"Yes, here, and here, break through directly for me, and then expand the space!"
Inside Firelink Shrine, Xia Yu was directing robots to help him renovate the place. Some illogical walls and stairs were being smashed to pieces and repaved.
The artificial intelligence little red's suggestion was that this place was already set in its form, so haphazardly renovating it could easily lead to a collapse. It would be better to carve out new spaces to rebuild.
Hearing this suggestion, Xia Yu thought it made sense, so he decided to simply hollow out the space beneath Firelink Shrine.
When the time came, the main structure would be built underground, the top would be slightly repaired, and then an elevator to each floor would be installed; it wouldn't take up much space.
Anyway, with a reaction furnace as an energy source, he could place a light source every meter, making the underground facilities even brighter than the outside.
Since it was his own place to rest, he could mistreat anyone but himself.
You should know that before he could renovate Firelink Shrine, whenever he wanted to rest, he would run directly to other worlds. This Dark Souls World didn't even have a place where one could sleep peacefully.
Rumble—
Robots with different roles tirelessly expanded the underground space. The uppermost ground had already been reinforced with alloys, so there was no need to worry about collapse.
The people outside the Shrine heard the bursts of roaring from within and all wanted to go in and see what was happening, but Xia Yu had informed them in advance that they couldn't enter for the time being. This left them to aimlessly guess what Xia Yu was doing.
Moreover, the roaring sounded quite dangerous. If they went in rashly and encountered danger, what would they do?
This wait lasted for a long time.
There is no sunrise or sunset in the Dark Souls III World, only an eternal, unchanging twilight. Time has no meaning here, so although everyone could feel the passage of time, they didn't know how much had passed.
They only knew that the roaring continued, changing from being particularly loud at the beginning to an occasional bang now, followed by other strange sounds.
Until all the noise stopped, Xia Yu finally appeared wearing a suit of dusty work clothes, followed by three ordinary robots.
"I'm finished, everyone can come in now," Xia Yu called out, standing at the entrance of the Shrine.
The three robots also stepped forward, lifting the immobile Ludleth and the old handmaid who didn't want to move, while the remaining one supported the little nun, Irina.
Following that, under Xia Yu's greeting, everyone once again stepped into the brand-new Firelink Shrine.
"Where is... this?"
Hawkwood's dejected voice was full of astonishment. He rubbed his eyes, but the scenery before him told him he wasn't hallucinating.
The originally gloomy Firelink Shrine had now completely changed its appearance.
The tattered steps had disappeared, replaced by matte metal stairs, and strange objects he had never seen before were placed all around.
No, rather than strange, it was more like they were out of place; everything here was incompatible with the world he knew.
The candles that previously served as light sources were long gone, yet the Shrine remained warm and bright.
Feeling this sunlight-like warm glow, Hawkwood squinted at the light source, but the piercing brightness made it impossible for him to see clearly.
The only things that hadn't changed were the five giant thrones for the Lords of Cinder and the bonfire in the center with the Coiled Sword thrust into it.
"What kind of magic is this?" he murmured.
"This is technology!" Xia Yu showed everyone the newly renovated Firelink Shrine.
"Technology? What is technology?" Orbeck reached out toward the light source. "I don't feel any traces of magic, yet it emits such warm light."
Orbeck spoke the thoughts of everyone present. None of them were ordinary people, but faced with everything so radically different from the Soul World, they even felt a bit at a loss.
"This is just the beginning. Come on, the real surprises are further in."
Housekeeping robots that had been waiting to the side immediately stepped forward, guiding everyone to tour the new Firelink Shrine one by one.
These robots had already been programmed with the language and script of the Soul World, so there was no fear of a language barrier.
"Ashen One, did you do all of this?"
The Fire Keeper, who was at the very back, stepped forward and came to Xia Yu's side.
"What? Is it all so hard to believe?" Xia Yu smiled, taking the Fire Keeper's small hand and walking forward. "After all, this place is home to me. It's only normal to dress up one's home a bit."
Xia Yu walked at the very back with the Fire Keeper, while the others followed the robots ahead. Even for those who were blind, the robots would explain things in their ears.
Looking at the various expressions on everyone's faces, a strange sense of accomplishment suddenly welled up in Xia Yu's heart.
The Firelink Shrine in the original game, while having a bit of warmth, couldn't hide the lifelessness of it all.
The Fire Keeper sat blankly, the blacksmith hammered at weapons that would never be perfectly forged, and the old handmaid reminisced about who knows what.
The thief slumped in a corner counting stolen loot, Cautious Gray Heart Brother sat on the steps recalling the past, and Ludleth silently endured the burning of the flames.
Reality was not a game; there was only dead silence and misery.
That was why he always maintained a silly personality, because that way, he wouldn't be assimilated by this decaying silence. But merely maintaining himself wasn't what he wanted.
He wanted to break this silence; he wanted everything to develop in a better direction. He temporarily lacked the ability to change the decaying world, but he could change the decaying people.
He didn't know what the final outcome would be, but at least he changed the process, changing that Firelink Shrine where there was no salvation, yet no death either.
"Thank you, Ashen One..."
The Fire Keeper silently tightened her grip on Xia Yu's hand. To this, Xia Yu said nothing, but continued leading her to tour the changed Firelink Shrine.
The tour left everyone dumbstruck with surprise. Even the Fire Keeper, who usually didn't show her emotions, was so shocked she didn't know what to say.
Everything here exceeded their understanding; in their cursed, long lives, it was the first time they had seen such things.
Shrine Underground Facility, Tenth Floor.
This was a KTV Xia Yu had arranged for the robots to build, specifically for everyone to relax.
Looking at the multicolored disco ball lights, Orbeck's eyes were vacant as he murmured, "This... this is the true magic."
He was a frantic seeker of knowledge. Because Lothric had the Grand Archives, the holy land of scholars, he had traveled thousands of miles from the Dragon Academy to Lothric.
But at this moment, he suddenly saw something even more fascinating than those spells, this new magic called "technology."
Clearly there were no fluctuations of mana, yet it could emit warm light, and that small box could play different songs. All of this was so fascinating.
"Don't be in a hurry, today is for relaxing. Teacher Orbeck, there will be plenty of time for you to study technology."
Xia Yu stepped forward and patted Orbeck's shoulder, then laughingly gave Hawkwood a push, saying, "Come on, Cautious Gray Heart Brother, give us a performance, do some breakdancing."
Hawkwood: "..."
What a sin. Why did this Ashen One always want him to breakdance? Speaking of which, what on earth was breakdancing anyway! A dance? But he didn't know how to dance either.