After finalizing their exclusive Frostveil contract and registering a handful of profitable side quests with Miriella, the Vixens followed Jax back into their carriage.
Instead of heading home—
They headed for the slums.
The further they rode from Solmere's bustling center, the more the streets changed.
Stone gave way to cracked foundations.
Shops gave way to boarded windows.
Warehouses—once symbols of prosperity—now stood hollow and forgotten.
Some buildings were partially collapsed. Others were being used as makeshift homes. Laundry hung from broken rafters. Small fires burned in oil drums. Children played barefoot in alleyways.
Bunny's ears drooped slightly.
"This is what happens," Jax said quietly, watching her expression, "when economic growth dries up."
She didn't look away from the people.
"When opportunity disappears," he continued, "so does hope."
The Slave Guild's financial withdrawal years ago had devastated this district. What had once been a bustling trade quarter had rotted into neglect.
Jax had already anticipated this.
He had contacted the city property manager the previous day.
Now, the man stood nervously beside the carriage as Jax disembarked.
Within an hour, contracts were signed.
Multiple warehouses.
Three adjoining buildings.
And most importantly—
One massive, abandoned central structure once used during Solmere's trade boom.
Jax bought them all for what amounted to pennies compared to their former value.
The Vixens watched in quiet fascination.
"What exactly are you building?" Zee asked as workers cleared debris.
Jax smiled.
"You'll see."
The Construction
Inside the largest warehouse, Jax began outlining a circular foundation.
Forty feet in diameter.
Reinforced.
Elevated slightly on a staging platform.
Mana crystals were installed along etched channels carved into the inner ring.
Then—
The System stirred.
A translucent interface appeared before Jax's eyes alone.
Skill Acquisition Available
You have fulfilled prerequisite conditions:
– Conceptual Design of Dual-Space Transit
– Mana Flow Calibration Knowledge
– Dimensional Storage Mastery
Learn Advanced Engineering Skill:
Dimensional Gateway Infrastructure
He didn't hesitate.
"Yes."
The knowledge did not download like information.
It unfolded.
Blueprints formed in his mind.
Structural tolerances.
Mana flow ratios.
Anchor stabilization mathematics.
Runic safety redundancies.
Energy feedback compensation.
It was not just understanding.
It was instinct.
Behind him, the Vixens watched as he moved with calm certainty—placing conduits, aligning crystals, adjusting resonance anchors as if he had built ten of these before.
"How do you know how to do all this?" Bunny whispered.
Jax didn't answer.
Because the truth was—
He had only known for the past three seconds.
Hours passed.
The circular structure towered nearly forty feet high.
Crystals hummed faintly as mana flowed through the channels.
The Dimensional Generator was mounted and connected.
Everything was ready.
Jax stepped back.
"Moment of truth."
He activated it.
The circle erupted in light—
Not explosive.
Not violent.
It shimmered.
Like living water suspended vertically.
Energy flowed in ripples across its surface, bending light and distorting the air around it.
"…Is that a doorway?" Llandra asked softly.
"Yes."
He extended his hand toward her.
"Care to test it with me?"
"Always."
Nyxian crossed her arms.
"If we're trusting that messy-haired lunatic to have calibrated his side properly, I'd just like to say—if we step through and end up inside a volcano, I'm haunting him."
Jax smirked.
"That's fair."
The five of them stepped forward—
—and passed through.
The Other Side
For a moment, there was nothing.
Then—
They stood in a vast dimensional chamber.
The size of a small warehouse.
Blank walls.
Empty floor.
A stabilized transit buffer zone.
Jax looked around critically.
"Eldrich really should've shortened this. It's unnecessary space."
At the far end stood a single reinforced door.
They crossed the chamber and opened it.
And stepped directly into—
Eldrich's laboratory in Crystalshire.
The Vixens froze.
Crystalshire.
Hundreds of miles away.
Instantly.
They had not felt motion.
No vertigo.
No pressure shift.
Just—
Arrival.
"…We teleported," Zee breathed.
Jax's theory had worked.
Behind a stack of arcane equipment, Eldrich appeared, wild hair even wilder than usual.
He blinked once.
"Oh! You're intact. Excellent."
"…Intact?" Bunny repeated carefully.
"Yes," Eldrich waved dismissively. "There was a small probability of dimensional overlap anomaly. Roughly three-point-two percent. You know—molecular disintegration, spatial inversion, body fragmentation across dual anchor points. That sort of thing."
The Vixens stared at him.
Blankly.
Eldrich frowned slightly.
"But it didn't happen! So statistically, this is a triumph."
Nyxian slowly turned to Jax.
"…We risked what?"
Jax sighed.
"I really should read the fine print more often."
Eldrich brightened. "Science requires courage!"
"It also requires warning labels," Zee muttered.
Expansion Begins
After confirming stability, Jax borrowed Eldrich's Tele-Stone and contacted the Solmere warehouse manager.
Preparations began immediately.
Secondary anchor gates.
Refined mana crystal arrays.
Stabilization pylons.
Within days, a mirrored gate would stand in Crystalshire's outer trade district.
Goods began moving almost immediately.
Spices.
Refined crystals.
Metals.
Specialty produce.
And most importantly—
Opportunity.
Jax did not intend this to be an elite privilege.
He structured pricing carefully.
Individuals paid a modest fee.
Merchants paid slightly more.
Caravans paid by cargo weight.
But every rate was calculated to ensure one thing—
Travel would cost less than the time, risk, and manpower of traditional routes.
Safety.
Speed.
Economic growth.
He began meeting locals he had quietly evaluated over the past 2 months.
Warehouse foremen.
Clerks.
Logistics thinkers.
Guards with discipline.
He offered them positions.
Ownership stakes.
Future expansion promises.
And they said yes.
Hiring began within the day.
The abandoned district stirred.
Workers returned.
Buildings reopened.
Construction crews were paid.
Food vendors reappeared.
For the first time in years—
Hope flickered.
Bunny stood at the warehouse entrance one evening, watching a line of merchants step through the portal.
"They're smiling," she whispered.
Jax nodded.
"When distance shrinks," he said quietly, "possibility grows."
Nyxian leaned on his shoulder.
"So what are you calling this operation?"
Jax thought for a moment.
Then smiled slightly.
"The Transit Nexus."
Zee adjusted her glasses.
"That sounds important."
"It will be."
He looked at the shimmering gateway.
Then toward Solmere beyond it.
Then toward Crystalshire.
And beyond that—
The continent.
One day—
Multiple towns.
Multiple kingdoms.
Connected.
Solmere at the center.
Trade flowing in every direction.
All roads leading through his gates.
The Vixens stood beside him.
And for the first time—
The world truly felt smaller.
And infinitely larger.