Chapter 185: PROJECT · Wind
“Hmm… the European Space Agency…”
Listening to Kelly’s report, Roland felt a headache coming on. This organization really could be considered the big brother of the cyberpunk world. He had no desire to deal with them right now. Not only was there nothing to gain from engaging with them, but he’d probably end up getting fleeced instead.
That wouldn’t do. He was used to being the one fleecing others—how could he let someone else fleece him? That would be ridiculous.
“They’re probably after our energy technology. After all, this is truly a generation-defining weapons technology.”
Samuel suddenly pushed the door open, walked in, and sat down off to the side. As for why he was acting so casually—
Roland allowed it. Samuel had said he was used to behaving like this, and Roland didn’t really care. After all, loyalty was never an issue.
“Mm… most likely…”
Roland nodded slightly.
“So, boss, do you have any ideas?”
Samuel turned to look at Roland.
“I have a rough idea. But there’s no way we’re handing over the technology. Any level of energy weapon tech is already powerful enough to threaten the high-strength alloy materials that underpin the PROJECT world. At most, we can agree to a stable trade in finished energy weapons.”
“I don’t think they’ll accept that.”
Samuel shook his head, clearly not optimistic about the proposal.
“If they won’t accept it, we’ll talk later. For now, we stall for as long as we can. I really don’t want to deal with these people.”
Roland narrowed his eyes. That faction controlled the vast majority of orbital routes in space. At present, almost every force launching satellites had to pay them taxes.
On top of that, they also controlled space-based weapons and other assets. They were truly a Big Brother–level presence. If he could avoid clashing with them, Roland would do his best to avoid it.
“How much longer until the energy source is solved?”
“Soon. Within a month at most, I'll replicate the source energy.”
Samuel stroked his beard as he answered.
“That’s the best news I’ve heard all day.”
Roland raised his eyebrows, clearly pleased.
In the days that followed, the situation remained relatively stable, while Roland focused fully on expanding PROJECT Corporation.
Conditions in Elor City also gradually stabilized. The number of cities under PROJECT’s control had expanded to eight, mostly within Nevada, with one coastal city located in Northern California.
That particular city hadn’t been acquired through the same hardline methods used in Nevada. Instead, it was obtained through an exchange of interests. After all, it wasn’t a particularly important city to begin with.
Its port wasn’t an especially good natural harbor either, but Roland didn’t mind. PROJECT had plenty of technology capable of changing that situation.
During this period, the European Space Agency also sent representatives to negotiate with Roland. As for their proposal—technology sharing in exchange for funding, armed support, and political backing—Roland remained noncommittal.
The European Space Agency wasn’t in a hurry. PROJECT wasn’t going anywhere, after all, so taking things slowly was fine. Roland’s strategy was also to drag things out, stating that he was willing to sell them some energy weapons, but that technology transfer would require extensive discussion.
Naturally, the European Space Agency had no objections to obtaining physical samples. After purchasing a batch of weapons, they left.
Their reasoning was simple: with their own technical capabilities, they believed they could fully analyze PROJECT’s technology.
After all, many breakthroughs only lacked a single spark of inspiration. Now that they had the actual hardware, they believed success would come quickly, saving them a great deal of resources.
Unfortunately, that plan was destined to fail before long.
Still, the time they spent on research was more than enough for Roland to keep stringing them along.
After dealing with both the city expansions and the European Space Agency, Roland finally had time to address the matter of the person he had taken under his command—Kenichi Zaburo.
After testing, it was confirmed that he was indeed compatible with the Wind template.
To be honest, Roland was very happy about Wind’s arrival. Zed couldn’t appear openly for the time being, and… most of the enemies showing up recently were assassination-type, single-target specialists. He urgently needed someone capable of dealing area damage.
Wind was a perfect fit.
It was just a pity that he couldn’t preserve the original consciousness—neither Kenichi Zaburo’s nor Wind’s. He would need Lissandra to create another primary combat AI. Hopefully, that would be enough to ensure adequate combat performance.
Before long, a white-haired swordsman appeared within PROJECT’s secret base. His style bore a clear resemblance to Light’s, yet was also distinctly different. A flash of light passed through his eyes as he looked at his hands, then raised his head to meet Roland’s gaze.
“This is PROJECT · Wind. It is an honor to meet you.”
“Good. Show me your strength.”
Seeing that there were no issues with the primary control AI, Roland nodded in satisfaction and pointed toward several Imperial Guard Robots not far away.
“I understand.”
Yasuo caught the katana Roland tossed to him. He drew the blade slightly, glanced at it, nodded, then returned it to his waist. Slowly tightening his grip on the hilt, he took a deep breath.
As he inhaled, Roland’s eyes narrowed. He could clearly see a stream of orange, unidentified gas being drawn into Yasuo’s mouth.
Steel Tempest!
As electronic blood surged through his body, a small orange energy storm burst forth in the instant the blade left its sheath.
The storm-like orange energy swept across the Imperial Guard Robots in an instant. Terrifying slash marks appeared on their bodies, while orange electrical arcs crackled across their frames.
Under the influence of electronic blood, the energy storm functioned much like an EMP.
Yasuo didn’t hesitate. He stepped forward sharply, orange lightning leaping beneath his feet as he flickered between several figures in an instant. When he reappeared, only the severed remains of several Imperial Guard Robots were left on the ground.
The sight made Roland’s eyes light up.
As expected of Yasuo—those effects were just cool.
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