Chapter 1444 - "Urgent." (Patreon)

A flicker of light echoed in the abyss of nothingness as Records gathered across realities. Forced together by an incredible power, all happening unbeknownst to anyone, a hint of consciousness began to take form, memories coalesced, and will manifested.

--

Miranda acted quickly and decisively as she convened what was effectively a general assembly of all those who were part of the Milky Way Galaxy’s alliance, including their Vassals. They moved to another room that was effectively a conference hall, where others were able to project themselves in as images.

It was a method that had a Prima Credit cost, and factions usually preferred to meet in person to ensure nothing was spread to unwanted parties. But with time of the essence, it was acceptable to hold a virtual meeting in the virtual world this time around.

It didn’t take long before Jake found himself sitting in a room beside Miranda, surrounded by images of other people, including a few from the Order of the Malefic Viper, the Behemoth he’d made a Vassal, and many more Jake didn’t recognize. Probably allies or Vassals, as Jake had been informed they had quite a few of those by now.

Everyone had known when this phase would end and had been sitting, prepared at their Territory Beacons, to take advantage of whatever it would bring. The last time, having a first-mover advantage in the Central Domain had been quite impactful, and, not knowing what would come next, it only made sense that they’d been prepared. Fortunately, that also meant they were all available for a meeting.

Jake had already been informed of his role before summoning the others, and he planned to pull it off perfectly. He was quite skilled at just sitting, looking menacing while occasionally nodding in agreement with Miranda’s statements, after all.

“Thank you all for gathering at such short notice,” Miranda said, the first to speak and making it clear she was effectively the leader of this meeting. “You should all have seen the announcement of the fourth phase beginning, and I believe we all have a lot to discuss.”

Lots of nods all around the room, as even the Behemoth looked professional and down to earth, which was quite a contrast to swinging her claws wildly, trying to tear him apart.

“During the last meeting, we also discussed potential opportunities this phase could bring, and we appear to have been right in some aspects, though evidently, it includes far more than we could have anticipated,” Miranda continued. “More Domains opening will require exploration to get an overview of their value and potential return on investment, but perhaps most important is the possibility of recruiting reinforcements. More real people to handle some of the workload and strengthen our forces.”

“Being able to leave the World of the Exalted Prima and return again within a reasonable time is also huge,” someone wearing a cloak that made it clear he belonged to the Order of the Malefic Viper spoke up. “It will allow us to send alchemists back to the Order of the Malefic Viper and receive resources without having to spend Prima Credits on them within the simulated world. Moreover, it will allow some people to not spend all their time here, as we’re still unclear of the impact on Records remaining here for too long will have.”

Miranda slowly nodded along before speaking again. “You’re not wrong, which means we’ll have to set up a system to know which elites are here and not here.”

“We should also discuss recruiting, as I believe the Order has plenty of prospects, and my Territory will gladly take on the task to-“

“Regarding recruiting, I believe it would make the most sense to pool our Prima Credits with the Chosen of the Malefic Viper’s Territory,” Miranda cut off the same guy from the Order again. Jake found it a little rude to cut the guy off, but when he saw the sour look on the man's face and the hints of relief on the faces of others from the Order, Jake believed he understood why.

Was he trying to make himself look good and competent in front of me? Jake asked himself, feeling pretty sure that was the case. That would also explain why Miranda put emphasis on Jake being the Chosen of the Malefic Viper, with how she said it.

“I’m not just saying this because I’m a control freak and don’t trust you, but due to it being far more efficient if we are in charge of recruiting,” Miranda continued, in part to calm down some of the people who didn’t look like they were fans of her proposal. “Through the efforts of the Chosen of the Malefic Viper and another of our elites, the Milky Way Galaxy Territory received certain bonuses in the Abundant Palace. One of them is the protection of our Beacon, which you already know about, but another is a discount on Recruitment with the same duration as the protection. Due to having two of these bonuses, it isn’t negligible either, but a 15% Prima Credits discount. I don’t think I need to tell all you smart people here just how many Credits that could save us in the long run.”

Jake didn’t even remember there was a recruitment discount, and he honestly had to double-check whether that was even true or if Miranda had just made it up to hoard Prima Credits. Nope, turned out that was totally a thing, and the 10% was also accurate, which means the others who’d made it to the throne room with the Abundant Emperor should have gotten 10%.

Hearing what Miranda said, a few spoke up in support of pooling Prima Credits immediately, probably spurred on by Jake nodding slowly to himself, not even to support Miranda, but just because he’d seen that they indeed did have the discount.

Of course, there were many logistical details to work out regarding how they would accumulate points, since direct transfers weren’t economically viable. Apparently, allies could send Prima Credits to one another, but every transfer came with a 25% “tax,” making it not worth it in the vast majority of cases. Instead, Territories usually supported one another with NPCs or other resources.

The meeting quickly moved on, as they had a lot to cover, and they started discussing their approach to the Domains, which Jake was kind of interested in. Exploring those appealed to Jake much more than going to war with other factions, as he didn’t enjoy fighting armies of weak NPCs and preferred facing powerful foes in smaller numbers. Then again, he did want to test out his new special dust, so he would need to visit at least a few battlefields.

Honestly, he’d probably just listen to Miranda and whatever she thought was best for him to do. There was also a good chance he’d be leaving the World of the Exalted Prima again very soon to recruit reinforcements, especially considering the discount their Territory possessed. Maybe not, though, as he would also be useful fighting rather than recruiting.

Yeah, the more he thought about it, the more certain he became that he would prefer not to think about it and just follow Miranda’s directions. He wasn’t some kind of strategic mastermind and didn’t even want to fully understand the big picture and all its complexities, as, quite frankly, that just seemed exhausting. If he wanted to comprehend something difficult, he’d rather just do alchemy, work on concepts, or anything else that he felt would further his Path.

Jake allowed his thoughts to wander while outwardly trying to look like he was deeply invested in the conversation he didn’t care much for. He did listen and remember what was said, but most of it didn’t concern him at all, especially not the talk about claiming Territories that had been eliminated due to not reaching the required Prima Credits in the third phase.

He had resolved himself to just soldier through the very boring political meeting to support Miranda and make it clear she had his full support – something she’d told him was very important given his year of absence.

Granted, this meeting did serve as a good way for Jake to learn more details about his own Territory and was a chance for him to know who they were working together with. It was quite natural that they’d allied with any Territory belonging to the Order and Pantheon of Life, but he was a bit surprised about some of the others who had been recognized as allies. Some were small factions that didn’t really strike Jake as worthy of being considered allies, especially not seeing as some of the Vassals were far superior.

One didn’t even need to mention the Behemoth’s Territory, which was apparently the second-largest after the Milky Way Galaxy’s, meaning he effectively controlled the two largest Territories in their little alliance. Some of the other Vassals were also pretty big and seemed powerful, while some allies were small Territories which he could probably have taken out alone in a day without issue, which means it shouldn’t have been hard for Miranda to get rid of them either.

Yet she’d chosen to make them allies. There had to be a good reason for that, right? Was it to communicate that the Order was willing to negotiate and work with even weaker factions? Some other grand political aim?

There were probably also some context-related reasons. It made sense that even powerful Territories became Vassals, as sometimes it made more sense to do so than to destroy them, and since they were the defeated Territory, there was no need to make them an ally.

Jake considered sending a quick telepathic message to Miranda asking for details, but decided not to risk ruining her groove, as she was doing a damn fine job controlling the room and making it as clear as possible that she was in charge. So, instead, he stayed in his own head and used his sphere to better check out the main base at the center of his Territory, as well as some of the interesting special structures she’d made since the last time he was there.

However, as Jake sat there, an odd feeling began to creep up on him. A sense of tiredness, other emotions that felt oddly foreign, all leading Jake to frown behind his mask as he even questioned whether they were the result of some kind of weird soul attack only he had detected. The odd feeling worsened, and as Jake scanned himself, he discovered the source, which made his eyes go wide.

Jake shot to his feet, stopping Miranda mid-sentence as he only threw her a quick look and a single word:

“Urgent.”

With that, he stormed out of the meeting room, not giving any further explanation. Energy was building in his body, and he felt as if the virtual world around him resonated with him. While hurrying to a private room, Jake checked his soul and confirmed what was going on.

I was so wrong.

He had thought that it would take time for the finger to fully manifest within his Soulspace and hadn’t even been sure it would successfully appear in the first place. It should have been a steady process, likely taking at least a few months based on the framework he’d made and the level of resonance between it and the virtual world... but he’d failed to account for one thing:

This wasn’t entirely up to him. There was another will involved.

Jake had barely gotten to his private room and sat down when he felt a pain all the way down to his soul. He felt himself grow weaker, as if he had just used a boosting skill, only for everything to return to normal a second later. Within his Soulspace, the finger flickered in and out of existence as its aura grew in tandem with Jake’s body acting up.

He lost feeling in an arm, one of his legs, and even his senses were thrown off, including those related to his Bloodline, which really alarmed him. However, despite it all, Jake never felt any sense of danger and focused solely on stabilizing his mind as he fully submerged his consciousness into his Soulspace.

Appearing within his own soul, Jake stood before the finger as it continued to flicker and grow in power. He knew it was absorbing Records and energy from him, draining them directly from what he assumed was his Truesoul. Still, he didn’t panic but simply observed, as even if it drained power from Jake, it wasn’t as if anything was leaving him. It was just temporarily moved somewhere else, by a will equal to his own. As for how this had even started to happen in the first place...

“Primeval Origin Energy,” Jake concluded, finding that the only explanation. The finger had contained the energy that – as far as Jake knew – was unique to his Bloodline, and now it was using it alongside the rest of the energy the finger had contained. All to forcibly fully manifest itself.

Turning his head, Jake kept an eye on Eternal Hunger, or more accurately, the figure that represented it inside his Soulspace. The humanoid figure remained still, unmoving, despite everything that was happening, yet Jake felt a connection between the two. The Records absorbed by the finger primarily came from the cursed shadow, causing the two to resonate.

Jake knew that if he wanted to, he could interfere with whatever was happening, put a stop to it all, and even crush the finger, perhaps absorbing some of its Records and energy in the process, but he didn’t; instead, he showed trust. Trust in himself, or perhaps more accurately, his other self.

Time passed, as what felt like hours happened in minutes, before the finger stopped flickering and became fully corporeal. Yet even so, it didn’t feel entirely real. Like it still existed somewhere between the real and the virtual. Finally, something Jake had been waiting for happened as his Eternal Shadow moved.

It stood up and raised its arm forward without Jake giving it any commands. The finger slowly floated over and attached itself to the outstretched hand of the shadow, replacing its finger, and the next thing Jake knew, he was assaulted by a splitting headache that threatened to tear his mind apart.

This torture persisted for several seconds, with Jake gritting his teeth and enduring the pain as he had a vague understanding of what was happening. To call it a splitting headache was indeed an accurate description, as with slow and deliberate movements, the Eternal Shadow lifted its hand in front of its face and looked at the finger there.

The Eternal Shadow, which had just been a purely black, shadowy, featureless outline, started to look much more like Jake, but more than that, the finger that had merged into it appeared fully physical, not just made of energy.

Then, in an instant, the headache stopped, and as Jake slowly opened his eyes, he couldn’t help but smile as he spoke.

“Long time no see.”