Roland rubbed his shoulders and tuned in to the Night City news.
Over the past year he'd done a lot, mostly through PROJECT. The company had grown into a billion-dollar enterprise and signed cooperation agreements with several major firms.
After sealing the deal with the Valentinos a year ago, the Czech II smart pistol immediately drew attention from gang members, and the Tyger Claws started sniffing around too. For most gangsters and ordinary folks, though, the real hook was the cheap smart ammunition — many avoided smart guns because upkeep and ammo costs were through the roof.
That drew Arasaka's eye. As one of the leaders in smart firearms, they noticed the value in Roland's weapon and ammo and didn't bother with niceties — they just used money to push things along. After all, they didn't have many other options: Night City was effectively the military science division's turf, and Arasaka's reach there was limited for now.
Conveniently for Roland, what he wanted most at that point was fame for PROJECT — it tied directly to how much he could change history — so he struck a cooperation deal with Arasaka's, handing over part of the tech for the weapon and the smart ammo. In return, Arasaka's agreed to promote PROJECT's weapon, but only within Night City.
At first Arasaka's wasn't thrilled about doing promotion. When they learned it was strictly limited to Night City, they perked up — Roland's demand barely threatened them — and they signed on without much hesitation, saving him a fortune in ad costs.
Why Arasaka's? Simple: they're far from the capital's scrutiny, so Roland's "only within Night City" condition was the least risky. Most other corporations probably wouldn't accept it. A few even approached him directly, but working with them would have been troublesome — they practically rule Night City now. Sure enough, after Roland turned down one such offer, sanctions followed quickly...
Luckily, Roland had ongoing relations with both Kang Tao and Arasaka's, so the penalties he faced were limited. Oddly enough, that whole episode helped PROJECT build a name.
Yes — Roland played both sides. He collaborated with Kang Tao and Arasaka's, but emphasized different technical strengths to each and kept his core tech to himself. Those bits he shared could help Kang Tao and Arasaka's advance in smart firearms, but they still lagged a little behind Roland's current PROJECT tech — at least for the lower-end PROJECT products on the market now.
None of that was the main issue for Roland. The real problem: he had plenty of Blue Essence, but almost no Orange Essence.
He'd also mostly figured out how the System awarded Blue Essence for changing history. Altering in-game events that were already recorded in history paid the most; some even rewarded Orange Essence. Inventing new history earned significantly less.
The big impact from the earlier Milus II Rifle, Roland guessed, came from changing Kang Tao's R&D timeline. The Zhuo-style product, originally slated for a 2069 release, would likely launch early and give Kang Tao's smart firearms a serious boost.
To Arasaka's — Roland could only mutter "Aminos" under his breath. The tech he gave Arasaka's for that pistol didn't include much on sight upgrades. That weapon's selling points were low cost and reliability; accuracy was only relative.
He'd also wasted a lot on draws during that year. Most of the time it was "thank you for participating" or a pile of junk — a net loss. But he couldn't risk releasing PROJECT's truly powerful blueprints, material schematics, or energy designs. Funding was short, and without sufficient armed protection, exposing them would be suicide. Building a private armed force with his current strength was still a stretch. After all, a billion-dollar market value doesn't mean he had that kind of liquid capital.
Roland opened the system, planning another draw. This time he'd saved 100,000 Blue Essence — he just didn't want it to go down the drain again. Although his daily Blue Essence income had grown, it was still painfully small.
[Remaining Blue Essence: 153,476]
"Huff—"
After a bath and a bit of incense, Roland pressed the purchase button.
[Tyrael Alloy x1, Ricard Ion Rifle x1, PROJECT Intelligent Security Robot x3...]
Roland watched the items appear and scowled. He'd barely broken even — it was a brutal loss.
When the last item rolled up, a flash of orange light caught his eye.
[Congratulations on obtaining: PROJECT · Ascension Template Key]
"????"
Roland stared. He knew the PROJECT · Ascension Template, but what was this key?
"Lissandra, explain."
"Yes. The key grants you permission to use the template, but to actually activate it you must make an additional internal purchase."
"Wait — so if I already had the template but not the key, I couldn't use it?"
Roland suddenly understood the implication.
"Not exactly. But if you force the template without the key, the user's consciousness will be heavily influenced by the template. With the key, you avoid that risk."
"Alright, I get it... show me the price for Ascension."
[PROJECT · Ascension: 10,000 Orange Essence]
"Damn, just kill me now—where am I supposed to get ten thousand Orange Essence?!"
Roland glared at his meager five hundred Orange Essence.
"You happen to have one opportunity, don't you?"
Roland paused at Lissandra's words and remembered the task he'd recently assigned her.
"You mean... The Mox?"
…
SMACK!
Elizabeth slammed her weapon down, fury shaking her chest.
"Boss, calm down. There's nothing we can do sometimes..." a sex doll at her side said, awkwardly patting her back.
"Calm down? How can I not be furious?! Those Tyger Claws bastards don't treat my girls like people. How many times has this happened?! Every time, someone gets hurt serving them, and it's worse than before!!" Elizabeth shouted.
She'd once been a sex doll herself and knew their pain. That's why she owned a nightclub — to help others surviving on the margins. Now the Tyger Claws kept trampling her principles, testing her limits again and again. How could she not be enraged?
Bang!
The office door burst open. Elizabeth frowned, then went pale when she saw the sex doll standing there, blood all over their face.
"What happened?!"
"Kia Kia was killed by those bastards from the Tyger Claws!!"
The doll collapsed to its knees, sobbing uncontrollably. The woman beside Elizabeth turned ashen — she knew Elizabeth's temper well.
Elizabeth lowered her head, clenched her fists, and walked slowly to the side of the desk.
"Boss..."
"Hmph—no need to say more. Take people upstairs. I'm going to deal with those bastards!!"