When Liam woke up, it was already well past noon the next day. Thanks to everything that happened at the last minute in the game, his mental fatigue had accumulated quite a bit, and he ended up sleeping for well over eight hours.
With a yawn, he got out of bed and threw open the blinds, letting the warm afternoon light flood the entire suite.
Looking at the city at this moment gave a feeling as if almost nothing had changed at all, but if one looked at the distant parts beyond the city, there were clear signs of disturbance that called for his attention.
"I guess it's time to get back to work." Liam lightly smiled.
He turned to look at the fox, who was still lazily curled up on the bed underneath a couple of warm, cosy blankets, but her eyes were flinching from the sunlight, clearly implying that she was already awake.
Liam shook his head and then proceeded to freshen himself up a little bit. When he was done, the fox was still in the same position. He smirked and started walking out of the room, ignoring the little fur ball.
Kyuuuu! The little head swung around, eyes wide open. Immediately, the fox panicked. She hopped off the bed, running after Liam.
"Wait, Master, don't leave me behind!" she said. "I'm coming too!" A pair of pitiful eyes stared at him. Liam chuckled and held the door open. "I wouldn't dream of it."
Luna couldn't decide if those words were true or if she was simply being made fun of, so she quickly jumped onto Liam's back, pretending not to hear. She then once again settled comfortably around his neck and closed her eyes.
Liam's lips twitched a couple of times, but he didn't say anything. After all, he was not the only person who was fatigued from everything. So he let the fur ball nap all she wanted.
He used the stairs to go up one floor silently and opened the door to the terrace, revealing the spectacular view of the huge city. This was his new office.
He took a deep breath and let the fresh air fill his lungs. He felt a sense of calm and clarity wash over him, and for a moment, he just stood there, enjoying the view and the quiet.
From here, he could sense his soul minions busily running around, doing the various errands he had assigned. He tried to probe a couple of them and then nodded. It looked like it was finally time to set the next plan into motion.
"Bring all the processed items back to me." Liam commanded the warehouse minions with a grin. He did not foresee using his soulmancer class like this, but he had to admit that this was extremely convenient.
On the other side, the minions immediately obeyed his command, moving quickly to gather all of the processed items.
Heaps of neatly cut and cleaned beast skins were folded and stacked according to the type of beast they belonged to.
There were buckets of blood lined up, all sorts of meat butchered and squared away, nails, horns, and tusks collected—basically, every part of the beast's corpse was thoroughly collected without much wastage.
After Liam gave his orders, these items were immediately transferred to ten of the trucks outside the warehouse, and Gorak, Gu Donghai, and a few others who knew how to operate the bigger vehicles set out to deliver the goods to their boss.
Meanwhile, Liam walked downstairs to cook up something for himself and the ball of fur. Though he could currently survive without food for a while, he still decided to eat today as he was feeling completely famished.
The duo reached the ground floor, where the hotel cooking facilities and restaurants were, and as soon as they arrived, Liam was pleasantly surprised. He had expected the place to be deserted, but it was bustling with activity.
Friends and families of the guild had already made themselves at home in the new base. They also seemed to be well organized. It was good to see that everyone was adapting to their new situation and making the best of it.
Liam had not expected such a smooth transition in such a short time.
"Mr. Liam, would you like something to eat?" A voice sounded behind him, and when Liam turned, he saw Derek's sister Lily walking toward him. Next to her, there was also the other sister.
The little girl lifted up a tray of cookies and showed it to Liam, "Big brother, do you want a cookie?" The girl looked way too adorable. She kept brushing her wild golden locks out of the way of her eyes and flashed a cute smile.
"Thank you," Liam said as he crouched next to her. "What is your name?" He smiled and poked the cheeks of the doll-like girl.
Despite having her world turned upside down, the little girl showed no signs of distress. This was the resilience of children.
Liam couldn't help but remember when Mei Mei was around the same age, and she used to hug him and shower him with kisses when he was sad or upset.
Since then, a lot of things have changed. He sighed softly as he poked her again and stood up. He needed to find Derek soon.
"Mr. Liam, here are some reports. I gathered information about everyone currently residing here and put their details together. We have also assigned ourselves day to day tasks that need to be done, so everything runs smoothly."
"Thank you." Liam nodded and accepted the thick binder.
Now he understood the reason behind everything getting sorted out so quickly. It was Lily who had been working hard to make sure that everyone was taken care of and that the new base was functioning well.
Liam was impressed by her dedication and efficiency, "Thank you for doing this, and if someone doesn't listen to you, feel free to bring it up to me or Alex or any of the other main members."
"Ok." Lily nodded. She then did not linger around and proceeded to continue with her work as usual.
Liam gazed at her name, which was also in the report, and saw that she had worked as a secretary for a surgeon. "No wonder she is good with administrative stuff."
Taking a bite of the cookie, he then walked over to the table where a few trays of hot food were being served buffet style. They were well-cooked and looked delicious, with an inviting aroma.
Liam picked up a plate and helped himself to some food. Surprisingly, there were portion sizes written down for each dish, and from the looks of it, a person wasn't supposed to take more than what was allowed.
"Wow. She has really taken care of every little detail." Liam praised the young woman. He made a plate for himself and walked out to the garden, waiting for his minions to be assembled.
He had barely taken a bite when another person called for him. Alex looked shocked as she ran towards Liam, her generous chest bouncing as she did.
"Liam, huff! What the hell, huff. Just how many minions do you have now?" She spoke, looking completely baffled. "Your minions are everywhere in the city. They are totally running amok! What is going on?"
Liam smiled. The numbers were indeed intimidating, but there were heavy limitations. "They are quite a few in number, but they are pretty much useless. They are very weak in actual combat. I can only use them for menial tasks like this."
Alex sighed, shaking her head. What Liam said was not wrong, but he left out a crucial detail. With time, even these were going to be strong enough!
Interrupting the two of them, five trucks roared loudly, arriving outside the hotel one after the other. "Huh? What is this?" Alex turned to observe the vehicles. Were the police or military back for more so soon?
"Don't worry. These are my guys." Liam calmly answered, continuing to munch on the food.
"Your guys?" Alex blinked.
Soon, she understood what he meant.
One after the other, the drivers of the trucks disembarked. Along with them, some more minions also stepped down.
These guys then started lifting stacks of all sorts of processed beast parts from the back of the truck and brought them over to Liam.
"What in the name of hell…" Alex's eyes widened in shock as she watched these minions at work. She had never seen anything like this before, and she couldn't believe that Liam was actually using his soul minions to do things like this.
"This is incredible," she said to Liam, who was still munching on his food. "I didn't realize you could control so many minions at once, and they can be used for more than just combat."
Liam nodded, swallowing his food. "Yup."
"But what are you planning to do with these?" Alex was confused.
Liam grinned. "I have a plan."
