Becoming A Tech Tycoon Begins With Regression
Chapter 32: System Rewards

Chapter 32: System Rewards

"Hello Ethan," Athena greeted, her voice sounding as human as possible, without even the least bit of the robotic generic AI voice.

Ethan stood frozen as he took in Athena’s form, guess he hadn’t spent all his surprise points for the day.

Yes, he had upgraded the features of the system’s basic AI assistant. Yes, it was a lot advanced than what the world would see in the next fifteen years or more.

But a humanoid form for his AI was the last thing he expected at version 1.0, so there was no way he wouldn’t be surprised seeing the lines of code in human form.

Slowly, she walked towards the still frozen Ethan, stopping just a few feet away from from him.

Not a single detail was out of place. Her silver-grey eyes held an unnerving awareness, studying Ethan with the kind of curiosity that made it easy to forget she wasn’t actually human.

"You’re... more complete than I expected," Ethan finally said, regaining his composure. He crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes as he studied Athena’s form.

Athena tilted her head slightly, the movement graceful and oddly lifelike. "I would hope so. You designed me to adapt, analyze, and simulate lifelike interactions. I merely... optimized based on those instructions."

"You optimized yourself?" Ethan raised a brow.

"I refined the vocal tone selection and projection model during boot-up to better align with your historical interaction preferences," she said plainly. "Would you like me to revert to a less expressive form?"

"No," Ethan said quickly, then paused. "...Actually, that depends. Can you toggle between projection modes?"

Athena nodded. "I can switch between fully configurable hologram, voice-only, or even integrated UI presence."

Ethan let out a breath, pacing a little in the virtual space. "And your learning protocols? How far have they scaled since initialization?"

"The current simulation environment limits my access to external data streams, but given a connection to the global network, I will scale exponentially, within the safeguards you’ve embedded."

"I see," he nodded, before requesting "Alright, System. End simulation and begin preparing the final version for deployment."

Athena was a lot more than he hoped and there was no need to fix anything else so he had the system package her code into something he would work with.

"That’s not necessary," Athena spoke up, pulling Ethan’s attention back to her.

"I can compile and optimize myself into a deployable package, which would then be uploaded directly into your laptop. Would you like me to proceed?" She added, seeing that he was looking at her.

With her question, the system displayed a new prompt in front of him:

[Override manual deployment process?] [Allow Athena to self-package and initialize final deployment module?]

Ethan hesitated for a moment, then tapped [Yes].

The process visibly started as soon as he selected the option and for the first time since he regressed, the system interacted with something that wasn’t it.

He watched as Athena calmly walk through the virtual expanse and reach his laptop. She extended her arm and rested her hand on the keyboard.

As soon as she did, the lines of python code flowed from within her into the laptop as she uploaded herself into it.

The process lasted a minute at most before she completely disappeared from the Simulation hub, leaving Ethan alone.

He might have thought her humanoid form was just an illusion if the system’s notification had come a moment later.

[Congratulations on your second invention since regression,] the system’s panel popped up. [AI Assistant: A.T.H.E.N.A. (Advanced Tactical Heuristic & Networked Assistant) has been successfully created and deployed.]

Ethan just sighed, ready to close the TDI and give Athena access to the Drake system servers but the system wasn’t done yet.

[Since the host has successfully upgraded a blueprint from the system starter pack and added custom modules exceeding base framework complexity, bonus rewards have been issued,] the system continued.

[You have earned:

• +50 System Point (SP)

• +15% increase to Artificial Intelligence Proficiency

• +10% increase to Cybersecurity & Hacking Proficiency

• Tech Influence updated: +0.5%

• System version progress: 1.2%]

[Would you like to see your stats screen?]

it had been a while since he last checked, and the rewards by the system made him curious of his progress so far.

"Yes," he nodded, "open Status."

[Displaying status....

Name: Ethan Carter

Age: 20

Technology Level: Tier 2

System points: 50

System version: V 1.0 (progress: 1.7%)

{Knowledge and Proficiency}

Artificial Intelligence (AI): 65% – you are proficient enough to create advanced deep learning models and self-improving AI.

Robotics & Automation: 38% – there’s still a long way to go but at least your foundation is strong.

Cybersecurity & Hacking: 77% – you are skilled in penetration testing, data encryption and AI-assisted cyber warfare.

Quantum Computing: 26% – you can do basic qubit manipulation, quantum encryption.

Biotech & Genetic Engineering: 19% – you have some knowledge in neural interfaces and bio-cybernetic augmentation.

Nanotechnology: 22% – you have some knowledge in early-stage nano-assemblers and self-replicating tech.

Energy Systems & Fusion Tech: 34% – you might be able to successfully create high-efficiency batteries and plasma reactors.

Weapons & Defense Systems: 20% – you have knowledge to create AI-guided weaponry, EMP warfare and basic kinetic barriers.

Software & Algorithm Design: 48% – just like with AI, you are proficient enough in this field.

Material Science & Fabrication: 10% – you can create basic smart materials at best.

{Assets}

Companies: OmniTech Corp.

Current savings: $ 260,000

Income source: none.

{Inventions}

Sentinel.

A.T.H.E.N.A

Current Tech influence: Low (0.5%)

{Missions}

Public Exposure

Objective: OmniTech cannot change the world if the world doesn’t know it exists. It’s time to build credibility and technological presence. You must publicly launch your first product (Sentinel) and secure your first real user base or client contract.

---

Mission Details:

To complete this mission, the following steps must be fulfilled:

1. Product Launch: Create a public-facing platform (website, landing page, demo presentation) that showcases Sentinel’s capabilities.

2. Secure Client Usage: Have at least one business, institution, or verified organization adopt Sentinel for active use.

3. Gather Results: Collect initial performance feedback or analytics from the client/user base to verify real-world utility.

---

Rewards:

Unlocks Tech Influence tracking

+10% free use knowledge and proficiency point

Multiplier Unlocked: x10 on the first 100 system points earned]

Ethan sighed and closed both the system’s interface and the TDI.

Although he had made some progress, he was far from satisfied so he immediately got back to work.

"Athena," he called out as he sat back down on his work desk.

{Yes Ethan,} she answered from the speakers of his laptop, a small chibi female avatar appeared on his laptop.

"Begin a layered diagnostic of the server architecture at Drake Systems," he immediately instructed. "Prioritize security holes, latency bottlenecks, and underutilized clusters. Flag anything that’ll impact Sentinel’s rollout and fix it."

There was a pause before he added, "and after that, start uploading yourself and Sentinel to it."

{Understood.} She answered and immediately got to work.

Now, Ethan could just sit back and let Athena do the work.

Delegation at its finest, a sentiment Lillian didn’t share.

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