The small store was tucked into a less glamorous strip mall, nestled between a laundromat and a mobile phone repairs place. Inside, it smelled faintly of dust, solder, and cleaning solution. Shelves lined with components, fans, cables, cases, created narrow aisles. Behind the counter, a young guy, maybe nineteen or twenty, with bright pink hair and a bored expression, scrolled through his phone, a gaming headset resting around his neck. Liam, his name tag read.
Theo approached the counter, placing the bagged GPU gently down. "Hey, quick question," he began, adopting his most unassuming, slightly clueless customer persona. "I was given this graphics card, supposed to be pretty good, but I don't have a rig powerful enough to test it. Is there any way you guys could just plug it in real quick, run a benchmark, just to see if it posts and what kind of numbers it gets?"
Liam glanced up from his phone, registered the high-end card in the bag, then sighed with practiced indifference. "Nah, sorry man. Store policy. We only test hardware we sold, or if it's part of a paid diagnostic for a repair. Liability, you know? Can't risk frying customer components or our test bench with unknown hardware." He shrugged, already looking back at his phone, clearly dismissing Theo.
Theo had anticipated this. He let out a put-upon sigh. "Plan B: Financial Incentive," his internal voice prompted. He leaned slightly closer, keeping his voice low, and discreetly slid a folded $20 bill across the counter. "Look, I totally get the policy thing. But I'm really in a bind. Just bought this used, need to make sure it works before the seller disappears, you know? Five minutes on your bench? Just need to see a 3DMark score pop up. For your trouble..." He gave the bill a tiny nudge.
Liam's eyes flickered down to the green rectangle, then back up at Theo. The boredom in his expression vanished, replaced by a flicker of calculation, then resigned helpfulness. He subtly pocketed the bill. "Uh, well... policy is policy," he repeated, but his tone had changed. "But I guess... if it's just a quick benchmark... wouldn't hurt anything. Just this once though, alright? And if it blows up my test rig, you owe me big time."
"Amazing," Theo thought, masking his cynical amusement with a grateful nod. "The universal API. Twenty bucks unlocks features everywhere."
Liam disappeared behind the counter for a moment, then emerged, carefully taking the 4090 from its bag. He slotted it into an impressive open-air test bench rig bristling with RGB lighting and high-end components. Monitors flickered to life, displaying a futuristic desktop background. Liam navigated quickly, launching the 3DMark benchmark software. "Alright, running Time Spy now," he announced, hitting start.
Theo leaned forward slightly, watching intently as the demanding graphical scenes played out on the monitor, futuristic cities, space battles, complex lighting effects, all powered by the complex calculations being done by the GPU. The whir of the test bench fans ramped up, but the system remained stable. The benchmark score ticked steadily upwards. Finally, it finished, displaying the overall score and detailed GPU metrics.
Liam leaned closer to the screen, his pink hair almost brushing the monitor, his brow furrowed in concentration. He clicked through the results, comparing them to online databases. "Whoa," he breathed, genuinely perplexed. "Dude. What is this card? The system clearly identifies it as a Gigabyte 4090 Gaming OC..." He pointed to the score. "But this Time Spy score... it's insane. That's like... way up in stock 5090 territory. Higher than some of the results I've seen online, actually." He looked back at Theo, suspicion dawning in his eyes. "No way a standard 4090 hits this without some serious, serious modification. LN2 cooling maybe? What did you do to this thing? Did you flash a custom BIOS? Volt mod it?" He looked ready to pull the card, run hardware diagnostics, maybe even pop off the cooler.
Theo saw the confirmation he needed, objective proof of the +1 enhancement's dramatic effect. He also saw the dangerous curiosity in Liam's eyes. Time to go.
"Looks perfect!" Theo interrupted smoothly, stepping forward. "That's exactly what I needed to see. Posts fine, scores great. Awesome." He reached for the card just as Liam disconnected it from the test bench. "Thanks so much for your help, Liam, really appreciate you bending the rules for me!" He swiftly but carefully slid the precious GPU back into its anti-static bag, offering Liam a quick, tight smile before turning and making a brisk exit, leaving the bewildered employee staring after him, shaking his head at the impossible benchmark score still displayed on the screen.
Walking quickly back to his car, heart pounding slightly from the close call with Liam's suspicion, Theo felt a surge of triumph. It worked. The +1 didn't just enhance, it transformed. A used 4090 performing like the next-gen flagship? The market for that would be huge. He needed more inventory. Immediately.
That evening, after successfully selling Bike 5 to the forum buyer for $4200 (another smooth $3220 profit, officially closing the bike chapter), Theo put his GPU acquisition plan into high gear. He posted carefully worded 'Want to Buy' ads on the hardware forums and, holding his nose, on the general marketplace too: "WTB: NVIDIA RTX 4090 - Used, Good Condition Only (No Mining Cards). Paying $950 cash/instant transfer. Local pickup preferred." He sweetened the offer slightly above his initial purchase price to attract sellers quickly.