Chapter 10-307: The Gamers and Thrones (1/2)
-Nice to hear you’re approaching sustainability,- I /congratulated Sama. The number of Chinese entering the fight was only increasing, and with Commander Haru’Ara there to help with emergencies, while also churning out tons of high QL stuff, it was only getting better.
-Thanks! The lack of unity among the Cultivators is helping, as is the disjointed nature of our attacks... and the fact that every time they launch a major assault, you seem to be in the way.-
-Strange, that!-
The same thing was happening on this side over here, with the native Indians wiping out remaining Buddhist strongpoints in the areas I wasn’t in. I was bringing in high-QL Weapons for the Junior Levels to use, and the many Shroudzones about were helping them Level themselves and Feed the Names of their Weapons. Perma-death of the undead was finally starting to happen, and the engine of Levels was on the way, with the Double Helix method proliferating as fast as we could make it.
It would be literally twice as fast if people could just straight Level, but that was almost impossible. Cheat-cheat-cheat was the way to do things.
The word was going out. We knew the enemies in front of us. We knew who we had to kill.
We didn’t know who was coming afterwards, but they would all have the potential to be like these foes, and the world had to be ready.
People, you just gotta Level...
-So what have you and Briggs decided upon?- I /asked them both calmly.
-I’m going to stay here,- Briggs /stated firmly, with all that Source weight behind it. -Which you probably figured out pretty fast.-
I eyed the explosive growth of their Allegiance, which was literally adding hundreds of people every minute now. The Chinese were throwing themselves at the Banner of Briggs and Sama... and me, but in their eyes, I was the Empress, and these two were the local Kings.
The Chinese WANTED the two of them to stay. Their respect for martial traditions and the fact that their Powered were severely under-represented meant the two were a ‘common man’s’ pair of leaders, and that appealed to all of the Chinese.
The fact the two could browbeat even the best of the Taiwanese without a problem only confirmed the fact. The fact they were not Chinese was, at this point, inconsequential. It was funny how heritage didn’t matter when you could see someone’s soul.
-China is the stepping stone to taking over all of Asia,- I /observed, -and potentially Europe, too. They may have different Mother Lands, but it’s all one continent in the end.-
-Yes. I’ve been in contact with the Allegiance members in India, and I’ll be able to gut their Bannersworn without effort. If they want to fight about it, I’ll do that, too,- Sama /agreed.
They wouldn’t be able to stop the two of them. Give Briggs time, and he was just going to be unstoppable, and all that Karma from being Emperor and Warlord was just going to drive the whole system further and faster.
-Your recommendation for Northam?- I /inquired, having my own ideas... but the support of the world’s strongest Source could only help make it happen.
-Sir Pellier,- both he and Sama /said together. -Right now he’s the highest-Level Paladin in North America, and much more, besides. He will have the Divine backing, and getting him Landsworn should not be an issue. He has the backing of Heavenbound Hall, and is known among a LOT of the Powered and those Leveling up as the guy driving the death of the Shrouds and helping coordinate the general rise to power of everyone,- Briggs /concluded. -We just have to make him strong enough to fend off any challengers.-
-I want you putting some form of succession mechanics in place,- I /told the both of them. -Generating successors who are good for the job is as necessary as getting the first one.-
-Truth!- he /agreed. -Happily this being under you for now is going to partially sidestep the Rule of Kings once you become absentee. You only need to appoint a stand-in.-
Which we both knew would be him. All I had to do was have all the Kings for the relevant continents under The Jet and Silver... and he would be a de facto Emperor without needing to go through Conquest to become that way.
I stroked my temples. Yes, working out who were going to be Kings for Africa and South America would be nothing at all, surely...
It was hugely arrogant, and doubtless there were a lot of people who were going to have their own ideas on the topic. At the same time, if we were going to unite the planet, this was an optimal time to make it happen. It was going to take a very long time, if not forever, otherwise.
But the strongest Source in the world was getting fully behind me, and the Chinese were basically all Nulls and Sources and Voids, now. They would fall in behind him, and their combined Destiny was going to be VERY hard to stop.
Which was the whole idea. A world of states which could be brought easily to war was entertainment for the darker elements of the Divine, but shit-all for people to live in.
It was a very different situation from Terra-Luna, and I didn’t know if it could even be done, having my doubts.