By the next morning, The payment from Barron had cleared, and the 625 million lux advance sat in the company's account like a loaded weapon ready to be fired.
Nyra and Saelyn had worked through the night combing through listings. Just before sunrise, they struck gold: an old industrial complex on the outskirts of the city—15,000 square meters, with built-in fencing, dual warehouses, a multi-story operations building, and a defunct security grid that could be reactivated.
Raen approved the purchase within minutes.
By noon, the entire Arkbound team was standing outside their new base. The air was thick with dust, but it smelled like possibility.
Raen turned to the others. "This is it. The real Arkbound begins here."
While Saelyn oversaw the retrofit of the main warehouse—installing reinforced doors, fresh wiring, and space dividers—Raen, Korin, and Lira began setting up the new production lines. They brought in the ten NEAR V2 bots from the lab, each one placed in a designated "creator zone," with dedicated fabrication units, part racks, and workbenches.
Meanwhile, Nyra got on calls with trusted suppliers, ordering industrial loads of high-grade alloys, servo kits, advanced sensors, and circuit boards. Parts began to arrive by the truckload.
That afternoon, Raen stood alone in the command room—formerly an old office now refurbished with displays and schematics lining the walls. He watched the perimeter cameras flicker online one by one.
Korin entered with a tablet. "Cameras are live. Motion sensors next. Lira's calibrating them now."
Raen nodded. "Good. I want to know the second anyone steps foot within 200 meters."
"You still think someone's watching us?" Korin asked.
"I don't think," Raen replied. "I know."
Down below, NEAR 01 and NEAR 02 were already prepping the parts racks for their next creation. The bots worked in silence, focused and exact—no rest, no hesitation.
Raen spoke quietly, as if to himself: "We're about to become untouchable."
And with that, Arkbound took its next step—from secret lab to something far, far greater.