The progress on the construction of the keep was advancing smoothly and rapidly, in just a few days worth of time, it was already nearing completion, though, unlike the original hideout, this place's interior was not distorted and expanded through spatial manipulation, or at least, only a handful of rooms were, when one had the means to do such a thing, but willingly limited its usage greatly, it was for the purpose of setting up a limitation to enhance other aspects.
Although Loimos was lacking his usual repertoire due to the various limitations upon him, he he still had access to orderly ranks, and he had since long mastered this way of power, though, the action of designating architectures as part of the ability had been discovered by the Alisart Cleavster in person.
The fort was made further reinforced, the darkness within was intensified and made more difficult to pierce with light, and the senses of intruders would be limited, amongst other things.
Though, even without using spatial distortion, this bastion remained immense, construction wasn't done, yet it still towered over its surroundings, losing in pure height to the towers, but dwarfing all else in sheer width.
It made no doubt that the smallest of their movements were being closely monitored, but that was exactly what the general wanted, and anyways, watching a few undeads do nothing but building or walk around whilst conversing in death tongue did not let them know what the inside of the keep looked like, whilst in certain areas, it resembled a most mundane castle interior, in others, the undead touch was easy to feel, lengthy hallways with openings that led into walls or into pits, doors that were dozens of meters off the ground, staircases that went nowhere, or led to too many different places, rooms serving dubious purposes, such as the one with so many chains hanging from the ceiling that entering it felt like setting foot in an iron jungle…
Or even the few rooms with paintings covering the walls, all of the actually important rooms, where equipment was kept, or where soldiers gathered were far more arduous to reach for any one daring to intrude upon the keep, there were even plots of grass within, gardens and fields.
Most of which served as dwelling for the undead beasts waiting to be deployed, the beasts were perhaps even more numerous than the rank and file, whether they had animal-like intellect or sapience, they stayed together, waiting for the order to move out.
In short, to anyone that wasn't an undead of the empire, finding their way through this place would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack, and that was without counting the many, many undeads of all sorts that simply roamed around at any given time.
"Would it not be best to do the opposite? You know, have everyone else take on the burden except for you, and just rain hell upon this realm?" speaking from a distance that most would consider to be a severe breach of personal space, One was standing on her toes to try and get as close to Loimos's face as was possible.
"It only works one way, and only one of great power can force the restrictions to stack upon themselves, in any case, even with the restrictions that are normally only meant for me, my scope of abilities and destructive potential is already too limited, and besides, taking care of everything by myself is not ideal for the growth of the vanguard and empire, I will not always be around to solve problems or deal with overwhelming foes, that idea is the whole point of sending the minor lords to conquer on their own, they are going to ascend as gravelords one day, they are future pillars of the empire" he simply explained with budging, even as the vampiress put her hands on his shoulders.
"Is that so? Do you think I qualify as a minor lord?"
"You have good combat skills and tricks, despite having been turned into a sun walking vampire by one of diluted blood, you know how to manipulate blood very well, and you have a talent for the concoction of drugs and poisons… However, you are held back due to being a sun walking vampire, your vampire lord was a traitor that never developed his vampiric potential, which drags down all other that came after him"
"If you could appropriate the blood of Sun-Walker as your own, or awaken your own vampiric blood, I have no doubt that you could qualify"
One had honestly expected to be told that she would require thousands of years to reach that level, knowing that Loimos would tell her the truth without reservations, but apparently, he could see potential in her.
Although knowing that Loimos only spoke facts, she was indescribably happy to have earned herself some praise from him.
"Say, Loimos… Would you mind making an undeadling with me?"
"I do not mind the concept, but it is impossible"
"If I could handle your death force, you would agree then, right? Right?"
"The quality of an undeadling depends on the quality of the death force of both parents, so naturally, it would be a waste for me to not do so"
The language was detached and lacking the sort of loving affection One wanted from him, but that confirmation was enough for the vampire to feel pumped.
"I- Huh, I mean… Like, let's say I do manage to achieve that… Would you allow me to… Hum, you know… Choose a little bit how we'll be mixing death force?"
"My deathness gracious… Oh, I need to calm down… Let's- We should discuss something else, I brought the other three from Alizée with me to the Emerald Realm, and I have been working on a new drug, rather than directly affecting the person's body, it sorts of puts their inner energies to sleep, so a spell caster would be unable to cast spells if affected… It's still in the tests, but I am confident that once done and incorporated into my magnum opus, that I'll finally have a drug I can be proud of, rather than a bunch of one trick ponies, I'll finally have something that can be produced massively and distributed to everyone as it will be of use in nearly every situation!"
"Tell me, One, have you ever thought about mixing your creations with your blood?" hearing this, the vampiress tilted her head.
"You should try it, the vampire lords and three vampires Lord Nosferatu is looking after, all of them awakened vampiric blood that suited them uniquely, so it might be in what you are talented that lies the secret to ascending to the next level"
"...R-Really? Oh, I need to go, I must work harder!" One ran off in the least natural way possible whilst giggling to herself.
"Without a doubt, I'll be carrying your children!" her voice echoed throughout the keep.
"That was just Miss One, don't worry, this isn't uncommon"