Long enough to completely lose the desperate edge he had before Tatiana thought idly Or has he simply gotten better about hiding it
Quite a while Randidly chuckled A year And IÆve learned a lot in that time For one thing ah by the way I have a project that is going to take up a lot of space is there any land around here that we own but we havenÆt built anything
Tatiana opened her mouth The thing he had learned but then got distracted from wasnÆt patience or elaborate manners She then closed her mouth She reconsidered her question She opened it again WerenÆt you the one who bought all this land And how much space do you need
Randidly ignored the first question Quite a bit The more the better If I need to I can simply dig down into the Earth to open up enough space but IÆll need to do that later for the final assembly It will be better if I have some surface area to begin with
IÆm sure we can find you something Tatiana rubbed her temples By the way both the Order Machina and the Order Ducis arrived earlier today I sent away Machina but the Order Ducis is within the compound per your orders Will they also need some sort of base area to set up a headquarters
Randidly grinned down at the Riders who continued to stand without any movement as the two discussed Heh more than a headquarters They are going to be setting up a training camp nearby in addition to a headquarters within the Erickson Steel compound So yea we will need space for that too Will it be easy to expand the walls here
Tatiana sighed So basically all you want right now is more land Well that seems doable but the government is insisting that we give the land back to them and rent it from now until we move away from this location They want to make a Village here for Erickson Steel Or at least thatÆs what they claim but I bet it’s just to get a leash on us
Huh Well that should be fine Then Randidly smiled wolfishly Just make sure we own the mineral rights to the land The rest will work itself out in the next month
You want to do all these things in a month Tatiana asked Her mind tried to imagine how much manpower would need to be mobilized to accomplish not just the tasks that Randidly had stated but the laundry list of things that he undoubtedly wanted to do with that land
Randidly nodded I have the feeling I will need to go away for a while at the end of the month For quite some time IÆm not too sure of the details just that itÆs something I canÆt avoid In the meantime I need to finish the upgrades to Erickson Steel and take care of some other loose ends Oh how has steel production been Since my demonstration
Tatiana shrugged and turned away from the edge of the wall She was growing a little unnerved by looking at the completely still Riders below ItÆs been a week Randidly And fuck there are already results ItÆs slightly aggravating IÆve been looking at some of the raw numbers from the Quality Assurance Department In terms of uniformity and density
Randidly gave Tatiana look She rolled her eyes Fine fine 5% increase in quality on average across the board And the best part is that most of this growth is fueled by the average smelter Some of the top end producers have only changed by 3 3 5% Which is still a great boost but the fact that it’s the lower end that is improving the most
With a wave of his hand Randidly cut her off IÆll do another demonstration in another week But before that we need to expand the drone production and Engraving divisions A lot Double their member count Or at least try On such short notice it might be difficult
We canÆt recruit locally but we have quite a few connections with some of the Academies and Universities in Zone 1 Tatiana did some quick calculations in her head In fact several have been pushing for us to offer internship programs With that we can probably get about 40 applicants within a week I can screen
DonÆt bother you work yourself to the bone already Randidly gave Tatiana a sharp look I missed it before but IÆve asked a lot of you havenÆt I IÆm sorry Heh I know someone that I should introduce you to well you will meet eventually
Then Randidly shook his head Well anyway just bring them in for an interview IÆll screen them myself I should be able to cut through the riff raff pretty quickly Plus we need to be sure that they would be willing to work for Erickson Steel for an extended period
Only you would casually call Zone 1Æs brightest students riff raff Tatiana said warmly Despite how much she loved working at Erickson Steel and managing so many spinning plates it still felt pretty nice to hear Randidly so frankly acknowledging her contribution TatianaÆs face twitched as she suppressed the urge to smile But that works Anything else you need
Seeds You should start stockpiling foodstuffs as well and water filtration systems We will be able to take care of most of our needs if we have a few high Level individuals but its always better to be over prepared
Tatiana felt a strange sense of foreboding Randidly you told me to get more land and be sure to secure the mineral rights now you want to gather seeds and water filtration systems Maybe IÆm just overreacting but do you plan to
Randidly held up a finger ItÆs better not to say even here But yes ItÆs just a matter of building the scaffolding right now ThatÆs what I need the space for
Tatiana considered that If you extract all the value from the land here and then leave the Zone 1 Government wonÆt be very happy
Yea well I donÆt think most governments will be satisfied with me for as long as I exist Randidly laughed quietly as he looked out into the night TatianaÆs eyes swept down to the several hundred strong army that Randidly had returned with That he had created with a single Skill
I suppose someday IÆll stop being shocked
whatever do you mean governments will not be satisfied with you Tatiana asked wryly Your constant stream of jaw dropping surprises is exactly the sort of thing on which governments thrive
Randidly gave Tatiana a look laced with amusement Even so better to draw a clear line now so no single government gets any ideas about to whom I owe my allegiances ThatÆs why for all the trouble that Erickson Steel has had to endure IÆm glad weÆve been ostracised It will make it easier for everyone if the break is a clean one
as opposed to how messily you broke things off with Donnyton Tatiana said quietly
Randidly just smiled in response For several seconds the two figures stood in silence as they watched the statue like Riders waiting below A low wind came through the area causing the grass to stir in mute revelry at surviving the pounding of heavy hooves they had just endured The Riders seemed to be fixed in place Tatiana couldnÆt resist the shiver that burrowed into her body from the unnerving display
Things are going to get strange again arenÆt they Tatiana asked
Randidly shrugged Maybe Give it a few months It will feel normal to you in no time at all
Chapter 1010
Hours later Randidly stood on the roof of the Erickson Steel building with his eyes closed His Aether Detection Skill hummed at full capacity feeding him constant information about people structures and materials in the surrounding area Periodically Randidly released pulses of charged Aether granting him an almost omniscient view of the surrounding miles
Slowly but surely he was creating the final details of his moving city plan in his mind Although he could gather plenty of materials within the Dungeon he didnÆt have any exact information regarding the physical situation in the outside world Therefore he had to estimate based on his admittedly acute memory
Most of the general details he had remembered correctly but Randidly still wanted to go over the specific state of reality with a fine toothed comb What he was doing was already rushing a rather intricate and complicated project with an extremely aggressive timeline So he had to at least do plenty of due diligence to ensure that any small mistakes would be covered by the larger umbrella of preparation