Agent047

921 - His Plan

[[[[Sorry for the delay in chapters over the past two days, I was traveling back home to my country.]]]]

“Sir, our fleet was attacked by Terran Empire forces without provocation. What are your orders?” the Bilakis civilization’s general reported to Kumakar, his voice clipped with frustratio...

920 - Taking Action

"That’s not important right now," Aron said, answering his own question before anyone else could respond. "We need to deal with the current situation first. We’ll analyze the reasons later, when we have real data to work with. Speculation without information is just a waste of brainpower."

{I’ll continue developin...

919 - Briefing II

“Are any of our people harmed?” Aron finally asked, breaking the silence in the room as he turned toward Nova.

{None so far. Per deployment policy, our personnel were not allowed to leave the wormhole stations during their shifts. As long as the shields remain active, they are fully protected.} Nova replied, project...

918 - Briefing

Earth, CUBE.

{Sir, twenty of our wormholes on the Wormhole Highway Project have been attacked,} Nova reported directly to Aron through the chip embedded in his body.

Aron was currently sitting in one of the CUBE’s gardens, sharing a quiet picnic with his wife and brother, when he received the alert.

“Exc...

917 - EXPLOSION

Two Months Later — The Nexus

The Nexus Space Station was still deep in its construction phase, with activity buzzing across every level. But progress had been swift. The gates were already completed and locked into their required coordinates, allowing materials from across the Conclave to begin arriving in steady wave...

916 - On the Way to UTOPIA

Transforming. That was the word on everyone’s lips when it came to businesses now operating through VR.

The Empire had recently launched a sweeping initiative to restructure commercial activity within the VR. As part of this initiative, they created an additional protective layer, a sort of social bubble, surrounding ...

915 - Suspicion

To avoid raising alarms, the meeting was wrapped up within just two hours. The leaders agreed that all further detailed planning would be conducted through the long-distance mana communication network in the form of secure documents. Any remaining discussions would be handled through that method to avoid the risk of having al...

914 - New Development VI | The Voice of Rage

“Then who?” the leader who had accused the Empire retorted sharply, clearly stung by the Xelovra leader’s dismantling of his argument. “They’re the only ones who have all the pieces that fit the puzzle!”

His frustration was obvious, he had presented his hypothesis with confidence, expecting agreement or at l...

913 - New Development V | The Voice of Reason

“The Terran Empire?” one of the leaders finally voiced, breaking the uneasy silence with the most controversial possibility yet.

A wave of murmurs and narrowed eyes followed, some in consideration, others in immediate rejection.

“They don’t have the wormhole technology to conduct these attacks,” another ...

912 - New Development IV

"Enough!!!!!!!" the Grand Xor’Vak bellowed, his voice going through the chaos of shouting and accusations like a blade, silencing the chamber as if a switch had been thrown. Every representative, big and small, froze mid-gesture, mid-word, the weight of his voice settled over them. No one dared speak.

911 - New Development III

“Who dares?!” the Valthorin leader thundered, slamming his hand onto the table. The gesture might have carried more weight if the meeting hadn’t been held via group call, his holographic image merely flickered slightly, his display shaking for a brief moment before settling.

But no one was surprised by his reactio...

910 -New Development II

While the leaders silently questioned why the Grand Xor’Vak was so furious, the answer inside his mind was sharp and unwavering.

‘Who dares infringe on my territory?’

Yes, his territory. In his eyes, the entire Conclave belonged to him. He was not merely a leader of the strongest civilizati...

909 - New Development

No matter how carefully you plan something, the moment you implement it, the unpredictable always happens, usually in response to the other side’s actions.

The same was true when Dreznor launched his fleets. While they succeeded in disabling the mana-powered long-distance communication nodes for more than half of them...

908 - Mobilization

“For anyone who witnesses injustice and atrocities taking place, there are four paths he can take,” Dreznor’s voice echoed through the parade ground, calm yet heavy with conviction. Before him stood a massive formation of soldiers, rigid in attention, their eyes locked on him with reverence and resolve.

“He can ...

907 - Influence

No matter how slow time had felt, the month without VR finally passed. Aron could now receive the full report and witness for himself how they had discovered and recruited her.

{We found her through one of Seraphina’s faction members,} Nyx began as she materialized beside him. {He had been demoted to the role of overs...

906 - Report on Fountain of Life

“There are no new discoveries yet?” Aron asked without looking up from the report.

“No,” Ayaka replied, her tone neutral but edged with disappointment. “Unfortunately, it seems that at my current level, it’s impossible to uncover anything new about the Fountain of Life material.”

Aron nodded slowly, ...

905 - An Argument Between Friends

“I’m telling you,” Abdullah said, his face lit up with excitement, “if you read the announcement properly, the empire’s planning to make all of us six-figure earners, if not outright millionaires.”

“How so?” Mussa replied, skepticism etched into his expression. “We’ll only be able to access that fund...

904 - Suspicion

"That is completely the opposite of what we experienced when we took over the world," Aron said with a chuckle as he skimmed through the report detailing the Zypharion people's reaction, comparing it to humanity's during their last world war.

By just the second week, Dreznor had already gained the support of the majorit...

903 - Addressing the People II

One of the humanoid dolls stepped forward, its feet softly pressing against the ground as it advanced toward Ukubun, the former planetary leader and Conclave-appointed representative. With each additional step, its body began to shift. Its limbs shortened, its skin darkened, and its features morphed into something all too fam...

902 - Addressing the People

Although the invasion had initially sparked widespread panic and desperate escape attempts, the immobilized ships floating helplessly in orbit served as a grim warning: there was no way out. The message spread quickly, and no one else dared try to flee.

Life under a near-feudal leadership had taught the populace to adap...

901 - INVASION

Not even a second after Dreznor uttered the word surrender, a bullet shot toward his head,  fired by a guard who had descended from a hidden panel in the ceiling, exploding it.

At least, that was the outcome the leader expected.

Instead, what he saw defied belief: Dreznor was still standing, completely unharm...

900 - Offer

Nova, who had been silently observing Aron as he went through documents related to the empire for approval, couldn’t help but notice the persistent smile on his face. It had been there for quite some time and showed no signs of fading.

“What is it?” Aron asked when he looked up and saw her standing there, just sta...

899 - Graduation

“At ease, gentlemen,” Dreznor said, his gaze sweeping over the group of former pirates, now standing in disciplined attention like seasoned soldiers with years of experience.

In just one month of intense training, they had transformed. The first real-world week had been entirely theoretical, an immersive and assimil...

898 - Topic-Specific Imperial Council Meeting

“Within the last month, we have managed to reach 172 billion Conclave users, with over fifty billion being concurrent,” Sarah reported, addressing the Emperor, the heads of the three ministries, and the directors of the imperial agencies during a topic-specific Imperial Council meeting. This session had been called to rev...

897 - Reunion

It had only been three days since they came to capture the pirates, but for Dreznor, those three days had been enough. Enough to spend a full year trapped with them in VR. Enough to end all of his grievances, or at least, that’s what he thought, until he started reviewing the pirates' extracted brain data.

Among the i...

896 - The Spear Head

"I never signed up for this," thought the man, standing stiffly among a packed crowd inside a sterile, well-lit room.

He had joined the pirate crew barely three months ago, hoping for a fresh start after giving up on finding peace on his home planet. Now, he found himself waiting in line, waiting for a torture session d...

895 - ARGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“Oh my god,” Dreznor breathed, his eyes fixed on the five colossal wormholes unfolding before him in the distant sky.

He had always known that wormhole technology existed within the Astral Conclave—at least in theory. It was the kind of thing whispered about in myths and legends, the stuff of old spacer tales pass...

894 - Phase I

Six months later.

A full half-year of intensive planning, negotiations, amendments, and rework inside the Conclave's VR, translating to over a decade’s worth of accelerated time, finally bore fruit. The final plan, after countless revisions and compromises, had been unanimously accepted by all participating civilizati...

893 - About the Nexus

Since the top fifty representatives were already in agreement, the passing of the bill in the Conclave General Council was practically guaranteed, as long as none of the top ten civilizations used their veto power. Given the way voting was structured, those fifty civilizations alone could form a majority, despite the Conclave...

892 - Construction

Once the runic intent was fully imbued, Aron activated the rune. It had already been charged with enough mana to allow it to expand and cover the entire asteroid field.

Executing such an operation while the representatives were still present in the Trade Hub would normally have been considered a significant risk. Howeve...