The humans exited the VR pods one by one and shook their heads slightly, trying to reconcile the shift between virtual and real. Soon enough, all of them shared looks, though their expressions varied, one half looked excited, the other grim.
Damon looked around and found Felicia, then directly approached her. The young woman saw him coming over and was surprised, wondering what he might have to say.
"Greetings, Miss Rothschild, my name is Damon Arnan, and I'm from Ghana. If you don't mind, I would like to discuss a few things I've learned about the IUAS and humanity's future role as one of its members." Damon introduced himself before getting right down to business.
Felicia's eyes flashed as she smiled. "It would be my pleasure!"
Felicia looked around, focusing on the corners of their current room. While she could not find any cameras there, the quality of technology these guys had was certainly far beyond anything from sci-fi movies.
"However, I don't think this is the ideal environment for any type of sensitive discussion." Felicia pointed out with a shrug.
Damon seemed unbothered. "You don't have to worry about that. I spent the past week studying up on the various laws of the IUAS to familiarize myself with the legal procedures of a new civilization getting inducted. We have the right to return to the planet before the voting begins."
Felicia's eyes flashed. "We do? That's great. Coincidentally, I used the time to study up on the history and social events of the IUAS..."
Both of them went silent, gazing at the other with appreciation. In their minds, they were endlessly praising the other for their proactivity and foresight, thinking how great it would be if everyone else could be this practical and methodical.
"We merely need to formally request a rest period, which Ambrose will have to grant us." Damon asserted.
That's right, Ambrose looked intimidating and very powerful, but his scope of powers as an Overseer was actually very limited. He was not allowed to touch anything and could only guide them indirectly.
Otherwise, why would he be sitting in his command room, idly drinking wine instead of harvesting human blood to drink and enslaving the species directly?
"Excuse me, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation and you mentioned something about a formal request?" A young man of obviously Mexican descent approached them with a genial smile.
Damon eyed him for a moment before remembering him. The 23-year-old fellow's name was Ektor Castro and he had been part of the last batch to awaken. He had an SSS-Grade Ability called Ability Destruction and given its name Damon estimated that he would soon become one of the most feared and hunted men in the universe.
Felicia was far more direct than Damon, stretched a hand out, and greeted Ektor, before explaining the process of a formal request.
"A formal request can only be made by a Prime Representative, which we will have to elect. The IUAS doesn't have time to research local politics of a new species and choose one dynasty to preside over all others."
"For simplicity's sake, they let those who have actually awakened Abilities for free and been given the lowdown of what's coming next elect one among themselves to hold that title. The Prime Representative position comes with great powers, however it's a term of office, at least for the first 20 years."
"The Prime Representative is practically the final decision maker for their species, their parliament, judiciary and executive all in one without any accountability to those below and the IUAS will deal with them only. Even if local forces do not like it, they will be contractually bound to accept it."
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"Each term of office lasts five years before a new one will be voted in. After that, the Prime representative defaults to the strongest person within a species and becomes a life term."
Ektor was shocked by this, and a few others who had been listening in by the side came over. One of them, the 27-years-old Andre Gregg, who held the SS-Grade Ability Explosive Paradise, rubbed his stubble as he asked: "Hold on. So we're supposed to get to know each other and vote on a leader who will represent our entire species? When is the voting done?"
Damon decided to speak up now. "It's 14 days after the awakening, so a week from today."
Another fellow frowned and spoke up. Damon remembered him to be Jose Rivera, a 22-year-old fellow with the SS-Grade Ability: Interface.
"I don't see much of a problem. From a certain point of view, we can be considered the 'Chosen Ones', picked randomly out of over 7 billion, do you even understand the chances of that?"
The fellow shrugged. "I'm a college student right now, and on my first day we had to vote a class rep from among 50 plus people, all strangers who met for the first time that day. If students in colleges around the world can do that, why can't we, especially if we have a whole week for it?"
The rest went silent and seemed to partially agree. While the scale was obviously not the same, the framework was. They would just have to pick who they wanted by the voting time and live with it.
"So, what comes after voting? Do you get to enter Essence?" The fellow who came with Ektor Castro asked. His name was Henry Jasek and he had the SSS-Grade Ability: Ability Replication.
"Not exactly. Once we have ourselves a Prime Representative, the economic part of this induction will follow, the valuation and integration. You don't actually think the IUAS was gonna accept our dollars and pounds, right? We'll undergo a species evaluation based on our technology, arts, and resources to be given a value." Damon began with a smirk.
"To sum it up, by the end of the 10th day after today, all currencies on Earth will become valueless paper, even cryptocurrencies. The IUAS will then 'buy' any new technology we have, even if they're still in the concept stage. The same holds true for any unique arts and crafts we have created as a species, like poems, songs, writings, etc, and finally, our planetary resources that are useful on a galactic scale."
"Of course, we are not forced to sell anything. They will just evaluate our means and give us a price for everything and we'll get to pick and choose what to sell."
"And who does this money go to?" Ektor asked astutely.
"The money is treated as public funds and will belong to the civilization. In other words, it's government money." Felicia answered with a chuckle.
"And you just said that the Prime Representative voted by us has no accountability... so they're almost a dictator of sorts?" Andre Gregg inquired with a strange expression.
Felicia seemed smug about this. "That is correct."
The area descended into a strange silence. Most humans had already come over and heard most of what was being discussed, so they understood the stakes here. One of them was going to become an omnipotent ruler with access to all the world's funds.
And no matter how kind they were, or righteous, there was a little voice in everyone's head telling them that they were the one who should become the rightful ruler, the one deserving to wield such power. Everyone else was their enemy and should be treated with caution.
Damon rolled his eyes. "Don't get caught in her tempo. There is more to this than just valuation. If anything, you can call that public sector money. We haven't even started with the private sector stuff."
Felicia giggled and continued. "Basically, the IUAS needs a way to thrive and just being the Universe Will's slave isn't enough. That is why many sectors of industry have been opened up to facilitate the flow of income to various hands and to turn this entire venture into one that keeps the economy flowing universally."
"There are many sectors out there, but the ones valid to use for us humans as a new species are excavations, ability hiring, and livestreaming."
"Excavators will have to retrieve rare items and skills out of Essence and can naturally only be done by those who enter with their souls/real bodies. However, the cold truth is that at Level 1, there is no way we will be allowed into the actual Essence. We would die in seconds due to the atmosphere alone, much less the monsters, as it is modeled after the Chaos Realm."
"And so, we'll be sent into an AR world modeled after Earth with its own unique zones. The whole world will be scanned and various special features of our planet and our mythology will be combined to create a 'starting ground' for us. Instead of Chaos Monsters, if you live in Greece or move to the zone that represents Greece in the AR map, be prepared to fight beings from Greek mythology."
"Likewise, special items will be birthed in this world. If you're lucky, you might unearth Thor's hammer, Odin's spear, King Arthur's sword, etc. This is what excavations are. These items are not limited in quantity, they are farmable and can be sold to the IUAS, allowing them to reverse engineer the magic/tech behind it and add to their archives, or sell it to other species who fancy its unique abilities."