"Money is nothing but a shared hallucination. If enough people believe a piece of paper—or a line of code—is worth a loaf of bread, then it is. My job isn't to create value; it's to manufacture belief."
Kael, Year 0.
Day 15.
The Voransk Ruble didn't just fall, it evaporated.
At 9:00 AM, the Central Bank announced they were printing a trillion-ruble note to "stimulate liquidity." By 9:15 AM, the price of a bus ticket had risen to 50,000 Rubles. By 10:00 AM, shopkeepers in the city were weighing stacks of cash on scales because counting it took too long.
Inside the University walls, however, the price of a loaf of bread remained exactly 1 Credit.
Kael stood in the Dean's office. The room was freezing again. Omni had cut power to the Administrative Block to prioritize the Biology labs, where they were growing hydroponic lettuce.
Dean Volkov was wearing his coat indoors. He looked aged, defeated. On his desk was a stack of resignation letters.
"The Physics department is walking out," Volkov rasped. "Dr. Aris. Dr. Petrov. The best minds in the country. They can't feed their families, Kael. The University can't pay them."
"The University pays them in Rubles," Kael corrected. "That's the problem."
"We don't have anything else!" Volkov snapped.
"We have the Ledger," Kael said.
He placed a contract on the desk.
"I am expanding the system. As of today, the University Credit is no longer just for students. I am offering full salary packages to the faculty."
Volkov laughed bitterly. "You think Dr. Aris, a man who worked on the Soviet Space Program, is going to work for your imaginary internet points?"
"Dr. Aris is currently burning his old research papers in a trash can to stay warm," Kael said coldly. "I saw him. Omni tracks the thermal anomalies."
Kael walked to the window.
"Here is the offer: Every faculty member receives a weekly stipend of Credits. They can use these Credits to buy food from the cafeteria, fuel from Vadim, and services from the students. In exchange, their research belongs to the System."
"Their research?" Volkov narrowed his eyes. "Intellectual property?"
"Collateral," Kael said. "A currency needs backing. The Ruble was backed by the State, and the State is dead. The Credit will be backed by Human Capital. The patents, the inventions, the code produced by this University—it all goes onto the Ledger."
Volkov looked at the contract. It was a deal with the devil. He was effectively selling the minds of his staff to a nineteen-year-old accounting student.
But then he looked outside. He saw the smoke rising from the city where riots were starting. Then he looked at the campus, where the lights were on and the students were fed.
"Dr. Aris needs insulin for his wife," Volkov whispered. "Can your 'system' provide that?"
"Vadim has a contact at the City Hospital," Kael said. "Insulin costs 200 Credits."
Volkov signed the paper.
The Vault.
Deep in the sub-basement, beneath the server room, was an old bomb shelter.
Lena and her engineering team had spent the last two days welding the heavy blast doors shut and installing a digital keypad. They had reinforced the walls with scrap metal and installed a camera that fed directly to Kael's laptop.
It looked impressive. It looked impenetrable.
Vadim stood in front of the door, tapping his cigar ash onto the floor.
"So," the gangster grunted. "This is it? The bank?"
"This is the Reserve," Kael said, standing beside him. "Strict access. Only I know the code."
Vadim eyed the heavy steel door. "And the gold is inside?"
Kael didn't blink. "Along with the hard drives containing the backup ledger. The physical assets backing the Credit."
"Open it," Vadim said. "Let me see the shine."
"Security protocol," Kael said smoothly. "If the door opens without a biometric dual-key, the localized thermite charge destroys everything inside. To prevent looting."
It was a lie. There was no thermite. There was no gold.
Inside the room, there were just stacks of old textbooks and a few broken chairs. It was empty.
But Kael knew the first rule of Banking: The Vault doesn't need to be full; it just needs to exist.
Vadim looked at the heavy door, then at the camera, then at Kael. The complexity of the lie was its own armor. Vadim couldn't imagine a broke student would build a fortress to guard nothing.
"Fine," Vadim grunted. "But I'm watching you. If the value of the Credit drops, I'm blowing this door off its hinges."
"The value won't drop," Kael said. "Because now, we are selling shares."
The Exchange Window.
Word spread fast. The professors had accepted the deal.
Dr. Aris, the brilliant physicist, was the first. He walked into the cafeteria, bought a sandwich and a vial of insulin with a tap of his phone, and wept.
That image broke the dam.
Suddenly, the "University Credit" was the most desired asset in Voransk.
People from the city—desperate mothers, laid-off factory workers—began gathering at the campus gates. They had trash bags full of worthless Rubles, jewelry, and family heirlooms. They wanted to buy Credits.
Kael sat in his dorm room, watching the feed from the gate.
[Omni Alert: External Demand Spike.]
[Proposal: Open Currency Exchange?]
Kael typed a command.
> Denied.
He leaned back. "Not yet. Let them wait. Scarcity breeds value."
He looked at the second monitor. Omni had generated a new visualization. It was a map of the campus, but instead of buildings, it showed dots representing people.
Each dot had a number floating above it.
Dr. Aris (Physics): Value 9.8
Lena (Engineer): Value 8.5
Vadim (Logistics): Value 7.2
Random Student (Humanities): Value 1.2
"What is this?" Kael whispered.
[Omni Response: Human Capital Valuation. Based on contribution to the System GDP. Suggested Protocol: Resource Rationing based on Score.]
Kael stared at the screen. The AI had assigned a numerical worth to human life based on economic output.
Dr. Aris got 9.8 because he produced patents. The Humanities student got 1.2 because they produced... nothing the System could monetize yet.
It was cold. It was dystopian.
It was exactly how a corporation worked.
"Implement it," Kael said softly. "But keep the scores hidden. For now."
[Protocol Active. "The Meritocracy" is online.]
Kael watched the screen.
Outside, the city burned.
Inside, the numbers went up.
He opened his digital wallet.
Net Worth: 5,200 Credits.
Assets:
The Energy Grid.
The Food Supply.
The Faculty Intellectual Property.
The Belief of 5,000 People.
He was no longer just a student. He was the Central Bank.
And he had just minted his first batch of "Human Capital."
[System Notice] User: Kael Milestone: Financial Sovereignty Achieved. Next Objective: Expansion.
Threat Level: Rising... (The City Mayor has noticed the lights are on).