A Golden Orb...

"Argh…

This tastes like crap…" David croaked while drinking the beer bought by Dante on the outskirts of the city CBD.

After leaving Katherines law firm building, the two decided to have a few drinks with their lunch since they'd been at the office for most of the morning.

They were currently exhausted by the lectures they received from their parents, leaving the two of them wanting to drink away some of the sorrow they were experiencing.

However, the beer Dante bought for both of them didn't taste all that great.

"Ugh… yeah this is pretty horrible…" Dante couldn't stand the taste and wondered where the beers went wrong through the making brewing process, but as he tried to think of ways to improve it, he came up with an idea.

"Hmm… David do you have any idea or clue what would be required to open up a distillery?"

"Yeah somewhat…

You'll need to get some licensing and certifications if you want to start selling whatever you brew though…" David didn't overly think too much into what he was asked, until he looked over at Dante and noticed him heavily looking at the glass full of beer.

"Don't tell me… you're wanting to start your own brewery?"

"Why not…?

I've got enough space on the farm to start off on a small-scale operation which can eventually be expanded on.

Honestly… I think it won't be difficult to make my own batch of beer, that's easily better than this shit." Dante pushed his glass aside and ordered some scotch for the two of them.

David struggled to understand what was going through Dantes mind, but having drank the beer, even he thought it wouldn't be difficult to brew a better batch of beer.

"*Sigh* Are you serious about this or not?

Because if you are… then I'll need to sort out organising the required licensing and other crap."

"Yeah… get it done…" Dante wasn't in the mood to talk with the horrible taste still in his mouth and started to stuff his face with the food they'd ordered.

Only after eating in silence for a couple minutes did David raise some important questions regarding Dantes current business plans for the Thragen Farms Produce, since the little information he'd received from his mentor told him it was going to be a simple store, yet after meeting with Dante, it seemed like that wasn't going to be the case.

.

"Wait, wait, wait… you're pretty much planning to make a supermarket, but with your own goods…

There is no way your farm could produce enough finished products for a fully operable supermarket." David had to stop Dante before he continued to say something utterly unbelievable to comprehend.

After hearing Dante say that he would be able to fill the shelves of an entire store with his own grown produce and eventually finished products like cereal, pasta, canned goods and so on.

David didn't even want to think about the paperwork, let alone the land needed to produce everything within Adelaide.

"Look, you asked me what my goal for the store was, so I told you…

Don't understand why you find this so hard to believe…"

"Because what your saying is fucking hard to take in, bro…" David had to order another drink for himself as he felt a throbbing headache coming on.

"*Sigh* Look at it this way… everything will take time and effort which can't be done overnight.

With the stores current size, some of the products we might want to sell from the start would be locally produced goods from around the state, but eventually we can start making our own."

Dante already planned to discuss with Thaestus if it would be possible to create a production line on Terronious, with the finished products being brought over to Earth.

Eventually Dante wanted a set up a production factory on Earth, however that wasn't going to be possible right now with the current funds in the bank.

.

The two discussed how the store would change into a small supermarket with their own goods, but their seemed to be a disagreement on the timeline for when the goods would be ready to be sold.

In the end, David agreed to source other locally made goods for the store after getting an idea of the space available in the store from Dante and left for home in a taxi.

He was told by Dante to organise an internet connection for the farm and improve the electrical wiring currently connected for higher watts.

Not choosing to answer exactly why the farm needed either connection set up urgently, David couldn't help but curse his new boss and weird unfortunate friendship.

Dante planned to go home and take the Light Truck over to the farm; however, he drove the Ute straight to the farm instead and planned to leave the Ute in the barn before taking a taxi home so he could retrieve the Truck.

Once he arrived at the farm, Dante looked around and noticed the fruits and vegetables needed to be harvested, so he planned to summon the Skeleton Labourers, but chose instead to go visit Terronious for a moment.

"Ohh what fresh hell is this…" Dante couldn't help but facepalm himself after noticing the pile of zombie corpses by the Tree of Beginnings.

Besides that, he noticed the stone wall around the Hub had disappeared completely, including a massive revamp of the small workshop which appeared to be dozens of times larger and made from a mixture of wood, steel, and bricks.

There were other changes in the area around the Tree of Beginnings and workshop, but Dantes attention was drawn in by the System Alerts ringing off in his head.

…

..

.

*Ding*

[325 Undead Creatures – Zombies – have been found within the Second Foundation Base]

[Each Level 1 Zombie offers 10 EXP]

[Basic Arithmetic Function Activated!]

[3,250 EXP (Max Multiplication by 10) equals 32,500 EXP]

[1,200 EXP Previously Banked!]

[Host can utilise the 33,700 EXP in several options:

A. Store the EXP for later use

B. Increase Second Foundation Base perimeter

o 10 Acres for 10,000 EXP

C. Level Up Tree of Beginnings Level (10,000 EXP)

D. Activate System Store (30,000 EXP)]

[Option B selected! (x2)]

[Option C selected!]

.

*Ding*

[Second Foundation Base has extended its land size from 30 Acres to 50 Acres!]

[Tree of Beginnings has Levelled Up!]

[Level 1 → 2]

[Connection between T.O.B on Earth and Terronious has increased!]

[Fruits of the T.O.B on Terronious will be ready every 48 hours]

..

…

Dante made his choices based off the immediate effect that could help him on Terronious.

He was going to ask Astakron for his input on the matter, but Dante caught sight of a few Skeleton Labourers waving hello at him as they dragged a cart filled with various fruits and vegetables that were freshly harvested.

Looking over at the Tree of Beginnings, Dante noticed it had grown taller by a few metres, including the branches which were thicker and luscious than before.

The trunk of the tree was thicker as well.

Looking around, Dante noticed the soil past the perimeter wall was slowly being filtered and processed by the Tree of Beginnings for planting.

The Fog of Undead that affected the ground slowly disappeared, with his mind focused on the fruits from the Tree of Beginning and what they could do.

'Don't waste the fruit by eating it...'

"Huh…?

Isn't that what fruits are primarily used for Astakron?"

'Not in this case.'

Dante couldn't understand why Astakron told him not to eat the fruit but when he tried to ask for more answers, Astakron didn't respond.

Confused and a little lost, Dante went over to the renovated workshop to find Thaestus and the others.

However, he felt like changing his mind after entering the building and noticed the extensive changes, which were highly irregular.

Before Dante even said a word, the familiar voice of the chaotic High Goblin reached his ears.

"Boss! What ya think about the changes…?" Thaestus said aloud as he raced to greet Dante at the door of the building.

He wasn't the only one as Thaestus voice alerted Xarl and Palimus, who also came running over from some corner of the building.

'"Master…"'

The Lich Manager and High Goblin were kneeling before Dante, while Thaestus stood beside him, fiddling around with his fingers as he anxiously wanted to show his boss around the building.

"Boss! Come on!

There is a whole lot to show you." Thaestus ended up dragging Dante away, leaving Xarl and Palimus to both shake their heads disapprovingly.

.

Unable to get a word in throughout Thaestus explanation of the changes completed, Dante gave up and waited till Thaestus finally shut his mouth or took a chance to take in some air.

In the time he couldn't get a word in though, Dante learnt a great deal about the changes like the smithery and lab built underground.

While the equipment was made from steel that even Dante had never heard of before, Thaestus explained the steel type was several grades higher than High Carbon Steel.

When Dante planned to ask where they found the steel variant, Thaestus talked about finding a large pool of resources at a foundry, well outside of the Foundation Bases boundary.

The High Goblin went on to say the resources were found by Xarl in an underground bunker facility which also happened to be an automated material refining factory that had all sorts of goods which could be utilised.

It also had a great number of Zombies locked underground which were slaughtered by Xarl endlessly, after which the corpses were brought to the Hub for the Tree of Beginnings to absorb.

While they left most of the machines behind since they wouldn't be able to get them working without the right functional equipment.

Items like the blast furnace, casting moulds, and other similar items which could be moved back to the Hub were done so and set up underground in the freshly built smithery.

Just the scale of the underground facilities below the Hub Building left Dante with a headache after noticing the large cool rooms and storage places for the resources.

.

The building that replaced Thaestus Workshop quickly became the Hub Workshop in Dantes mind after witnessing the various workspaces with their own furnaces and specified tools set up.

Rather than it being a place of work for Thaestus to use alone, it now had grown in size to serve others, however they pleased.

The set up was rather refined in Dantes mind, but he understood the underground facilities would be detrimental for his business development and ambitions.

He'd yet to task any of the Monsters to conduct any major piece of work, after being told about the automated foundry factory, as he wanted to utilise the place for his own plans.

"Thaestus…

You've spoken enough.

Take a break and let me answer any questions Master may wish to ask." Xarl pushed Palimus forward to take Thaestus away from Dante so he could at least discuss everything that'd happened on Terronious while Dante was away.

.

"Xarl…

Thank you." Dante couldn't help but take a deep breath and rubbed his eyes before asking any questions from the Lich Manager.

"What have you guys done since I haven't been here… without the tended nonsensical charm of Thaestus.

Just the facts please." Xarl understood his Masters annoyance after being dragged around by the High Goblin.

Leading Dante away from the Hub Workshop, the two arrived outside of the building, where they could see the Skeleton Labourers harvesting the crops.

"Master, other than the changes that've occurred underground, I wish to expand the crops with the increase of land, however I wanted to get your opinion on the matter.

That isn't all.

We've found more properties around the Foundation Base, beside the few which we've already stripped apart for resources and tools.

Items that we don't have stock of or seen previously have been kept instead of being broken down into reusable materials."

Xarl led Dante truth the farmland while explaining the work they'd done for the last day.

He even brought up the two fruits picked from the Tree of Beginnings and presented them to Dante.

One of them was the fruit which should have sprouted on the Tree of Beginnings back on Earth, yet the influence of Mana Energy in the atmosphere would have had disastrous effects on the globe so it was all sent over to the second Tree of Beginnings on Terronious.

Xarl started explaining his thoughts on how they could be used effectively right away.

"The property where the automated factory is located would be an ideal location for the first fruit to be planted in my opinion, while the other should remain stored for now."

"Xarl… what benefit is there from planting the fruit rather than eating it?" Dante figured he'd asked a stupid question once Xarl turned his skull head instantly in his direction, as if wondering whether his Master was all their mentally.

"Ahh… these fruits arent technically 'fruits', instead they are seeds of the Tree of Beginnings.

Once they are planted, the area would be considered another Foundation Base in your control Master, however the new tree that would sprout wouldn't produce their own fruits, since the tree is technically an off shoot of the original one.

I think its best if you try planting one.

You'll end up understanding their ability after that." Dante agreed with Xarls suggestion and the two headed for the property where the automated factory and resources were found.

.

Roughly 20 minutes after walking past the boundary of the Second Foundation Base, they finally arrived at the site of the factory, which was border around by a steel wired mesh fence all the way around.

Dante assumed the land size was considerable just from the stretch of fence in his line of sight going around the entire property.

Thankfully his thoughts were provided with an answer by his Lich Manager, who pushed open the gate and started heading onto the property.

"The size of the property is around 25 Acres, with the factories themselves taking up around 18 acres of the entire land available.

That's also including some of the storage facilities built on the ground floor rather than underground." Xarls description of the property and seeing it for himself made Dante realise the place was far more valuable then Thaestus had made out.

Once he walked through a factory with the various mechanical arms that were all idle and without power, Dante realised the wealth of technology couldn't be matched back on Earth by any corporate.

Though the machines weren't working just yet, Dante could still tell the arms that were set up beside the manufacturing and processing lines had near perfect joint rotation.

The precise work conducted by the robotic arms was yet to be seen, but Dante believed the robotic arms would definitely change the quality of his products in the future whenever they were to be sold to the public.

.

"Master… you should plant the fruit in the dead garden of the small park in-between the various factory buildings."

Xarl pointed out the spot as he continued showing Dante around the property until they arrived at the park which had deteriorated largely by the Fog of the Undead.

The Lich Manager waved his hand as a small pocket of space rippled near his bony hand with a dim golden orb floating out into Xarls hand.

There was a spiderweb of cracks across the orb that Dante noticed were on the shell of the orb and more of a design characteristic rather than the fruit breaking apart.

"Is this the fruit of the Tree of Beginnings?"

"Yes Master…

They were harvested by myself today around midday and stored in one of the cool rooms underground."

Dante was rather invested in the magic used by Xarl after witnessing him summon the fruit with Space Magic, but he had other things to sort out for now, so he made a mental note to ask about it later on.

.

..

…

*Ding*

[Tree of Beginnings fruit planted!]

[Fruit has germinated and sprouted!]

[Sprouted Fruit will form into Tree of Beginnings]

[Energy contained in Fruit is half of original Seedling for Tree of Beginnings]

[Basic Arithmetic Function Activated on Fruit! (x2)]

[Scanning for Foundation Base potential…]

[…]

[Analysis Complete!]

[Property sealed within boundary of Steel Fence can be converted into Third Foundation Base!]

[Proposed Third Foundation Base territory is 25 Acres (50% of Second Foundation Base area)]

[Proposed Third Foundation Base will be managed by Tree of Beginnings]

[Proposed Third Foundation Base, Tree of Beginnings Sprouted Fruit, has connected with other Tree of Beginnings!]

[Tree of Beginnings will absorb Fog of the Undead surrounding Third Foundation Base boundary]

[Proposed Third Foundation Base is connected to Water and Electricity]

[Technologies found on selected land for Third Foundation Base has been evaluated and adapted with Tree of Beginnings]

[!!Attention!!]

[Technologies cannot be used until Tree of Beginnings has reached Level 3 or Third Foundation Base has a selected Manager for partial control]

[Property Evaluated: D+]

[Would Host like to continue with establishing Foundation?]

[Accept?]

.

*Ding*

[Potential Managers for Third Foundation Base have been analysed and found!]

[Host can make their selection whenever ready!]

[Managers:

Ø Xarl – Lich Manager

Ø Thaestus – High Goblin

Ø Palimus – High Goblin]

[Xarl – Lich Manager selected!]

[Selection of Manager for Third Foundation Base has increased maximum number of slots available in Monster Tab (20 → 30)]

[Hosts Reward: 10 Skeleton Labourers (Level 1)]

…

..

.

Dante watched the small golden orb quickly sprout into a blooming tree several metres tall that was fairly imposing over the entire park and what little light that fell on the space.

Xarl even caught his attention with the small golden light sparking across his bony body frame.

Waiting for a moment, Dante noticed some small changes with Xarls appearance, as his black cloak had thin golden stripes coloured similar to the orb.

When it formed around Xarls bony body into a business suit of sorts, it retained the golden stripes design pattern, making him seem more authoritative and business driven.

"Xarl… how are you feeling?"

"Ready to rebuild this Base to benefit you, Master."

"Then… let's get started…" Dante smirked as he spawned 10 Skeleton Labourers while walking towards the path leading to the underground bunker facility.