The next day, Leon waited at the Quad like he promised. It was a large quadrangle of lawn with small distinct buildings around them, each one of them being a classroom.
Although it was far away from the Department of Engineering and Robotics that Leon was usually at due to his major, Trey was part of the Department of Political Sciences, which had smaller classrooms dedicated for more personal lectures.
This wasn’t only to increase the involvement of every student into the material but also because each student required special attention. That’s because Political Sciences was generally attended by students of very high status, heirs and successors of companies and celebrities that would enter the political world in the future.
It was also much easier to engage in networking with fellow students in a smaller, more contained environment, making this structure highly efficient. At Adkins Technical University, every single department had specialized institutions and structured layouts to encourage and facilitate learning to the most efficient degree.
Looking at the students, sitting on the lawn in groups and chatting, Leon felt oddly out of place. Trey was right when saying that he might be his only friend. After half a year of attending university, the number of other students of his age he talked to can be counted on one hand.
After all, Leon did pay more attention to the syntax of a computer program than personal relationships. He’s been that way all his life.
“There you are, Leon. I was nearly afraid you wouldn’t show up?” His friend, Trey approached with a small group of people next to him.
Leon observed them for only a moment before replying. “I promised, right?”
His friend grinned before nodding towards the group of three next to him. “These are my friends, the few who want to see me win the race.”
“You know you can’t win, Trey.” The only boy of the three spoke up, his voice doubtful. His short hair was a bit darker than Leon’s own, closer to pitch black with few highlights. He had a well-trained figure that made him tower over everyone else.
“Don’t say things you know nothing about.” Trey shot back, crossing his arms. Then he looked at Leon with his usual trademark smile.
“I’ll make this quick. This guy is Neal, while the two girls are Tara and Nicole. Guys, this is Leon.” Trey announced.
“Nice to meet you.” Leon said when one of the girls stepped up.
“Leon Harper, right? I heard about an engineering student being sponsored by Alpha Dynamics. Here, take this. If you’re ever interested in more direct AI research, give me a call. I’ll send my business card to your student account.” The girl, Nicole, finished as she typed something on her phone.
“Nicole, are you seriously trying to headhunt, right now?” Trey asked with a stupefied face. “This guy is sponsored by the big guys, you’re aware of that, right?”
“Hey, you never know.” Nicole shrugged.
Meanwhile, Leon took a quick glance at the electronic business card she just sent him.
Nicole Young, AxonLabs.
‘Young…’ Leon thought as he looked back up at the girl. She had long, straight black hair with dark eyes and clear, pale skin. Despite being of mixed descent, her asian roots remained prevalent in her facial features.
Not to mention…
‘One of the lead researchers on the Phoenix Project had the surname Young.’
Leon knew the surname Young was rather common in the Territories but her business card and age clearly showed her business was run by her family. Most of them were since families tried to keep the power to themselves.
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AxonLabs, focusing on AI research.
Leon ignored it for now but it wouldn’t hurt being friendly to someone whose family might have been involved with that project.
Then, he took a quick look at the other two, both faces he recognized rather easily.
Tara Bates. She was a stunning girl with slightly wavy auburn hair and green eyes, as well as a member of the Bates family that took several important positions at Symbotics, a company known for producing small-scale appliance robots.
On the other side, Neal Larkin was the son of Timothy Larkin, a renowned scientist who developed the Larkin processor, a small-sized chip that calculates data at the speed thought unimaginable for its size just a few years ago.
Leon remembered everything about it because the same processor is used in the Vulcan Series he helped to develop. Without it, the Vulcan AI would never have the processing power necessary to support its promise of absolute cybersecurity.
All three of them are names and faces he’s heard of and seen before due to their family’s presence in the tech sector. Otherwise, he probably wouldn’t have a shimmer about who he was talking to.
“Anyway, now that the introductions are done, let’s go to the track. The race starts at six and we need to be there at least an hour before to test the cars.” Trey declared, causing Nicole to raise her eyebrows in confusion.
“Cars? What do you mean? I thought you were the only driver under Tsunami.”
“Of course, but I got several cars for each one of us. Can’t leave you waiting around with nothing to do, right?” Trey laughed and led them towards two white cars. “We can’t fit all of us into one, so we need to split up.”
With that being said, Trey opened the door to one of the cars despite it having an automatic function to let Nicole enter first. A moment later, he slipped inside himself and the door closed smoothly on its own.
‘What was that?’ Leon thought in his mind.
“The bastard thinks he has an actual chance.” Tara, the girl with the auburn hair, chuckled with a spiteful expression. She looked over at Leon with a knowing look in her eyes.
“That guy has been courting her for months now, thinking he could actually get her attention as long as Nicole doesn’t outright reject him. Sadly, he doesn’t know that she keeps guys at a comfortable distance in case she ever needs a favor without paying too much of a price.”
“Hmm, Trey’s still a good-looking guy though?”
“Isn’t everybody? In our circle, common things like that mean nothing.” Tara shook her head.
‘Right.’ Leon thought as he understood what she was saying.
All four of them were attractive with looks that were considered rare back in the 2040s. Yet, not only them but most other people of higher citizen tier were vastly better looking than those in the outer territories.
The answer to that is quite simple. The majority of them were genetically-engineered before birth, taking only the best qualities and eliminating the worst. Naturally looks wouldn’t mean anything. What used to be a genetic gift has simply become a common adjustment.
“You’re different than that, though. Right?” Tara said as she looked him over, her expression turning into a charming smile.
‘Her words are basically an insult but her face makes it sound like a compliment.’ Leon remained silent but he clearly got the message.
It was obvious that he was merely above-average in looks compared to the standard in the central territory. After all, there wasn’t anything like designer babies where you could just change the genetic makeup at the time when he was born. The technology did exist, sure, but ethics put a strict lock on it.
Though, why she pointed that out with such an innocent face despite it being kind of rude remained a mystery to him.
“Let’s go to the other car before we’re late to the race.” He didn’t have an answer for her question, so he chose to ignore it. The true introverted way.
Tara, on the other hand, just laughed in response and followed.
Yet, when they arrived at the second car, Neal who kept quiet throughout the entire ordeal raised his hand and scratched his neck with an awkward expression.
“Ehhh, I kinda bought my newest hoverbike to the university today, so I don’t really want to leave it here. I’ll just meet you guys at the track, okay?” With that, Neal left without waiting another second, leaving the two of them alone.
While Leon was still processing what exactly just happened, Tara simply shrugged her shoulders and entered the car.
“I guess that just leaves you and me, new boy.”
Sighing quietly, Leon shook his head before entering the car as well.
‘I feel like this is going to be a long day.’
……….
‘Without the barriers of ethics and faith, technological advancement will be unstoppable. The only price is our humanity.’
~~Dr. Benjamin Harper’s Memoirs~~