CHAPTER 156: JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE

Gray stared at the headline on his screen.

[BREAKING: SOLARBYTE Skyrockets After Major Corporate Announcement — Value Surges 210% Overnight]

His heart skipped a beat.

"What the fuck?" he muttered again, this time louder than the last one. His hand darted to his phone, unlocking it almost by instinct as he launched the VaultFox app quickly.

The moment it opened, the numbers nearly slapped him across the face.

SOLARBYTE (SBT): $50.29 per coin

802.47 coins × $50.29 = $40,356.87

His eyes widened.

"Wait, wait—hold on..." he whispered, his fingers moving quickly as he tapped over to the full balance overview.

Wallet Total: $40,356.87 (SBT) + $4,130 (NX)

Total Portfolio Value: $44,486.87

The Neox lost some of its value, but Solarbyte...

Gray froze again. He could feel his body beginning to be completely still as he stared at the numbers.

"Holy shit. I can’t believe this."

He blinked again, leaning forward to double-check the numbers, as if the screen would change on a second glance. But it didn’t.

$13,000 had now become more than $40,000. It was just a few days he made this cyrpto investment.

Slowly, a low laugh escaped from his lips.

"No way. No fucking way."

He leaned back in his chair, one hand running through his hair as the realization slowly sank in.

He actually did it.

He followed the system’s advice. And now? He was sitting on more than double the value he started with in less than a week.

"This is real..." Gray exhaled as he glanced over at the still-open article on his monitor.

Apparently, a huge multinational tech firm had announced they were partnering with a blockchain storage provider, and that provider used Solarbyte for their backend infrastructure.

The market exploded with that one statement.

And Gray... had gotten in just in time.

The timing was so unreal, he had to smile.

"This system’s scary..." he muttered.

But at the same time... he was glad. Damn glad.

Because this? This was just the beginning.

After a moment, Gray quickly checked the status of his mission. He didn’t hear any success announcement yet, so that meant it was still on-going and was waiting to be accomplished.

[Ding!]

[Mission Update!]

[Mission: Basic Investor Path]

[Objective:]

- Make 5 investment (7/5)

- Accumulate $100,000 in wealth.($99,620/$100,000)

[Reward: +1 Influence | +1 Power | Golden Fingers (Passive) – A rare investor-type skill that passively enhances all future investments for the Host. Even with no special insight or timing, your investments will begin to perform better than average, consistently growing over time.]

"Oh shit. It’s so close!"

Gray’s eyes widened even further when the updated mission screen appeared. He practically shot up in his seat as his eyes stared hard at the number on the screen.

($99,620 / $100,000)

Just a few hundred dollars more.

"I might actually finish this... soon!" he said aloud, pacing in front of his desk now with his phone still in hand. "Come on... just a little more."

His fingers danced over the screen again as he switched to the live price chart of Solarbyte. The value was still above fifty dollars, but as he stared closer at the line graph, he noticed something else.

"...Hm?"

The price had peaked earlier that morning. Since then, it has been slowly going down. It was not crashing but just easing back in small dips and pullbacks.

It was a cool-off after the surge.

Gray narrowed his eyes. He remembered reading that it was just normal. After a sudden spike, prices tended to settle down slightly, bouncing as people took profit. It was part of the market.

Still... it was enough to slow things down.

"Damn. I was just a few hundred away..." Gray sighed, though he wasn’t really frustrated. He couldn’t complain since he already earned a lot from this one.

"This is fine," he muttered, placing his phone down gently on the desk. "Even if it settles here for a bit, I’m good. The market just needs to breathe, and maybe prices will spike up again soon. I should not sell them while it’s still a little early.

Gray leaned back again.

The price was dipping, but only a little by little. He didn’t want to overthink those things. To see the market even clearer, he held onto his phone and tapped the screen once more.

For the past 24 hours, the chart had peaked, dipped, then tried climbing again. It wasn’t stable, but it wasn’t crashing either. Just retracing, cooling off, and sometimes settling into a new rhythm.

This was because after a big price surge, people who bought in early tended to sell and lock in their profits. That caused a drop. But the thing was, if the coin had strong fundamentals or more news ahead, it would usually climb again, sometimes reaching even higher peaks than the first one.

That process was called a "healthy correction.".

"If the news holds strong, it’ll probably earn more soon," Gray muttered. "Maybe even hit a new high."

He tapped over to the article again, scanning for more clues.

The tech firm hadn’t just announced the partnership; they also hinted at full-scale integration across several of their platforms by the next quarter. That meant this wasn’t just a one-time pump.

There was potential for follow-through.

"This could keep growing," he said to himself. "I just need to be patient."

He looked at the mission screen again.

There was no need to panic. No need to rush a sell.

The 7 days from the system still hadn’t completely passed.

There were still a few days left on his time.

"Gray, you have to be patient..."

Sometimes, in investing, the hardest thing to do is to sit still.

And right now? That was exactly what he needed to do.

"Gray, you gotta lock in, okay?" He firmly closed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair/

His heart was still beating a little faster than usual, but there was a strange kind of thrill in it, too. He could practically feel it in his bones...

He was almost there.

One more good movement, one more small push, and he’d reach that six-digit number.

And with it, he will earn something more valuable than cash.

Golden Fingers.