"Eden, do me a favor and give everybody here full access to all of the current functions of this Smart Base, and if there are hidden permissions, I'd give that to everybody present as well."
[Yes, Master, I'm happy to]
"Eden, you previously said you could appear as a male or female depending on my choice. Why don't you join us as we look through the Smart Base and its various functions?"
[I do not have the basis to form a female body. I can use the female beside you as an example, but there will be many differences.]
Fenrich shook his head as he thought about the possible complications and confusion that would cause.
"Very well, when you have studied enough to make that template for yourself. I would like you to involve yourself and share in these good times with me, or anybody else who you like." Fenrich said as he turned to Isabella, "Lead on the way, leader. You know this place better than I do."
Isabella beamed as she happily skipped forward going towards the elevator and pushed the button to call it. Before long the elevator dinged and the door opened, both Fenrich and Isabella entered the enclosed space within, while she punched the 39 button.
They began descending, all the while Isabella just realized she was now alone in a cramped space with the man she idolized.
[Master, her heart rate has rapidly quickened and she now is getting a rosy colour in her cheeks, ears and neck. Is this a sign she wishes to bear your children?]
"Ahem, Isabella, what did you do before the apocalypse arrived? Did you have any studies, or a career that you were pursuing?"
Fenrich coughed lightly, avoiding the question he had just been asked by Eden, and turned that awkwardness over to Isabella asking her a question on the spot.
"I was an apprentice at a tattoo parlor, but I was also working as a manager at a Best Buy before." Isabella quickly replied, jumping onto the question right away to distract herself from the thoughts that were beginning to stir.
"Ding!"
The elevator door opened up and they walked out onto the 39th floor, the one right above the training ground. Fenrich's ears twitched as he heard the klinking of a hammer hitting steel at a controlled pace, it's force was neither too overbearing nor soft, showing the masterful attention.
Ol'Garand was busily working away on repairing the various artifacts and equipment that his group had gathered,
"Oi kid, it's good to see you are up and about again. When you locked Lanshire within the Companion space where she couldn't be of assistance to you, she used a forbidden spell to temporarily 'null' that and suffered a backlash for it. I don't understand and nor do I need to understand why you did it, but the point is you owe her a serious apology. Lanshire and you are now connected to a spiritual level, when she felt your agony, madness and pain overwhelm you, she nearly went mad and lost her Dao Heart."
Ol'Garand shot Fenrich a not so friendly glare and reprimanded him, then completely ignored his existence as he began hammering on Lukas' weapon.
"On the other hand, it is always a pleasure to see you, lass. You have a greater calm and ease of mind now than you did earlier. If you ever need me to beat that foolish boy for getting too 'comfortable' with you, you tell me and I'll make sure he is buried six feet deep within a mere second."
Ol'Garand smiled a grandfatherly like smile of appreciation to Isabella, but then turned into a scowl as he stared Fenrich down, as if he were a father watching his little girl being taken away by some random fuck boy.
Isabella took Fenrich around as they scoped out the Smithy floor; there were numerous anvils, forges, hammers, tools and more. There was more than forty workstations, and Fenrich noted for a Bronze Smithy, it had the equipment blueprints of a Iron tiered Smithy, and that the main fire within this Smithy was actually a Beast Flame naturally attuned to Fire and a barely weaker one attuned to Ice.
[Master, you have many Smart Base notifications you have missed. All the current establishments have been enhanced an entire tier in quality than their actual tier is currently at. Thus the Beast Flames and Iron tiered blueprints for all kinds of armour and weapons. You also have a grand total of 24,000,000 Dungeon Points to be used to enhance the various functions, purchase Unique Rooms or to expand more floors both upwards and downwards. Would you like a summarization, and also to appoint somebody as the secondary receiver of these notifications. They will need your permission to make any choices in the future, this would allow you to be both hands on and hands off. As a newly awakened Emperor, you need to start gathering the subjects and subordinates that can run the daily affairs, while you have the ultimate power to confirm or deny said proposed decisions.]
Fenrich creased his brows, he was more the kind of person you sent out to slay the strongest enemy that there was, not the managerial sit on a cushy throne and turtle up kind of individual.
"Please remind me of this fact later, I do not have the qualities or the expertise to manage all of this and hundreds or thousands of individuals or more."
They returned back into the elevator and went up to the next floor, the moment the door opened and Fenrich took a single step out, a ray of angry and heartbroken beam that was Lanshire appeared. Barreling Fenrich back into the elevator as She pounded her little fists against his chest.
"Stupid, you're a big stupid! You selfish arrogant and pathetic man! How dare you do something so reckless when you're now living your second life! You should know better at how much danger you put yourself in, and how many people you put at risk! I have hundreds of pixies relying on you and me! Ol'Garand will eventually gather his Ashen Dwarves. There will be more people relying on you in the near future. Don't you dare pull that shit again!"
Lanshire went into a tirade and finished off weeping in Fenrich's chest. Fenrich cupped his hands and held Lanshires petite body within his two hands and brought her to his eye level.
"It was horrible! I have never felt such despair, such madness, hate and hopelessness. We're tied to the Soul, whatever you feel will be reflected onto me. I don't ever want you to suffer like that again. Do you know how useless I felt that I couldn't help my Soul Bond?! Because you locked me away?!"
Fenrich let Lanshire vent and cry out or yell out all of her pent up emotions towards him.
"I'm sorry. I know I was selfish and a big stupid, it will never happen again, Lanshire."
"Damn right it won't you big stupid Emperor!" Lanshire wiped her tears away while she chuckled lightly at hearing the 'meanest' insult she used to berate her Soul Bond with.
"There's not a lot to see here, this floor up until the first underground floor are all alchemy labs. There's only room for eight alchemists on each floor to work independently and without disrupting the others. We'll need more floors, or an entire base of operation meant just for Alchemists." Lanshire said as she then said aloud to the Smart Bases A.I, "don't let this idiot fail his duties, you have a lot of work ahead of you!"
[Yay.]
Fenrich heard Eden in his head, but he couldn't tell if that was sarcasm or genuine excitement.
Fenrich and Isabella spent the next few hours exploring all the levels of the Smart Base. From level one through four was a dining hall set-up, all of which had convection ovens, stove tops, pizza ovens, individual cooking stations with an island attached for counter space and more. All the kitchens had supply cabinets with non perishables fully stocked, and freezers with meats and animals fully skinned, deboned and preserved.
It showed up in a prompt for Fenrich showing that they currently had 32,000 units of meat,
64,000 units of salt, 12,000 units of spices, 90,000 units of fresh fruits and vegetables, 350,000 units of grains, 1,500,000 units of water. Below that showed a production of 4,000 (20,000) grain units weekly, 18,000 (29,000) units of fruits and vegetables weekly, 1,500 (7,000) units of spices weekly, 35,000 (175,000) units of water weekly.
From levels 5 through 12 were entire complex sized living spaces, each room was 25x25 having multiple arrays engraved to gather ambient Mana and Qi, they each had a king-size room with an attached balcony, on it was a matching patio set, barbecue and a preparation table top connected.
Inside the rooms was a large kitchen area with fully operation stove top combined oven units, sink, hood fan. The bathroom was spacious having a walk-in stand-up shower, ten feet away was a hot tub with an assortment of bath bombs and scented salts. Since reality had gone to shit, it wasn't so bad to have such luxury to wind down with.
Everything beyond level 13 and up was empty, it was the choice of the owner of the Smart Base to decide how they would accommodate, or what facilities would be built on each floor. There was also the option to spatially expand each floor multiple times, at the cost of Survivor Coins after using up all the Dungeon Points.
The very top floor itself was Fenrich's exclusive area of living, nobody had access to it unless he granted them the access. In which Eden would have the ability to refuse access if Fenrich was busy or in an important meeting. Fenrich's living space was upscaled and more lavish than the already luxurious living space in the living space floors.
[Master, I feel like now it is a good time to deal with the prisoners from the Mini Game Dungeon, there is a strange one there. Even before the current reality changed, they already knew about the Mini Game Dungeon, Smart Bases and about you. Specifically asking to be kept imprisoned until you took ownership of this Smart Base.] Eden spoke in Fenrich's head.
"Interesting. It seems like there are other key figures who've had their turn to be brought back also then? For the current prisoners my plan is not yet ready for them, as for this unknown prisoner and the way they handled their business… This might be a proper family reunion." Fenrich shared the details with Eden and his own thoughts based on the understanding he had of his uncle's character.
"Eden if you would, I'd like to have my guess confirmed, or to have a surprise waiting for me."
[Yes, Master. Inside your room is a separate elevator that goes down directly to the imprisonment area. And while we're on this topic about secret elevators. There is another in the front foyer that will take people down to the Talent Room. There they also have access to a Skill repository, Cultivation chambers, Dao chambers and more. We really need more people to handle all of this so that the advantages are not wasted.]