I’m not sure Jeff really paid that much attention to the plan while he was watching me tank some attacks and use my Ascended Class Skills. But then after half an hour he asked some real good questions which showed me up, he had been paying attention after all. We crushed a few Monsters and even took on one of the unfinished third Koldaavi Combat Trials, where the Trialist left once they found out they hadn’t won. Admittedly it was a tough one, but having both Jeff and I there made all the difference to the local population.

In the end Jeff stated with authority that the plan I developed with Taiwo and Tenebris was, in his words, ‘A fucking amazing plan and everyone on Earth better get you a Christmas card every fucking year from now to eternity.’ I love Jeff.

So now I’m here, doing stuff I hate to do so that I can get all those cards every year; no doubt Jeff will design one so he can take a royalty.

My feet thud softly on short, narrow wooden steps as I climb up to a podium that sits on a wide stage I’ve had fixed up in Rattvik, Sweden. I’ve always thought Dalhalla was cool and it is still mostly untouched by the Influx, so this is the spot to do this. I definitely wanted wherever we met to be open air to give the best chance for everyone to scatter or rally if someone tries to do something stupid like take us all out. I’ve rented absurdly expensive and powerful Settlement shield generators for this, but you never know.

I go slowly to give everyone a chance to finish their conversations, but by the time my right foot hits the second step the noise has died down to nothing. Around the room is the post-Influx equivalent of the United Nations, a gathering of the most powerful Settlement owners or their representatives. At least half of them are here virtually rather than in person, because it doesn’t make any sense for us to give anyone with a grudge or colonization desires a juicy target.

There aren’t many, but any Legendary Class human with a combat Class above Level 20, giving them their Tier 3 Class Skills, has been invited to attend. A few even showed up in person to meet me and I admit it’s good to get to know more people who are approaching my Level, even if they’re not at my level of power. Some of them I recognize from the failed attempt to clear Hvitserkur from Iceland. Despite that, I find each of us treats each other with respect and interest. I also invited any Legendary Class human with a non-combat Class to be here, but none of them have shown up. There are a lot fewer of those, for sure. It’s hard to get the XP you need when you don’t constantly dive into life threatening danger.

I invested my own Credits in this setup and even paid for the transport for people to get here which was a massive expense; I can’t think of any other way to get this task done. A few of the Settlement owners who came in person have brought along their highest Level Mythic or the occasional low Level Legendary combat Classer as well. On the surface they’re here to provide protection, but I’m 90% sure that most of them are here to size me up, ask about what Skills and Classes they should be trying to develop to get to Ascended Class, or for some other reason.

Definitely a few want to see if they can kill me, I guess to take my Settlements or get some fame, or XP? Maybe they hope to Loot my amazing equipment that doesn’t exist? I don’t really get it. Certainly none of them have any concept of how laughable any attempt they make on my life would actually be. Maybe the higher Level Legendary Classers have more of a concept and that’s why they don’t stare daggers at me. I’m 100% confident I could lay down with my new armor refreshed and let the entire lot of them try to kill me at the same time, then stand up again whenever I get bored.

There’s a device on the podium to broadcast my image and voice all over Earth and in this open air auditorium. I’ve also asked for significantly over-specced Mana batteries that power the device, since my impact on technology is still problematic and has even grown worse since I became the Dark Mana Knight. The flows of Mana around me have a disruptive quality on everything, to a greater or lesser degree. Ready, I take a deep breath and begin.

“Welcome, leaders of Earth. I’ll get straight to the point. When I won the KCT I was given many choices of reward, all significant. What I chose was something not for myself, but instead for Earth.”

I feel like I’m off to a good start, since I’ve practiced this in my mind a whole bunch of times. It goes south quickly as someone in the front starts yelling with his own amplification device. We don’t exactly have security at the door.

“We’ve heard you’ve been spending time offworld helping Galactics instead of Earth. You led a group of our strongest fighters into a death march in Iceland that left us crippled. Yes, we do know you have assisted some Settlements turn back Teleports and powerful Monsters, and you’re clearly the strongest fighter we have. The only Ascended Class humanity has. Did the Galactics help you get it? Why should you decide things on behalf of all of us? Is this the start of an even greater betrayal of our trust that gets us all killed?”

I let him finish without reacting and so does everyone else. Nothing he says is new to me, or something I would particularly disagree with. But someone needs to decide what’s going to happen, and through all the ups and downs I’m the one in that position. I can see a lot of eyes waiting to see what I do. Maybe some of them agree with what’s been said. Maybe not.

They have no idea of the endless hours I’ve spent, with the Sentinels and without them, Portaling around the world and facing off against the most dangerous threats on Earth. They probably don’t know the extent of my involvement in Oblivion Shroud’s exit from Earth. And maybe they shouldn’t; they never asked me to do it on their behalf. I look at the black bearded, combat-ready heckler and smile, then look over the crowd and out all over the Earth.

“If you don’t want to participate, you’re welcome to leave or do your own thing. You’re also welcome to rejoin any time in the future. This isn’t a popularity contest, I’m not seeking votes or approval, and I’m not here to tell you what to do. I’ve decided to give anyone who wants it an opportunity.”

There’s some murmuring about this, but I silence it when I look straight at the heckler and release all the hostility my 570 points of Charisma and Ascended Class Aura can muster. I can feel something dark within my Mana Affinity swirling. Powerful, deep, and dangerous.

I broaden my attention to everyone and note a lot of them have scampered back and activated defences or brought out weapons. So far, nobody has done anything stupid. I bark at all of them with a snarl.

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“But let me make it clear. If anyone sabotages my offer or interferes in the right of others to participate, I will come for you and there will be no mercy.”

I pause to let that sink in, then lean forward and stare from side to side.

“None.”

I pause another few seconds then, satisfied my message has been received loud and clear, I pull in the effects of my Charisma and Class.

“Dude, I think you just cut down the number of Christmas cards you’re getting by, like, at least thirty percent. Maybe higher!” Jeff says in a completely normal tone and volume from the side of the stage. I glance back at him and grin, then try to relax my posture. The tension in the amphitheater tangibly drops and weapons, but not all of the defensive measures, are put away. I wonder if they all know their precautions only provide an illusion of safety.

“As we speak, a specialist team from the SSA is setting up a series of extremely expensive and rare space stations around Earth. They are not weapons,” I assure everyone, dismissing any concern with a wave of my hand.

There’s a lot of voices that rise up at this and with my Perception I can pick many of them out, some in support because of what the SSA has done for us, and others against making deals with Galactics and wondering if this is the beginning of the human genocide. Rather than address them I continue.

“These space stations have three purposes. First, they siphon off a portion of the Mana that’s still hitting Earth from the Mana Flare and some of the excess Mana that’s on Earth. The net effect of this will be an overall reduction of Mana on Earth, particularly in the high Ambient Mana Level areas. We will see less Teleports and less Monsters over Level 200 emerge. It can still happen, but it should be rare rather than commonplace.”

Nobody in their right mind has an objection to this if it’s true. For now, I have their full attention.

“Second, part of the Mana that is siphoned off is used for extraordinarily strong defensive measures that even high Level Ascended Classers would take hours to break through. Hours they would not have, because the SSA takes a very protective stance toward its most advanced and desired technology. Do not, and I repeat, do not try to approach or attack any of these space stations. It will not go well for you.”

I can see this has raised more concerns about what the SSA might be hiding from some of the stupider ones in the crowd, but I ignore it. Personally I am more interested in the technology and techniques that are behind the Mana siphoning, and particularly if they are using Dark Mana or if the experiment I encountered has anything to do with how they do it.

“Last, and perhaps just as important as the first point, the SSA will be installing Portaling equipment in every MIS Hub that is powered by the Mana siphoned off by the space stations. These Portaling stations can either be claimed by the Settlement, in which case you can select specific Galactic destinations to be inexpensive or free to travel to in exchange for increased Credit charges for other destinations, or the Settlement can leave the MIS Portals unclaimed meaning a flat Credit fee for transportation will be in place. Galactics will also be able to use these Portals at substantially higher fees than humans will pay. Settlements will earn tariffs on transport costs Galactics pay irrespective of whether they claim the MIS Hub Portal or not.”

Now this really gets them going, as I expected it would. How many people can travel? What will the Credit fee be? Is this just another tax on humanity? Who is getting rich? Why can’t it all be free?

The level of entitlement of some of the crowd astounds me, but I remind myself it’s in the minority and use my Perception to focus on the positive conversations, the ones where people are already thinking about all the good things that could come from this. I let it go on for quite a while before I decide it’s time to wrap things up.

“More information will be available in your Settlement interfaces within the next few days as everything is set up. Everything will be transparent. It’s as fair as I can make it. As an added bonus, transport between MIS Hubs for humans will be free.”

Stunned silence greets that pronouncement. The ability to travel quickly to anywhere on the planet for so many reasons until now has been expensive, difficult, and limited to the powerful or lucky like myself. It’s time everyone had the ability to connect with loved ones, explore, conduct commerce, and so many other activities. I look around and do feel like the tide has turned in my favor. Even the heckler doesn’t look so indignant anymore. I wonder how many Settlements he has, and what they might gain from this.

“Lastly, and I know you may not fully appreciate what I’m about to say because you’re still thinking about what I’ve just told you,” I say after a while, and there are a few chuckles at that. “I’d like to say this. It’s just my opinion, it’s not fact, so indulge me please. I believe our next step once these space stations are in place and operational is to colonize other worlds.”

A bit of a reaction to that, but I press on.

“I love the Earth as much as you do. I’ve also left it and come back, which perhaps all of you have not. I admit, most of the places I’ve been to have sucked.”

Laughter at that.

“However, as long as humans are only on Earth we will always be a target that’s easier to take aim at. We have no real allies from other places to join up with. No connections within this Galaxy, nevermind other Galaxies. It’s way too easy for someone with a grudge or an agenda to know exactly where we are, and to take aim and fire.”

I pause here because I know this point needs to sink in. It’s something I’ve realized while being on other worlds, and fighting to protect Earth from huge inter-Galactic organizations. I can see that the point is hitting home with most, but not for all.

“I am willing to lead this initiative. I’m not abandoning Earth, but once these space stations are in place and the kinds of Monsters I’ve been taking on are much more infrequent, I’m going to find us other worlds to inhabit. Worlds that don’t have a sapient species already or need a species like us to collaborate with to survive. I’m going to prepare those worlds for humans to settle. And I’m going to make sure anyone with an adventurous spirit who agrees with me has the chance to build something awesome that humanity needs.”

This crowd is full of people who naturally lean toward the opportunities I’m talking about, and I can feel the buzz spreading everywhere. Of course it’s not unanimous, but I’m confident that if I can prepare a world properly for humans to inhibit then it won’t be wasted effort.

“Good luck, fight hard,” I say, and raise my hand then step off the stage without any applause or calls for an encore, and over to Jeff.

“Proud of you, bro,” he says, his white teeth gleaming at me. Has he had them enhanced at the Shop?

Yeah. Done all I can on Earth now. Time to turn our minds to the Universe.