Cheat Class In The Apocalypse

Chapter 29: R&D

Marcus acknowledged the others with a nod."I believe you’ve already been acquainted with Dr. Iris and Professor Elaine. I am Marcus Valen, Chairman of the Awakener Association, and this is Victoria Cross, our Vice Chairman."

Victoria gave a slight nod but remained silent, her expression calm and observing.

"I’ll be straight with you. Your appraisal skill is really valuable to the Association," the Chairman said.

Cipher observed him. The Chairman was really straightforward. Well, this was much easier to deal with than having political standoffs. Since the Chairman was being so direct, he would do the same.

"I’d like to open up my own branch in the Association," he said.

Everyone froze upon hearing his statement.

Selene looked at him in shock. This was even more straightforward than the Chairman. It hadn’t even been a week since he’d joined, and he was already jumping this far.

The Vice Chairman had a slight smile but remained silent.

"Go on," the Chairman spoke.

Cipher sighed in relief. It seemed the Chairman didn’t think his request was too outrageous.

"I don’t want to be a tool to be used by the organization," Cipher began. "Don’t misunderstand - I respect the Association for what it’s doing, and I’m also grateful to the association for saving me. But my goal isn’t to remain here being used by others. I want to serve the Association in my own way."

He leaned forward slightly. "When I went out there, I discovered multiple issues with the Gates. The information I gathered is going to save millions of people in the future. I want to continue doing that, researching what other information we have wrong about the gates. Staying here, locked away... it’s just reducing my usefulness to the organization."oo far with the restrictions. He had done this specifically to counter being dragged around by high level awakeners for exp farming. With such a restriction, he wouldn’t be able to learn the Heavenly Demon’s technique efficiently.

Everyone seemed deep in thought.

After some time, the Chairman let out a long sigh.

"But there’s no need to worry," Cipher quickly added. "I’m quite strong. As long as I get my own branch and free access to apocalypse worlds, I can kill monsters and gain points. I’ll save half for my advancement and save the other half for the Association.

As long as you come to my branch through official channels we’ll establish, you can request my services. Since I’m also part of the organization, I won’t charge for these services."

He observed their reactions. Internally, he was pleased.

It wasn’t anything to him, but to these people, he was essentially sacrificing his stats every time he helped them.

"As for any risk to me..." He glanced at Selene. "Captain Selene’s team and I get along quite well. Why don’t you have her and the team accompany me in raids? They can carry out their own training as well as watch over me. When I can’t win, they can just step in. Although I’ll lose the points for that level, I’ll just have to work extra hard next time."

Cipher then gazed at the Chairman, waiting for his response.

He was such a good guy, working out all the details for them. What were they still waiting for?

The Chairman observed him. The kid had worked out all his worries without him even having to say anything.

"What will be the name of your branch?" he asked.

"Research and Development Department. Or R&D for short," he said with a smile.

"Alright," the Chairman said. He turned to Selene. "Selene, you’re under the Research and Development branch from now on."

Selene bowed.

He then turned to Iris and Elaine. "You two, help him in establishing the new branch."

They nodded.

"Now then, let’s talk about your discoveries..."

...

A few hours later, Cipher and Selene finally left the meeting room.

They had been discussing Cipher’s discoveries for hours, and they still hadn’t come to a conclusion. The Chairman would have an official meeting at a later date to discuss with the other executives how to handle this situation.

After the meeting, Cipher had come to understand the situation much more. He’d always thought of those Association executives he saw on TV as just stupid idiots who sat around in a room talking in circles and getting nothing done. But when he was actually involved, he finally understood that the situation was much more complex than he’d thought.

Earth had become quite reliant on the Gates over the past three years, and bringing changes like these could complicate things. There was this danger to Gate exploration now, but they couldn’t just stop it outright. They had to think about the awakeners.

The Association was also still relatively young, and trying to make big moves like these could be seen as trying to restrict awakeners - which could strain the relations between the association and the awakeners.

They had decided to first do their own experiments, trying to see if they could replicate the situation in the Murim Gate in another Gate. This was quite risky, as people who could remember the cycles were extremely dangerous.

Cipher decided not to worry about it for now. At least he’d managed to get the Murim World locked down indefinitely. That was something.