Damon coughed and gathered his thoughts carefully before 'expressing them'.

"Hello people of the world, our beautiful world called Earth. My name is Damon Arnan, a small-time lawyer and activist from West Africa, Ghana. I am 21 this year and have just begun the career path I have always dreamed of, to help my country escape the rut of being called a 'shithole' by powerful men."

"However, it, as well as everything, has changed with the advent of the aliens and their version of the UN called the IUAS. Unlike the UN though, this IUAS has real power and decided everything for everyone, including territory, legal rights, financial rights, and more."

"Joining them is inevitable and inescapable. I did my research and found that civilizations that refused to join them usually did not have a very pleasant fate."

"I was part of the initial 100 chosen to be granted free awakening as part of a sampling of our race. You may have been informed or not, but our results are… extraordinary to say the least."

"I was chosen today as the Species Representative for the entire human race not because of anything, but because we've all done our research. Most other species choose their reps through the way of power, in other words, who is the strongest."

"As I have awoken three EX abilities, I am not just the current strongest among the human race, but possibly the strongest in the entire universe."

"While that may sound impressive, it comes with its own fair share of problems. However, my personal issues are not important, but how this impacts our race. You see, in Asia, they have the saying that 'the tallest tree gets cut down first'."

"This means that those who stand out too much will suffer targeting. We've seen it here many times, with popular rising talents always being subjected to scandals or political schemes that inhibit their careers or countries suppressed from growth and slandered as despotic by the controlling powers."

"In this case, we are the potential victims. Our sampling has shown that the human race cannot awaken abilities below the A grade. To compare, the A grade in the universe can guarantee you a place in the top 50 races universe-wide."

"Right now, our talent puts us directly at odds with the 5th place race, the Behemoths. You see, they awaken a certain racial ability at the SSS grade, most species do. We humans are unique in that we all awaken different abilities instead of a single one."

"Whatever the case, the 5th place Behemoths are not going to sit down and let us take their spot, not after they have sat there for more than a few centuries. They have had a 200+ year headstart from us to acquire power, wealth, and political connections."

Damon paused for a bit to let it sink in.

"We are at a cliff's edge. One wrong step and we'll plummet to our doom. This is not like the Hollywood movies where a deus ex machina will save humans from alien invasion. If and when our 20-year protection period ends, the Behemoth race will use any and all tactics to make sure we are suppressed."

Suddenly, Damon took on a cheery tone.

"But there is some good news! Due to how precious we are as a race, the Universe's Will will not allow us to be exterminated or severely impacted in a way that harms our survival."

Then his voice became somber.

"However, the bad news is that this is the limit of the Universe Will's protection. As long as we can suitably spelunk the Chaos Realm, it doesn't care about our happiness. So in other words, the Behemoth race will not try to destroy us, but enslave us."

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"If we become a subsidiary under them, we can still spelunk in the Chaos Realm for the Universe Will while the Behemoth race keeps their power and position while limiting our futures, or rather exploiting them."

"I don't know about you, but this is an unacceptable fate. We have the talent to grow into one of the top races of the universe! Why should we be suppressed as slaves to another? If we had the same time to grow as the Behemoths, they might even beg us to be their masters!"

"And that's exactly it! We need time, we need to buy time for each and every one of us to grow and accumulate power. I have spent the entire time I was on the spaceship researching various ways to break us out of this predicament and I found one sold path."

"Firstly, we must treat each human as a strategic financial resource. As you can imagine, the IUAS has its own private sector and they will descend upon us like locusts from tomorrow going forward. Their aim is to legally exploit your power for their profit and they will pay you. Typical capitalist stuff and there's nothing wrong with it, but the value they will argue you're worth is leagues below what you're actually worth."

"If we're talking about raw value in terms of money, even the lowest A-grade awakener is worth enough money that our richest oligarchs on earth would pale in comparison, and this is on the scale of the entire universe! As such, I have made a law preventing companies from duping you into terrible contracts."

"What happens is that if you see a company you like and want to work for, you have to approach the embassy of humankind for us to vet the company and fleece them thoroughly so that your working conditions are top-tier and so is your pay. You can think of it that we're your agents towards the universe."

"Secondly, each of us must absolutely enter with our real bodies! Even though this comes with risk, it comes with a reward! The human race is fragile and your value fluctuates based on how you enter Essence, not just financially, but overall. Don't forget, the only thing preventing the Behemoths from marching an army upon us is the Universe Will and its deterrence."

"This embodied spirit does not care about morals, kindness, or love. It is only counting the numbers based on utility. If all humans, with our great talent in abilities, enter with our real bodies, we're basically telling the Universe Will that we'll be its best soldiers and fully on its side. That way, its protection would be through and absolute."

"Not to mention that this way, we will all accumulate endless power and become strong enough to make the entire universe fear us."

"Thirdly, I have banned all aliens from entering our galaxy during the 20 years of grace period. This prevents them from physically kidnapping any of you, as well as soliciting humans. Not to mention that it will prevent them from setting up any bases or traps nearby."

"Now, they can at best, park outside our border and wait there for the time to elapse."

Damon smacked his lips with a wry smile. "I kind of understand why Russia reacted the way it did a few years ago. Having a potential threat at your border is very crisis-inducing."

"This is the case for our race. It may seem like I just sat down and thought of ways to abuse my power over you, but that could not be far from it. I am also human and this term of office is not everlasting."

"Do you want me to be blunt? I have absolutely no intention of sitting on this seat forever. I would crave passing on the burden of saving you all to someone else because it's fucking tiring. This power is not sweet at all. What's the point of ruling over a kingdom that is about to be invaded on all sides and be destroyed?"

"After all, when such invasions succeed, the people may be spared by the new suzerain for stability purposes, but the leaders will definitely be killed to set an example and weed out the roots. I am sitting on a hot seat right now and I can only pray this works out."

"Tomorrow, I will meet with the leaders of the IUAS virtually, as well as handle the integration of our species officially. After that comes privatization, but I have a plan for that. All these proceedings will be live-streamed directly to your minds, so please be awake by 8 am UTC 0."

"Once again, my name is Damon Arnan, and I am your Species Representative. I am here to make sure the human race survives this calamity and comes out on top with the skulls of our enemies as our washbasins. Lord knows the Behemoths are giant enough for that to hold true."

"Good day, and godspeed."

Damon silenced his mind as he closed his eyes. The others in the room were silently looking at him with varying expressions, as some had not realized the danger they were in aside from those Damon spoke to initially.

Damon himself leaned back in his seat as Ambrose removed the helmet from his head. He couldn't help but wonder how his meeting with the almighty heads of the IUAS would go and how he would deal with those damned blood-sucking companies.

At this point, Damon wished he could just enter the goddamned AR world and start slaughtering things.