“Master, have you decided on your breakfast? We have toasted bread with bacon and eggs. Or would you prefer an assortment of dumplings?” A crocodile waiter asked Jin for his preference as he was the first to arrive in the private room of Pandastic Hotel’s main restaurant.
“I shall go with the first option, ah but can I have some Xiao Long Bao? I have a sudden craving for it.” Jin placed the order, and the waiter nodded his head and was on his way.
“Sorry to bother you again, Master. Any drinks to accompany your breakfast?” The waiter stopped in his tracks and quickly turned to ask. After all, he was extremely nervous about serving Jin for the very first time.
“Ehh…Give me one Pu’er Tea,” Jin said as he patted the waiter’s shoulders. “Don’t worry, you are doing a great job. Keep it up.”
“Thank you, Master!” The crocodile waiter bowed briefly as he hastily returned to the kitchen to report the order.
“It’s as if you are treating your dungeon AI creations with respect.” Major Boon Tiong said as he came inside together with his buddies and nodded his head in approval.
“Treat a person well, and they will remember the favour, treating you back better. It’s a give or take world. What if one day my minions suddenly became sentient? I cannot bear the consequences of being bad to them. Hahaha!” Jin joked as the bigwigs sat down with him for breakfast. Now it was his turn to be a little nervous, although the atmosphere was less strenuous compared to the first time they had met.
One of the main reasons for this might be because all of them wore casual clothes, and they were having fun talking to each other sharing their experiences.
“That’s good to hear. You can always tell a lot about a person depending on how they treat those around him who aren’t necessarily their equals. I would not forgive someone just because they excused their poor behaviour because the one they were talking to was digital.” Colonel Kan Jian took an apple from the centre table and passed it to Jin as a sign of courtesy.
“Thank you, Colonel.”
“I am not in my uniform, just call me Kan Jian. No need to worry too much about formalities right now.” Kan told him with a smile on his face.
“Ah, but the VIP is here. As fashionably late as ever.” Colonel Chen Lai spoke up just as Hou Fei came in sporting a Hawaii shirt looking like an old man enjoying his retirement in a fancy holiday hotel.
“The view outside is just too terrific. Can’t blame me for taking a nice walk to refresh myself.” Hou Fei replied with glee as a new waiter came bringing in some refreshments.
“Firstly, let’s thank the dungeon supplier for a good fight.” Hou Fei picked up his glass even though there was only tea in it and asked the group for a round of cheers. The rest chuckled at the absurdity of it but were willing to entertain their General.
“Cheers!”
“Yes, thank you for the fight. That last part where all the demons came in was chaotic. It really tested the limits of our soldiers and our current operating procedures. Though I have to admit, this was one of the most real dungeon experiences I’ve ever had. The money spent on the battalion was truly worth it.” Colonel Kan Jian told him bluntly, and the rest agreed.
“Now I understand why you decided to keep this monster creation engine secret and your reasons for staying as the sole proprietor. Over 30 years going into various dungeon supplier stores, and this has to be the one that made me reminisce the first time I’ve ever entered one. The Demons that we fought were not some useless cannon fodder as I had anticipated them to be as well. They had that realism in them, almost making me feel that I was truly fighting against a live demon soldier.” Chen Lai added.
“Remember guys, do not ask Jin about any secrets he does not want to share. He has the rights for it, after all.” Hou Fei stressed, and everyone laughed bitterly, including Jin who knew the underlying tone beneath his words.
“Still, you got to admit. If we had those things in real life, it would definitely help us a hell lot. Not to mention the firepower we could obtain. It feels oddly realistic enough when I saw the Industry Sector. Wait a minute…” Major Boon Tiong picked up his phone and checked the Pandamonium Forums.
“Is that what you were implying when you posted that you could possibly create a medal to money conversation method? You can really build things in your dungeon instance like how the food here …is erm all here?” Boon Tiong questioned, and it suddenly struck all the other Colonels while startling Jin quite a fair bit.
“Looks like the cat is out of the bag.” Hou Fei had no choice but to side with his brothers in arms for this case. He too knew that eventually, people would find out about Jin’s capability in dimension instances. It was all up to Jin to create an explanation for this right now. The only question was whether he could give them a good half-truth or not.
“Yeah, looks like you caught me,” Jin admitted truthfully, surprising them all.
“I can indeed create things from raw resources to proper items in my dungeon instances.” That one sentence alone blew their minds and left the entire group’s mouths agape.
“I am not surprised that you are flabbergasted by the truth. Because for dimensional instances, people had been using technology to replace it ever since. Most either don’t know or don’t seem to care about the actual origins of these types of stores. Although not for the same purpose, the dimensional instances I create today are similar to the ancient times where they were an extension of the plane to live in.”
“That is somewhat true. I can attest to that.” Chen Lai, who was the most knowledgeable about Dungeon Instances concurred.
“So, I have looked into some ancient ways of remaking the dungeon instances alongside some of my trusted colleagues who have decided to remain anonymous and allowed me to act as the public face. We’ve managed to discover a method that allowed us to create a substantial reality with virtual assistance via technological means. That is why I am able to create some stuff from scratch because they are real.”
“I assume there is a limit? Like I understand food farms and perhaps even creating simple tools. But production lines?” Chen Lai asked as everyone did not know how to reply.
“There is such a possibility, but I have not reached that level of sophiscation. All those weaponry and futuristic items are still virtual items that could not be taken out of the dungeon instance. Still, I am looking forward every day to my colleagues and the researchers under us coming up with new ideas to broaden our horizon.” Jin did not want to admit that he already could produce anything and everything as this kind of leaked knowledge could have catastrophic consequences.
“And here we thought General Ming’s kid was just a nobody. We’ve always known that Ming was the secretive type. Seems like his grandkid inherited the same traits as him.” Kan Jian said to Hou Fei as he laughed loudly.
“I wonder how those government honchos would react if they ever found out the truth…” Hou Fei thought to himself as he could see Jin was coming out of his comfort zone.
For good or for bad, only time would tell.
