Aiden was browsing the net through his VR headset, which was set to transparent mode. There was a motion sensor built into the thing, but he didn't like to exert himself by waving his hands for no reason, so he just used a mouse instead.

He was already late for the launch if the update because of his damn job, so he decided to quickly check the forums before jumping into the game.

'Why the fuck would fast-food restaurants still be using human employees… Because we are goddamn cheap of course. "

He was still grumbling about yesterday, but that fight was pretty cool. He scanned through the general forums first, and noticed that everyone was talking about the new NPCs being a lot more lifelike, and even when you said something random to them, they usually had an answer.

He grimaced, since the starting planet had little to no NPCs since humanity conquered it all, but that was the least of his worries, there were already tons of theories about the Galaxy grade quest going around, with a large amount of things pointing at it being a conspiracy between many alien races against humans.

And obviously, everyone was talking about the tons of new types of equipment, new planets, spaceships, modules, and…

He stopped when he reached the discussion about personal AIs. It seemed like some of the original AIs got upgraded a bit, but many of the new types seemed to be strong or even OP.

If he didn't have a headset on he would have slapped his forehead with both of his hands but he was content with pulling his fist together in anger.

There was also some talk about some kind of very rare kind of AI but he closed the forums by then being annoyed and angry.

He booted up the game after that and while getting comfortable in bed.

He was prompted for a password which surprised him, he set the device to remember it.

After getting out of the comfortable position with a sigh, he quickly typed in his password.

"Welcome back, our terms of service has been updated."

He rolled his eyes as he quickly scrolled down the list and hit "I agree. "

"The new update uses a technology capable of monitoring your brain activity and uses it to grant a more immersive experience. This is optional, and older devices might not be capable of using this function. For information about what we record of and use your data for, please read the terms of service"

Aiden pulled his eyebrows together. The technology did exist, but it was not widely used yet.

A bit interested he started reading the terms, however upon noticing its length he sighed 'I should have read about this on the forums.'

He clicked enable and finally, he awakened in the gameworld, just like waking up from sleeping.

Except you didn't usually sleep on the floor. He pushed himself up and looked around. He was in one of the fortress' private rooms, which meant it was just a plain room with nothing inside.

Used to this he simply ignored it and went to open his menu. Just as he was about to use fast-travel to hop to a market, hoping to buy something even if it was ridiculously overpriced, he was stopped by another notification.

"Your 'Sagittarius AI - Model EX-812' is eligible for the advanced AI upgrade."

He couldn't help but blink with wide eyes as he continued reading.

"Please note the following: If you accept this upgrade, you agree to the following terms:"

"Oh come on, even more of this s…"

"PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING TERMS."

He was taken back by the text turning red and being displayed in large capital letters.

'Is it reading my mind?!'

As if really hearing his thoughts the text returned to normal. For a moment he was scared to do anything, but seeing that nothing else happened, he slowly started scrolling.

"By agreeing to this upgrade, you allow us to access your memories, which we will use to upgrade your AI and also use for other research purposes. These results will never be made public, and only our computer algorithms will have access to it. This is a one time process, and in the future only your surface memories - as stated in the new updated terms of service - will be used… "

The list went on and on, describing that something going wrong was near impossible but the user accepts at their own volition. There was also a lot of detailed description about what this process entailed, but by the end of it Aiden was just quickly scrolling and only glanced at the titles or important looking points.

He reluctantly pressed yes, but the system seemed content with him not reading very hard.

"This process will take a significant amount of time, during which you might experience mild headaches, you c…"

"Okay, I'm done with this shit"

He just pressed OK and waited a bit to see if he felt anything, but after not sensing any change, he shrugged and quickly went on the forums again to read about this.

And yes, people did talk about getting this message and all of the posts said they accepted. He just hoped he wouldn't pass out like one of the guys did right after agreeing.

He closed the browser, and… Actually, now that he was getting a new AI, he didn't really need anything. He never really purchased weapons or armor elsewhere, as the Adias company had pretty great stuff in those, but they did mostly just sell those two things, while he liked to save for special and unique items just like his glove.

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His AI was basically a collectors item, being 17 years old. He bought it 4 years ago when it wasn't as valuable as now.

It was not widely used even on its release however, being an AI that was good for a very specific role.

It granted almost no bonuses to the mech/vehicle it was attached to and didn't by itself auto aim and fire weapons which made it a big no for the majority of players.

The thing it was good in however was hacking, it was one of the fastest in the game at finishing the hacking itself, but while that was true, if the enemy controller noticed it in time it was easy to remove.

The reason spies, ninjas, criminals or whatever they wanted to call themselves didn't use it is because it also had another very big downside, it didn't remove the enemy AI, but worked over it, so you can't just swap it with a purely combat AI either if the original couldn't be removed manually.

On the other hand it did have the AI retrieval function, which made it possible to teleport it in your inventory if you were close to the controlled machine and it was off cooldown. But that was only good for his kind of playstyle specifically.

He left the room and decided to check if there was still anyone left in the building.

He was surprised to see that there was still a few dozen players here and they were chatting in the meeting room.

This time instead of practically destroying the room, he entered silently and looked around.

Most of the people he knew, but most of them only by their face, he didn't talk much with people outside of his squad.

And after a few seconds he noticed that they were here as well seemingly discussing the new update.

As he got closer they noticed them one of them noticed him approaching. "If it isn't Rambo himself!" Exclaimed Sven with a grin. He was a tall guy with golden blond hair which was in a mess, yet organized, basically the classic hero type look from fantasy.

As the others turned towards them, they clasped hands like the cool guys usually do.

He smiled as well and waved at the other two squad members. Nira and Sally said hi as well. Sally in her usual monotonous behaviour and Nira with a big smile.

If you looked at Nira and Sven, you would think they were brother and sister since Nira had blonde hair of the same color and she was also tall, but this was just a coincidence, they didn't even know each other in real life.

Sally was of average height, and had hair which was a mix between grey and dark purple.

This was the usual set up of the squad, but when needed they formed bigger groups, or in Sally's case took a bigger part in huge battles given her capabilities.

"Someone had to attack those fucking idiots, they would have waited until the last minute."

"Yeah that's just what we were talking about. They actually brought more than we were expecting, they probably thought we wouldn't take the bait." Said Nira with smile.

Aiden grimaced a bit but didn't say anything.

"You are lucky Sven and the others got there in time to defend my Carriers or you would be paying for them."

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks for the help, but I knew he had our back."

The two of them grinned at each other again as Nira shook her head "boys… " And Sally just sighed.

"Hah! If it isn't soldier M-23! Or as most people would know him, a disobedient, meanie with anger issues."

"Hey Luna." He said in the most neutral voice he could muster.

"Don't 'Hey Luna' me! You disobeyed orders again and this time I will get an apology!"

Aiden was keeping a stony expression as he looked at Luna like she was invisible. What annoyed her most was the very slow blink he did after waiting a few seconds.

The bit shorter than average girl with translucent blue hair clicked her tongue.

Everyone, being most people in the room who heard this conversation were already chuckling.

"This goes for all of you you know!" She said in an annoyed tone. "You could've stopped him but instead you went to follow him!"

"Sorry commander Luna, we won't do it next time."

She glared at the player who said it hearing his tone.

"There, you got your apology."

"I want an apology from you, you… Imbecile."

Seeing that Aiden didn't budge, she sighed but suddenly a smug smile appeared on her face.

"So that's how it is…"

"Yes…"

"Pssst! I'm talking! So did you know what I did after I left command because if you guys?"

Seeing that Aiden wanted to reply with a snarky response she quickly continued.

"I actually grabbed a teleport crystal that I've been saving up for and used it to teleport to an offplanet market, since apparently I'm such a useless commander!"

This shut up quite a few people, who suffered from not having such a luxury.

She was walking in a circle explaining to the whole crowd, and so she didn't see the edge of Aiden's lips twitch.

"And do you know what I bought other than all the new stuff I wanted for myself." She smirked at the crowd and slowly turned towards Aiden. "A new type of AI that is practically built for your playstyle!"

Some people 'ooohed' at this and Sven swore as he quickly fished out his recorder.

When she noticed Aidens still neutral expression she paused a bit but Luna decided it was just her imagination and continued."So if you would be so kind to apologize, I would maybe think about giving it to you."

She was gazing at Aidens expression with a grin but that grin slowly faded as she saw that Aiden was beginning to smile, like he was stealing hers.

And after a few seconds Aiden was smiling like the happiest man on earth… Or Mauden in this case.

"While I am truly grateful to you for your consideration commander. I didn't mention one important detail yet."

Luna was completely clueless why Aiden was having such a fun time, she looked around to see the others also looked confused.

"And w… What would that be?"

Aiden kept silent for a bit for obligatory dramatic effect before he opened his mouth.

"I got the advanced AI upgrade."

The room was completely silent after that as everyone was trying to process the information.

As some people got what this meant they looked at each other and after a few seconds chaos broke loose.

Some people started cheering and others were cursing him for his luck.

"You lucky bastard! And you crying about not being able to buy one!" Sven hit him in the back with enough power that be staggered forward.

"More like bitching, go to hell." Said someone else but it was obvious he was just joking.

And Luna was just staring stupefied for a few seconds before turning around with an angry expression and she stormed off. 'That stupid idiot, and I would have given it to him even if he didn't properly say sorry!'

'In the past he would have apologized and thanked me, now he is just a stupid jerk. This is what I get for trying to be nice to him…'

But in the room no one noticed her leaving as they were celebrating. Except for Lilith, who was standing in the doorway peering at the group and she felt the same way about Aiden…