The Systemic Lands

Chapter 616: Day 5,106 (3) – A Speech

I stepped outside where a massive crowd had gathered. I made my way to the elevated podium that had been set up. Soldiers making sure my path was clear. There were was some shouting, but for the most part people were quiet and watching me.

I saw people on top of buildings around the plaza and looking out every window. The entire place was packed. It was standing room only. There were no vendors selling anything either. Everyone was here to listen to what I had to say.

Reaching the podium, I looked out at the wide range of people who had gathered. I felt proud in a way I hadnt before, for bringing everyone togeather in one single nation. Clarissa and several other people helped, but that didnt take away from what I had done.

People setting past prejudices and conceptions aside to unify around the ideals I had started my Empire with. The truth is a dangerous thing, I used energy manipulation so my voice would carry. Everyone became silent as it echoed across the plaza and into the city. The truth is that I have some answers, but not nearly enough.

I can see the panic and worry on many faces. I will explain what is going on. I will give you the truth of the current situation. All that I ask is that you continue to believe in my government and the Supreme Governor as I continue to believe in all of you, I said.

We are with you Emperor Michael! Someone shouted loudly from the crowd and there was a large round cheering at that. I waved my hands to quiet people down before continuing.

Right now we are faced with a being, a monster, something that appears to be at conflict with the Almighty System that brought us to this place. It is releasing copious amounts of energy that will kill people and turn the landscape to goo. At the heart of its power, it is constructing a new type of terrain, I explained to the people listening in.

The purpose of such a construction is unknown. The being behind this is sapient and I have spoken with it, I said. The utter silence was immense as everyone listened to my every word. While diplomacy might not be my strongest stat, I attempted to speak to it first. It confirmed that it is in conflict with the Almighty System. And that it views us as things to be eliminated.

I then fought against this being. And barely managed to escape, heavily wounded, I admitted. While it was tempting to say something else, I refused to run a government based on lies. While things might be framed a certain way, and classified information omitted, this was not the time for petty politics as an existential threat was bearing down.

We plan to confront it one more time. In an all or nothing assault. Gathering every single resource, every single bit of knowledge, and everything we can muster to launch an assault as the very environment we exist in is slowly corrupted. It is not an exaggeration to say that if this second assault fails, it will be the end of this Empire, I said. There was shouting and lots of nervous looks.

Silence! I shouted and people quieted. I have hope we can triumph. If I didnt, then I would already be running away. But for our second assault to succeed, we need to devote everything from attention, to crystals into succeeding.

The current plan calls for a build up of high impact weapons and then launching an all-out assault around 5,150. If we succeed, the threat will hopefully be stopped. If we fail, then the only hope is that the Almighty System intervenes.

As for why it has not intervened yet, that is unknown. This hostile being could be countering in some way we dont understand. It could be a test. What I do know, is that this is a greater crisis than the Dragon Empire and the Divine Empress. We as the people of Purgatory send on the precipice of total annihilation.

Even now, with things as bleak as they are, there is still hope. The city of Purgatory still stands under its city shield. And I am still alive to fight another day. I must ask, both for myself, the government, and all of you to work togeather and contribute what you can in this hour of need. I could see several people nodding at this.

I will sweat to you as Emperor of this Nation, that this is a crisis that requires every possible contribution. I plan to head to a level 7 zone after this speech, and grind out crystals to bring back to fund the construction of super weapons to be used.

There will be no corruption. There will be no last-minute planned escape by the elites of the government. There was, but if that happened everything would have fallen apart already, and the assault failed. Since there would be no more government, there wouldnt be government elites. The next fifty days will be incredibly hard. Requiring sacrifice and understanding. But I believe in all of you and I ask that you believe in me as well, I said and then stepped in front of the podium.

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I then bowed deeply to the assembled crowd. There was silence, but then everyone bowed back towards me. I straightened up and there was a round of applause. It continued for a couple of minutes. I wiped my face as a couple of tears leaked out.

If I survive, I will let everyone know the outcome. While there are government secrets like the designs of the super weapons. I promise, that the truth of the situation will not be hidden. No matter how ugly or disturbing. Thank you, I said and left the podium as people cheered.

I made my way towards the airship port as the soldiers cleared a path. I went up the tower and Clarissa was waiting for me at the top. That was a good speech, she said.

Thanks, hopefully it calms the panic down and gives you breathing room, I replied, and she nodded at that.

For the next fifty days. After that, it will be decided one way or another at least. It wont drag on, she replied.

Maybe. I wont worry about the future, but focus on the present like you pointed out to me, I said.

I am happy to help. You know, I didnt think having the strongest person being in charge or a politician was a good idea for the longest time. But now I am starting to think otherwise. Almost everyone else would have lied, or run away, Clarissa said as I got onto the airboat.

Being honest is important. Sure I could lie, and try and sweep the situation under the rug, but everyone would know. They would worry, and not be willing to work togeather. Now everyone has a common goal. A shared purpose. You cant achieve that by lying about what is happening, I replied.

You going to poke one of those boxes? Clarissa asked me as I detached the small air boat.

Probably. Maybe I will get a another meta-point and wish us all out of this situation, I replied.

That would be nice. Dont die, Clarissa said as I took off. I didnt plan on dying.

I saw the crowds below as I flew away and there was cheering. It was humbling to have so many people depend on me. Tying power to authority was the correct decision in this place. I was only willing to risk my life, since all this was mine. These people, these cities, and this society I had created.

While I didnt plan on dying, this would be the hardest fight yet. For the one thing that was the defining attribute of intelligence was the ability to plan ahead. Just as we were making plans, the sphere was also making plans. I just felt it as a gut instinct.

We had to win, the status quo was a loss for my side. Every possible resource needed to be mustered and used to take the being down. Clarissa was right. Once it was defeated then I could have a mental crisis. I couldnt afford a breakdown right now.

That was the problem with being the most powerful person at the top. There was no one I could appeal to, to solve the problem. The only being was the Almighty System and they appeared to be experiencing technical difficulties.

Just need to give you a reboot or something, I muttered. If only there was a convenient on and off switch. Which could be the votes. Would the Systemic Lands just disappear, and we all fall into the inky blackness?

As for the possible level 8 confrontation, I was still slightly unsure. But I was leaning toward taking the risk. The threat of the sphere was immense and I needed every advantage I could get, including knowledge. I might not upgrade my skills, since I needed both silent and gestureless, but I might pick up a super skill if offered.

There were just too many unknowns. It was never a good plan or situation where you had to use one set of unknowns to counter another. It felt like the situation where the Divine Empress had chased me into a tower. While there were other factors, there was no escaping her otherwise.

Now I was being pushed into a corner once more, and I didnt like it. But there was nothing I could do. I had suffered in the past, but now I was stronger. What I needed to start doing was thinking how I would fight the sphere in round two. Getting past its shield to deliver a physical attack might be the best option. Or using imbue skills on top of my skills.

My Body stat was insanely high compared to my other stats. But I wasnt the Divine Empress, willing to punch anything and everything. If I did land a blow, I would probably lose that arm and take a serious wound. But the impact would be immense.

Imbue skills would help for sure and blowing apart the terrain to make it more favorable would be quite a large advantage in the fight as well. I could also make progress on my own, by focusing on the Regeneration stat. I needed to be able to draw in energy during the fight.

Not being able to get back energy impacted my combat ability to a massive extent. I was forced to commit to a battle, instead of engaging in hit and run tactics. If I had energy regeneration the sphere could have fired all the beams it wanted, but I would be able to dodge them for a fraction of the energy for a long time.

I might have even been able to win against it, since I wouldnt have had to over commit and get an injury. I could have spammed the terrain before entering to damage it, recovered my energy and then fought. There were a lot of assumptions being made, but the lack of energy for my skills was pushing me to fight in a way I didnt like. I would have to work on my physical positioning and pushing my energy manipulation in the few remaining days I had left.

I wasnt lying when I made the speech. If the next attack failed, that would be it. The Empire of Purgatory would be finished. There would be no third attempt. There just wouldnt be the points or the will power to risk it all again.