Zero Jack soon succumbed to the power of a blue solakris and accepted the deal they proposed. His own was only a violet one, so an upgrade to blue was simply too tempting for him to pass up.
"By the way, how much stronger is a blue solakris compared to a violet one?" Kang asked out of curiosity.
Zero Jack gave them an unsurprised look. He had expected that question. If they actually knew the difference, they wouldn't have offered such a profitable trade for him.
"About twelve times." He answered flatly.
"What?" Lena shot up from her seat.
"Indigo is three times stronger than violet, and blue is four times indigo," Zero Jack explained in his usual cool voice.
"Hey, I think we need to change the deal a bit..." Lena raised her hand.
"Denied. Your offer, not mine." Zero Jack shake his head with a smug face.
Kang just shrugged. It was a fair price for a lesson learned. Still, by that logic the green and yellow solakris they had would be even more powerful. And no one knew about those. Even if word of this deal leaked, people would only think the Orphans had a violet solakris while the Institute possessed a blue one.
Any robber with a brain would go after the Institute instead of us, Kang thought, amused. Perfect scapegoat.
On that note, it was fine even if they lost out a little on the deal. Lena looked at Kang, and the two exchanged a knowing nod.
Just. As. Planned.
"Just for information, is there any benefit from using a solakris generator compared to directly using the power grid?"
Kang asked Zero Jack after he gave orders for his men to prepare their stuff.
Zero Jack motioned for a guy to come over.
"Ice, my right-hand man."
After that short introduction, Zero Jack turned away and left. Guess that means he was leaving all the explanations to this Ice guy.
"Hi swag, I'm Ice! Nice to meetcha, just ask me if you have any questions~"
Ice was apparently the talkative type. Kang repeated his problem.
"Of course, it's a hundred times better," Ice exclaimed excitedly. "First and foremost, you don't have to worry about any power outage or a malicious attack on your power system."
"That makes sense. It's easy to cut you off from the power grid, but not when you have your own power supply," Lena nodded.
"Especially for us, a power outage when we're deep-diving could cost us our lives." Ice said, his face showing a deep fear of that scenario.
"Oh, forgot about that! Yeah, must be a matter of life and death for you guys."
Lena nodded in realization, while Kang was confused.
"Deep-diving? Is there any lake or beach in your turf or what?"
Ice was dumbfounded, while Lena waved dismissively.
"Sorry, this swag is a country hick." Then remembering, she added, "Never gone to school, either."
Ice looked at Kang with a gaze of pity. That meant this guy had lived all his life till now in the meat-world only. Such a sad life...
"Um... care to explain, please?"
Kang clicked his tongue while giving Lena a menacing glare. She stuck out her tongue in a cute mocking face.
After that, Kang got a short lesson on cyberspace and the act of "diving."
Cyberspace is, to put it simply, kinda like the "Internet" of his time—except that now it's a virtual space that can be accessed through the act of diving. Of course, you can still access cyberspace using flatscreens or operating machines, but most people prefer to dive in for a better experience.
There are two kinds of diving methods, surface-dive and deep-dive.
Surface-dive is the most common method where you can use a headset to connect your consciousness into cyberspace, leaving your body in the real world, or "meat-world" as they often say. No extra equipment is required, because cyberspace exists practically everywhere and anywhere.
Deep-dive, in contrast, is the preferred method of deckers and hardcore cyberspace users. In order to deep-dive, you have to implant a neurojack into your head that directly connect to your brain. It's a type of augmented cyberware, and not very intrusive compared to augmented limbs or internal organs.
The difference between the two methods is like day and night. Deep-divers can react and move way faster in cyberspace than surface-divers. Kang imagined it must feel like the difference between using dial-up connection and fiber optic network in his time. For people who spend most of their time in cyberspace, whether working or playing, deep-dive must be a no-thinker.
However, connecting to cyberspace through your consciousness comes with a fatal risk. While your mind is still inside, any kind of disconnection can cause serious damage. For surface-divers, that means splitting headaches or temporary disorientation — unpleasant, but survivable. For deep-divers though, it could mean paralysis and permanent brain damage, if they're lucky. And if they are not, which is usually the case, death.
That would explain why the Institute, a gang that spend most of their time in the cyberspace, just had to run their own power system. Can't put your life into the hands of something you have no control over.
"I see, that does sound pretty dangerous." Kang finally understood. Welcome to the future, where a disconnect doesn't just make you lose a MOBA match but fries your nerves instead.
"So what's the other benefit of the solakris generator?"
"The energy efficiency, of course. Let me use our current power system as an example," Ice said energetically, with a proud look on his face. "A violet solakris can power our entire HQ with everything running at max output for about two days. And it only takes at most one day to fully recharge it from the power grid."
"Wait, what about the cost?" Lena asked in shock. "Is it also..."
"Yep," Ice grinned. "Only half the creds spent for the same amount of power. Well, 1/24 now with that new blue solakris."
"Ugh... stop rubbing salt in our wounds..." Lena groaned.
"And you know what's even better? When we hook it up with a bootleg charger so it charges while running at the same time, we can keep it going 24/7 with just twelve hours of charging each day. Now with the blue..."
Kang cut off his gloating.
"You should really stop with that tone, unless you want us to break the deal right now." He grumbled.
"Oh... uh... sorry, my bad. I just got too excited." Ice immediately apologized.
"But now that you mention it... that cyberspace thing sounds pretty convenient."
Kang said slowly, stroking his chin in thought.
"Of course it is! I honestly can't imagine how people live without it!"
Ice was getting excited again, until he noticed Kang and Lena exchanging scheming looks.
"You're totally right! We want cyberspace too," Lena said cheerfully.
"Thanks in advance," Kang added with a friendly tap on Ice's shoulder.
"Huh? For what?" Ice still didn't quite realize his mistake.
"For the equipment that'll let us connect to cyberspace—which you'll be providing, obviously."
Kang smiled warmly, like the sun. Well, there was no sun in the slums, but that only made his smile even more precious, no?