Rise of the Phoenix - Apocalypse Rebirth

Chapter 24 - S5's Cute Request

May 17, 3031 - Country C, City AD

Voice: "Master? Are you okay?"

A young milky voice asked Aria as she rinsed her mouth with a bottled water bottle. Looking in the direction of the sound, she sees a small ball of fluff floating around her.

Aria: "Who are you? Do you have a name?

Voice: "This space is me! And since you're my master this space is yours! Can you give me a name? All masters give spirits names. I've been waiting a long time to meet you!"

Aria: "You mean to tell me that you're the spirit of this space? Do you like the name Eros Wang?"

Eros: "I like it! Yes, I just grew up a little, that's why the place is so big!"

Eros bobbed up and down excitedly and posed proudly at the last statement. Aria's heart softened at how cute it looked.

Aria: "Oh? So Little Eros can get bigger? That's amazing. How long did it take and what do you eat?"

Little Eros: "I can get bigger! I can grow things! Anything that your earth can grow, I can grow! It took me a long time to expand this big because there is not enough spiritual energy where my jade bracelet lives."

S5: Aria, can I come out?

Aria suddenly got a request from the quiet member of her system. Puzzled at what the mech system wanted at this time, Aria agreed.

A small 3-4 year old boy appeared in front of her. His hair was black and soft, his face was round and plump, and his eyes were large but solemn.

Again, Aria's heart turned into a puddle when she saw S5's adorable appearance.

S5: Hi Aria. I'm S5. Can I ask him a question?

Aria: Sure.

S5: "Hi, Little Eros. You just said that you can grow everything the earth grows? Can you grow any type of ore? Gold, silver, copper, titanium, or coal?"

Little Eros: "Yes! I can grow any type of ore. I just need a sample of it to understand the composition of it in order to mimic the same conditions to grow the ore. But I don't have enough spirit energy right now."

S5 turned his head towards Aria and gave her a pitiful wronged look. His mouth slightly downturned unhappily.

Aria sighed. Why does this little system look like it's being bullied and wanted her to solve all its grievances? Taking out a huge 6x6 container of gold bars, she opened the top, took one bar out and showed it to the little fluff ball.

Aria: "How long does it take for you to grow an ore this size?"

The little fluff ball floated around the bar then touched it for a second before answering.

Little Eros: "6 months."

S5 continued to stare up at Aria without saying a word. But Aria can feel disappointment and sadness radiating from it.

Okay. Alright already.

Aria: "But if you get more spirit energy then you can grow bigger and get stronger?"

Little Eros: "Yes! I heard from other cooler space spirits that they can grow something that size in a day! I just need to grow bigger!"

S5 perked up while listening to the fluff's answer. Once again he swung his head up to look at Aria expectantly.

Aria looked around the small available space. She doesn't lack storage space- but a natural growing space is a true treasure during the ZA. She can eat organic fruits and vegetables whenever she wants in the future. Or even grow seafood and poultry.

Aria: "Alright. Let's find you some energy source to get you to grow stronger, Little Eros. As for you, S5- let's go shopping later today for ores and minerals you may need. I don't want to get blindsided after the ZA to find your resources in ruined cities full of zombies."

S5: "Okay! Thank you, Sister Aria!"

Sister Aria? How did this little buttface change his mouth so quickly? Looking at the adorable dimples that popped out from S5's happy face, she sighed and let it go.

Turning to look at the house with the awful cellar prison behind her, she asked if the fluff can get rid of the building. The fluff confirmed that it can make a house according to Aria's specification anywhere she wanted. Once confirmed, then Aria requested the whole building erased on that property.

Walking to the opposite end of the property, she asked Eros to build a small house with 2 bedrooms. Aria intended to use the grow space (G Space) to live in. The E Space was fine for a while but it doesn't have the fresh air or soft sunshine that makes her feel stress free and safe.

Going inside the house, she instructed the fluff to create a bright and airy warehouse to store fresh products next to the house similar to the cellar's fresh keeping purpose.

Going inside the bright and clean warehouse, she transferred all the CFP inventory inside as well as the processing machines and robots. Then she went outside to where the previous cabin was, took out the vertical garden setup and the robots.

After setting up the robots to adjust accordingly to the time inside the G Space, she went back to the house and asked the fluff to create a small greenhouse connected to the master bedroom. She then took out the two Xing plants.

Little Xiang: "What are these plants?! Where did you get them? I sense energy emanating from them!"

Aria: "These are mutated plants I found. Can we plant them here? I have the dirt that it grows in too."

Little Eros: "It's the dirt! The dirt has the spiritual energy that I need to grow from! Do you have more dirt?"

Aria took out all the dirt containers she'd collected. The fluff was super excited to see the amount of dirt that appeared in front of it.

Little Eros: "Master Aria! Can I have these dirt?"

Aria: "But the plants need it to grow or it'll die. The dirt is essential to its survival."

Little Eros: "These spirit plants are like me. We need this type of energy to grow stronger and bigger. Since the dirt contains the energy we need, then maybe we can go to where you found it and see if we can find the source of the energy? I can help you find more energy! There are many different kinds of energy that we can grow from. Oh! I can sense them too! Take me outside. I can help. I can help find good things!"

Aria: "Let me think about it. But first let's plant these and use the dirt in the whole place. You can have half of the dirt and we can go search for energy tomorrow. And take the gold and silver ore and start growing them."

—-

Feeling suddenly exhausted, Aria took out the bed and some night clothes, took a quick shower and brushed her teeth before falling exhausted on the bed. Seeing S5 following her to the bedroom and looking at her quietly, Aria sighed again.

Aria: "What, S5? Do you need something?"

S5: "Sister Aria. Can I have a different name? I don't like being called that."

Aria: "Okay. What do you want to be called?"

S5: "I don't know. Something similar to Sister Aria's name."

Aria: "How about Art Wang? It's short for Arthur Wang."

S5's eyes lit up and nodded excitedly. He didn't expect his host to agree so quickly. Art really did not like being called S5. And after seeing how Aria treated and talked to Little Eros and gave it a name, S5 made a quick decision to come out to brush his presence favorably with the host and by the way ask for a name too.

Art: "I like it! Thank you, Sister Aria!"

Then she fell asleep. After her breathing evened out, Art climbed up the bed and lay his chubby body down next to her, closing his eyes.

---------------------- Author's Notes -----------------------

Is it just me or is S5 super adorbs?