Chapter 9
The new text glowed on the screen. ’$4 per click’.
Adam stared at the words. The sharp terror that had gripped him just a moment before began to recede. The cold knot in his stomach loosened. He let out a long slow breath he did not realize he had been holding.
"I thought I had lost everything," he whispered. His voice was hoarse. He had gone from having ten thousand dollars to ten dollars in a single instant. The shock had been devastating. But now he understood. The money was not gone. It had been an investment. A payment.
A new message appeared on the screen of the One-Click Billionaire app. It was not a pop-up this time. It was a line of text that appeared directly below the ’Level 2’ indicator.
[To reach the next level the Host must first invest the money that the Host earns.]
He read the sentence twice. The words ’the Host’ felt strange and impersonal. The message was clear. The first level up had cost ten thousand dollars. He had earned that money by clicking the button. To level up again he would need to do something else. He would need to invest.
Adam’s mind raced. He was starting to understand the rules of this impossible game. If my level increases that means I get more money every time I click, he thought. He looked at the line of text again. ’$4 per click’. Below it in small clean letters was the phrase ’Level 2’. It was a significant upgrade from $2.50. The ten thousand dollar price tag suddenly seemed reasonable. It was a steep cost but the return was immediate.
He tapped the Level 2 section of the screen. The display changed. It showed a new status page. It read:
LEVEL 2
$4 per click