Chapter 189: New Year. New Notice.
The rest of the Summit after that became a much more solemn affair. Uhtred wasn’t present for the rest of it, secluding himself in one of the private cultivation chambers on the Archipalego. He seemed to have come to some deeper understanding of the unified elemental spell and wanted to practice so as not to lose the feeling.
Needless to say, nothing much happened for the rest of the Summit. Peripheral details, deals and transactions were all that took place.
However, after the Summit concluded, before each faction began to leave, Uhtred returned from his short seclusion. He met with King Alexei, Black Sun, and Antoine Blanc privately, and what was discussed between them remained a mystery to every other faction. All that was known was that King Alexei left the private meeting looking extremely excited, Black Sun left with a light frown, while Antoine Blanc had a look of slight trepidation.
It was in this manner that the First Global World Summit ended.
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In the months following the end of the Global Summit, the agreements made by the factions that attended began to have evident changes on the world. Those who hadn’t had the opportunity, or had chosen not to attend the Summit started to fall behind those who had.
First was the appearance of Inert Crystals. It became a popular commodity among ascenders around the world. It was way better than essence cores because it could be used multiple times. The arrays that could be built with them were also another major benefit.
They were sold exclusively by the factions who attended the Summit, and controlled entirely by Uhtred, Jolene Okafor, and Golden Finger Chen. The last unknown party who had a regional dungeon never sold any of it, surprisingly. Whether they were using it to build their force privately, or they were hoarding for one massive sale, one couldn’t know.
The World Government was especially keen on the slightest news about this, keeping their ears peeled for any rumor of new trade in the black market. But it was all to no avail.
Aside from the appearance and popularization of Inert Crystals, there was also the standardization of Global Humane laws to stop wanton killings and acts of barbarity. Of course, not all warlords and thugs could be stopped, but compared to before, the number of lawless territories where blatant slavery, rape, and vile acts of tyranny were rampant, had lessened by more than seventy percent.
The unified might of the global powerhouses, in conjunction with Uhtred’s name, served as a serious deterrent force. And where that wasn’t enough, the global powerhouses — particularly the World Government and the Free Ascenders’ Guild — stepped in themselves to violently eliminate troublesome criminals.
Where things were even more sketchy and bordering on unethical, either Uhtred, Black Sun, or King Alexei’s forces were alerted. Uhtred himself never stepped out once. But Diya and Zara had on separate occasions in his place... and the results were extremely terrifying.
Diya’s reputation from the Trial of Ages was furiously reignited on the main continents again after she wiped out a whole island of criminals who were holding more than fifty thousand people hostage, unwilling to surrender to the World Government and the Guild.
She had released a targeted contagion that affected mostly the criminals through a particular food they regularly consumed. There had been innocent casualties for sure, but more than ninety percent of the hostages had survived and regained their freedom.
Approximately twenty-thousand criminals died in Diya’s move, giving her the reputation of "Queen of Death" among the general population of ascenders after the news spread.
Zara, on the other hand, was more low-key. She’d had to step in only when a decently powerful force of ascenders calling themselves "The Superior Sapiens," began to spread terror in the Eastern continent. She wouldn’t have stepped in herself if not for the fact that the name of this group was similar to something Uhtred pointed out:
Right after the integration and the Ancient Variants’ foiled first probe into Zone 0, the Homo erectus scout Uhtred caught back then mentioned something about a "Prime Sapien Project." Something the Ancient Variants had kidnapped several human kids for, apparently.
Zara’s mission was to find out the link between this new human group and that unknown Ancient Variant project.
She found nothing, of course, but the whole thing smelled fishy and machinated. It seemed the Ancient Variants weren’t as quiet as everyone thought them to be.
After the trials, their attacks on human territories had lessened dramatically. It was as though the Ancient Variants now saw modern humans as equals in terms of strength. Either that or they were simply biding their time and waiting for the System-imposed information blackout on them to elapse.
The blackout had been three months, but even after those three months elapsed — not long after the conclusion of the Global World Summit — they still remained mostly silent.
Uhtred feared they were brewing something. He had begun his push well into Zone 2 already, but still couldn’t find a sign of the Ancient Variant outpost within the new zone. When he heard word of a group who bore a similar name to the same project he knew the Ancient Variants were involved in, terrorizing territories in the East, he had wanted to head there immediately.
However, at the advice of Dennis, he sent Zara instead.
She slaughtered them all.
After finding nothing tying them to the Ancient Variants per se, she went ahead and exterminated them completely. The mission had been mostly silent, as the Superior Sapiens group was much more organized. Only the major global players knew of Zara’s move. But that was still enough to earn her a cold and dangerous reputation in their minds.
That reputation only made the World Government fear what kind of ascenders the new academy at Capitol of the Elite would breed. From their sources, they knew Zara was also an instructor in this elite school. Seeing how efficient she was in killing made the World Government have no choice but to create their own public school out of necessity.
They hadn’t wanted to at first, not wanting to play second-fiddle to Uhtred. They only created a secret force, but one couldn’t call that an academy. That was simply a government branch.
However, seeing the positive response from the public to Uhtred’s Capitol of the Elite, and seeing how skilled, cold, and decisive their instructors were, made the Government have no choice but to also create theirs to try appealing to the public.
They had thought the previous use of their influence to shape public opinion about Uhtred in a bad light, painting him as a villain that stole from the public, was enough to prevent people from seeing the academy in a good light. However, the contrary was what happened.
Everyone who was anyone wanted to send their heirs to Capitol of the Elite to train under the banner of the world’s strongest. The heirs themselves were doubly eager to apply and take the arduous screening tests. And it wasn’t just heirs alone either. The doors to Capitol of the Elite were open to anyone who craved power and wanted to forge up the path of ascension above their peers.
Barely anyone cared about the "stolen" dungeon or whatnot.
This was a situation the World Government wasn’t willing to let play out without doing anything, hence, their response to build their own public academy. They couldn’t let Uhtred and his crew shape the minds of every potential elite ascender.
Still, as the months rolled by, they could only play second-fiddle — the one thing they’d wanted to avoid — with Uhtred and his Capitol of the Elite.
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Eventually, a year was nearly upon everyone. A full year since the integration. The world had changed dramatically. It first began with confusion, deaths of millions, and lots of turmoil. But now, just like with everything, humans had adapted. They had acclimated to the new reality. The major Global powers had stabilized themselves firmly above everyone else, and a semblance of peace had returned...
But just like Uhtred had said to Mateo, that peace wasn’t going to last.
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The New Year’s Eve. Exactly ten seconds till the new year...
For the first time in months, Uhtred made a public appearance. The citizens of Capitol of the Elite caught a glimpse of his solitary figure at the highest point of the city. His presence was deep and unfathomable. No one could feel what level he was currently at, but they could all sense that he wasn’t the same as months ago. He had grown extremely powerful.
And he was not alone.
Instructor Zara, who had also gone into seclusion only about three months ago, was by his side, her presence also radiating a profound depth.
The last person beside him was the Queen of Death, Diya. Together, they all stared at the starry night sky, as if waiting for something.
The same was happening across three other distant territories.
King Alexei, in the snowy peaks of his Tsar’s Dominion, had an excited grin on his face as he stared at the sky.
Black Sun Mateo, in the chain islands of the Black Isles had a solemn look on his face, his hands crossed behind his back in waiting.
Antoine Blanc was in the territory of the Free Ascenders’ Guild, atop a large building, also staring at the night sky expectantly.
They all waited as if knowing something was coming.
And as the timer counted down, marking the beginning of a new year of the integration era, the System, which had been quiet for months with no global quest, notice, or announcement, sent out a global notice...
Following this notice, two things happened immediately...