"Oh my, happiness came so suddenly. How should I renovate this stupid [beep] Firelink Shrine?"
After a detailed chat with AI Xia Yu, Ashen Xia Yu stood outside the Firelink Shrine, looking at this towering ancient cathedral, and said triumphantly.
"First, build a bedroom for the Fire Keeper big enough for us to sleep in together. Hmm, this is important, very important."
"Then build a larger forge for Andre, preferably far away, so his hammering doesn't disturb others. I'm so thoughtful."
"By the way, there's also Irina, the little nun who admires me. I have to arrange a bright room for her too."
Irina was rescued by him from a prison outside the cathedral tower in the Undead Settlement. Since then, the little nun has recognized him as her Lord Hero.
As her Lord Hero, he couldn't be stingy, but Irina's bedroom shouldn't be too close to his and the Fire Keeper's room, lest she hear sounds she shouldn't hear.
She's still a child; such things are a bit early for her.
"Almost forgot, there's also the Cautious Gray Heart Brother!" Xia Yu slapped his forehead, remembering that gloomy man.
"Might as well just transform the Firelink Shrine into a Linking the Fire KTV. Then the Cautious Gray Heart Brother will be the KTV's number one breakdancer. I hope he likes it."
"Thinking about it carefully, there are quite a few places to renovate." Xia Yu stroked his chin and thought to himself.
The research labs for Magic Teacher Orbeck and Pyromancy Teacher Cornyx, the Shrine Handmaid's shop, and Ludleth needs a new spot too—doesn't his back hurt sitting there all day? Hmm... maybe I should give him a prosthetic limb?
After thinking back and forth, finally... Xia Yu stopped thinking.
"Right, why am I thinking so much!" Xia Yu suddenly realized, wishing he could slap himself.
AI Xia Yu said that the robots have weak artificial intelligence inside. He could just let the robots help him with the renovation.
After all, the Dark Souls World has a medieval appearance. The documents and data stored in the robots would definitely give him the most reasonable renovation methods.
Thinking of this, Xia Yu first kicked the Hollows that had crawled out of the cemetery off the cliff, then waved his hand, and a massive swarm of robots appeared instantly.
Seeing Ashen Xia Yu, the little red-clothed girl leading them immediately stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Hello, Master. I am little red. What are your orders?"
"Wait a moment. I'll call the people out first. When we go in later, help me see how to renovate it reasonably."
"Understood!" little red saluted with one hand.
Seeing this, Xia Yu found a construction foreman's outfit from the group Red Envelope. He didn't know which Xia Yu had put it in, but he'd use it for now.
With a yellow hat snapped on, work clothes donned, and leather gloves put on, that aura hit him right in the face.
Looking at his construction site outfit, Xia Yu suddenly mused, "Hmm... with my current physique, I'd definitely be fast at moving bricks. Moving a hundred or so at a time, hey, I'd be rich."
But as he spoke, Xia Yu's mouth twitched, and he suddenly felt he lacked ambition. With this physique, why think about moving bricks? He should definitely deliver takeout! With his speed, a hundred orders an hour wouldn't be a problem!
Thinking about random things, Xia Yu walked into the Firelink Shrine. The first thing he saw was the decadent Cautious Gray Heart Brother, with a laptop next to him that wasn't playing breakdancing videos.
Seeing this, Xia Yu's face darkened. He looked down at him and said, "Cautious Gray Heart Brother, you're being decadent again. Take a break and go watch some breakdancing, okay?"
"..."
Hawkwood looked at the Ashen One who had suddenly changed into strange clothes, his mouth twitching, but he ignored him.
"I'm talking to you, did you hear me!"
"...What do you want."
To avoid being nagged in his ear again, Hawkwood lifted his eyelids and said weakly.
"I only said a few words and you say I'm annoying. I just hope you can practice breakdancing properly; all I see is you being decadent here all day!"
"...I didn't say you were annoying." Hawkwood felt a bit weary.
This Ashen One was the weirdest person he had ever met, bar none, but the strange thing was, he didn't hate him.
"Please, don't be like this, I'm just..."
"Shut up!"
Hawkwood reached out to stop him, interrupting Xia Yu's words. Okay, spoke too soon—he hated this Ashen One!
"What exactly do you want to do?"
"Well, nothing much, just want to ask you to step outside." Xia Yu reached out and grabbed Hawkwood's hand, forcibly pulling him up from the steps.
"Wait outside for a bit. I'm going to renovate the Firelink Shrine."
Hearing the words of the Ashen One before him, Hawkwood was a bit dazed. Renovating the Firelink Shrine? What did he want to do?
But he didn't ask. He just silently picked up his equipment from the ground, then took the laptop and walked outside.
"By the way, those outside are my people, not enemies!" Seeing Hawkwood heading out, Xia Yu reminded him.
"Got it..."
Hawkwood didn't look back, just waved his hand to show he understood.
Seeing this, Xia Yu chuckled and looked at the others, striding towards the Shrine Handmaid.
"Oh my, oh my, isn't this the Ashen One? Do you need to buy anything from this old woman?" the old maid asked as usual.
Looking at the old maid, Xia Yu first squatted down. Under her puzzled gaze, he suddenly reached out and grabbed the leg of the wooden stool she was sitting on.
"Heh heh, up you go!"
With a forceful lift, he hoisted the wooden stool along with the old maid.
"Ashen One, what are you doing!"
Suddenly lifted along with the stool, the old maid clutched the armrests in panic and questioned Xia Yu.
"I'm going to renovate the Firelink Shrine, but I figured you wouldn't want to leave, so I did it this way."
Without waiting for the old maid's reply, Xia Yu ran outside while holding the wooden stool, shocking her so much she could only grip the armrests tightly, fearing she'd be thrown off.
In just a few seconds, Xia Yu had arrived outside the Firelink Shrine with the old maid.
The old maid had just regained her composure and was about to question Xia Yu when she suddenly caught sight of the massive swarm of robots.
"This... this is..."
"You don't need to worry about that. Don't worry, I won't do anything reckless."
Seeing the old maid's stuttering state, Xia Yu placed her next to the already stunned Hawkwood, then turned back to the shrine to continue clearing people out.
"Do you know what that Ashen One wants to do?" Hawkwood asked in a daze, seeing another person arrive beside him.
"This... I don't know either." The old maid was also a bit confused; she couldn't understand this Ashen One's actions.
A moment later, Andre, Irina, Orbeck, Cornyx, Greirat, and the others were all invited out by Xia Yu. Even Ludleth, with his broken legs, was carried out by him.
Little Li, Leonhard, wasn't there, and Sirris hadn't returned yet, but when they came back to the Firelink Shrine, they would surely be just as bewildered.
Finally, Xia Yu took the Fire Keeper's hand and slowly walked out.
Looking at the several pairs of dazed eyes before him, Xia Yu laughed, "Don't worry, you'll find out in a bit. It's not a bad thing anyway, I won't do anything reckless!"
After speaking, he let go of the Fire Keeper's hand and waved again. The group of robots marched into the Firelink Shrine in unison.
Once all the robots had entered, a loud, bustling noise suddenly erupted from within the Firelink Shrine, making everyone's eyelids twitch.
"Fire Keeper, do you know what my disciple wants to do?"
Pyromancy Teacher Cornyx looked at the people around him and decided to ask the Fire Keeper, who had the best relationship with the Ashen One.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what the Ashen One wants to do either." The Fire Keeper smiled and shook her head. "But the Ashen One told us not to worry, so we should just wait with peace of mind."
"You're too biased towards your Ashen One." Magic Teacher Orbeck shook his head.
"Because he is the Ashen One whom I serve," the Fire Keeper said gently.
Although the Fire Keeper, the Shrine Handmaid, and Andre are all bound by the linking the fire, they should be able to temporarily leave the interior of the shrine, though they cannot completely escape the curse of the linking the fire. So, I have set it so they can temporarily leave the shrine's interior.