Ascension Rebirth - Future preparations

CHAPTER XXXVIII

PART ONE

"Eh? Your arm."

The first thing that [Arachna] points out is about the state of my arm. Well I can't blame her, like magic it was miraculously healed in the span of a few hours when even the best clerics at the demon capital weren't able to.

"Forget about that, we have more important things to discuss."

"More important things?"

[Queen Amaria] tilts her head in bewilderment.

I nod.

"I'd like to discuss this at the war room if you don't mind?"

"Of course, I'll gather everyone necessary and meet you there."

PART TWO

The 'war room', I haven't been here in years and the last time I was here a rather risque situation arose with the queen. Just remembering it I can feel my face light up.

After a few minutes three people enter the room.

[Amaria Seasong. Level 48, Mermaid Queen]

[Miora. Level 45, Royal Guard]

[Azara. Level 31, Chief Shaman].

Effectively they are the ones who oversee the government of Lani'tar and the entirety of the [Mermaid] race as a whole.

With Queen Amaria at the center of their politics, Miora as the leader of their military and Azara as their chief in charge of their religious sector.

Sitting adjacent on the round conference table was [Enrich] and Arachna and the three mermaids facing towards us on the opposite end.

"It has been a while Master Morgant."

Azara greets me with a pleasant smile.

"Yes, it's a pleasure to see you again, Chief Shaman Azara."

"I'm honored that you have remembered me."

"How could I forget a beauty such as yourself?"

I reply with a professional smile. In reality I could see her name anyway in the case that forgot. Though I really didn't forget about her so it's fine right?

"My, you know sure know how to flatter people."

"Ehem, shall we start the meeting that you said was so important, Master Morgant?"

Amaria cuts off our little shenanigans. For a second I thought I saw her puff up but it could be my imagination.

"Of course, there are a few things I want to discuss with you all. It is a matter that will change the future of this entire world."

"'Change the future' you say. Have you found out something during your time in [Gladsheim]?"

"Yes, think of it as a prediction for the future."

I could hear audible gulping sounds as the atmosphere in the room gets tense.

"I understand, please explain it to us."

It took over an hour just to trying to explain what a 'planetary collision' was. Granted I wasn't the best suited for this task; I'm not an astrologist and even if I were one I don't think anyone has the qualifications of explaining a phenomenon dealing with magic induced planetary cataclysm.

What was it that the good doctor said? Because of the atmospheric mana coating the two planets they will merge. If that's the case what about inertial force?

Besides, the incoming exoplanet has long escaped its star system and is just soaring through space. How the inhabitants of that planet can survive without a centralized sun is beyond me; it's magic!

I think it'd be more apt to call it a planet sized 'asteroid' rather than a planet itself.

That aside, a new planet will form from the two, Eternis' continents will be shifted to the southern hemisphere and the Milesian planet will be shifted to the northern hemisphere.

And that right there is the most crucial point.

Why is that crucial, you ask?

It's because of what will be between the two newly formed continents; around the new equator of the newly formed planet will be a mass of water. Unless I'm mistaken there will be no land.

Going by this assumption, there is then two things that I desperately need.

The first is a naval force, because of this acquiring the assistance of the [mermaids] is prudent.

Some other potential candidates are as follows:

[Admiral Ordwell Rommel's fleet]

[The Kraken]

[The Terror of the Depths]

[The Leviathan]

If we assume that each nation of [Eternis] has a moderately sized naval force, adding each of them in will increase our naval power considerably.

The second thing I need is a competent air force.

The potential candidates for an air force are:

[The Dragon God]

[The Dragon Lord]

[Tytania - The Fairy Queen]

Most of the Celtic pantheons have been seen with working wings so it may be possible to add them to both the ground army and the air force at the same time.

Golems are also known to fly or at least float so it may also be possible to add them to the air force.

The rest will be part of the ground army, that is assuming we manage to push the enemy to their borderlands. The next problem that emerges is that we'll be fighting on unfamiliar away territory, while it will be the home ground for the enemy.

Thus it might be necessary to create a scouting party as well. Perhaps even an infiltration force?

When I explained most of this to the people present they gave me a hesitant look. This won't do, a fracture in the group before even becoming one isn't good. Right now I need 100% cooperation from these people.

"Is something the matter?"

I need to alleviate their concerns if I'm to do this right.

"So does this mean that you're actually going to recruit Nodens' party into this war?"

Enrich asks with a distant look. I can understand his worry about that group, heck I don't even want to tell them about the impending invasion; if they're the first ones killed I would be that much happier.

"It's no good to make that face. Nodens' help is required after all."

Suddenly someone's voice speaks out.

"Hmm?"

I looked around but all I got back were quizzical looks.

"Is something the matter, Master Morgant?"

Queen Amaria asks with a slightly worried expression.

"No… I thought someone said something."

"No one other than Master Enrich has talked."

I thought I heard a voice, the voice of an old man's.

"It's me."

The voice goes off once more. Is it in my head?

I look around once more but the same thing happens. Am I losing it from all the stress?

"Over here."

Standing behind Queen Amaria is doctor [Ivan Seron], waving at me.

"Doc?!"

I shouted out as I got off from my seat, the chair screeching against the floor from behind me. Everyone else turned around to see what all the commotion was about. However they acted as they saw nothing and faced me with a slightly worried expression.

"Aha, I see it's working perfectly. I've logged into your brain directly by tuning into your exact brain frequency. This means that only you can see me, hence why these people are all confused."

What?

"Are you sure you're feeling okay, Master Morgant? If you're not we can continue this conversation after you've taken a rest."

Amaria gives me a sympathetic gaze. I'm amazed at her professionalism, if someone acted like I was during my past life I would've kicked them out of the conference room saying 'if you're not going to take this seriously, get out'.

"No, I'm feeling quite fine thanks, but please give me a moment; I'll be right back."

I excused myself from the war room.

I walked along the aquarium-like hallways for a bit waiting for the doctor so show himself again.

"Why did you leave the room? I thought we were making good progress."

And the ghost reveals himself, actually reminds me of a certain someone who is equally intrusive.

"Because you were interrupting the meeting. Now explain."

"Explain what?"

"Everything. Let's start with how you're here."

"Like I said, I've tuned into your brain's frequency. Think of it as turning into a radio channel, brains also give out faint frequencies and I can use [Gladsheim's] equipment to focus in on and appear directly before you as a kind of pseudo-phantasm."

There's a lot I don't know about the 26th century technology but this is just taking the cake.

"So you're going to haunt me from now on?"

"Well, in a matter of speaking, you're correct, but it's just like I said, I'm tuning into your brain like a radio. When you listen in on a radio you're not exactly hacking into their show right? Just quietly observing."

I sighed, for starters you can't interact with the radio broadcast unless you call in but that's a different can of worms.

Anyway I get it, to put it in much simpler terms he's become a part of my [User Interface].

Standing before me was an older man, seeming to be in his late 50s, his old grey hair was a dishevelled mess. He wasn't exactly cleanly shaven, had dark bags under his eyes and a generally wrinkled up face.

He wasn't that tall either, maybe about 169cms.

His clothes were just normal suit with a white lab coat worn over it.

Not to mention, if you think about this really carefully, he's actually a ghost. Like, in the traditional sense. Think about it, he's dead and no one else except me can see him. Sure this may have been possible with technology but that still doesn't make it any less creepy.

While it looks like he's standing directly in front of me he doesn't appear to be able to manipulate any objects. He just phases right through them, in true ghostly fashion.

"Well you don't have to worry too much, I won't interrupt your private life. I'll just appear here and there to give you some pointers since you look like you need it."

Admittedly he does have a point. Right now he's directly connected to a supercomputer in Gladsheim and he can monitor the incoming planet. Not to mention he has a wider scientific background than me; it's like having two brains in one body.

"I let it slide for now because the situation is looking desperate but I expect you to get the hell out of my brain as soon as we're done, you hear?"

"Of course. You don't have to worry about that. Then shall we go back to the discussion?"

"Whatever."

I quietly returned to the war room. As I opened the doors everyone gave me an awkward stare.

"Sorry about that. It's all out of my system now so let's return to the discussion at hand. So Enrich you had some misgivings about us trying to recruit Nodens' party into our side right?"

"Y, Yes. I don't see any possible ways we could effectively recruit them and even if we could I don't think I could ever come to trust them."

"I can see where you're coming from, but don't worry about that for now, recruiting him is the last thing we're going to do."

Not only do we not know where he is, even if we somehow got into contact there's no guarantee he'd believe me. Even assuming he did the most likely outcome is t hat he'll use that as an excuse to justify taking over the world or something.

So until I can get on his level literally, avoiding him would be the best choice.

Now, after being able to discuss this and thinking over it some more I've decided to put off trying to recruit potential allies for now. The war will likely be in 15 ~ 20 years, trying to gather allies for a war that far ahead isn't exactly the best way to go about it.

For starters most of the races that live on this planet don't have much difference in terms of lifespan. At most [Elves], [Humans] and [Were-beast] live up to around their 70s ~ 80s.

[Titans] and [Dwarves] live up to their 90s.

The most long lived races are the [demons] but I've already garnered their cooperation so that's fine.

Now the problem is that even if I gain allies now those people will be aged by the time the war starts. So the people who's actual cooperation I need are still in their infancy, that makes recruitment meaningless.

So does that mean I have to sit around with my thumb up my ass for the next 10 years? No, of course not. There are a lot of things I need to do, for starters the [dragons] are long lived as well so I need to get them as my allies.

I also have to increase my levels. As much as I pat myself on the back saying that I've become stronger, the truth is that even at level 56 I'm still relatively weak compared to all of my peers and enemies. For that I need to gain much more power, absolute power really.

And in order to do that I need to track down 2 specific individuals.

Those are [Cthugha] and [Hastur]. Much like the time with [Nyarlathotep] I imagine that they're beings that are just sitting around with nothing better to do; [Skill Evolution], I'm hoping for the fact that I can obtain this by meeting them.

The most likely candidates for skill evolution if I do get it from them is [Decay] and [Wither]. I'm only basing this off the fact that [Life Drain] was the skill that evolved, so I could still be totally off with this.

Then there's my original goal of [Ascension]. That hasn't changed and will remain an imperative part of my plans for the next few years. Like Enrich said, I may be able to find a lead if I go to the [Ariadyne Panoptic Academy].

Then a weapon. Right now I feel extremely naked without some kind of weapon, but as I said before I don't have the materials to make the weapon I want. I might have to delay this a bit more until a suitable time comes. [Transformation] and [Obsidian Shield/Lance] will have to suffice for now.

Finally, even if I can't recruit allies immediately I can even the odds for later recruitment.

I bring the conference up to speed about my plans for the next few years and tell them that right now isn't the time for recruitment.

"So then what are you suggesting we do? While I have my doubts about whether what you're saying is true or not, since Queen Amaria seems to take what you say seriously I'll go with the assumption that it's all real."

Miora says with a stiff face. She never really did warm up to me, it's a bit of a pity but it can't be helped.

"Right, about that I do have one suggestion."

"And that is?"

"We spread a rumor."

"A rumor?"

"Right, about the upcoming war. Even if we can't recruit them now, we can still try to have people prepare themselves."

This is something I've seen many times in my previous life. Rumors are a powerful tool in the business sector, they can make or break a company overnight if used correctly.

The advantages of spreading a rumor is that it will become easier to recruit people at a later date if they're already prepared, and we save a lot of time on training people if they do it themselves.

Right the main point of this is saving.

If war is on the horizon, people will act accordingly.

Saving food for emergencies.

Saving money on training if people can prepare themselves.

Saving money on equipment if people start buying their own for a war.

The only problem is how to actually spread the rumor in the most quick and effective manner.

"Then how do you propose we spread this rumor?"

Miora asks.

Of course just telling people one by one isn't good enough. It might be a little underhanded but I think the most effective way is to spread propaganda, however I do have a some reservations about using this method.

The reason is because of what will happen after the war.

On the whole, the [Milesians] aren't really the bad guys, the doctor just thinks that war will erupt from the meeting of two individual groups. Most likely they'll be moving according to their religious pantheons so maybe it can't be avoided.

However if war doesn't erupt then that's good, if I can somehow manage a diplomatic truce until we get used to each other that's the best option, but I'm more a realist than that. As the good doctor says, war is probably inevitable.

Using propaganda to hype the war will likely have effects after the war. Milesians will be mistreated, that's the last thing I want.

So my plans are to spread rumors about Nodens being the enemy. By that I mean spread propaganda about Nodens and have people prepare themselves for a war with him, but when the time comes Nodens will join us to fight against a 'common' enemy.

The result will be the same but the only thing affected is the potential relationship between the people and Nodens' group. Well, I suppose it's not 100% false that Nodens is planning a war with the world so preparing them regardless is a good thing.

For now that's the best option.

I pitch the idea to everyone in the room. They think about it for a while but seems to understand its implications and agree.

Now back to the problem of actually spreading the propaganda.

"The most effective strategy will be to get the merchants on our side."

I suggest.

"Merchants?"

Queen Amaria parrots my words. She has a quizzical look on her face.

"Yes, the merchantry often travel around great and many distances so using them to spread the rumors are the most effective method."

"Hmm, I see, but how should we go about doing that?"

She asks.

"Many merchants use water based transportation to move around their goods but this has a lot of risks involved, such as weather or pirates. Using this to our advantage I want you to utilize some of your soldiers to act as their bodyguards and navigators to protect their shipment. In exchange we can ask them to spread whatever rumors we please."

The mermaids are perfect for this job for 2 reasons. The first is that they have a higher median level range than the average race and the second is that they have the home ground advantage of the ocean.

"Hmm, an excellent idea, but some of the richer merchants use [Airships] to move around their shipment. There are also many merchants that transport their goods through land. What should we do about them?"

Amaria asks.

"You don't have to worry about the super rich merchants too much, leave that up to me, I will coerce them at a later date. As for the land based merchants I plan to use some of the soldiers from the demon army to fulfil that role."

The demons should be enough to protect merchant caravans on land since they also have a higher median level than most other races.

"I understand. That does seem to be our best option so we'll be going with that plan."

Amaria agrees.

"I am extremely grateful that you have been so cooperative with me in this matter."

I bow to the queen. In reality if I didn't have their cooperation my life would've so much more difficult right around now. I really am grateful.

"It's quite fine, we did promise to lend you a hand whenever you required it. Besides if everything you've told us is true then this is a matter that affects everyone equally."

"You're right, but still you have my gratitude."

She responds with a smile. Was it just me or did she look extremely cute just now?

PART THREE

In the end we decided to go with that plan.

Amaria will be utilizing her mermaid soldiers as bodyguards for various merchantry, and we will be able to spread rumors about the upcoming war with Nodens.

Of course I have my doubts that everyone will believe it wholeheartedly but if even some people take it seriously and prepare than that's good enough. Besides if Nodens really does continue to act out his plans with his [Red Knights] then it just gives more credibility to my rumors.

"It's a little sad to see you leave so soon once more."

Standing in the teleporter, we were about to head back to the surface.

I offered my right hand to the queen for a handshake. In the business world this is the most basic of gestures but I wasn't able to do it before since I didn't have my arm back then.

But now I can.

She takes my hand.

"Of course I will also miss the sight of your beauty once I leave, but this is the way it must be. I hope for good fortune to the both of us."

"My, Master Morgant, always the flatterer. Of course, I wish you the best of luck."

Exchanging our goodbyes we left the underwater city of [Lani'tar] and got back on track.

For now our next destination was the Northern Capital. It's something that I've learnt in my previous life, but with these kinds of information that affects everyone, it's better to be upfront about it, otherwise they'll just end up blaming you; creating a schism in the relationship.

I'm fairly certain that they won't believe a word I say but just warning them should be enough.

END REPORT

[Status Menu]

Morgant Fallon. Level 56

NECROMANCER

DEMON GENERAL

SUCCESSOR OF THE COSMIC LEGACY

Strength: 250 (155+95)

Dexterity: 110 (5+105)

Intelligence: 60 (5+55)

Insight: 150 (45+105)

[Status point: 95]

[Skill menu]

(AUGMENT) [Strike+]: Level 41

(ACTIVE) [Summon - Skeleton Knight]: Level 31

(ACTIVE) [Transfer Life]: Level 47

(PASSIVE) [Life Force Sensory]: Level 50 (MAX)

(ACTIVE) [Avatar of Nyarlathotep]: Level 15

(ACTIVE) [Wither]: Level 29

(ACTIVE) [Decay]: Level 50 (MAX)

(AUGMENT) [Aura Field]: Level 24

(ACTIVE) [Soul Gambit]: Level 26

(PASSIVE) [Physical Damage Resistance]: Level 50 (MAX)

(ACTIVE) [Obsidian Lance]: Level 50 (MAX)

(ACTIVE) [Obsidian Shield]: Level 50 (MAX)

(ACTIVE) [Reanimate Dead]: Level 30

(AUGMENT) [Enchanting Voice]: Level 23

(PASSIVE) [Lord of Ghosts]: Level 15

(ACTIVE) [Phantasmal Maelstrom]: Level 27

(AUGMENT) [Transformation - Black Pharaoh]: Level 15

(PASSIVE) [Mental Fortress]: Level 50 (MAX)(ACTIVE) [Summon - Soul Reaver]: Level 1(ACTIVE) [Summon - Phantasmal Apparition]: Level 1(ACTIVE) [Essence Prison]: Level 1(ACTIVE) [Summon - Terror of the Depth]: Level 1

(Yay for exposition dump chapters! Sorry I took so long to write this, I was procrastinating, hope you don't mind the short chapter =C but worry not! Things will be more animated from the next chapter.)