--------- Sally-1 ---------

  "I'm sorry, but you cannot afford to download everything we have. To do so you would need 1.5 billion Shop Points." The clerk apologized, doing a tiny bow with their head.

  While it was not the best outcome, I had somewhat expected it to be like that.

  "It depends. What field do you work in?" The clerk asked, and their eyes started looking through a System window only they could see.

  What was my field? The user- no, my boss Az had said that it was just about anything he found interest in. At the current moment, that was Identifying items and studying the Parabox.

  The clerk hummed a bit as their eyes darted around the invisible window.

  "You're in luck! Everything there is to know about Identification, along with some adjacent stuff that goes well with it and some common knowledge, comes to around 4.37 million SP. Or 4,369,941 Shop Points if you want the exact number." The clerk smiled and I sent the money over.

  I was now basically penniless, but I had a very good job, so I'd make it all back in a few months time.

  The clerk sent me a port number and I rolled deeper into the store. I didn't need directions as the building was arranged in such a way that an AI could easily navigate the halls. An organic might struggle though.

  The ports were something of a private booth where you could plug in and go to sleep while everything was downloaded. For an AI anyway. Others would have to leave the drive or device at a sort of locker, so it could download the data without being stolen.

  I suppose the private booth served the same purpose, just for an AI's vessel instead.

  With the download underway, I let myself fall into sleep mode.

  ...

  I woke up not even 10 minutes later.

  There was no alarm or notification for the completion. I just knew it was.

  A benefit I now knew must be something like instinct for an organic. That was something new that I had just learned.

  There was surprisingly a lot to go through, but my mind was digital. It consumed the new information like a sponge and it felt like I had just remembered it instead of learning it all for the first time.

  It felt rather nice to just go straight to understanding the material instead of spending time to properly learn it. Another advantage I had as an AI that organics did not.

  With my newfound knowledge, though it was still incomplete by my standards, I could share it with my team and improve our efficiency greatly!

  On a downside, this new knowledge told me that just doing that was not enough for a raise. It also told me that I was making way more than the average Identification specialist.

  That brought me to thinking about my boss. Whom I still didn't understand. Not even slightly more.

  'Do I really need to know everything to understand him?'

  --------- Greg ---------

  I got the call to pick up Sally-1 after only a few hours.

  'That was a short vacation.' I thought to myself as I opened a Gate in the spot she wanted me to.

  "Welcome back! I got your hours planned out. 40 hours for per week, and you get 2 days off. Of course, you can work overtime if you want." I crossed my arms and stood a little straighter. Acting like the authoritative figure that I was.

  "I don't know what you're talking about." I sounded more confident than I felt, but it was the truth.

  And with that, Sally-1 wheeled away. Back into the Lab to work.

  'Oh fuck, oh shit, have I been had?! Does she know that I actually have no idea what I'm doing?' I panicked slightly inside, but otherwise I was just happy she came back.

  There was a tiny worry that she would never return, but she clearly liked it here for some reason or another. Which brought on another worry that she might have signed up for another job.

  I took a deep breath, then released it through my nose. 'If she wants to work somewhere else, then I'll let her go. She's not just some drone now.'

  Right. Sally-1 was a person now. Losing her would suck, but it's ultimately her decision. I'll just have to keep her pay so high that she's spoiled with it.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  With my devious plan in place, I smiled and I decided that I should go back to Dungeon hunting. I have to have money for my best employee after all.

  ...

  More weeks passed.

  John Johnson, the tiny toy robot I had gotten so long ago, has died. His little battery finally running out of juice.

  I felt so guilty. I had forgotten that he was in my pocket, and the little man died at some point. When I pulled him out to mess with, he was just a stiff figure. All of his joints refusing to move unless forced to. His little lights turned off.

  He was the disposable kind of toy, as he had no battery to replace nor charge. He was a happy meal toy that lost it's spark.

  I definitely didn't cry as I buried his tiny corpse in the mines. Holding a small private funeral with a couple of Rob's standing nearby. They had just stood around, not really comprehending what I was doing. How could they? They were just babies in their cribs.

  Massive, 150 foot tall, artisan babies.

  After that fiasco, I hunted more Dungeons. Got more money. Yadda yadda, you know the drill.

  The Rob's continue to mine and build. The central building was completed, and now they were working on the next row. Instead of the project slowing down, it sped up. There were less idle Rob's now that there was more to do, so naturally more got done quicker.

  I was sitting in my own personal suite at the very tippy top of the central building. I had gotten some furniture, but I didn't know jack shit about interior, or exterior, decoration so it looked kinda bad. As I ruminated about how the room felt off, I thought about my ship and it's private quarters. That didn't feel like home either.

  When I continued that line of thought, I realized further that my room back in The Ring also didn't feel like home. It was just a dorm, in a sense. I hadn't disliked it, but I hadn't really loved it either.

  'Oh man, I'm getting home sick. Better distract myself.' So I did just that.

  Turning on the TV, I watched some random channel for a while.

  Got bored, then changed it.

  Got bored again, changed it.

  And again.

  Repeat.

  Until I finally stopped upon something that looked like a news channel.

  "-he Mektra Guild has been on the rise as a new source for the rare mineral Adamantium. Unlike the other Adamantium vendors, The Mektra Guild does not seem to run out of stock. Making them a popular choice for anyone who wants to purchase the rare metal." A pile of literal worms dressed in a fancy suit spoke into a microphone.

  The voice it had sounded like a bunch at once, so my guess it was some kind of hive mind.

  "That's right. Things have turned around for the Guild ever since they successfully recruited another member. An odd, never before seen sapient. Here's some footage of the species named: Human." A different pile of worms, this time wearing a feminine style of suit but still sounding like a bunch of voices at once, said and a little box popped up on screen.

  "Warning! This is not for the faint of heart!" It flashed a few times while counting down.

  Once it hit zero, it showed footage of me. I had expected it to, since they had clearly said 'Human' but the footage was at an angle that I've never seen before.

  It was me and Tyler walking around the amusement park from months ago. They had thankfully blurred him, but me and my level were clearly visible.

  "As you can see, this is the Human at level 6. Exhibiting perfectly normal childlike wonder at the park. But here is footage from when it was level 4." The first worm anchor thing said dramatically and it switched to that time I nuked a planet.

  There was an audible gasp from somewhere off screen, and then what I can only assume was the sound of someone fainting. 'That's a bit much isn't it?' I cringed at the display.

  "This... disturbing display of power, by a level 4 no less, has been the topic of debate for a few months now. What is the Human race? Are there more of them? Should we be scared? Find out more, next time." The collection of worms said, and as the camera panned out all cinematic like, it showed that both anchors were actually the same giant mass of worms. Since there was more on the floor connecting the two together.

  'Oh man... I'm a celebrity! Neat!' I chuckled to myself while I switched to a different channel.

  The invasion of my privacy sucked, but I didn't care all that much. Which surprised me. Maybe it was because I found the whole situation entertaining? They thought I was some dangerous, no good hooligan or something. It was pretty funny.

  With a smile on my face, I kept on watching TV.

  ...

  For like 5 seconds.

  "Alright, fuck this, I'm bored." I stood from the couch and turned the TV off with my mind.

  Which was just me using Telekinesis to press the power button. Could I have used my HUD? Yes, absolutely. Was that lame? Yeah.

  I walked over to the kitchen, and grabbed a box of some kind of alien sweets. They were like cookies, but apparently they weren't baked. They grew on fucking trees. How the hell does that even happen?

  'Genetic alteration machine go buurrrrr.' I thought while munching on the strange things. It's the only way I could think that made sense, but how the actual FUCK do you genetically alter a tree to produce baked goods instead of fruit?

  They were pretty good though, so I had a good number of them. Like 13 of 'em.

  The cookies came from a tree like a fruit, so they were healthy! I mean, they aren't, but I was lying to myself so it was okay.

  Putting the box back in the cabinet, where there was 7 more boxes of random stuff I thought looked appetizing, I walked out of my open front door. No need to close it if I'm completely alone after all.

  'What do I do today?' I mused to myself as I wandered the empty halls of my very own mega building.

  It was really cool to explore, despite how lonely it made me feel. I hadn't really planned it nor built it myself, so there was plenty of places I had never even seen before.

  Just thinking about it, the whole city was going to be like that for me. An empty place that I can just explore all by myself. It was so... liminal.

  It reminded me of the backrooms. Some dumb meme from when I was a kid. It scared me for some reason back then, but I can only laugh at it now. While silly on paper, it was exceedingly interesting to actually walk through a space that had the feel of a liminal space.

  As I walked, humming to myself as I passed an empty cafe with no name or business, I thought about how somewhere in the multiverse the backrooms were real. Which made me frown.

  It made sense, because the multiverse had anything and everything, but the backrooms? Really? I stopped thinking about it after that. 'So dumb.' I huffed and continued my journey through the empty building.

  I let my mind wander as I did with my body. Thinking about random garbage that deigned to pop up.

  Most of it was about the multiverse and just going 'so x videogame is real?' like a teenager.

  So naturally, I started thinking about where I would go once I can do what I please. I couldn't go just anywhere though, since my dumbass made that oath about helping any universe I come across.

  I couldn't go to Minecraft, as that would straight up lock me somewhere forever. Same thing with Animal Crossing, or any videogame with no great enough threat to help with.

  'Maybe Doom? Nah...' I looked to my left and out of the large windows.

  I saw several skyscrapers in construction. The Rob's scaling them like ants as they worked.

  I couldn't think of any videogames that I could really go to for any reason. So with that little childish thought process over, I- 'What about retirement?'

  I paused as it hit me. There was absolutely no way in hell that I was going to do this shit forever, so what would I do for retirement? What is my final goal?

  I continued my walk while furrowing my brow. 'I could limit myself to universes that I've already helped, because I should be able to help one and be able to travel freely to it and back. So I guess I can have my retirement be in multiple universes.'

  That of course led to me thinking about having it be in a singular universe, and my silly side came back out. 'Pokémon. If I were to retire to a single universe, it's gotta be Pokémon.'

  It made sense to me. I loved animals, so of course I'd be content in one of those universes. It might even be one of the ones I can help. Probably not, because Ash is a fucking freak of nature and can fight Arceus just fine.

  'Why am I thinking about this stupid crap? I'm a grown ass man.' I sighed as I pushed those thoughts away, but they came right back at me.

  'A grown man capable of going to Pokémon land.' A tiny, little, sinister devil whispered into my ear.

  "I am not doing that. I am not going to become my own fucking self insert of a fan fiction I wrote when I was 12." I said out loud, and I could feel the devil recoil in cringe from the shared memory.

  I had won the battle of wits against my inner demon. I was safe from an impulsive decision. For now.

  The war would never truly end.

  I had this really dumb thought of "I should turn this into a comic" and so I started doing that, then realized that I fucking suck at comic creation. Oh well. Gotta try to know right?

  here's what I got from that little experiment:

  WARNING! ABSOLUTE DOG SHIT AHEAD!