Chapter 1780 – The not-so-Small Tournament 2 – Chances, Allies, Enemies
“What do you mean you have an estimation range of a billion people?!” Nahua was reeling from that fact. “How are you not eating the very blades of grass we stand upon?”
John glanced to his feet, which were placed on a stool placed south of an armchair inside a climatized corner of the arena. “I don’t see any grass.”
Nahua’s face darkened. “You are being funny, inva-… John.”
He snorted at her slip-up. “The population graph looks roughly like this,” he told her and drew the exponential curve that described the number of human beings on the planet since the industrial revolution. “Now, here is the important part for us: population is still incredibly high, but the population growth is currently in quite a rapid decline in modernized countries.”
“You must be out of food?” Nahua reckoned.
“Not really, people got really good at farming and raising livestock… a little too good, in terms of it becoming inhumanely efficient.” He waved off. “There’s many economic and cultural reasons that play into the decline of the birthrate that combine into it. You could ask many different fields and would get many different answers and you would also find disagreement on whether it is good or bad.”
“What do you think about it?” Nahua asked a good question. It was good in the sense that prodding one’s partner for their values was a productive endeavour.
“I don’t have a strong opinion on it,” John answered. “I can see the argument that there is a threshold for people we can sustain on the planet. Even if we had infinite resources, everything being plastered over by high-rise apartments would be a form of hell. On the opposite side, I have found that many people that advocate for population control just really hate humanity. By and large, the trend creates issues, but as long as I can have children, I don’t care that much.”
“And you fucking will have children,” Eliana growled. “Many.”
“Don’t threaten me with a breeding time,” John hummed. “Anyhow, the point is that we have all of these people generating all of this Faith and the modern understanding, backed up by what is happening, is that unclaimed Faith flowing around influences babies in the womb to develop souls capable of magic. Since we have a spike in population number but a decline in population growth, we now have generations that experience an outsized amount of Faith before being born. The gods call this the Generation of Monsters, the Order calls it the Sacred Generation.” John put the paper aside and gave the pen back to Momo. “Point is that there are more Latebloomers and such in this generation than ever before.”
“I see and that explains why there are so many young and powerful people participating,” Nahua summarized.
“It makes it a possibility, although I regard this current situation as a high roll.” John shrugged. “Although that’s just me asserting what I find reasonable. Unprecedented situations tend to be surprising. We have a solid mix of Latebloomers and people who were strong and then were spurred on to train more because they suddenly no longer were the biggest fish around.” Smirking a little, the Gamer proverbially patted himself on the back. “In the Abyss, a lot of people are powerful but not all that are powerful are willing and capable of governing well.”
“Are we worried in any capacity about these fighters?” Nahua wanted to know.
“Not particularly,” John answered. “Well, that depends on how you define worry. I do not regard any of them as a threat to my safety or capable of beating me in that 1vs1 situation. There is a chance that they may do something harmful to the Federation though. They’re floating reagents that could become part of a localized explosion.” He sighed. “But the only way to prevent that worry is to become tyrannical, so I’d rather not.”
John heard a phone buzz. By reflex, he got annoyed. Typically, when he heard a phone, it was because someone he did not consider close enough to add them on Discord wanted something. Only after a split second, he realized that this wasn’t one of his phones. “Waddup?” Rave asked. “Moi-Moi, why are ya… – For realzies? – That’s hilarious! – You’re damn right I’m laughing at your misery. – Yeah, we got space. Door’s open.”
“What was that about?” John asked.
“Ya can ask her yourself in 5 – 4 – 3 – 2…” Rave only mouthed the 1 and then pointed at the door that opened to the deeper parts of the arena.
Moira burst in, slammed the door shut behind her and hastened over to the nearest chair. After sitting down, she immediately pinched the bridge of her nose. “I am sorry for- Oh, you’re not having sex,” she began and stopped her apology after gathering herself. “I… huh.”
“Yes, we do indeed often just hang out,” John drawled. “You just had really bad timing with me.” ‘Although it is basically a coinflip,’ he added silently. “Now, why are you seeking refuge in our humble abode?”
Siena laughed. “Did you need a place to take the edge off after fighting Jane?”
“That was barely a spar, the Blessing does not make me horny that easily,” the redhead barked back, then gave Aclysia a thankful smile. The maid had placed a cup of Darjeeling tea in front of the Warden. “Quite considerate. You have my gratitude.”
“You are becoming a more tolerable guest,” Aclysia answered simply. “In due time I may even cook for you.”
“Be careful, you’re gonna join the harem if ya do,” Rave joked. “Wanna tell everyone why ya had to flee from the flirt?”
John raised a bemused eyebrow. Moira getting flirted with at such an event was natural. The Warden was single and powerful. Even if few other people knew the details of the Blessing, her position in the political landscape of Fusion in addition to her personal might made her an interesting prospect for any man that could be worth her while. What he found chucklesome was the redhead fleeing from said advances.
Moira made a sour expression, then sipped from the tea to distract herself from it all for one more moment. “I was approached by Justinian,” she reported.
Claire laughed. “Unsurprising. I haven’t even heard from him before, but he seems to share your justice kink. You get what you crave.” The vampire plopped down in John’s lap. “That’s why I got the best Master in the world.”
Moira dismissed the comment with an eyeroll. “At first it wasn’t too bad. He said he admired the Order in principle but heard that we had surrendered. I told him that wasn’t the case and what had actually happened. Somehow he took that to mean that we were bloody enslaved by you and now we have to do your bidding because you have evil contract magic. Then he… grabbed my hand and swore that he would free me from your clutches.” She visibly shivered. “I excused myself to the bathroom and then called Jane.”
“Hi-la-ri-ous!” Rave clapped as if she had just watched a brilliant live performance. “The brave Warden of the Golden Rose, give it up, everybody!”
“Yay!” Sylph joined in, not knowing what she was actually clapping for. “Let’s go, Moimoi!”
“Ya gotta slap boys like that,” Hailey declared. “They ain’t learnin’ otherwise.”
John felt it necessary to clear his throat. “To defend my fellow awkward young adult men, a simple ‘no’ should suffice in most cases.”
“…I was about to say you aren’t awkward, but then I remembered your first day in the Abyss,” Moira drawled. “You tried to sneak up on me.”
“To be fair, that was only because I had gotten a Quest… and I skipped out on the really awkward part.” John snorted at the memory. “Your Lady would have given me a bonus reward if I had masturbated.”
Moira’s face turned red. It was not apparent whether she was more angry or more embarrassed by what she had heard. “Wha- HERESY!”
“Says a lot about Justinian that you rather fled here than hang out with him,” John said.
“Moira… if I may… I sense that you are not being entirely truthful with us,” Lorelei remarked.
“Rel, please…” Squirming where she sat, the redhead made for an admittedly adorable display. That she was wearing a bodysuit did not help. The wine-red full body cover, meant to serve as a comfortable undergarment for her armour, was too thick to compliment her curves majorly, but it was still skin tight.
“It would be heavy on your soul should you refrain from mentioning it,” Lorelei insisted.
“…Okay, I may or may not have needed to go past Justinian on the way here…” Moira mumbled. “And it may be the case that I’m a bloody idiot and just blurted out ‘the Gamer calls me’ so he wouldn’t ask any more questions.”
John groaned and put his forehead on Claire’s shoulder. “Why? He already hates me, for some reason. You just committed him fully to thinking he’s right about me.”
“I don’t know!” Moira threw her hands into the air.
“Where’d Miss ‘I smite the wicked’ go?” Rave asked.
“He’s not wicked, just creepy!” The redhead tugged on the tresses that framed her face. “I panicked. I just wanted to get away.”
“Please clarify that with him later,” John requested. “He’s a Latebloomer. Who knows how powerful he’ll get?”
“A maximum of level 400, by my estimations.” When everyone looked at Lorelei, she did a little curtsy. “Judging the ceiling of a champion of the Lady is part of a Varnik’s duty, if I may remind. His power is partly derived from the Lady. The man that calls himself Hypercrush, I would be more wary of. His might is unstable and so is his mind.”
“The drug addict is unstable, who would have thought,” John remarked, then sighed. “Ah well, what’s done is done. Live, learn, move on, as we say. Guess we are still bound to collide with people.”
“It’s in the name,” Rave joked. “Even if we barely use it these days.”
“In any case,” Momo raised her voice. “The quality of the fighters is higher than anticipated, but the event remains ultimately the same.” She tapped on a nearby board. On it was the tournament going forwards. Lots had already been drawn and based on that fights decided.
And the dice had decided that Rave and Moira would not face off in the tournament at all. One reason to hold this tournament was to show the world that John was still strong. He couldn’t show that off if the winner of the tournament was his very own woman or a woman that was one of his closest allies (by most descriptions).
“Even the lot wants you and Justinian together,” John joked.
“Urgh.” The sound Moira made, John felt in his soul. He had been on the receiving end of it before. It was that very, very, very clear sound of a woman that was so thoroughly disinterested that it bordered on disgusted. It was a sound that could break a man’s soul. “I will just surrender round 1.”
“Guess I’ll do the same… can we at least have a show fight?” Rave begged.
“Be my guest,” John told them. “We’ll close the tournament with it.”
“Are we actually going to watch all of these fucking fights?” Salamander asked.
“I’ll be present for all of them,” John said. “I want to know what these people are capable of. I don’t expect most of them to become Fusion loyalists because I gave them nice land, but maybe we can recruit one or two of them for the cause. Doesn’t mean all of you have to be. Not that it’ll be more than an hour or two per day.”
“We still have to decide where Jane will put her Guild Hall,” Scarlett stated.
“Why do ya care about that so much?!” Rave groaned.
“Put it down and put a fucking mine in it, you daft cunt.”
“Oy, rude!”
“You’re leaving so much money on the table!”
“It’d be Tier 1”
“Have you seen the copper prices on the Abyss Auction?!”
“I don’t wanna know and I don’t wanna put it down yet!”
John followed that argument with a little smirk.