"Tell me what you know of Vampires." Ibuwere was being questioned by the Emperor, there was a tinge in his voice that was unmistakable. Wu Hai's temper flew. His brother was taken as a host by a Devil. "Gather every able bodied person that wants to be a soldier. Lei, get with Qingchi and her platoon. They will need help. I want to conscript an Army. I'm going to get my brother."
Ibuwere watched as Wu Hai pulled out some battle plans from his storage. They looked well thought out. "When did you find time to do these?" Ibuwere asked. It had been only a few days since they had returned, but there were checklists and upgraded equipment designs.
"I've only been able to work on a prototype, but the crystal dust has many uses, I'd prefer to mix it with hardened metals and just exchange the bullets we already have in our possession. It won't be enough though, we have a limited supply. I've been tinkering with a spellrifle for a while, ever since I went to earth the first time and picked one up i've been working on a design to use magic." Wu Hai pulled out more schematics, "Look. right here where the bolt face is, we can make a similar function by springload, with a firing formation on its face instead. Then we just need to coat the barrels with a reflective anti-magic coating. That would solve the directional fire issue. my biggest problem as been the selective fire functions. I think we can use a crystal as a charge in the back of the weapon, and add a switch function that allows the user to put their own energy into the blast for a continuous fire."
The Plans were exquisite, but there were always design flaws. "Exactly what do you want to use this for?" Harris studied the plans and then passed it Arlington.
"Hunting Parties, I plan to mass produce them and hand them to our army. The problem with that is, yup.. you guessed it. we don't have an Army.. we have a few thousand soldiers and enthusiasts, even after a few years of living on this world, we really don't have any sort of military might. Its by the skin of our teeth that we even survived until this point." Wu Hai gathered the plans up, "We have to take the initiative. So, what are your thoughts on the plans?"
Arlington didn't know how else to answer, he was happy to see conventional warfare rather than something like a curse or plague coming out of nowhere. Magic was one thing, but if they didn't have a method to defend themselves.. things were going to be difficult. "You realize that creating this will cause a shift in power on this planet, and we cannot allow them to fall into the hands of outsiders."
"Then we make a limited run of everything and have the Core disciples be the lowest rung on distribution. Either way, we will still need a few thousand if their to be useful and that takes time. The only other alternative is to hand out crystals. We cannot unleash a population of vulnerable hosts when attacking the Vampires." Ibuwere knew what everyone was thinking, If Vampires started absorbing their forces it would be a disaster. They had to make a compromise somewhere if they intended to move forward with any type of action.
"I say you make a new official unit outside of the military as a personal strike force. Keeping it small was a great idea, I like it. Core Disiples and above until we get things manageable. But the truth of the matter is that this idea to make magical weapons, its been done. People are already started to experiment with ray style directed energy weapons. Earth City has a few protoypes but I have to say they lack the sophistication of your design, you can tell you've spent more time on it." Arlington butted in and wanted to see a special forces unit develop, it was important to have a specialty combat team at the ready. The Stealth Corp was originally suppose to be left for the Sect, but for the Emperor, he would need his own guard.
"I've heard, I'm not impressed. I can hear the explosions from time to time from here, they screw up a lot. But" she sighed. "But, eventually they are going to figure out something that could get us all killed in a giant blast wave of something. We don't have nukes yet, but.. we probably won't have to wait long." Kuzunoha was thrilled originally for the idea of a light based weapon she could use, but her hopes were dashed by the frequent upsets during testing.
The Emperor always seemed to have more ideas, but some of them proved to be out of the timeframe he was giving himself. He needed to find his brother, then help him rescue Xue. "Very well, you've all convinced me. We will vote on it. There are 31 of us here. My vote will count as 3. I vote not to give out crystals to any more of the transmigrated that haven't proven themselves, or even alert them about crystal's existence." He placed his hand on the table. "Whatever you, my trusted friends decide, I will follow. My family means a lot to me, but.. I cannot risk us all to save him from his quest. That is, unless someone has a better idea."
The room fell silent, they started to vote.
A moment later, the vote was cast. "The vote is 20 to 13 in favor of allowing everyone to earn the crystals. Next we need to decide how this is going to work. I still like the contribution point system, its clean and we get resources. Make the Crystals cost something like a Car, do the math. I think 30,000CP sounds fair for the more basic and smaller crystals. After we form an army, of course." Arlington gave his opinion and waited for someone else to take the floor.
"Its thanks to Qingchi's unit that we can have a lot of the piece of mind we've come to enjoy over the past week. Their patrols have alerted the Stealth Corp to some serious issues, including the rape cases in Earth City. They gossip and don't hold back when someone's hiding a deathly secret. The privacy issue aside, they make great interviewers. Have them sort through the ranks of incoming soldiers, get people with experience from all four cities. We can't let the Dragon King be the only one with a fighting force." Ho stood next to Qingchi, Luitian and Xui Ying and explained.
"We have a duty to these people, now that they have given up their pasts, we're responsible for them. We have to form some sort of police force, its a wild planet, just use the military and remove anyone that's a problem in our ranks with the collars, we have Qingchi's Truthers for now and we can work on judges and magistrates on their examples for the future.. This isn't a planet controlled by humans, we can't hope and pray for the world, only our little corners." Calistown, Matriarch of the Sect stood before the council.
"Its true, a police state would go over pretty badly for the transmigrated, but isn't that what they have right now. Martial Law. All of that ends when you stop calling it a police state, its not one. Its a Kingdom. Technically, since it spans more than one continent and land mass, its now an Empire, with an Emperor. We should really re-evaluate political commentary, maybe even discourage it. People's safety inside our borders is how we maintain a society. I'm not saying we should make 15 million Espers, but why not just make a large Esper force like you did for the first group, this time focused solely on military action." Horatio had been standing quietly by the side of the room for some time, the Priesthood had their own liaison at the City. As a Guest of Ho's, he was brought to the meeting.
"Ho, We've talked about this. You. Horatio. I've met you, you're not an elder or a member of this council but you know the nature of the crystals, and the process to produce Espers? These are matters that are classified by the sect until we say otherwise. If you spread this knowledge without the council's consent, I will have you executed as an example. Is that perfectly clear?" Wu Hai stared him down and nodded to Qingchi to monitor the man's mind. "I will not tolerate another outburst. Especially if you don't know all the details."
"I understand fully. That is why I dare speak. We don't have the time, you've said it yourself. Perhaps this is the way. Choose your private army, have them vetted by the Qingchi's 'Truthers' and then lets steamroll these fuckers. I'm tired of hearing 'what if's.' But, I'm not in charge. I can also see why its so important to not tell people about crystals, look at me.. I'm ready to use them as a weapon." He sat down and tried not to embarrass himself further.
"You're not wrong, but you're wrong about a few things. One, the changes are permanent. Two, it changes the brain chemistry, their very DNA. And Three" Wu Hai held up a third finger. "It isn't as easy as point and click. The Gygax are celestial secrets, speak of them again, private or public and lose your tongue. These are matters of the Sect, I will not tolerate external interference. Be thankful to my Brother, he spares you my punishment for interfering in sect matters." Wu Hai showed the room why he was being called the Emperor. His temperament was getting much more regal. "ANYONE ELSE?" Wu Hai searched the room, he was pissed. He wanted to go search for his brother, but he couldn't act on it blindly. Looking to his father, he understood that matters concerning the sect would have to come first. As Emperor, he could overrule any decision, but it would be in bad taste without his own military might.
"Its settled." The Patriarch looked to the room. "The Zao Clan will hold tryouts for its official military, all able bodied participants will submit to a psychic scan and probe. Those that show excellent results during training will become the Emperor's guard. The Matter of the Crystals will be settled after we form the military ranks. We will not be departing for Zhan until we are ready. The Sect cannot support a war against a people they are unprepared to fight. We must harden our resolve, and build our forces." He slammed his hand against the table.
Wu Hai followed. Then Kuzunoha. Then the rest.. In one big crash, a thunderous series of sound of was heard throughout the Castle.
"We begin at Dawn." The Emperor channeled his teleportation circle and left with Kuzunoha to Tower city, they had to inform Qu and the other City councils..
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍