Damon's Ascension-Chapter 82: Embassy Construction Plans

Damon stepped into the ship’s lounge while being led by Ambrose, the doors sliding open with a soft hiss. The room was sleek and comfortable, filled with furniture that seemed to mold itself to the shape of whoever sat down, while a large window stretched across one wall, giving a breathtaking view of the stars.

Ambrose casually took a seat, crossed his legs, and tapped away on his VQD. Glancing up with a smirk, he quipped, "Finally ready to handle my visa issue, or did humanity run into another existential crisis you need me to fix?"

Damon sat across from him, pulling up his interface with a deadpan look. "Let’s get it over with, before the universe actually does throw me another such type of emergency."

With a few swipes, he navigated to the Galactic Union’s page, which was vastly different from the VR world he had been to before.

As humanity’s Prime Representative, he had the authority to grant temporary and permanent visas for non-humans wanting to reside on Earth, and Ambrose’s application had long been pending as he had put it in the moment Damon put forth the idea, one click later it was approved. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

A soft chime rang from Ambrose’s VQD. He checked it, then grinned. "And just like that, I’m legally allowed to roam your home planet. No more sneaking around as an ’unregistered visitor.’"

Damon gave him a blank look. "You were sneaking around?"

Ambrose coughed. "Let’s not focus on the past."

Damon rolled his eyes at him and moved on. "Let’s just focus on the Human Embassy."

Ambrose leaned back, fingers interlaced behind his head. "Right, last time we talked options. Planetary embassies are the friendliest. Ground-level, approachable, great for first impressions. Orbital ones function as your security blankets, perfect if you’re not exactly brimming with trust for your alien visitors."

He gave a pointed look, then smirked. "As for mobile spacefaring embassies, those are for the big leagues. Lets you show up anywhere in the galaxy with a flag, a smile, and just the right amount of intimidation."

The Vampire Lord clicked a button on the armrest, and a glass of blood appeared with a soft hiss. "So," he added, lifting the glass, "ready to take my advice and build all three, or are you still thinking small?"

Damon had already considered it, but he was discussing it with Ambrose to fill in the missing details for the next step. "I’ll need to purchase construction bots. We don’t have the manpower for this."

Ambrose smirked. "Knew you’d say that."

He tapped on his VQD, pulling up a marketplace link and sending it to Damon. "Check this out, Galactic Tier-3 Construction Drones. Fully automated, AI-controlled, and self-replicating as long as they have materials."

Damon scanned the specs and noted that they were expensive but well worth the investment. "How many will we need?"

"For all three embassies?" Ambrose whistled.

"You’re looking at a few thousand drones, minimum. But they work fast. Run them at full efficiency, and you’ll have the planetary base done in a month, the orbital one in two, and the mobile spacefaring embassy up and running in six."

Damon didn’t hesitate as he made the purchases, watching as about 522.1 million Essence Coins of funds vanished from the human race account. They had a total of around 200 billion from the auction, and the material and technology purchases at Vritu Marketplace were worth around 800 million Essence Coins.

These two large-scale purchases that could cripple any new species on reduced their savings by 0.00065%.

A confirmation pinged back almost instantly as Damon was informed that his delivery was scheduled for within the next six hours.

Ambrose gave an approving nod. "Good. You’re moving fast."

Damon sighed. "We have to, the world isn’t going to wait for us, especially with what you know."

Ambrose nodded empathetically, swirling his drink as he chatted with Damon about the severity of paying for the penalty at later levels while also giving more suggestions and comparisons on how to maximize humanity’s disadvantage into an advantage when, a few hours later, the ship’s alert system chimed.

[Notification: Galactic Tier-3 Construction Drones have arrived. Estimated deployment time: 30 minutes.]

Damon and Ambrose made their way to the docking bay with a shared look and strange smiles on their faces.

As they arrived, the ship’s hangar doors were already opening, revealing several large cargo pods being unloaded by automated arms.

The pods hissed as they depressurized, revealing dozens of humanoid drones standing in neat rows.

One of them stepped forward, and unlike the others, it was bulkier with reinforced plating and a more sophisticated head unit. Its optics flickered as it scanned Damon and Ambrose before speaking in a precise, synthetic voice.

"Designation: Foreman Unit A-01. Are you the project owner, Humanity’s Prime Representative, Damon Arnon?"

Damon nodded. "I am. I asusme you’ve already been provided with the construction parameters?"

"Affirmative. However, some structural specifics require clarification before execution. Shall we begin?" A-01 informed in an emotionless tone.

Damon gestured for it to proceed in a patient manner.

The foreman bot raised a holographic display between them, showing three detailed schematics.

[Planetary Embassy Design – A towering structure planned for construction in the center of the Bermuda Triangle, where a special Essence instance is located. It would serve as the primary diplomatic hub for humans to interact with the embassy and perform various activities as necessary from a distance. As the solar system is off-limits to all visitors minus Ambrose, it is only intended for human use and will not have any visitors whatsoever. The lower levels would be accessible to all human race members, while upper floors would be restricted to officials and personnel.]

[Orbital Embassy Design – A massive station set to be constructed in low Earth orbit. This would act as the primary customs checkpoint, managing all item and good arrivals as well as departures. It would feature docking bays for human ships, security screening, and advanced AI management. Humans can transit from the planet to the orbital base at any time to use any feature of the embassy that connects to the wider galaxy, especially in relation to traveling out of the solar system for excavation, ability hiring, or any other task.]

[Spacefaring Embassy – A fully operational diplomatic vessel, equipped for long-range travel and autonomous operations. Unlike the other two, this one could relocate as needed, making it a flexible diplomatic tool for representing humanity across the galaxy. It will be the main hub for receiving alien visitors who wish to either negotiate for human contracts or ability hiring. Its location will be permanently broadcasted across the quantum network in the universe, and a VR world will be created resembling it for those who cannot make the physical journey.]

The foreman bot spoke after Damon indicated he had read the details. "Planetary construction is most resource-efficient, merely requiring local materials. Orbital assembly is feasible with prefabricated components. The spacefaring model, however, demands specialized materials from off-world sources, which may extend completion time."

Damon folded his arms. "What’s the estimated timeline if we push for maximum efficiency?"

"Planetary embassy: 60 days.

Orbital station: 90 days.

Spacefaring model: 180 days

Everything is subject to material acquisition speed." The foreman bot answered after a short calculation.

Ambrose let out a low whistle. "That’s actually pretty fast, considering the scale."

Damon nodded. "How many drones will be allocated to each project?"

"Recommendation: 40% to planetary, 40% to orbital, and 20% to spacefaring. Redistribution possible based on urgency."

Damon thought for a moment before agreeing. "Proceed with those allocations. I’ll handle material procurement for the spacefaring model separately."

The foreman bot dipped its head slightly. "Acknowledged. Initial deployment will begin immediately."

With that, the construction drones dispersed, some heading for Earth while others prepared to be launched into orbit, indicating that the operation was underway.

Ambrose folded his arms, smirking. "Congratulations, Damon. Humanity is about to have embassies in space."

Damon glanced at the fellow askance. "Is that something special?"

Ambrose rolled his eyes. "Hey, do you think every species is rich like yours? Even we, the Vampires at 28th place, do not have three whole damn embassies. We only have one orbital one and a VR one because they are the cheapest."

Damon was nonchalant, bidding farewell to Ambrose after a short period as he traveled back to Earth, intending to continue the grind for Worldly Essence.

He planned to visit the Pra River instance this time and see if it had any special resources that he could utilize, especially since battles occurred there. Slaughtering a ship full of people was fun, but it simply was not enough, given how much his Worldly Essence needs had shot up.

Still, even as he thought this, Damon tapped his chin thoughtfully, his eyes narrowing. Ambrose had shared with him a simple solution: to use the human race’s money to empower himself, but using Godin’s Trust and Trades to ’buy’ Worldly Essence from VR accounts using the sacrificial method Godin discovered.

Damon did not even need to use money; he could give 1000 units of his Worldly Essence produced from Devour in exchange for 100,000 sacrificial units from VR farm accounts.

After all, his Worldly Essence produced from Devour was far more valuable than sacrificial Worldly Essence. This was because Devour’s produced Worldly Essence could be given to anyone and activate their panel, but the sacrificial one could not.

In fact, Godin would benefit because he could use 1 unit of the 1000 from Damon to awaken 1000 individuals and then fill them up with sacrificial Worldly Essence, allowing those of other species who did not dare enter the Chaos Realm to obtain longer life and power with money rather than effort.

Do you now understand why Bertrand went so crazy and why Godin looked at Talia with boundless hatred?