The generals took their leave in a diligent but nevertheless quick fashion. Everything had been said, agreements had been struck. They were in this together now. At least, as far as John’s quest was concerned.

All he had to do now was to wait on the nomination to happen and pray everyone kept their word. In the meantime, he would keep grinding, sending out courteous messages to the less assured parties and do paperwork. Lots and lots of paperwork.

‘How I would love a Momo to come along and do this for me,’ John thought as he looked at the stack of documents on his desk. Contact with the monochrome girl had been broken since a few days after their parting. She had just sent him a text message about ‘wanting to have no contact to the people she already knew’ for a bit, for whatever reason. When she had then vanished from the Austrian court, she must have destroyed her phone or something. Fact was, he couldn’t contact her and he had no idea where she was. ‘Stupid rebellious teenage phases,’ he grumbled mentally.

Although there was still loads of it, John decided he had seen enough of bureaucracy for the day. There was something more exciting to get done anyway. “Question: should I continue to work in your absence?” Beatrice asked, doing her usual work on the minorly important or streamlined documents at the side of the table. Her being seated and working on the same table, complete with her own laptop, made it look somewhat unprofessional, but it was all the current space allowed. The question came the moment her master started to rise from his seat; she must have been paying attention to his thoughts.

“Depends, do you want to see the show?” John asked; he had decided to do the Guild Hall upgrade now and that would consist of several parts impressive to look at.

“Denied, seen it once. Not interested in repeated sight,” Beatrice answered the expected way. “Further specification: answer is to be expected for most questions of this nature. Notable exception: I am as happy as I can be to see you naked repeatedly. Back to topic.” Gesturing at the two stacks of paper and her computer, Beatrice continued, “I will then continue to work until either: one, the stacks of papers done and emails answered are equal to papers undone and emails unanswered, two, all papers and emails are answered, or three, you need me to vacate the building to move it.”

That was a thing about the Guild Hall, he couldn’t relocate buildings occupied by people. It made sense, although John was kind of sad about the removal of trolling potential that came with the ability to relocate someone’s house while they slept. He also couldn’t move anything in the Guild Hall via the menu while the barrier was involved in a battle.

“Well… now that you say that…” John scratched his chin and thought. “The barrier is going to get bigger again, so I will likely do some terraforming, place new buildings down, re-arrange old ones… might be wiser if you stepped out with me now.”

“Theory,” Beatrice robotic tone was underlined by the clacking of keys on her laptop, “Gaia will sass my passive existence by classifying me as furniture for this endeavour.”

The passive maid actually let out the awkwardest of chuckles, as she saw the window through his eyes. With a broad, stiff grin on her face, “He He He,” she let out exactly three sounds, then her face fell right back into passivity. “Theory confirmed.”

“So it seems,” John dismissed the window, fixed his collar and headed out. The corridors of the Guild Bank had a luxurious charm to them, narrow as they currently were. Covered in a protective layer of dark, tropical wood up to his shoulders and simple, beige painted walls everywhere else. Simple, round lamps gave light, neither too bright nor too soft, where the four-panel windows only showed the night sky. The fact that the lights activated automatically upon sensing certain levels of darkness was a sign of vain luxury, but it came for free.

Although it was very niche in its appliance, John found the Guild Hall to be his most bullshit of powers. He had swathes of customizable space and the buildings he could create ranged from ‘useful’ in the case of Housing and the Storefront to ‘who thought this was okay?’ for the Mine and the Farm. They created matter from free mana every day. It was pure bullshit.

John dropped a text in his harem’s group chat, asking everyone on the island to come together. When the question of ‘Where?’ came back from Rave, the Gamer sent his return with a smirk. A couple of the girls complained that this was interrupting them in something, but when he told them it was for the Guild Hall upgrade, they were quickly convinced.

As the barrier was frequented by workers in the Mine during the day, doing this overnight was the best possible time to do this. Right now, on this entire island, it was just him and most of his girls. Arriving from the yacht relatively quickly, they met with him at the feet of Lady Liberty. “Let’s go all the way up,” John suggested and they went inside the historic monument.

They walked past the Guild Heart, the blue sphere surrounded by swirling golden rings brimming with power as always. Since its initial deployment, it had gained an extra ring and grown somewhat in size. A response to the upgrade in Tier and the consequent increase of mana it supplied, no doubt.

Metra of all people dropped a line John wouldn’t have expected from her, “That thing makes me uncomfortable.”

“Why the fuck,” Eliza was much quicker on the uptake, “does a still object make YOU, miss ‘I want to punch everything in the cock’, uncomfortable?”

“It reminds me of Enki,” the ancient weapon answered and made a grimace. “My… I guess you could say father. God of magic and stars, you can take your pick which one is actually true. His mana is what ultimately made my existence possible.”

“Family feud, then?” John asked, unsure why she would be uncomfortable around something that reminded her of him.

“Not with him, really… never liked the guy… he is dead anyhow, so who cares,” Metra shrugged, “ripped apart by Gaia, like all of Tiamat’s children during the fall. Guess it just makes me nostalgic for the creepy fuck… he was one of the ‘Hey, can I take you apart to see how you tick? I promise to put you back together afterwards!’ type of people.”

“Oh yeah, FUCK those with a skyscraper up their massive asses,” Eliza was now completely with her. The sound of the metal stairs echoed through the confined space within the statue as they ascended up the spiral. “Seriously, all of those cocksuckers need to get cut open without anaesthetics, have their still connected organs slowly put externally and then they can study themselves, fucking assholes!”

“Happy thoughts, Eliza,” John said, as he knew for a fact that was one of the things she had actually lived through during her forced emotional calm at the hands of Mengele and Herman. “Think about breakfast.”

“Motherfucker, there was no breakfast!” she shouted back. “You stumbled into the cumstained bedroom at one in the fucking morning with a bottle of schnapps in your hand, shook me awake, dragged me by the throat into the sexroom like a common fucking whore and then used me to show one of your new military throatfucker friends how to use a whip properly!” Taking a deep breathe, she added, “Best way to get woken up, by the way.”

“I do remember that… just forget that was still today…” John grabbed the handle of the door that led them back outside. “Most of my days, barely anything happens, and then some days, everything happens. I feel like I have complained about that before.”

“Ya have,” Rave affirmed, “which ya remember, Brainiac. Now let’s get this done. I want to see what other bullshit ya can build!”

“Alright then,” he pushed the handle down and they emerged on the balcony that surrounded the torch that Lady Liberty was holding. On the real statue, the golden depiction of a fire would be illuminated by floodlights. The Gamer hadn’t installed any replacement for that as of yet, so it was only them on the unobstructed railing on this windless spring night. “Time to get this party started.”

The first step was to spend the Guild Perk he had been granted from the generals’ arrival. As to where, that had been decided a while ago.

That done, he was promptly greeted with the same window as last time, asking whether or not he wanted to upgrade the Guild Hall now. Without hesitation, he confirmed and then the air. where the cylindrical barrier ended, turned into a spectacle of colours. Like a self-illuminating bubble of soap that was slowly enlarged, the walls pushed further and further away from the centre of the barrier.

John was delighted when he saw the border push past the northernmost point of the island. Just barely, then it stopped and simply disappeared from plain view again, but still. He now owned all of Liberty Island. Which meant it was now time for some sweeping changes. First, however, he had to read.

“Is this the part where we wait for half an hour while ya go through all of the new buildings and stuff?” his girlfriend asked.

“Yup,” he went and scanned what Tier 2 gave him for new buildings. He didn’t yet look at the upgrades to current ones, that was another matter entirely. For now, he just had to know what new things he wanted to add before he went ahead and re-organized the layout of the entire island. After all, he could now terraform with money and time as his only limitations.

John’s eyes fell on several things he thought were worth adding. Most of them were just extensions of his Industry and Commercial districts, but there was one building that piqued his interest in particular. It was called the Weather Tower, and after reading through it, the Gamer found himself in a very good mood.

“Remember that thing in Rome that could change the weather?” John asked.

Rave peeked up at the mention of that, “Yes? Did you get that?” The heat loving girl was hopeful to spend the future winters under the artificial heat of a controlled climate.

“At least a starting version of that,” John confirmed and looked on the list of requirements and effects. “Mhm, it won’t be able to freely control the weather, but it can at least modify it. Basically, if it rains a moderate amount, it can size it down to a light drizzle or up to a proper storm, but it can’t make it stop or start raining.”

Rave nodded, “Well, it’s a start. Can ya build it or do you need to go grinding?”

“Seems like I got everything I need,” he muttered his answer as looked over the list. “Just a bunch of rocks and metal… got both in spades from the Mine…” he always kept a healthy supply of materials for times like this. “…some two-element material or higher… also got enough Baelementium to cover that… one Focusing Ornament… well, I have them lying around, so I guess that’s one investment for that,” like any stingy gamer, he felt the want to keep rare resources close to his chest. However, it would be best if he didn’t beat the proverbial final boss without ever using any. “Huh, that’s new. It must be placed on a small island.”

“So, just like Romulus’ obelisk?” Rave asked. Back in Rome, the pillar that had stood in the centre of the emperor’s palace had also been standing with its base in a lake. Seemed like that was more than just a design decision.

Going by the description, the Weather Tower used the surrounding area to draw from or dump in water used in the climate control. Normally this would have meant that John’s best bet was to place that thing somewhere in the surrounding river, since that had ample water, removing any worry of a dry lake in case of a long heat period. However, the Guild Hall normalized its appearance passively anyway. It was a thoroughly magical island, after all, so he could place the Weather Tower on an inland lake and the body of water would just moderate itself.

With that in mind, he got to work. His barrier was now 400 metres across, and before he did anything with it, he should terraform the entire thing to suit more to his liking. Being freed from the design of the tourism industry was expected sooner or later anyway, and since this new Tier had granted him a whooping 150 Room Slots, a drastic increase from the previous 100 total, he now had a lot of things to place and think about.

He saw his money guzzle down the drain with each metre of land he put into the ocean. Doubtlessly, some people on the shore, that had seen the weird light show earlier, were now blinking profusely as earth, already covered in grass, suddenly appeared around Liberty Island. In immense quantities as well, John filled most of his current barrier with land, only creating a depression where his Harbour ended up.

The whole endeavour cost him almost two billion dollars, meaning that he had to withdraw a not meaningless amount from the Guild Bank, and that was just the plain earth put into place. He added some hills and a fair number of trees so the whole thing didn’t look boring and plain, then drew roads around everywhere.

He put the necessary lake west of the centre of the island, lying exactly where he stood, and a smaller lake south of that just because he had the space. Also a beach, summer was fast approaching and he wanted to have a beach to relax and ogle his girls in swimsuits at. By the end, John didn’t even want to look at the giant red number. It was a necessary expansion, but it still cut deep into his pockets. Not deep enough to make it a worrying development, however.

Before placing the buildings back on the ground, John had put them all into some sort of storage, temporarily separating him from Beatrice, he had a look at his new outline.

Salamander snickered as she looked over his shoulder. “You suck at drawing circles,” came her immediate comment.

“You try to draw anything straight with just your finger and a barely adjustable tool!” John snapped back, perfectly aware that the shape of his island was a bit botched when viewed like this. Taking a look over the railing gave away none of that, however, so hopefully nobody else would ever notice or annoy him with this.

“Lake Ravetoria?” his girlfriend asked with a chuckle and a raised eyebrow. “That’s so cheesy!”

“I wanted to call it something,” John shrugged. The same explanation applied to Newman Shire. “Anyway, time to get the buildings down. Let’s start with the Central district.”

Renamed from the Home District, there were changes to most aspects of the heart of the Guild Hall. Starting with the literal Guild Heart.

Guild Heart: The upgrading of this essential building remained free. Now powering the entire barrier with a base value of 50’000 (up from 25’000), it gave John a bit of wiggle room in his approach. It gained another ring and grew a bit further in size, but the sphere itself remained hidden in the fort.

Palace: Well, it was no longer just a fort. John had decided, because he didn’t want to greet future diplomatic visits on his boat, that it was finally time to get a palace. As fine as the Boating Seaquence was, it wasn’t a proper showcase of Fusion’s standing. Thus, the fort got a massive makeover.

John maintained the star shape of the base, with all ten of its tips, simply replacing the boring grey stone of the fortress with walls of solid stone, coloured remarkably close to the white house’s painting, engraved with some basic designs. Nothing too detailed, but enough to break up the monotony of endlessly stretching walls. He was very careful in this choice resisting the urge to go for the ‘polished’ texture. He wanted the thing to stand out, not to sear its sight into their eyes when the sunlight was reflecting off it.

The walls extended slightly above the top of the fort, creating a seamless barrier around the lawn John replaced the current top area with. With the easy part done, John then turned to Lady Liberty and her socket. For the sake of John’s history boner, the statue and the tower she directly stood on had to remain as they were. Cleaning slimes had long since taken care of the dirt sticking to both, so they were as pristine as the day they were completed.

However, the two boring squares they stood on, John wanted gone. After relocating to the base of the fortress, he couldn’t change things greatly as long as they were occupying the space, as per the rules, he went ahead and removed them. Conversely, the statue didn’t fall whatsoever, as John placed a new structure in replacement. A new, much broader, structure.

It was something between a palace, a tower and a cathedral. About a third broader at the base as it was on the top, a rim of arches framing a second layer of lawn on the roof of the new palace and around the old socket, it was an impressive building. Hundreds of windows covered the three storeys, the space between the glasses broken up by decorative spires and the corners robbed of their edge by round towers that contained elevators. Each side had its own gate, dark oak set into the white stone and a bunch of side doors.

The whole thing was a massive mixture between the wet dreams of a renaissance painter and a neo-roman architect with a dash of futurism. John was pretty proud of himself, even if he had wanted to make it about fifteen times as tall as it was now. However, he already had too many empty room in that version, and so he had to scratch what he thought would be epic for what was actually useful. It still looked way better than before.

That thing cost him a whopping 40 Room Slots though and was put at a mana consumption of 10’000 per day. Given that it would sustain over a dozen people who lived the high life, that wasn’t that far fetched.

The Magus’ Tower: No changes to its design, but it was moved off the one tip of the fort where it previously stood and placed on the green area to the west instead, close to the park. John imagined Magoi would want it as close to the new park as possible.

I.D. Gate: Also no upgrade on that front, John didn’t see the necessity to spend further resources on the ability to open more barriers using the building, the three it could make right now were more than enough. John placed it in arm’s reach from his Palace, atop the fort.

Security Station: The Sentry Golems and the ability to deploy them at up to five different points all over the Hudson Barrier had been quite useful in keeping the area pacified. John took the upgrade to Tier 2 happily, increasing the Golems’ level from 30 to 35, the amount of them active from five to six, and giving him an extra two deployment beacons. He would place those in high tension areas to remind rivalling gangs who was the boss around here now. This cost him 5 additional Room Slots and 1500 mana.

Cleaning Station: The same price increase as the Security Station for a similar effect. Up to 25 slimes would now be patrolling the island and up to 5 areas marked inside conquered territory. Their trash eating capabilities were immensely important.

Training Room: Unchanged. As its purpose was narrowly defined by the Guild Perks, it couldn’t upgrade any further.

Next, John took care of the Park and Newman Shire.

Weather Tower: At a Room Slot cost of 25, this simple obelisk of light grey stone, covered in runes made from metal and shimmering blue with arcane might, was a raw mana guzzler. It consumed 10’000 mana per day, running at full capacity, and that was while still limited in what it could do. Higher Tiers would doubtlessly cut an even deeper hole into his mana budget.

Menagerie: Although the only current use of this building was that it made Nia happy, that was a pretty worthwhile investment. The upgrade cost five Room Slots but only increased the maintenance by 500. He placed it in Newman Shire.

Moving further north, John went to the Commercial district. There was not much to do there.

Storefront: This building went untouched. There were some passive upgrades to this highly customizable building, simply from being inside a Tier 2 barrier, but John wasn’t using this for anything right now and, all in all, the Commercial district was supposed to be filled with people setting up shop anyhow. They could build and maintain their own houses if they wanted to live so close to the president.

Guild Bank: This, however, he upgraded quickly, and what an upgrade it was. Costing him 15 Room Slots and doubling its previous mana cost of 2500, it grew quite a bit in size, allowing John to hope for a massively increased office. As a matter of fact, he assured himself a bigger bureau by going into the detailed design and deleting the wall between his current office and the room next to it. He only then realized that had been an option. The amount of storage increased from 300 to 500 slots and Guild Members were now allowed to access it from anywhere in the barrier adjacent to the Guild Hall.

The Transportation district was perhaps the most boring, change wise. Located in the north-east, it gained no new buildings.

The Harbour: John had no need to upgrade this further, as he didn’t plan to start a boat collection and the current Tier had been perfectly capable of holding his yacht and the military vessel at the same time. Granted, that was the limit, but John had also installed normal piers at most corners of the island to let people anchor where they wanted.

Transport Station: The upgrades here had to wait, as they always needed some special materials. John wasn’t going to complain about this, teleportation was a potent thing to have access to. He felt like he should push for the upgrade though. It promised him a special long-range beacon that could be put anywhere in conquered territory. No range indicator whatsoever. The extra 2 normal outposts and normal increase in range paled in comparison to the possibilities that opened.

Onto the Industry, which had now been separated with the new Production district taking over many of its further buildings. The Gamer was going to order those in a minute. For now he needed to address what was actually in the Industry district.

The answer: a bunch of empty space. John suddenly realized that the Metal Refinery he wanted to built in order to increase his profit margin on his Mine, ingots just went off for more than ores, was an impossible endeavour. He was already at a negative 500 mana output, so he put Room Slots into something else instead.

Mana Factory: First, he upgraded the current one he had to Tier 2, giving him 5000 mana to pay upkeep with in exchange for 10 Room Slots. Then he built two more of those. Didn’t feel great, but the fact of the matter was that he needed the extra power.

Transmutation Forge: Thankfully, it costed neither more Room Slots nor Mana, as John was running very short on both. The Building, looking like a chimney designed by a council of elder mages, had its scope of materials it could create from money increased. Even with that, it only covered low to mid strength materials and only John could use it, limiting its usefulness.

The Production district had absorbed most of the Industry district, simply because John had the space and liked to keep these things separate.

Mine: The backbone of John’s side economy, making it only marginally important in the grand scope of things, would see itself become a money-maker soon without a doubt. It now had deeper layers, where rarer ores spawned. Metals made from up to three different elemental infusions could now be found there, although those had an exorbitantly low chance to appear. However, this creation of money and jobs from thin air didn’t come cheaply. 15 more Room Slots and an upkeep of 10’000.

Farm: For 2 and 3 Room Slots respectively, John added a medium greenhouse and a small pig shelter to this Building. This fit nicely next to the small field and chicken coop already in place. The total cost rose to 4000, which was barely acceptable.

Logging: This was a new building and basically the woodcutting equivalent to the Mine. The surrounding areas would naturally grow trees. Unlike the Mine, there was an incentive to leave the trees for a couple of weeks or days, as even unnatural growing speeds wouldn’t create a fully-grown oak overnight. Sadly, it would be limited to oaks and similar, highly mundane or barely magical trees for now, as John had neither the Room Slots nor the mana to afford more than Tier 1 of the building. It was just best to get established in the market early.