Chapter 332: Not A Game of Chance (1/2)

Shalahora crowed, ”Neither may I.”

Schema radiated, ”The period of this test will be three months within a gravitational sink. Minutes will pass here, and your guilds will be fine. However, the fate of your futures will be determined by your ranking.”

Schema's presence left the area,

”So let the lottery...Begin.”

Rulers around me peered around in confusion, wondering what to do next. Taking a moment to do the same, I dove deep into thought. Many of my minds kicked into action, pausing all of my multitasking outside of my rune siphoning. We all debated with each other, every Daniel headstrong against placing low in the lottery's rankings.

Each of us arrived at different conclusions on how to do that. Some of the Daniel's wanted to clear dungeons. Other Daniel's wanted to craft objects and donate those instead. That idea dominated the discussions afterward as it proved a lot easier and more reliable than the dungeon clearing. Coming to a consensus, the minds debated on how to prepare the best artifacts.

We accounted for what Schema valued the most and considering he was in a war, it'd be soldiers. In my case, supergolems shored up that need nicely. If I generated several hundred golems, there was no way I'd land outside the top ten in this competition, and that required weeks, not months of crafting.

That gave us plenty of time to work on other skills in the meantime. Still, we lacked information about this planet. We operated on guesswork about where it was, how a gravitational sink formed, or even what kind of artifacts Schema wanted on it. Before I wondered further, Schema gave us an official message about it.

You are about to be sent to a planet orbiting a black hole referred to by the moniker Leviathan. Time has dilated near Leviathan, and due to an unknown event in the past, this time dilation was inverted. Instead of stretching, time has compressed within the vicinity of this black hole, creating a strange world thats stabilized and orbited the celestial body.

This planet will be referred to as Leviathan-7(The seventh planet found orbiting Leviathan). Many species have formed on the world in previous eras, but they've fallen to nuclear war several times. This has resulted in old, developed eldritch in a radiation-rich wasteland.

Despite this, no consolidation has occurred yet, meaning eldritch still battles on Leviathan-7 for dominance. The radiation feeds these monsters, increasing their strength. Further bouts of radiation from the black hole have also strengthened the fauna here, resulting in a turbulent world. The time compression occurred in recent memory, but it has still resulted in a far older and more developed ecosystem than usual galactic standards.

Also, Schema's system will not be present while on Leviathan-7. This is a hazardous planet, but it lies well outside of Schema-owned space. This, combined with the time compression, means system updates and uploads won't be timely nor attempted. Be prepared for these inconveniences.

Initializing countdown to warp onto L-7.

5:00 minutes remaining...

4:59 minutes remaining...

4:58 minutes remaining...

I rubbed my temples as the rulers jumped into a panic around me. Giving us five minutes to prepare ourselves and our guild to warp was a joke. Another message appeared, splashing more cold water over us all.

Each ruler will be forced to leave without assistance from their guild except the pocket dimensions. The reason for this is to prevent the unnecessary loss of troops that would otherwise be conscripted. Your individual merits and abilities will be judged here, so prepare yourselves for that.

Smuggling extra creatures or personnel onto the world will result in immediate disqualification and a descent to the bottom of the lottery's rankings regardless of the outcome. Good luck, rulers.

4:55 minutes remaining...

4:54 minutes remaining...

I leaned back from my status, gawking at the messages. Schema calling it a lottery was a joke at this point. This venture turned into a competition the moment the AI mentioned rankings. And no matter how I sliced it, Schema set everyone up for failure. Many rulers managed their positions through economic means or slowly accruing power. Obolis served as a great example of this.

Putting everyone in a dangerous world with no support may result in rulers dying while out there. I blinked, a set of realizations sparking through my head. First off, Schema may not want everyone to survive. Any leaderless guild would be far easier to assimilate, giving Schema free soldiers. Secondly, Schema would gather enormous resources from the harvesting of this dangerous world. We'd pay for mercenaries for war with Elysium.

Third and finally, Schema pitted us against each other to add to those losses. The strongest guilds would win and not contest the lottery since they had nothing to lose. That prevented them from rebelling against Schema. In the end, the AI gained a lot from this venture, no matter how I sliced it.

We had no say in whether we left or not either. Giving us so little time to think also prevented us from organizing our own rebellion. I sighed, Schema's plot being pretty foolproof. I opened my status, sending messages to primary guild members explaining the situation. I needed everyone to get ready for a considerable change over the next few minutes.

After sending a few messages explaining the situation, I also considered some realities of my own. We didn't know where this planet was, which eliminated the ability to warp in and out. Being near a black hole also meant leaving the world physically would be dangerous, to put it lightly.

I didn't even understand how a black hole had its time effects inverted or how it could orbit a black hole safely, to begin with, either. I opened several research tabs, trying to get some understanding of the situation. It required in-depth theoretical knowledge, something I couldn't gain in five minutes.

Dammit. I rubbed my palm against my forehead, trying to consider all the possibilities. If I guessed right, we wouldn't be able to see the stars while on Leviathan-7. That prevented any would-be astronomers from knowing where we were and warping out. Peering around, other rulers did the same as me, trying to get as much information as possible.

Everyone aside from Shalahora. The misty entity sat cross-legged and without a care in the world. Considering how powerful he was, he'd be in the top ten slots, no doubt. He also handled himself on a more individual basis. Unlike most rulers, Shalahora operated as a sizable chunk of his guild's strength.

I facepalmed. Duh. So did I.

Instead of panicking, I calmed myself down. This was a fantastic opportunity for me. If anything, I could use this to catapult my guild onto the galactic scene with a huge splash. Thinking about all of that, a smile grew on my face. If anything, the factors here worked to my advantage.

There was no system here, meaning I had free reign over my primordial mana. I could survive any environment Schema threw at us as long as it was on an actual planet. I needed no food, air, or anything really. That put me ahead of the other rulers who pulled out their grimoires and cast incantations to prevent death in a harsh climate.

I tapped my side, my nervousness melting into a vivid excitement. In a furry of activity, I reopened my status and began messaging my guild about a plan in the works. Because of the time dilation, we didn't have long before everything would happen all at once. For them, at least.

To me, this plan would take months. For the new direction to work, I needed commitment from my guild members. I frowned as messages piled in, several guildmates giving me pushback to my idea. Torix and Krog gave me the most, so I prepared a few defenses for my scheme. We messaged back and forth, and I absorbed myself in my status.

Beside me, Shalahora coalesced into a smaller figure, becoming more physical. His sky blue eyes closed, making him a shadow beside me. He meditated or trained. I couldn't tell, and I didn't have the time to analyze either. I needed to get everyone on the same picture and immediately.

People around us began setting up alliances, and different rulers formed groups and cliques based on goals. Shalahora opened a single eye, gazing at the chatting rulers. He turned his eyes to me as I sent out a dozen different messages and guild-wide directives. Shalahora murmured,

”Would you like to join forces on this new world...Perhaps?”

I shook my head, ”No, but thanks for the offer.”

Shalahora peered down, a bit disappointed. The entity closed its eyes and whispered, ”I understand.”

I closed my status and looked at him, ”I do want to form an alliance, just not within the first month of being there. I'd prefer we rally up a bit later, towards the end of our stay on Leviathan-7.”

Shalahora tilted its head at me, ”Hm...Why would you postpone the alliance? It may do us no favors.”

I smiled, ”You'll find out pretty quickly, actually.”

Shalahora nodded, ”I shall wait for the answers to unveil themselves then...Time always tells one's destiny in that way.”

He returned to meditating, and I kept sending out several guild messages over the next few seconds. In particular, I mentioned an absurd influx of golems along with a sudden shift in guild priorities for the next coming months. Many of my guildsmen gave me pushback to my ideas and their immediacy, so we went back and forth.

Other rulers congregated into different groups, forming larger alliances. I zoned everything out, intent on convincing my guild of my idea. I left the partial attention of a single mind to my surroundings. That mind mentioned the names of these larger groups for reference.

Surprisingly, the new ruler Iona Joan led one of the groups. The pro Schema faction intended on donating vast supplies to the AI's war effort through economic means. It wasn't a bad plan. One of the other factions was run by Valgus Uuriyah, an avatar of Baldowah.

They wanted to raid the most extensive dungeons and loot the supplies within them. It was another solid idea. The third-largest group took a different approach, focusing on survival. They intended to create a fortress to prevent any of their members from dying in the harsh landscape. I agreed with that idea the most.

Even if it was apparent, the fact couldn't be overstated; survival outweighed avoiding conscription. After all, we only understood baseline facts about this world, and the circumstances pointed to an awful environment. This faction, which I deemed the survivalists, had their priorities straightened out.

Despite agreeing with them, I didn't ask to rally up. In fact, I intended on teaming up with no one. The reasons were many, but I described them with an analogy. This felt like we were playing cards, and everyone wanted a pair of aces. At this point, I aimed for a royal flush instead. If I joined up with anyone, it limited me from accomplishing a new goal while on Leviathan-7.

So, I sent out a flurry of messages with my status. Other factions tried recruiting me but especially Shalahora. The Sovereign ignored these powerful rulers, the dark shadow being the strongest among us as far as I could tell. Well, the strongest besides for Valgus Uuriyah, who swaggered up and dripped confidence while doing so.

Valgus was a six-armed humanoid with red skin. Valgus's black hair and eyebrows looked like they molded out of dark flames. He oozed ascendant mana everywhere he walked, his skin imprinted with Baldowah's runic markings, and unlike Yawm before him, Valgus lacked the insanity of Yawm.

Instead of becoming a pariah, Valgus served Baldowah with a firm conviction. I learned that much from his title alone.

Valgus Uriyah, Baldowah's Rage | Level: 64,928 | Class: Juggernaut | Guild: The Path of Rage...

As Valgus reached us, he quaked the ground. He carried an unapologetic dominance over the landscape, each of his stomps loaded with power. They spoke out louder than words could, and each step told tales of the creatures he killed. He wore those creatures in armbands, the suppressed eldritch mirroring glowing gemstones.

To my surprise, Valgus created different dimensional pockets for each of these eldritch. I sensed them through telepathy alone, as the monsters screamed out in pain through telepathic tethers. That pain created a psionic wall isolating Valgus from his surroundings.