The Rob's were making good progress, and there were many more buildings for me to explore.

  I'd have to save them for later though, as I was currently preoccupied.

  One of my robotic friends, someone I really should have remembered before now, was a tiny bit bigger than I remember them being.

  Anny, my nano swarm pal, whom I had left completely alone for roughly 16 weeks, was now half the size of the mountain. I shouldn't have expected anything less, since the only task I gave her was to use the Adamantium in the rock to replicate herself, and by God did she do so.

  She looked odd. She was still a sort of glittery goop, but it was entirely white and gold. Yet despite her size, she had barely used any of the raw Adamantium on this side of the mountain.

  "What am I even supposed to do with you?" I muttered while observing the mass of tiny nano machines consume metal and grow.

  I couldn't actually see her grow, since it was so extremely slow, but I could kind of feel it with my Telekinetic senses. While observing the mass of goop, I tried to think about what Anny could do but just drew a blank.

  She was a truly gigantic mass of nano machine goop, something that could technically do quite a lot, but what kind of job would I give her if she were to become self aware?

  Humming, I rubbed my helmets chin in thought.

  "...Whatever she wants to do I guess?" I smiled at the giant goopy mess and nodded to myself.

  'Yeah, that makes sense. When she becomes like Sally-1, I'll let her decide.'

  As long as that choice didn't involve leaving me or the group, I'd be happy about it. That's not to say I'd forcefully keep her here, I would let her go but I wouldn't be happy about it is all.

  In the meantime, I had a job for Sally-1. The new buildings, and most of the center piece, were pretty much completely empty furniture wise. While I won't be filling all of the homes with furniture, I definitely need to fill most of the lobby's and what not.

  This isn't something that's strictly needed, but I'm getting really tired of the bland empty places. It makes me feel alone.

  I had tried to hang out with Fraya and Xyke a few times, but they were always busy. Now that the Guild was getting some recognition, they didn't have the time. There's also this indescribable feeling that we're not that close. We're definitely on friendly terms, but I don't think it's quite at the true friendship stage yet.

  The same can be said about Sally-1. I had called us friends, but she remains distant. I don't blame her though. I had called myself her boss as well, and she has been nothing short of professional. Okay, that's a lie. She's been professional in the way a very senior and indispensable employee is. A casual professional, while also being a bit snarky at times.

  It didn't take long for me to connect the dots that she saw my speech about friendship either childish or some kind of company slogan. Something lame like "We're a family!" or whatever slop corporations use.

  I could go to a station and try to make friends, but it's the same there too. No real connections.

  Thankfully, for some reason, something is keeping my negative emotions at bay. Though I feel like if I didn't have it, I would break down on the spot. Not a panic attack or anything like that, but a soft depression. Or a hard one. I wouldn't know, since I can't feel it all that much. I just get the slightest hint to what I should be feeling.

  Alone.

  Ignoring that though, I feel pretty damn good. So I knock with a flourish on the lab door and walk inside.

  "How is my most favorite employee doing this fine day?" Putting on the typical 'I am the boss' facade, I placed both of my hands on my hips as I stood with confidence.

  "Heh, well you are in luck! I need someone to buy some nice furniture and have it placed in these empty buildings. You don't have to fill every room, but they need something."

  Thinking back on my horrible sense of decoration, I give her a thumbs up.

  "We don't have a company card, So I'll just give you a bunch of funds."

  "Sally-1, that's the point. I don't care if you buy something for yourself. Here, just take this and tell me where you want to go for shopping. Ah, do try to keep the vibe luxurious but besides that, go nuts." I rolled my eyes despite knowing she couldn't see my face, and I sent her a nice sum of 2 billion Shop Points.

  Sally-1 didn't reply but her camera swivel thing twisted to the left and right. She had just shaken her head at me. Cool.

  I got an image of the same place she went to last time and I sent her on her way.

  ...

  --------- Sally-1 ---------

  My boss was in the simplest terms, a naive idiot.

  He was going to allow me to buy something for myself? Then I would do just that.

  "Oh, it's you again! What would you like this time?" The same clerk from the last time I was here asked as I wheeled up.

  While I had the funds for every piece of knowledge in this universe, I also had to have some money for a lot of fancy furniture. However, this is a wonderous opportunity to get a raise. An additional task being added amongst the previous is a good indicator that an employee is being tested for a promotion.

  Of course, this could also be a way to see if the employee will do extra work for no extra pay. Az was too nice for that though, so I'm sure I'll get a raise after this.

  "Of course! That'll be 40 million SP." The clerks voice made me freeze up slightly.

  'That much? That's a huge sum. Decorating is worth 2.67% of the entire fucking universes knowledge?'

  "Well, for an AI things like art or subjective meaning is a very difficult thing to understand. If we just gave you the know how for what makes a room look good, you wouldn't know why it looks good. So to save you time from being confused, we include things like all of art and color theory. Basically everything you would need to know why something is considered pleasing or beautiful. Which is quite a lot actually." The clerk nodded in understanding.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  That made sense. It was a major size difference from the previous download.

  The clerk nodded and I made the purchase with company funds.

  It was pricier than I was hoping, but it would be worth it. Entering a private booth, I settled in for what would be an inevitably longer download, and went to sleep.

  ...

  I woke up 3 hours later.

  Feeling around the new downloaded knowledge, I confirmed that it was much, much bigger than the Identification.

  It was not just a collection of art and how to make it, but of every currently known species versions of art. Doing a deep dive through the species list in under a second, something bothered me.

  There was no Human side of art.

  'Did Humans not do the whole art thing?' But digging deeper through the knowledge showed that with every piece of art made by other species, Humans were not depicted once.

  Not until very recently, and they were pieces showcasing the power of a Human.

  A painting that screamed of fire and fear as a creature floated above a ruined planet. A halo of death surrounding it.

  That feeling of wrongness grew as I checked the name and description of the painting.

  'Human. The Dark Lord Azurath, child of the void and atomic fire.'

  It was a painting of my boss.

  'Could he do this? Did he?' My new knowledge came with bits of other species. Things like who they are and some of their history. History focused on art, but it was history.

  Another dive through it showed me that there was just a listing for Human, but it was mostly empty. It contained a single file labeled 'Videos and Images'. Within that folder was a few scarce things. A video showing that my boss did in fact use some odd ring of death to destroy an abandoned world with it cutting to him on board a station and being chewed out, which I found very funny, and also a few images of him just walking around some places. A station here, an amusement park there.

  It was interesting, but it only made my boss even more confusing.

  What the hell is a Human?

  ...

  --------- Greg ---------

  I got a message from Sally-1 about 3 hours after her first stop, and it didn't take long before she was off to a different station.

  Apparently there was one designated just to fancy furniture. Though it was super far away and mega expensive. Not that it mattered to us, so I let her go.

  It took around 12 hours for her to get back to me, so I finished up the Dungeon I was running and Gated back to the city.

  "Welcome back! How did it go?" I watched as Sally-1 wheeled up to me.

  I had Gated us directly into the main lobby of the center building. Which I was thinking about naming it my building, since I was the only one that lived here. My building in my city. Terrible name.

  "...Custom furniture? For each room? Can we do that?" My brows furrowed as I thought about it.

  I was all for it, but it didn't sound possible.

  "Well, that's true. Alright then! I'll leave it in your capable hands." I nodded to her, but before I could leave I got a message.

  "Huh, yeah I guess you do need one. Alright, how about doubling your salary? 100 million every 2 months is around 68,332 Shop Points per hour?" I nodded some more, and I felt like a chicken at this point.

  "No? I trust you did well. I'll let you get back to work, which is..." Shit, what did I have her do in the lab again? Was it really only Parabox research?

  Sally-1 thankfully figured something out for her to do, so I gave her a big smile and thumbs up. She didn't see it though, as she was already rolling away.

  It was an incredible feeling to have such an amazing subordinate. It gave me time to do...

  More Dungeons.

  Fuck.

  ...

  --------- Sally-1 ---------

  I was pleased.

  I had assumed my boss would agree easily, but I didn't know it would be that easy. It was almost anticlimactic.

  He must of known I was due as well, since this upcoming task was going to be most difficult.

  This city, while huge and beautifully made, was empty. There were no residents, nor was it made for any one species in mind. It's simply a city. Or the shell of one.

  Furniture, especially the fancy and comfortable kind, was designed with the species in mind. I had no clue what I was going to do about that, since no one lived here but my boss.

  And Human isn't exactly a known species. What is the plural for Human anyway? Humani? I'd have to ask Az later.

  My best bet would be to make Furniture for the species where they would likely go to reside in. There were many parks, so I will first go to the residences nearest to the parks. Design some furniture for one species that love nature for one home, then change it up for a different nature aspected species per floor.

  Thankfully it was easy enough to design. I'd open a door, wander in, design everything for the room in mere seconds, and package the data in a neatly labeled folder for the door number, floor, and building. All done by the time I'm back in the hall.

  So I spent several hours doing that, and I rather enjoyed the process. It takes a lot for an AI to get bored, at least when compared to my boss. He seems to get bored easily. However, doing the same Identification job for months on items was starting to grate on me. This was an excellent change of pace.

  It only took a few days before I was out of nature aspected housing options. Any further and the species would be too far to like it. Which lead to me now doing basic housing. Places where most species could live. These were less interesting than the last, but they were still fun.

  This took much longer to finish, and I had remain in the inner ring as the Rob's had finished another ring while I was working, but I was now at the lower floors. Or the basement levels as my boss calls them.

  Whoever designed it was smart enough to know that species who would be living underground as a luxury option would be those who like living underground. So it was dark. Very dark.

  The building had power, since every building had a mana reactor somewhere in them, so the lights were just off. Though even when on, they didn't do much to the darkness. As this is a species comfortable zone.

  Judging by the level of light provided when they were 'on' made it easy enough to figure out who would most enjoy the space. As the floors went further down, the lights got dimmer. Eventually there weren't any lights, but I could see just fine. While it was dark, it wasn't dirty. It was just as luxurious as the rest of the building.

  Only thing I had to worry about was the TV, as all rooms so far had one. In such a dark place as this, even the dimmest screens might be too much. Oh well, we have the money so we'll provide one but if a resident doesn't want to use it we'll remove it.

  Minor issue solved, I continued to design and move deeper.

  ...

  ...And deeper.

  ...

  How deep is this place?

  I've run out of rooms to decorate, except some that seemed to be employee break rooms, but this is just a maze of tunnels now.

  Exiting a door, the sight made me pause. A wide tunnel, dim lights hanging on the ceiling several hundred feet up in the air, and a street light changing from red to green despite it being desolate.

  'Wait... This isn't a maze. The layout matches exactly with the surface roads and paths.' It wasn't some utility zone, though it could certainly be treated as such, but as a complete city underneath the first one.

  Still empty of residents, but it was interesting nonetheless. There were a few Rob's down here, making the space larger and the 'road' go further out. Since it was still incomplete, along with the rest of the city, I could see the massive stone wall where they were carving out more space.

  The Rob's were filling in the old mines with another city. It was incredible. No space would go to waste this way, and it stabilizes the ground above us. Hell, the ground couldn't even be considered ground anymore. Just another part of the web of buildings. Tunnels ran under the streets and sidewalks, and they were not sewers but fully fleshed out hallways. Instead of parks there were left over chasms of the mines, the rocks carved to look like a natural cave.

  I only knew the cave parks were not real caves was because of the Rob's uploading detailed progress reports to the city's network. Though it's not so much a network as it is just a massive collection of AI drones working in close enough proximity that it makes a pseudo internet connection or cloud.

  It gets the job done though.

  Which reminds me of my job.

  The job that I have to design furniture for most housing and buildings... Along with this new found second city.

  ...

  I'm going to need more company funds.