Thanks for your patience, everyone!

—

The meeting hosted on a private NetServ video channel continued for more than an hour as the Future Tech executives discussed specific operational vulnerabilities that the corporation could potentially face.

The young CEO sat comfortably in his home office chair and said, “We’ll speak more about corporate security if the need arises, so I’ll dismiss the meeting for now except for the legal and financial representatives in attendance.”

The augmented reality avatars of the executives disappeared from Vince’s Hypervisor, only leaving Dollar, Marcia, David, Ralph, Richard, and Jack Ma.

It was odd for a non-Future Tech executive to sit in during an upper echelon gathering. Still, Vince wanted to express his sincerity and the megacorporation’s capabilities to Alibaba’s CEO.

His staff didn’t mind as Jack Ma was a vital business partner that Future Tech relied on for its range of products and operations profiting in China and South East Asia.

Vince continued the meeting by saying, “If the federal government decides to classify Bitcash as a currency, it will increase our taxable revenue. The situation would be unfortunate but should open new avenues and opportunities for its financial applications.”

The Future Tech Investments Director, Richard, respectfully stated, “One byproduct in regulating Bitcash is allowing us to enter the foreign currency exchange market. As a result, we can recoup our losses by buying and selling national currencies while minting Bitcash through Bitcoin exchanges.”

Dollar, the Bitcash Director, remembered his conversation with Vince before the young man purchased the Bitcoin Market. He excitedly interjected, “It might be too early, but will we be pursuing our plans for a globalized bank?”

The Bitcash Director’s enthusiastic statement piqued everyone’s interest as Vince had conceptualized and shared his ideas regarding a fully electronic financial institution that transcended national borders since Future Tech entered the cryptocurrency industry.

Vince calmly replied, “A project like that will require close cooperation with our corporate partners like Alibaba to be competitive in the banking sector.”

Marcia and her legal department primarily worked on the colossal Infinity Channel online distribution agreements and reinforced fair-use protocols to reduce DMCA abuse. (Digital Millennium Copyright Act)

The media platform deal propelled Marcia Kemp to reach the status of the most successful corporate attorney worldwide. Still, she welcomed a new challenge like developing comprehensive bylaws for a private world bank.

David was now a high ranking senior partner at Kemp-Jacobs because of his direct work with Vince Dalton since Future Tech’s inception; he remained silent as his boss, Marcia, stated with fiery intent and conviction, “My department is prepared to pursue whatever project you have in mind, Vince.”

Before the young CEO could reply, his Chinese guest interjected by saying, “Excuse me, Ms. Kemp. It’s a pleasure to speak with you again after our initial negotiations a few years ago regarding the Bitcash Portal. I don’t overstep my bounds, but I believe it would take more than confidence to compete with storied and historical banks like JP Morgan Chase that owns $600 billion in liquid assets just by itself.”

Ralph, Future Tech’s Chief Financial Officer, amicably added, “You have a good point, Mr. Ma, but that’s only on paper. Most of their cash is tied to long-term government bonds and treasury bills. The Wall Street banks and the federal government find themselves in a constant loop of approving the printing of more US Dollars to meet its monthly interest demands and avoid defaulting. The average citizens aren’t aware of the piling US debt they and their descendants would have to pay in taxes eventually.”

Jack Ma took a moment of thought before realizing the similarities between modern China and the United States.

The former controlled the markets through socialism, like only leasing property to citizens for 100 years instead of allowing full ownership. The latter took advantage of capitalism to systematically maintain the economic status quo between the rich and the poor.

Vince Dalton never wanted to become the wealthiest or most influential person in this new life he was given, and he actively worked to improve the average person’s quality of life no matter their socioeconomic background instead.

The young man unconsciously abided by old but relevant schools of thought, such as the concept of karma from Buddhism that encourages a positive feedback loop regarding the consequences of one’s actions.

Vince honestly said, “Jack, our dream of a truly free market will never be a reality without simplifying and advancing the current corrupt monetary system. Instead, we can start small by providing a limited variety of financial services and steadily improve and expand after building consumer trust in a purely digital economy.”

Nationalized currency has changed the daily lives of billions of people in recent history for the better with its convenience compared to bartering physical goods. Still, it was institutions like the Wall Street banks that maneuvered currencies into a form of oppression.

—–

It was a sunny day in Austin, but the young executives and guests decided to roam around Dalton Manor’s vast hedge maze and central water fountain.

Hailee gave Princess Olympia, Kylie, and Kendall a quick tour of the property while Kyle, Rick, Sarah, and Jessica followed along as they engaged in small talk.

The manor wasn’t as large as the former Greek Royal Family’s Tatoi Palace in Athens because Vince didn’t need farmland or hunting grounds. However, its opulence still mesmerized the exiled princess while she imagined living in her family’s ancestral home.

The reality TV sisters would usually take selfies and videos to update fans on social media but didn’t want to give their new friends a wrong impression, so they asked for permission first.

Jessica reassured them by saying, “Vince doesn’t mind taking pictures around here. So keep responsibility in mind, and you’ll be fine.”

The sisters were ecstatic to share their first-hand experience of the Dalton Manor as there was plenty of pop culture clout for associating themselves with the rising young CEO and his friends.

Kylie excitedly unlocked her Infinity Phone to begin taking selfies but noticed a Future Tech advertisement alert on her NetServ widget about the release of Everlife’s expansion and War Online’s latest update.

She walked up to Kyle and said in annoyance, “I’ve been asking you about Everlife the entire weekend, but you couldn’t at least tell me it was coming out tonight!”

The young game developer scratched his head while smiling and said, “Come on, we couldn’t share anything until the public announcement. How about I make it up to you with a preview demo?”

Kylie’s eyes lit up with intensity, and she zealously replied, “Okay, I’ll forgive you if I can play the Everlife expansion before the public.”

Kyle invited the others to join him and Kylie at the manor’s entertainment center before the entourage returned to the mansion.

After a few minutes, they chose an Infinity Workstation and signed into their NetServ accounts.

Kyle logged into his corporate master account and granted beta access to the guests’ Everlife profiles to enable the expansion content.

A beautifully directed CGI cutscene showcasing the expansion’s primary features such as the AI-driven player contract system, physically-accurate street and course racing, and the new story campaign based on the fast and furious movie franchise played as an introduction.

Even famous and widely successful video games in the future like Grand Theft Auto 5 paled in comparison to Everlife’s cutting-edge features thanks to advancements in Unreal Engine.

It took only a few seconds for Kylie’s Infinity Workstation to connect to Future Tech’s network services, unlike Grand Theft Auto Online in 2021, which still took forever to load the game world and join a server.

GTA was a great franchise, but the quality of life playing that game online was relatively poor, filled with griefers, hackers, and loading screens.

Kyle and Vince appreciated simple indie video games like the recently released Minecraft that reduced friction new players would experience and facilitated compelling gameplay.

Though Everlife and War Online were much more complex than Roblox or Minecraft, Future Studios applied the same principles to provide a fantastic gaming product without abusing microtransactions and focusing on an impactful experience.

They spent an hour playing the expansion’s campaign prologue before meeting up in Everlife Online to test out the street racing, new car upgrades, heists, and co-op missions.

Kylie, Kendall, and Princess Olympia had a blast while playing in the same room with Kyle and the others, as they weren’t familiar with local area network gaming with friends.

The three young women weren’t actually gamers, but the pop culture relevance of War Online and Everlife compelled them to try out the seemingly nerdy hobby.

Kylie overtook Rick to take first place during the final lap of their street race and eventually won, then she honestly said, “Wow! It’s so fun playing with everyone in one place! Do you guys play here often?”

Sarah ended the race in fifth place before replying, “My brother and I play War Online at the office LAN center during our work breaks, but our friend group doesn’t play as often together anymore, especially Vince.”

Though they couldn’t spend as much time with their good friend, Sarah and the others understood the stress and commitment required to lead a business like Future Tech successfully.

—

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