Chapter 246: A Bad Idea?

Chapter 246: A Bad Idea?

The conference center was a huge building, imposing, the very epitome of post-[System] construction, a style whose name hadn’t yet been officially chosen, but all current contenders were variations on “Sentinel”, “Guardian”, “Keep”, or “Bulwark” architectural style.

“Into the lion’s den we go,” Amy muttered via the party chat they’d established before heading over here. Isaac couldn’t help but agree, this could end oh so badly.

Getting inside was both easier than Isaac had expected and worse than he’d feared. The only requirement to enter was to prove one’s identity, yet Isaac feared there might be a couple of primadonnas who took askance to even that.

It was a perfectly reasonable precaution, of course, but S-Rankers were rarely normal. No one threw oneself into the crucible that created the strongest people in the world while being perfectly sane. There was always some goal, some obsession, to pull one forward, or something one was running away from.

Isaac, for one, threw himself into unimaginable danger whenever it seemed necessary because he was working to save the world, and he’d reaped the corresponding benefits.

Philibert Loup, [Louis Pasteur’s True Heir], was a doctor obsessed with ridding the world of all manner of serious diseases and preventing future epidemics, growing to absurd heights by following his obsession.

And then there was Sun Wukong. Something was clearly driving him to strive for absurd heights.

The few S-Rankers who were perfectly sane were the other members of Isaac’s team, they’d been less driven by their own desires and ambitions and more by Isaac standing behind them, cracking the whip of “the world is about to end”.

They kept going, kept working, delving ever deeper into the secrets of the world, [System] and magic, eventually managing to reach high-rarity [Classes] through a combination of dedication and being on the bleeding edge of research.

An elevator took them upstairs, into the conference center on the top floor. Every surface except the floor and buttons was enchanted to show the world outside the building, providing an unparalleled view of their surroundings.

It shot skywards at a rate that should have thrown the passengers to the floor, except no expenses had been spared to build this place and an inertia dampening enchantment was in play. If it hadn’t been for their view of their surroundings, it would have seemed like they weren’t moving at all.

Isaac thought back to the first grand meeting of legends in the other timeline. He hadn’t been a part of that one, or the few after that.

After all, he’d started out as an [Office Drone] and only slowly grown into his power. He’d realized he hadn’t wanted to stay with that [Class] for the rest of his life, so he’d started training with knives and eventually evolved into [Knife Fighter]. His fighting style back then had also been aiming for weak spots, severing sinews, gouging out eyes, throwing chemical irritants or poisons into mouths and noses, picking his enemies apart piece by bloody piece.

His next [Class] had been all about those kinds of tactics ... and then he’d discovered hexes, curses, and blood runes. By incorporating those capabilities into his fighting style, he’d finally become a legendary [Battle Ritualist of Calamity and Blood] at the fourth Evolution. It was all about bringing enemies to the edge of death and using them to power devastating attacks.

That was the point where he’d become truly part of the Earth’s strongest inhabitants.

His fifth Evolution had been much of the same, just stronger. [Ruinous Psychopomp] was all about bringing his enemies into the next life, but instead of making their path an easy one, he’d kicked them straight into kingdom come, drawing upon the power of their deaths to murder their entire extended family.

They were both [Classes] that required a lot of setup and precision and were severely lacking without it. But when the requirements were met, he could and had punched so far above his weightclass that it wasn’t even funny. [Raid Bosses], especially above the ninth Tier, when they gained minions, fell before him like wheat before the reaper.

His current fighting style was still all about precision, but instead of planting curse marks or carving runes into the hides of his enemies, he just went straight for the jugular. And when that wasn’t possible, when his first strike only wounded instead of killed, he still had plenty of tricks up his sleeve to carve them apart like a Christmas turkey. Joints, sensory organs, major blood vessels, nerve clusters, all of them were fair game.

But despite how different he was from his last go around, one thing was still the same. He didn’t stand with these people based on raw power, but intelligence and trickery. His third Evolution was a mixture between a martial and training [Class], costing him some raw power.

And his fourth was a mixture between knowledge and pyromancy abilities, with [Champion of Mankind] serving as its big hitter. Despite that, it was a hell of a lot stronger than it appeared at first glance. Primarily mental-based or not, it still provided Stat points and information was Isaac’s weapon, it had been throughout this entire timeline and towards the end of the last one. The initial posting of this chapter occurred via Ñøv€l-B!n.

“We look damn fine, don’t we?” Amy asked, interrupting his train of thought.

She, of course, had on another robe-dress hybrid, made from a deep blue fabric that seemed to glow with an inner light, showing stars and nebulas in its depths if you stared into them for long enough. Isaac didn’t know much about it as it wasn’t particularly useful outside of looking pretty, but he was aware of the fact that it was ludicrously expensive. Or rather, it would have been, if she hadn’t made it herself.

Bailey, Raul, and Karl all wore finely made three-piece suits, with Raul’s accommodating for his familiars.

Patrick had on a suit and vest combo, with the vest made from a fabric so dark it seemed to swallow the light, covered in pale blue decorative runes.

And Isaac was right back in his good ol’ polo shirt, formal pants, and bracers. Old Reliable wasn’t on him at the moment, but he wanted to project that he wasn’t armed. It wasn’t like it would matter if, gods forbid, shit hit the fan.

The doors dinged and opened as the illusion of the outside faded away, revealing the room beyond.

They’d intended to be the first here without being early enough to act like the organizers.

But half the French delegation was already here, led by one Général de Division Jean Ardouin, [Arcane Warsage]. Ah yes, the “if you’re not early, you’re late” military mindset. Germany did have two S-Rankers in the military and one in the police force, but they’d arranged for them to come after the team had had time to settle in.

Isaac and his comrades had a far greater international reputation and the idea had been to have them make a strong early showing ... if they’d shown up as early as Isaac would have liked to. But they hadn’t. Politics, PR, the projected image valued over the reality of the situation. And Germany’s contingent couldn’t go as one because ... they shouldn’t look to click-ey. Why oh why were people like this?

Ardouin was dressed in a full dress uniform, medals included, demonstrating to all and sundry who and what he was.

His [Class] was a strange blend of [Mage] and a military commander [Class], wielding spells that split the difference between standard magic and the usual [Skills] wielded by [General] and its Evolutions.

Instead of magic bolts, he had countless portals he could open around himself. As for the other end of that portal? It would be in front of the muzzle of one of his subordinates’ guns, be they sidearms, assault rifles, or even heavy artillery.

He also had larger portals in place of most of the tactical repositioning [Skills] he should have gotten, a nasty series of AOE debuffs instead of abilities like [Smokescreen].

Ardouin was the rare sort of military commander who had power of his own, as most people of his rank and [Class]-type were all support, no action.

He’d also not been Isaac’s biggest fan in the other timeline, for some reason, Isaac had never been able to determine. Hopefully, things would go better, this time around, but there wasn’t much Isaac could do without knowing the original issue.

Next to him stood Philibert Loup, the heir of one of the most influential medical researchers of history, waiting with a glass of whiskey in his hand.

“Sorry if I’m overstepping, but doesn’t the Hippocratic Oath have some very strong things to say about using medical knowledge to fight people?” Isaac asked.

“I certainly didn’t learn to box in medical school, so I don’t think anyone will mind if I beat the living daylights out of him,” Loup replied with a rakish grin, “But I’m not planning on actually doing battle with the guy, just counter his attacks. Healing and disease should cancel each other out, and someone else can kick his ass.”

“Ah, that makes more sense,” Isaac nodded, “So, fighting tips. Hmm, if it is an [Heir-Class], then there have to be requirements, right? I’m guessing a will to destroy the world is needed, and a previous [Class] related to disease has to be a requirement, right?

“Assuming that’s correct, and the next Conquest is at the fourth Evolution, this means that his third Evolution was some kind of [Plague Mage], and the three [Classes] before that are likely going to be something in that vein as well. You might have to deal with basic attack spells from his beginner [Class], maybe a couple of cooldown [Skills] from the first two Evolutions. But you should be able to counter anything from the third and fourth with your healing.

“The real issue is probably going to come from Aspects, those are the wild cards. Do you have any that can give you more options?”

“Of course, a Water Elemental to provide drinking water, and an Earth Elemental for the construction of temporary shelters,” Loup explained, “And a few more, of course, but I haven’t used those in public just yet and would like to keep them close to the vest.”

“Of course,” Isaac said “Basically, my advice is simple. Keep destroying any plagues he unleashes, you should have a much easier time than I did, and watch out for any nasty Aspect-related tricks.”

“How did you keep his diseases off you?” Loup asked.

“With great difficulty,” Isaac responded. He liked the man, but not enough to reveal that information. After all, if it got out that he’d just lit himself on fire and that information reached the next user of that terrible power, it was entirely possible that a countermeasure could be created. And that would really suck.

“Alright, keep your secrets,” Loup said, “Let’s just hope the next time we talk is just as peaceful as this one. Have a nice day, and perhaps we’ll talk once all the politics are laid to rest.”

He paused for a moment, then added “Well, laid to rest, or relegated to the dueling grounds.”

Isaac emptied his glass again “It was very nice to meet you, Dr. Loup, and I really hope this doesn’t go that badly.”

“You never know, I’ve seen far lower-stakes meetings end in brawls,” Loup commented as he dropped the privacy [Skill] and went on his merry way.

During their conversation, the room had filled up quite a bit, and uncertainty was still thick in the air. Some of the people present had met each other in the past, but they were in the minority by a long shot.

These were some of the most driven people on the continent, they simply didn’t have the time for a whole lot of meetings, or the temperament to take a lot of time off.

Isaac had had his head beaten with the proverbial brick often enough to acquire an infinitesimally better work-life balance, but even he spent the vast majority of his time working. And with how much effort went into his research, his leveling had fallen behind quite a bit. However, gaining the ability to get XP from training others, as well as through research, had allowed him to catch up. In time, he might even get back to leading the pack.

And then, there was the whole issue of how people this driven, nay, obsessive, often had very strong personalities.

Isaac noticed that both Loup and Bailey had suddenly turned to look towards the elevator doors in an eerily synchronized manner. They didn’t look alarmed or frightened though, just concerned.

“What’s wrong?” Isaac asked via the party.

“Someone’s coming up and they’re injured. Not in any danger, but in a lot worse shape than anyone coming up here should be,” Bailey replied with a frown.

Isaac relaxed a little and began to head in the direction of the elevator, but there wasn’t much time to do anything else.

With a happy little ‘ding’, the doors slid open to reveal a tall Hispanic man in a pristine suit who looked like he’d gone three rounds with an ornery housecat. The fight had clearly happened a few hours in the past as the wounds had scabbed over and there wasn’t any blood on the suit, but he still looked awful. Especially as he’d lost both eyes at some point during the fight, something that didn’t seem to be bothering him much.

Whoa. There was a [Skill] slowly regenerating his horrific injuries, but it was similar to Isaac’s own [Perfect Form]. It would undo all damage, all injuries, all physical alterations, but it would take its sweet time doing so. Without any way of speeding the process up to boot.

“Are you alright, man?” a guy near the elevator asked. Isaac recognized him as Stergios Marides from Greece. He had some kind of [Class] that related to Hercules, but not his [Heir-Class]. Stupidly high strength, immense resistance to knockback, and other forms of involuntary locomotion ... just a warrior with good training, solid weapons, and a full progression of extraordinary [Classes], capable of kicking the ass of 99.99% of the Earth’s inhabitants

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” the newcomer grinned, “My sister decided she needed some protection and got a potion to power up her cat. Guess who gets to train the little devil?”

“No, I mean, can you still see like that?” Marides asked.

“Oh yeah, I can see just fine. I got undisputed mastery over my sensory [Aura], after all.”

Isaac stifled a snort. The man could be forgiven for not recognizing the person who’d literally written the book on [Aura] usage, but if he’d been anywhere near as good as he thought he was, he should have noticed either Isaac’s or Patrick’s [Auras] suffusing the space in a vastly more intricate pattern.

Mind you, he was still damn good, but not “overcome a ten-year head start” good.

And then Isaac finally recognized the man underneath all the scratches. Jose Maria Sandoval, nicknamed “El Bombardeo”, which roughly translated to bombardment or barrage. He knew something like 90 percent of all standard offensive spells, had a few earth-shaping Aspects to build defensive positions and his attacks grew more powerful the longer he stayed in one place. Between those abilities and his sensory [Aura] mastery to ferret out targets, he was a one-man artillery battery.

Well, to be honest, artillery batteries wished they could put out even a fraction of his firepower.

“So you can see just fine like that?” Loup asked rhetorically as he stepped up to Sandoval “Would you like me to fix that?”

“You’re a [Healer]?” Sandoval asked.

“[Doctor], actually. Classical training and all,” Loup lowered his voice theatrically, though everyone here could hear him just fine, “But between you and me, that training doesn’t make a lick of difference anymore.”

Isaac turned away after that, shaking his head, ignoring the goings-on. Someone marching into an important meeting with their eyes literally clawed out. That was ... something.

But to be entirely honest, Isaac was quite surprised that this was the first entrance like this they’d seen.