Arriving at the first floor of the Base, Jean was reminded of how long this war had been dragged on. He harbored doubts of their victory over the Zirtues almost everyday, but the people didn't, so he must push forward, despite how hopeless.
He was then dropped on the floor with a thud by Erika, who brushed off her hands and went deeper into the center of the first floor.
Standing up, he looked around with a sense of both relief and sadness. This Base was created to house about twenty million people, with fifty floors, each floor being fifty meters tall. Everything was made with materials from numerous Zirtues, of which had abilities related to unshaking, unbreaking, unbending and the like, and so it could withstand the full extent of a Crab-II's strength, not that he would ever want it to happen. Its size was what made it so depressing, since only four thousand people lived here, at best.
The first floor didn't have much usage, aside from being the go-to place for meetings and a space for people's rooms. The whole floor was made with everyone in mind, so it was not strange to see massive arrows leading to a room sometimes, those arrows were meant for one member in particular.
Jean's face grimaced, remembering about that person, however, he had better things to do right now, primarily: get healed, and to do that, he must go even further down, to the twenty-fifth floor.
Going back inside the elevator, it read his mind and immediately started descending. Despite having fifty floors, they only served four main purposes: housing, trading, healing and researching.
The first twelve floors were used for housing but they weren't really used in an optimal way, leaving seven floors unused, not exactly abandoned but they aren't exactly maintained well either.
The next ten are used for trading, be it food, drinks or even Zirtue parts. There was a significant disadvantage to not using an established currency but at the very least it was functional.
Then the next twelth floors were used for healing. Jean felt that there was also a way for these floors to be optimised even further, seeing as how there were seven unused floors. The reason for this feeling of his was the fact that, after healing, the people tend to spend a lot of time recuperating, taking up a lot of the available floor space.
'But that was in the past.'
The Base used to house more than a dozen people, so these worries of his applied quite well then, but still quite flawed. After a while, Jean just gave up on thinking about it, maybe he was just tired of taking this awfully slow elevator.
Thinking that, the door suddenly opened and he was suddenly face-to-face with a woman who seemed to be waiting to get on the elevator. Her shoulders twitched a little, then she turned back and tried to run, however
"Where are you going, Aceso?"
"Ah! Sir Jean, I didn't se—"
"Just get me healed up."
Aceso reluctantly agreed to heal him and then began walking towards a certain direction. Zirtue attacks were getting more common these past few years, so most of the rooms were occupied.
Opening a white door that revealed a white room with nothing but a white table in its center. Jean walked forward and laid in it. Looks could be decieving as the table was very comfortable.
'As though made of pillows.'
Seeing as how Aceso hadn't come in, it seemed she was still preparing tools, well for her recovery, not Jean's. A while later, Aceso walked inside and arrived at Jean's side, she bent down and scrutinised him head to toe.
After she was done, she asked:
"Uh, you sure you need healing, sir Jean?"
"Yes, why do you ask?"
Aceso stared at him for a while, not saying anything, then she looked at his arms, body, and legs, then spoke:
"Because, my eyes don't see any injuries, internal and external."
"Oh, then I guess I don't need healing then."
"Okay, sir, then get out, I also need to make a trip to the lowest floor."
Jean nodded and did just that. He didn't doubt the words of the best healer they currently had in the Base, no, in the whole Union even. Similar to Zirtues, humans could also have abilities—due to the work of Erika, however theirs were a little bit different from that of the Zirtue's.
A Zirtue's ability was condensed into a solid mass of what we called a 'core'. By taking that core and infusing it into different things, the things would have the abilities of the core. That was the theory of Erika's work, however, in practice, there were a million things to consider: the stability of the core itself, the purity of the core, the density... The surroundings also came into play.
But once successful, the human themself would not have a core present in their body, instead, their whole body would become the core. Another thing was that, because the size of the core is much larger, the strength of the ability had the potential to be as strong as its size.
Thinking about it kinda hurt Jean's head, stepping out the door, he then heard Aceso calling out for him.
"Wait!"
"Hm?"
"Did Erika inform you of the meeting?"
"She in fact, did not."
"Oh yeah, so there's a meeting in two hours, be there on time."
"Alright."
These meetings were not really anything grave or serious, they were essentially Erika's way of informing the members of things they had not yet known and to collect and compile information given to her by the members.
'Wait, hold on, aren't meetings usually like this?'
Then, armed with more information, the members would relay that information back to their group members.
'...yeah, that's just a normal meeting.'
The meeting was joined by twelve people and one Erika. These twelve people were the crème de la crème of this Base. Eleven—all twelve except Jean—of them managed a few hundred people, more than that and they would have to select vice-leaders, which was a daunting task.
Not that Jean would know, since he led and managed no one. After the awful long time waiting in the elevator. He finally returned to the first floor. He quickly dashed to his room.
The door to his room was huge, with a sign that read 'Jean'. Opening the door, he was met with a black, lightless void.
'I'm going to take a nap, what's the worst that could happen?'
Jumping into the middle of the room, he landed on a soft mattress that was also entirely black. Behind him, the door automatically closed, making the room pure darkness.
'Where's my notebook again?'
***
Somewhere inside the center of the first floor, a meeting was currently being held with 11 people present. Ten were sitting, while one was standing looking at a projection on the whiteboard, she then spoke:
"Aceso, I thought you told me you had told Jean to come."
Aceso remained silent for a little while, looking at the door, eventually turning back and answering:
"I'm sure I told him before I went to check on Tyche."
"Vexxing."
Then, another voice made themself heard:
"Can't we just start the meeting now, miss Erika?"
He was Xander, he commanded the defensive lines of this Base, he and Aceso were newer to this Base than the other members here, as both were in the Americas before it got infestrated by Crab-types, but their strength and abilities are guaranteed.
Erika slowly shook her head.
"No, there is something that concerns both Andre, and the Rogues. Jean should be present to hear all this."
Hearing the word Rogue, all the members in the room suddenly had a sad look on their face, except two. Rogues were what Jean called people who didn't fight against the Zirtues, they were meant to come up with a new name later but the term stuck.
Then, the door to the room opened, revealing a towering and colossal figure, one with white hair and a massive scar running sideways from his mouth.
"You're late, Jean."
"Thank you for waiting."
Jean went inside and closed the door behind him, quickly found himself a seat, sat down and the meeting quickly started.