Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 499: Slop.

Soon after they reached the location of the meeting, Volcan found out about the BEO and the operation that was about to take place. Dante couldn't retreat at that point—not after everything he did to scare Bone Crown's lackeys.

Left with no choice but to sit through it all, he just hoped that it would blow by without him getting caught in the mess. That hope went out of the window the moment that furry bastard crushed through it.

Running away crossed his mind, but that would've only made things more complicated. For that reason, Dante was forced to hang around until the fight was over.

That turned out to be a mistake.

CLICK

Just as he was done being pulled out of the building he was blasted into for the second time, a pair of handcuffs was placed on his wrists.

"You are under arrest for the possession of illegal firearms."

Said the furry bastard.

Dante stared at him incredulously, looked at the cuffs, then looked at him again.

"You shitting me or something?"

"Do you have a license for that gun?"

"... The fuck is wrong with you?" Dante ruffled his hair, on the verge of losing it all. "Why are you heroes so obsessed with licenses? Nobody gives a damn about them!"

"We haven't even talked about all your enhancements." Said the furry bastard. "From what I have seen, you are at least Level 4. Are you registered with the BEO? Do you have the papers for installing those dangerous bionics?"

"... What?"

"I'm asking whether-"

"Oh, I get it," Dante gave him a blank look. "You're retarded."

"... What?"

Without much fanfare, Dante grabbed the cuffs and snapped them off. He then held out his hand to the hero.

"My gun."

The members of Team Silver Wind stared at him for a while, unsure how to respond.

"I won't ask again," Dane said, looking the furry bastard in the eyes. "And this won't go like last time."

Though it was obvious how things would go if they didn't comply, the heroes didn't seem like they were about to give in.

Their naive obsession with the rules really does get on the nerves.

"Sir,"

Their staring contest was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a BEO officer. They hadn't noticed when he approached, so it felt like he had appeared out of thin air.

"What is it?" The petite hero asked. Apparently, she was the team's leader.

"We got orders to wrap things up here." The officer said, looking at the tablet in his hand. "All targets have been apprehended."

"Huh? Ah, okay," she turned her gaze to Dante. "We just have this one left. It will be over soon."

"Um…"

"What?"

The officer looked nervously between her and the tablet.

"We were ordered to focus on the targets only…"

"What does that-"

"It means you should mind your business, pipsqueak," Dante said.

The petite hero fixed him with a glare, but he met her eyes, not faltering.

"Did you think I was joking about those lawsuits?" He said. "You alone assaulted me twice. I can end your career by tomorrow."

"... Fine, you're free to go."

She looked over at White Arrow, who, after a displeased grunt, handed Dante back his pistol.

"Didn't really need your permission."

Scoffing, Dante spared the furry hero a glance that turned away. His eyes happened to meet those of the orange-haired hero. For some reason, she was the only one who didn't look at him with hostility.

"I would have asked for your number, but…" he shrugged. "Too bad you're one of them freaks."

"Like you're one to talk." She replied, smiling as well.

"Goodbye, sunshine."

"It's Sunray, actually,"

Dante waved his hand without looking back.

~[ ]~

'Daaamn… that was close…'

Getting on the train back to Hollowgrid, Dante slumped down on the uncomfortable bench, feeling his mental exhaustion reach a new level.

He had forgotten entirely about Moonstone being Silver Wind's district. The B-class superhero team had given him more trouble than any other—not even Flame Guard with their new Level 6 leader had bothered him as much.

'Maybe I should look for a chance to kill them…'

That would have been his next course of action if his every move wasn't under constant surveillance.

'Patience… patience…'

Though it hadn't been his goal, he managed to get Bone Crown off his back. That should send a message to the other gangs looking to take a piece of Hollowgrid, but he couldn't be sure if the message got across.

'Being a gang boss sure is tiring…'

DING!

A message notification popped up, and seeing the sender, Dante felt the urge to sigh.

[Finn: I have played through your game. We need to talk.]

'You seeing this?'

[Yes,] Volcan replied. [At long last, we are finally going to receive some feedback.]

Maybe it would be for the best if they took their minds off all the problems facing them right now. The previous month had been far too chaotic, with one major incident after the other. Even after fulfilling their goal of crushing the Daggers, it still didn't look like they were about to slow down, even if they wanted to.

~[ ]~

"It sucks."

Those were the words Finn said the moment Dante entered his office. It was almost as if he was trying to avoid wasting time, getting straight to the main topic.

"I'm gonna need a lot more than that."

Heaving a long sigh, Dante walked over to his chair and fell down.

"Feels like you vibe coded the whole thing." The boy said. "The story is just copying elements from popular works, and the gameplay is bland. The graphics and animations might be the only good thing about it. In other words, it's slop."

"Seriously…" Dante clicked his tongue.

'That's what he said.'

[I… I don't understand…]

Volcan sounded really shocked. He had been working on that game for months now, but when it was finally completed, the first gamer to try it out gave it a very negative review.

The game was a sci-fi-themed first-person shooter with something that had been missing from the genre for decades—a single-player story mode.

Dante had tried it just to see what his resident AI had been up to. Unfortunately, he was a very rare case of a young man who never had any interest in video games, and that made it impossible for him to deduce what was wrong with it.

"Don't get me wrong, you can probably sell a few hundred thousand copies with this," Finn said. "But that's not what you're aiming for, right?"

"Not really…"

If he had to be honest, Dante didn't really care about the game. When Volcan brought it up the first time, it sounded like a good idea to make some money, but nowadays, they were far beyond that point. A video game couldn't possibly generate the revenue it needs right now.

"Still, it's pretty impressive that you managed to create this whole thing on your own." Finn stared at him for a moment, then his eyes narrowed. Wait a minute… didn't you say you don't like video games the other day?"

"Spare me that," Dante replied. "Just tell me what we need to do to make it better."

Still giving him a suspicious look, the boy answered after a moment of silence.

"Shelve it and make a new one."

"... What?"

"I'm being serious," Finn replied. "There is a lot more to making a game than just putting some assets together and adding code on top of that.

Thanks to AI, practically anyone can make games nowadays. If you don't do something to stand out, you're just going to be buried under the piles of slop being pumped out every day." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Tsk…"

In a world full of mediocrity, only true excellence could rise to stand above everything else. Though he was tempted to just give up on the project, Dante decided to keep it going, wishing to see where things would go.

The one who would be doing most of the work was Volcan, so Dante didn't really care how things would go.

"Still, you made a custom engine just for this, right?"

"Yeah, and?"

"Well, for starters, that's amazing," Finn said. "The physics are top-notch, and the rendering is almost perfect. The enemy AI is able to learn and adapt to the player tactics, so the game gets progressively more difficult the more one plays."

"But those things weren't enough to get a passing grade," Dante said.

"Well, there is a lot more to games than just that." Said Finn. "Just because a game is smooth and well optimized doesn't mean people will like it."

"I see…"

"... If you're serious about this, you should consider hiring some people."

"... What?"

"Character designers, script writers, music composers, and most importantly, game designers." Said Finn. "You need to find creative people and convince them to work with you on your next game. That is the first step toward avoiding your game being avoided."

"Creative people, huh?"

"There are several types, but if you manage to get a few to work for you, your next game won't be dismissed as AI garbage anymore."