A couple days ter, we were getting closer to Burch Dukedom. This was going to be where our current adventuring mission of esc Mariina would end, so we could go our separate ways. Or she could hire us for another job to take her to the capital, as that is where I’m pnning to go .

  But that isn’t what is important at the moment. The important thing is something pletely different. HomeBase. Factory tests are done. I have all of the magic stohat have Pitch-Bck Power Stones installed in them. I have the flowers that have Magical Pnt Mandragos installed in them. Of course I have the Magical Citadel of Endymion, which will act as the field spell for this pn. And I have the SS-rank core of the world treant verted into a magic stone, which I will use as a false core for HomeBase.

  Spoiler[colpse]In short, everything is ready and I start the instaltion process at HomeBase. Just as soon as we get to the city, because I want to have Alice, Lua, Agunan and Ria there when we achieve lift off.

  Well, it will still take at least all of today for us to reach the city, and I do have a lot to do, so after breakfast, I jumped into Gradius and flew over to HomeBase, so I could start the installs. And pnting the flowers and all of that.

  After a full day of work, I had the mana factory set up. The flowers were pnted, and while it would take them about three days to grow to the point where they could make me Spell ters, that isn’t bad at all. I probably wouldn’t have gotten all of them pnted in just a day, but with Green Phantom King, Queen of Autumn Leaves, Prickle Fairy and Rose Spectre of Dunn helping me, we got it done.

  Spoiler[colpse]The magic stones were buried uhe soil where the flowers were, and of course, the area above HomeBase now had a big beautiful citadel, ready for our use. … okay, it actually isn’t ready at all, because the building is pletely empty, but we work on that ter.

  Now I’ll just have to wait the few days it will take for the flowers to grow, and then…

  I’ll have a floating isnd.

  The hree days were a lot more fun. In my opinion, at least. Because HomeBase was ready to go, well almost, my queue of extra work to do was suddenly basically empty. So back to being ‘regur’. Always feels good to not have extra work like that. Thank God I at least sleep well, with both Lua and Alice being able to put me to sleep if I’m stressed out about my work. I think I might go insane if I don’t get enough sleep.

  So yeah. With more time on my hands, I was able to once again focus more on training my skills. Mainly Space Magic, Draic Magic, Spirit Magid of course my sword skills.

  For sword practice, I was actually doing a lot with Alice. She now had the skill for polearms, so it was actually quite a bit of fun having mock battles with her. I did have to hold back a bit, and I also used a different sword than my usual mithril sword, because if I used the mithril sword, there is a ce I’d just cut Alice’s swordstaff in half. I don’t really have the skills for that yet, but the first time I used the mithril swainst her swordstaff, I cut quite the groove into it. So instead I was now using just a mediocre iron sword. It wasn’t even steel, so it would get damaged by our matches, but thankfully not to the point where Ste ot fix it.

  To bahings out between Lua and Alice, I would also do my spirit training with Lua. Sure she ot learn the Spirit Magic skill, as it is racial, but she could still improve her skills with the spirit synchro.

  Then on the… how many days has it been? Well, three since I phe flowers at HomeBase, so… five since we left Pekkers. Anyway, timelines aside. We reached oal, the Burch Dukedom, or to be precise, Burch city.

  It was a rge city, easily double the size of Sawyer city. Sure it might not match up to The Hero’s try, but still a very nice rge city. It was built close to a small fortified town, which had a rge dungeon underh it. That dungeon was a sourultiple valuable items, so this city ce where adventurers would e ahe stuff they wanted, and spend all the mohey earhe ey here was quite booming because of that.

  As for why the dungeon isn’t ihe city. Well, that should be simple. While rare, if the dungeon does spawn too many monsters, there is a ce those monsters will rush out of the dungeon and ihe surface. And I don’t think I have to tell you that you don’t want that inside a rge city.

  Getting ihe city wasn’t too bad. Mainly because we could just skip the lines by using the entrance for nobles. Agunan was just a bit of a problem, but he had his guild card, so they let him in.

  After getting ihe city, roup broke up. Well, more like Mariina’s group went their separate way from us. Unlike us, she had a p a vil of some noble living in this town. Not Duke Burch, but some lesser noble. We could have tried ‘invading’ that pce, but we don’t really o. We have a HomeBase to get to, because tomorrow, it is time.

  We would still spend the night iy though. We could also go on a massive shopping spree iy, just so we could fill the citadel up with … well, whatever we want. Then tomorrow, fly to HomeBase and have it lift off.

  “My Lord… that store… it is the ohat… wanted me.” Wilma told me quietly as we walked past a detly rge storefront.

  “The ohat opehat sed workshop in Pekkers? Alright. I guess we will be avoiding it.” I decided.

  While I had no proof that this Brading pany was responsible for all the troubles we ran into in Pekkers, if they are the ohat drove Wilma into a er, they are at least somewhat to bme. I won’t go marg in there, or anything like that, as it could just be sional manager who actually attacked her. And even then, we have basically no proof, so there is no reason to front them.

  I did make sure to ask Einar and Eline about the store, but they didn’t reize it, so the store likely wasn’t involved in the illegal sve mark mess. If they were, I’d have sent a letter to Mariina, askio look into this pany. But as it still might be involved with Wilma, I should still ask one of the loobles to look into it, if I have a ce to do so.

  We ended up spending the night in a lovely inn at the e of the city. It was a lot better for us than some high-css pce, as roup is a bit all over the pbsp;

  … and the best high-css in of the city is owned by that Bnken pany, and I don’t feel like giving them that much revehey might even try something funny, if they reize Wilma.

  I got us a total of three separate rooms. I was with Alid Lua, obviously. Ria was with Wilma, and I left Agunan in charge of the catfolk. Sorry to push them on you, but they are good kids, so you should be fine.

  The m, we enjoyed quite the lovely breakfast at the inn's dining hall, before heading bato the city. We still had a few things we were going to pick up, and then we’d be heading out.

  We split up introups. Agunan, Lua and Wilma, Ria and Alice, and I was with the catfolk. The reason for this split was quite simple. The three of us that could use the System Support were in separate groups, so we could keep in tact. Alice, Lua and I also all use ste, so that is a nice added be.

  After we pleted our shopping, we regrouped at a restaurant reeo us by the iayed at and enjoyed a good lunch.

  After dinner, we headed out of the city. Then a short walk, well a carriage ride really, ter, I summoned Big Core a everyone on board. Wilma and the catfolk had already ridden Crystal Core on our way back to Pekkers, so Big Core was just fine for them.

  Now I know you think it might be a bit premature t Wilma and the catfolk to HomeBase, and holy it might be, but I made the false core and everything, so they won’t learruth about what that pce really is.

  “Wele to HomeBase. I think you three will end up spending quite a bit of time here, so please get familiar with it soon.” I introduced the three new people to the pce.

  “... I didn’t know there ce like this in the Ever forest.” Wilma admitted. “I thought nobody would ever e here. Especially this deep.”

  “Well, I’m not a nobody. I’m Brian, so I came here.” I joked a bit, even if the joke was bad. “Please take a seat.” I told them, as I set out some cheap-ish chairs I picked up from Burch city. I could have gotten somethier, but this will work for now.

  I left the others outside, ihe citadel area, but still outside the main building itself, while I ehe tower. Then I used the magic elevator to reach the trol room, and the false dungeon ade from the world treant’s core.

  “Alright. Endymion, the Master Magi. e out here, I need your help.” I said, as I summoned my monster.

  Spoiler

  Yes. Endy be normal summoned without the ters, so Brian just call him out like he would any other monster.

  [colpse]All of the magid the spells we would need were already set up in the false core, as well as backed up on the Chaos God Core, so we were all set to go. I just needed Endymion here, as quite a few things would be happening at the same time. Even with both Laura and me w on this, we might get overwhelmed, so better to have someone cheg up on our work.

  “Alright. Let’s activate the primary levitation spell.” I said, as I switched the spell on. One of the monitors showing security footage from outside showed a magic circle being drawn into the air.

  O was fully plete, and Laura firmed that it was the right one, I activated the other four spells we would need for flight. Teically we only needed oher one, but the other three could quickly bee necessary. And my mana factory more than keep up with these spells, so better to use them, than not to use them.

  “Master. The initial spells have fully activated. We are ready to lift off.” Endymion told me.

  “Good.” I said, as I picked up something akin to a microphone, which let me talk to the others sitting outside.

  “... Ladies alemen. Dragons, dwarves, catfolk, dhampirs and magical girls. Wele to the lift off of HomeBase. I reend you hold onto your seats, because while this shouldn’t get too bumpy, I ot guarantee a perfectly smooth ride. I shall soon ehe tdown.” I annouo the people outside. Lua, Alice, Agunan and Ria didn’t really react, as they are used to my usual antics by now, but Wilma and the catfolk kids did look around, as if trying to see where I’m talking to them from.

  “Endy, monitor everything, thanks.” I told Endymion. Then I once again spoke into the mic. “We will lift off in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Lift OFF!” I called out, as I turhe spells to take-off power.

  I felt a mihquake as the entire dungeon separated itself from the ground. I had already done a basic separation, but some parts were still just a bit attached, so the entire now floating isnd shook a bit, as those parts separated.

  As soon as I noticed us being fully separate from the ground, I lowered the power of the main floatation spell. It was what would give us our altitude, but I didn’t want to go too high. My first goal was literally just to liberate HomeBase from the ground below, and I had achieved that. Now by ramping up the power of the main floatation spell, we could pick up altitude and lower ourselves back down. Then using one of the support spells, we could move in any dire we would want. The other three spells were for air, enviroal trol and defense. In case somethi wrong, and we would have bsted off into the stratosphere or something, the air trol spell could get us enough air so we could breath. The enviroal trol spell is necessary so that my flowers will stay in perfect health, no matter where I move this floating isnd to. And the defense. Well, that one should be obvious. Don’t want some strong flying motag this pce.

  “Master. Mana values are as expected. We are set and floating.” Endymion told me.

  “Good. Thanks, Endy. I’ll go outside and speak with the others. Please tio monitor the mana levels, and if anything appears wrong, gently lower us down to the ground.”

  “As you wish, Master.”

  Leaving Endymion, the Master Magi in charge of the trol room, I left the room, used the magic elevator to move to the ground floor, and headed outside where the others were sitting.

  I wonder how they will react when they realize they are on a floating isnd?

  nro_8