[Wakey wakey lover boy~! Time for your daily rewards~!]

"Ugh..."

Almost as if knowing he's about to wake up, Navi's boisterous voice echoed right in Axel's ears. If possible, he wanted to take a second nap after waking, but it seemed impossible now.

"...What?" Axel asked, glaring at the floating little penguin.

[Congratulations, contractor! You've successfully survived for exactly one week now! This is an unprecedented achievement, you know? Thus, the reward is a bit glamorous~!]

Axel rose from bed, scratching his head while staring at the floating window in front of him. On it were several lines—options he could choose from.

[

Choose one of the following rewards:

1. Increase all automated manufacturing speed by 100%

2. Gain the ability to see a person's status panel (rules apply)

3. Get a 5% chance to earn a bonus 20% of the material after successful dismantling

]

"These are... can't I take all of them?" he asked promptly, seeing how they were all useful bits.

[Nope! You can only choose one~!]

"Cheapskate..."

Axel grumbled but began to ponder.

With his current state, the second option was useless. True, it was convenient, but it wouldn't really help him at present. The first option was a straightforward upgrade, speeding up manufacturing. But the last one...

"I'll choose the third option." Axel tapped the item, nodding his head firmly.

Unlike the first option, which basically only sped things up, the third option was basically getting "free money" at a certain percentage. Although small, with how many materials he's crafting, the dismantling of materials was done hundreds of times a minute.

That meant he'd basically get one of whatever that material was for free every minute!

"As they say, dust, when piled up, becomes a mountain!"

[Third option it is! Then, let's proceed to the next one. For surviving a week, you unlocked a new function! That is, Resident Management! Check out the system panel for more details~!]

"Resident management...?"

Curious, he quickly checked what it was from the main menu.

But soon after seeing what it contained, he could only gasp in shock. "Is this... real?!"

...

Breakfast was made by the girls who knew how to cook in cycles.

The ingredients, of course, were provided by Axel long ago, stored within each of their homes. This allowed them to cook and eat meals without relying on him all the time.

Thus, Axel didn't really need to wait.

As soon as he went out, food was already waiting for him—at the ready, served on the three tables he left last night.

After taking a portion, they would find a suitable spot to sit down and eat, chatting with others as they went with their day. This was their daily routine, which solidified within the two days Axel was knocked out.

Of course, Axel also grabbed a portion before moving to his room, eating at his table.

It wasn't that he didn't like to chat, but rather, he knew he shouldn't stay there. After all, thanks to a certain loli witch who couldn't even meet his gaze without blushing, everyone seemed to have realized what happened between the two.

Not like it's bad, but awkward nonetheless.

"Eating in peace is the best, after all..."

After finishing his meal, it was time for him to resume work—things that he had been postponing since the day he fainted.

Right, he needed to make the Laboratory!

With his current state, he had enough money and mana to do it now. However, he still wavered.

"I... think I need some practice first," he decided.

What he locked onto was none other than the only "proper" building in the vicinity: the tenement housing that they were currently using.

It was nice to look at and stable, but technically, it was just concrete sections piled on top of each other. If a strong enough earthquake hit, then the pieces would definitely tumble down like a tower of cards.

"First, let's fix it up, enhancing durability and stability!"

After letting the girls evacuate the premises—thankfully, most of them were at the workshop, working on their soap-making venture—only those on their "rest day" or plain "idle" were left inside.

"Sir Axel, what are you planning to do?"

Eve, who was one of the idle hands, asked curiously from behind.

"It's nothing much, really. Just practicing," he replied with a wry smile.

Then, as if to show that he was busy, he began by touching the spot where two prefabs met. Then, using the Housing Panel's ability, he started to "modify" them.

The process was hard, as he had to keep a three-dimensional image of what he was currently modifying, and a solid image of what the result he wanted was. Though he already did it once while making the "prison," it didn't take him long to get used to it once more.

He melded the two walls together and adjusted the material arrangements inside, making it stronger, flexible, and having a bit better soundproofing than before.

Of course, since the base materials weren't really made to be soundproofed, the effect was at the level of "better than nothing," though.

He worked nonstop and was shocked to realize how he wasn't getting tired at all.

Unlike before, his mana was higher. And he even had the external, shared mana pool where he could pull mana whenever he ran out... Of course, he wasn't doing this consciously, but rather, instinctively.

"Fix this spot..."

"Extrude this, maybe?"

"I think this part needs modifications for safety..."

As he continued muttering to himself, an hour passed. The three girls who were watching him work couldn't peel their eyes away the entire time. After all, it wasn't like they saw mages all the time. The presence of a mage alone was rare, much less seeing their work in person!

Axel wasn't really a mage, though.

"Done!"

And after an hour and a half, his modification was done.

Instead of looking like Tetris blocks lined up, the prefabs now melded seamlessly—almost as if they were a single building right from the start.

Though the edits Axel did were modular and applied to both floors equally.

First was solidifying the walls, combining each neighboring wall into a solid single wall.

The second was a veranda. This wasn't quite useful for the first floor, but the second floor and above could have more peace of mind walking to their doors now that there was a railing there.

And the third was the stairs. They used to be wooden stairs that were added just to have something to use, but now they were fully made of metal—a modern-style staircase with space-saving and the safety of the users in mind.

Axel crossed his arms as he judged his work before nodding firmly.

"Yep, I did a good job, didn't I?"

"It's not just good, it's amazing!" Eve answered back in excitement. "You went whoosh, then bam! Then everything was changing!"

"Haha, you're giving me too much praise."

After patting Eve's head a bit, Axel noticed that Hecate was slung across her back. "Oh, heading for target practice?" he asked.

"Yes!"

"I see... Good luck then!"

To be fair, she wasn't going to use the 500-million-a-pop bullet for practice. Instead, she was given a full box of 0.50 BMG regular bullets for practice. Although it was still expensive at 200,000 Colts a clip, it was a lot cheaper relatively.

Practice makes perfect.

No matter how high her latent sniper abilities were, it would be useless if she couldn't even use them, after all.

After exchanging a few more words, Eve left with Cherry by her side, and Hercy tagging along. Left alone, Axel felt a bit lonely but quickly changed his attitude.

"Alright, I'm done with testing," he declared, cracking his fingers. "Time for the actual one!"

Finally, it was time to truly make the Laboratory!

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