Becoming A Tech Tycoon Begins With Regression-Chapter 225: Nanobots Completed

Ethan smiled as he looked at the results before him.

"System?" He called out.

As if reading his thoughts...which it kind of was, the system gave him the notification he was waiting.

[Congratulations on successfully creating the 'All-in-One Nanobot Colony'.]

[Designation: Aegis-Class Adaptive Colony.]

[Primary Functions: Medical Repair, Physical Enhancement, Immune Augmentation, Neural Protection.]

[Secondary Functions: Environmental Resistance, Toxin Neutralization, Emergency Reconstruction.]

[Threat Resistance Rating: S-Tier.]

Ethan's smile got wider as the system continued analyzing his creation.

[Since the host utilized upgraded blueprints from the System Shop and exceeded baseline parameters, a bonus reward will be issued.]

[Reward Calculation in Progress…]

He waited for a while, looking as the interface loaded.

[Reward Issued.]

[You have unlocked: Nanite Sovereignty Protocol (Passive)]

Ethan's brows rose slightly as he read the description that appeared before him.

[Nanite Sovereignty Protocol:

All nanotechnology created or controlled by the host is immune to external hijacking, reverse engineering, or hostile assimilation.]

[Effect: Any foreign nanotech attempting to interact with host-created nanites will be forcibly analyzed, overridden, and absorbed.]

[Note: This effect applies retroactively and scales with host technological mastery.]

[You have earned 1,000,000 SP]

This solved one of his worries without him doing anything, right now, he didn't have to worry about others hacking the nanobots.

"System," he called out again, "open status."

[Displaying status....

Name: Ethan Carter

Age: 20 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Title(s): Innovator of the Impossible, Architect of Realities.

Technology Level: Tier 4

System points: 16,736,420 SP

System version:

V 2.0 (progress: 18.2%)

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{Skills}

Quantum Field Manipulation: (Locked.)

Nanite Sovereignty Protocol (Passive)

------

{Knowledge and Proficiency} [Tier 4]

Artificial Intelligence (AI): 100% → Tier 4

Robotics & Automation: 68% → Tier 3

Cybersecurity & Hacking: 100% → Tier 4

Quantum Computing: 52% → Tier 4

Biotech & Genetic Engineering: 98% → Tier 4

Nanotechnology: 30% → Tier 4

Energy Systems & Fusion Tech: 75% → Tier 3

Weapons & Defense Systems: 80% → Tier 3

Software & Algorithm Design: 96% → Tier 4

Material Science & Fabrication: 30% → Tier 4

Mechanical Engineering: 100% → Tier 4

Electrical Engineering: 98% → Tier 4

Quantum Engineering: 50% → Tier 4 ]

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{Assets}

Companies: OmniTech Corp, Solterra.

Current savings: $85,000,000

Income source(s): OmniTech Corp.

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{Inventions}

Sentinel, A.T.H.E.N.A, O.N.I, Vitaband, Adaptive liquid alloy, Zero point energy core, Simulation Chair.

Current Tech influence: Low (14.5%)

------

{Missions}

Mission Title: The World Network

Objective: Expand OmniTech's operational presence into at least five major global sectors within the next 12 months.

Progress: 3/5 territories established.

Reward: Unlock of TDI's 4th Module — [REDACTED].

Bonus Reward: +20% global influence, +10% system version.

Failure Condition: If OmniTech loses majority operational control in any two sectors.

[Project Aegis]

Objective: Develop a global defense network capable of withstanding extraterrestrial or quantum-scale invasions.

Time Limit: 1 Earth Years.

Failure Penalty: [Extinction Event]]

NB: Due to the host gaining access to Quantum field manipulation, the TDI 4th module has been upgraded.]

"This is it," he chuckled, "the preparations are complete, time to deal with the cockroaches."

As if on cue Athena suddenly reported, {Sentinel seemed to have been successfully copied.}

Ethan smiled at her words, instead of showing panic, his face showed that he completely expected this.

The data was presented on one of his screens.

When he let sentinel's code out there, it wasn't like he didn't put any fail-safes in place...or rather than fail-safes, it was more accurate to call them traps.

What he didn't expect, was for Helix Global themself to stumble upon that code. Thanks to that 'coincidence', he now knew what R&D they were funneling money into.

Helix Tech.

Sentinel was a cyber security software that was over a decade ahead of its time, but since Ethan had introduced it this early, it would only take a while before someone successfully replicated it.

So instead, why not hand them the code....while keeping them under his watch and it seems that decision was proving correct.

Neatly tucked away in between the code was an access portal for Athena, one that would grant her access to whatever server they tried storing Sentinel's clone on.

And it just so happens that the same server Helix stored their version of Sentinel on was the same that contained all info on Helix Global's new project.

The Helix Tech.

Ethan leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled as Athena's continued showing him the live stream of data, through the monitor.

"So they took the bait," he said calmly.

{Not only that,} Athena replied, her tone almost amused. {They copied Sentinel wholesale, deployed it on their external server, and integrated it into their internal testing environment.}

Ethan chuckled. "Greedy and impatient. As expected."

The screen's display shifted, pulling apart layers of Helix Tech's internal infrastructure.

What had once looked like an impenetrable fortress now resembled a glass house, every process exposed and every secret laid bare.

Research logs.

Funding trails.

Black-budget authorizations.

And at the center of it all, the Collector's fingerprints.

{Their Sentinel clone is stable,} Athena continued. {But it lacks one critical component.}

"The soul," Ethan said, finishing her thought.

Sentinel wasn't just code.

It was adaptive intent, a living framework built around Athena's core heuristics. Without that, Helix's version was nothing more than an imitation, reactive, not predictive.

But still, it was the closest anyone had gotten to replicate the actual thing, and he was sure, the public would eat this up too, with the right marketing strategy.

And more importantly,

"Show me the nanotech division," Ethan ordered.

The display zoomed in.

What appeared made his smile disappear.

Rows of simulations showed a dark, viscous substance contained in reinforced glass chambers, electrical arcs dancing across its surface like trapped lightning.

Test results scrolled beside it, filled with red warnings and suppressed...or rather, ignored errors.

{They believe it's a proto-nanite slurry,} Athena said. {In reality, it is an unstable electro-reactive compound with no self-regulation. If injected into a human body—}

"It would tear them apart on a cellular level,"

Ethan finished coldly, immediately understanding the draw back of such an abomination.

So that was the Collector's play.

Rushing Helix into unveiling half-baked miracles, letting public desperation and corporate arrogance do the rest.

If people died, panic would follow. If panic followed, OmniTech would be blamed by proximity.

A classic misdirection.

Unfortunately for him,

"That won't happen," Ethan said.

***

Meanwhile, the engineers at Helix Tech were working overtime, just in hopes to meet the release marked for tomorrow.

Sentinel....no, Helix Aegis was supposed to reach the public tomorrow as a better version of Sentinel, but even they knew that was far from the case.

They were doing everything they could to at least get it to activate its predictive functionality.

After all, without that, it'd only take a week at most before the public realized that this was a cheap imitation.

The atmosphere inside Helix Tech's primary development wing was suffocating.

Monitors glowed with cascading lines of code, error windows stacking atop one another like unspoken accusations. Coffee cups littered desks, some untouched, others drained hours ago and forgotten. No one had gone home.

Not really.

"Run the heuristic loop again," one of the senior engineers snapped, fingers flying across his keyboard. "Increase the sampling window. If we brute-force enough variables, something has to click."

"It already did," another replied hoarsely, eyes bloodshot. "Three hours ago. And it failed. Again."

Helix Aegis responded exactly as it always did, fast, efficient, and fundamentally hollow.

It reacted to threats.

It did not anticipate them.

That single missing difference was the gap between a revolutionary AI and a glorified intrusion detection system. And everyone in the room knew it.

"What about the adaptive core?" a younger engineer asked, voice tentative. "The part we commented out earlier—the one throwing recursive paradox errors?"

The room went quiet.

The lead researcher slowly turned toward him. "That block is unstable. It keeps rewriting itself based on nonexistent inputs. If we leave it active, the system collapses."

"But Sentinel has something like that," the younger man pressed. "You said so yourself. Something that lets it predict instead of react."

The lead researcher clenched his jaw.

"Sentinel," he said carefully, "has something we don't understand."

That was the real problem.

They weren't building Helix Aegis.

They were trying to recreate something done by a far more advanced mind. It was like copying answers in an exam, a single error would mess everything up.

Across the room, a red warning flared briefly on a secondary display before it quickly vanished

No one noticed.

Not as Athena quietly catalogued every keystroke, every desperate workaround, every unethical shortcut.

{They are attempting to simulate predictive behavior through brute probabilistic inflation,} Athena informed Ethan in real time. {Success probability: 2.7%. Projected public exposure failure: 96.4% within seven days1.}

Ethan exhaled slowly, eyes half-lidded.

"They're cornered," he murmured. "Which means they'll do something stupid."

Should he help them out a bit?

Nah, that probably wasn't a good idea, it would be even more interesting watching them self sabotage in their 'race' against OmniTech Corp.

"This should be fun."

What she's saying is, they're faking the probability of success and any test they try will end in failure within a week