I would get a five year contract for $1,000 a month and a rush installation cost of $30,000 with the agreement that the trunk line would be completed in the next 15 days. All told, that came to $90,000.

I knew all these people were taking advantage of me and thought I was stupid for spending like I was. But time was critical. I couldn’t afford to have delays. My schedule would be very tight in terms of getting into Exponential on the first day. If I could spend money to make things go faster, then I would spend money. I then got into my car and took a nap as it drove me home. I really loved the full steer driving, so I could just take naps while it drove me to places. That was why I had purchased the vehicle in the first place, the napping potential.

“You made it just in time for dinner,” my mother said.

“Smells delicious, lasagna?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said. We all sat down for dinner.

“So how was your trip?” my mother asked.

“It went well, but there is a lot of work to do. I also need to let everyone know some major things,” I said. There was silence and I could see my brother giving me a grin. “I recently made over two million dollars in the stock market, legally, taxes have already been paid. I am not going to college. I will be playing Exponential going forward.” I said that calmly, but with each moment of silence the tension in the dining room increased. There was complete and utter silence at this.

“That is a lot to take in,” my father slowly said. “What brought this about?”

“After doing some research, I worked out that Exponential is going to be the biggest game ever along with the company that has the same name. That’s how I earned so much money. The stock is going to dip as manufacturing issues come to light, but in time it is going to become the biggest thing ever,” I replied.

“And where do you plan to live?” my father asked me.

“I already purchased a home in upstate New York. I have hired a contractor who is already fixing the place up and a trunk line for the internet connection is being installed,” I replied. By the surprise on his face, he probably wasn’t expecting me to have an answer ready.

“This is so quick, are you sure honey? This is a big change from what you had planned before?” my mother asked in a worried tone.

“Also, what about your tuition?” my father asked.

“All the tuition money has been recovered, so there is nothing to worry about there. And I am confident about my choice. I will be dealing with the construction for the next three weeks, and should be moved out by then,” I replied.

“I think it is amazing. Pursuing her dream, taking risks. You don’t make the big plays without the big risks,” my brother added, supporting me. That brought a smile to my face.

“Well as long as you can support yourself, then it is fine,” my father said. I got up and gave him a hug, which he returned.

“Thank you for believing in me,” I replied quietly.

“You are our daughter, of course we believe in you,” my mother got up and gave a hug as well. Then my brother joined in.

“You are going to make me cry,” I said with a sniffle as we broke off the family hug. I really missed this.

“So, Exponential, tell me about it. If it is your new job,” my father said as we all sat back down. He was clearly trying to support me in my interests, which I really appreciated.

“Full immersion virtual reality. You need a capsule, subscription, and good internet, all of which isn’t cheap. But there are several reasons why it is going to take off. The immersion is perfect with the right setup. That is why it is far better than previous games. Then there are the medical nanites, which will be coming out in the next year, combined with the capsules, it will draw in a lot of retired people,” I said.

“Medical nanites?” my father asked.

“They are in their testing stage, but there has been literature released already. I believe there have been some breakthroughs recently in downsizing the technology, which will allow for some rapid development,” I explained.

“Well, that will get the insurance companies excited for sure,” my father added. I nodded at this, since he did accounting for an insurance company for a living. That was why he immediately saw this angle to the medical nanites.

“Exactly. Then the military, which relies on drones and robots. You need to have drone pilots in capsules, and they will use them in their down time to play games,” I said. I didn’t mention the increased minor physical abilities from the medical nanites, since that research hadn’t come out yet. It would only matter more for the overseas markets that looked at the VR capsules as way too expensive for most people and military applications. I also didn’t mention QAI beyond my increased immersion comment, since that was less a financial reason for the game’s massive success and more of a reason that the game was engaging which turned it into a financial success. The problem was that I didn’t really understand how QAI worked, except it was very good at what it did. That was why I didn’t bring that part up, since I couldn’t explain it very well.

“Interesting. So, what do you plan to do in this game, stream?” he asked me.

“Perhaps. But the main thing is to get wealth and power within the game for the future. It is going to be big. Very big. Even with the massive costs to get a capsule and the supporting infrastructure to play the game with full immersion,” I explained.

“How much is it?” my mother asked.

“For a platinum capsule, not counting the subscription, half a million,” I replied. My brother began coughing on the piece of lasagna he was eating.

“Half a million!” my mother said in shock, and I nodded.

“It is worth the investment to get a capsule as quickly as possible,” I replied.

“Insanity, but if you have the money, you have the money to waste,” my father said with a frown.

“Here I was thinking about trying it out. Now I feel poor,” my brother said. I just rolled my eyes at that statement but didn’t contradict him. He hadn’t tattled on me, so I would let him keep his extra money he had earned off me a secret.

“How much do you have left?” my father asked.

“Not counting the money set aside for the capsule, 350,000 dollars. All of which I plan to short Exponential stock. It is still hovering around 125 dollars at the moment. It will soon plummet to around 65 dollars per share once manufacturing issues come out. Since my account has ranked up on the app I am using, I can also trade with leverage of 50%, which should let me make some more money.”

Instead of $350,000, I would be able to use $525,000 to purchase shorts. Leverage trading meant higher risks, since you were gambling with money you didn’t own, but it also meant larger profits if you guessed correctly.

I wasn’t going to risk the shares going all the way down to $60. Similar to how I sold just before the shares reached their absolute peak. I would be able to make around profit of $300,000 before tax. That would bring my non-reserved funds to around half a million dollars.

Since I didn’t know when the share price would drop and when the capsule sale system would go up, I needed to keep the capsule money in reserve in order to place my order for a capsule. It was first come first served at each tier and it was very important I be the first at the platinum tier. That was why I couldn’t put all my money into the short sale on the stock.

That wasn’t exactly how a short sale worked, but it was how I thought about the entire process. I had learned about this stuff during college but putting it into practice was a bit of a headache. Thankfully, the app I was using made the process quite simple, by just selecting a short sale position and number of shares with a specific time frame. I could only hope my memory was up to the task, otherwise I would be in big trouble.