11 Introductions 2

With a curt nod, Milana finally focused on the task at hand. "Our quarterly agenda is essentially our plan of action for the next three months.

Last quarter, our focus was almost entirely on the gaming industry. However, we are quite late to Virtual Reality (VR) technology party. Our competitors are some of the biggest gaming companies in existence, and our impact was much too small."

Ci-ci didn't show any fluctuations in his emotions, but he was rolling his eyes internally. VR? From his research into Petrov Technologies, they seemed like a jack of all trades, except master of none really wasn't adequate to describe their ineptitude.

Petrov Technologies shifted their focus, seemingly randomly, every quarter – trying to catch a wave of popularity that would keep them above board until the next cycle began. The reason was simple. Kazimir Petrov didn't care about this company as an actual tech-based institution. He needed it to make just enough on the surface, so he could money launder on the underside. And VR was just his last attempt at doing so.

There was another problem with this random shifting as well. Unlike physical tech, software was privy to much less regulation. This meant that, even without being an Inventor, a software engineer has much more freedom to program what he or she wishes as long as he or she doesn't encroach of the privacy of others. However, to make proper use of this, companies need years of experience in tweaking and perfecting their software – and this is even more true in the case of the gaming industry.

Because Petrov Technologies shifted their focus so frequently, they never really get the chance to improve their software since they have no solid foundation to build off of. This put Petrov Technologies in an endless cycle of mediocrity. And it was clearly frustrating Milana, but she had to maintain an outward appearance of 'one-with-company'. If she showed her frustration, it would only make things worse.

"We originally had the goal of competing by trying to match quality with affordability. However, although we managed to make our products affordable, we lost a large degree of quality along with that." Milana sighed.

"This quarter, our focus will shift again. Hopefully this time, we can strive to do better. Unfortunately, our budget has been cut to $500,000 dollars for this quarter."

An awkward silence reigned through the room as Milana checked the files in front of her again, hoping she had read wrong. But, she could only grit her teeth, clearly about to lose it.

A budget of $500,000 was wholly inadequate because this not only had to pay their salaries, it also had to fund their research, hardware and pay for any outsourcing they needed. Ci-ci's contract alone called for half of this so-called budget to go to him.

The sad part was that even this was a discount. When Kazimir Petrov had learned that Ci-ci was willing to sign on for only a million-dollar salary, split into four quarterly payments of $250,000, he had been ecstatic. Having an inventor of Ci-ci's caliber for such a low price was unheard of. And yet, it was clear that honeymoon period was gone.

"Team leader, might I make a suggestion?" Ci-ci smiled lightly, looking toward Milana as four pairs of eyes landed on him.

"And that is?" Milana narrowed her eyes. It was clear that Milana's father had cut the budget out of spite for Ci-ci. If Ci-ci felt like he was trapped in a box and unable to do what he had done previously, then maybe he'd leave on his own.

"We won't be changing our focus this quarter. We'll stick to VR."

Milana's brow furrowed, "That doesn't sound like a suggestion."

"True. That's because it isn't. I don't want the role of team leader, but my contract does stipulate that I can choose the direction we go in, no? I didn't want to have to use this power at all, but, it's clearly necessary now."

A sudden realization hit Milana. She remembered why Ci-ci had accepted so little money… it was in exchange for power.

However, when Milana was about to protest, she suddenly saw a light flash in the eyes of her co-workers. It was clearly something they wanted.

JJ loved gaming, and their VR quarter was the first time MIlana had ever seen him put his all into something.

Lily, their designer, was a massive fan of world building. She had been excited to do her part not only in constructing their hardware to be comfortable and stylish, but to also help flesh out some potential Petrov exclusive titles.

She had always wanted to create the perfect immersive VR game to compete with titles like 'Legends of the Dark', 'Elvin Empire's Ire' and many others, but with only three months, she could barely design a ten-kilometer square map, let alone the country and planet sized behemoths those games had become.

As for Nicholas, he was a perfectionist. He had no love of gaming or world building, but he hated leaving projects half done – especially when it made Petrov Technologies a laughing stock. How could he reach his goals if he was stuck in this endless rut?

"That said." Ci-ci's next words were like a cold-buckets of water being poured over Lily and JJ, "We need to narrow our focus. The video game industry is a hard one to break into. We need to first convince people that our hardware is among the best before optimizing games for said hardware."

JJ frowned, swinging his feet off of the table and sitting up much to everyone's surprise, "But, there are video game making companies too," he said, sweeping his unkept bangs from his eyes, "Why can't we start with a game optimized to another company's hardware first and gain a following that way?"

Ci-ci shook his head. "That way ignores our most blatant problem right now."

Everyone looked at Ci-ci in confusion.

"Me. I'm the most blatant problem."