Corpo Age

Silas - SocialCorp

Inside one of the many space stations orbiting a lush green planet, many people could be seen scurrying about.

The area inside their workspace was quite unique. It had a mix of advanced tech like super terminals and various types of artwork. The art felt somewhat out of place because no one around had any time to spare. There was only one thing on the minds of these people as they hustled and bustled; to complete their jobs.

Among the hundreds of people inside this strange office, only a small group of five remained motionless. They sat around a table on an elevated platform in the middle of the work area. It not only had a clear view of the room, but also the planet below.

The area around the table had a completely different atmosphere compared to the rest of the room. Its members were relaxed, having the leeway to appreciate both the art and the view they had. Some of them were even dining, while some took a hit of their company’s proud Cloudpuff.

The man sitting at the head of the table panned his gaze around the room before settling on the nearby planet. It was similar to Earth, but it didn’t have a few great continents divided by an enormous ocean. Instead, most of the planet was green. In exchange, it had an uncountable number of rivers flowing through every major landmass.

While these five men had a great time overseeing their employees, their peace was inevitably disturbed as the chaos around them leaked over. One of the employees rushed over to their table and dropped off a small datachip. The messenger then departed right away, not daring to bother any of the executives at the table.

None of them acknowledged the messenger’s presence at all or the datachip except for the man at the head of the table, Silas Vexel. He had a youthful appearance, with smooth skin. The only notable feature about him was the short silver hair he sported. While his appearance looked young, only a fool would believe him to be a gullible youngster. He was truly not to be underestimated.

Perhaps the four other executives understood this fact as well. None of them dared to make eye contact with Silas. Some could even say they were nervous, which was why they were so focused on doing their own thing.

Thankfully, technology could achieve many things. Even if these executives were too afraid to make any moves, they could all wirelessly download the information on the datachip brought before them.

Very soon, they each learned of the losses they sustained over the past twenty-four hours. The most alarming news on the report was undoubtedly the enemy’s deep strike force that had been successfully targeting their logistics.

The losses caused even the carefree executives to frown. It was because none of this was within their calculations.

As seasoned corpos who had weathered the storm for such a long time, none of them ever took action without careful considerations. Their schemes took into account as many possibilities as possible. Very rarely were they caught off guard like this. It was able to make the heavyset executive pause his meal. He used a small towel to wipe his face before turning to his peers.

“What in the world did that old cyborg do? All forces hailing from any notable corporation should be accounted for. Surely, one of us must know?” No one answered him, so he continued. “Theses setbacks will cost us all a decent sum of credits. It is in everyone’s best interest to cooperate. No need to hold anything back at this point.“

Still, no one spoke. He only managed to draw the gazes of his colleagues. Noticing Silas’ wolf-like glint, the portly executive quickly looked to the ground and closed his eyes as if he was meditating. He prayed to not get caught up in any of the frightful man’s schemes, but his prayers were soon proven ineffective.

“Michael,” Silas slowly spoke, eliciting a chill down his audience's spines. “It seems none of us knows anything. As you are the most worried about these new developments, why don’t you lead an investigation team to gather intel for us? That way, you’ll be able to get the latest news with no delay at all.”

“Understood,” he meekly affirmed.

Silas nodded in satisfaction. He got up and approached the window for a better view. After a few moments, he turned around and loudly proclaimed to all who were within earshot.

“Divert a fleet for Admirmal Michael, here. The rest of you will proceed with the colonization project as planned.”

He stood silent for a moment, waiting for any questions, but seeing none, he swiftly strode out of the office. Returning to his room, the man couldn’t help but chuckle to himself.

“So it seems like such a thing really is possible. Such things can’t be squandered. Only I can properly utilize everything in this world. These lost sheep will soon be herded down a better path.

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Mylan - Nova Tech

Depending who you asked, Mylan either got really lucky or really unlucky. Either way, he somehow found himself inside a medical pod, submerged in a nanomachine-infused solution that tried its best to repair the damages he sustained.

He was fully conscious during this process. Normally, one would let him rest as he recovered, but the people who had captured Mylan had other plans for him. They forced him—or, to be precise, his consciousness into the virtual reality world. There, he was formally interrogated.

He was asked about his life story, position in his company, and the events leading up to his capture. As Mylan only wanted to live peacefully, he had no qualms about revealing all his intel, as long as he could be assured that his company wouldn’t find out.

Even if his usefulness would drop after giving up information, he would rather be reduced to a laborer or a test subject than to be tortured. He had been in the game long enough to have heard countless horror stories.

However, for some reason, his captors didn’t discontinue his medical treatment or take him off to a cell somewhere after his confession. They allowed him to remain in the virtual world, which was a blessing given how much pain his real body was in. After all, few could endure having their legs torn off and then being impaled by a steel rod.

The most surprising of all was that he wasn’t the only one receiving such special treatment. He could recognize a few familiar faces inside the virtual lobby. It appeared they had all become captives.

As days passed that turned into weeks, Mylan’s wound stabilized while more people began to join their virtual gathering. These captives didn’t have to wait long to figure out what they wanted from them. These captors of theirs wanted him and his companions to turncoat and work for them!

“There’s no point clinging to your old company. They have already written you off as dead and moved on. If you truly only took the job for survival, then you should do the same here. Join us, for both your survival and our prosperity.”

After operating behind enemy lines for over a week, I’ve come to learn many things. One of them was that leveling took stupidly long, and the cost of lives was enormous. I began to understand why NPC wanted me to take the shortcut of attacking densely populated centers.

Even with thousands of enemy ships to destroy, there was only so much we could do with our tiny fleet. These battles also created captives. In turn, these captives reminded me how human they all were. It became increasingly hard to stay numb as I strove to eliminate an increasing number of people. Most of them simply wanted to get by.

In order to win the war, I would have to max out one of these technical skills, and then master the relevant material sciences. Otherwise, I can say goodbye to finding materials that can bring my theoretical knowledge into reality.

All this thinking made me start to want to take the most economical approach to spending my points. I was determined to level up one of my existing skills and end the war as soon as possible.

What that entailed wasn’t overpowering the enemy fleet. It was to get the enemy to give up. In that regard, the most direct way was to capture someone of importance to the other party and get them to tell their men to put down their arms.

In order to do that, I needed strength. All this pointed toward leveling up a skill I had neglected since the early days.

The question was, should I do it? I kept changing how I wanted to handle this war. This time, the change I proposed introduced an entirely new level of risk. One that believed the war could be ended not with overwhelming force, but with precision strike.

I opened my status to stare at my upgrade points while I constantly second-guessed myself.

Status

Level:

43

EXP:

1220/4300

Musculoskeletal:

358

Neural Reflex:

191

Visuomotor Coordination:

207

Endurance:

132

Sensory Perception:

155

Upgrade Points:

8

Upgrades:

Stealth +7Hacking +5Cybernetic Engineering +10Stealth Technology +12Software Engineering +12Electrical Engineering +10Aerospace Engineering + 10Particle Physics +11Enhancements:

SAID: Halls Corp Grand Maestro Elite v1

Bio-Coprocessor: Halls Corp Flash Elite v1

Optics: Halls Corp Monocle Elite v1

Cyberarm (Left): Halls Corp Talos Elite v1

Cyberarm (Right): Halls Corp Talos Elite v1

Cyberlegs: Halls Corp Hermes Elite v1

Vertebral Column: Halls Corp Theseus Elite v1

Auditory: SocialCorp Echo Custom

Vocal: SocialCorp Orator Custom

Cardiovascular: BioGen Lifepump Custom

Sensory: Halls Corp Argus Elite Custom

Additional Processing: Halls Corp Custom ST

Miscellaneous: Halls Corp HSU Custom Shade