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Chapter 354: Open the Gates

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A mission was announced in the Mission Boards across the city: certain resources are needed and must be brought to Warehouse 27 within two hours.

The difficulty was S-Rank.

Time limit is 2 hours.

Reward: National Contribution Points

By the power of the Council of Elders, all of the Factions and their corresponding Knight Orders all had to forget whatever it is they were doing and only focus on completing the mission that is pasted on the board.

Basically, if one person had at least one of the 10 things the Council had listed, they will be given as a reward the rare National Contribution Points.

It was a set of points that only the Elders of the Council can give away as rewards to the missions they give —aside from the Royal Family which is non-existent at the moment.

Once one had enough points, they can exchange it for certain perks that is either access to certain places, services, even treasures, or even certain information that cannot be obtained elsewhere.

Also, the more points you have, the better your social standing in the country as a whole. You will be treated as a patriotic hero.

For players and gamers who had a high sense of vanity to themselves, this was a rare chance to be hailed as a famous face amongst the crowds.

Thus, many players compromised these items and ‘sold’ them for points to Warehouse 27.

In here, Jules personally overserved the entire operation while Draco ran here and there; trying to get as much of the items he could get from the resources of The Kingdom… no… of the Council.

But even then, the resources the council was able to provide weren’t enough so they were forced to issue the Resource Gathering Mission.

The rest of the council divided the task they have confidence of in completing; the resources that’s needed and could be provided immediately were all delivered as soon as possible.

It was a nation-wide scale of resource movement, the biggest the world has ever seen.

40 minutes later, Jules discovered that a problem lies in the Elemental Stones. Even with the entire resources of Jeremiah were drained, all they can produce were 9 megatons of each elements.

“Shit… are we really going to be forced to pull out resources from our personal treasury?” one of the Council Elders lamented regretfully. “Argh! No time to hesitate! Fuck. Even just a Megaton of one of these stones can support an Army of 10K for an entire month! And he needed 100 of each of them! This is preposterous!”

In the end, the elders had no choice but to pull out stocks from their own personal pockets to fill the gaps of what was missing on their designated item… or even on what was still needing of filling.

An hour passed…

Jules sent the message to the Council Members:

[We are still missing 4K Frag Grenades, 10K Fire Bombs, 40 Megatons of Tesla Coils, 2 Mega-Crates of Glandanium Alloys, 1 Megaton of Water Stones, and 3 Megatons of Cryogenic Elements.]

“Then pull out more from your personal stocks!”

[I’ve already pulled out all of my Elemental Stones from my own pockets! I don’t have any to support even my own household forces!]

“Me as well.”

“I have no more of the items needed in me.”

“What about the Battle-AIs and the Blacksmith?”

[The Council Head is yet to contact us from his visit to Pandora.] All of the Council Members were beginning to feel the desperation. [We have no other choice. Let’s buy them from outside.]

“Right. Buy them.”

“No matter the price.”

“We must not lose the country from our hands.”

[The Council will persist.]

“““The Council will persist.”””

Forget about dignity. The council wouldn’t let the superpower country called “Jeremiah” slip passed their fingers. As much as they can, they will not let their control of the country go no matter what.

Through the generations of Council that went and go, Jeremiah, from the inception since the ancient times until now, had always been in the clutches and beck and call of the Council of Elders.

It’s their property. The country is theirs to control.

This was their sacred volition… a volition that also turned into tradition…

…a tradition that converted into an obsession.

—an obsession that became the law.

Thus, as humiliating as it may be, for the first time in a very, very long time, they contacted the other powers in Terroa, and not the other way around.

Transactions were made, compromises were also promised, debts were owed, and faces were given… 15 minutes before the 2hr deadline, the teleport lights flashed six times around the West Quadrant Area of the Central Region of the city.

In those six lights, Draco and five cursing red-faced old fellows in their respective regalia of an Elder of the Council of Elders, appeared almost in the same time as the others.

“I will remember this.” Draco cursed and similar curses were also spouted off from the mouths of the other five elders. “I got the last of the Water Stones.”

“I’m good with the 20 Megatons of Tesla Coils.”

“I got the last Fire Bombs and a Mega-Crate of Glandanium Alloy.”

“I got the Water Stones.”

“I got the last Mega-Crate of Glandanium Alloy.”

“I fucking have to bow my head to get the last 3 Megatons of Cryogenic Elements to that wife of that sick Emperor! She dares to call herself Empress in front of me! Fuck it! FUCK IT!!! She fucking made me bow my head to her!”

For the Council, for the 50 years, they are the new and should only be the strongest force in Terroa. None… was allowed to make them bow their heads.

As they heard this cursing old man, Draco and the rest also felt the anger rise up on them. They felt that they, too, were humiliated by this fact.

The last set of curses made their situation a bit hectic. In but an instant, they had no choice but to go to other countries themselves just to buy the last remaining items on the list.

It’s not that they can’t send ambassadors to do the job but it’s just that the countries had felt that the Council of Jeremiah were moving puzzlingly thus they decided to choke the stock and see if The Council would make the trip themselves.

But this feeling… it was spot on.

When the council felt that the resources were being choked in the market, they knew they had to personally make a visit to the powers themselves.

And for the initial resources… though it was only 20% of their entire reservoir, this ‘reservoir’ was meant to sustain the needs of the country, as well as something that must be saved up for in case of a national emergency.

The 20% was pulled out from their treasury but it was still not enough to completely fill out the list of items they needed.

And so, they had to issue the mission and yet even that is not enough so they went personally to other countries who export them to buy in double, even triple their usual prices.

They swallowed their ego, threw away pride, and have to give face to unpleasant enemies… just so they could persist and save their grip in the seat of power in Jeremiah.

They arrived at Warehouse 27 and registered the items. Jules gave a nod as Draco asked, “What about the Council Head?”

Jules turned his gaze to a corner where three men wearing [Human Clothes] called ‘black suits and black ties’ and had black sunglasses in their eyes, were seated on a bench.

The three doesn’t emit Mana unlike the ones who had ‘woken up’ in Terroa, thus, Draco thought that perhaps these three weren’t pure Humans.

—or maybe they are biomechanical bodies?

—right, perhaps the latter.

—if so, then are they the Battle-AIs themselves?

“And yet, what were in those cases they carry?”

Each of the three ‘men in black’ carried aluminum-looking attaché cases with cufflinks that connects their arms to the handle of the case.

“Who knows?” Jules shrugged her shoulders. “I personally don’t care. They’re anti-social and so I don’t like them one bit.”

No matter how much time passes by, no matter the circumstances, those who are in power will never glance at a competition with kind eyes. This was the truth especially in The Council of Elders.

Even if the entire Terran-Human Alliance say that their relationship is solid, the fact will still remain that despite the Humans contributing greatly to the survival of their planet, they are still outsiders and there will be some, especially those who are in power, which will not look at that angle happily.

The three men were all humans. Tall, bulky, with a snappy poise and militaristic presences… these three may not be magically strong, but they are all humans —they have [Technology] on their side.

“Draco.” five minutes before the deadline, Draco heard the Council Head’s voice behind him. All of the members stood in attention at his presence.

Draco knew his mistakes and he bowed his head.

“Grand Elder.”

“““Grand Elder.”””

Everyone greeted the Council Head.

“This matter will not end here. Tomorrow is the official opening of the King Tests and the throne will be available for the taking. We have done this many times so I assume that you will know what should be done. This incident will serve as lesson for you. In the future, you must completely seize both and all opportunities to control any possible kinds of situation with initiative. I know that you have the preferential treatment with that King Candidate that had caused all this because of his ability, but it was also because of that that you gave him too much freedom and power that he caused all this. I don’t want a second event like this happening in the future… ever again. And this advice applies to all of you, do we understand each other?”

“““Yes, Grand Elder.”””

“Good. Now then, Draco, please call him.”

*****

There were people in front of Warehouse 27.

It was a jam-packed crowd, in fact, that in a quick eye would give you the impression of not having any space left to even put a pin in the middle.

“This is a rather surprising event.”

“It’s because the Council of Elders issued a very rare Nation-Wide special mission; a Resource Gathering Mission with a special reward. Usually, you only get that kind of Mission when it is an emergency.”

“Is that so…”

Siva’s group was ‘standing’ just outside the crowd of people and by merely just standing there, they were already catching attention.

Yet, the crowd that they were staring at right now seemed to not care about them as they all just tried to take a peek and see what was going on inside Warehouse 27.

Of course, while all of these are happening, Siva wasn’t wasting his time here and from yesterday until now, he’s been trying to prolong his and Cortana’s [Link] ability.

“Whew… Cortana, you may begin.”

[Yes sir.]

—link.

After taking in a deep breath, he issued an order and a sharp jolt of pain assaulted his mind as the sounds in the entire surroundings were delivered to his ‘hearing’ with a permissible 0.01% latency from the actual moment they were processed.

“…!!’

Siva groaned but the words from the crowd never stopped coming to his ears.

“I saw. I saw it!”

“Me too! There’s a mountain of them in there!”

“Just what kind of event is it this time?”

“Those resources they listed, I made my inquiries and they said that Black Ironwood Alloy can be used to make Garuda-class and Lambda-Class Warships and that the Glandanium Alloy is used to create heavy-armoured Knight-Class Warships!”

“Geezer’s Mice! Are they really going to create a fleet of warships?”

“If it’s a tiny fleet of three-four ships, then these resources will be enough. But I doubt it.”

“I second this.”

“The Council wouldn’t dare it. Long ago, Queen Lunette’s Decree stated that Jeremiah will never build warships. Its power will solely rely on its people as a sign of its trust and as well as her vow to the people who founded her Kingdom that Jeremiah will forever stand as the vanguard of the Terrans against the invaders.”

“Ah… I’m in love with this queen. A pity she died more than 30 years ago.”

“But her son, King Altair, inherited this promise.”

“Yeah, well, where is he now?!”

“…”

“I understand that. During her time, Terroa is a united planet and there was actually no need for us to build those warships. But…”

“—don’t worry in there. The Council will not build warships.”

“““Hoooo!!!”””

“What makes you say that?”

“Trust…… I trust the Royal Family.”

“Your grandma’s underarm! The Royal Family you speak of only has one member left and he’s been missing for three decades!”

“Ha! What a treacherous claim! How can you call yourself a citizen of Jeremiah if you can’t even put your trust to our King?”

“Oh, I trust our country alright. But I can’t trust a King who doesn’t want to carry his title’s weight and so chose to run away and go missing.”

“I second this notion!”

“I third this notion!!”

“I second the third notion!!”

“Treason! Treason, I say! These resources are all for the betterment of the country. The Council of Elders will never break that vow. Trust, and you shall have prosperity.”

“Use your eyes! What are those resources for?!”

Within the nearest 100m of Siva, he was hearing these words through the [Absolute Domain]’s integrated sonar and sonometer functions.

By combining their aspects, the receiving sound input from the noises picked up, or rather, those ‘sounds’ hitting the walls of the [Absolute Domain] became information for the sonometer to read.

The sonar function interprets them as not location coordinates but rather literal sounds… translated into actual words Cortana calculates in 1/10,000th the speed of the blink of an eye.

Within the range of the 100m radius from Siva, any sound encompassed by this ‘domain’ became audible information directly fed to his brain using the [Link] that he shared with Cortana.

And not only that; through the ‘domain’ as well, all of the people’s faces, actions, and locations, were all ‘seen’ by him as if he was everywhere.

If Siva so chose, in fact, during battle, the [Link] is also able to provide him the ability of being able to be conscious of his surroundings down to its very smallest detail in a much broader scale.

This is that ability he called [Focus].

You can even say that Siva’s [Focus] enables him to be ‘conscious’ of his surroundings but through the [Absolute Domain], this range expands.

Using [Focus] alongside Cortana’s processes of the [Absolute Domain] (control of the BM-Puppets and the integrated “Auricle Scan” within), if she activates [Link] to share these information to Siva, then Siva, within the span of time that he can use [Focus], will become the strongest existence in a battlefield for being ‘aware’ of every single thing.

Siva generally summarized this ability as plainly just [Focus]. The larger the [Absolute Domain] is, the larger his [Focus] range will be.

It is a great ‘ability’, but the price to use it is high.

Behind his mask, Siva was frowning. If one could see through the black smoke skin curse on his face, they would see him sweating profusely.

“Gugh…!!” the sound of Siva’s groan rung beside Scion and she looked at him in surprise, using her arms to support him.

“Rex! What’s wrong?”

The entire team also became surprised.

[Cooldown in 1 minute]

Cortana’s voice said on Siva’s ears.

[You’ve lasted 2 seconds, sir. It’s a new record.]

Siva heaved a weak breath, “Thanks, Mandy. I’m okay.” he didn’t want her to worry. “I was just in the middle of performing a brain task.”

Although it wasn’t a lie, it wasn’t the entire truth.

His mind right now is really hurting and while it is so, one could only imagine just what is happening to his ‘real body’ outside the game world.

“I don’t know what you mean but are you really okay? You sounded like you’ve been holding that pain in for quite some time.”

“I’m okay… really, I’m okay.” Siva’s head felt like it was going to split in half from the pain. Holding his head through the faceless helmet also wasn’t helping even just a bit.

From the back, to the side, to the front, and to the top of his head… every definition and meaning behind the mystery of a ‘headache’ is there and Siva was trying to hold back the urge to give in and roll his eyes up to sleep and rest.

“It’s just mental fatigue.” He told Scion who then put his arm around her shoulder to support him.

“Even so… let’s just try to rest up for a bit.”

They were in a corner of a block 100m away from the Warehouse District. It wasn’t in a hidden place so there are still a few people who could see their group and murmur a bit regarding them.

Upon Scion’s suggestion, Scarlet made a cover for Siva with their team so she helped him lean on the wall of the building while supporting him.

Siva heaved, and sighed, and groaned.

[40 seconds until cooldown.]

“Thanks, Cortana.”

[Shouldn’t you have taken this slower, boss? The mental strain isn’t something you can just grit your teeth and endure just like last time.]

The ‘last time’ she was referring to is during that instance when Siva officially tested [Focus] for the first time. Back then, he only lasted 1 second but the headache (cooldown) lasted 30 seconds.

If it wasn’t for Cortana, Siva would have collapsed there and then. It was thanks to Cortana’s control of the BMA through the [Orbiter Bracelet] that he was able to stay upright despite the blackening pain of his head.

“We don’t have much time.” Siva hissed through his teeth. Being able to last 2 seconds is already his limit but increasing the strain he could endure within four days since the first time he discovered it is already a blessing.

A minute passed and the pain subsided.

“Rex?” Scion’s soft and gentle voice could melt any man’s heart, especially when she is this very concerned and endearingly worried when tending to her beloved.

Siva patted her arm, “I’m alright now.”

His breathing normalized and Scion bit her lip as if she was reluctant to not care for Siva.

For some reason, Siva had a notion that perhaps Scion was really the kind to be like a big sister to a lover, or maybe like a hen to her chick… Siva is her diamond —her treasure.

And so, for some reason, realizing this, Siva could clearly tell that somewhere in his body, there was someone who dearly wished to receive that care.

[Boss… ehem…]

“…!!”

He almost forgot about Cortana. Sense of shame for letting a ‘woman’ —despite her declaration that she wasn’t a woman at all— know his thoughts draped his nape and Siva could tell that if his skin wasn’t cursed, he would be deeply blushing.

At that time, Cortana informed him, [Boss, there is a call from Draco.]

Siva rolled his sight to the clock on his vision.

“It’s almost time…” he gave his mental affirmation so the video call got connected. “Draco. I assume you have completed your task?”

[We have indeed, sir.]

His tone contained a submissive intent. Draco had lost his high and mighty disposition when in front of Siva since Siva had managed to use Eleanor’s acquiescent attitude two hours ago to his play.

Turning a troublesome situation into something of a blessing needed not only cleverness and strong courage, but also a wild imagination and of course assertiveness and experience.

Siva’s [Memories] showed a view vision where he had conned a few mighty figures… and even his own experiences as Rex Kingsley before all of this even begun, all helped in him successfully pulling that stunt earlier.

If he wasn’t observant enough, he couldn’t have pulled out that play earlier.

—all of these added up, the result was convincing in the Council of Elders that he was someone of a higher stance than Eleanor who came from the Circle of Magi.

And… with a short meeting with FlowerLord’s team earlier, he became aware of the situation that had befallen the city regarding Julia.

—I’ll deal with that later.

Siva played an annoyed card at Draco, “Cut me all that crap. I’m getting those resources to build a better defense zone for my country. There is no need for you all to know where it will be but I can assure you that within the boundaries that the Circle of Magi had set up on specific places, your Jeremiah will be safe as long as you repent and do not stand in my way. Oh, I almost forgot. I want to see that bastard severely punished. Do we make ourselves, clear?”

Draco affirmed, [Yes sir.]

Siva nodded and then straightened his poise as he led his team. “Well then, open the gates.”

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The perks of donning disguises as a hobby…

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