Chapter 331: The Lottery (1/2)
My armor grinned as the energy writhed inside my blood and bones. The ascendant mana shouted out with madness, wishing for death and destruction. I tilted my head at the noise before quashing the lunacy of the tiny mana blot. I raised a hand, the ascendant mana flooding into my palm. I smashed it in my hand, arcs of lightning streaking out.
I took a breath, mana flooding into my body. I pulled my helmet off my face, breathing out the red mist. I smiled at everyone, a glint in my eye,
”I'm Daniel Hillside, the Harbinger of Cataclysm, but you can all just call me Daniel for short.”
The ascendant mana oozed into the air, forming spirals and static that left the air crackling. A few gasps rang out across the rulers, the younger and lower leveled ones impressed. Most of them remained composed, and a few of them even rolled their eyes. Some murmured,
”Show off.”
”He thinks we're impressed.”
”And what, we're supposed to react to that?”
I restrained myself, keeping calm and confident. The ascendant Overseer tightened and loosened his hands in a nervous gnarling, peeved about me disrupting his panel of energy. A miasma of mana suffused his surroundings as the entity glowered at me. That aura reached my space, and it oozed into my skin.
No matter how I looked at, the guy attacked me. Annoyed by his impulsive reaction, I looked at him with a raised brow. I dispersed Event Horizon over my general vicinity. My dimensional wake's density exceeded the Overseer's mana. With that barrier between us, I spread my hands to everyone and stated,
”My guild is the Harbinger's Legion. We're new to the galactic scene, but we still intend on making a big splash. That doesn't mean any of you have to get smothered by our waves, however. Know that I'm not here to make enemies. Quite the opposite, actually.”
I turned my gaze as I spoke, keeping eye contact with everyone, ”Our primary objective is to establish ourselves over a large domain of fringe worlds. We'll also be focusing on terraforming worlds to become habitable for high levels of solar system density. We have the skills and abilities to clear those places out or bring barren wastelands to life, and we intend on using them.”
I lowered my hands, ”If any of you has a fringe world near your colonies or you own a terraformable planet, send me a friend request. We can negotiate a deal. After all, I'm guessing only a few of you want to actually colonize those worlds, so we can arrange something that works for both of us. If any of you want my help in other ways, then, by all means, I'll hear your requests out.”
I gave the crowd a wide grin, ”You've all seen the war. I defeated Lehesion, and I'm an excellent fighter. You can lease my golems as well, and I can work with cipheric runes-”
I gestured to the glowing runes over myself, ”As you can all see, I'm willing to put those runic markings over my own body. I'm confident I can help with a wide variety of problems. In fact-” I raised a fingertip, quintessence forming over it, ”I can sell mana as well if you'd like.”
I crystallized the quintessence into a large, jagged sword. Taking a hand, I carved into the sword, giving it a few enchantments by absorbing mana away from the blade. I swung the edge, and it left a lingering aura, mirroring a pale glow etched in the air.
Once stabilized, I opened my pocket dimension. I placed the sword into the space before pulling it out. The blade came out coated in the dimensional fabric like dipping candy in chocolate before I flash froze it. The material released a soft squeal and hiss before I etched in more simple cipheric augments.
As I crafted, I talked, ”I'm good enough to produce pretty solid artifacts without any time commitments. I know what I'm worth, however. Come to me with a compelling offer because I'm not offering a charity here. If you treat me well, however, I'll do the same in turn.”
I lifted the sword before channeling the mana within it. Its sharpened edge glowed a bright white, the dark matter contrasting the blade's neon glow. I generated a block of steel before slicing through it. The blade left melted metal as I stated,
”So yeah, I'll keep in touch with any of you that feels we can arrange something that works for both of us.”
A few rulers' eyes widened as the display of economic might. Crafting an artifact of this quality while delivering a speech, it sent a message. Taking that message to the next level, I highlighted it with one last addition. I grabbed the blade, and I grinned, ”But yeah, I don't like to keep junk like this lying around.”
I snapped the blade in half, gasps echoing across the room. As I melted it down, a few people gawked in horror. Piling the molten fabric back into my pocket dimension, I took a breath, ”That's all, guys. Have a good one.”
I turned to leave. The Overseer raised a hand as I descended, and it generated another panel of ascendant mana less than an inch from my face. Before I hovered into it, I frowned and simmered, ”So what's all this about?”
The administrator simmered, ”Schema will speak for you now. Remain here until I say otherwise.”
Peeved by his attacks earlier, I reared my hand back before jamming it through the panel. A high-pitched echo reverberated through the cipher-laden ruins, silencing the crowd. Lighter, pink cracks fissured through the plate before writhing wires shot out of my arm. I engulfed the mana while turning to the Overseer.
I narrowed my eyes, ”Really now? I'm stuck until you say otherwise? You'll attack me again if I move?” Elemental furnaces revved into action under my skin, and my words rumbled like quakes in the ground,
”These little jabs haven't gone unnoticed, and they're not so funny after the first time. You do anything like that again, and I'm retaliating. Understand?”
The Overseer glowered at me while seething, ”And what if you did?”
A fierce smiled spread over my lips. I spread Event Horizon over him, suppressing his mana entirely. My tone rose in volume, ”I'd break you and rip you out of that armor of yours.”
The Overseer squeezed a fist, a tense silence passing between us. I spread my hands, waiting for him to attack me, and he did nothing. I turned while letting my hands down, ”Alright, it's good to see you can be civil.”
The Overseer lifted a hand. His gauntlet coursing with ascendant energy while it growled at me. Ready and waiting, I kneeled behind my pocket dimension's opening, the starry warp capturing the invisible power of the Overseer.
I stood back up, lifting an arm. Seven furnaces hummed along with my own mana, and a guillotine of gravity clamped over the crimson automaton. The Overseer froze in place, its ascendant energy wrestling with my own. While suppressing it, I grimaced and pooled Event Horizon over the entity. I shouted,
”So this is how you treat a new council member during their first galactic meeting, huh?”
I squeezed my hand, the metal plates whistling and bending under pressure unreal. I growled, ”Come on them. You wanna have a go, then let's go.”
The Overseer groaned before Schema radiated into our surroundings. The AI stated like a disappointed parent, ”Don't you think that's enough, Daniel?”
I narrowed my eyes, ”He launched an attack at me. He's lucky to be alive.”
Schema continued, ”But there's no proof of that, is there?”
I opened my pocket dimension aiming it at an empty patch of rock. The Overseer's caught attack lobbed out, punching a hole into the stone. A few of the less experienced rulers gasped, but most stared on in amusement. I raised my brow,
”As I was saying, that was an attempt to kill me. Why didn't its killswitch activate?”
A tense quiet passed before Schema said in a calm voice, ”It's a simple error in its programming. Your guild will be suitably compensated for the offense.”
I lowered my hand while keeping the gravity well over the Overseer, ”Like what kind of compensations, exactly?”
Schema sighed before saying, ”We can offer a personal Overseer over your home planet.”
I tapped my side before raising a hand, ”Thanks for the offer, but we'll pass. How about you recognize my guild's structures as cities? I'll call us even then.”
Schema's presence spoke with annoyance, ”You generate too many cities to extend that many warp centers and yearly credit incomes. Offer different terms that are reasonable.”
I spread my hands, ”But you still haven't offered us anything for our contribution during the war with Elysium. You won't recognize my established cities either, and your Overseers are attacking me.” I put a hand over my chest,
”Exactly what am I supposed to think?”
A few whistles rang through the room, along with some satisfied laughter. Some outraged gasps dotted the room along with the low rumble of general chatter. People talked, and Schema listened. The AI stated,
”Like most outbreaks, the rewards will be dispersed after the war is over.”
I pointed a thumb at my chest, ”Isn't there usually an option to pay up early? There was whenever we fought Yawm and contained that quarantine.”
”Indeed there was.”
I shouted, ”Then recognize my establishments as super cities at least. Take clusters of ten different towns, all of them evenly spaced, and ball them into one region. That can count as a single city. That should make it a lot easier to handle for you, and my guild gets official recognition along with all the perks like warping and galactic exchanges.”
Another tense silence passed over us before Schema spoke, his tone unchanged, ”Those terms are...Fair. We shall proceed in that manner going into the future. Your rewards for the war will be revoked, however.”
Knowing I squeezed 'rewards' out of thin air, I dropped my hands, ”That's fine by me.”
I ended my gravity well over the AI's administrator. The ascendant Overseer gasped out with its metallic voice, able to breathe again. The Overseer turned to me again, still angry at the situation. Schema spoke out as if chiding an unruly child,
”You're decommissioned from this assignment.”