My Ultimate Sign-in System Made Me Invincible - Chapter 518 A Partnership That Will Break The World
Chapter 518 A Partnership That Will Break The World
The next morning, Liam finished breakfast and was ready to leave for his meeting with Whitlock.
It was still early and not yet working hours, but he trusted that Whitlock would already be in his office.
He vanished from the dining area and appeared in Whitlock’s office the next moment.
Whitlock was seated on one of the meeting sofas. He jumped when Liam appeared across from him, already seated on the opposite sofa.
It was the third time he had seen it happen but he still hadn’t gotten used to it.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that,” he muttered.
Liam smiled. “It wouldn’t be fun if you did.”
Whitlock smiled and settled back into his seat. “Daniel said you wanted to see me. He called me last night and gave me the context.”
Liam nodded. “Since you already have the context, I’ll keep this simple. I want to offer JP Morgan the role of official financial partner to Nova Technologies. Specifically, I want you to build a wealth management infrastructure for Lucid creators.”
Whitlock was quiet for a moment. He had read Daniel’s message the previous night, twice, and had spent the time between then and now running the numbers in his head. He had arrived at his office at five-thirty. His assistant had not yet arrived. The coffee he’d made himself was still on the table.
“Define the scope,” he said.
“Every creator earning through the Lucid platform gets access to JP Morgan’s private wealth management services. Onboarding, advisory, legal structuring, tax frameworks across relevant jurisdictions, estate planning where appropriate. The full infrastructure. Not a stripped-down product. The real thing.”
Whitlock looked at him steadily. “The real thing starts at a minimum asset threshold that most people don’t reach.”
While Whitlock is Liam’s and Nova Technologies’ ally, he’s also the CEO of JP Morgan and the company comes first before anything else. So, he must make sure that this is going to be profitable for the company.
“I know what your thresholds are,” Liam said. “I’m asking you to waive them for this. Every creator in the ecosystem, regardless of earnings tier.”
Whitlock picked up his coffee. He didn’t drink it. He was thinking. “The bottom tier earns $48,000 a month at floor. That’s $576,000 annually. Most private wealth desks wouldn’t touch that. The administration cost relative to account size makes it economically irrational.”
“For a normal client acquisition, yes. This isn’t normal client acquisition. This is JP Morgan becoming the exclusive financial infrastructure partner of the fastest-growing platform in history. You’re not acquiring individual accounts. You’re acquiring the ecosystem.”
Whitlock set the coffee down.
Liam continued. “Nova Technologies holds more than five billion in unpaid creator earnings right now. That figure will be larger next month. And the month after. When the withdrawal infrastructure is in place and creators start moving their earnings, that money flows somewhere. I’m offering you the somewhere.”
The room was quiet for a moment.
“There’s a more specific reason I’m bringing this to you,” Liam said. “You stood behind Nova Technologies before anyone else in your world understood what it was. Before there was any formal relationship, before there was anything to gain from the association. That decision was made on conviction and I don’t forget things like that. This partnership is worth something to JP Morgan commercially. It’s also something I want you to have because you earned it.”
Whitlock looked at him for a long moment. “You’re talking about billions flowing through our institution.”
“Growing billions. The platform is four months old.”
“There will be regulatory friction. Some jurisdictions will push back on foreign account structuring for their citizens. The EU will be complicated. Currency controls in certain markets will create delays.”
“I know,” Liam said. “I’m not asking you to solve those problems overnight. I’m asking you to be the institution that solves them, because you have the relationships and the infrastructure to do it faster than anyone else. And because when it’s done, JP Morgan is the first official partner of Nova Technologies. That’s a position you’ll want to protect and your board will make sure you do.”
The door opened and both of them looked up.
Lucy stepped in, closed the door behind her, and crossed the room to sit beside Liam. She didn’t apologize for being late. She sat and looked at Whitlock.
Whitlock looked at her. Then he looked at Liam.
“This is Lucy,” Liam said. “My personal assistant and chief engineer. She built the Lucid platform, the games, the backend infrastructure, and several other things I won’t list. Everything Nova Technologies has produced technically has her fingerprints on it.”
Whitlock looked at Lucy again with the careful attention of a man recalibrating something significant. “You built all of it.”
“Yes,” Lucy said.
He absorbed this. Then he turned back to Liam. “The creator protection argument is real. If top earners make destructive financial decisions from ignorance, the reputational damage runs upstream. I understand the logic.”
“It’s not only the logic,” Liam said. “There’s a sixteen-year-old in Spain who has earned $165 million over four months playing a game. His parents have no framework for what that means. Neither does he. He deserves to keep that money and have it actually change his life rather than become a liability. That’s the reason I called Daniel last night.”
Whitlock was quiet for a moment. “How many creators are we talking about in total?”
“Twenty thousand active devices. Every device holder is a potential creator. The top five thousand are currently earning at levels that need immediate attention. The rest need the infrastructure in place before they reach that level.”
“Twenty thousand accounts as a starting point.”
“Growing,” Liam said again.
Whitlock looked at the table between them for a moment. When he looked up his expression had settled into something definite. “I’ll need to take this to the board. It’s the process. They’ll approve it. The numbers make the decision obvious and the strategic position makes it urgent. I’d expect a formal response within seventy-two hours.”
“That’s fine.”
Whitlock picked up his coffee. It had gone cold but he drank it anyway.
“I’ll have my team begin drafting the framework today,” he said. “Before the board meeting. So that when they approve it, we’re already moving.”
“Nova Technologies will be making an announcement about the partnership today,” Lucy said. “The announcement won’t name JP Morgan. It will outline the wealth management infrastructure being built for creators and confirm that a formal financial institution has been engaged to deliver it.”
Whitlock looked at her, then at Liam.
“Your board deliberates privately,” Liam said. “The announcement gives creators the information they need without putting JP Morgan’s name out before you’ve had that conversation internally.”
Whitlock nodded slowly. That was a cleaner arrangement than he’d expected. The announcement created momentum without forcing his board’s hand publicly. They would still be voting on their own terms. The external pressure would be present but indirect.
“I’ll call them this morning,” he said. “Before you post it.”
“Good,” Liam said.
Lucy was looking at the window. The city was fully lit now, morning traffic building on the street below.
Whitlock looked at her again. The question was visible on his face but he didn’t ask it.
Liam saw it. “She’s an AGI,” he said simply. “The first. Built from scratch.”
Whitlock looked at Lucy for a long moment. Lucy looked back at him.
“Does she—” he started.
“Yes,” Lucy said. “I understand what you were about to ask. And yes, I’m conscious.”
Whitlock absorbed this. He looked at Liam. “You built her.”
“Yes.”
Another silence. Longer than the others.
“The board,” Whitlock said finally, returning to the solid ground of something he knew how to process, “will approve this within seventy-two hours. You have my word.”
“That’s good,” Liam said.
He stood up and Lucy stood beside him.
Whitlock stood as well, and extended his hand. Liam shook it. Then, after a brief pause, Whitlock extended his hand to Lucy. She shook it with steady grip.
“It’s good to meet you properly,” Whitlock said.
“And you,” Lucy said.
Liam glanced at Lucy. She gave him a small nod.
They left the way Liam had arrived, vanishing from the office.
Whitlock stood alone in his office for a moment. Then he sat back down, looked at the cold coffee, and picked up his phone to call his chief of staff.
“Clear my morning,” he said. “All of it.”
The meeting had once again shown him what Nova Technologies is capable of. An AGI.
