SIS B5: Chapter 3: Agreement and Ascension

"... While such an arrangement surely looks to be entirely beneficial when viewed from your perspective, that certainly isn't true for me and my administration," the former president claimed.

Daz lightly shook his head, thinking to himself, 'No mention of your people? Only yourself and your government? Very telling.'

It hardly helped the elderly man's case that Daz could feel waves and waves of corrupted righteousness pouring out of his emotions.

"You will fall under my rule. You and the rest of the world. Do you think I can't see your lust for power? Do you think I won't call you out on it as some sort of act of respect for the old ways? Is as clear to me as the light of day," Daz stated calmly from atop his throne.

The old man below him seemed to be caught off guard for a moment as some anger flashed across his face.

"I know you are young, but to accuse me of something so pet-"

Daz sighed loudly enough to interrupt Lord Jones. "Answer me with 'yes' or 'no'. Do you crave power?"

"What? I will do no such thing. Neither is this the place to ask such a question nor is it-"

"That's a 'yes' then," Daz interrupted again. "I, however, do not wish for my position. I did not come into the apocalypse hoping for high kingship or a kingdom to call my own. My only wish right now is for our people, for our culture, for a safe environment for my loved ones.... for all of this to continue existing once we join the system or in the case we fail the trials. With fools so fixated on meaningless things in charge, that is not attainable. Hence, my rule. You will never persuade me to give my power to you. You are unworthy."

A heavy silence overcame the hall. So heavy was it, in fact, that Daz had to stop secretly wiggling the crystal shovel that was hanging on the wall over his tungsten throne.

Daz nodded. "Good. No useless attempt to counter my words this time. You have two choices, Lord Jones. Remain a lord under my rule and continue your research, or, much less favourably for all, you do something stupid and I must use force to gain control of what was once the U.S. of A."

The man well into his eighties opened his mouth but quickly closed it again before holding his chin. He then seemed to seriously consider his next words. A good sign, in Daz's opinion.

"So... you're saying I can maintain my position, keep doing my work in Washington, but there is no chance of me ever becoming the monarch of New Earth? To resume my role of the leader of the free world?" Lord Jones asked.

'How does he intend to respond when I give him my answer?' Daz thought. 'Will he fly into a rage, or are my stats and Legendary Gift of the Gab skill making him see the futility in resisting? Let's see which one it is, shall we?'

Daz inclined his head in agreeance. "Indeed. No one whose vision does not match my own and who does not also have the ability to lead not only my kingdom but all of humanity to a better future shall take up my mantle."

"I see..." Again, Lord Jones wore a complex expression on his aged face.

Seeing this hesitation and clear internal struggle, Daz smiled faintly.

"So... we just have to accept your dictatorship and hope you don't become like all of your predecessors?" Lord Jones challenged.

Daz simply nodded in response. "You will maintain similar freedoms to before the system's coming, if not more, but yes, democracy is dead as is bureaucracy. Having the power to challenge armies- no, worlds on my own changes things. And I would rather you call what I have a meritocracy. After all, I will step down should someone more fitting make themselves known."

"It's easy to say that, isn't it?" Lord Jones laughed mockingly. "A young man like you with ideals... I was like that once. We all were. You'll change just like everyone else, the system and superpowers don't change that inherent human trait."

"My roots are those of a Justice Reaper, and before that, a human lacking almost entirely in emotions. Surely you know that, being the former president. Espers were no secret and the Hamilio family is no small esper family," Daz replied.

The old man furrowed his brow. "I am aware of your... past."

"Good. Now to speak of my present. My lifespan is endless due to several things working together. Even the system leaving will not take this from me as it is how I defeated the Truthians. I am the perfect form of government - an incorruptible immortal monarch, so to speak," Daz stated loudly and with conviction in his voice.

Lord Jones shook his head and chuckled sadly. "To think, hundreds of years of work pissed down the drain and handed to a warlord who claims he can't die. You are right though. It is just... upsetting to know that what I worked half of my life to obtain, hell all of it really since the law system is so much... smoother now... Well, it's all just so pointless now in reflection, isn't it?"

Daz nodded. He understood where the man was coming from. Having the identity of one's entire life just being cast aside as useless could never be easy, he assumed. Lord Jone's emotions were telling a story of their own which Daz could glean from his Ember of Empathy.

[Ember of Empathy [Entry-level (initial mastery)] has increased to 22%.]

"The politics of before are gone. If you work hard though and show prove your worth, you may be promoted to the status of king, or even a high king as emperorhood is soon within my grasp," Daz explained calmly and slowly. "You could even change entirely. Move away from ruling and focus on your own strength. You could prevent your ageing, become younger, get strong."

Daz got up from his throne and approached the man. Once he was face to face with him, he added, "You could become so powerful in reality, why focus on non-tangible power? Of course, the choice is yours, I merely wish to open your eyes to the possibilities of the system. Stop living in the past, Archibald Jones."

America's former president stared deeply into Daz's eyes before he started paced around a bit before suddenly stopping.

A look of determination entered the over 80-years-old man. "Fine. I don't have much of a choice, do I? Either join you, die to your blade, or try to run and get caught. I know of the efficiency of your top agent, the Flower. I'll sign a system contract to prove my intentions and you shall too. To guarantee my freedoms."

"Freedoms within the confines of my kingdom's laws, but yes, something akin to what Larry and I agreed upon? That is acceptable," Daz said with a smile.

***

'You did well, even if I'm not the biggest fan of how frank you can be,' Mofolo spoke his mind to Daz as he trained, having completed the deal with Lord Jones.

Reika lazily floated through the air as if she were a bubble that had been blown. 'Our father used to have meetings like that. You know, the demon king.'

'Ah, yes. You have mentioned your lineage once or twice within Hamson before. How did he handle such matters, your father?' Mofolo asked with what seemed to be genuine interest - something he rarely showed when the childish demon princess was involved.

Reika shrugged uncaringly as she started to orbit Daz's head like a planetary body. 'He just killed anyone who opposed him. I bet he'd view our shared master as an ignorant fool for being so merciful despite the grandness of his goals.'

Mofolo raised an eyebrow, or whatever constituted as an eyebrow on an Atlantian's face. Daz assumed what counted for hair was actually coral of some sort, not that he had ever cared enough to ask.

The merman questioned, 'Do you not regard Daz as an insolent fool? That is what you call him all of the time, no?'

'We say it in an endearing way. An old fogey like you wouldn't understand,' Reika replied as she stuck her tongue out at the spirit easily a hundred times her size.

Mofolo laughed faintly. 'Old fogey? Are you not older than me? You were sealed in a sword for thousands of years, yes, but this was millions of years ag-'

Reika stopped moving around Daz and flared up in anger at the old king. 'Hey! We never told you you could just reveal our age to this Ignorant Fool like that!'

Mofolo shook his head and sighed. Daz stopped training his Gravital Body for a moment to ask, "How would you have dealt with it as Atlantis' former and final king?"

He couldn't care less about Reika's real age. It mattered not and thus, didn't even enter his mind as something worthy of care. Mofolo's opinion here, however, did interest the reaper.

Mofolo put a hand to his beard in thought. 'Truthfully? I'm unsure. My people spent hundreds of thousands of years building bonds and alliances, slowly growing to be one singular kingdom. So when the system came, I never had to face a problem like this one.'

Daz nodded. "If only humans weren't such a petty species."

'You're making it work, from what we can see,' Reika commented nonchalantly as she settled into his halo.

Daz chuckled faintly. "I am trying."

He then stretched his back and checked his recent internal energy gains. He also decided to do a quick check-up on his bloodlines to see how they had grown as of late.

[Daz Crowthorne's Internal Energy Amount

0.43/6.01 [+0.58]]

Daz nodded. 'That feels about right. It's been a while since I last checked my progress, but I'm happy I'm still gaining a good amount. One of these days I need to bring this up with Rose, Maddy, or even Grandmother. I want to compare with a peer. Not Grandfather though. He's too... is shifty the right word?'

He shook his head, putting the matter in the back of his mind. He did, however, pull up a new list he had created through the system. This list was designed to properly assist him with tracking his gains in regards to his bloodlines.

[Daz Crowthorne's Bloodlines

Hamilio: Can sustain the esper ability [Gravital Body] for 35.2 seconds [up from 32 seconds].

Crowthorne: Can sustain the esper ability [Gravital Body] for 5.3 seconds [up from 4 seconds].

[Unnamed]: Can sustain the esper ability [Gravital Body] for 18.3 seconds [up from 15.2 seconds].

No bloodline: Can sustain the esper ability [Gravital Body] for 16.7 seconds [up from 14 seconds].]

He put a hand to his chin and simply thought. 'I am improving, that's for sure. Every week a full attempt takes less of my internal energy before I simply can't sustain Gravital Body anymore. Seeing how Grandmother uses the skill though... I know she has level five mastery with it, but I feel she could use it for hours without even breaking a sweat, maybe even days.'

It also couldn't be ignored that Ho Ran had the Ho family bloodline while Daz did not. He also felt it was safe to assume she had dozens if not hundreds of times more internal energy than he did.

Daz had only realised he had the stuff less than a year ago, after all. She had been training for decades at this point.

He sighed and refocused himself. The day was not yet over and he had other things to train too, so train them he would.

***

[Shovel Arts has reached level 4.]

[Grave of the Behemoth has reached level 2.]
[Grave of the Behemoth has reached level 3.]

Daz stopped his destruction of the New Earthian countryside for a bit. The 24 hour countdown for his rulership of all of America was mere minutes away.

And, well, he had truly destroyed acres upon acres of land as he trained his newly upgraded skill.

After becoming the Grave of the Behemoth from the Grave of the Mammals, the new skill dug out an area easily the size of a large football stadium per evocation.

Daz had a feeling he'd be here for a good few days were he to fix this mess he had made on his own. So, instead of wasting his precious time on something so trivial, he called in a favour from one of his citizens - Rebecca.

She was the non-blood-related niece of the headmaster at Fort Home's academy, Jesabelle. She was also an Earth Mage.

Daz recalled when she had helped him from preventing Nevada being lost to a sinkhole. Pointless now, he felt, since Las Vegas was wiped out in the war with the Truthians.

Of course, most earth mages and folks of similar classes were incredibly busy on his orders with repairing the rifts he had accidentally created, but he could spare one to fix the geographical mayhem he'd made here today.

As he waited for her to arrive, he readied himself for the notifications of his successful transition to a greater state of ruling power and land ownership.

Before long, the awaited notifications arrived along with a welcome and not entirely unexpected surprise.

[Congratulations! As you have successfully handled all disputes regarding your greater rulership of [The United States of America], the State of Washington, the State of Alaska, and the Federation of Hope have all become vassal states under [New Earth]'s rule.]

[Congratulations! You have become the ruler of 1,000,000 citizens and thus have had your ruler status updated and you have been placed on a new ranking list, the [Emperor] ranking list. Please refer to the system for your specific rank and any applicable rewards.]

[The host [Daz Crowthorne]'s status has been altered from [High King] to [Emperor]

Benefits
The host's maximum citizen count has increased from 1,000,000 to 10,000,000.

The host's kingdom is now classified as an [Empire].

The host may now found up to 3 vassal kingdoms within their owned territories, each of which can host upwards of 1,000,000 citizens. (Refer to the system for more details.)

The host may now found up to 7 more lesser kingdoms in addition to their existing 3 within their owned territories.

The host may now appoint up to 3 high kings who shall serve under the host and rule the vassal kingdoms founded by the host. Note: These high kings cannot exceed the 1,000,000 citizen limit of a [High King] and thus, cannot advance to being an [Emperor]. (Refer to the system for more specific restrictions on subordinate high kings).

The host may now appoint up to 7 more kings in addition to their existing 3 subordinate kings to manage any new lesser kingdoms they found.

The host may now invade rulers who share the same status as an [Emperor] or possess a lower status without any restrictions.

If the host was not previously a sovereign candidate, they will now gain this status. (does not apply as the host was already an existing sovereign candidate.)]

'So the few thousand from Washington, the people still in Alaska, and all of Larry's citizens pushed me across, huh? I didn't expect that with the war losses and considering how many died due to me destroying a Star of Eternity. Still, it just seems like a direct upgrade from high king. The sovereign candidacy seems like the best change if I wasn't already a candidate. Oh well,' Daz thought to himself.

He also chuckled a bit, knowing Lyle would be even busier now since he'd have to make it known to the entire empire that he had ascension. Well, quite a few people were likely already aware of the fact through their usage of the system, but an official announcement never hurt.

Transparency was one of Daz's key policies and hiding things was never one of his interests, especially good news like this.

"What the actual fuck..." a shocked woman mumbled as she landed next to Daz, covered entirely in mud.

'She can now use a similar method to fly as I do when I turn my boots into crystals? Interesting,' Daz thought.

The Nevadian woman wasn't capable of that the last time they had met. "I got carried away with training a new skill. I assume you can clean this up quickly? You'll be rewarded for your efforts, of course."

The dark-skinned woman sighed deeply as she cracked her neck. "I mean, yeah. I knew it was a lot of work otherwise you wouldn't have called for me, Your Majesty, but, like, are you sure you used a skill and not several nukes?"

"Haha, I would never use nukes even if I could. I'm trying to save the world, not cover it in radiation. Also, if you must address me formally, it's now 'Your Imperial Majesty'," Daz replied with a kind smile.

"Ah, congrats. Some good news after the planet-splitting shitstorm, huh? Well, I'll get to it then. This hellscape won't exactly unhellscape itself, now will it?" Rebecca asked with a cheery grin on her radiant face.

'Ah, how positive her emotions are... If only I too, could be like that...' Daz wished silently. "I'll leave you to it then."