1270 His First Decision As The Grand Supreme.
A few days after the ceremony concluded, Felix could be seen sitting on the highest platform in the ten rulers' assembly...All of his peers were there but King Mahit.
"The final tests of the device have been completed in the UVR. Now, we just need to do a live trial with one exploration squad, Empress Emily shared.
"That's good to hear." Queen Alfreda nodded.
"When will we carry on the test?" Emperor Lokhil inquired.
"I suggest in two months." Queen Allura said, "It's enough time to prepare for the test as well as give a proper period for everyone to attend the live test."
Everyone was in favor of her suggestion as it made the most sense.
"For the first trial squad, I believe the team should have space worms and void citizens aboard in case we failed." Minister Aquiris suggested as he eyed Felix, "What do you think, King Maxwell?"
"Makes sense, Felix approved, knowing that a combination of those two races would make crossing the great void easier in case the squad got lost in the middle.
"This is all in today's meeting, have a nice day."
Seeing that everyone was on the same page, Queen Alfreda attempted to excuse herself as she was clearly busy with other matters related to her elvish realms.
"Wait."
Felix stopped her with a polite tone.
"Is there something else?" Emperor Lokhil asked in intrigue.
Felix ignored him and kept tapping his finger on the armchair as he looked underneath him, where millions of desperate people were trying their best to climb the staircase and reach them for a mere wish.
After a few seconds of awkward silence, Felix said with a flat tone, "I want to abolish this Stairway to Heaven.. It shouldn't be a thing in the first place."
Ever since Felix stepped into the ten rulers assembly, he was always irked at the notion that there were millions of desperate people across the entire alliance being left with no other choice but to climb those impossible stairs for the sake of fixing their broken lives.
Sure there were many people giving this heinous system a try for the fun of it, but the majority really had some serious unsolvable problems that could get wiped out with a mere wave of a hand with one of the ten rulers' involvement.
"Is it bugging you?" Emperor Lokhil frowned, "I think it should stay as we are giving our citizens a chance to fix their lives as long as they are willing to show their absolute determination in doing so. The staircase is the best way to filter the ones that truly are desperate for our help and the ones merely seeking freebies from us."
"Answer me this then." Felix looked at him calmly and asked, "When was the last time someone reached the assembly and you fulfilled his wish?"
Emperor Lokhil wasn't able to answer the question as he knew that it was a very, very, long time ago.
Unfortunately for him, Empress Emily didn't care about how it would look like as she gave Felix the exact date with even seconds included.
"More than two thousand years ago." Felix stressed calmly, "Possibly 99% of all the people that tried to waste their time on this hail-mary attempt must have already dropped dead. The number should be in the tens of billions."
"Yet, here you are telling me that this system is necessary when it merely saved one person from tens of billions in more than two millennials. I don't know if you are lying to yourself or you just enjoy the ego boost from seeing millions of desperate people crawling towards you for a second of your time."
"This.." Emperor Lokhil's cheek turned somewhat red in shame and embarrassment as he had nothing to defend himself.
In truth, his ego wasn't involved in the slightest as he honestly just didn't care about those people.
In his eyes, his time was too precious to be wasted on even his own empire's administration matters.
He was purely passionate about forging the best artifacts and this made him view the world with his eyes closed.
"I know that this system isn't really working, but I am certain that abolishing it will cause us more backlash than leaving it as it is." Queen Alfreda mentioned.
"She is right." Minister Aquiris shook his head, "It's been here for a very long time, and as much as it wasn't really efficient in helping people, at least it gives them hope. Plus, there are many citizens' jobs rely on it."
"Elder, it's not giving them hope, but a false one. If it was the only thing we can offer, it might not be a bad thing...But, I just feel we can do much more than this." Felix snickered, "As for the citizens' jobs? I have seen them firsthand. They are just a bunch of scammers prying on people's desperation."
"Also, I am not planning to abolish it and leave those people with nothing. I think investing at least 0.5% of the alliance's streaming revenue each year in a nonprofit department will be much better than this useless staircase."
Felix wasn't really suggesting anything new or mindblowing...His solution was simple and easy to implement as with Queen Ai's involvement and some resources from the alliance, it wasn't hard to filter people with genuine unsolvable problems from irresponsible idiots.
There were already many nonprofit organizations across the universe, but there wasn't a single one that was related to the alliance's name...Which was just wrong on so many levels.
Felix wasn't obviously talking about donating money, clothes, or such...But actually helping people with their serious problems to send them back to society without needing to rely on anyone ever again.
"I honestly don't care if you abolish it or donate money...I don't have time for this. Just consider me abstaining my vote."
High Chieftain Lokaka said nonchalantly before departing from the meeting.
"Likewise. Empress Scarlet excused herself too with a gentle smile.
Both of their races never use this staircase as one had a united front and the other had all of its people rich to the core as it was impossible for space worms to not get a job.
The same applied to the witches, dwarves, droids, and high elves...Only the less fortunate races had portions of their populations struggling to get by in life.
Felix felt that as a human and someone with a shitty previous life, it was his duty to at least fight for them when he had finally reached this authoritative position.
Plus, his guilt of getting tens of billions of earthlings killed was also playing a part in this..
"Anyone else cool with this?"
Felix looked at the others as he asked.
"'You have my support." Queen Allura was the first to back him up with her vote.
"Hmm." Queen Alfreda supported him as well.
"I guess it's done then." Felix smiled as he requested Queen Ai's attendance, not bothering to waste his time on the others' votes.
Two had abstained, King Mahit wasn't even involved, and the dragons had yet to crown a new leader to represent them.
With Felix possessing two votes and receiving the support of both queens, it meant he had four votes, which was the majority even if Empress Emily, Emperor Lokhil, and Minister Aquiries voted against it!
"Queen, please abolish the stairways to heaven system and make an alliance's wide announcement about it." Felix requested.
"Are you sure?"
Felix gave one last look at the seemingly infinite stairways and the millions of struggling people that looked like ants...Then, he confirmed it with a firm tone, "Most definitely."
A moment later, Felix and the others watched the stairways, breaking into light particles from the top into the bottom.
This sight froze all the climbers in their position as their brains couldn't process the notion that this eternal staircase was disappearing before them!
Before they could wake up from the daze, they found themselves teleported back to their homes or the streets against their will.
The first thing they heard after opening their eyes was
-The Stairways to Heavens has been abolished under the order of the ten rulers.-
A universal notification that everyone received either straight in their minds or on their bracelet's screens.
Without a shred of doubt, every single person knew immediately that this was Felix's doing.
[He merely got into office for three days and has already abolished one of the oldest traditions in the alliance...Tsk, talk about powerplay.]
[What the hell! Those almighty bastards already never bothered to help us with anything! Now, they even took the one thing that gave us hope?]
[Honestly, this is for the best..I have spent more than five years holed up in the UVR to climb the staircase and receive a wish. In the end, I found out that I barely climbed 20% of the distance...]
While there were mixed views about this decision in the network, the majority felt that it was a bad one...In their eyes, even if the stairways were a scam, at least they had something.
It was the perfect case of having a shitty option was better than none.
It was the perfect case of having a shitty option was better than none.
However, all of those negative remarks and opinions went completely radio silent after another notification resounded across the entire alliance.
-SGAlliance Red Cross Department has been established. 0.5% of all game streaming revenue will be dedicated to helping the less fortunate.
There will be more details available on the website in the next couple of days.-