On the crest of the hill overlooking the gated community we found ourselves on an enormous stretch of flat, grassy land. There was a single road that led us to a gatehouse, one manned, surprisingly, by one of my more humanlike robots. The creature proceeded to promptly open the final barrier to my new home for me. 

We drove past the gatehouse, and the open gate, easily, as the android that waved us by didn’t want to get in the way. I could hear the electronic signal that the A.I. of my “Perfect Vehicle” transmitted to the robotic gatekeeper, and chuckled, causing Titania to momentarily glance at me in adorable confusion.

Once we were past the gatehouse we were officially on my property. Off in the distance we could see the gigantic manor in which Titania and I would be living from now on. But in addition to the manor, we could see a detached guest house with a large, private pool in front of it, a private helipad, a small multi-sport outdoor area, with a rather cute cottage attached to it, a small house for servants, a detached, multi-story, multi-car garage that had, at one point in time, been a carriage house, and other, rather comforting luxury features. 

“Incredible…” I whispered, admiringly, as I studied the manor and the estate in front of me. Our vehicle continued to steadily drive closer and closer to the actual manor, giving me plenty of time to study the estate. 

It was easily the most extravagant housing I had ever seen, and I had yet to see the inside of the actual manor. As we approached the estate, I realized that I could easily, comfortably live in even the servants' housing, which was in the form of a plain white house that was easily more luxurious than even the most expensive on-campus housing. 

“Lord Lopez…” Titania said, her gentle voice still reaching me even though she was mostly thinking out loud. I could hear the emotions in her voice, including the subtle concern that this was so amazing to me. 

“Titania, I know that this may not be a palatial residence like you are used to, but to me this is… The sort of housing some of my friends dreamed of living in. It is truly incredible, even to middle-class Americans, and even more so for someone who was raised on the cusp of abject poverty.” I remarked, honestly. That comment made her smile change subtly, becoming much sadder. 

“That… Perhaps you should take over this world. And make it into a paradise.” She whispered, wanting me to ensure no one else had to suffer. I could sense her conscience nagging at her, making her want to change this entire world for the better. I wondered if in the future she’d want me to do that to this and other worlds… 

We began to drive past some of the features of the estate, such as the multi-sport outdoor area and the adorable cottage that was next to it. A small part of me wanted to explore the cottage and decorate it, but I instead focused on the manor and watched as we began to get closer and closer to it. 

The manor was utterly gigantic, easily tens of thousands of square feet. Standing just outside of the main doors leading into it was none other than my personal merchant and worshiper Manuel Mondragon. He was wearing a wholly different suit than the one he had been wearing when we first met. His current suit was a dapper blue suit, and he had an enormous grin on his face. When we reached the end of the driveway leading to the front of the mansion the car came to a stop and in a sudden flash of speed Ortholox appeared out of nowhere and opened the thing’s doors for Titania and I. The two of us stepped out of the thing, and immediately began to walk up the stairs that separated the two of us from our companion. 

“Lord Lopez, Titania… Allow me to welcome you to your new home.” The merchant told us, an enormous smirk on his face. I had never heard such pride in his voice before now, even in the few memories of his that had entered my mind while the two of us had accompanied each other during our first meeting. 

When we reached the man he stepped to the door behind him and opened it up, revealing a uniquely gigantic grand entryway with stone staircases that, if taken, would have led us to the section of the manor intended for actual living spaces. The floor we were on was the lesser of our “Entertainment floors”, and directly ahead of us, past the staircases, I could see a gigantic living room on one end and a gigantic dining room on the other.

“I can see some potential here…” Titania said, beginning to adjust to the possibilities before us. Manuel smiled at her and stepped into the place behind us, while closing the door behind him.

“Would you like to see the entertainment options at your disposal?” The merchant asked, teasingly. He immediately began to walk towards the living room, and we followed behind him. 

It only took us a few moments to reach the gigantic living room. In it was Cecilia, who was happily awaiting us and waved when we finally appeared.

“Lord Lopez! It’s so nice to see you again.” She uttered, confidently and eagerly, on the other end of the enormous living room. She was also wearing a new outfit, one that was far closer in design to a risque french maid’s outfit, then her old outfit had been. Titania stared at the curvaceous blonde and I could telepathically overhear her slight annoyance. Internally I chuckled at that and shook my head.

“Welcome to your formal living room!” Cecilia continued, an enormous smile on her face as she spoke. The living room before us was both gigantic and warm, with a single huge TV and several couches facing it arrayed in a pattern that allowed those seated in them to see both the television and the people in the other couches without difficulty. On the other side of the enormous space we were in was a huge dining room table surrounded by no less than twelve chairs, and its own, smaller, television. The walls of both spaces were filled with various paintings, all of which were created by local artists. 

“This is the perfect spot for you to speak to guests and for you to welcome them into your home. You also have servants who can do various tasks for you, all of whom are beautiful and handsome androids.” She explained, before one of the robots appeared from an area behind the dining room, behind a white pillar which ran from the floor of the dining room to the ceiling of the room. 

“Good afternoon my lord. May I cook anything for you?” The robot asked, standing mostly behind a pillar, only allowing its rather handsome face to appear fully unobstructed. I chuckled, thanked the robot for the offer, and shook my head, causing the machine to nod back at me and vanish from view again, walking back to the enormous, elegant kitchen. 

“We considered hiring organic servants, but we thought it better to just utilize some of Alphor’s robotic inventions. There are many androids throughout the house and in the other parts of the estate. They exist to serve you and to make your life better.” Cecilia explained, causing me to smile at her. Meanwhile, at that exact same time, I heard the voice of my electric companion, the Siren Artificial Intelligence, begin to whisper to me.

“Master, I have connected to the house’s electronics and internet. I am currently boosting the capabilities of all the things that I am connected to.” The voice informed me, causing me to smile internally. Today was… a truly wonderful day, it was hard for me to not smile at all of the remarkable stuff that had happened so far. 

The next few minutes were filled with Cecilia guiding us through the key features of the living room, the dining room, and the enormous kitchen which was comparable to the kitchens of various three, four, and even some five star restaurants. Inside of the kitchen in particular I took time to study and notice the features around me, especially the small team of robots that called this place home. The primary robots were two androids, one feminine-looking, and one masculine-looking, who I knew would do the majority of the cooking and the serving of dishes to various guests, once guests started to arrive. 

At one point during the few minute-long tour I was given by Cecilia she made sure to tell me that even the non-androids could shapeshift, which they would be sure to do since at some point I’d surely have human guests and Earth was not a place that had potent robotic technology yet. 

By the time our tour of the first floor came to a bit of a stop we were standing inside of a large personal office space. Two incredibly advanced Apple computers were situated on handcrafted, symmetrical desks on the opposite ends of the room, which was itself divided evenly by a thin glass wall, allowing the previous owners to work in the large office at the same time without interrupting each other. 

“This is your secondary office space, for when you and the missus want to both work but want to be able to see each other. Though… I’m unsure of whatever job Titania could get, since she’s literally a non-human alien.” Cecilia explained, as she studied the incredibly cozy office I fully intended to utilize whenever it came time to do schoolwork. It was incredibly well-furnished and filled with minor decorations that were clearly chosen to make the office-owners look smart, such as older, hardcover books, and pictures of different parts of the world. There was even a small fireplace squarely in the middle of the wall of the room, that I knew at a glance would spread the warmth evenly throughout the room. 

“Every room I find makes me fall more in love with this house…” I muttered, as I gently placed my closed fist on the dark wooden wall to my left. My words made my companions smile at me, happy to have so thoroughly pleased me with this purchase. 

“And this is just the lesser entertainment floor. Or perhaps more accurately this is the ‘Elegant’ floor.” Cecilia reminded me, before giggling bubbly. That struck me as fairly accurate, since the floor’s whole purpose was to be used to meet with guests and do things such as entertain neighbors. 

Every step I took filled me with increasing levels of awareness of the house’s true luxury, thanks to my steadily increasing levels of intelligence, and the fact that increased intelligence meant that even my causal visual psychometry would become more and more powerful. And that meant that the love I had for my new home was also increasing with every single footstep I took.

At precisely that same instant, a cosmic emperor of a vast empire situated in a distant pleniverse was reacting to the news that somewhere in the vastness of the cosmos a living god had been located. 

The figure in question was a tall, red-skinned humanoid dressed in elegant robes. He held a potent specter in one hand, and lifted a regal wine goblet to his lips with the other. His crown was lazily placed on his horns, which themselves jutted from the top of his head. 

“To think… There’d be another of those bastards running around.” He muttered, as he read the memo he had just been handed by one of the scouts responsible for the discovery. His face was perfectly symmetrical, aside from a potent scar running down his left eye, a scar that had been left behind by one of the followers of the ancient living-gods in the unimaginably distant past. 

The scarred emperor sighed in irritation as he realized that if he were to wait he may run the risk of having to deal with another incredibly powerful, mature living god, one who may not make the same mistakes as the last ones did. 

“And somehow… I know that others will react to this news wrongly.” He grumbled, even as he prepared to begin the process of issuing orders to his legions of followers. 

In the distance… Other cosmic emperors proved the potent leader of the Scarlet Tide Empire correct, to him anyway, by immediately beginning to plan celebrations when they heard the news that a living god had emerged, somewhere in the vastness of the cosmos. And Antonio himself vaguely sensed their jubilant joy, even as time finally began to pass for the bright, powerful young man.