The Elemental Beast Tide had ended, and no further enemies showed up, so William decided it was time to take his friends back to the Gravitas Ruins before something else went wrong.
They, along with the enslaved Pillars of Justice members, followed William through a series of long-distance Portals before eventually arriving at the entrance of the Gravitas Ruins. He also summoned Atticus to his side, joining him and Uri for the trip back to the Ruins.
Along the way, William explained the situation with the enslaved Cultivators, and asked his friends for their opinion on what he should do. They already knew that William had suffered from an Enslavement Array in the past, so it was easy for them to understand why he had done it.
"Are they really all bad people? Why can't you just let them go?" Charlotte asked. She would be lying if she wasn't a bit apprehensive about William's decision to turn his enemies into slaves. Wouldn't that be lowering himself to their level?
Gunther spoke up, "I agree, but we'd have to be sure that they won't do anything in the future. There's no sense in being kind if it stabs you in the back later."
"Being kind? Ha, this is a Cultivation World." Yuming spoke up. "I agree with you, there's no point in letting them go if their stance is opposite ours."
Charlotte shook her head, "But isn't there a better way? Enslavement is a bit..."
"Harsh? I think so too, but what other choice do I have?" William asked.
"You could take everyone important to you into a safe place where they can't be hurt." Tia replied.
"That's stupid. What kind of person would accept that? If Will told you that you were going to be in a cave for the next ten years, would you follow him blindly?" Carl retorted at Tia's ignorance.
William thought back to Jenny and Briar, who despite his good intentions decided to go ahead and join Retribution anyway. Everyone had their own life goals, their own reasons for living, and it was unrealistic to expect them to listen to William every time.
He could protect them all he wanted, but at the end of the day it was their choice on how they wanted to spend their existence. It was the same reason why he hadn't taken Misha or anyone else from Thin Creek Village with him.
"Thanks, Sir Reynolds. Do you know where I can find Master?" William asked.
"Oh, he's working on an experiment right now and won't be available for quite some time. If this is about those people you brought inside, you can arrange their rooms anywhere you'd like inside, as long as you don't give them access to the laboratory." the Artifact Spirit explained.
William nodded and returned to his friends, where he asked them to wait a few hours while he prepared their residences.
With the help of Complete Arrays and his incredible skill, William was able to create over a hundred duplicate rooms with ease and expanded each of them with Space Magic to over a thousand meters each.
The enslaved Cultivators would be placed three to a room, while his friends would each get their own. There were ten public bathrooms installed that connected the enslaved Cultivators' rooms, while his friends were custom made bathrooms depending on their preferences.
William went all-out on his friends' necessities, preparing anything and everything they could possibly need related to furniture and decorum, while also taking some time to improve the state of his old room.
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Using improved Complete Arrays, William expanded the Space of his own room to a hundred thousand cubic meters, providing ample area for both Flame Dragon Uri and Atticus to reside with him. He didn't bother much with his own decorations, but he used a large amount of Mana making comfortable beds for himself and his two Companions.
He brought the enslaved Cultivators over to their rooms first, listing off the house rules and setting up a few Arrays that would only allow them to move from their room to the bathroom and nowhere else.
Once they were situated, William brought his friends over one-by-one to check out their new bedrooms.
Yuming's room was functionally designed, and the room was provided extra soundproofing, perfect for an Alchemist. William had created thousands of posters that displayed as much information about various Alchemy ingredients as he could recall, organized by Tier for Yuming's benefit.
He was made two different beds: one more firm and the other soft like plush since William didn't know what he liked. His room held a large fountain that operated on Water Magic Arrays, fitted with a hose that could be used to fill a cauldron easily.
Before he could thank William properly for his bedroom that would normally cost one thousands of Mana Stones to have hand-crafted, Yuming found himself standing alone with a small study guide for Basic Runes in his hand.