Chapter 8

I knew that if I ordered Faye to sleep with me she would. As tempting as that was, I knew that it would be the wrong decision. I didn’t want her as just some concubine or mistress. What I wanted was an actual relationship with her. I didn’t think ordering her into my bed would destroy that relationship, but it certainly wouldn’t help.

At the same time I couldn’t help but remember what the assembly master had told me. That Faye was ambitious and I should be wary of her betraying me at some point. From a practical standpoint I knew that he was right. I wasn’t cynical enough to believe that everyone had a price. The vast majority of people do though. And just because someone can’t be bought doesn’t mean they won’t betray you for other reasons.

I was pretty confident that Faye wasn’t more likely than anyone else to betray me. Still I wasn’t about to forget the assembly master’s warning. The very fact that he had given it meant that he expected people would have reason to betray me at some point. I’d have to be careful in this world.

Meanwhile the only thing I could do was continue developing my swarm. At first it was a challenge to not get distracted and keep purchasing nano fabricators as soon as possible. Things started to speed up after a couple hours though. I was purchasing a new fabricator every time the swarm updated. Of course this had its own challenges. Especially as it got later and more monotonous.

At some point I finally ran out of extra cores and was forced to only purchase a single fabricator every forty five seconds. For some reason my sleep deprived mind found the constantly growing numbers captivating. I had no idea how long had passed but I knew it had been more than a handful of hours. It reminded me of staying up all night playing video games when I was in college.

Finally I purchased my thousandth nano fabricator and less than a minute later I bought my first nano factory. I couldn’t help but smile as the now familiar notification appeared.

First Nano Factory purchased. Verifying that access level is sufficient to form Mental Connection. Swarm Mental Connection purchase unlocked. 100,000,000,000 Resource Points required for purchase.

I felt enormous relief as I saw that the mental connection option had unlocked. From what Faye had said I was virtually guaranteed to become a swarm knight now. Still seeing the number of resources I needed was shocking. I decided to take a look at my overall numbers.

Time: 1,101

Resource points: 27,989,083

Nano Cores: 0

Nano Drones: 213,306

Nano Fabricators: 0

Nano Factories: 1

Purchase Swarm Mental Connection (100,000,000,000 Resource Points Required)

Two hundred thousand drones and almost twenty eight million resource points seemed amazing. I tried to figure out how long it would take to get those resources. My sleep deprived mind completely failed me though. I couldn’t even figure out how long it would take if I just kept the current drones I had.

Standing up I tried to decide what to do next. I wouldn’t be planning to spend another core until I could buy another nano factory. Which should be a thousand units of time. Faye had said there were around two thousand time units in a day. Which meant I had half a day before I needed to do anything.

I thought about trying to figure out where Faye was sleeping. I was looking forward to her reward for buying my first nano factory. I was far too tired for any reward she was likely to give me though. There was no way I wanted to be half asleep our first time. So instead I found the closest bedroom. It wasn’t the master bedroom but I didn’t care. After pulling off most of my clothes I climbed into bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

The bed moving woke me up. Opening my eyes I saw Faye crawling into bed beside me. She had stripped off her robes again and was just wearing the mouthwatering lingerie I remembered from earlier.

“Did you buy your first nano factory?” She asked.

It took a moment for my brain to engage and process the question she was asking. “Yes.” I finally said once my mind caught up a bit. Faye in lingerie was distracting, having her literally in my bed was even more distracting.

“Perfect. Ready for your reward?” Faye asked me and then reached behind her back and unclasped her bra.

My mind completely shut down as her bra fell away. The next hour was a tangle of limbs and sheets until we both fell back asleep in each other's arms.

A few hours later Faye nudged me awake. “I’m going to go make breakfast. After you eat, you should report to the assembly master and let him know that you have purchased your first nano factory.”

“Earlier he warned me not to trust you.” I blurted out. Whether I should tell her or not had been bothering me.

Faye was silent for long enough that I started to regret telling her. If anything I wanted her more after sleeping with her. I was worried that telling her had destroyed our budding relationship.

Finally she spoke. “I hate to admit it, but that’s good advice. You shouldn’t trust anyone, especially if you become a swarm lord. Your ranking as a swarm lord and how much power you wield is determined by far more than just what growth units you can create. The competition among swarm lords to rule more planets and gain more followers is constant. In that environment you have to expect that somebody will betray you eventually.”

“Can I trust you?” I asked knowing that it was a stupid question. She would never admit whether she was the type of person that would betray me for the right price. No matter what she said I’d still be unable to completely trust her.

“I promise that I’ll never do anything to harm you.” She said seriously. Surprisingly I felt like I could actually believe her.

“Besides, if you make me one of your mistresses I won’t have a reason to betray you. I’ll have everything I want.” For some reason I felt like she was lying about it being everything she wanted. Then again I wasn’t sure enough to confront her about it.

“I guess I’ll have to let the assembly master know that I’m making you one of my mistresses then.” I said with a grin that widened when Faye smiled back at me.

“Okay we need to get up and get going. You have a lot to do today.” Faye said, rolling out of bed.

For a moment I was distracted watching her get dressed. Then my mind caught up with what she had just said. “What do I need to do? I thought you said last night that I’d have half a day before I could purchase my second nano factory? Unless I’m mistaken, even after that I’ll have at least a few hours before I can purchase my third one.” I said thoroughly confused.

“At this point it’s virtually guaranteed that you will become a swarm knight. Which means you need to start picking and assembling your staff. You also need some serious lessons about life on a swarm planet. Right now you know less than a child would.” Faye explained.

I groaned as I realized just how busy today was going to be. I had been hoping to spend more time in bed. Preferably with Faye. Although getting a bit more sleep after last night would also be nice.

“Well first I need to get a shower. Care to join me?” I said with a grin.

I was surprised when Faye shook her head with a laugh. “Oh no. I’m not letting you waste any more time today. We have far too much to do.”

“Having fun is never a waste.” I said as I got out of bed.

“I promise that we will have plenty of time for fun later. For now I’m going to get my own shower. Don’t follow me.” Faye said strictly even though she was grinning back at me.

As I watched her walk out of the bedroom I was tempted to follow her anyway. I wasn’t willing to risk an argument though. Especially when Faye was right about how much I had to do. Although I couldn’t help but wish that there was only one bathroom in the suite that the assembly had put me in.