Kael may have lost in the political battle between him and Axon's higher-ups, but he wasn't shaken.
He had merely lost on the battlefield called Axon.
On the battlefield called AI?
He still won.
They might not know that yet, but it didn't change the facts.
After all, his AI was still here.
Or more accurately… the base where it would be born.
Kael took a deep breath, then let it out slowly as he seriously considered his next step.
What direction should he go in now?
Another company?
No.
Kael didn't plan to do that ever again. He didn't want anyone interfering with his work, touching it, diluting it, or steering it toward some profitable, shallow direction. And those other companies wouldn't even help him much. Not with what he was building.
So the answer lay in front of him.
Yet even if his AI held more potential than GUIDE, it was still only code.
A framework.
A growing core.
And Kael didn't want a beautiful theory sitting on a screen forever. He didn't want an AI that was "in development" for years, trapped in endless refinement.
He wanted something tangible.
A functioning intelligence.
A system that could operate in the real world, not just evolve silently inside a closed room.
And more than that, he wanted momentum. He wanted speed. He wanted his victory to take form, not remain a promise.
So how should he proceed?
Even with his genius, developing it further alone wasn't enough. Not if he didn't want months of work to stretch into years.
The main ingredients were already here. Infrastructure. The core code containing the necessary models and algorithms. And the data.
Yet the sheer amount of work made one thing unavoidable.
He needed a competent team.
And he needed another place to operate from.
But two hurdles stood in front of him.
Secrecy, because his work could never be done legally.
And money… because the few million dollars he had in his account were nowhere near enough.
Kael already had an idea how to tackle both.
Yet now, as his mind settled and the bitterness cooled, it still drifted back to the Lust Game.
Yesterday, in only a few hours, he had made a few thousand dollars.
It was hardly worth anything…
But what about the next mission?
Or the one after that?
Kael actually knew that if his goal was money, then there were many other methods far easier for him out there.
But.
When there was a competition, Kael always liked to come out on top.
If there was a game, then he needed to win it too.
With thoughts like that running through his mind, Kael worked on his AI… doing tasks he couldn't properly do before, back when time was constantly stolen from him.
… And hours passed.
Then more.
By the time he finally stepped out of the hidden base, it was already the next evening.
He had done nothing but work, sleep, and stay surrounded by the code he loved.
Even then, as he came out, he wasn't just refreshed.
He was invigorated.
His next step was already clear.
How far did the mastermind behind the game intend to go?
No.
How far could they go?
Kael was curious…
And so, before committing to anything else, he wanted to find out.
Not because he needed to.
But because it was a change of pace — something sideways, something different.
Going straight toward his goal was nice.
But there was no reason, to not step off the path once in a while.
And he wanted to try doing something he'd never allowed himself before.
It was a dangerous game, yes.
It was changing him, after all.
But Kael still felt like going through these experiences.
To stop moving only through logic… and move through something completely different.
Feeling.
Desire.
Lust.
To get entangled with others.
And to grow.
Kael wanted to do that.
And the Lust Game — dangerous as it may be — was still something he could handle.
Now that, Kael had made his decision, he didn't even want to wait until he reached home to reply.
He wanted to answer immediately.
Yet his phone wasn't with him.
So he had to endure the wait until he reached his apartment.
Time seemed to crawl, and the road back felt longer than usual.
But in the end, Kael still reached his door.
And the moment he replied…
The next mission arrived.
[Mission: 02]
Lust is no longer a spark in the dark.
It is no longer anonymous, fleeting, or free of consequence.
Strangers are easy. They vanish by morning.
Acquaintances linger. They remember. They doubt. They choose.
You let yourself loose once.
But what about now?
Lust without history is instinct.
Lust with familiarity is influence.
For someone who once modeled systems and predicted outcomes, this should feel familiar.
Not a new input, but a variable already inside the system.
A result waiting to be nudged.
Can you make someone who knows you want you?
Or does lust only work when nothing is at stake?
[Goal: Fuck another woman.]
[Conditions: She must be beautiful, and someone you already know.]
[Time Limit: 72 hours.]
[Reward: $50,000]
[Failure Penalty: -$200,000]
Breathing out slowly, the last trace of doubt Kael had about being watched vanished.
After reading the provocative, almost philosophical introduction, he was certain now.
Regardless, a possibility shifting from 99.99% to 100% didn't mean much.
So he moved on, his eyes stopping at the word acquaintance.
Someone he knew.
That condition could make things easier than ever, so he didn't mind…
Yet it could also make things more difficult than ever.
For example, Kael could call one of his ex-girlfriends.
He was certain he could sleep with at least one of them, if he so desired.
But would they count as an acquaintance?
Or did the game categorize them as something else entirely?
There was no point dwelling on it.
There were still plenty of others.
Women who knew him, knew his worth, and would throw themselves at him at the first sign.
And by doing this, he could even continue with his previous approach.
Let the woman come to him.
Names flashed through Kael's mind.
Yet even as the easy targets surfaced, another figure still appeared among them.
Monica. The CEO of Axon. A beautiful woman in her early thirties…