Feeling refreshed after the bath, I took a few minutes to stuff what clothes I had from my bags into one of the drawers. All my toys got placed into the bottom drawer. I'd figure it all out later. Finding my makeup, I spent a few minutes touching up my face, trying to look somewhat normal and not the stressed-out person I was feeling.

  My phone went off with several chimes. There were a number of text notifications. The bulk of them from Tony. Reading through, he had found some trainers along with the requirements I had requested. But the last text caught me by surprise.

  [Hey, so I know you only wanted female trainers, and I get your reasoning, but the last person on the list is an old buddy of mine from my army days. Special forces. I talked to him, and he is willing to teach you shit that some MMA fighter or Sword Master can't teach you. I don't know why you have this sudden change of heart, as you never showed interest in the past. But talk to him, at least take a couple of lessons from him.}

  Food for thought, I guess, I imagine that wouldn't be a bad idea. I don't know much about the military or special forces. Well, unless you count movies, so yeah, I didn't know a thing. Picking up one of the finger sandwiches that Maria had brought out, my little guide was forgotten for the moment. When I did look over, she wasn't around. I had a few more questions, but maybe I wasn't her only charge.

  Turning my attention back to the list of messages. Weird, I didn't expect to hear from Katie again till later in the week. Wonder what's up.

  [ So they canceled the tests for the rest of this week. Make up next week. Some sort of big storm is rolling in later tonight. Want to start the weekend early? You know how much I hate being stuck inside by myself.]

  I did squeal at that, and I felt Ari's eyes on me for a moment. This feeling of someone looking over my shoulder happened. What do you know, that little succubus was sitting on my shoulder, looking at my text. I looked at her with a how dare you. All I got back was this sweet smile that looked so wrong and yet so incredibly hot on her.

  Sighing, I noted that the lack of privacy from having a guide was a downside. There has to be some sort of privacy option. I figured I would put that on my ever-growing mental list of things to ask, look into, or just do. My fingers flew over the keyboard on my screen, responding with an all-caps yes. I told her I was looking forward to it with a bunch of smiley faces that had hearts in the eyes.

  With that done and a few sandwiches eaten, “ Are you good or do you want me to dismiss you, Ari?” Standing up, I drained the last of my tea from my cup. I figured even if I couldn't dress the part, the least I could do was fix my hair and put on some makeup. The last thing I wanted to do was to look like a total slob.

  “I am going to go. I have things to do. Unfortunately, you aren't the only one I am guiding.” With that, she left with a little poof sound. So fucking cute.

  Heading into my bedroom, I decide Katie and I are going to head online tonight to Smazon and go on a spending spree for house decorations. Just glancing around the entire place was in desperate need of a makeover. Yet was it worth it? I had so many other things to spend money on. Probably more important than a few decorations. Looking at my hair, I sighed. Not much time to do anything special with it, so I just wrapped it up into a high ponytail. You know the kind you just want to grab really hard. I grinned as I looked in the mirror. Then I just stared at myself, my hands moving of their own accord, adding a touch of makeup here and there, but I was realizing I really didn't need to add makeup. I did anyway, but was this the result of having an actual Charisma stat?

  The description said pre-integration, we were lower than what they should be, so that has me wondering what the true numbers would look like. I find myself a bit excited, of course; once Katie gets hers, she may have more insight into things than I would. I am much more in the moment than a planner. Walking out of my bedroom, the one thing that did concern me was the System having me set a designated safe zone. That can't be good. Am I on the right path with being concerned with learning survival skills and how to handle myself in combat? Or was I just assuming the worst right off the bat?

  I have never had faith in other humans as a whole. If you were to ask me what would happen if the shit hit the fan, I would always say we would see humanity at its worst. Add in essentially superpowers, cause let's not fool ourselves that is what the System is giving us. Yeah, I am definitely not holding my breath for humanity as a whole to do the right thing. Nor was I going to be so gullible as to think I really gave a shit about anyone outside of my little circle. To be fair, that didn't mean I wouldn't help others out or if I was capable of protecting those who were weaker, but I wasn't some hero in a story, that is for sure.

  The doorbell pulled me out of my dark thoughts, and I put a smile on my face as I opened the door. Sucking in a breath, I had to admit the building manager was a looker. She had to be at least six feet tall, with long dark brown hair in soft waves past her shoulders, wearing a comfortable-looking business suit that did everything to flatter her body and breasts, large enough that I wanted to motorboat.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Still, as I took a breath in, I could smell the desire from her as she looked me over, but though that wasn't unexpected anymore, her scent was different.

  “Hi Renee. I'm Sara Garner. “

  I don't bother to hide the little excitement in my voice as I meet her gaze. Seeing how she was looking at me, I couldn't help but feel my nipples stiffen. Fuck I know that scent. Then it hit me. Once I got past the smell of cinnamon and apples, it was obviously a more feminine shampoo and body wash. My mind sorted through the scents, and I found an underlying masculine scent. Then it hit me. She was Trans. Hot on so many levels.

  Then my brain paused, wait, how, when did my sense of smell get so good? My mind shorted out as I just realized I've been like this since I woke up.

  “Come on in. Do you want anything? Coffee, water?”

  Closing the door behind her, she shook her head as I watched her eyes literally fuck me as she looked me over. That damned whispering in the back of my head started up again. I did my best to ignore it. I turned, moving into the living room, wait, am I swaying my hips like some wanton whore. Yeah, I think I was.

  “Aside from introducing myself. I wanted to ensure you were aware of everything about your penthouse. The big thing was, did you know you have a private shelter under the building?

  Wait. What. You have got to be kidding me. Either I had some secret super high luck stat, or I don't know.

  “From the look on your face, I will take that as a no.” A smile crossed her face. ” Well, it is a good thing I love revealing surprises. “

  Wait, was she flirting with me? I couldn't help myself, looking down, wondering just what Renee was packing in those dress slacks. And of course, I giggled at her comment. Yeah, I fucking giggled like a dumb bimbo slut. Mentally sighing, I let it go. “So where are we going ? “ cause seriously, I felt I knew this penthouse pretty well after spending like ten years here growing up.

  Seeing Renee look around for a second before, with a confident stride headed to the door that said maintenance in the hallway. As she led me forward, she went over some of the other amenities that I already knew about. Still, it was good to be reminded of them. She opened the door, revealing where we kept the cleaning supplies for the penthouse. This was also where the water cut off, and the breaker boxes were installed. Watching Renee open the bottom box with a small key, revealing not more breakers but a card slot. I watched her slide a keycard through the slot, causing a portion of the back wall to slide back and to the side. So the yellow lines meant more than just don’t stack shit here.

  “Wait, that has been there the whole time.“ I shut up before sounding even more like an idiot, but I didn't sense any judgment from her, which raised my opinion of her by a few points. “ This is awesome and umm so many questions. “

  I saw that smile hit Renee's very feminine features as the elevator door opened, as she waved me in. It was slightly larger than a standard elevator. I assume it was to move larger items down.

  “This is a direct line down to your bunker. Yours, being the top penthouse, is the only one we offered with its own floor. Everyone else we offered a more communal living, but you do have access to the communal living space as well.”

  To say I was flabbergasted would have been an understatement. The first thought was how much grandpa paid for this. “ So it isn't a secret then?” As I imagine, with the building being in the center of downtown, there had to be permits, including public blueprints. That wasn’t including the people who built everything.

  “No, unfortunately, but we did put in a lot of security features to protect our residents in an unlikely event that it would be needed. So you won't find any uninvited guests. I know a few residents use the space as an extra room, storage, or work areas. We keep the stores stocked and make sure to do a six-month check on all goods, filters, and other maintenance.”

  The elevator dinged and opened up into a large main living space. Plastic covered all the furniture and countertops. Stepping out, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. A living room with an open, full-on kitchen. Renee stepped to the side, allowing me to move in deeper as I looked around and suddenly felt her hand at the bottom of my jaw.

  “You should close that before it gets mistaken for a glory hole.”

  Wait, did she just? No.. Blinking a few times as my brain was in overload, I closed my mouth, but of course, not before putting my foot in it, “Well, it's been used for worse. “ Of course, I couldn't stop the words once they were out, but wait, did I just detect a stronger scent of lust emanating from her.

  “ The tour, Miss Garner.” Her words pulled my attention back to why we were here.” As you can see, you have a standard living room similar to the penthouse floor plan. Open kitchen with an island, including all the accessories a proper chef would need in a kitchen. You have a separate water storage and generator through this door here.” She opened a door set against the living room wall a few feet to the right of the elevator.

  “ Enough for a week of conservative use. This isn't a long-term solution, but the generator can be recharged if you can hook it to solar panels or another energy source. The water tank can also be refilled. You have two entrances. One leads up to the common area, which in turn leads up to the main lobby of the building. Your second exit leads to a maintenance room and up to an underground subway station nearby. “The door leading up was in the same spot as where the office door was between the living room and dining room. Easy enough to remember,

  Nodding, I started walking around, wondering what else I didn't know about. Found two bathrooms, both full, one in the main hallway, another in the Master bedroom. Aside from the large Master bedroom, there were two smaller bedrooms accessible from the hallway. Everything was furnished, covered in plastic, giving the place a sanitized yet spooky feel. There was a food storage room that connected to the kitchen, as well as another smaller room from the living room that had a small armory. Stocked.

  That caused me to suck in my breath, and I quickly closed it, not entirely sure how to process everything. I sat down on a couch as Renee continued to explain things to me. Suddenly, a blue text appeared over my vision.

  Do you wish to claim this space as your shelter?

  Processing

  Congratulations. You are the fifth person to claim a personal shelter that meets or exceeds requirements.

  Your shelter consists of two floors.

  To configure shelter, use the shelter tab.

  Calculating rewards.

  Gain one level.

  10000 shelter points

  10000 credits

  Free upgrade to System Shop