Fire and Shadow went ahead of the others into an expansive corridor with a polished dark oak floor. The walls and ceiling were made from rounded and polished rock, more engravings covered them. The engravings pictured various things. One showed plants in incredible detail, another one showed two warriors in a fierce duel, a third one just showed a calm meadow with some mountains in the background.

Unchosen said: "These engravings are beautiful. It must have taken a long time to make them all."

Fire chuckled and replied: "This base is about three thousand years old, let's just say I have had a lot of time on my hands. Me and many others, some of those engravings are made by guests, others by demons."

They were now at a round intersection with corridors and staircases going off in different directions, each of them was labeled with letters engraved into the rock.

Shadow said: "We will give you a tour of the base later, I think now it is time that you all get cleaned up and get proper clothes… especially you Fire, that coat may as well not be there at all."

Fire explained: "We'll head to the living area."

He went through an entrance and the others followed. Only Shadow went another way, she said that she would prepare something in the meantime.

The corridor they were in didn't have engravings, the walls and ceiling were covered in large polished wooden planks and the patterns in the wood were interesting to look at by themselves. After walking a few steps you could almost forget that you were deep underground. The corridor ended in a large room, which also had wooden walls and ceiling.

Fire led his friends up some stairs to yet another corridor. This one had doors along both sides.

He explained: "This is the area with the living quarters, each of you gets one. The rooms aren't all the same so take a look first and take the one you like best. All rooms have a hot spring in a separate room. It's as close to a luxury hotel as it gets. After washing yourself you can choose some clothes from the wardrobe. When you are done come back to the room we were just in, just sit down at the table."

Ambigious replied: "Alright, will do."

Fire started walking towards the room at the end of the corridor, which was his own apparently, then he remembered something.

He warned his friends: "And don't use the black soap, it's caustic and contains razor sharp metal splinters. It's made to clean scales, not skin."

"I'll remember that." freeZe muttered.

About half an hour later Fire, Unchosen and freeZe were sitting at the table in the entrance room and waited for the others. Fire's clothing hadn't changed much, he had only switched his ruined old clothes for identical new ones. freeZe was wearing black nether wool clothes with red patterns on them. Unchosen had removed the vines on his body and was now wearing plain white clothes.

freeZe said: "I still find it amazing that you have all this luxury in your base. You sure had plenty of time to build this but how hasn't anybody found it yet?"

Unchosen agreed: "Yeah I was wondering about that too."

Fire explained: "On the way here I briefly mentioned that this base is hidden by magic. The clearing with the wooden hut has a projection above it. From the air it looks like there isn't even a clearing there. To prevent people from tunneling into my base there is also an ender field warp active, this means my base exists in a pocket dimension of sorts. The elevator is the only way in and out and serves as a portal to this pocket."

freeZe said: "That sounds logical enough. I suppose setting it up isn't easy though."

Fire smiled and said: "Yes, multiple mages had to work together to create a stable pocket dimension, there is no way a single mage can create a dimension this large. The dimension is actually much bigger than my base so that I have room to expand."

While Fire was talking Ambigious came down the stairs and took a seat next to his sister. He was wearing blue pants and a red shirt with a black leather jacket above. Fire also quickly noticed that his right index finger was slightly red.

Fire said: "You touched the soap, didn't you?"

Ambigious readjusted his sunglasses and said quietly: "Yeah…"

TehLulz arrived just a few minutes later, his clothes were a little more formal than the others' but not as formal as the suit he had been wearing before that.

Fire announced: "Now that we are complete, I'll show you something."

He then proceeded to lead them through a large door into a round room, in the middle of the room was a table with eight seats around it. Above the table was a strange wooden device with all manner of pipes and levers.

TehLulz wanted to know: "What is that?"

Fire replied: "That is a machine from the first era, that's from year zero of this server's timeline to about six hundred years after that. It is a masterpiece of redstone engineering and applied magic and as far as I know it is the only one of its kind that is still functional."

"And what does it do?" TehLulz asked.

Fire said: "It makes food."

Ambigious said: "That's good because I am hungry like a wolf."

Fire walked over to the machine and sat down on one of the cushioned seats. He pulled a lever and the seat he was sitting on automatically adjusted itself to his size.

"Nice." freeZe commented.

After the others also had taken a seat Shadow came in through the door with a big plate in her hands. On the plate were all kinds of food. They could see meat, fruits, vegetables, cheese and also things that they had never seen before. Shadow put the plate in the middle of the table and took a seat for herself.

Fire quickly explained how the machine worked, you took a bit of food and then you could cook it in many different ways. The machine also served as a dispenser for various beverages.

Ambigious took a piece of cheese and roasted it in a stream of flames coming out of one pipe, then he wrapped it in some bacon and put it on his own plate.

He said jokingly: "Hey, freeZe look. I can cook!" Then he asked Fire: "Does this thing have beer too?"

Fire laughed and answered: "Sure, but not only beer. It has virtually every beverage you can think of. Just make sure to ask me about those you don't know. To select one just push that button."

Ambigious pushed and suddenly a projection appeared in front of his eyes, it had different kinds of beverages on it. Ambigious selected a dark beer and a few seconds later the machine had dispensed a large glass of it.

Ambigious said: "Wow, fancy interface. I'm starting to like magic more and more."

After about an hour they were done eating and Ambigious was starting to get drunk.

He said: "That's good stuff. But I think I shouldn't drink more…"

Shadow remarked: "At least you are noticing it… I know some people who would deny being drunk even if they are lying on the floor."

Ambigious answered: "I know some of those too."

"I think we should go to bed now…" freeZe said who had also been drinking a fair bit but by far not as much as her brother.

Fire stood up and explained: "You can just go to your room and sleep for as long as you like. After you are done sleeping I will give you a tour through the base, after that we'll start the training."

TehLulz said: "Something just came to my mind, the training seems like the character creation when playing an RPG and us getting here is just a very elaborate you-all-meet-in-a-tavern plot."

Fire laughed and replied: "I never really considered that point of view. Anyways, you should sleep now. I'll go take care of some things in the meantime."

Fire's friends gladly went to their rooms and laid down in their beds that were so much more comfortable than anything they had slept on so far on the server. Meanwhile Fire and Shadow walked off into different parts of the base to do different things, lots of things still had to be prepared before the training could start.