The sun was setting over the towers of the Diamond District, but for us, the day was just beginning. I led the group back to my private estate—the CEO and General Manager of SIGLAV Bank, and Leo, the nervous student from Dragon Academy who was now a very wealthy young man.
"Leo, welcome to the team," I said as we entered the main hall. "FaceTalk isn't just a school project anymore. It's the digital heart of SIGLAV CORP."
I turned to the bank representatives. "I have made a decision. I want the main headquarters for SIGLAV CORP, FaceTalk, and SIGLAV Bank to be built in my home country. The 'Home Project' I started with 4 billion creds is no longer just a development—it's going to be the capital of our operations."
The CEO nodded quickly. "A wise move, Chairman. Since your home region and this city are both within the country of Galena, the relocation will be simple. We can move the main servers and the executive offices within the month."
"Good," I replied. "I added another 2,000,000,000 creds to the initial fund for the Home Project. I want the infrastructure to be perfect—no shortcuts. Update me on the progress every twenty-four hours. I'm preparing to visit my mother soon."
The Next Phase: SIGLAV Guild
I walked over to a large digital map. My finger traced the edge of the Monsters' Den, that vast, isolated land mass that most of the world feared.
"There is one more thing," I said. "I am starting a new branch: SIGLAV Guild."
"A guild for Hunters?" the General Manager asked.
"Exactly. We have the money and the tech, but we need the muscle. I want the location for the Guild hall selected. It should be the tallest building in the region."
UIA: Master, a warning. While you have billions, top-class S-Rank Hunters are too expensive. They often require 'Star Stones' or rare artifacts as payment. Your current cash is not enough to hire a high-tier army yet.
I sighed. The UIA was right. The guild would be delayed, but we could still find the location and build the nest. We would find the young, hungry ones and train them ourselves.
The Bond of the Unrelated
Even though I had bought FaceTalk, it wasn't ready. I spent days in the underground lab, stripping the code down to its bones.
"Leo, look at this logic gate," I said. "If we reroute the data through this quantum tunnel, the latency becomes zero."
Leo stared at the screen, his face pale. "Sadd... I wrote the original code, but I don't even recognize this. This is fifty years ahead of anything I've seen. I... I can't help you with this."
I needed hands that could move as fast as my thoughts.
"We'll do it, Sadd," a voice said from the doorway.
I turned to see Doah and Tersa. We weren't born from the same mother. I was from the Monsters' Den, and I had met them in Awiebo—Doah, the orphan, and Tersa, the lone survivor of her line. We weren't biologically related, but we had mutually accepted each other as siblings. That bond was stronger than blood.
"Try us," Tersa said with a confident smirk.
I gave them a section of the core security chip to decode. My jaw nearly hit the floor. Their fingers moved across the keys with a rhythm that was almost musical. Doah handled the complex logarithms, while Tersa managed the hardware architecture.
UIA: Master, I am detecting a massive spike in their brain activity. They have become 'Monsters of Logic'.
"Is this right, Sadd?" Doah asked, pushing a completed string of code toward me.
It was perfect. These girls, who had come from different tragedies to find me, were now helping me build a trillion-star empire.
The Greatest Gift
I leaned back in my chair, staring at the final numbers. "Well, that's it," I said with a tired laugh. "Between the Home Project and the bank, I've officially spent every liquid penny I have for this month. I'll have to rely on you two for a while."
I was joking, but the girls shared a secret look. They ran upstairs and returned with a sleek, silver case.
"Open it," Doah said.
Inside sat a Banio X-900 laptop, a machine fast as a supercomputer worth 150,000,000 creds.
"This is your laptop," Tersa said, smiling. "We saw it while shopping. It's fast and reliable, just like you."
It was the best day of my life. My very first gift.