In the grand council room of Vesuvius, the ancient dragon assumed his bipedal form, towering over his councilors as he sat upon his majestic golden throne.
The room was adorned with intricate engravings, and a pulsating golden portal provided ethereal lighting. Silence enveloped the chamber as Vesuvius awaited the discussion to commence.
Each councilor lost in their own thoughts, gazed absent-mindedly at the ground while reclining in their black marble thrones engraved with symbols of their respective positions. It was apparent the weight of the impending decision weighed heavily on their minds.
Breaking the silence, Vesuvius' kin, seated upon a smaller yet elegant golden throne looking like intervened golden tree roots, spoke in her clear and melodic voice, "So, in a mere three months, hordes of ravaging monsters will descend upon our world."
Joining the conversation, the former archduke, now aged with hair entirely white and wrinkles adorning his face, immediately expressed his concern, "Whom shall we choose? We must preserve our potential to the fullest extent."
Vesuvius couldn't help but think about the capable and shrewd administrator before him, 'Why would someone refuse immortality? Such a shame, he is a capable administrator.'
Observing the fear and worry etched on the faces of his council, especially its mortal members, Vesuvius sensed their inclination to select a larger number of individuals.
So he immediately stopped them, "We can't choose too many as that would beat the purpose of it and prevent the gods from weakening."
The atmosphere grew heavier once again, and Vesuvius fully comprehended the weight of the responsibility placed upon their hands. 'The number of lives and the magnitude of our decision are immense.'
Once again, the young dragon spoke, her voice resonating with crystal clarity, "In that case, the first group should be selected based on their talents, and I am not speaking about martial talent. Craftsmen, scholars, and even merchants from various sectors should be chosen."
He wasn't surprised by her proposition, 'This was always her thing, but it makes sense, talented people are always rare. They need to be saved to preserve the high-end potential of my empire as they are hardest to replace.'
The rejuvenated count clenched his fist in frustration, "With all due respect, we should not disregard those with formidable personal might."
"Why?" The young's dragon's calm demeanor barely concealed her disdain for the idea, as subtle traces of mana emitted from her, betraying her true sentiments. "Powerful individuals are harder to control, and we can easily create loyal armies using the Master's blood. We don't need uncontrollable muscleheads."
"You're mistaken to think that way. I don't care about their power; I care about their bloodlines. There's a reason they are stronger than the majority. Preserving them will ensure that future generations of our people will inherit their strength,"
More advisors stood up, supporting his stance. Led by the former archduke and the red-eyed woman.
"I second this decision. Bloodlines are important,"
"We need to maintain a diverse pool of talents, not just among civilians."
'This is actually a good solution When the new generations will descend from this pool of talent then one could say the future generations will have a higher number of talents per pop.' It wasn't some unproven concept but something that was scientifically proven.
Raising his clawed hand, Vesuvius silenced the debate. "Excellent. We shall choose both groups—the highly talented individuals and those with powerful bloodlines."
The discussion ceased immediately, as his will was deemed absolute, and the council moved forward.
Exercising her authority, the young dragon once again assumed the role of leading the council. "However, we cannot rely solely on this smaller portion of the population. Even with their families included, we would lack a sufficient workforce. We need farmers to tend fields, miners to extract resources, and laborers for construction and workshops to support our endeavors."
A fiery discussion ensued, but this time it seemed everyone agreed.
"I concur. In this case, we should opt for the exact opposite. Let us choose the simple folk from the most remote regions. As long as they have enough food, they will remain content. Without education, there will be no uprisings."
"Yes, they are already under our rule, and their integration has been successful. Unlike the population in the cities, they lack the luxury of caring about their lords. Wars come and go, lands change hands, but to them, it remains inconsequential."
"Indeed, if we can improve their quality of life even by a small margin, they will appreciate it and remain loyal."
'Old nobles... as always you are good at manipulating and controlling the masses.'
Vesuvius silently observed the back and forth between his councilors, secretly delighted. He recalled the workings of governments back on Earth, where politicians often acted in self-interest.
Yet, here he witnessed an entire council working harmoniously to devise the best solution. Though they had their individual biases, they remained effective and unwavering in making sound and swift decisions.
His kin stood up, and everyone turned silent as she turned to face him.
"For now, your lordship, this should suffice. We may consider choosing additional groups later, but for now, we must secure this portion."
The dragon lord on his throne nodded before adding his last order, "Good, also send a message to all the wyrms, land dragons, and lesser dragons ruling over territories, informing them to do the same. Let them select whom to save and prepare to defend their chosen."
Even with the first decisions made, there was still a lot to do, and the time was short, 'The construction should be already in progress.'
While he wouldn't pay much heed to slow and feeble zombies, he understood the strength of the crystallized animals and humans he had encountered.
They possessed the power to tear regular humans apart, alongside ranged attacks and the ability to coordinate through crystal vibrations.
It was enough to overcome any small walls.
If he wanted to save enough people and secure lands to support them, the sheer scale of construction was immense and far beyond feasible in such a short time.
Vesuvius realized that he needed an even larger workforce. 'It seems I'll have to motivate my kin to rise their lazy assess and start working.'
POV ???:
The tall and thick wall threw its shadow over the fields. The sounds of hammers, chiseling, and saws constantly resounded from the wooden ramps and scaffolding around the walls.
Like ants, the tiny dots climbed all over the walls while massive cubes of stone levitated toward their spots by the mages standing on the rising wall.
In the tent, a middle-aged man with a mustache frowned as he read through a paper in his hand.
"This is madness. We can't even finish this on time and you want us to con..."
The shadow of the imperial inspector looming over him stepped closer.
"You are wrong, we need you to finish this section. Your manpower will be increased. You will get immortals, kobolds, and even kobold geomancers to assist you."
"The budg..."
"Don't care about the budget, that is irrelevant."
The droplets of sweat formed on the foreman's temple as he paled. The words carried a terrifying message, 'Dragon doesn't care about budget? Oh my, something bad is going to happen.'
If even the stingy government that counted every penny was throwing resources around he knew something was coming.
POV Brown:
The player in a long brown coat and hat on his head stood on a mound, watching the construction workers move all around him. Behind him, his newly recruited fans waited in their brown coats, waiting for his words.
'Hands of Genesis... we should know who they are if we are fighting on their side.' A long time ago promised he would discover the secret behind the dragon and their real motivation and goals.
'Instead of getting closer to it, I hid like a coward while more and more layers of mystery shrouded the truth.'
At last, he spoke, bringing all the attention on himself, "Tell me, does anyone of you even know why this name? Hands of Genesis." he put emphasis on the last word as he looked at all the players around him. "Do we even know what their goal is beyond their obvious propaganda?"
They all just looked at themself and shook their heads.
"Don't you find it weird there is no information about them in any mythology of both worlds?" Out of all sides in the war, they were the only unknown. Everyone knew who led angels, demons, and members of pantheons, 'Yet no one knows much about this group...'
Just the mystery of that made him tremble with slight eagerness and excitement. He wanted to know more and was ready to find it even if he had to flip every stone.
'Luckily after my last revelation, I got assistants.' This was what he lived for, to discover every secret and mystery.
"Let's go we will find out who we are even working for." He waved at his followers as he stepped forward with brisk steps.
Read 𝓁atest chapters at fr(e)ewebnov𝒆l.com Only