Chapter 49: Clearing some doubts
It was a tough day for the employees of Eminence gaming. They were constantly getting attacked by hackers and having to deal with angry players. However, somehow they made it through the day. Arjun and his team finished the migration to Koogle servers.
Arjun approached Michael. " Sorry about what happened today boss."
" Why are you apologizing?" Michael asked.
" The server was my responsibility. Unfortunately, I was not capable enough to deal with the attackers. So we had to outsource to Koogle." Arjun explained. In reality, most gaming companies would have fallen from today's attack. The attackers were too skilled to target games when they could make more money from attacking banks. However, Arjun still felt like he let his boss down.
"Its okay Arjun; I do not hold you responsible for the attack. You responded to the attack with everything you had and showed dedication to the company. We are a start-up, so we all need time to learn and improve. I do not expect you to be perfect; however, I do expect you to strive towards perfection." Michael explained.
Arjun felt like a heavyweight was taken off his shoulder. He was glad that Michael appreciated his efforts and inspired him to improve his skills. He said goodbye and drove home to get some much-needed rest.
Michael watched Arjun as he left and sighed. His company was still too small; at best they could hire the top talents in Austin. He still had a long way to go before being able to hire the top talents in the world.
On the other hand, Michael was not even sure that he could hire the best hacker in the world. If someone was the best in the world at something then they would not want to work for others. Because of their pride, they would strive to set up their own business or work as a freelancer. This was even more applicable to skills like hacking which can be learned by anybody with a computer and internet access.
Then Michael remembered his system and checked the store for hacking skills. He bought the basic tier to see how effective it would be.
[ Congratulations, Host has purchased skill
Basic Hacking (100,000 credits): Allows host to learn hacking skills faster and increases your affinity with hacking.
Deducting 100,000 credits. Remaining Credits: 2,430,000 ]
Michael frowned at the system's description. He waited and let the system make changes. It only took fifteen minutes. However, Michael was not happy with the results.
" System why does it feel like the hacking skill is lacking?" Michael asked.
[ Host needs to understand that the Technical skills are different than the other skills. Technical skills only increase your affinity and talent for that profession. You would still need to invest the time to learn about hacking. Since the tools and techniques of hacking constantly change you would also need to constantly keep learning. However, you would only need to spend a fraction of the time as normal humans to learn. At the Basic tier, what would take decades for others would only take years for you.]
Michael finally understood why he did not feel changes from the skill. It would not really provide any information and would only increase his talents. However, that insight led to more questions.
"Does that mean the talents shown by the Talent recognition skill is the same as the skills from the system?" Michael asked.
[ Absolutely not. When the Talent recognition skill evaluates and reports the talents of an individual; it is referring to the natural affinities that all humans are born with. Do not compare those talents with the skills provided by the system. They are on completely different levels. That skill is just used as a means to quickly evaluate a person's potential. ]
Michael finally understood. He was surprised when he ran into so many high tier talents. He thought they had the same skills as him but he was glad to find out otherwise.
Since technical skills are different, he would have to invest time into skills that he wanted to acquire. However, he was not willing to spend years even if he would learn decades worth of knowledge. He transferred 110 million dollars to the system and directly upgraded hacking skill.
[ Congratulation on upgrading skills:
Basic Hacking upgraded to Intermediate…
Intermediate Hacking upgrading to Advanced Hacking.
Advanced Hacking (100 million credits): Increases your affinity with hacking. What others need decades will only take you weeks to learn.
Deducting 110,000,000 credits. Remaining Credits: 2,430,000 ]
Michael was finally satisfied with his hacking skill. He planned to spare some time during winter vacation to learn more about Hacking. However, he was unsatisfied with his shrinking bank balance. Michael was happy to spend money on life-saving combat skills; however, he had not planned on spending so much on a technical skill. He was angry with the culprits who caused this.
It was obvious that the hackers were hired by someone to attack him. The only party he could think of was ER games. He remembered the warning Lewis gave him when he stormed out of the conference room. It seems like ER games had drawn first blood. He did not intend to let them off; however, he wanted to focus on his breakthrough since the server situation if stable.
Michael drove home and meditated for two hours. After meditation, he remembered a detail he had forgotten earlier. The game engine had encrypted the game; however, it also added a tracker to the game. He quickly opened the software; he could track the location of the IP addresses that attacked the game servers.
The game engine filtered out the fake bots and finally zeroed in on the true source. Michael was surprised to find that the principal computer was located in Houston. He entered the coordinates into Koogle maps and looked at the location.
It was a tattoo parlor located in downtown Houston. Michael investigated the surroundings; however, he could not find anything unusual. After some contemplation, he decided to go and visit the place in person and verify the location.
Michael intended to find the hackers for two reasons; One, he wanted to make them pay for what they did to him. Secondly, he wanted to find out who the real mastermind behind the attack was. He had a strong hunch that it was ER games; however, he did not forget about the dozens of companies that he turned down. Until he had proof; he would not try to get revenge.
Michael called Jennifer to let her know that he will be out of the office for a couple of days. Then he started driving to Houston. He enjoyed the drive in his Aston Martin; However, he did not enjoy the Houston weather. It was way too hot in Houston during the summer.
" So much for being called the Oil capitol of the world; might as well be called global warming capitol of the world." Michael complained. After a three-hour drive, he checked into a hotel in downtown Houston near the Tattoo Parlor. However, he did not forget to use his disguise skill before checking in. Fortunately, he had a couple of Fake-IDs that he ordered from Alphabay. Michael picked an ID and changed his face to match it. The check-in process was completed without any issues and Michael collapsed into the bed.
Michael got some sleep after the long drive. In the morning, he ate breakfast at a nearby cafe that was opposite to the Tattoo Parlor.
The store had a vintage look with the classic LED lights. It was called Crazy Monkey Tattoos. Michael kept watching the store from the cafe; finally, at 10 am a man walked into the parlor and turned on the lights.
Michael paid for his breakfast and walked towards the store. He opened the door and walked in.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Red_Tempest
Red_Tempest Thanks for reading.
This bastard cliff-kun keeps coming back.
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