Beyond this though things were smoothly proceeding and the first batch of retrained and equipped soldiers was out. The armors they wore were the same sort Roland had but noticeably missing parts that made his unique. As I had planned before I left the customization of the armors an option so the soldiers themselves could decide how they wanted their armors to be set up. This way I could pay them a solid stipend that they then went and spent on making themselves better. It was a good cycle of money flow that was entirely optional, a point I actually made sure to emphasize.-
As part of the training for the armor I specifically added the clarification that the armor by itself was not defective or missing anything vital. The customization options were there merely so if the soldier felt a certain feature would be useful to them in particular they could pay to get it added to their armor. It was amazing how much popularity with the soldiers who stayed from the old Atlas company this earned me. Frankly speaking these "old hands" had lived how inconvenient not being able to carry personalized things with them were and saw this change as a net win for everyone rather than a greedy money grab.-
They weren't totally right though as I was after the money I was giving out but not for selfish reasons. To put it bluntly the manufacturing of these armors were expensive and using the money the company got from the soldiers upgrading their armor we could make more armors for new soldiers. I myself was keeping only one percent of the profit that the company made while the rest was reinvested into it. -
Even just that one percent was a massive sum though and let me eye the unclaimed planets that filled the galaxies. I had already purchased the rights to a nearby gas giant that I was working to create harvesters for. Those gasses were quite useful when utilized properly after all and I happened to have a lack of them so this filled that need quite well. There was a small problem with Ladon not liking being confined to Drake tower all day but there was little I could do about this. The big lizard was incredibly violent when not accompanied by me and if I just set it loose in the city to hunt Ratch he was bound to kill someone.-
I couldn't just toss him on Baal 3 or Eden 6 either as he could simply vanish if I did and left. Still he wasn't too miserable or anything as I had a whole massive complex made for him that mimicked both Baal 3 and Eden 6 with plants and creatures taken from both that he could roam around in. Once he got used to it he complained that it was boring but I ignored his complaint as he was frankly spoiled already as no other pet owner likely went to such lengths to keep their pets happy and healthy.-
"I'm impressed boy. History is a mite short but this company of yours is as sturdy as it comes." the old man said.
He had come to check up on me now that things had quieted down.
"To be fair I did prepare quite a lot to set it up. If I had just tried to do it without all those products ready to be mass produced it would have been a whole fuckton harder to manage. Atlas has been the best helper I could ask for as well, tends to catch the little things that I fail to notice." I said honestly.
He nodded "I've seen the work that bot does. Almost jealous even. Some of the other corporations have approached me to know what your intentions are with scraps they've gotten about your military." he said seriously as he poured a glass of the bourbon I set out for him.
"Right now I have no intentions. My military is merely getting to it's base level. They can consider it a deterrent if you'd like. They are totally safe so long as they keep their hands to themselves. I don't mind cutting off a few fingers if they'd rather take their chances though." I said casually.
"An aggressive stance but a solid one. They are less likely to risk it if they think you might lop off a digit." he said agreeing with the plan.
"What about the stuff they bought from Atlas when it was burnin down?" he asked curiously.
I shrugged "If I want it I can just buy it back at a loss. If they took it by force then I can also use force. Honestly though I won't be expanding the company all that much for some time, need to solidify what I have first." I said frankly.
"What about that gas giant you bought?" he asked.
"Resources, I need the gasses since I don't have a stockpile of them. That planet will keep me in material for a long time unless I get wasteful." I said calmly.
"And the lass?" he asked.
"I'll probably buy Athenas just to gift it to her so no one else can claim it without stepping on my toes but otherwise it'll be a hands off type deal." I said honestly.
"Heard about that mess on Pandora yet?" he asked taking a sip of his drink.
"You'll need to be more specific, that whole planet is one big mess." I said with a chuckle.
"Word is that league of yours has started to spread beyond the planet, not so much a little league anymore either from what I hear." he said with a serious look.
I frowned at this "Are they causing problems?" I asked seriously.
"Not yet from what I've heard but you can't trust bandits as far as you can throw them, only a matter of time in my opinion." he said shaking his head.
"I'll deal with that problem when it becomes one and not a second sooner then." I said relieved.
If the league had started some problems that would be one thing as I couldn't claim complete innocence but if they were just spreading that was no issue. It would probably make the other corporations nervous though as one should remember that there were billions of bandits across the borderlands and if the league even consisted of ten percent of that number they could literally drown the corporation planets with bodies alone.-
That said after a certain point the definitely a cult would turn violent to everyone not them. It was the bandit way after all and something I had long since saw coming. If it unites the bandits under me though I honestly saw it more as a net win than anything. Morals aren't exactly my strongest point so I literally barely even counted as caring. Not zero care but so little it may as well not even exist.
https://www.pa treon.com/user?u=81578854#:~:text=pa treon.com/pa treon_loskro
_______________________________________________
Alexander Drake
Lifeforce: 2,429,173
Integrated Traits: [Clever mind-Rare grade],[Enhanced senses-Epic grade]X2, [Energy projection-Legendary grade], [Supreme vitality-Legendary grade],[Lesser dragon breath-Epic grade],[Regeneration-Epic grade]X2, [Disease resistance-Epic grade],[Amphibious lungs-Uncommon grade]X2, [Thermal sensing-Uncommon grade], [Water resistance-Rare grade],[Active camouflage-Legendary grade], [Eridian engineering expertise-Mythical grade], [Efficient lungs-Rare grade]x2, [Biometallic bones-Legendary grade], [Quick thinking-Rare grade], [Minor spatial awareness-Epic grade], [Adrenal rush-Rare grade], [Mechanical engineering expertise-Rare grade]X3, [Gunsmithing expertise(degrading)-Common grade]X3, [Mechanical Savant-Epic grade], [Embodiment of destruction(partial)-Mythical grade], [Demi-god body-Mythical grade], [Martial savant-Legendary grade], [Tinkering instinct-Rare grade], [Phase-god(Incomplete)-Mythical grade], [Impenetrable hide-Legendary grade]
Stored traits: [Agelessness-Legendary grade],[Elemental lifeform-Epic grade], [Elemental embodiment(Fire)-Legendary grade], [Elemental embodiment(Cryo)-Legendary grade],