Chapter 916: Board (Read: Bored) Meeting

Chapter 916: Board (Read: Bored) Meeting

For the record, Jake had never opened any system menu related to him being a City Lord or the World Leader of his own volition. The only times he’d touched them was when Miranda asked for him to do something, and that something was more often than not just transferring rights and permissions.

In Jake’s defense, he blamed the bad UI of the system. How was it his fault the system didn’t have an “allow all” button? At least these existed for some major categories, and shortly after Jake became the World Leader, he went over these and granted rights to Miranda.

The problem was that the UI wasn’t static. New things would be unlocked with time, and how much the “country” or “kingdom” or whatever expanded. At least when it came to all the City Lord stuff, Miranda did have pretty much every permission available, but the permissions given had begun to fall behind severely with the World Leader stuff.

Also, because Jake didn’t have any profession related to City Lord stuff, he had to actually touch the Pylon of Civilization to activate it and see the system interface. Was it enough for him to just touch it with a bit of mana, or potentially even just his presence, allowing him to do it from hundreds of meters away easily, including during all the time he’d spent in his lab?

Well, yes, but Jake didn’t think about it, and that was the defense he was sticking to after he’d gone to talk to Miranda.

Jake was right nearby, so he’d been the first to arrive for their meeting after Arnold contacted him, with others like Arthur, the Fallen King, and Sword Saint needing a bit to get ready.

“So we both agree that we’re going back to your lodge to get this fixed here and now while we still have some time?” Miranda asked after a very enlightening conversation.

“Yes, ma’am,” Jake said in a semi-joking, semi-meek tone as he scratched the back his his head. “But... can I just add that I think you’ve done a brilliant job?”

“Well, thank you,” Miranda smiled. “Now imagine how much more brilliant it would have been if I didn’t have several options unavailable to me as your stand-in World Leader. To clarify, if you wish to take back full control and manage the planet yourself, I would more than happily-”

“Oh, would you look at that? I can give you World Leader permission stuff right here and now without going to the Pylon!” Jake quickly said as he hurridly found the system menu and began allocating all the new features to Miranda. Seriously, why didn’t it just automatically allow her to do all that stuff? He had officially made her his stand-in even by system standards, yet some things were still not granted by default.

After Jake was done, he couldn’t help but sigh. “Can I blame the system again? All this should just be automatic...”

“If I may,” Lillian, who was now sporting a cool mask – great fashion choice, by the way – spoke up. “Some new features for World Leaders become available that hold quite a lot of power most World Leaders wouldn’t ever want to unilaterally grant others. So a manual granting of permissions is likely implemented to avoid problems.”

“I kind of get it, but it isn’t like the permissions do anything overly dramatic,” Jake shook his head.

“You just gave me permission to control practically every single Pylon of Civilization on the planet, and not just their associated defensive barriers, but the ability to simply blow them up, which would cause worldwide panic and the resulting explosions kill thousands,” Miranda added.

“And such power couldn’t be in better hands,” Jake smiled brightly. “Now, let’s go to the lodge and get the rest of these dumb permissions granted.”

That was precisely what they proceeded to do, as Jake and Miranda quickly popped by his lodge and got all that sorted. On the way, Jake even proposed maybe asking Villy if he had a solution to automate all this granting of permissions, but Miranda made it clear she’d already asked the Verdant Witches and that while it was a bit annoying right now, it would cease to be an issue with time.

The problem was just that their faction was still rapidly growing and in a period of change, leading to many new things happening. Once things like the Prima Guardian were handled and Jake had fully become the World Leader by laying claim to Earth’s Planetary Pylon, things should be a lot easier.

Making their way back again, the two also just caught up with everything that had happened to Haven’s resident witch. Miranda already knew pretty much everything Jake had done as she got updates every single time they’d stopped by a City Floor. Jake hadn’t known much about what Miranda had been up to, though, and he was pretty curious about how she’d handled the place.

When they were back, Lillian also joined the conversation as they waited for everyone to be ready to join for a meeting. Only the three of them, and a few others who would arrive shortly, would be physically present, while the rest would just get in contact remotely.

It was pretty understandable, considering all of them were busy doing their own stuff and pretty far away. Even if they could just use the teleportation network, that would still take some time. Besides, going somewhere for people like Arthur wasn’t as easy as someone like Jake. He also needed bodyguards and stuff to come along, making it an entire thing.

A reward Jake had definitely not forgotten and his explanation that he was waiting for Miranda to return to make the dungeon wasn’t just him making up a reasonable excuse on the fly. Nope, Jake would never forget important stuff like that.

Either way, the meeting continued smoothly as Jake learned way more than he needed to about everything going on with the planet. Again, he could only conclude that things were going pretty well, even if there were some major issues they had to address. Jake was honestly impressed with himself for having been zoned in for the whole nearly six-hour meeting because, hot damn, had it been boring at times.

Jake also understood that his own heavy-handed approaches wouldn’t work on any of those problems. The only place he could help was with the Prima Guardian preparation, and it didn’t particularly sound like they needed help, especially not after Arnold returned. The guy was a one-man army, achieved by deploying a literal army of drones and robots and stuff.

After some final pleasantries, the meeting ended, as Jake had entirely forgotten to bring up one topic. Luckily, Miranda, Lillian, Holstred, and the two with him were still there, even after the projections were gone.

“Things are going better than expected,” Miranda said with a smile. “Lillian, inform me when those reports Arthur talked about arrive. Now, let’s get out of here, shall we?”

“Just one thing,” Jake interrupted her, earning him a raised eyebrow as the three non-natives of the planet also looked at him with their undivided attention. “Would you find any issues with blowing up the moon?”

Miranda stared at him for several moments before collecting herself. “Why are you asking about blowing up the moon?”

“It’s haunted,” Jake explained with a shrug.

During that day, Jake had spent a lot of time with Miranda, but they had only talked about Nevermore stuff, making him totally forget about bringing up his recent moon visit.

“The moon is... haunted?” Miranda asked, seemingly not entirely sure if she should take him seriously.

“Yep, real nasty haunting too. A powerful B-grade has integrated with the core,” Jake further explained. “Ah, this isn’t a rush-job... I doubt it’s feasible to handle the situation before B-grade. Or maybe I can do it at peak C-grade, but either way, it won’t be for a while. Suffice to say, things didn’t end well when Sandy and I visited.”

“That... alright, it actually makes sense,” Miranda nodded. “I take it this B-grade is contained for now, and it won’t be a problem with the Prima Guardian?”

“It won’t,” Jake shook his head.

“Great,” Miranda said. “In that case, do as you see fit, as long as it doesn’t result in giant moon rocks destroying half of the planet or something in the process.”

“It should be fine,” Jake said with a shrug as one other concern struck him. “Say, Lillian, would it negatively impact you if the moon is gone? Seeing as you’re walking down a Path related to moonlight and all.”

“Not at all,” Lillian answered, as she explained: “The moon is more of a conceptual representation rather than a physical object. It’s all about visualization and understanding the underlying concepts of lunar energies and other concepts. If I wasn’t able to perform without a physical moon, I would have been quite a burden within Nevermore, wouldn’t I?”

“That’s good to know,” Jake smiled. Thinking back, it wasn’t like there had been a real moon in the Lucenti Plains with the Great White Stag, either.

“What you said also just reminded me,” Miranda said with a frown. “You said the Chosen of the Lord Protector had gone to the moon with you, but it seems no one has heard anything since. Do you know why no one can locate the Chosen?”

“Oh,” Jake said casually. “It’s because Sandy died.”VIssịT n0(v)eL/b(i)(n).com for the best novel reading experience