World Domination: My Rise To The Top

After they had eaten breakfast, Patty and Leslie left for their respective places of work, leaving James behind at home.

"Now, the day begins," James said, as he brought out his phone.

The first order of business for the day is to pay off his credit card debts and his part of his student loan.

The reason why James wants to do this is because of the rebate he would receive. Since he can't choose between spending and not spending his rebate-eligible funds, he decided it would be the first thing to do before going out.

He opened his browser and navigated to his bank's website.

He smiled, glancing at the numbers on the screen. $1,568.89 in credit card debt. He clicked the option: "Pay Now."

And the following options appeared: minimum payment, full balance, custom amount. Without hesitation, he selected "Full Balance."

His fingers hovered over the over his phone's keyboard as he entered his checking account details. With a final click, the confirmation page popped up. Payment Successful.

But he wasn't done yet. He switched tabs to the student loan portal. His balance was displayed: $19,000. He smiled as he scrolled to the "Make a Payment" button.

"Not all of it today," he muttered. He selected a custom amount and imputed the amount he wants to pay: $5000.

He confirmed the payment and the page refreshed. Payment Successful.

James smiled as he closed the student loan portal. Even though he hasn't paid off all of his student loan, the amount he paid made him feel very relaxed and his shoulder light, like a burden he has been carrying has been suddenly lifted.

And he felt even more relief at the fact that he has more than enough to completely clear out his debt. The remaining $14,000 debt isn't much compared to his current account balance but that would be for later.

With that thought in mind, he turned his attention to the next thing: checking the system's notifications.

[Ding!]

[You spent $1568.89. 10x rebate has been applied. You have received $15,688.9. The money has been sent to your bank account.]

[You spent $4,553.78. 10x rebate has been applied. You have received $45,537.8. The money has been sent to your bank account.]

.....

"I see... So that's how it is... The second transaction was $5,000 but the rebate didn't apply to everything. Seems like the system can't be cheated."

Having confirmed what he wanted, he tapped on his phone screen and it lit up, displaying two credit alert notifications from his bank.

James didn't read the full notification as he directly went to the bottom of the last sent, to check his account balance.

$101,284.7

"This is the life." James smiled brightly at his account balance.

With this amount, he can confidently say that he's no longer broke. Though not rich or wealthy, but he's no longer broke.

Yes, James was aware that he has now ran out of rebate-eligible funds but he wasn't bothered.

First, it couldn't be helped and secondly, plans on how to passively start generating rebate-eligible funds is already being formulated by Ralph. And James trusts Ralph to do a good job.

James stood up from the sofa and made his way to the door. He opened and looked at the house for a moment, before turning to look at the world outside.

"Now, it's time to spend," he said, as he walked through the door.

.....

James' first stop was naturally the clothing store. He intends to get himself some good, quality outfits and footwears.

The clothing store that James was going to wasn't too far from home, so he didn't call for a lift. But he would definitely call for one when he's coming back.

.....

James walked into a clothing store and started going through the catalogues of clothes.

He started selecting those that caught his eye and in just after a few minutes, he already has his hands full.

He quickly called for the attention of the sales associate, to assist him.

"Can I get some help here, please?"

The clothing store is a small one and has two sales associate, one on cashier duties and the other was free.

James was attended to by the free sales associate, as she walked towards him with a customer friendly smile on her face.

She was about to ask him what he needed help with, when she saw the clothes on his arms.

"I will take that for you, sir," she said, as she took the clothes off his arms.

James smiled as he continued going around the store, and picking the clothes he wants. After he was done with the clothing section, he went to the accessories section and footwear section.

During all these, the sales associate kept following behind James, with a smile on her face, and assisting him with anything he needs.

To her, James is nothing short of big customer. With just a rough calculation, the clothes that James were at the price of at least $2k.

It wasn't much but considering that their store is small, this is a lot. And to add to that, James wasn't done with his selection.

And it's not everyday they get someone like him. So, when they do, they do their best to provide the best customer service they can.

In fact, if she knew from the moment he walked into the store, that he would be spending so much, she would had started following him.

Meanwhile, James was finally done shopping. He looked at the lady sales associate behind him, his attention more on the items in her arms, than on her.

He smiled and walked to the counter, with the lady following behind him.

When they got to the counter, he asked the two ladies to start calculating the price everything he chose and give him the total cost.

Planning for something special, sir?" the sales associate behind the counter asked with a smile.

James chuckled.

"Nah, just trying to look like the man I'm becoming."

The two of them smiled and immediately got to work, as the one behind the counter was doing the calculations, the other was packaging the items.

While they were busy with that, James decided to call for a Lyft.

.....

It took the two ladies a couple of minutes but they were finally done with calculating the total cost of all the items James chose.

"Sir, the total cost of everything is $4,187."

James nodded in acknowledgement and swiped his debit card, making the payment.

"Thanks you for shopping with us! Have a great day!" The two of them said, after they had confirmed that the payment had been made.

"Thank you too." James said.

It felt strange. Being able to swipe his card without a second thought. For years, he had avoided even looking at price tags. Now, he wasn't just buying clothes; he was buying the feeling of freedom.

'Such a shame that the rebate has such a restriction or it would been so much fun.' he thought, as he picked up his packaged purchases and started walking towards the door.

Quickly, the lady outside ran towards the door and helped him to open it, and held it open.

James nodded in appreciation as he left the store, and walked towards his ride that was waiting for him.

The driver of the car seeing how James hands were filled bags, got out of the car and helped him to open the trunk of the car.

"Thanks, man." James said, and dropped all the bags into the trunk.

After he was done, he got into the back of the car, gave the driver an address and the driver drove off towards it.