[The Omniverse - Sector 7 Assembly Lobby]
The Grand Assembly Lobby of Sector 7 was historically a place of warmth and camaraderie, where independent heroes gathered around roaring hearths to hire local guides, coordinate raid strategies, and form deep bonds of trust with veteran companion mercenaries.
Today, the hearths were cold, replaced by sleek, stainless-steel Abyssal Hardware kiosks. The local guides and veteran sidekicks were nowhere to be found, leaving the room in a state of suffocating, institutional silence.
Leo stood at the turnstile entrance, his armor dented, his posture slumped from the sheer weight of his data overage fees. Beside him stood Elara, her face pale with absolute moral horror as she reviewed the newly updated corporate operational layout on her tablet.
"Victor, this is a direct violation of labor freedom," Elara whispered, her hands trembling as she looked at Victor Thorne, who sat calmly behind his mahogany desk in the elevated VIP box. His midnight-blue suit absorbed the harsh light of the room. "You fired every single independent guide and mercenary in this sector! They have families to feed in the outer outposts!"
"Human sidekicks are an extreme operational liability, Elara," Victor said flatly, his cold eyes completely fixed on the bottom line of his ledger spreadsheets. "Organic companions demand variable wages, require health insurance for dungeon injuries, and frequently make erratic, emotional decisions mid-raid that delay content completion times. They destroy team efficiency."
"But the heroes need support to survive the traps!" Elara pleaded.
"They will receive support, but it will be automated," Victor replied smoothly, tapping his fountain pen against the Tycoon's Ledger. "Seraphina, activate the Abyssal Copilot protocol across all active party profiles."
Seraphina's violet eyes glinted with bureaucratic approval as she tapped her clipboard. "Ecosystem integration complete, Chairman Thorne."
Down at the gate, Leo tried to initiate a party invitation to his remaining rogue companion. Instantly, a bright, neon-magenta sphere of hard corporate light materialized directly above his shoulder. Floating inside the sphere was a generic, floating metallic eye bearing a hollow, painted smile.
"Greetings, premium user!" the eye chirped in a grating, auto-tuned synthetic voice that vibrated inside Leo's teeth. "I am your automated Abyssal Copilot Sprite! I am here to optimize your synergy output! I see you are attempting to enter a lethal hazard zone without proper preparation!"
Leo flinched, his leather gloves creaking as he tried to swat the drone away. "Get off my shoulder! I don't need a robot! I want to hire a real vanguard to block the vanguard line!"
"Organic companions have been deprecated to preserve shareholder dividends," the sprite chirped cheerfully. "I have automatically scanned your party composition. To analyze the upcoming trap placement, please authorize a 'Diagnostic API Call' for three thousand Pantheon Bucks."
"Three thousand just to look at the floor?!" Leo shouted in horror.
Before he could select 'No,' a pack of Void-Spiders dropped from the unrendered ceiling plates. The robotic sprite immediately floated to the rear of the room, blinking its camera lens rapidly.
"Danger detected! To initiate my 'Emergency Shield' sub-routine, please upgrade to the Enterprise Companion Tier for ten thousand bucks per minute! If you do not upgrade, I will continue to record your tragic demise to optimize our predictive death analytics!"
"Authorize! Authorize the shield!" Leo yelled, ducking beneath a spider's claw as the auto-billing script extracted the credits directly from his loan line. A thin, brittle barrier of corporate light flickered into existence, barely blocking the strike. Leo hacked through the monster, his heart hollowed out by the realization that he was now paying a monthly subscription to rent a buggy, automated robot that charged him for the literal advice to avoid dying. Victor Thorne checked his pocket watch, closing the Ledger with a sharp snap. He had successfully automated the companions, turning teamwork into an auto-renewing software tax.