Formulas and Hiring

With Micheal Strider on his way here and the security team recruitment up and running, I needed to build those barracks and training facilities. The way that I chose to do this was by buying some blueprints off the user store and selling them to big companies willing to pay large sums of money for them.

The first company that I thought of was, of course, Anazon because I had done dealings with them before. I needed to think of what they might want and would pay a lot to have.

They already had the drones, so their delivery capabilities were already enough. What else would they want?

'What would they need other than being able to deliver things?' I wonder to myself.

"Aha! I got it!" I exclaim out loud. Luckily, nobody was here to witness this. That would have been embarrassing.

Even if they can deliver the goods, they still have to make sure that the goods aren't damaged. Although the damaging of goods can be solved with bubble wrap, they would have to use something more expensive to preserve things like food! They own Hole Foods Market, and they also deliver groceries right to your door. To keep the food fresh, they use styrofoam instead of cardboard because styrofoam is a great insulator.

The downside of styrofoam is that it takes 500 years to biodegrade and it cannot be recycled in most places. This is because many materials recovery facilities do not accept it as part of their recycling program. This makes styrofoam essentially single use, unlike cardboard, which can be recycled. If Anazon were to use something more environmentally friendly, they could save some money and the public would like them more for being considerate towards the environment.

Looking through the user store, I tried to find something that was easy and cheap to manufacture while still having styrofoam's lightweight and insulation. Going towards the materials section, I scroll through rows and rows of items. I keep passing up on many of them. Some would be lightweight but wasn't a good insulator, others could insulate but were heavier, others were lightweight and a good insulator, but were stupidly complex to make.

Reading through hundreds of materials, I eventually find one which catches my eyes. It wasn't what I was looking for, but it was something that could sell for a large amount.

<High Grade Concrete Formula>

<50% stronger than normal concrete>

<60% more resistant to shattering>

<Contours easily when unhardened>

<Sets, dries, and cures 80% faster than normal concrete>

Reading its properties, I couldn't help but be amazed.

Opening my computer, I search up how long it takes for concrete to set, dry, and cure, and it says that it takes 24-48 hours to set, seven days to dry, and 28 days to cure. This means that if you mixed the cement, aggregates, and paste to the amounts given in the formula, it would be so much better than normal concrete!

I could easily sell this formula to any building company and they would fall head over heels, begging me to give it to them. It doesn't matter if they have simple or advanced equipment, all that you needed was the normal ingredients for concrete and they would just have to put in the right amount of each ingredient. The amount of money I could make from this would be astounding!

Not waiting another second, I immediately buy the <High Grade Concrete Formula> for 5000 credits, which is surprisingly cheap, like everything else on the user store.

Eagerly wanting to put this up onto my website, I stop myself just in time.

'I need to file a patent for this else the company I sell it to resells it to others.' I turn pale while thinking this. If I had just put it up on my website, I could sell it the first few times for a huge amount of money, but then others could just by it from the ones I sold it to.

I wipe away the droplets of sweat that had started to form on my forehead, relieved that I had caught myself before I had done something stupid. I hadn't been really worried about people buying my other products and trying to duplicate them because they were extremely complex, requiring at least more than a year to figure out which at that point, figuring them out would be useless.

Calling Natalie from the office phone, I ask her to come to my office. I had appointed Natalie as the head of the legal department because I had such great trust in her. She was someone that I knew would never betray me, not like that supposed friend I had made during the fifth year of the apocalypse.

With my mood slightly soured, Natalie walks into the office. I put my mood aside, giving Natalie the run down on what I wanted her to do. I wanted her to finish this as soon as possible, but I knew that filing a patent could take up to two years to be approved.

This worry was lifted when Natalie told me that she had some friends high enough up in the government to get it done tomorrow. She never ceases to surprise me, I didn't even know that she knew anyone in a government job, much less one so high up.

Taking out the formula from my inventory, which is in the form of a piece of paper, I give it to her, sending her off to do her thing.

As my room returned once again to its almost silent state, I go back to looking through my user store for a substitute for styrofoam. I'm thinking that Anazon, since it's such a huge company, would want to maintain a monopoly on a substitute for styrofoam, so I'm not as worried as with the concrete, but just in case, I will give it to Natalie to get a patent on it.

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After flipping through what felt like thousands of materials on the user store, I finally found one which fulfilled my requirements. It was basically the same as styrofoam, except that it could decompose when introduced to temperatures above 300 degrees Fahrenheit instead of burning. All that someone had to do to make it was when they are expanding polystyrene by letting it absorb steam, instead of using steam from water, they would use steam from heating a certain mixture of substances which are easily available, very cheap, and non-harmful to people and the environment.

Buying the recipe for the liquid, I again call Natalie into my office and give it to her to make a patent for it.

'You can never be too careful.' I think to myself while handing it over.

With that out of the way, all I need to do now is to wait for the patents to be processed, albeit much faster than normal.

My phone then suddenly rung with a notification. Looking at it, I widened my eyes.

It was a text from Micheal saying that he just got off the plane and was on his way to my house. Looking at the time, I realized I had spent a lot longer looking for the right material than I had thought.

Speedily rushing out of the office, I quickly jogged towards my car. Getting in, I race home, making it there in just under 15 minutes. I still had awhile to get the house ready to receive a visitor, the airport was around an hour away.

I quickly clean up my house, putting all the dishes in the dishwasher and picking up random pieces of clothing that my sister and Natalie had left everywhere. When that is done, I get out of my business attire and change into a light blue dress because it looked casual.

With my house in order and now that I'm dressed properly, I feel confident inviting a friend I hadn't seen for awhile into my home. While waiting for him to arrive, I fidgeted with my phone, looking at the recent news.

'There doesn't seem to be anything interesting going on now.' I comment in my mind, reading an article about a celebrity getting married.

My attention was pulled away from my phone when I heard a knock on the door. Opening it, I smile widely at Micheal standing in the doorway. I throw my arms around him, giving him a tight hug.

"Hey Micheal! I haven't seen you in forever! How have you been?" I happily exclaim.

Blushing a little from my sudden show of affection, he said back with a smile in his voice,"You know, just the same old same old. How about you?"

"I've been great! Why don't you come inside!"

------------------------ Micheal's POV ------------------------

I stood outside Natasha's door, about to knock. It had been a long time since we had seen each other, almost four years, but we were very close friends. For the longest time, I had a crush on her, still do a little. Before I could ask her out and embarrass myself, I had found out that she was a lesbian. Learning of this, I was really disappointed. She was a very pretty girl, having many different boys ask her out.

Then, yesterday, I had gotten a sudden call from her saying that she wanted to hire me to train security guards for her. Hearing that she was now a very successful business woman had made me feel very happy for her, but I still couldn't find solid job after my military service because I never went to collage.

I accepted her job offer readily because, one, I really needed a good paying job, and two, I wanted to be a little closer to her.

I knocked on the door only to have it flung open a moment later. I was very surprised when she gave me a tight hug, her large breasts smushed up against my chest. She looked even more beautiful than the last time that I saw her. With her body so close to mine I couldn't help but sniff her silky hair, filling my nose with the wonderful scent of flowers.

Shaking my head a little to get my mind together, I respond to her small talk, walking into her house as we converse. I was again amazed at how much she had changed. Her figure had become more defined, her breasts seemed to have grown, and her skin was completely flawless. Any man could stare at her for days and not be able to get enough.

I shake my head again, swiftly getting those thoughts out of my mind. I had a strong will, so this was easy. Continuing to talk with Natasha, she explains what she wants me to do and that she had a compound just outside of Bakersfield which I could train the security guards.

By the way she described what she wanted the security to do, it sounded more like she wanted me to train her own personal army than just simple security.

When she went on to talk about how she also wanted me to train her, my mind was in ecstasy. I would be able to stay around her for at least three hours a day, every day of the week! I started zoning out thinking about it, but I quickly came back to reality.

'I am a soldier! I can't be thinking such thoughts all the time! Toughen up!' I scream to myself in my head, slightly embarrassed about what I was previously thinking about.

Natasha then told me that she had already arranged for me to sleep in a hotel tonight and then I was going to take a flight over to Bakersfield with her and then driving to the fortress.

We had spent around an hour talking before we went to the hotel, dropping me off while apologizing for not having any empty rooms available. I quickly told her that it wasn't a problem before entering the hotel and checking into my rooms with the email and name that Natasha had given me.

Getting to my room with the small bag that I had brought with me, I lie on the bed, thinking about what I had been told today, sorting out all of the information she explained to me. It wasn't until late in the night when I finally fell asleep.