The revelation of Kailan’s biography that was generated by Gaia had a shocking effect on everyone. Even Director Morris, Eva and Douglas felt it. They had already believed it as Gaia had confirmed Kailan to be a God-Level being once before and Kailan had already proven his age by having Gaia display it, but that didn’t quite explain everything. There was so much more to a person’s biographical statistics than just their species and age.
Most everyone’s attention gravitated to Kailan’s level and then individual rank. Despite only being level 1 he had an individual rank of Mortal. This was absurd.
A being’s individual rank was determined by Gaia and would change and grow with them based on the power they presently possessed. Mortal rank was the rank above Plebeian which was the lowest of all the ranks. In order to meet the requirements to be considered of the Mortal rank, one had to have the power, both in terms of stats as well as skills to beat an opponent with a Mortal rank talent and is of at least level 10.
While they didn’t know what requirements there were for the higher ranks, they at least knew this one. There weren’t that many Hunters in the world that were graded as Mortal rank for their individual ranks and they were all higher level Knight or King talents.
The fact that Kailan, despite being level 1 could be ranked as a Mortal rank by Gaia showed just how powerful he really was. And this was only at level 1, the very beginning. Even more terrifying was the fact that it said his power is sealed. He’s as powerful as a Mortal rank even with his power sealed. How much more powerful would he be if his power wasn’t sealed right now?
Something else everyone noted was the infinity symbol next to his level. Every talent rank had a level cap associated with it. The higher the rank the higher the level cap. And yet Kailan’s was an infinity symbol. Does this mean that he can level up an infinite number of times? In which case there was no limit on how powerful he could become.
This new information gave everyone a lot to think over.
Then there was the speech Kailan made earlier. Humanity already knew that Gaia was apparently created by these races known as the Gods and Immortals. She had said so on day one. But now Kailan had not only confirmed this but had even named the race of immortals involved. This suggested that Kailan knew a lot about Gaia and possibly even more.
Gaia was not known to be very chatty so Earth only had a limited knowledge of what was happening to their world and why. The extent of their knowledge was that the barrier around their universe collapsed allowing other universes to invade. Gaia is protecting them by turning the entry points from the other universes into dungeons and providing them with the ability to level and learn skills in order to fight back. And that was basically it. There were a few other details they had learned the hard way from experience but not much.
But according to Kailan, the Gods had also given this power to those who were invading their world. So whose side were they on?
It should also be noted that Kailan stated he has administrative access to Gaia because he is a God, meaning that all Gods must have the same level of access. There was a lot of information to be gleaned from what he had just revealed.
The patriotic director couldn’t find any words as she stared in denial. Kailan had literally slapped her face in the harshest way, with cold hard facts. If there was one thing that human’s knew definitively about Gaia, it was that she never lied. Everything she displayed or stated were pure calculated facts, nothing more and nothing less. As if she was a computer outputting data based on a simple query.
The display showing Kailan’s biographical information disappeared and everyone sucked in a light breath as they looked at him. Now they knew, this was really a God standing in front of them.
“You have gained 14 new believers.” An alert that only Kailan could see appeared in front of his eyes.
The President took a deep breath as she calmed herself. “Thank you for your cooperation Kailan. We will take care of the media and foreign governments so for the time being I ask that you avoid causing any further disturbances. And I believe I speak for everyone here when I say welcome home.”
“Thank you Madam President. I’ll do my best not to cause any trouble.” Kailan responded with a smile.
“Eva, take Kailan back to his family and finish processing his Returnee status.” Director Morris directed his attention to Eva and Douglas as he spoke. He implied for the both of them to leave with his eyes.
“Yes sir.” Eva and Douglas responded together.
Kailan followed the both of them out of Director Morris’ office. As they left both Eva and Douglas let out a heavy sigh of relief as they relaxed their bodies. Kailan may not have been nervous but they sure were.
“Are you two ok?” Kailan asked concernedly.
“We’ll be fine. How are you?” Eva responded. Douglas turned to eye Kailan to see his response.
“I’m fine.” Kailan said nonchalantly as he smiled like usual.
“How can you be fine after that? Those were some of the most powerful people in the world.” Eva exclaimed wearilly. Douglas gawked at him confusedly.
Kailan chuckled. “In Asgard it’s normal to speak in front of dozens if not hundreds of others. Many of whom are Gods, beings who can create and destroy entire universes. What’s a mere board of directors and a US president?” He continued to walk down the hall towards the elevator as he stated.
It clicked for Eva and Douglas the moment he said it, he was playing on an entirely different field of a much higher caliber. Of course it didn’t faze him. They both just rolled their eyes, too weary to make a fuss. But they noted in their hearts that Kailan was the worst enemy of every global official in the world.
The three of them entered the elevator and headed downstairs to the first floor. Douglas separated from them as he had some things he needed to attend to. So Eva walked Kailan back to her office alone. Maria, Edward and Elias were drinking coffee that Suzie had brought in for them when they noticed Eva and Kailan’s return. Everyone put their cups down and stood up.
“How did it go?” Maria asked as she looked worried.
“It was fine. Just the typical questions.” Kailan replied with a soothing smile. Maria was able to calm down because of it.
“The typical questions? You forced a sealed gate to open and they asked you ‘the typical questions’?” Elias looked at Kailan dumbfoundedly.
“Well, they did ask about that too. But it wasn’t that important. I can’t do it that often anyway.” Kailan replied with a smile.
“Not important?” Elias thought to himself.
“Regardless, the debrief is over, so now we just need Kailan to sign some documents to have him reinstated into the living and then you can go for the day.” Eva flashed a smile as she gestured for everyone to sit down again.
“Ah, I guess I was declared legally dead…” Kailan just realized. It hadn’t occurred to him because of everything that had happened since he awoke.
“Don’t worry, we started the process just after you woke up. So once you sign these documents everything will be settled. Also, you will be reissued your social security card and a state ID. Which will be delivered to your parents house in light of a lack of personal address.” Eva continued as she pushed several documents in front of Kailan.
It took 10 minutes for Eva to go over all of the details while Kailan signed all of the documents she pointed to.
“Congratulations. You are now officially reborn.” Eva joked as she scanned the documents onto her laptop and emailed them out to state and government parties unknown.
“Thanks for handling this.” Kailan was very grateful for Eva. Based on the number of documents and other factors he knew that this was a tedious process.
“It’s no problem. It’s my job after all.” Eva responded nonchalantly, but Kailan could tell she was enjoying herself. It seemed he had brought some excitement into her life. Probably into the lives of many others as well, especially after last night.
“You are all free to go now.” Eva said as she finished the last of the documents.
“Let’s get lunch. I’m starving.” Elias intejected as he turned to Edward and Maria. Hunters have large appetites by nature so he was beginning to feel a bit starved as it was now 12:30, 30 minutes past lunch time.
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“I’ll walk you out.” Eva got up and walked with the Jones family to the parking garage. She bid her farewell once they reached the lobby doors and reminded that she and Douglas would stop by later to check on things as per usual.
Everyone piled into Edward’s company car and a heated discussion over food options began. At some point Maria called Rebecca to ask if she was going to meet them. But Rebecca didn’t answer. A couple minutes later Maria received a text from her, saying that she would meet them wherever they were going.
“Then it’s decided. We’re going to Steak ’n Shake.” Elias called out.
“Really, we can go to a nicer restaurant…” Maria turned back as she glared at Elias. He always wanted to go to Steak ’n Shake and Maria wanted to enjoy some time together with the family.
“No way, Steak ’n Shake sounds great. I want a cheesecake shake.” Kailan said excitedly. It had been quite a while since he last visited a restaurant.
“Alright, alright. Steak ’n Shake it is.” Maria gave up. There was no way she could say no to Kailan.
Edward just chuckled as he backed out of his parking spot and drove down the winding lane out of the parking garage. South Capitol Ave was the street on the East side of the Hunters Bureau building. To get to Steak ‘n Shake, they simply had to head South on Capital Ave down to West Maryland St and take a left. It was at the end of the block and was less than a 2 minute drive.
There were of course no parking spots on the side of the street so they had to head into another parking garage off Illinois St called World of Wonders Garage. After finding a parking spot on the 4th floor, they took the staircase back down to street level and walked up to the corner before entering the restaurant.
Rebecca joined them almost 30 minutes later. By that point they had already eaten and Kailan had his shake. Rebecca placed her order and devoured it in a huff.
“What’s wrong with you?” Elias asked as he leaned back between the wall and booth leisurely.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Rebecca replied curtly.
Elias’ eyes bulged momentarily as he backed off. Clearly it was a touchy subject.
“If they give you too much trouble you can just leave. Don’t let them push you around. Especially not over me.” Kailan was more sensitive than his brother. He also had a pretty good idea of what Rebecca had gone through.
Rebecca smiled at Kailan sweetly. “Don’t worry, I won’t let them push me around. And you don’t need to worry about it. I can deal with them.”
Rebecca straightened her back and began eating with gusto. Showing off her tough side so Kailan wouldn’t worry. Kailan of course just laughed at her goofy behavior.
Just as Rebecca finished her food, Elias’ cell phone rang. It was playing Amazing Grace. Elias quickly pulled his phone out, but his hands stumbled and the phone bounced into the air a couple times before he caught it and answered.
“Really?” Kailan looked at his brother questioningly with a slight teasing smile.
“It’s my guild, the Sacred Paladins. We’re a religious guild so…” Elias explained.
“Uh huh…” Kailan just kept smiling teasingly at his brother.
Elias was a bit embarrassed but he cleared his throat and answered the phone all the same.
“This is Elias.”
Everyone quieted down as they perked their ears up to try and listen in.
“Yes, I was....”
“He’s my little brother…”
“Kshhhkerr, kschhhh, Sorr… kshhh, you’re, kcshhhhhh, break, kshhhh. Click.”
Elias hung up his call quickly as he imitated static noises.
“Smooth. Real smooth.” Kailan said as everyone held back their laughter.
Elias turned his phone off and put it back into his pocket. He looked around, noticing everyone staring at him. “What? They were asking stupid questions.”
“You mean questions about me.” Kailan interjected.
Elias remained silent and just stared at the ceiling not intending on giving an explanation. It was inevitable for people to try and use his family members to get more information on him. That’s what had happened with Rebecca. Now Elias is getting heat from his guild.
“So, what’re we doing after this?” Elias changed the subject as he looked around at everyone again.
“Since we’re downtown and near the mall, we should go shopping for Kailan. All of his old clothes are too small for him and he can’t keep wearing those hospital clothes.” Maria said as she looked at Kailan’s shirt with disgust.
Kailan just shrugged helplessly.
“Agreed. Let’s go shopping!” Rebecca was all for it. She wanted to de-stress from her meeting with the guild president. Plus, she loved dressing Kailan up as a kid, now she can dress him up in more mature clothes. Kailan had retained his boyish good looks but had a more manly bearing, this gave her a few ideas.
Kailan felt a cold chill run down his spine as his mother and sister eyed him like vipers. He knew he was in for quite the adventure. And probably a long and grueling stay in the local fitting rooms.
Director Morris sat in his office staring at the various monitors mounted to the wall. In them, people were reviewing briefs, sighing, gasping and even glaring. They didn’t seem happy at all.
“Are they serious?” One of the board directors questioned as he looked up at Director Morris.
“To the point of delivering those both personally and directly to me." Director Morris responded.
Several of the people on the screens sucked in a breath of air as they cooled their heads.
"These guilds are getting more and more unruly. To think that they would actually pull a stunt like this." One of them stated with disdain as he harrumphed.
"Why do they even think they can get away with this?" The patriotic director asked, directing her attention towards Director Morris.
"It's because we created a clear delineation between the Bureau and the Guilds. We also implemented protections for the families of Hunters associated with the guilds.” Director Morris responded.
“Yes, but that boy is under the protection of the bureau presently. He’s a Returnee and that status trumps the laws over the guilds. They should know this.” The patriotic director added on, exasperatedly.
“For the moment, yes. But that protection period has a limit. They’re playing the long game for when he becomes a free agent. After the Returnee protection period ends the other laws kick in.” The President stated as she frowned at the documents in her hands.
“Precisely. They’re intending to use the laws that protect family members of a guild as a means to rope him in and push us away. At the same time they want to use Kailan’s ability to open dungeon gates as an incentive to spur the general public to support them as well as to place pressure on Kailan himself. It’s a rather bold and sly plan.” Director Morris explained as he took a sip of his coffee that had a splash of Bourbon in it.
“As expected of that little fox Chyou and Cardinal O’Brian. There are even requests from the Riders of the Moon and several other smaller guilds around Indiana. Even the Blood Knights, one of the US’ top 10 guilds has submitted a request. I fear this is going to only escalate in the future.” The Vice President finally submitted a few words to the conversation. He had been staying back and strictly analyzing the situation until now.
“Indeed.” The President agreed.
“Yes, but wouldn’t the success of the plan hinge on Kailan’s willingness. From what I can see, he’s a very proud and intelligent young man… er, well. He seems to act like a young man rather than acting his age that is.” The Secretary of Defense who had also kept quiet this entire time finally added his own opinion into the mix.
“Based on my observations, Kailan does indeed act more like a young man in his early 20s despite his actual age. He also seems to be extremely intelligent and capable. He has a strong sense of pride but isn’t arrogant. And he communicates in a friendly and polite manner normally. His attitude doesn’t seem to come out until someone who seems troublesome enters the room, such as in the case of Twilight Garden’s president. His expression slightly fluctuated when she introduced herself. It was as if he could tell that she wasn’t someone he would like. Regardless, he still maintained a level of politeness. It’s hard to say exactly what is going on in his head, but I can say that I doubt he will go along with the guild’s games.” Director Morris was the most familiar with Kailan’s personality and his description fell in line with what everyone else's interpretations were.
They also thought of another case where Kailan communicated with attitude. Several people glanced at the location on their monitors where a particular person who had American flags all over her office was. In her case she directly went against Kailan so it was only natural for him to respond with some hostility.
“There is something else we should consider.” One of the silent board directors chimed in and everyone turned their attention to him.
“Kailan stated that the Gods are all about equality and fairness, correct? In the case of equality and fairness, I believe that we can interpret that as the Gods are a neutral party. Wouldn’t you agree? In which case, as Kailan himself is a God, which he has proven, wouldn’t that mean that he is also a neutral party? And if so, joining a guild would violate his neutrality, as guilds are self-serving. So then I’d like to ask, can he even join a guild in the first place?”
He made a valid point to which the many others nodded in agreement. Although it was a slight stretch to call them a neutral party most likely, it could also be interpreted that way. Afterall, Kailan also stated that the God’s ideas of fairness and equality was to include species that intended on invading other worlds in the system called Gaia. This proved that they were indeed fair to all, but it also meant that they didn’t favor anyone.
Guilds were designed to help manage the dungeons and to recruit Hunters for a similar cause. That cause was the cause of the guild, and as such guilds were a self-serving entity by nature. If Kailan joined one, then he would be subject to that guild's ideals and interests and would be forced to abide by them. Meaning that he would be serving the interests of that guild alone and ignoring the interests of everyone else. In which case, he would no longer be fair or neutral.
“I think this deserves further deliberation. We have a lot to go over and we may need to make some adjustments. Kailan as a God-Level being represents an unknown, which may pose a threat to our interests and future plans. I suggest that we all reconvene in two week's time after we see what he does next. That may give us some insight into how he will affect us in the future.” The President stated emotionlessly as she continued reviewing documents.
“You think that he will do something that soon?” The patriotic director asked with slight annoyance.
“I believe that he will do what he feels is right by him. And that he has the arrogance and pride to justify it.” The President responded as she looked up at the screen. Her gaze stared beyond everyone as if it was trying to penetrate time itself and see past it.