Francis
Ms. Li was lying about the Yin Yang Sage’s husband being the common ancestor of everyone on Earth, but her words were honest about everything else, at least according to Francis’s Truthsense skill, and it was pretty easy to guess why. Right now, Earth was more united than at any time before the integration, and the knowledge that only a fraction of the population would be on the chopping block of multiple gods if they were found could easily create division.
If Francis were in her position, he would lie as well.
“What power could we awaken which would threaten the gods?” Javier Garcia, ‘Earth’s Strongest Man’, asked exactly what Francis would expect him to even with all the insane revelations Ms. Li had just given.
“When other beings of the same level of power are not involved, several different lines of divination skills can be used to predict the future, but gods all seem to somehow have this ability as well, allowing them to manipulate mortals to their liking. On Earth, however, seven individuals—I’m not going to mention who—have already awakened to a uniqueness line which blocks this type of divination, and thus threaten their control.”
“Oh.” Javier’s aura showed disappointment. “Well, that’s less cool.”
Ms. Li raised an eyebrow. “The ability to act as a natural born spanner in the works for the plans of immortal beings isn’t cool?”
Javier seemed to think about it for a second and then nodded. “Good point. I retract my statement.”
“If gods want to kill us, is there anything we can do?” After a short pause, Silvia asked a much more relevant question, guiding the conversation in a more useful direction.
“Not too much, but not nothing.” Ms. Li smiled warmly at everyone. “The main reason we haven’t shared the news about Diana until now was that we were waiting to see if the goddess or her underlings would arrive here and slaughter us all, as in that case there would have been absolutely nothing any of us could do, so worrying everyone for nothing would have been pointless. But they haven’t and, given their obvious desire for the puzzle books, they almost certainly would have if they could.
“From talking with an A rank who’s had a lot of experience interacting with gods, my grandmother has confirmed the System’s protection of new worlds for the first 72 years is not something even gods can get past without a whole, whole lot of effort and time, measured in millions of years at the least, and, thanks to the Yin Yang Sage, we can extend that protection indefinitely by paying a grand total of 12 C rank universal credits per year, a price which is pretty much already pocket change for our force.
“Seeing as we’re going to raise Earth up to A rank in the coming years, and thus have an entire other universe we can explore, as well as our ability to buy most resources with quite a large discount from the System, most of us from Earth won’t need to wander around our universe, so we can avoid the greatest of the issues.
“This is not to say none of us will have to travel our own universe, however. In order to revive Diana, it will require us not only winning the next C rank Universal Tournament, but also having the United Federation of Planets’ showing in the tournament be overwhelming, with at least half the top rankers coming from our own force, and that will require a lot of planning, a lot of recruiting, and a universe wide campaign of manipulation and deceit.”
Ms. Li’s smile grew wide, her aura showing excitement Francis was pretty sure wasn’t faked. “So, what can you all do? Combatants, prepare yourselves as best you can and reach C rank in time. We’ll make new identities for you to step into, so you don’t need to worry about anything else. Administrators, prepare to work your asses off to start a universe wide intelligence network from scratch. And, for anyone who wants to regularly operate in the field, gain at least an Epic grade disguise skill.”
There was stunned silence for several seconds. Then Javier Garcia, the last person Francis would expect any form of doubt from, asked, “Are you sure you’re not biting off more than you can chew?”
Ms. Li just smiled at him, her aura of excitement not diminished at all. “Ask me again after the War of the Chosen, the main thing we’re actually here to talk about.”
Ms. Li turned to the large lizardman general. “Brom, thank you for coming. And sorry for unintentionally dragging you into a force which will almost certainly have to fight against gods in the future. We’ll try to make sure to keep your identity secret so you can get your own revenge within a reasonable time frame.”
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“No issues, Ms. Li. And sorry for your loss.” The large lizardman nodded, his tail moving slightly and his aura showing a deep respect.
Ms. Li then turned to look at Francis and sent him a message through the local soulnet which included a long list of names. “Mr. Davies, please send out formal invitations to everyone on this list through the soulnet to gather at the island of Zakynthos in Greece. We have 25 years until the next War of the Chosen, and it’s time everyone who will be participating starts training together.”
Ms. Li then looked over everyone’s faces. “This is pretty much all I wanted to say. For anything further, there is no reason for everyone to be here, and Mr. Davies and I will talk with each department separately.
“We do, however, have a bit more time scheduled for this meeting. So does anyone have any questions?”
Quite a few people seemed to have things they wanted to ask, and Francis could guess many more were debating whether to ask their questions in the public meeting or separately afterwards, but, as usual, Javier Garcia was the first to speak. “With Diana unable to participate, who becomes general and who takes the extra commander spot?”
“Mila will be the general and Silvia Davies will be taking her commander spot.” It wasn’t Ms. Li who answered the question, nor anyone else among Earth’s leaders, but the handsome G rank who had, along with Irena Krol, sat down on the floor at the edge of the room. And Francis only belatedly realized it was very, very odd for Ms. Krol to not have taken a seat at the table. “As for the extra two tokens from—”
“Irena, tell your boy toy to be quiet.” Mr. Garcia glared at Ms. Krol, interrupting the youth, and then turned back to Ms. Li, who Francis noticed was trying to hold back a laugh.
Taking a second, her expression returning to its normal state, Ms. Li then looked directly at Mr. Garcia. “I don’t get to decide.”
“Then who does?”
“Aalam Alvaro, the Heavenly Spark Soul King.” Ms. Li looked over at the youth on the floor.
And, at the same time, the youth turned to look at Ms. Krol. “Did he just call me your boy toy?”
Francis, along with almost everyone else in the room other than Ms. Chakrabarti, Isaiah Gale, Ms. Li, Ms. Krol, and the two men who’d come in with Ms. Li, turned to look at the handsome youth, eyes growing wide.
“I should punish him for interrupting me and telling me to be quiet, right?” Aalam Alvaro, the Heavenly Spark Soul King, appeared to look to Ms. Krol for advice.
“Well, he is your second cousin on your father’s side, so maybe just let it slide.” There was a bit of mirth in Ms. Krol’s eyes, but her aura was fully controlled, so it was hard to tell exactly what she was feeling.
The Heavenly Spark Soul King looked over at Mr. Garcia, whose face was starting to redden, and then back to Ms. Krol. “I guess. He should stop being so rude, though.”
“Um.” Silvia, who was braver than Francis, timidly interrupted the Heavenly Spark Soul King’s conversation with Ms. Krol. “If you’re the Heavenly Spark Soul King, why do you feel like a G rank?”
The Heavenly Spark Soul King looked at Ms. Li and then back to Francis’s daughter. “If you could retract your aura completely so no one could easily read your emotions, wouldn’t you make that your default? Not everyone is sneaky like Mila.”
“Um.” Silvia turned to look at Ms. Li, who seemed far more relaxed than Francis would have expected, and then back to the Heavenly Spark Soul King. “I guess so.”
“How about a brief demonstration of what your full aura actually feels like, Aalam?” Ms. Li smiled from her position at the end of the conference table. “Most of the people here are going to participate in the War of the Chosen anyway. So there is nothing to hide.”
“Alright.”
One second, the Heavenly Spark Soul King felt like a G rank, puny and weak with no signs of any Laws in his aura at all, then the next it felt like the entire room, and much further beyond, was completely under his control. His aura had a hint of inherent nobility to it, like Ms. Li’s or Diana’s, making others want to bow in his presence, and his aura was much, much stronger than theirs, by at least a factor of 12.
Francis did a little math, calculating based on what he knew about the limits of E rank, and realized the effectiveness of the Heavenly Spark Soul King’s Aura stat was boosted by at least 750%.
More impressive than that, however, was how Francis didn’t even have the ability to recognize all the Laws in the Heavenly Spark Soul King’s aura, as there were just too many of them, and all at the Law Pupa level.
Then, just as suddenly as the aura appeared, it retracted, completely disappearing. “As I was going to say earlier, given the new developments, the two women we agreed to give commander spots will no longer be joining us, so that opens two new commander positions in addition to the one which Silvia Davies will be inheriting from Mila.
“The first spot will be taken by someone yet to be determined, likely the best of the reincarnated Earthling monsters Mila is in the process of rescuing.” Then the Heavenly Spark Soul King pointed at the elf standing in the corner next to the red-haired giant. “And the second spot will be taken by Reginald Vin, who has joined the United Federation of Planets under no duress at all.”
The Heavenly Spark Soul King’s last words very much seemed like a lie, but Francis’s Truthsense skill didn’t react at all, and he was pretty sure that meant his skill was blocked, not that the Heavenly Spark Soul King wasn’t lying, which was almost more terrifying than feeling the man’s aura earlier.
“Also, everyone should welcome Wolfram Gan.” The Heavenly Spark Soul King pointed at the red-haired giant. “He’s temporarily allowed himself to be under soul shackles, but he’s a C rank, and a particularly talented one.
“He’ll be helping us all with training, so treat him well.”
Then a couple arrays appeared around the Heavenly Spark Soul King which radiated the power of time and space, and the handsome man disappeared, apparently leaving everything else for Ms. Li to deal with.