The way to my new room came as a small surprise. There were no hallways or elevators of any kind. The reception area had those teleport gates in small booths which opened up to your room. I guess it was a privilege for the above average price of the place.

The room I stepped into through the portal was similar in size to my last place, but there was a separate bedroom this time. I was about to freak out by the lack of furniture or anything in the room for that matter, but the screen that popped up in front of my face quickly defused my temper bomb.

“Please select your interior design,” It read at the top.

The number of options to choose from was overwhelming. Furniture, colors, decorations, ambient sounds, wall holographs. You could literally make the walls look like the view in space or the bottom of the ocean complemented with matching sounds.

This was the miracle of being loaded with cash. After several minutes of fiddling with the settings, I decided on a peaceful wooden cabin theme with windows looking out to a bizarre looking forest with trees most similar to pines.

When I finally pressed the Confirm button the whole room started to move and change. The walls switched color, furniture grew out of the floor and in less than a minute the entire room transformed into the design that I selected. I ran my fingers through the wooden looking table’s surface, and it felt exactly like wood despite the fact that it grew out of the previously smooth white floor.

“This is some next level shit,” I said in awe as I looked around the room.

I tried to find a kitchen, but I could only see a wall with a bunch of wooden buttons in its place. It turned out to be one of those magical instant food devices like SalenKarr used. The bed had all kinds of functions. One of them was a grid-like soft-hard feature that changed the softness of different parts of the bed depending on what position you slept in. You could watch certain holostreams and holomovies in 360 since the furniture and the walls could change color. It promised a VR-like experience outside of VR.

“After this, my Greenhut room feels like a hole in the ground. Only one more thing to make it perfect,” I said as I tapped on the screen. A dark brown leather couch popped out seconds later in the middle.

[This room is in a different price range, and we are in a different race’s area. Hatuu is one of the first colonized planets of the Fungari and they have a strong dislike towards technology other than their own biotechnology. It took hundreds of cycles for the Empire to convince them to build cities that catered to other races' needs. As you experienced yourself, their usual comfortable environment is quite repulsive to other races and their technology is even worse. The whole city you were in was specially created for the other races.]

[No wonder it looked so boring and copy-pastey in design,] I said with a frown.

[Let’s talk short-term plans,] I changed the topic and slammed myself down into my new couch which started to gently massage the backside of my body. It was blissful.

[You’ve got plenty of funds now. You could get anywhere in the Empire and learn anything you’d like. In a short time you could most likely land a very nice job if you put your mind into it.]

[Yes… Yes, I could definitely do that,] I nodded while staring at the wall of the cabin.

[But?]

…

[But why would I? Slaving away in a mindless job isn’t something to look forward to. I promised myself before that I wouldn’t waste away this new life, but I promptly went and got the most soul-sucking job ever.]

[Then what do you want to do in the future?]

[That’s long-term. Right now we don’t even know if we are being followed. I think it’s best to stay low for at least a few weeks and see if anything suspicious happens. If they can follow us even here we’ll have to come up with something more drastic to get away,] I said while shifting around on my massage couch with one eye closed. [By short-term plans I meant what to do during these weeks and with the money.]

[I still think that it would be the best idea to learn useful skills.]

[True. I was thinking about getting the next level of the space license so I can travel between galaxies. I definitely plan on buying a ship in the future. Also, I might start learning technical skills, too. Knowing how to fix stuff seems so useful.]

[In that case, Advanced Spaceship Control Knowledge is what you are looking for. It wouldn’t take you too long to learn but electronics knowledge, for example, takes a lot of time the regular way. Since you have so much dirty money it might be better to buy a Neural Knowledge Base for it.]

[Which is?]

[It’s a set of information you can directly transfer into your brain.]

I stared ahead of me for quite a while. Teleportation and growing furniture was one thing, but instant learning was on a whole different level for me.

[Can you do that with anything?] I asked with an open mouth.

[Yes, but their cost is incredible compared to the regular learning method. For example, the Basic Spaceship Control Knowledge you learned would have cost you triple with an NKB, and it’s a minimal learning material.]

[Ugh… and how much is the stuff for electronics?]

[150.000 credits.]

[Holy shit! I wanted both the better space license and the electronics stuff with the easy method but if it costs this much I might just ass down the spaceship stuff and only go easy on the other one.]

[That sounds like the most reasonable decision.]

[This reminds me of my job on Hatuu… Can you like… Send a message to Kal that I quit? I kind of forgot about it.]

[I already wrote it and was just waiting for the right time to bring it up before sending.]

[You’re the best Genna!]

[I try.]

[This also brings me to my second proposal for today’s council meeting,] I said ceremoniously. [How do we go about upgrading you?]

[Upgrading me?] she asked in confusion.

[Yeah, I promised you that I’d upgrade you once I have the means to do it. It would be best to do it while I still have this money. I can’t guarantee that it will last for a long time.]

[I remember but… I didn’t think you would bring i-]

[You thought I wouldn’t keep it?] I asked with a stiff smile on my face.

[I knew you would try to keep it but to actually...]

[You look down on me so badly?] I asked while stretching around my jaw.

[Don’t get angry, please. I just felt like there are more urgent matters than my upgrade.]

[When you asked it sounded important to you. And for your information… I try to keep my promises to those who matter to me,] I said while tilting my head to the side until it cracked loudly with a satisfying sound.

[Come on, don’t be so grouchy. I didn’t expect you to remember something from back then at a time like this. Let’s be honest, your memory isn’t the best.]

[I have trouble with names only… Don’t turn this around on me!]

[Before you agree to this I’ll have to warn you that it’s expensive.]

[Don’t spare me!]

[300.000.]

I drew in a breath so hard my spit went down the wrong hole and I started coughing wildly.

“W-WHAT?!”

[See? This is why I didn’t expect you to mention this now. If you want a ship in the near future, you can’t spend so much on this now.]

I sucked on my teeth for a moment and said, [We’ll get the upgrade. Can you order one here? I’d rather do this now. I’m not sure what tomorrow will bring. While you are at it throw in the knowledge stuff too. The space license can stay regular but make the electronics knowledge a brain sponge one.]

[Are you sure? It would cost more than half of your dirty money.]

[Easy come, easy go. Do it before I change my mind.]

Also, I had a few ideas about how to get more money, but it wasn’t the right time yet to pitch them to her.

[Done. The Advanced Spaceship Control Knowledge is already available, and the other two will arrive in a few hours at most.]

I was about to check out the fancy cinema system of the room when she spoke up about a different topic.

[Now that we have time I’d like to discuss a few things with you.]

“Oh shit…”

[Yes! I didn’t nag you because the situation was difficult, but your actions were so outside of what should be morally acceptable that I’m not even sure where to begin.]

“Uuuugh...” I moaned as I slid down in my seat.

[Don’t give me that attitude! This isn’t a joke! You recklessly stole a ship, and you went even further by selling it to someone. Absolutely unacceptable! I should have reported you for so many things already!]

[But you won’t, right?]

[Depends on your future behavior!]

“Uuuugh….”

[Moreover...]

As she continued on, I slowly slipped down from the couch while protesting with loud moans. She didn’t care.

The berating continued for more than an hour. The fact that she didn’t have to stop to breathe made her relentless preaching even more unbearable. At long last, her endless speech got interrupted by a noise coming from the entrance gate teleport whatnot. As I looked over, I saw two small packages on each other.

I jumped up and clapped my hands happily, “Yay! Packages! Let’s open them!” You might think I was happy for the packages but to be honest, I was happier because Genna stopped talking.

[I’d suggest initiating my upgrade first,] she said eagerly.

[You sound pretty excited about this, but you must learn to be patient,] I said with a finger wiggle.

[I’m not impatient. It’s just the logical order. With my upgrade, I’ll be able to help better when it comes to the application of the NKB.]

[You always have a convenient explanation, haven’t you?] I asked.

[I’m just factual.]

Her reply made me narrow my eyes. [Did we just switch around this conversation from before?]

[Yes.]

I chuckled quietly at that while unpacking. The smaller package contained a little metal box with a round and heavy object in it. I put it aside and observed the bigger box which was similarly made out of metal. It had one of those familiar injection tubes inside.

[I guess this is for you then? Do I take it like the BioEnhancements?]

[Yes! The only difference is that this time I’ll fall asleep instead of you.]

[Is this a good idea? What if something goes horribly wrong? The dexterity stuff was a disappointing failure. I don’t want to risk hurting you,] I said with a frown as I looked down at the tube in my hand.

[The effectiveness might be lower than expected but I highly doubt there will be any negative consequences. I’m even more certain of your safety.]

[What does this do anyway?]

[Tremendously increases my awareness of your body and physical condition, upgrades my personal capabilities and strengthens our connection overall.]

[No body take over?]

[No...] she sighed.

[Come on… At least don’t be disappointed so openly about it.]

[I’m disappointed because you are still pushing this nonsense despite our countless conversations about it.]

[It’s a reasonable concern for me.]

I sat down on my lovely new couch and asked, [Anything I need to know before doing this?]

[Just stay put for a few hours until it’s done and avoid doing anything… drastic.]

[I can definitely do that,] I said with a smile as I put up my legs on the small wooden table with a satisfied sigh.

I pushed the tube’s contents into my arm without hesitation and said, “Stay safe!”

[I’ll be back soon! Don’t do anything naughty while I’m away!]

“What a dirty minded A.I..”

I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. I didn’t want to disturb her improvement with anything, so I decided to stay put and just relax like this until she finished. It didn’t take long until I fell asleep.