"I see you didn't slack off!"

Just as the Gabriel finished listing out the names for me, I hear yet another, familiar voice appearing in my head.

Bonger! You woke up! How are you feeling?

"Had better times, but I'm okay now. So, you got your first residents already? While it's commendable by itself, I expected that you would bring more of them right away with that hasty nature of yours!"

It was good to hear the ironic Bonger remarks once again. While the time it was asleep wasn't as long as to make me worried, it didn't change the fact that without him, I didn't feel like as wholesome as I used to feel!

Should I expect any changes in you? Or was your sleep just for the sake of regeneration?

"It was mostly for the regeneration sake, but I don't need to follow the notification procedure anymore. As for the sleeping thing, did you realise that just by staying in the small world, your body is nourished by its energy? This is one of the reasons I woke up way earlier than I expected!"

Seriously? Doesn't that affect the energy limit of the stronghold energy?

"It should not. Just like in your old world, if you were to deposit the money into the bank and use only the dividends, it wouldn't affect the money in your main account. From what I saw when I woke up, bringing more people from the outside will also increase the limit of the stronghold, while expanding this dimension for every person, depending on their personal strength. On that note, as the population will grow internally, the overall energy available for them will continue to dilute, so you should bear that in mind when bringing new people!"

Well, that was given. Supplying something from the outside had to work in a different way than internal expansion. But so far, the time difference between the small world and the outside one was only two to one, so it would be hard to see any power struggle appearing between new and old residents with only one generation difference!

Speaking of which, do you know if the flow of time changes with the growth of the dimension as well?

"I think so, but you need to bring more people for me to make sure. So far, either it didn't happen at all, or the change was too small for me to notice. After all, it's not like I can properly measure the time in both of the places at once!"

That's true. Anyway, I need to deal with those men and get going to get their families. We will talk more on the way.

While our entire exchange took a few seconds at most, the fact that I was just staying there with my expression changing almost instantly as new emotions surged through my mind over the course of my debate with Bonger, had to be a bizarre look in itself.

"Okay then. Before I go, do you have any requests? Like, do you need water? Timber? Food? I can go fetch it from my storage right now or try to improve this place a bit. Also, the journey by itself will seem a lot longer than it will be in reality, so don't be worried if it will take me a day or two to get back."

Since it could take me even an entire day or longer to get back to the island, find the required people and maybe someone else if there was enough space in the boat, and go back, there would be at least two days that they could spend on working on this place.

While it was nice and tranquil, there was a dire need for some housing and at least deciding how far the farmlands would stretch in the current size of the small world! As long as it was only a matter of resources, I could at least provide them with it!

"It would be awesome if we could get some wood and skins or leather to make proper tents for our families, but looking at the amount of the animals roaming this place, I don't think we should even think about curbing their numbers yet."

With Gabriel automatically assuming the position of the leader, the task of managing this place turned far easier for me than I assumed it would be. For as long as I could get a single person to submit all the requests and take care of maintaining any laws that I would impose on them, I could just stay in the higher levels of the towers and sip on the evergrowing energy limit!

"Okay then, I will go check what I can do. Just on the side note, you are allowed to reside in this place only. It would be insanely hard to let you into the higher floors of the tower safely, so make sure to not enter it!"

While I didn't think they would go as far as to intrude on my private space after I just gave them a ticket to a paradise, it was better to set some basics for the future taboos of the community that would be created here. The sooner I started laying out the foundations for it, the greater the effects would be later on!

With everything said and done, I approached the tower in the middle of the plain and climbed to the next floor.

As soon as I crossed the halfway mark of the stairs, I felt as if something washed off me, with my knees involuntarily and momentarily bending as if some kind of additional weight was put on my shoulders.

Taking it for the sign of exiting the dimension, I skimmed over the stairs and using the secret passage, went all the way down to the core housing chamber.

While it wasn't necessary by any bit, I placed my hands over the brightly shining core before immersing my consciousness inside the stronghold creation tool.