CH004

Laugus is a city of academic excellence and technological advancements.

It was the heart of development in the field of education and technology, with the world's best minds gathered here. And just the architecture told me that it was indeed the case.

There was nothing too avant-garde like flying cars or anything of the sort, but I could indeed tell that the people of Laugus lived a more advanced life than those in other cities I've been to.

For one, cars were more common here. I could hardly see a horse-drawn carriage and the few that I did see were confined to specific areas.

The housing was also very systematic. I could tell that the one that planned this city was wholly focused on efficiency and convenience. The drainage system was also quite advanced.

I made my way through the streets as I looked at the different buildings and I finally reached my destination.

In front of me was a three-story classical building that was perfect to serve as a storefront. This was the place I acquired and it was going to serve as my first business.

Shadow Garden was okay without me. They did not need me to begin with and I was the one that stuck around looking for abuse. While being shooed by Alpha left a bad aftertaste in my mouth, it also revealed a glaring error on my part.

That was Cid's organization no matter how invaluable I thought I was to the girls.

Working so hard just to benefit Shadow Garden was a mistake to begin with. What was so special about those girls except that they were the main cast and they had pretty faces?

Well, I could list a few more advantages, but that was beside the point.

The point was, that all those girls had gone through Demon Possession at some point and they joined Shadow Garden after being treated.

I could also do all that.

There were so many cases of demon possession in the world, so why would I compete with Cid for girls that were not scarce? They might not be as special, but I could make them so.

As for having conflict with Cid and Shadow Garden down the line? Oh, please, as if Cid would care.

Midgar was so far away, and so was the plot, what was to prevent me from doing this?

Well, I could think on the topic further at a later time.

I retrieved the keys to the building and accessed the building with ease. The thick layer of dust on the floor was a testament to the work that needed to be done to make this place habitable again.

I could solve it with a snap of a finger, but what was the fun in that? It would take away my excuse for summoning a few helpers. I had already accumulated more than seven summoning cards and template cards at this point.

I made my way to the top floor, to what seemed to be the main conference room.

This building used to belong to a merchant and he used it as a storefront for some time before closing. The merchant dealt in wares from Madlid and was forced to close when Madlid declined.

"Time to get to work."

The first thing I did was to clear the whole floor. This was going to be the place that I was going to stay for some time until I had enough funds to move elsewhere and there was no way I was going to compromise on my comfort.

It was already quite stupid not using my powers to get what I wanted and it would be extreme to remain uncomfortable even in my own home.

I looked at the room that had expanded after every obstruction was removed and I gotta say that it was big enough for my current needs. I was the only one at the moment and even if I used up all my summoning card, we could stay on this floor comfortably without getting into each other's way.

But that was not the plan.

With a simple thought, the flooring started changing as exquisite tiles appeared. The marble tiles had exquisite golden patterns with black accents that screamed wealth.

The walls were fitted with equally exquisite wallpaper and some wooden fittings making the room look grand and luxurious.

A huge conference table made of exotic wood appeared with comfortable chairs that complimented it perfectly. Their dark color with a blend of crimson red and dark gold made it look like I had too much money to spare.

There were desks behind each chair and a door that led to… somewhere right next to them. At the head of the table was a throne that was raised high and its edgy finish was the focus of the whole room.

Its grandeur seemed to conceal shelves behind it that held books of large volumes.

I looked at all the changes and I could only nod in satisfaction.

This was going to be my headquarters for now since the one that I had prepared in Alexandria was off-limits.

I could easily teleport there and use it since it was hidden from even Shadow Garden, but what was the point? It was not like there was something there that I needed. It was better to stay away from them for a while and maybe I could start my force as I keep saying but seem to never accomplish.

It's been a year since Alpha kicked me out and I have been saying that I will start a force but it seems to never happen.

Well, I should finish building the place first.

The doors that seemed to lead to nowhere were doors to another space altogether.

There were 15 doors, seven on both sides of the wall and they both led to another corridor that had more doors and these 14 were for the people of my faction to use as they please.

The 15th door was behind the throne, where I was going to set up my workshop and living space.

Making sure everything was in order, I sat on my throne as I dived into the System Space to prepare for my first summon.

…

The system that I have put in place for my force is not much different from the one that I set up for Shadow Garden.

I am still going to use the card system, but there was a major change.

The card system that I gave to Shadow Garden indeed enhanced the strength of the user and even empowered them with some nice powers, but it was not something too out there.

The Ace card only gave the members of Shadow Garden a HUD and Status Screen that was good for tracking and mapping, but that was it.

The hidden function of the card however was to collect the experiences of everyone who assimilated the card and create a collective library of skills, magic, and combat prowess, creating an archive that updates as soon as something new pops up.

And boy have those girls worked hard. In this one year, they had already recruited 100+ members who had assimilated with the cards further enriching my collection.

While I did not need the information from the Archive, that was not the case for the people of my faction.

The more members Shadow Garden has, the more summoning and template cards I will receive. There was no use in summoning so many people, only to start getting the adjusted from scratch.

It was a pain that I was not inclined to handle and the Archive was just right for that.

But that was just the surface. These cards could be given to outsiders if needed and I was prepared for it with the plan I had laid out for future development.

The true power system behind my force was the Power Nexus that I had been building for 6 years now.

It was now ready, at least the minimum requirements were ready.

The system is pretty straightforward.

Everyone to whom I gave access to this system was automatically my subordinate with a master-servant relationship with me.

I was the master, while everyone else in the system was the servant. There were different levels between servants but it was essentially the same. The only difference was the amount of access you gained from the system.

It was basically me summoning a servant and placing them under the system where they would be rewarded through many different ways to level up and get more stuff from the system.

In return, the more powerful they became, the more powerful I became, which was essentially adding numbers to infinity.

The system was their power source and they were bound to it with their lives. There was no way I was going to risk having some bullshit plot happen and lose all my summons to some weirdo.

Worse, some unhinged characters were good to look at on screen but they were bound to be a problem should they go rogue.

While it was not much of a problem, it was troublesome and I could think of one or two characters that were annoying to deal with.

Someone like Rimuru was bad news as an opponent, especially in the later part of his story. Or Kurumi from Date a Live…

I had to have layers of insurance to deal with such menaces.

The system, while using a downright slavery approach to ensure loyalty, did have its perks.

For one, freedom. Growing my faction was indeed one of my goals, but it was not urgent. There was no need to rely on summons to do it. Cid managed to do it, why can't I?

The servants were not required to do anything.

I was more of a collector than anything and I could summon more characters should one decide to just… stay. So there was no need to work them like slaves.

They could do whatever they wanted as long as they did not get in my way or try to actively go against me. At that time, there was no one to blame but themselves if I used the last resort.

But that also meant that they would no longer use the system to get stronger.

The system has a shop function where I have placed all sorts of powers and skills for purchase.

The currency used is points which are earned by contributing to the faction or through loyalty.

I could easily induce loyalty in the servants, but this was a much better way.

The incentive value of points should be enough to make the servants loyal enough or useful enough to the faction.

As for those who wished to return to their worlds… they still needed to earn enough points for the return ticket.

It was messed up, but it seemed solid enough. And this was the rudimentary framework of the Nexus Power System. Further improvements were inbound and maybe I might just redo the whole thing.

But for now, I was preparing to summon my first servant.

[Summoning Card

Character: Rio from Blue Archive

Character Setup: Default Setup

Race: Superior Magical Human Hybrid

Occupation: Servant (Class: Manager)

Skills: Economics Mastery, Management Mastery

Abilities: Golden Luck, Economy Manipulation, Scarcity Intuition, Probability Computation, Supreme Monopoly…

Template: Zenithar from The Elder Scrolls

]

"These freebies are really overpowered."

I could have just summoned her as she was and just given her a card to access the Shadow Garden Archive and I am sure Rio could make use of it to prove useful, but why do that?

Rio is more capable and it would be a waste to let her struggle with getting by when she had the potential to outdo me in her realm.

I was not even worried that she would deny me given her personality.

After confirming that everything was in order, I exited the system space as I initiated the first summoning.

In a blinding light, a girl with straight black hair and red eyes appeared before me.

'That halo is something else…'