A few hundred meters away from Aron, a rolling black thundercloud was scudding across the sky in his direction. He lifted his right leg and, when he set it down, he had moved ten meters away from the children, placing himself between the cloud and them. Behind him, the two emperor’s aegis members of his close guard activated the area protection feature of their PAPS, surrounding the children—and themselves—in a dome of solidified mana that glowed a faint blue.Aron faced the incoming cloud, an unnaturally grave expression on his face as he raised his hand and a shield rune popped into being between him and the cloud. Milliseconds later, a lightning bolt impacted the shield and the crackling boom of thunder almost instantly followed.“Interesting, interesting,” a voice filled with confidence drifted out of the dust kicked up by the lightning strike. “You reacted to my approach before anyone else... even before your security team. Interesting indeed!”As the dust settled, a muscular man
A few months after the Three Percenters had graduated from the awakeners’ school and hero academies, reality had finally sunk in for them. The power they held in their hands made them walking weapons, and they could massacre entire towns of normal people, should they wish to do so. And human nature being what it is, most of them began feeling at least a little bit superior to “normies”.If their superiority complexes had stopped there, it wouldn’t be a big issue. A little arrogance was fine, and could even be a good thing if it was properly restrained and channeled. After all, even Aron had to admit that he was more of a benevolent dictator that had been moving farther and farther away from human norms since he’d received the system. But with the age range of the first human awakeners being what it was, a good bit of them had taken their superiority complex way beyond what could be even remotely considered healthy.Basically, hormonal teenagers are hard enough to deal with (just ask a
Lightning, contrary to popular belief, doesn’t move at the speed of light. The invisible “leader strike” travels from the cloud to the ground at around two hundred thousand miles per hour; a far cry from the speed of light, which travels at upwards of 670 MILLION miles per hour. But what people think of when they look at lightning isn’t the invisible leader strike, but what’s called the “return stroke”, which heats the air in the ionized pathways left behind by the leader strike, turning it to plasma. That travels significantly faster, at around a third of light speed or 60,000 miles per second.So when the people surrounding Aron and the awakener supremacist, Alejandro Garcia finally blinked their eyes clear of the temporary blindness caused by seeing a return stroke at incredibly close range, all they saw was the emperor of mankind standing in the same position he had been, slightly leaning forward with his hands clasped behind his back and his chin jutting out. But behind him was a
As Aron approached his personal shuttle, the aegis members surrounding the park rose to their feet and deactivated the PAPS dome, then collapsed into two files behind him and followed him into the aircraft. Once everyone had boarded, the hatch hissed shut and the shuttle lifted off on a suborbital hop to the Cube at Avalon Island. It was still the center of the imperial government, as Aron had decreed that his imperial palace would be the very last building to be constructed, and the construction would only begin after everyone else had been settled into their new homes.{Sir, we have a dispatch from Proxima Centauri coded for your eyes only,} Nova reported the moment Aron settled into his seat.“I wonder what happened that warranted sending a dispatch,” he said. There were very few things that would merit the sending of dispatches across the vast gulf between Earth and the exploration fleets, so the news was either very good, very bad, or had far-reaching implications that might affe
Within the time-accelerated VR's private space, Aron, Gaia, and Nova sat silently, gazing at the scene before them. Aron was struck by surprise, while Gaia and Nova struggled to reconcile what they saw with their prior understanding of reality, based on the data they had previously used to gauge the world.This silence continued for more than ten minutes as each of them digested the information in different styles.Without surprise, Aron was currently digesting the information about Liafu, which, to him, was the second most important piece among the messages sent. He realized this knowledge was something he would only have learned if he had bought advanced-level mana knowledge, if not higher, as it was a worldview-altering revelation. Despite not changing the current events, this information was akin to discovering a new fundamental law of the universe. It didn't impact ongoing matters but provided a framework to understand previously unexplainable phenomena and offered a new tool to
"Ten billion awakeners are too important for me to merely have them as allies when we have the option of welcoming them as citizens," Aron stated decisively. He paused, contemplating the next steps. "The challenge is understanding their requirements," he continued, his mind already strategizing on how to approach this critical decision.{I don’t know what it is, but if anyone among humanity can fulfill their requirements, it's you.} Nova responded confidently. {Based on what they did during the meeting and those memories from Kim Ho So, it seems like they've given a requirement that could potentially be met. Otherwise, they would have made it clear. From what they've shown us, they don't seem to have a concept of lying. However, that could also be part of their strategy. But based on everything we've seen, they don't appear to be the type to deceive.} Nova's perspective offered a cautious optimism about the awakeners' intentions and the potential for a fruitful alliance or integration
The next day.Rina could be seen adjusting Aron's tie, ensuring it looked dignified and matched his full black suit, as if he were heading to a funeral.“If I didn’t have the lesson already planned, I would have come with you,” Rina said as she finished adjusting his tie and wiped the nonexistent dust off his suit, doing a couple of double takes to make sure everything was perfect.Since she had decided to focus on magic research, and with Aron's aid, Rina had been making significant breakthroughs in the field of magic use. These advancements even surprised Aron, who already had high expectations for her. Rina’s intimate understanding of magic, being a user herself, gave her an edge in her discoveries—an advantage Aron lacked since he couldn’t use magic without runes in real life.Although he could use magic normally in the universal simulation, Aron didn't have the luxury of time to practice it due to his numerous responsibilities. Additionally, he preferred not to use the higher tim
There was silence in the room, briefly interrupted by the sound of a woman crying. In any other circumstance, this would be distressing, but here, it was an expected reaction as she had just received news of her husband’s death.It was the emperor himself who had shouldered the weighty responsibility of delivering the news of the Proxima Centauri exploration fleet’s casualties. Both he and Rina were sitting in silence, their faces reflecting the gravity of the situation, allowing Rachael who was sitting in front of them to cry and process the devastating news for a moment, as the weight of the news warranted such a reaction in the first place.“I’m sorry for showing this side of me, but I can’t help…” Rachael attempted to regain her composure and apologize for her emotional reaction, but she struggled to control herself and soon resumed crying.Nova rose from her seat beside Aron and moved to sit beside Rachael. She gently embraced her, offering a comforting shoulder to cry on. Racha