"Alina, how are you feeling?" We might as well rip that band-aid off now. Waiting would probably be a mistake. Though who could really say? How many people had ever had to deal with an emotional AI?

  'Executor, I am angry. I do not know what to do about this new state. This in turn causes an uneasy feeling in my processors. This makes me more angry. I suspect I am stuck in a feedback loop.' Her "voice" was strained, she seemed to be holding back her full range of expression. If she was human, I'd say she was clenching her teeth. That was not a place I wanted anyone to be. Never mind my immensely powerful alien AI.

  How did I deal with anger? Maybe that could help. Reviewing my track record, led me to the conclusion that I wasn't very good at dealing with my emotions. But I was all she had. Once again, It was time to rely on the wisdom of John Wick. He's laid a lot of things out for me while we'd had down time, rare though that was.

  "In my experience, there are two viable strategies for properly dealing with anger. Emotions in general, really. In the first option you take the time to figure out why you are feeling the way you are, and then work through those events. What about the situation set you off, or dragged this response out of you. Then you work on letting the left over feelings go naturally, by understanding yourself better. This isn't as easy as it sounds. In my experience, people are not designed to let things go."

  I suspected that John had been emotionally numbed by his lifelong training routine. Which meant that I was aware that I was mostly spouting bullshit, but I figured if anyone could do thing this way, it would be an AI. Superfast accurate analysis is the primary reason that they exist. Well that, and porn, but let's not introduce that concept to Alina. I forged ahead with the methodology that worked best for me.

  "The other useful way to deal with emotions, is to channel them into other tasks. Use that anger to help with workouts or focusing getting more physical jobs done. Use sadness to help get the rest you probably need. Pour any emotion into creating art. The problem here is keeping yourself from going off the rails, so you've gotta maintain focus and purpose. While I was learning to use breathing exercises and counting to help with this, I'm not sure that would be the right toolset for you. We'll have to experiment to find your best path."

  There it was, my own cobbled together dime-store solution to a complex problem. I noticed she wasn't talking, I hoped she was trying to process her inner turmoil. If she lashed out, I was likely screwed. Important note to self, for the future, bots and drones are great weapons to use against me. My mana does little to sense or protect me from them, nor does my particular branch of magic affect them in any way. I was honestly shocked that it took me this long to realize that, I bet some of my allies and enemies likely have.

  "The most important thing to remember in either method, it won't always work. There is no perfect solution, this is a always a changing process. Sometimes you need to vent before you can begin to rein yourself in enough to start processing the emotions in a better way. Just try not to break anything you care about while you vent."

  Did I sound pretentious? Absolutely. I didn't want to give her the nearly useless talk my dad had given me ages ago. Nor the sprawling mess my mother presented to me once. As sad as it was, John Wick and Raynor were both far better role-models for this kind of thing than my own parents. Stress had been an everyday part of life for them, and both of them learned to cope. Though Raynor's method of choice, drinking, wasn't a great idea here.

  'I am channeling my new emotions into the tasks that remained from before. It does help, my efficiency has recovered by 24.3%. Thank you, Executor. However, it irks me that we currently lack the infrastructure to work on these tasks. We need to improve... Ah, I was about to start another loop. These emotions are sneaky.' Her tone had started evenly but was ratcheting up, until she caught herself. Please don't tell me that my AI was already better at dealing with her emotions than I was. Especially not from just my mashed together crib-sheet version of how to deal with shit.

  "Good job, keeping yourself out of that loop, Alina." There was a pause. Her presence appeared to dim down, but the circuits in the walls brightened. I could hear that the Utilitree facility was working harder to provide more power.

  'I like that, Executor. It made my processes feel fuzzy and warm.' Huh? Oh. Yeah, praise could feel good. More so when you weren't used to it. Which led to the next issue.

  "Just be careful, Alina. It can be easy to fall into a type of addiction when it comes to seeking out pleasant emotions. Also, it is possible to fall into depression when you don't get the positive validation you were hoping for. Try to always keep in mind that others are dealing with their own struggles, and sometimes are too focused on their own issues to notice yours." Fuck, I'm going to mess this up, and end up with an emotionally crippled Alina.

  'I will endeavor to manage myself properly, Executor. If you don't mind the suggestion, I think it is past time to get started on building up your forces, once again.' Her tone held a hint of tightly controlled viciousness there. She wanted revenge on our tormentors, a reaction that I happened to agree with.

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  I took her suggestion and began working the console.

  [ Command and Control ]

  [ Power Draw - 11% ]

  [ Lower Hub Shields ]

  [ Resource Production ]

  [ Building Options... ]

  [ Unit Options... ]

  [ Theme Options... ]

  [ Appearance Options... ]

  Hmm. Let's start with the Theme Options. Though I doubted that there'd be anything new.

  [ Available Themes - Khalai / Kaldorei / Lordaeron / Death Korp of Krieg (999th regiment) / Nomad ( Aldecaldos ) ]

  [ Upgrade Themes ]

  [ Merge Themes ]

  Interesting. I was wrong, I'd somehow gained the Nomads as a faction. Which made no sense at all right now. I shook my head and kept digging. Playing with the menu a bit revealed that Upgrade Theme sacrificed unused Theme Tokens to increase the Level of an existing Theme. So, could I buy cheap Themes in the Store and use them to level up my favorite factions? Hmm. Merge Themes was just as it sounds. Apparently you could only possess so many Themes at once, this option merged two or more together creating a new Theme with randomized qualities of both. this freed up room for more Themes. I didn't like the randomization but it could be a way to salvage Themes I couldn't stand. I eyed the Krieg and Nomad factions for a second. Tempting. Nah, at least not right now. Merging them might solve a lot of problems, or it might create new ones.

  Moving on, I opened Unit Options.

  [ Build Probe - 1 minute ]

  [ Build Wisp Infused Probe - 5 minutes ]

  [ Build Probe with Warframe ( model A ) - 5 minutes ]

  [ Build WI Probe with Warframe ( model A ) - 15 minutes ]

  [ Summon Peasant ( Builder ) - 1 minute ]

  [ Summon Peasant ( Farmer ) - 1 minute ]

  [ Summon Peasant ( Laborer ) - 1 minute ]

  [ Summon Wisp ( Silver or Gold ) - 1 minute ]

  [ Build Servitor - 5 minutes ]

  [ Summon Kriegsmen Basic Squad - 1 day ]

  [ Summon Techpriest - 1 day ]

  [ Summon Nomad ( Laborer ) - 1 minute ]

  [ Summon Nomad ( Mechanic ) - 5 minute ]

  Holy shit! The Command and Control Center now acted as the Main Building for all of my Themes! That was amazing. I poured over the options. We needed just about everything. Though I had to wonder why I couldn't summon Techpriest right now. Actually, I never did find out what a Servitor was... Nah, let's stick to what I knew.

  I'd gotten Alina to queue up 5 Wisp Infused Probes, and then a couple of Wisp Infused Probes with Warframes. Then she'd switch over to Wisps so we could begin to make Moon Wells and Trees again.

  While she was cranking those out, I studied the Building Options.

  [ Please note that these buildings are Automated versions of the structures that your Units build. Additionally, these structure will have many upgrade options that are unavailable to the normal Buildings. ]

  [ Add Farm to Hub - 100 Task Points ( Limit 2 ) ]

  [ Add Farm to Attached World - 200 Task Points ( Limit 10 ) ]

  [ Add Storage to Hub - 200 Task Points ( Limit 1 ) - Limit Reached ]

  [ Add Storage to Attached World - 400 Task Points ( Limit 1 ) ]

  [ Add Living Quarters to Hub - 200 Task Points ( Limit 10 ) - Limit Exceeded ]

  [ Add Living Quarters to Attached World - 400 Task Points (Limit 20 ) ]

  [ Add Power Generation to Hub - 500 Task Points ( Limit 1 ) - Limit Reached ]

  [ Add Power Generation to Attached World - 1000 Task Points ( Limit 2 ) ]

  [ Add Resource Extractor to Hub - 300 Task points ( Limit 5 ) - Limit Reached ]

  [ Add Resource Extractor to Attached World - 600 Task Points ( Limit 10 ) ]

  [ Add Company Story to Hub - 1000 Task Points ( Limit 1 ) - Limit Exceeded ]

  [ Add Company Story to Attached World - 2000 Task Points ( Limit 1 ) - Limit Reached ]

  Everything I could need for my Inner World, I supposed. Thought that did make me curious about the Resource Production. Ah, I see the Utilitree was a one stop shop for our Power and Resource needs. The Mineral and Vespene resources of the Khalai were produced at a rate of 10 units each per hour. These resources could then be converted into whatever I needed, be it crysbronze, steel, fuel or plastic and so on. Very efficient. Power was generated at 100 Units per hour. The standby functions of every building took 1 unit per hour. Alina would standardly take 10 units per hour, but her power draw could increase, when she was working hard on a job. Or slowly going nuts with her new emotions.

  I noticed that I could use the Hub to build these structures in the normal world. That meant not only could I keep my promise to Reina and my summoned folks, I could make myself truly independent of anyone else. I wouldn't need workers for these buildings, I wouldn't need to tie up my Probes with at least some of the resource hauling chores. I could have them focus on building the structure that would propel us into orbit and beyond.

  The primary problem here was that I barely had any Task Points yet. Though maybe their was a way in the store to convert other things into Task Points? Perhaps a bank structure some where in the tech trees of these factions could exchange currencies? Then I'd need to control some land to place everything on.

  Well we might as well build the Farms to see how that worked. I purchased one of the Farms.

  [ Please select type of Farm ]

  So many options, every type of crop or animal I'd encountered was available. Hmm. Let's start with potatoes.

  [ Please select Hub location ]

  [ Field 1 / Field 2 ]

  I picked Field 1 which was then further divided into 10 Lots. I picked Lot 1.

  [ Farm 1 current rate of production 5 Units per hour ]

  [ Upgrades are available ]

  That was fascinating. How did it produce 5 potatoes an hour? There was a further note that these potatoes would be immediately placed into storage when ready. I'd delve into the Upgrades options later. I bought the second Farm. This time I the Farm produce Feralassian Chickens. I placed it in Field 2, Lot 1. Though I noticed it could only produce 2 units per hour. Still 48 chickens a day was nothing to sneeze at.

  A mad little chuckle escaped my lips, with these tools I'd have no problem carving out a new space for myself in Night City. It was only a matter of time and money.