Chapter 7-Her new home

Chapter 7: 7-Her new home

"How much for the biggest cruise ship you have?" Aymara asked the moment she stepped into the ship dealership.

Her voice was calm, almost casual but the words that followed made the salesperson’s eyes widen.

"Money isn’t a problem. I want the best you have. The biggest, strongest, most luxurious ship you can offer," she said and dropped her ID on the counter.

For a moment, the salesperson simply stared at her like she was a crazy person. However, when she looked Aymara up online and realized she was rich, her face lit up.

A customer asking for the biggest cruise ship on the market and casually declaring that money was no concern, that was the kind of customer every salesperson dreamed of meeting.

"Of course! Miss Ellington, you’ve come to the right place."

The salesperson immediately became energetic, leading Aymara through the dealership while enthusiastically introducing their available vessels.

She pulled up specifications, showed her floor plans, highlighted luxury suites, entertainment areas, swimming pools, restaurants, storage rooms, engine capacities, navigation systems, and security features.

Aymara listened without interrupting. Unlike an ordinary wealthy customer searching for the perfect vacation ship, she wasn’t interested in how elegant the dining hall looked or how luxurious the presidential suite was.

She was thinking about survival. The apocalypse was coming. In just a few days, the land would become a graveyard.

The oceans would swallow cities, destroy roads, cut off electricity and communication, and turn the remaining survivors into desperate enemies fighting over whatever resources they could find.

A luxury cruise ship would be useless if it couldn’t withstand the new world.

Aymara slowly walked through each vessel, her eyes sharp as she inspected every detail: the thickness and structure of the hull, the number of engines, the fuel capacity, the freshwater systems, the storage areas.

With the systems help, she confirmed the emergency power supply, the ship’s ventilation, the communications equipment, the security systems, the number of decks and their layouts.

Most importantly, she studied every empty space that could potentially be converted into warehouses, farms, workshops, armories, medical rooms, or living quarters.

She wasn’t looking for a cruise ship. She was looking for the foundation of a fortress.

A floating fortress that could carry everything she needed to survive the apocalypse and protect the person she intended to save this time.

As they reached another massive vessel, Aymara stopped. Her gaze traveled slowly over its enormous frame.

This one was different. It was big enough to hold thousands of people, powerful enough to remain at sea for extended periods and spacious enough to be completely transformed.

A faint smile appeared on Aymara’s lips. "Show me the full specifications for this one. I am interested in buying it," she said.

The salesperson hurried over, practically glowing with excitement.

Aymara’s eyes remained fixed on the ship. She had only one week before the end of the world and she intended to turn this beautiful cruise ship into an impenetrable survival fortress before the apocalypse arrived.

"How much is this one?" Aymara asked.

The salesperson glanced at the ship’s specifications before answering carefully.

"This is our largest and most advanced vessel. The asking price is 2.3 billion dollars."

Aymara didn’t react to the price of the ship. Her eyes remained clear as she nodded calmly.

The salesperson quickly continued, sensing that the number might be intimidating.

"Because you’re requesting an immediate private purchase and full transfer of ownership, there will be additional costs for registration, legal processing, delivery arrangements, fuel, and the supplies currently onboard. The final price would come to approximately 2.5 billion dollars."

Aymara nodded again. Her face showed no fear or panic, the amount was nothing to her.

"Fine. I’ll take it."

The salesperson blinked. "Excuse me?" she was shocked, she didn’t expect her to agree so easily.

Most clients, even the rich ones always negotiated but Aymara just agreed readily.

"I said I’ll take it." Aymara calmly pulled out her phone. "Prepare the purchase agreement. I want the ship transferred into my name immediately."

The salesperson stared at her in disbelief. "Miss, you’re not going to negotiate the price?"

"No. The ship is of good quality and is worth the price you mentioned."

"Not even a little?"

Aymara shook her head. "I don’t have time to waste over a few hundred millions."

The salesperson’s mouth fell open. A few hundred millions? She had said it as casually as someone talking about spare change. She felt the difference between her and the rich to be massive.

Even a lifetime of savings and loans wouldn’t get her an inch of the riches people like Aymara enjoy. ’In my next life, please be my ancestor,’ she prayed in her heart.

"Of course!" the salesperson hurriedly replied, suddenly beaming. "I’ll have everything prepared immediately!"

As the paperwork was brought over, Aymara signed without hesitation. Within minutes, 2.5 billion dollars had left her account and the largest cruise ship in the dealership was officially hers.

Aymara slipped her phone back into her pocket and looked toward the enormous vessel through the showroom’s glass windows.

She had just bought her future home. Now, she only had seven days to turn it into a fortress.

The cruise ship was enormous. Aymara walked out of the dealership and stood on the dock. She stared upward at the several decks towered above her.

Luxury suites, restaurants, the swimming pools and storage areas. The vessel was practically a floating empty city and now it belonged to her.

She stepped aboard. The moment her foot touched the deck...

DING.

[Suitable Survival Vessel Detected.]

[Would the Host like to bind the vessel with the Survival System?]

Aymara didn’t hesitate. "Yes, bind."

[Binding...]

A pulse of blue light swept across the ship. For one heartbeat, the entire vessel seemed to disappear and then a loud sound came.

VROOM!

The ship’s structure vibrated. New panels appeared across the walls, the engines changed their structure and the hull strengthened.

Hidden systems awakened and Aymara’s eyes widened. With the system, her survival chances didn’t just get better, they multiplied by a mile.

[Cruise Ship successfully integrated.]

[Current Level: 1.]

[Upgradeable.]

[Current defensive capacity: Low.]

[Current agricultural capacity: None.]

[Current medical capacity: Basic.]

[Current energy capacity: Moderate.]

[[Mission system activated.]

Aymara smiled. "Then I’ll upgrade everything," she said, her eyes glistening with hope.

She entered the storage space and the world around her changed. She stood inside a vast, silent realm all alone.

There was no wind, no rain or signs that anything could decay inside. It was the perfect place for preservations. She immediately brought out the seeds she had bought and immediately another notification appeared.

[Agricultural Space unlocked.]

A section of the empty space transformed with rich black soil spread across the ground and rows of land formed naturally.

Water appeared out of thin air and sunlight flooded the space from nowhere.

Aymara stared in disbelief. Her jaw dropping and then she laughed. For the first time since her death, she felt genuinely hopeful.

She knelt down, her fingers sank into the soil and instantly, she got to work.

She planted rice, beans, millet, potatoes, corn, fruit seeds and vegetables in a time that felt like forever.

She worked until dirt covered her hands. Every seed felt like a promise of a future where survival wouldn’t feel desperate or hurt.

It was a future where Nathaniel wouldn’t have to starve, freeze, fear the ocean or have to die protecting her.

Aymara stood up the second she was done. She looked around the enormous agricultural space.

"This time..." her voice was soft. "We will live well, Nate."

She returned to the ship and was surprised that only a few minutes had gone by on the outside. However, in the space it had been almost an entire day. The time difference was wide which meant that things inside the storage space wouldn’t expire.

The system created a physical storage room inside one of the rooms in the ship, connected to the agricultural space directly.

Boxes of supplies began filling the shelves of the room. It still wasn’t much but it was enough for a foundation.

Aymara deliberately kept herself restrained. She could buy everything in the world if she wanted but that would be stupid.

Massive purchases attracted attention and the attention would attract suspicion, when the apocalypse would hit, it would attract enemies to her.

And after the apocalypse... desperate people would remember exactly who had stockpiled everything.

Aymara had learned that lesson in the cruelest way possible. "I’m not going to be stupid or blind this time. I will do everything properly."

People were not most dangerous when they were comfortable, they were dangerous when they were hungry.

"I will lay low until my fortress is complete. After Nate and I are safely within it’s protective walls, every debt I am owed will be repaid in full!"

She walked onto the highest deck. The sun was setting, the sea stretched peacefully toward the horizon.

It was beautiful, calm and deceptive. In six days, it would become a graveyard but as of now, it gave nothing away of the horrors it would bring to the world.

Aymara folded her arms. Her eyes traveled across the massive cruise ship.

"This isn’t enough."

The ship was luxurious but luxury wouldn’t stop a tsunami, keep desperate survivors out, stop storms or stop pirates and counter mutated sea creatures.

She needed stronger walls, better engines, weapons for defenses, food production, medical technology and water purification machines.

She needed to upgrade the ship to become an unbeatable fortress and before Nathaniel ever stepped aboard, she would make sure this ship could protect him from anything the apocalypse threw at them.

Aymara smiled. This time, she wasn’t building a ship for herself. She was building a kingdom for two... someone she was confident wouldn’t betray her like Dylan had done.

She looked toward the distant horizon. "Wait for me, Nathaniel," she whispered. Her voice carried softly over the water. "I’m coming to get you soon. I promise."

Aymara paused. The next moment, her smile became almost frighteningly sweet.

"And this time... no one is taking you away from me," she swore.

[Main Mission Activated.]

[Build an Unbeatable Survival Fortress.]

[Time Remaining Until Apocalypse: 6 Days.]

[Mission Reward: Unknown.]

Aymara looked at the notification for a long moment before her eyes drifted out at the ocean. Her eyes gleamed.

"Let’s see what you can do, system."

The apocalypse had six days left. Aymara had six days to turn a luxury cruise into the safest place on Earth and this time, she didn’t intended to just survive... she was going to live it up like a queen.

A cold, heartless queen.