Career Development

Career Development

Truth had a lot of time to think on the flight back. The first thing was, “Lovers are a benefit of the job for some people at Starbrite. The company was always very upfront about not everyone having the same access to the System store. Told him that on day one. And as Truth had provisionally determined the value of human life to be eleven wen and a pair of ratty shoes, he could be charitably described as “frugal.” Fair to say he was not a shopper. Despite that, he felt like he would have spotted a “Modified Human Beings” tab in the shop.

“Summon humanoid System interface,” he thought.

No.

“What do you mean no? Are you broken or something?”

Do it properly.

“Oh, for fucks sake.” Truth got his mind set, then tried again. “Appear, Imp!”

“Yatta! It’s me, your lovable human-shaped... something! Yaay!” The sprite, still in its office lady outfit, delivered the lines in a monotone while appearing to smoke a golden bat cigarette and flip through a magazine.

“Really? I put some effort into that.”

“It was weak. It was some tryhard shit, and you know it. Still, it was better than nothing, so I’m here. Waddaya want?”

“Before we get to that, is it possible for me to savagely beat you?” Truth asked.

“Can you savagely, cruelly, humiliatingly beat a hallucination facilitating your communication with an incomprehensibly vast spiritual being that interacts with reality on a level that your gelatinous brain mercifully cannot comprehend? No. But I do like where your mind is headed!” She smiled sunnily and put down the magazine. The cigarette stayed.

“Great. Look, I ran into a demon today-”

“Yeah, Human Resource Development Officer L̸̢̛̜̰̱̦̦̖̜̯͙̤̼͗̇͜͝a̵̢̨̰̺̦̣̗̙̫̞̼̪͈͉̅̒̋͑̔͘͠͝͠m̸̦̝͓̻̳̜̪̉a̶̡͙̦̪̦̣̥̳̭͚̣̩̝̘̜̰̻͋̏̀̀̔́́̓̌͘s̸͖͖̘͉̀͐̈͂̈̎̑̽̇͊̓̑̓̑ḧ̴̭̪̝̜̗̲̟̖̰̪͙͉̤͓͚͕́̏̈́̐̕͜͠ẗ̷̗̹̜̮̙̀͌͆̈͒̒̓͌̔͝u̵̧̡͈͓͍͐̔̓̂͐̐̋͐̉̇͜͝ͅ. Such a sweetheart. What about her?”

Truth shook his head, sure he hadn’t heard that right. Then pressed on. “Look, she said something about lovers being available through the System as a company benefit?”

“She did? Oh. Well, that’s not good.”

“What? Why?”

“Because it is her nature to be very aware of loneliness, isolation, and pain. If she takes the time to give you unsolicited advice, you need it. On the other hand, she is a demon, so... grain of salt and all that.”

Truth tried to wrap his head around the idea and failed. The System faerie shrugged and went back to her magazine. Eventually, Truth looked over at her again. “Explain how this works.”This chapter was first shared on the Ñøv€lß1n platform.

“Good tone, demanding. Commanding. Immediately magus!” She tossed the cigarette aside and ditched the magazine. “You have three options. Variations within and between those options, but three main choices. First- straight demon. We summon a succubus-”

Truth raised an eyebrow.

“Alright, yes, they technically are called something else, but that’s what everyone calls them. Just... work with me here.”

That landed like a gut punch. He had been so blown away by the fact that he had gotten some Friends and Family points as a bonus that he hadn’t even considered spending his own credits to buy one. And the faerie was right. It could take years to save up for even one point. Years the sibs didn’t have.

“Exactly how much of a benefit do those points give new employees?” He asked.

“Varies on the job, department, and tier. F-Tier? A single point might let you pick your job, within reason. C-Tier? You are going to need a couple to shift up a bit. Maybe three to get a really good mentor for your high-status job. So if you want all your sibs to start at C-Tier like you, four points are not remotely enough to get them the best career track.”

“Ah.”

“Remember, you joined up with both Military Merits and a Master of Arms certification. You made your own points, as it were, and started directly in the PMC. If Harmony were to join security, unless he also goes berserk during his national service, he would go into F-Tier, non-PMC security.”

Truth sighed. He wasn’t renting a boyfriend. Or girlfriend. Or... both? Oh, he would hate himself for this for a while, wouldn’t he? Then he frowned. Starbrite was ruthlessly hierarchical.

“Imp.”

“Yes, dread magus?”

“Are you implying that the sponsor’s rank within a tier is irrelevant?”

“Never, oh mighty one! Who is putting in the work on the ominous tone, by the way. Big improvement.

“How, exactly, does the sponsor’s tier affect things?”

“The points stretch a lot further the higher your tier. For example, you are at the bottom of the C-Tier. You would have to spend a lot of points to land Harmony a mid-C-Tier job, assuming he passed the relevant specialization on the SAT. On the other hand, your boss is much higher in the C-Tier and would spend comparatively less for the same job. The same principle applies to a lot of benefits in the company.”

“How the hell is that fair? We’re both C-Tier.” Truth demanded.

“Fair? What’s fair got to do with it? You know perfectly well that her Friends' and Family points are more expensive than yours. Why shouldn’t hers buy more advantage? She’s earned her position. You can do the same.” The faerie looked both scandalized and offended.

Truth sighed. Of course, that’s how it worked. What an odd flash of idiocy to look for “fairness.” He shifted around, trying to get comfortable on the foldout seat. It wasn’t happening. Maybe that was it. Too much time in cargo holds.

“So it comes back down to cultivation and hustling for cash. I gotta balance what I can earn in bonuses for friends and family points against what I need to buy to get to a higher level, to make those points stretch further.”

“Exactly. Lucky for you that the PMC both pays very well and provides many opportunities for bonuses. I can tell you that a C-9-U in our ocean shipping department won’t see so many elixirs in five years as you have seen in one. Speaking of fairness.” The sprite nodded.

Truth wasn’t sure what he wanted. He didn’t mind leading a section for the Kofi job. Enjoyed it, actually. He could see leading a squad. A platoon, though? That might be too much for him.

“Wait, what do you mean “Plenty of opportunities for powerful people without direct reports?” What would you even be doing for the company?

The sprite giggled. It was a nasty, mean sound like an office lady who found out her enemy was pregnant with her lover’s child, and he wasn’t leaving his wife. “Ask me again when you are Level Five. I can promise you this much. You will have to hire an accountant to keep track of all the money, elixirs, and treasures you accumulate. Friends and Family points? People will beg you. Heads pressed to the floor, beg you to let them employ your siblings. And you will tell them no because they aren’t good enough. They aren’t even qualifiedto beg.”

Truth coughed. That stirred up some feelings. Feelings he wasn’t completely sure he wanted to understand better. But he knew what he had to do now.

“Any which way, I know what I have to do. Get working, get that money, get my level up. And do it fast and hard.” He paused. "But, uh, show me where the lovers tab is in the system. Just out of curiosity."