"I wonder if because the pollution is so bad, all the wildlife is dead." Salem said, annoyed that there was nothing to hunt.
"Let's just go into the city and get food then." Ruby suggested.
"You haven't read 'The Jungle' by Upton Sinclair." Salem said. "So just don't get any meat."
"Why?" Alina asked. "What's 'the Jungle'?"
"'The Jungle' is a novel by Upton Sinclair about the meat-packing industry on my homeworld." Salem explained. "It depicted the horrible conditions for the meat packers, the stuff they put into the meat, their disgusting practices."
"But we're not in your homeworld." Alina said, confused. "I don't see how that applies here."
"We're in a world where people can get away with murder." Salem remarked. "I think that something as simple as meat packing is probably going to be cared about less than a murderer."
Alina shrugged.
"Alright." Alina said.
"What if we just left this world?" Ruby asked. "We've seeded it with good people, all that remains is to wait. Couldn't we just leave?"
"We could, but I want to ensure that this world is on the right track for improvement before I leave." Salem responded.
Ruby shrugged and they entered the city. Their new recruits were sleeping in the forest, and Salem didn't think that there would be any problem with tresspassers.
Even if someone did tresspass, Salem had bugs that could alert him if someone uninvited got too close to his recruits.
'I don't use my second class much, do I?' He thought ruefully. 'I'll need to fix that.'
They wandered around the cramped marketplace, trying to find vegetarian options to avoid probable food poisoning.
Eventually they found veggie burritos for them and their recruits to eat, so they bought half a dozen and immediately left the city.
Salem knew that this might draw attention to them, in addition to the attention brought by having two beautiful elven women with him.
For the entire duration that they were in the city, Salem had four bugs around him that he was using occasionally to see if anyone was following them.
He noted two people following them while they were in the city, but only one person followed them out of the city.
"We've got another guest to deal with." Salem sighed and waited for them to catch up.
The man who followed them was built like an Enderman from Minecraft. He was absurdly tall, lanky, and his arms were abnormally long.
"Care to share your 'toys', friend?" He addressed the question to Salem.
"I have no 'toys.'" Salem said. "I have friends."
"Then, would you share your friends?" He asked, rubbing his eerily elongated hands together. "Or should I steal them?"
"One, It's not sharing if you don't give someone a choice." Salem said mildly. "Two, you would die if you touched them. Three, if they decided to let you live, they'd castrate you."
Salem never enjoyed killing someone, but he viewed it as a neccesary evil. He avoided it when possible, only killing when he deemed it necessary.
This seemed to be a case where it would be necessary to remove the blight from this world.
The man moved quickly for a normal human. He tried to grab Alina, but before he could reach her, Ruby drew her sword and lopped off the hands that had reached out.
The man even screamed like an Enderman.
"How dare you?" The man snarled, flicking the blood off his severed wrists at Ruby.
"No." Alina stepped forward, nocking an arrow and aiming at the man. "How dare YOU."
She let the arrow fly. It pierced cleanly through his skull, embedding itself in the tree behind him.
Salem used his nanobots to devour the corpse, unknowingly adding to the mystery behind the Shadows.
By the time he had devoured the corpse, Alina had returned to his side.
They returned to their little camp, and woke up their recruits with cold veggie burritos.
"Enjoy your lunch." Ruby said.
"Did you get attacked?" One of the recruits asked curiously.
"Yes." Salem said. "But we dealt with him."
Salem summoned Reaper and told him to guard the camp so they could go back to sleep.
"Woah!" The recruits looked at Reaper's body in fascination.
"What are you?" They asked.
"I am a Lich." Reaper said. "I am Master's Spirit Companion."
The recruits looked at the retreating figures of Alina, Ruby, and Salem with a little more respect.
....
Once they arrived at their hole, Salem began renovating it, as he had started feeling concerned that the roof would fall on them.
He fixed the floor and pillars easily, giving the whole space a military base look.
Salem added a lower floor and made the lower floor a relatively spacious hallway with a refrigerator at the end and a large bedroom for the three of them on the left.
He intended to make an upper level for the recruits, especially seeing as there would be far more recruits in the future.
He didn't want to use any more psyche to do so at the moment since he figured the city had a few trump cards that they would probably use against them.
He saved half his psyche, and invited the two girls down the brand-new staircase so he could show them the bedroom he had just made.
Salem felt the soft, brown, and plush carpet beneath his feet as he stepped into the room.
In the center of the room he had designed a king-sized, four-poster bed so they had plenty of room to accommodate all three of them.
The black comforter was soft and warm, while the sheets were light and smooth.
Because the hole was located next to the city, which was close to a stream, Salem could easily divert some of the water from it and make showers and baths.
Ruby saw the door that the bathroom lay behind and explored it.
"Salem this is amazing!" She exclaimed, her voice echoing of the walls of the bathroom.
Salem walked into the bathroom after her and nodded, pleased that the heated tiles were working well.
The grey tiles beneath his feet were smooth and slip-resistant, which made him happy. He had left the walls purposefully blank so that he could add murals later.
Alina immediately went to the bath and turned it on, filling it with hot water.
"Care to bathe with us?" She asked, turning to Salem.
"Sure." He agreed.
"I really need it." Ruby said, indicating the small blood spots on her skin.
"Can you keep your contacts out?" Alina asked suddenly. "I like it better when I can look into your real eyes."
"Sure." Salem agreed.
Once the bath was full, he was practically dragged in with them.
Ruby got his front this time. She was pleased by this and stuck her tongue out at Alina and giggled.
Alina laughed and hugged him against her chest.
Salem didn't resist, and materialized soap with one of his hands.
Alina plucked it from his hand and began washing his hair.
Ruby easily grabbed the soap from Alina's slippery hand and began washing Salem's body.
Salem examined his Necromancer class up options in the mean time.
---
Class advancements from Necromancer:
Shadow Lord: You are capable of controlling even the shadows.
Stat bonuses:+25% psyche efficiency
Skills: Shadow Creation, Shadow Storage, Shadow Enchantment, Shadestep, Hand of Shadow
Shadow Creation: Sever the very shadows around you and mold them into a subordinate. Costs five psyche per Shadow created, and Shadows grow with your comprehension.
Shadow Storage: Store your Shadows in your shadow.
Shadow Enchantment: Sacrifice a Shadow to provide enchantments to whatever you wish to enchant.
Shadestep: Phase through the shadows to a location of your choice. 50 psyche per use.
Hand of Shadow: You can manipulate shadows in any manner you so desire.
Puppeteer: You are capable of turning almost anything into a faithful puppet.
Stat bonuses: +10% psyche efficiency, +5% psyche capacity
Skills: Puppet Creation, Forced Subordination, Maker's Mark, Puppeteer
Puppet Creation: Animate almost anything and turn it into a loyal puppet.
Forced Subordination: Force a being weaker than you to swear a binding oath of fealty and serve you.
Maker's Mark: Brand a puppet with your mark, strengthening it and binding it to your mind.
Puppeteer: Manually operate one of your puppets. Doing so will significantly boost the combat prowess of the puppet.
---
"What are your class options?" Ruby asked, seeing his glazed look.
"Puppeteer, and Shadow Lord." Salem responded. "And it's no contest between them. I'm going to class up into a Shadow Lord."
"I look forward to it." Alina said, kissing his cheek.
"Before I class up, I should finish teaching you Necromancy." Salem said to Alina.
"I'd like that." Alina smiled radiantly.
Ruby then presented her body for Salem to clean.
"You seem quite eager." Salem laughed, taking the soap and beginning to wash her body.
Ruby blushed and didn't reply.
Alina hugged him from behind as he washed Ruby thuroughly.
Alina and Ruby swapped places and Salem washed Alina.
"That was refreshing." Alina said, once they had their bath.
"Can you teach me Necromancy now?" Alina asked.
Salem climbed into the bed and gestured for them to join him.
He used his Tutor skill to teach her every single concept from his previous world regarding Necromancy.
He tutored Alina until it was time for another nightly recruitment.