With a flash of white light, Yang Hui, Sumeragi, Wang Liu Mei, Graham, Setsuna, Lyle, and Tieria found themselves in a completely unfamiliar place. It appeared to be inside a massive building, filled with a sense of futuristic technology, but everything was still inactive, with only emergency dim lights flickering.
"Mephis, are you there?"
[Yes, Commander, welcome to Prometheus Fortress.]
A pleasant female voice echoed around them. As soon as she finished speaking, the lights suddenly turned on, the bright light causing everyone to close their eyes. When they opened them again, they could finally see what kind of place they were in. It resembled a hall from several centuries into the future, with pure white metallic walls outlined in golden lines, grand, luxurious, and elegant. Numerous projection panels were placed on the walls and floor, but they only displayed various garbled codes.
At the same time, a holographic image of a woman appeared before them. Her pure white hair reached her waist, and an unknown style of white bodysuit accentuated her curvaceous figure. A pair of fiery red star-like eyes seemed to burn with passionate flames, yet her face bore no expression, resembling an iceberg—truly a contrast of ice and fire.
"Are you Mephis?" Yang Hui asked.
[Yes, nice to meet you, Commander, and everyone. I am Mephis, the Intelligent Terminal AI of Prometheus Fortress.]
"Please introduce us to the current status of Prometheus Fortress."
[Please follow me.]
The group followed Mephis's projection out of the hall, and the sight that greeted them left them in shock.
"This... is this Prometheus Fortress?"
"Hey? Are you kidding?"
"Is this the interlayer of space?"
"The battle situation is too devastating."
When they saw the scenery outside the door, they were first stunned, and then a single phrase popped into their minds—what the hell!
They discovered that aside from the area they were in, which was a complete building and floating land, there was nothing else. Even the ground only extended a few steps from the entrance, with the rest being an abyss-like void, surrounded by numerous fragments of ruins, as if an entire continent had been inexplicably shattered by some force.
"Isn't this... nothing at all?" Yang Hui complained, mouth agape.
[Yes, Commander, I mentioned that aside from the central hall, everything else in Prometheus Fortress self-destructed.]
"But this is too..." Yang Hui wanted to complain further but ultimately gave up. Rather than waste breath complaining, it was better to get down to business. "...Forget it, how do I rebuild the other areas?"
[Follow me.]
Mephis led them back to the central hall, taking the innermost elevator directly to the top floor, where she introduced the detailed functions of the central hall.
[The central hall is the core of Prometheus Fortress, functioning similarly to a command tower. The first floor is the service hall, where fortress members can accept tasks, submit tasks, contribute resources, exchange resources, and more. The second to fifth floors are departmental bases, such as the intelligence department, staff department, and the general operations conference room. The sixth to ninth floors are exclusive ports and hangars for the commander and high-ranking members of the fortress. The tenth to twelfth floors are residential areas for high-ranking members, and the top floor, the thirteenth floor, is the commander's living area.
The residential area is not limited to rooms; it can extend infinitely as a small space, allowing the owner to arrange it according to their preferences. Of course, aside from the commander, all arrangements require spending reward points, and the specifics of reward points and additional tasks will be explained once the commander upgrades the central hall to unlock more functions.
At the same time, the commander has the highest authority over the operation panel.]
As she spoke, a massive holographic projection appeared in the empty room, depicting Prometheus Fortress. The central hall floated alone, surrounded by numerous plus signs, and there was also an upward arrow on the central hall.
"Hmm?" Yang Hui clicked on the plus sign in front of the central hall, and another panel popped up, displaying options for production area, research area, trading area, entertainment area, residential area, mining area, military area, and port, each corresponding to a construction opportunity and some unfamiliar resource quantities.
At that moment, Yang Hui finally understood what the task rewards he had received earlier were for; it turned out that construction opportunities and building enhancement opportunities existed solely for Prometheus Fortress.
"What are these resources? Where do they come from?" Yang Hui asked.
[The three types of resources are Void Gold, Aether Gas, and Chaos Crystal.]
Upon hearing these three names, Yang Hui and the others felt overwhelmed. Were these things even understandable to them? Not to mention that they didn't exist on Earth, they probably wouldn't exist in other worlds either.
Mephis ignored their bewildered expressions and continued, [...The three types of resources can be harvested from the mining area, and the quantity harvested is related to the number and level of the mining areas. Construction opportunities and building enhancement opportunities can only be obtained from task rewards.]
Understood, so resources were secondary; the most important thing was the construction opportunities and building enhancement opportunities. Therefore, every time they executed a task, they had to do their best to better develop Prometheus Fortress.
"So what's with this overwhelming sense of déjà vu?" Yang Hui lamented. He recalled some games he had played in his past life; this model was almost identical. He really wanted to ask the creator of Prometheus Fortress if they were also a traveler from Blue Star like him.
"How should the high-ranking members of the fortress be set up?"
Mephis remained silent, but a new panel popped up in front of Yang Hui. At first glance, he knew how to operate it. It was almost identical to the guild system in online games from his past life, just more detailed. Below the commander, it extended like a tree diagram, with one vice commander, one intelligence chief, one fleet commander, one chief of staff...
"Are these positions fixed?"
[The commander can make changes.]
Hearing this, Yang Hui nodded. As long as it wasn't a completely rigid rule, it would be fine. As the number of members in Prometheus Fortress increased, these positions would surely not be enough; there were simply too many outstanding talents.
"Alright, now tell me how to travel to other worlds."
[The interval for world tasks is one month. The commander can enter the task world in advance. Regardless of how long the commander spends in the task world, time in Prometheus Fortress will remain fixed at one week.]
"So, no matter how long we stay in other worlds, when we return to Prometheus Fortress, only a week will have passed, right?"
[Correct.]
"Then how is the task world determined?"
[It is randomly selected from the database, and the current accompanying personnel are also randomly selected from the commander's direct team. The selection will change only after the commander upgrades the central hall to unlock higher permissions.]
"Ah!?"
This revelation left everyone dumbfounded. Random selection of personnel? What were they even doing here? If they had bad luck and weren't selected, wouldn't they waste a week in Prometheus Fortress, praying to be chosen for the next task?
"Yang Hui, it seems upgrading the central hall is of utmost importance," Sumeragi said.
"Yeah, let's first understand all the situations clearly, then hold a meeting to determine the next steps."
"Mm."
Subsequently, everyone began to voice their doubts, and Mephis was very diligent, answering each question in detail.
Among the most important issues was their lifespan. After all, even though only a week had passed in Prometheus Fortress, they would have genuinely spent years or even decades in other worlds. This meant that if Yang Hui went to execute a task, he might return as an old man, while Sumeragi and the others would still be as beautiful as ever, which would be quite awkward.
Moreover, rebuilding Prometheus Fortress was a massive project that could not be completed in the short term.
However, they received a perfect answer: after becoming members of Prometheus Fortress, their ages would be fixed. Children would only grow to a maximum of 25 years before stopping, and elderly individuals would return to their youth upon entry. Although their physical age would grow while in the task world, that was merely superficial. As long as they didn't die in battle or from illness, even if their appearance resembled that of a hundred-year-old, their bodies would still retain the functions of their younger selves.
They also received their respective panels. For example, Graham's MS piloting skill was B-, while Setsuna, Lyle, and Tieria all had C+. They also had unique skills, such as Sumeragi's [Tactical Forecaster]—which accelerated brain function when analyzing intelligence and formulating plans; and Wang Liu Mei's [Super Spy]—which significantly reduced the chances of being discovered during espionage missions, among others.
Although there were many aspects to criticize, it was still a relatively reasonable approach. Moreover, being able to remain youthful meant that Sumeragi, Wang Liu Mei, and the future influx of female members would have no objections.
After understanding the necessary information, Yang Hui first set the permissions for everyone. For instance, he directly appointed Sumeragi as the vice commander and Wang Liu Mei as the intelligence chief, then raised several others to the highest permissions, allowing them to arrange their rooms first. They would reconvene in half an hour.
Sumeragi and Wang Liu Mei naturally did not need separate rooms. After symbolically asking Yang Hui for suggestions, they happily went to arrange their new rooms together. Meanwhile, Yang Hui stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the ruins and void outside, feeling contemplative.
"Heh, I never expected I would have such an experience. Originally, being reborn into the Gundam OO world was already quite bizarre." Yang Hui shook his head with a bitter smile, reflecting on the unpredictability of life. He had gone from being a slacker living off others to unexpectedly crossing into the Gundam OO world, piloting his favorite Gundam, finding an excellent fiancée, and experiencing passionate and intense battles.
Little did he know that in the blink of an eye, he could travel to even more worlds and was forced to bear significant responsibilities.
"Mephis, why me?" Yang Hui asked. He didn't believe this was a random selection. What if a commander with distorted values was chosen? Prometheus Fortress might become a fortress of a great demon without needing any other positions to defend against enemies.
[The world where the commander originally resided was invaded by [Insufficient Permissions]. The database conducted filtering, analysis, and calculations, determining that the commander was the most suitable candidate. The existence of Prometheus Fortress is not for a single civilization, but for the balance of all universes.]
"Blue Star was invaded? So the white light I saw earlier..." That was Yang Hui's last memory of Blue Star.
[As the commander guessed.]
"Alright, I have one more question. If... I fail a task, or if I become a villainous character, what will happen?"
[In the event of a task failure, I will leave the commander and reselect a test subject.]
"Okay, I'm really glad I grew up under the red flag as a good youth. But..." Saying this, Yang Hui brought up the personnel permission panel and clicked on the option he had previously hidden from Mephis—Commander's Heir.
"...Set Sumeragi Lee Noriega as the commander's heir. If anything happens to me, she will be your new commander."
[Completed.]
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