Truth to be told, Fang Ning had far underestimated the name Sir System had built for itself.
After he had checked out the layout of the island, it did not take long before the fireworks were launched into the air, and the music started playing on the island as if they were celebrating a holiday.
Last time the River God of Sky River had been the main character of the night, leaving the elders little chance to toady up to the alliance leader. On any other day, however, the Venerable Dragon God had always come and go swiftly like the cloud, and he never stayed to hang around with the others.
This time, Fang Ning had sent a notice in advance, stating that he had something important to discuss, which provided a great opportunity for the others to curry favors.
What astonished Fang Ning was the fact that they were able to prepare the entire welcome ceremony within only ten minutes.
At the foot of the volcano, in front of the headquarters building, a huge welcome entourage, divided into two lines, dressed in extravagance, sounds of the drums and gongs filled the air along with the wave of colorful flags. The only thing missing was perhaps a group of Yangko dancers.
A flag fluttered in the wind, on it wrote the words, “A warm welcome to the alliance leader who has come to guide us”…
The six sentinel elders, along with their entourage, flew in the air and greeted them personally. It was a spectacular scene to behold, perhaps even politicians of nations would not receive such treatment on such a scale of grandness.
Seeing this, Fang Ning felt the urge to smack himself on his head, he had still yet to grow fully accustomed to the rules of survival in this Era of Mystery. When in reality, even if the System Currency project would not bring any benefits to the alliance, the alliance would still strongly support it.
If nothing else but for the fact that this was the plan of the Venerable Dragon God.
In this Era of Mystery, the backing of a superpower itself was one of the most valuable assets.
How was the alliance able to develop freely on this island without any complication, and how they could easily travel across nations, were it not due to the influence of the Venerable Dragon God?
It was just as he had said so himself after the closure of the Divine Gate, all those in the same boat as him would naturally stand by him. On the contrary, those on the opposite side, no matter how much good you did, they would still criticize and point fingers.
The Alliance of Justice and Order was originally founded by him, and he had always served as its leader in name, naturally, it was impossible for them to share the same stance.
Moreover, it was precisely because he was playing an idle game, and the other elders knew full well the personality of this powerhouse, thus both sides would be able to get what they wanted, one needed to farm monsters, the other needed power and fame, and neither of these come in conflict with each other. A power structure like this was equivalent to that of a constitutional monarchy, and there were no hidden fears of its people’s uprising. If a ruler possessed true power, then it would be destined to fail after several generations. On the other hand, if the ruler was only a figurehead, then it could possibly last for decades without falling.
The role Vigilante A played in this alliance, was that “figurehead”.
The six sentinel elders, two yellow-skinned, two whites, two blacks, represented the main races of the human race based on skin color.
On the surface level, they appeared to be equals, and no one could say otherwise.
Only, everyone knew that the only one who possessed the core combat power in the alliance was the Venerable Dragon God alone.
The only core power that they had been competing amongst themselves for was only one thing, that was the priority of receiving special affairs.
As the degree of mystification deepened, special affairs had become normal affairs, the order of which should be prioritized first, became a crucial and lucrative job.
Strange incidents had occurred simultaneously in Asia and America, but which should be dealt with first?
A considerable chunk of these matters would first be collected by them and arranged accordingly in order before they were forwarded to the Venerable Dragon God, who would deal with the issues according to the arrangement.
Obviously, the ones in first priority were likely to get an all-round positive result, monsters were gone, people were fine, and things were not lost. The ones in second priority were likely to see their people safe but suffer some materialistic losses, as for the ones in third priority, there was a high chance that they would end up with nothing left at all.
In order to obtain this power, the alliance had fought countless times among themselves through scheming and calculating. However, they were still the Alliance of Justice and Order after all, and most of them still had a layer of clothes on, and would not employ underhanded tactics, but the intensity of the fight remained the same.
The reason why Fang Ning could observe such a grand welcoming ceremony, high chances were that it was related to the aforementioned conflict.
These six sentinel elders were all equal in nominal terms, and all important matters were decided by way of vote.
In such a time, who would not want to get on the Venerable Dragon God’s good graces?
The ones who could obtain his favor would naturally have a bigger voice in the alliance and thus making it easier for them to gain the upper hand in the competition for votes.
Fang Ning was only touched by the enthusiasm of these people, but little did he know that even in such a tiny circle, the storm brewed restlessly.
Except, with his position as the highest of them all, chances were he would not encounter the storm, but instead find himself the one being worshipped with offerings.
“The Venerable One attends to a myriad of matters daily, for you to spare the time out of your hectic routine to come and inspect our work has moved us greatly.” One of the sentinel elders, the Director of Affairs of the Chinese Truth Department, Secretary General Zhang, took the lead in greeting him.
“Oh, you’ve all been too kind, everyone must be busy with their work, I only wanted to discuss the matter in private, I certainly had not expected for the welcoming band to be so grand, I’m most ashamed. I’ve certainly not paid enough attention to you all over the past few years.” Fang Ning said with a smile on his face, though in his heart he felt somewhat guilty.
After all, he was not a brazen, shameless system like Sir System, he still cared very much about the feelings of his allies. Of course, he could not be bothered about the feelings of his enemies.
For none other than the reason that once one got used to being criticized online… One could never expect their opponents on the opposing side to ever agree and understand one’s difficulties, much less praise their success.
It was precisely because Fang Ning had experienced years of such encounters online before that he tended to cherish the ones of his own ever more.
Secretary General Zhang, no, Elder Zhang immediately replied, “The Venerable One is most humble, you’ve been bearing the greatest burden while we could merely provide assistance. Every time we submit the list of urgent matters, normal people would think that it may take only two to three days, but in fact, it could take up two to three months to process them, yet you’ve always managed to complete it in under an hour or even within minutes. Such efficiency was something that no other national institution could compare. It is owing to your hard work that our alliance has been able to grow so much so quickly in only the span of a few years, from nothing to the scale it is today. To many of the ordinary people, our alliance holds even more prestige than that of their own countries.”
The others nodded along in agreement, looks of admiration and awe painted on their expressions.
To know that this was how full their leader’s plate had been for the past few years, he really was a very, very busy person.
Oh, so this was how he looked like in their eyes? It definitely did not seem to be the way the laid-back Sir System acted.
Fang Ning felt delighted, and he did not hesitate to take claim Sir System’s merits as his own as he nodded slightly and smiled, “Oh, all of you have done outstanding work as well. The reason why human society is still able to maintain its stability and function is no doubt thanks to your hard work. It is because of your hard work and constant coordination around the clock, that the demons are unable to take advantage of any loopholes, saving us a lot of communication costs…”
He fluently gave a speech, he had over twenty years of education listening to the news after all.
Grins made their way up each of the listener’s expressions.
Then, a few of them began to take notes…
Fang Ning was even more pleased when he saw this. He had not even expected that they had picked up this liking of his, how astute of them…
Both parties exchanged business pleasantries, soon, under Fang Ning’s lead, they had landed in front of the headquarters building.
Fang Ning walked in front and waved at the welcoming party standing in front of the building.
As he waved his hand, Fang Ning felt very proud of himself inside. He had originally thought that this would be an exhausting errand, but it had inadvertently turned into something much more enjoyable.
Since Sir System was currently still training in cultivation, and had no idea what was going on… So technically he did not have to pay him anything.
Defense troops, logistics personnel, family members… Fang Ning shook hands with each one of the representatives, receiving the thorough treatment of a diplomat on a political visit.
In this sort of big occasions, if one was a person sent to welcome important guests, then it would be a hassling chore indeed, seeing as there could be no mistakes made, one must always be on their feet and maintain good etiquette.
On the contrary, if one was on the receiving end of such welcome, then it would be a pleasure of honor. One of the main reasons why many people were so power hungry, was because of the pleasure and gratification that it could bring.
After enjoying himself, however, Fang Ning had certainly remembered to keep his main objective on his mind. If he had forgotten about it, Sir System who would reactivate after coming out of isolation would certainly let him have it.
The group walked into the conference room in the headquarters building. The only ones who remained were the six sentinel elders and several staff members.
“I’ve already seen everyone’s work, you have all done a good job, surpassing my expectations. Everyone who joined the alliance has a heart of justice, we are all fighting for justice and fairness for humanity, for the kind ones, and, for the innocent ones in this new era.” Fang Ning stated with certainty.
Everyone smiled, it was clear now that the Venerable Dragon God was no harsh leader, and this was very good news for them.
Fang Ning continued, “My purpose of visit this time is to provide ammunition for everyone.”
Everyone exchanged glances. Officer Zhang tried to hide his excitement as he flattered, “The Venerable One is infinitely resourceful, the ammunition you provide for us, it must certainly be extraordinary.”
“Yes, yes, the alliance will definitely be able to achieve great development once again.”
“We’ve certainly come at the right time.”
The group of people clattered.
Fang Ning looked at the sight before him in satisfaction. It certainly felt good being surrounded by his allies, he did not need to hear the noisy cries of those pesky flies, and everyone here would obey him.
“Oh, I wouldn’t say it’s that special, but it is close enough. I will soon be introducing a new Justice Point Evaluation and Exchange System to the alliance.”
When everyone heard this, their first reaction had been one of shock, and they soon turned ecstatic.
They were all elites of the best of the best after all. Based on the words of the other alone, they knew that the Venerable Dragon God was about to expose them to even more resources!
As expected, Fang Ning continued to speak, “This is actually not a very complicated system. It consists of two systems, one to manage the evaluation and acquisition of Justice Points, and the other is to manage the exchange system for the Justice Points.”
“So the ammunition is indeed something extraordinary. Once this system is implemented, it would certainly boost the development of the alliance and enhance the power of the side of justice. This is certainly most fortunate news to humans.” Officer Zhang was able to say immediately.