World Seed

Author’s Corner: Hey guys! Finally the last chapter of this annoyingly long arc! Yes, that’s right, it was annoying long for me as well! However, it was necessary to show him doing these things in order to establish the setting for the next arc.Now, a small announcement. As many of you might have read if you read my Author’s Corner notes, I recently had a long battle with sickness. This has, unfortunately, temporarily withered my imagination. As such, I plan to take a brief hiatus from World Seed so that I can make plans for the next arc and get my creativity back! Hopefully this hiatus will not be a long one, but after the last chapter, I think we can all agree that it is needed.Well, at least the meeting was not a complete waste of my time, since I managed to learn some more about the Qu’Lopti world. Though, most of this was done by using Celeste to search their internet while they yelled back and forth. So, I’ll summarize a bit here.“You peons of the fifteenth realm, you think you have the capital to sit at the same table as I, Dareon, wielder of the pale flame and master of the shadows?” One of the Qu’Lopti diplomats yelled at another as they conducted their ‘play’.According to Celeste’s information, each realm was a different country, and there were almost two hundred countries in all. Though, the number of the realm was inconsequential, as each realm also had a name. They just often prefered calling the countries by their number in which they were established.“Like a mere eighth realm has the right to question me. Why are you even here? Aren’t you said to be working on your new ultimate skill?” Another one questioned the first.“Hah! As if I would have any difficulties with that. My Eyes of True Desolation have already reached their perfect stage.” The first yelled out proudly. Surprisingly, the other nine all clapped approvingly when he said this.“Ahem, excuse me, but could we get back on track with why we are all here?” I shook my head with a sigh as I was forced to speak up. “My crew is interested in establishing a… mutually… beneficial… relationship…” The words, they felt like I had to force each one out. I was really starting to hate Malthan for making me do this.“Ah, yes, the people of the Outer Realm.” One of the Qu’Lopti, who had previously been part of the play from before, spoke up. “We have heard your offer from Tordaedron. You offer information that would help us reach the Outer Realm ourselves, in exchange for our knowledge on magic.”Several others nodded at that, but their faces froze when he continued. “However, my Network Integration has revealed a foreign presence on the net. After tracing it back, I found it originated from the Outer Realm. So, I ask of you, what is it you truly wish to gain from us?”Wait… Celeste, you were caught? “Uhm… maybe? I don’t know!” I heard the AI answer in my head, so I shook my head again.“It is true, I have already learned much from accessing your net. As I said, my crew wishes to set up a lasting relationship, so even if we do not learn much from this meeting, there is still a benefit to be gained. I plan to have a base constructed in orbit around your planet to use in the near future, as well.”As they heard me, a few of them frowned slightly. “You seem to be willing to give, but not take. Is there truly nothing else you are attempting to acquire from the Qu’Lopti people?”I thought about whether I should answer that honestly, but knowing this race, one of them was likely to have a means of telling whether or not I was lying. So, I could only respond with a sigh before telling them. “I have been sent by a god known as Malthan, for the purpose of acting as a diplomatic liaison between the Qu’Lopti and… pretty much everyone else.”When I said that, the holograms suddenly jumped to their face, looks of excitement spread across all ten faces. “The father of chaos has sent you?!” The one that had just been questioning me… I think he introduced himself as being from the second realm. “Why didn’t you say so before!? You appeared to simply be a boring man of no talent, but this changes everything! If the father of chaos has personally spoken to you, then of course we shall abide by his wish.”“...” I have never spoken in ellipses before, but I felt like that is the only way to describe my reaction. Seriously, all I had to do was drop Malthan’s name? “Yes… he speaks to me… You could definitely say that.”Nine of the people looked towards the tenth, who had introduced himself as being of the one hundred and ninth realm. “My Eye of True Discernment can’t detect any falsehood in his statement.”The made the other nine even more excited, and they even seemed like they might be on the verge of dropping their overly dramatic performance. “We of the first realm support Captain Hulett’s offer to become diplomatic envoy to the Qu’Lopti!”“The fifteenth realm supports as well!”One by one, the ten Qu’Lopti voiced their support, leaving me truly surprised. Celeste… they have an almost fanatical worship of Malthan, don’t they?“Yes.” She answered in my mind. “There is a religion dedicated entirely to him, which has spread over the last two years to over half the planet. Though… I didn’t think they were this serious about it.”“Well… that will make this easier.” I spoke quietly to myself while the representatives of the Qu’Lopti all sat down and resumed their former play. Though, this time their topics were not about who belonged at the negotiations, but who I would be reporting to. “Or not.”They did not even seem to notice when I left the call, and continued to debate among themselves. “You can go ahead and send the information down, Celeste.”The Deus Ex chuckled knowingly, before nodding and doing just that. “Captain, if you don’t mind, I would like to begin work on the station as soon as possible.”Naturally, I agreed, and she left the bridge. I stayed behind just in case one of the Qu’Lopti called again, since only myself and Celeste could speak their language right now. However, that turned out not to be an issue, as there was no more contact from the planet for several hours. What was even more surprising was, when the leader of third realm, Tordaedron, called me again, he was speaking in elven. Broken elven, admittedly, but it was elven nonetheless.Were they just naturally better at learning languages, because they would often invent their own for their play acting? Or had they used another means to quickly learn an alien tongue. I wasn’t sure either way, but he informed me that he would be my primary contact with the Qu’Lopti. That had apparently been decided because he was the one I had first called when arriving here.With that taken care of, the next few days were rather interesting. Sometimes, I would receive a call from one of the leaders wishing to meet me. Other times, someone would call hoping to receive a divine message from Malthan. Did he not talk to other people as often as he did me?