Chapter 1327 (1/2)

In the wake of his announcement, Randidly scanned the surrounding faces to gauge their reactions. From their somber expressions, it seemed that the prior demonstration with Octavius Shrike had reached them as Randidly had intended; they were finally willing to work together. He had seen it in the way the strongest of Earth helped protect the weakest as Octavius had manifested his image, but Randidly wanted to be sure that incident would not be an isolated cooperation.

After all, the heavy power of Octavius’s image had come as a surprise, even to Randidly. He had never encountered the Overseer’s image in the past. It just turned out that Octavius had an image that was uniquely situated to oppress a room full of people. That vast beast that Randidly had sensed… it was truly an impressive image that had likely taken hundreds of years to develop. In a fight, without Nether, Randidly likely wouldn’t put up much of a fight.

However, it would have been better to let Octavius run wild for just a little while longer in order to hit the message home. Randidly glanced to his left. He had no choice but to cut the image vanity short; Through the walls of the ballroom, he could feel a wooden raft infested with children crash into the solidly built wall of the building and fall to pieces. The children rather adroitly hopped off of the thing and escaped any serious injury, and the building didn’t even seem to notice the impact, but Randidly wasn’t willing to let Octavius continue to so callously pressure the surrounding area while children were close.

Also, I definitely sense Delilah, but how the hell did she convince the rest of these kids to follow her…?

After sending a quick message to Tatiana to handle the issue, Randidly turned back to the assembled people. There was still a large group standing on the central island that held Randidly’s challenges, but he was pleased to see that they hadn’t even managed to finish the first challenge in the three hours since he had been here last. Since it was Earth’s most powerful that had been struggling with those tasks, hopefully, the combination of the challenges and Octavius would make the lesson stick.

Alright, no need to stroke my own vanity. Time to get down to business.

Randidly began to speak. “Defying statistics. Being the exception. It’s an easy thing to say… but a hard thing to do. All of us here represent the powers of the Earth. We have four bases of these Corrupted Invaders before the Epic Danger Zone will reveal itself. Octavius has also been kind enough to provide some details regarding the benefits and costs that we are presented with, which I want to share with you all before we start planning.

“As he said earlier, the actual Corrupted Invaders aren’t that difficult of a foe. Compared to the First Calamity, they are an easier task. For Earth in general, this will serve as an effective way to gradually adjust to the foes within the System… but let me assure you that these invaders aren’t the real danger. The real danger is that if we fail to accomplish the goal in time, the ‘worlds’ these invaders come from will henceforth rely on Earth for Aether. And there is quite a large number of worlds we would suddenly be responsible for.”

Randidly looked calmly around, catching out of the corner of his eye the motion of Tatiana sending one of the new Order Ducis recruits to go investigate the arrival of the children. “I believe I need not explain to you all the consequences if we were to fail; the density of Aether on Earth will fall from our current, rather rich existence after clearing the Danger Zones to something even worse than Earth was originally. All the benefits that we have earned so far we will lose.”

The man in the wheelchair from Zone 1 rolled himself a short distance forward to draw attention to himself and then spoke. “Then what are the benefits we can obtain? Is it simply that we are fighting for a way… to avoid suffering such a large loss of Aether?”

“A good question,” Randidly said. His emerald eyes narrowed as he really looked at the young man in the wheelchair. Tatiana, perhaps sensing his curiosity, sent Randidly a message stating the man’s name was Richter and that he really had not walked since the System had arrived. But as far as Tatiana could tell, the cause was mental, not physical.

Their gazes locked. For a brief instant, the young man stiffened as Grim Intuition whirred to life with enough force that the observed young man could tell what was going on. Randidly’s full attention concentrated this man next to Theodora Greyman. But just as quickly, some internal instinct of Randidly’s had him withdrawing his focus and turning back to the assembled crowd. In the corner of his eyes, he saw Richter’s expression turn awful and a string of notifications pop up in front of him.

Congratulations! Your Skill Lantern of Harsh Truths (R) has grown to Level 119!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Lantern of Harsh Truths (R) has grown to Level 141!

Randidly had been steadily getting Levels in the Lantern of Harsh Truths since he had spoken earlier and demonstrated his images, but this jump was entirely unexpected. Despite himself, Randidly cast one more look toward Richter. What did you just realize as I examined you that had a larger effect than my entire lesson to the people of Earth, I wonder…?

Still, you are certainly a curious one. The muscles of your legs have really atrophied. They have been cast aside by you, huh...

But Richter’s situation was a curiosity, nothing more. Rather than dwelling for any more time, Randidly returned to Ricther’s question. “Right now, the Aether demands of those worlds are currently being supported by the Nexus itself. And have been for a thousand years, so the raw materials inside of them are extremely valuable, especially considering where we are in Earth’s development. If we clear the threat in time… the Nexus will continue to foot the Aether bill.”

“So we still get the materials either way,” King Phriun crossed his arms across his greasy body. His eyes were blazing with barely controlled fury, likely after being so forcefully suppressed by Octavius’s image. At least he seemed to be channeling his pride in a reasonable manner.

Randidly winced. “Technically, but raw materials function in a similar manner to those of us who have the Aether constructs empowering us; without Aether, they will weaken back to normal materials very quickly. Right now, each of those worlds is an undeveloped treasure trove, with enough space for every Zone to benefit. If we fail, those benefits will become… sparse.”

For a few seconds, there was silence. Then Mrs. Hamilton raised her head and spoke. “Shall we make plans right now then? Divvy up the responsibility while we are here. And with this handy glowstone tile floor, we can ensure that the relative strength of each of the forces will be equal.”

Randidly smiled wryly. “You have read my mind, Mrs. Hamilton. The Order Ducis has taken the liberty of making some preliminary groupings based upon geography and known associations, but these are, of course, up for discussion. Tatiana, if you would distribute the information…”

Very quickly, more servants came out of the side hallway with additional maps and lists. After a few discussions, members of the various Orders went out onto the glowstone tile and Randidly withdrew the suppressive effect of his Nether. They began to develop a rough outline of the individual strength of their members.

Some Orders perhaps forced to face the knowledge that they were much weaker than they had hoped, but that mattered less to all assembled than clearing this hurdle.

Randidly took a deep breath. He felt the surrounding people’s willingness to work together. It became a tangible image. How long will this last, I wonder? Luckily, the time limit is less than two weeks… hopefully the largess of humanity can handle that span of time...

Tatiana performed admirably in her role as host. Naffur stepped forward, looking more serious than Randidly had generally seen him in their interactions these past few weeks, to serve as acting leader of the Order Ducis. Both spoke eloquently about the information available regarding the four Danger Zones they would need to clear.

With Kharon and the Order Ducis acting in concert, most of the other political entities fell into line. No one disagreed with the groupings that they had provided, mostly because Randidly was sure that Tatiana had considered the issue from every angle before even ‘casually’ providing these suggestions.

Franksburg, King Phirun’s Zone, and Zone Seven. Donnyton and Zone Eleven. Zone One, the Order Valorem, and the various independent powers including the newly arrived Zone, the other Orders, and powerful individuals from bubble cities that were integrating well to New Earth. Finally, the Order Ducis would be led by Helen to handle their own Danger Zone.

The Nemesai, of course, were more than willing to abstain from any participation.

While the groups hashed out the details of how many people to send, Randidly glanced toward Theodora Greyman. She stood still in the area where the challenges had been attempted, next to the leader of the Order Valorem and Richter. She seemed perfectly at ease. She even smiled politely at Randidly as he looked over and then turned back to listen to Naffur.

Shaking his head, Randidly turned away and tried not to yawn. If she doesn’t try something else before the night is over, I’ll wake up and put on a pair of shoes tomorrow.