Chapter 96: A Break

Chapter 96: A Break

“Let’s gather at Haven tonight for a drink! Go call all our old acquaintances!” I said to Thorne first thing in the morning.

“...Any special occasion?”

“Nope. Just to hang out after a while.”

I completed testing the prototype of the monitoring implant last night. I named it Twilight’s Gaze, in the internal documents I stored in my terminal within me. I wouldn’t be informing anyone else about it, but I needed to name it for my own reference to organize the completed projects.

With its completion, I had to plan how to implement it for all my employees. Thankfully, I had less than a hundred, so it was still doable by myself, given some time. Then, I could install it when I update our monitoring software. I would just have to make the excuse that only I could perform the update due to how sensitive it was.

It’d be easy to come up with an excuse to knock them out while they were in the clinic. Still, it would mean I would have to make a trip to our NLA office sometime soon, but that was fine. It wasn’t urgent to implement it for everyone, just the employees who hung around our main office were a priority.

With a project done, I decided to call out everyone I knew tonight to take a breather. There were still many projects awaiting me, but there was only so much one man could do at once.

“Alright. You better finish your meetings on time, though.”

At Thorne’s words, I quickly checked my calendar and found the meeting he was talking about. The one scheduled with one of the clinics we were partnered with.

“Of course. Send me the details once you finalized the details.”

Thorne nodded and headed off into his own office beside mine while I did the same and entered my own office.

It only took me an hour to finish all my paperwork for the day. Normally, I would retire to my workshop, but today was a break day. It’s been a while since I had time to relax. With no imminent threat lurking about, I wasn’t entirely sure how to spend my time.

I wasted time browsing the web and watching videos. None of it held my interest for long. I went back to my unit where the VR capsule Claire had ordered for me and tried it out again. The MMO they were playing was great, but required too much time investment for it to be worthwhile.

Still, I played it with an open mind to observe how the game was made and how the NPCs reacted.

Maybe I can create my own later once I’ve upgraded my software engineering and get an AI to help out as well.

Lunch time soon came, and I decided to go out for once. I’d been cooped up in my workshop or avoiding any QuickLinks assassin for so long, it wouldn’t hurt to have a change of pace.

I picked out a highly reviewed ramen shop that had minimal seating, so I could have my security wait outside. The small convoy of Wraiths dropped off Thorne and me one street away. We then joined the line outside the ramen shop, where numerous corpos on their lunch breach impatiently waited.

The line moved decently fast as the corpos ate quickly and left because the culture of ‘time is money’ was ingrained into them. It also may have to do with the thirty-minute lunch break heard most companies instated.

We soon got seated at individual stalls that were equipped with handheld terminals for ordering. Though what drew my attention the most was the robot chef working in the kitchen before me. It worked with speed and precision, as it served meal after meal without a pause.

While I waited, I glanced around the interior of the store. I could see Thorne’s torso sticking out beside me, but the divider blocked all view of his table and face. On my other side was someone in typical corporate attire, chatting away with his friend.

“How is it in your company, Tae? Because mine is a lot worse than I had thought.”

“Hmm? Mine’s just kind of boring, with no one really interacting with each other. What’s wrong with yours?”

“I thought joining a G-Class corporation would mean they would be a more tight-knit family, where I could actually be mentored and learn something, but it’s even worse than at our old school. The factional strife, scheming, and politicking are all driving me crazy. I don’t even think I’ll survive the entire internship.”

“That’s just how it is. At least it sounds like your co-workers are keeping it civil and within the rules. Mine are just outright hiring mercs to sabotage or assassinate each other on every single project.”

“...Damn it! I wish my parents would just let me become a mercenary! I’m confident in making just as much as the middle managers if I had a chance.”

“Right, and I could start up my own corporation if I just got enough funds. Come on now, the grass is always greener on the other side. No point daydreaming about hypothetical situations.”

I listened in on other people’s conversations as the robot chef brought my food to me. Their menu had a large selection, from the cheap synthetic garbage that tasted like crap to the version made with somewhat authentic ingredients that I ordered. The lab-grown proteins were shit, but at least the broth and noodles were decent.

Once we were done eating, I went to one of the clinics that belonged to the company I was meeting with later. I mainly went there to browse through their catalog in order to refresh my perspective on the current market. I had to verify if my next idea for the commercial project would be viable.

After speaking with the clerk about what were the recent trends, I headed back to the office to tour the other sections of my company that I rarely visited before it was time for my scheduled meeting.

I first went to the dorms we had created, shortly before we built the servers for the communications app. It was a ten-story apartment building located within the fenced-off area where our main office was. There were over two dozen units on each floor, enough to house all our employees with room to spare.

Seeing how the apartment building loomed over our office it reminded me how much we needed to expand our main building. We were in talks about purchasing the land, which was why they allowed us to build the dorms, but we would need more credits to purchase the land before we expanded the main building.

All the floors within the main office building were in use now, so I took a quick tour of the area and left lest I interrupted their work.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Like clockwork, the representative from the corporation I was meeting today showed up on the dot. It was one of the best things about corpos. They all were punctual human beings.

“Mr. Halls, thank you for your time today.” A young woman greeted me and shook my hand.

I pulled up my status and prepared myself for a new design session.

Status

Level:

21

EXP:

960/2100

Musculoskeletal:

211

Neural Reflex:

65

Visuomotor Coordination:

87

Endurance:

59

Sensory Perception:

127

Upgrade Points:

0

Upgrades:

Stealth +7Hacking +5Cybernetic Engineering +10Stealth Technology +10Software Engineering +6Electrical Engineering +8

Enhancements:

SAID: Zenitech Sebastien v2

Bio-Coprocessor: SocialCorp Lightning II

Optics: Mirage Tech Clear-Sights mk.12

Cyberarm (Left): Nova Tech Heracle Mk. 3

Cyberarm (Right): Nova Tech Heracle Mk. 3

Auditory: SocialCorp Echo IV

Vocal: SocialCorp Orator III

Cardiovascular: BioGen Lifepump 5

Additional Processing: Halls Corp Custom ST

Miscellaneous: Halls Corp HSU Custom Shade

I had the monitoring project mostly completed, with the calculations for the fine-tuning still being processed in the terminals. My plan was to create a commercial implant next to revitalize our cybernetic business. That didn’t mean it had to be strictly commercial. I could have the neutered version sold to the market while we had a more advanced model like we did with the Shade.

It also made sense since the cybernetic expo was being held soon and we were invited as established players in our niche. It would be a good opportunity to introduce and launch a new product to keep our success in the industry going.

As for what I should design, I have been designing many devices with stealth capability in recent times. Maybe it was time for me to work on the other angle, in detection. I couldn’t have the Nyes deployed at all times, so it wasn’t a bad idea to have several detection methods. With no enemy standing before us now, it was a good opportunity to bolster our defenses from the unseen threats.

Then, once I leveled up, I could focus on the vehicles again before venturing into software, where I would aim toward creating an AI to give me an advantage over our adversaries.

With a plan forming in my mind, I got to work.