"Hell, welcome to RhoTech Training center. How can we help you today?"
Derrick walked into a huge futuristic show where a beautiful holographic female Ai greeted him at the reception.
The reception area was separated from the rest by a wall with openings on both sides of the desk.
Derrick was hesitant at first, but the more he talked to the Ai, the more he realized how humane she sounded.
"Would you like to join our training program? It comes with access to professional trainers and a regular supply of our bestselling products. Not to mention, you can check your progress any time you want."
"RhoTech’s Combat Simulation Chambers are state-of-the-art equipment. It shows precise data with close to no error."
Derrick may have been surprised by the advanced AI, but she was too chatty for him to even focus on the fascinating technology and her charming appearance and the impossibly hot body.
She was like a walking saleswoman who was using her body to get people to buy their high-end subscription and trap them in their corporate web of memberships.
"So, how much is the package you are talking about?" Just to get her to stop talking, Derrick decided to feign interest. ’I will just pretend to be interested and—’
"Just 100,000 S.C. for a month." The machine replied with the most innocent, humanly smile on her face.
"The Fuck??" Derrick was so shocked that he did not even realize that he had cursed out loud.
Fortunately there were not many people around. Even those who were present only looked at him once before looking away...
Besides one.
"Is there a problem?" Derrick turned around to see a fat man walking into the store. He was wearing an outfit that outlined his curves and a pair of glasses that bent around his ears.
But the thing that instantly caught his attention was the piece of cloth wrapped around his head.
It was a red cloth with the black marking ’Risa-Chan’s Number 1 Fan.’
"Risa-chan, are you okay? Did this strange man startle you?" The man ignored stunned Derrick and rushed to the hologram across the counter and tried to touch her hands like it was the most precious thing in the world.
Derrick did not need to be a master detective to realize who this Risa was, but heavens, did that give him some secondhand embarrassment.
He turned his attention to the AI, and Derrick could have sworn he saw a look of contempt on her holographic face.
But the moment he looked, it was replaced by a sweet innocent smile.
The Receptionist looked like she had no idea what his sudden outburst was about. She looked like a woman who was too innocent for the world and needed protection from the bad people.
Derrick had no idea, but she had a fan club of her own. Half of RhoTech’s success was because of her presence.
Goon—Ahem! People from all around the Federation joined their training programs just to get a chance to talk to her.
And no one even hesitated to pay the exorbitant price of a hundred thousand social credits for a simple training program.
"There is no problem." Fortunately for Derrick, the Ai did not seem intent on using her influence to make things difficult for her customers. "I was just with a client. If you need anything, please talk to my clones inside."
"But Risa-chan... that clone is inside a Tv. It is restricting your heavenly form, which does not deserve to be confined to the jail of the 2D world." The fat boy had completely ignored Derrick by now and looked at the receptionist up and down with a lecherous gaze.
"Tch... get a life, pig."
"Did you say something?" The fat boy raised his head and looked at the Ai with question marks all over his face. Her voice was barely lower than a whisper that he could not even hear, but Derrick heard it clearly with his enhanced body.
"Nothing. I just said, you should go inside and focus on making a better life for yourself. Isn’t that why you joined our program. Not only that but seeing you make progress would make me happy as well."
While Derrick had turned to hide the look on his face and tried to suppress the trembling of his shoulder, the fat boy looked like he had suddenly gotten a girlfriend.
"Really? You will be happy with me, I mean for me?"
"...Of course." Even the Ai paused for a moment. She seemed almost relieved that her body was not real and only holographic because of how close the boy was nearing to him. It was on the borderline of harassment.
But her words seemed to have worked. The boy left them alone and walked inside like a soldier going to a war.
Derrick watched his back until it disappeared behind the wall before turning to the Ai.
Much to his surprise, the Ai was spraying disinfectant on herself, and that too was holographic.
The moment she noticed him looking at her, the Ai named Risa coughed and asked, "So, what is it going to be?"
’So, are we going to act like nothing happened? And are you still trying to clean your hands?’ The corners of both his eyes twitched because one was not enough.
"I will just use the Combat Simulation Chambers for 5000 SC." Derrick announced and took his phone out to complete the transaction when she suddenly said.
"Are you sure? There is a personalized guiding program in the membership too, where I will guide you whenever you want. You can talk to me through your phone app whenever you want, and I can guide you through certain hard situations, like workouts at home when you are not feeling like coming to the training—"
"I am good." Derrick firmly stopped her before she could even finish. Seeing she could not budge his opinion, the Ai did not show any reaction or try to force him, but she nodded and presented him a QR code, which he scanned to pay.
"Please follow the stairs on the sides to the second floor. The Simulation Chambers are empty; you can freely check your battle power without being interrupted. If you want to, you can even remove your records from the devices as well."
Derrick bid farewell to the suspicious AI and walked upstairs to the Combat Simulation Chambers...