Lucas Grant walked through the halls of Olympus High, his Tier 1 badge glinting under the cold, artificial lights. But while the badge shone, the eyes around him didn't. Most students barely spared him a glance. A few smirked. Some whispered. None bowed.
Provisional Tier 1.
It was a reminder stitched into every move he made. Thirty-five Tier Boost Points. $33,150 in credit. Enough to move him out of the gutter—but nowhere close to the throne.
Not yet.
Lucas headed toward the student business wing, where early-stage ventures were housed. He wasn't there to meet investors or allies. He was there to observe.
A few flashy Tier 2 students exited the elevator in suits that likely cost more than Lucas's entire closet. Their startup names floated in AR above their heads—CryoGlow Cosmetics, LUXChain, and NeuralEdge Education. Most of them didn't even notice Lucas. The one who did? Just gave him a slow, patronizing once-over.
"Scholarship kid," the guy muttered. "Cute."
Lucas kept walking.
He knew how this world worked. Winning one pitch or earning one reward didn't change your rank. Power here wasn't just about money or ideas.
It was about network density.
Legacy clout.
Social gravity.
The people with weight in this school weren't the ones building the future. They were the ones born into it. Kids with surnames tied to old money, old empires. Arena Grant was included. His own cousin hadn't spoken to him once since the Startup Pitch Week.
He didn't blame her. Lucas had earned his way in through grit. Arena was born into Olympus.
But he wasn't here to complain. He was here to play long.
Back in his dorm room, Lucas brought up his console dashboard.
Current Stats
Tier Level: Provisional Tier 1
Tier Boost Points: 35
Cred Balance: $30,200
Project: Microvest (Phase 1 – Planning & Compliance)
Social Score: 61/200 (Below Average for Tier 1)
Council Standing: Unlisted
He stared at the social score for a long minute. That was the real wall.
You could climb Olympus, but without the right eyes on you, you'd always be invisible.
Lucas opened a tab titled Microvest: Execution Timeline.
Phase 1: Infrastructure Setup
Legal sandbox application → Submitted to Olympus Board for student-led platforms
MVP prototype → 40% coded; backend outsourced
Founding Team → Still under construction
He paused. This was where things got tricky.
If he wanted Microvest to scale, he couldn't just build a product. He had to create a movement. But for that, he needed allies. Not just Raj and Theo—he needed people with influence, pull, and audience.
He needed a strategy to build credibility before the product launched.
He opened a new tab and labeled it: Strategic Reputation Map
It was a school-specific visibility matrix. Names. Tiers. Influence scores. Clubs. Events. PR reach. Council ties.
Lucas had been quietly watching for weeks. Which students had loyal followings? Which were only respected because of fear. Which influencers were overhyped? Which upstarts were quietly rising.
He began mapping.
Milo Zhang (Tier 2 Council Evaluator): Respected, traditional, open to bold ideas
Jace Mirani (Tier 3 Media Club): Controls Olympus student press, obsessed with exclusives
Celeste Reign (Tier 2 Debate Society Head): Sharp tongue, massive online following
Max Han (Tier 1, Event Sponsor's Son): Rich, loud, underutilized but influential
Each name had arrows. Some connected by clubs. Some by dating rumors. Others by sponsorships.
It wasn't a social map.
It was a battlefield.
Lucas leaned back. "If I can't climb Olympus fast," he muttered, "then I'll surround it."
He took action immediately.
Media Club Submission—He packaged his pitch video into a short documentary and sent it to Jace Mirani with the message: "A future billionaire's origin story. You want the exclusive?"
Mentorship Circle RRequest—Applied for mentorship under Milo Zhang using his Tier Boost Points, citing "non-traditional market disruption interest."
Low-Profile Event Sponsorship— Contacted Max Han privately, offering to co-sponsor a youth VC simulation event, proposing, "You handle money. I handle structure. Olympus watches both."
PR Campaign Begins—Drafted a series of Microvest-themed student testimonial scripts using chatbots and began feeding them into Olympus internal forums under various aliases.
It was quiet work. But seeds had to be planted in silence.
Later that night, as he reviewed his progress, Raj poked his head in.
"Yo, are we still on for the VC simulation? You booked us, right?"
Lucas nodded. "Yeah. But it's not just a game for us. We're going to win attention."
Theo slid into the room. "You're trying to get respect the long way, huh?"
Lucas didn't answer at first.
Then he looked out the window, toward the skyline of Olympus—the towering digital banners, the flickering reputation graphs, and the tier access overlays.
"I'm not here for respect," Lucas said quietly. "I'm here for power. Respect is just a checkpoint."
Theo whistled. "Bro's playing 4D chess."
"No," Lucas said, finally turning back to his console. "I'm building the board."