The Game of a Blood Mage

Chapter 83



Title: Meeting of the Strong (2)





…
There were almost thirty people at the table, and some seemed more important than most others sitting. Though each of them was someone that could change the world if they wanted to. 



But who was truly on the higher hierarchy? That was shown by how they sat and how much they regarded Alex's rules.



The next to speak was the Heavenly Demon, his dark eyes shone with ambition once he heard what Camilla had to say. "Well, it will be hard to overtake that speech. But I wanna say that I am semi-neutral, don't ask things from me, but I will help sometimes. Though my help is guaranteed if the Beast Army reaches the Wayne Kingdom."



He looked around, his eyes recounting any potential amongst the people here. "Also, the same as Camilla, I too will offer safety to anyone willing to join the Heavenly Demon Sect."




"Okay, the next one can now speak." Said Alex, pointing at the next person. 



"Heh, what a copycat." Camilla interrupted while looking at the Heavenly Demon. The man knew what she was insinuating and narrowed his eyes at her maliciously.



"What did you say little bìtch?" He asked her, his aura exploding out of his body. It immediately made the world around them shake.



"I said that you just decided to copy my speech because you thought it would bring more people to you. Don't try to compare yourself with me." Camilla insulted him. "Also I know you weren't careful when the Corruption Rain came about, do you even have any food in storage?"




The Heavenly Demon got up from his chair and floated about, his raw Ki created tornadoes around his body.



Alex frowned at this and with a wave of his hand, a dozen or so barriers were created around the Heavenly Demon. 



"Stop now, or I will be forced to act." Alex gave him an ultimatum. They were in his territory, where he was stronger than any one of them in a one-on-one fight. This place had been handmade by him. 




The Heavenly Demon suddenly smirked. "That was a joke~ c'mon now everyone, no need to be so Tense."



Camilla only smirked and leaned back on her chair, Alex gave her a look that said 'Stop causing trouble'. She shrugged and pointed at the Heavenly Demon, signaling that it wasn't her fault. Alex wasn't convinced and knew she incited the argument, but in the end, he decided to drop this and calm down the situation. "I understand, but everyone, please refrain from making 'jokes' anymore."



The Heavenly Demon nodded, his mood had changed now. This made Alex realize that the man might not be as hot-headed as he made it seem. 



He had been quite mysterious back in the game and never quite got involved with the players. So even now, Alex didn't have a good grip on the man's personality. After all, even if he could remember everything, it didn't mean that he could learn new things out of nowhere. 



The Intelligence Stat had a limit to how much it allowed one to see. But he would keep an eye on the Heavenly Demon and figure things out along and piece together the puzzle.



"Also, if anyone has any food problems or wanna trade something, I can offer you all food for a payment. Whether you can act as mercenaries or any rare books, research material. I will take any of those and there will be guaranteed food enough for 10,000 people for six months." Alex made his offer too and pointed at the next person. 



The man who was going to talk next had a face that was carved out and looked very grotesque. "Gaahahah~ you guys all talk too much. But if I see anything fun, I will help you~"


His playful tone irritated some people, but most didn't mind. This guy was known as the Mad Mage, Elloy, the magician who went mad.


If Alex was to put it into an RPG way, he would guess that Elloy's intelligence stat was absurdly high, while his Wisdom would be under three. Meaning that common sense didn't apply to this man and he didn't work on normal logic, making him unpredictable.




The next to speak was a man wearing a fedora and sunglasses. He just shook his head. "I am skipping."



"That's allowed?" Asked a red-haired busty woman in a witch outfit.




Alex shrugged. "The rules on this are very loose. I didn't call you here to force anything down your throats. We are here to see if we can work together. Anyway, Pope, you are next."




The old Pope smiled at everyone gently. "It's nice seeing so many people willing to put their differences aside and at least meet and have a discussion about this. Alex, you truly are something special, to be able and bring all of this together."



"Sheesh, can you say your stance on this already? We aren't here to hear your stories, old man." Camilla intervened, ironically she was the oldest one at the meeting.  




"The Holy Kingdom will work towards righteousness and purity, you will have our unconditional support." Said the Pope, his gentle smile never left his face even when he was insulted. "Also if you have any civilians that you can't handle, send those poor souls to us. The church will make sure that the people are fed and will support anyone who saves people from hard times."





Alex knew that while the Holy Church wasn't the perfect kind of institution that liked to present itself, most of its members were genuinely kind. In the end, no organization was as it was intended to be. Humans were a very diverse species that could be in all kinds of mental states. 


Though sometimes fanatics exist amongst the Holy Church, they weren't too crazy. In this world Gods communicated with their believers, so rarely would there be a believer of the Goddess of purity who was selfish and greedy. The Pope, the one closest to the Gods, was the epitome of that. 


Still, though, Alex remembered that players were treated badly by the institution as they always did bad shit and somehow high-level priests were able to tell when someone was a player.



Even though he was Legendary Rank, the Pope was something that many would be envious of. He never had to do a bad deed to reach where he got, his soul was pure like that of a child. Many Gods supported him, he needed to be pure-spirited and good like that to handle the power of the Righteous Gods that was channeled to him.





“Next,” Alex ordered, looking at the new people who would answer something. They were inconsequential to the overall situation and they were Legendary ranks but had no organization so their support wouldn’t matter too much. Plus their levels weren’t that high.



..
A couple of minutes later and it was the Dark Mage’s turn to speak. “I have already lost my organization due to the Beast Army. But I saw something terrifying that day, if it’s a small force then I am okay with helping. Anything bigger and I will have to refuse.”




Alex nodded, others didn’t have anything to add, though some did look at him mockingly since he admitted his cowardice and fear. But as they were about to continue, the Dark Mage spoke again. “Also I will be joining Camilla, so unless benefits are offered, even in those small battles, you can expect only neutrality from me.”



The others frowned at this, some were shocked, some weren’t. But Alex took a small pause to think, memories about the Dark Mage and everything that he knew about him and every forum that had ever been written about the man appeared at the top of his mind in an instant. There was some important stuff in those files, but the most important was the man’s ability to see a ‘Bad End’ for himself. Meaning that he could dodge a bad scenario.


So then the question stood. Why would he join Camilla? After all, as a Legendary Mage, he didn’t need to become her subordinate and become a Vampire to survive. That was when it became glaringly obvious to Alex that the man had seen a ‘Bad End’ if he had joined them. Though Alex might now know the specifics of what the man had seen, he at least understood that something would happen that would be disastrous enough for the Dark Mage to not see any way he could win.




“Next,” said Alex, all of his thoughts had been sorted and thought in less than a second so no one noticed anything weird in his behavior. 




The next speaker was a red-haired young woman with an hourglass figure that put most women to shame. Alex immediately analyzed her from his memories and knew that she was known as the Witch of the Blood Forest, a research mage who in the future will develop a way to evolve one’s race even if it initially seemed impossible. 
‘Someone to keep an eye for and also help keep safe until she discovers the potion that she used to make.’ He concluded.



She smiled sultrily and looked Alex straight in the eyes. “You are a Blood Mage too?”


“Yes,” he answered shortly. “But that isn’t the subject of this meeting. Maybe in the next one, we can discuss things like this.”   


“Nope, I am only interested in your class and research notes, only then I will help,” she insisted. Her dark eyes stared at him intently.



The Mad Mage Elloy whistled. “Well would you look at that, aren’t you quite popular with the ladies?”



Alex sighed, his nonchalant eyes turning sharp in an instant as the atmosphere around him changed. His glare was directed at the Witch of the Blood Forest. “I know your circumstances. You got kicked out of the Beast Forest by the monsters in it and had to abandon your laboratory. Meaning that you have nothing, and are essentially homeless. As a research witch, your strength isn’t anything to brag about.”



The smile on the Witch’s face didn’t budge, but Alex knew that he was getting to her. “Also while I have promised to hold order in this meeting and there won’t be any violence IN here. What about when you go outside? Don’t make me come and hunt you down. Neither of us would want that. Understood?”



The Witch clutched her hand into a fist but didn’t refute him, she knew Alex would keep his side of the deal and truly hunt her down like a dog. She knew that, but she also wanted to get some things in return. 

“Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to demean you,” she apologized. This time she didn’t play any coy games and looked at Alex seriously. “I want a lab with the best equipment in the market. If you provide me with that, your army will be the exclusive buyer of my potions, and I don’t wanna brag here, but my potions allow people to fight above their rank.”



Alex nodded. “Yes, that sounded like a fair deal, so I will help you.”



Of course, what was left unsaid here was that only he would know the location of her lab and how to get to her. No one else here would be able to trade with her due to that. Essentially she had just agreed to become Alex’s semi-subordinate.




The meeting was going quite well for him and he was about to ask the next person when suddenly the table shook, no, it seemed as if the world itself seemed to be shaking. Suddenly a crack appeared in the sky and a giant red eye that seemed as big as the planet glared through it. 



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