The Japanese Prime Minister was looking for other ways to compete! She couldn’t keep up with the other superpowers financially, but if there was a chance to grow her country’s strength by gaining more powerful superhumans, then she would grab it tightly! Jason nodded calmly, and he stayed silent for a few seconds to organise his thoughts.
And when Jason finally spoke, there wasn’t a single person in the room who didn’t feel intense shock pass through them!
"We are going to artificially speed up the creation of Gates."
"WHAT!?"
The president of South Africa spoke up loudly once he heard this, and he immediately knew that Jason had lost his mind! What the hell did Jason even mean by that!? Does Jason have any idea how much damage these Gates have caused to the world, and now Jason is trying to create them himself! Jason waved the South African president away calmly and told him to sit down, and the president grit his teeth and said a few words first:
"Are you trying to get us all killed? I understand that you believe you are strong, and I know there are many countries here that have strong superhumans. But that does not mean we can all keep up with a sudden increase in the number of Gates! Will you take responsibility if we cannot dive into all the Gates quickly enough, and a break occurs? Will you accept all that blood on your hands?"
"If we do not do this, then there will be even more blood."
Jason narrowed his eyes at the South African president in annoyance, and Jason turned to look at everyone in the room as he continued.
"I don’t think you fully understand the gravity of just how pathetically weak our world is compared to the worlds out there. There is evil beyond your wildest imagination out there; worlds that will not stand aside and simply allow us to exist. I might be strong, but if you all are incapable of holding your own against these other worlds, then you will be nothing but cattle to the slaughter. There is no war in the Primordial Expanse, and that means we are protected for now, but we also do not have the avenue of fighting against other worlds to gain strength. We must use what we have to empower our people. For years, we’ve tried our best to reduce the number of Gates that appear in the world. I know Gaia had been working to siphon the excess mana in the atmosphere to make sure Gates cannot be stimulated, and powerful superhumans were split into different countries so that their mana wouldn’t cause a Gate to appear. But now we will start to do the opposite. I will flood this world with mana and supercharge the atmosphere with it to bring more Gates. You might not like it, but it is a necessary evil.
"But before I do that, I will give you a chance to prepare yourselves. Each country is to bring forward one hundred of their strongest superhumans and create a standard Country Guild. These Country Guilds will be the frontlines that will defend humanity, and they will work closely with Monarch to clear out as many Gates as possible. You will be provided with support, magic stones, and weapons that will help your superhumans grow stronger, but I cannot guarantee the lives of all of them. This is the real world, and there will be casualties. But I can promise you this: if you follow my plan down to the letter, in just one year, Earth will transform into something unrecognizable, and we will no longer have to hide from the worlds out there."
A deep, tense silence filled the hall once Jason was finished with his speech! Everyone there could feel the intensity in every word Jason had said, and they all knew that Jason believed in this plan completely! Jason’s plan wasn’t some fairytale that promised them power without sacrifice. It was a long-term, difficult plan that they would have to sacrifice blood and tears for. There were so many things that could go wrong, and there were so many people who would die. And yet, rather than feeling despair, there was a sense of hope that filled the hearts of many of the leaders. The future that Jason was promising them was a beautiful one. A future where they were no longer running from the magical beasts out there, but instead, they were happily welcoming the challenge. Was such a thing even possible? Could they even dare to dream of that future?
"I’ll stand by you."
Everyone in the room turned in shock as Agnes, the president of Germany, stood up. There was a hard look of conviction on Agnes’ face, and Agnes nodded to Jason.
"My country is no stranger to sacrifice for the sake of glory. If you truly believe in what you have promised us, then I will give you my full support. In one year, I want to see just how far you can take us."
Jason nodded in appreciation, and he turned as Cerci stood up as well.
"You have my support. Gaia’s entire existence is built on protecting humanity from the evil out there. I can see that our goals align, so I will stand by you."
"You have my support."
This time, it was the Americans who stood up in support, and it didn’t take long for more and more people to join in. The Russians, the Italians, the French, the South Africans, the Nigerians, the Swiss, the Canadians, the Japanese! The leaders in the room all stood up reverently and pledged their support for Jason’s plan for a new Earth, and Jason smiled when he saw that he was one step closer to his plan. Jason stood up and faced the people who had put their trust in him with an intense look in his eyes.
"Very well then. Let’s get to work."
....
[And in today’s news, reports coming from Russia state that the president has been returned safely and without harm. We do not know the full details behind his kidnapping, but he has assured the public that he was not harmed in any way. And in other news, the president has called an urgent meeting of the Congress and multiple superhuman agencies to discuss significant changes that he wishes to implement!]
[The Japanese Prime Minister has ordered the halt of all guild-related activities within the country, and a tournament has been announced to pick out the top one hundred Japanese Superhumans for what the people are calling the largest Battle Royale in the history of Japan! What could the Prime Minister be planning!?]
[The German president has announced the creation of a Monarch Guild branch in the heart of Berlin, and our insiders say that all gold reserves in the country are being moved to secret locations for unknown reasons! There has also been a sudden rise in superhuman migration towards Berlin, and people are wondering what the President is planning!]
[Madness! This is madness! President Ronald Strauss has just announced that he will be liquidating a staggering seventy percent of the US reserves in Fort Knox and reproducing them into Gold Coins!? The bill was just passed in Congress and finalised with his signature today! What in the world is going on! Our currency is backed by that gold, and there is no doubt that the dollar will lose significant value as a result! And that’s not all! The president has also announced that he will be calling on the top one hundred superhumans within America to create what he is calling the American Guild! He says this is a guild that will stand at the forefront of humanity during desperate times!? I’ll tell you what’s a desperate time: the fact that our president has gone mad!]