“Something troubling you?” Lady Ami Janina asked me. It was two days before we would travel to take care of the fissure, and I was currently training my draic skills with Lady Janina and Agunan.

  Oh, also, you might remember from that time I ‘cheated’ my skills that Lady Janina had sent Agunan away on some mission. Apparently Lady Janina had asked Agunan to go get her some more fashionable clothing, as the closets in her room were now pletely filled with clothing. I don’t know where they got the money or where Agunan shopped, but it also isn’t my problem.

  When I asked Lady Janina why she would need something else, as the dragon avatars materialize clothing, she expihat it only materialize that ofit, so if she wanted anything else, she would have to buy them and ge her avatar doll into them.

  But when I use avatar dolls they s clothing based on the card in the doll. This part got expined by the fact that the clothing geed by the avatar depends on the soul. In short, the earlier expnation was an oversimplification, as it is possible for Lady Janina to ge her clothes, but the clothes reflect her soul, so she would have to ge the way she sees herself for her dragon avatar’s clothes to ge.

  I do find it iing that I s my Factory clothes however I want. I always assumed the dragon avatars were simir to Factory avatars, but they really must not be. Well, I guess Different Dimension Factory is basically an imaginary pce, so it doesn’t have to follow the rules of this world. servation of mass be damned.

  … actually, because of magic, mana, miasma and all that BS, this world really doesn’t give a shit about servation of mass anyway. So I ’t really use Earth logi this world. Well, some of it does still work, but servation of mass be damned. Same with servation of energy.

  “... I suppose there is a little something. A dimensional fissure to be exact.” I just admitted. I had full permission to talk about these things with Lady Janina, so I would.

  “Dimensional Fissure? Weren’t those dealt with by the Hero? I believe he fixed the problem.” Lady Janina asked.

  “Well yes, but also no. He basically redid the entire dimensional barrier, but it is deteriorating again, so dimensional fissures are beginning to pop up. The Goddess is sending me on missions to close them.”

  “ you do something like that?”

  “No, I ’t. Exodia .”

  “Exodia was..?”

  “The Golden Giant.” Agunan was the oo answer. He didn’t know many of my cards by name, but he did know the Divine monsters, as well as my stro dragons. And while Exodia might not be a Diviribute, I do t it as a Divine monster.

  “I see. Iing… I’d like to see that. Maybe I should e as well.” Lady Janina said.

  “Sadly I already submitted a flight pn and it is just for Alid I. Also, Gradius ’t fit three people, only two.”

  “Then you just take my dragon avatar into your Ste, and bring it out when we are there. Then I’ll transfer myself into it.”

  “... there is also a ce that your avatar will be destroyed. The Fissures usually poop out an SS-rank monster. Based owo times I’ve dealt with a Dimensional Fissure.” I know the real Lady Janina could easily handle something like that, but the dragon avatar does limit her power a lot, so it really could get destroyed.

  “I see. Well, I’m sure you keep me safe.” Lady Janina said.

  “... I’d prefer to not have to do that.”

  “I als my real body in, if that is better.”

  “Please don’t. We will already cause mass panic. We don’t need a divine dragon adding to it.”

  “A shame. I suppose humanoids are still not ready to gaze at my beauty.”

  “I think the bigger problem is that you are massive and terrifying. They would only realize your beauty and grace afterwards.” I pointed out.

  For me, Lady Janina was never really terrifying. Well, maybe a little as she was making my Sacred Beasts look like uncssed babies.

  “But I think we bring the dragon avatar with us. Even if it breaks, it won't really matter, right? I just let you use another oook from your ste cave.”

  “So you agree to take me. That is good. Now, back to training. If you really pn to fight an SS-rank monster, you o be ready.” Lady Janina said.

  Other than my training, I also made sure to get my new workers used to HomeBase. It was something I think is important. And holy, I think I should reveal Level Up! to at least Einar, Eline and Wilma. Then depending on how they react, maybe the new quartet as well.

  But first, I o find out if my new workers needed anything, and for that, I had two ideas. One was a box, where they could drop anonymous notes about things we are missing. … the only problem being that only Karl, Molly and Maya knew how to write. Well, of course Alice, Lua and Ria know how to write. Agunan , but his handwriting is… not that good, and Wilma actually was able to write fine. So I guess it would be faster to say that Einar, Eline and a ot write. But still, a letter box might not be the best.

  So instead, I asked them to speak about any problems with Sheou or Tihose two would then forward the message to me. That way, they don’t have to directly ask me. But they , if they feel up to it.

  The sed thing I tried was having open discussion situations, where any of them could e and talk to me about their problems, but that didn’t work out, as I got nothing during that attempt. That was what lead me to implement the first idea. Wait, how did the first idea e before the sed? This makes no sense.

  Anyway, I learned of a few problems that way. One, I pay my workers. … really? Of course I pay them. They actually get quite a good sary, as I based it on the sary maids at the Sawyer family home get, and added about 20% extra to it. But the problem wasn’t about the money. Well it is, but in a different way. It was that they had nothing to use it on. There are no stores on HomeBase, and unlike most of us, the workers ’t just leave and go shopping somewhere.

  Now there were a few solutions for this problem. The easiest was giving Ria a B.E.S. mohat she could use to take the workers shopping about once a week. But it did e with the problem that Ria has no System Support, so no mapping. Because of that, developing a map that be ied with B.E.S. monsters, as well as Gradius and Victory Viper and all of them became necessary.

  At first I thought I could make some sort of pass that aloints to HomeBase. That way, you would always get bao matter how lost you were. But that doesn’t solve the issue of getting to a city, so full mapping would still be necessary. But for that, I’d need some sort of a GPS or other positioning tool, and that wasn’t going to be easy to make. I mean, GPS uses satellites, and I doly have those. I won’t say I couldn’t make any, because I probably could, but still, too much work for not enough payoff. Well, maybe eventually.

  Instead, as a temporary solution, I bought HomeBase above nd. … okay, it already was, but it was still h over the Ever forest, so basically in no man's nd. Now it was quite close to Sawyer city, with permission of course. Even though I feel like Thomas1Earl Sawyer didn’t really uand what I was asking the permission for.

  From here, my workers could use the newly fieleportation beams to get to the ground, walk for a bit to reach the town, go shopping aurn. I did have to make everyone an access ring, which allowed them to return, but other than that, this pn worked out quite well. And the only real problem with the rings was that they could get stolen, and as they don’t have an owner identifyiure, anyone could actually use them. And no, they a the owo HomeBase. I made sure of that. The ones Alice, Lua and Ria have though. They have the strength to fight off any would be invaders.

  But still. Maybe I should look into getting a store to open at HomeBase. With my cards, I give someone a skill like Iory, then give them a ship like Gradius or one of the B.E.S. ships, have them go around pces purchasing stuff, and bringing it back here and selling it to my workers. Sure at the moment it would be a lot of work for not a lot of pay, but if we really make HomeBase as rge as it be, we might eventually have hundreds of people living here. And at that point, the store might actually turn a good profit. And until HomeBase reaches that point, I just pay a sary to the person running the store. Actually, that might be better. That way, I ‘own’ the store, but someone else just runs the day-to-day operations. Just have to find someone willing to do that.

  Maybe I should also look into opening up services. Like a tailor, a barber/hair salon, maybe even a full beauty salon, a massage servid so on. I have the space for a lot of those already, like the spa area has massage tables and things like that, but those area’s don’t have workers yet.

  … but then again, I feel like those services should be advantages of the job, not paid services. Well, maybe like once a week free massage, but the others they’d have to pay for. That might work out for the best. I do want my employees to look their best after all.

  Yeah. That is what I’ll do. At least that is the pn.

  “Wilma, could you show me your status?” I asked. “This isn’t an order or anything, and you refuse.” I added. “I would just like you to do so, if that is fine.”

  I had requested that Wilma visit me in my ‘office’, aka. the Citadel core room. I had tur into somewhat of an office, while it really was still the main trol room for everything that happened above ground on HomeBase. Everything in the dungeon part was mostly trolled through the True Core at the bottom of it, though I could do it remotely as well.

  Anyway, back to Wilma. I asked her here, because out of everyone, she is the one I’d trust to keep Level Up! a secret the most. She is the one I’ve had for the lo, and unlike Einar and Eline, she isn’t a child.

  “... My Lord, have I done something to disappoint you?” Wilma asked.

  “No, you have not.” I told Wilma. “Your work has bee and I wish for it to be better. And I could help you in that, but only if I see your status.”

  “... so you aren’t pnning oing rid of me, even though I only work in the workshop? And even though Karl is more experiehan I am?” Wilma asked.

  “Why would I? Just because Karl came in, I have no reason to kick you out. You two should work together. That way I get the best results. There are things just one smith ’t make, right?”

  “... so my performance has been satisfactory?”

  “Yes, it has.”

  “Even though you barely send any work to me?”

  “Well, I don’t have any jobs for the workshop at this moment, so sadly yes. But everything you have made, like the letter boxes, have been wonderful.” I told her my ho opinion of her work. “But I help you make something eveer. If you show me your status.”

  “... but how? I don’t really get what my status has to do with what I make.”

  “I ’t expin it to you, unless you agree to show me your status.” I told her. “But if you are willing to share it with me, I make anything you want e true. Whatever dreams you have, whatever ambitions you hold. All of them be within yrasp, if you trust me.”

  “So what is it that you want to do?” I asked. “Do you want to work by yourself to aplish your dreams? Or will you let others help you aplish them?”

  “... I … I … ” Wilma struggled to answer.

  “You don’t know, do you?” I asked. “I uand that. There is a lot you won’t uand. You don’t have to uand. I don't even uand a ton of things.”

  I waited a while, but Wilma still didn’t seem to get her thoughts straight, so instead I decided to give her more time.

  “It doesn’t have to be today. The offer is open. But if you do want to explore your full potential, just ask me. This isn’t just a oime offer. Take your time, and think it over. You may leave when you want.” I told her, to desighat the versation was both still open if she wao keep going, or she could leave if she needed more time to think.

  “... thank you. I will... think about it.” Wilma said quietly, before she left the room.

  Well, it didn’t go quite as pnned, but at least I gave the offer to Wilma. Not everyone just jump into things, like I often do.

  And even if she never agrees, I always offer this service to the others. I feel like at least Einar and Eline will agree. But they will have to wait until I deal with the uping dimensional fissure.