The lecturer came in and class resumed as always, Alex was packing up when he saw Ray talking to girls as usual. They would no longer be friends. He attempted to call out but no words came out, Ray noticed him too but perhaps out of guilt avoided his gaze. He may not know about Howard but still sending thugs after his friend time and time again would make anyone feel guilty.
Alex packed up and headed out when Mercer came up to him and offered lunch, he also said someone important wished to talk to Alex. Alex followed him to his car. The car clearly stood out from the ones around it, as expected of a celebrity he sure was flashy. They drove to a pretty expensive looking hotel and walked up to the receptionist. Alex looked around while Mercer just smiled at him.
The receptionist asked whether they had a reservation and Mercer confirmed it, He named someone and the receptionist checked the list and smiled at the duo. The receptionist had a keen eye, contrary to Mercer and his flashy brand named clothings Alex wore common cheap clothing but his instinct told him Mercer was buttering up to Alex so either he was going to trick this young man into something dangerous or this young man was a lowkey VIP. Either way he should pay more attention to him.
The receptionist led the two to a table where a middle aged man and a fairly young woman were waiting, The man saw the two and stood up to greet them while the lady called over a waiter. She seemed pretty used to such meetings and this made Alex wonder what she was even doing there.
Food was brought over and the man took a few bites before saying
"Mr. Alex? My name is Ted Bridger I heard from mercer you have a very interesting product on you, would you mind showing it to me?"
Alex could technically still say no, he knew how people with power and money acted. He knew friends were backstabbed let alone strangers but he couldnt really refuse at this point as that would only make him more suspicious, perhaps Alex could trick him into thinking its from a giant corporation so he wouldnt be targetted by doodle too.
After all even doodle wouldnt want to steal something from lets say banana, atleast not on the surface.
"Sure Mr. Ted, Its a experimental product so please be careful with it. The company which sent it to me to test would have my guts if anything happened to it. "
Ted nodded, he already figured that the phone would be experimental after all from what Mercer told him it was pretty much a handheld computer. No small or middle level business would be able to produce this even if they wished for it. He took the phone and started testing it, as a professional he knew how to check the specifications of a phone better than Mercer.
By the end of it his hands were trembling, he realized that the phone had come with a different OS and that it was changed to robot after all he knew how to recognize his own companies software. The phones usually buy the license to mass produce but this was different. A company that can make its own OS isnt rare but, a company that can produce such hardware would not produce low quality OS.
He rechecked its specifications by running the phone, it never slowed down no matter how many items he had opened it never filled up even after he recorded a movie for 10 mins, resulting in over 20GB of usage. It would appear the 20TB was true but such a thing was impossible even for doodle currently.
He was astonished, his throat grew dry and he chugged down an entire glass of water. The lady next to him was looking at him play with the phone out of curiosity, she wasnt a tech specialist but even she could tell that this item was ridiculous nevermind everything else just the camera alone was better than professional DSLR.
She would kill to have such a phone and was hoping whatever her lover had intended involved getting her a copy of this phone. She tried asking him for it but he gave her a stern look that said 'not now'. She was smart and understood that this deal was enough to make him. If he could somehow secure such a product for his company he might even be promoted to the top straight away and this would only help her.
He returned the phone to Alex who had finished eating, he did not eat in a refined way but his enhanced looks did not allow him to look vulgar either. Mercer was attempting to learn how to eat in such a way and still not look vulgar but he just chalked it up to Alex's aura. Something distinct to everyone, it changes with your temperament and experience.
"Mr. Alex, Could you please disclose which company made this phone?"
Alex was troubled, if he named a big company Ted could easily investigate and find out its a lie and small companies wouldnt be able to produce it hence that too would be considered a lie. His only choice was...
"That, Is it fine if I dont disclose it?"
"That wouldnt be a problem but, I represent doodle in saying we would like to cooperate on this."
He could always just deny the cooperation but why not use this chance instead? Alex thought about it a bit, he would have loved to claim to be omnipotent and have the ability to scheme right through everything but he couldnt.
Compared to him plot armored MCs were pretty enviable at this point. Their friends literally give up their limbs and family for them and all they get in exchange is peanuts with which they happily offer up their sisters to the Harem of the MC. If Laura were here she would complain at how unfair such MCs were.
All Alex could do was come up with an excuse, a vague but legitimate one.
"Actually the company is fairly new, its an oversea company that is attempting to move into the tech market with this product"
The reply caught Ted offguard, on one hand its a 'new' company on another it is big enough to attempt to grow in a completely different market from whatever its main market is. He assumed it had something to do with either military or real estate as those are the currently least profitable ventures in modern times. More likely the military.
Alex would be delighted by such a misunderstanding after all it meant Ted wouldnt make a move on him, directly atleast.
Ted gave an understanding nod and said
"I see, if this phone goes on sale I doubt anyone wouldnt want it. The price would be a problem but the elite dont lack money"
Alex decided to change his initial plans a bit, he excused himself telling Ted that he would like to consult with his company. He went to the bathroom and called Laura. She was always calmer than him and besides in such a situation a second head would really help think. Alex wanted to integrate this turn of events into his plan and needed Laura to bridge the gaps.
"Laura, how long would it take to convert the app to be usable for the original software that came with these phones"
"Brother why, what happened?"
The voice sounded concerned, lately Alex had been getting into trouble a lot so it was understandable why.
"Its a long story, I will explain when I get back but I figured out a way to get our 'customers' for our app as well as milk them for money."
"Alright brother, If I work on it I can do it today, originally the hard part was fitting it for current phones but without that and with the base code I believe a day should be enough"
He was glad his sister was capable. He calmed down and thought for a bit then told her
"Thanks love you, please do so I am gonna go talk to the customer"
Alex went to the sink and washed his face. He looked in the mirror and calmed himself down then he went back to his seat, He saw the lady besides Ted and Mercer laughing while Ted appeared to be making a somewhat smug face. He promptly sat down on his chair.
Ted understood Alex and his company had made a decision and he listened attentively. Alex took a deep breath and said.
"You see, the company isnt attempting to market the phone. Its attempting to market a specific app that only works with this phone, I am sure you noticed robot wasnt its original software. I switched to robot as most apps require it but the phone was originally built specifically to support that app"
This got Ted curious, such a cutting edge phone would be loved no matter where and here he is being told that its not even the product being sold but a supporting product, that too for an app. No matter how good the app is, creating an entire OS simply to support an app seems inefficient not to mention that would mean people would buy the phone especially for said app.
The only 2 possibilities in his mind were. The app was just that good, he wondered what it was. Was it AI? a universal app maker so people dont feel the lack of other apps or company will probably have the more popular apps ported to support their OS while their own app works as a interaction medium.
Any other possibilities including all of this being a lie were shot straight out of his head.
He swallowed his spit and asked
"So what is the main product?"
"I am glad you asked Mr.Ted, Could you arrange for us to go somewhere secluded? Its hard to show with people around"
Mr.Ted got worried he might be kidnapped but his curiosity got the better of him. A product with such a sub product would definitely be amazing not to mention any company capable of producing such a phone did not need him, he wasnt even a board member of doodle even if he was in a pretty high position doodle didnt need him to function. There was a high level of risk but the rewards were obvious too, he saw no reason to decline.
"Mr. Mercer could you kindly drive Lilith back to our house? Just until the gates is fine, Dear please go with Mercer I wont take long will I Mr. Alex Royce"
Alex understood the meaning behind using his full name. It was a warning that if something happens to Ted, Alex will be in trouble for it and so will his family.
"Yes Mr.Ted it wont take too long. I am sorry for stealing your partner Ms Lilith"
He flashed a smile to Lilith. Alex used to be above average in looks, he definitely wasn't enough to warrant any form of attraction from women solely based on looks but after he took the strengthening pills his face has slowly sculpted itself. He did not look handsome at first glance but a lingering eye would definitely consider him handsome.
Once Lilith took a good look at him she found that he might even be better looking than Mercer.
'Probably the alcohol, he looked so average before'
Ending her thought she agreed with the two and was then led by Mercer to his car. Alex smiled at Ted who was left behind and said
"Are you sure that was wise? I am not sure Mr.Mercer is a sheep, I might be hired by Mercer to arrange this"
Alex figured Ted as a pretty insecure man relationship wise. His tone was clearly telling Lilith not to stay too long with Mercer who clearly was not trusted.
One can find a lot about a man by his phrasing, the intricate usage of words. Alex gained such knowledge in his life before the chip and polished it in the virtual reality chamber after all no matter how powerful you are you will still have to learn to deal with people to start a kingdom, Albiet it was mostly due to cheating they had still become monarchs.
Ted raised a brow and simply shrugged.
"If he had the ability to produce such a device he wouldnt just be a living mascot, come Mr. Alex lets finish up our business so we dont have to find our Mr.Mercer's nature."
Alex may seem mature but he was still a teen, he couldnt help but crack a joke which wasnt even funny due to the nervousness. Ted did not care, to him the youth infront of him would be a monster if he wasnt even nervous despite the magnitude of their deal so he didnt mind such jokes at all.
Ted then led Alex to his car, as expected it was a model not even in common markets yet. A company named Nicoli, perhaps a play on work on the father of electricity had created this beauty and Alex now got to ride in it. He was also a bit excited, if everything went well maybe he could even afford a car from the future.
A luxury car straight from the future! how glorious would it be, then again he would only get to enjoy that once he could truly protect his interests. The phone was enough of a headache.
The car drove to the area arount the warehouse he was kidnapped to. Alex thought to himself
'Is this place some sort of shady rich guy business magnet?'
The thought made him giggle a little alerting Ted, who stopped the car thinking this was secluded enough
"Would this place be fine?"
Alex looked at him and nodded. Ted got out of the car then so did Alex.
"So lets see the product, although I am not sure what all this secrecy is for. The app is on your phone right?"
Ted was a paranoid man, his car always had a gun stashed away which he took out earlier as he did not fully trust Alex.
"Calm down Mr.Ted let me show you the product"
Alex decided to buy some form of energy skill to pass off as magic, the flashy energy wave would be a perfect demonstration he found one named
[Strong wave skill 1000Mpts Allows the user to use his energy to create a energy blast, requires atleast 2nd realm to work]
The description was simple and it was exactly what he wanted. Being a skill he learnt it instantly and told Ted to step back a bit.
Following the technique now ingrained in his body he punched out, A Energy beam large as his body gushed out from his fish and destroyed the trees and ground uptil 3 meters infront of him.
Alex looked back to see Ted's reaction but he only saw him in a daze with some drool coming out of his mouth
"Mr. Ted? You alright?"
Ted quickly wiped the drool on the corner of his mouth and nodded. It took a while for him but he managed to say
"Was... Was that real?"
He considered himself to be someone who has seen the world, as a upper echelon member of doodle he had seen death and gore and as a businessman he had seen even more of it, the first by the company the second by himself. He saw things he could never explain and this just happened to be the top of that list.
"As real as the phone I showed you"
Alex demonstrated again, this time Ted only shook his head and slapped himself as if to wake himself up and stop fooling around.
"So this is real huh, Umm Mr.Immortal why did you show me that?"
Immortal? quite the title, then again humans tend to treat stuff they cant explain as something divine. Alex hated religion but to him the title immortal did not matter at all. It was more convenient for him if Ted treated him as a superior being.
"This would be a better product than the phone right?"
Ted couldnt help but nod.
"You mean this magic? Certainly if you can sell it then the military and even the elites in the world would sell their kidneys for it. You said app right? will you use the app to sell this magic?"
Alex knew the bait was effective. He smiled and said
"Not just this 'magic', So how about it? Would this be worth partnering over?"
Ted couldnt help but be tongue tied, if he is asked whether its worthy then he could only answer it is more than worthy only that he is not. He knew he was in no position to sign such a deal as this youth would clearly ask for something only the board could provide. The product this time was beyond him or any other humans, no company would be dumb enough to say no to such a godly ability after all what is technology worth when compared to true magic?
"Mr.Immortal no. Mr. Alex I will be honest this is above me, I know I cant provide what you will ask for so could you allow me to call my superiors?"
Alex nodded and Ted made a call to the board of directors. He told them that a product that the company must have at any cost popped up and that he guaranteed using his life that they should free up their schedule as soon as possible.
The board was stunned by his earnesty , they did not think a man in such a position would be moved by anything ordinary but they could not just free up space whenever asked. The board decided to bring up the product in the meeting that would be happening in a week. Ted couldnt help but worry whether Alex would accept the delay but to Alex that timing would be perfect.