Reincarnated Hero System

Chapter 1266: Conditional Allegiance

"Those are Arthur and Jamie. The two I told you fought the Planet’s Incarnation with me," Evan whispered to Eliza.

However, she didn’t even have the presence of mind to fully process his words as the projection of his memories continued to play, showing how Jamie activated his Imperial Privileges: Creation and accessed his Ruler Authority to initiate control over the System’s Ascension Matrix.

He then issued commands that pulled the scattered energy of the destroyed planet back together, not to restore it, but to extract its essence, leaving only dust behind.

They watched as Jamie compressed that energy into a massive sphere and refined it using Existential Records recovered from Bewússtsein. After completing the process, he divided the sphere into two dense orbs, each one heavily distorting space-time due to the immense energy contained within them.

Finally, he stabilised them and sent the two EXP Caches toward Arthur and Evan.

Evan ended the projection there, and as the lights in the room came back on, he spoke.

"Now then, there’s a lot you may not understand, but I trust you all know that EXP, at its core, is ’energy’, the same energy the man you just saw, a ’Deity’ as powerful as Artemisia, compressed into that sphere.

I was given a cache of EXP worth 1/3 of an entire world that’s even larger than Aidos, and I brought it to this world, keeping it here, where it has remained unused to this day."

Looking straight at Zaos, he continued, "Your issue as Transcendents is that the EXP you need is immense, and there’s nothing around to provide that EXP.

That cache solves this problem. It would give you all the EXP you need to reach Level 999."

Silence filled the room after Evan finished speaking, and even Abigail, who was the most knowledgeable about interplanetary matters after Evan, couldn’t find words.

’A whole world destroyed and a third of it turned into a massive bundle of EXP? The power required to do that is definitely on the level of a Higher Deity.’

As that thought crossed her mind, Zaos then asked, "What’s the catch?"

The man was certain there were some strings attached to this, as it seemed too good to be true, and Evan, with a soft smile, answered honestly.

"There are two caveats."

Raising a finger, he continued, "Number 1. The Energy Output.

Even if I release this EXP at the lowest possible value, anyone below the level of Transcendence wouldn’t be able to handle it."

"They’d overload?" Abigail asked, and Evan nodded.

"Because of that, I have to make the targets Transcendents first before I can use this. My first success on that front is Rizass. I created a situation that allowed her to reach Transcendence and become eligible for this."

Evan tapped his fingers against the table after finishing his explanation, and a moment later, Zaos asked,

"What’s the second one?"

"...I want Allegiance."

Zaos’s expression showed a slight frown at Evan’s words, but Evan paid it no mind and continued speaking.

"Loyalty given in exchange for a benefit. I want everyone participating to pledge conditional allegiance to me."

When he said this, Zaos raised an eyebrow in question, and Leoniel, who had been silent from the start, leaned forward and asked,

"Conditional allegiance? And what is this condition?"

"Simple," Evan replied. "When it comes to matters of protecting this world, I’m in charge. I give the orders. Other than that, you can do whatever you want with your lives."

He shrugged after speaking, as though it wasn’t a big deal.

"What do you say? It’s a good deal, no? The only reason I’m giving you that EXP is because I need you to protect this world. If you don’t want to hand control over to me, then that’s fine.

There are hundreds of Sovereigns who wouldn’t hesitate to accept my offer."

After finishing that statement, Evan reached for the snacks placed on the saucer in front of him and took a bite, his eyes widening slightly at the taste.

"Mhm! Thish is good. I almost wanna poach your chef."

"Haha. He’d certainly be pleased to hear that," Abigail replied, taking a bite of the frosted biscuits in front of her as well.

She casually poured some wine into her glass and into her father’s, not as shaken by the massive amount of information Evan had just revealed as the others.

’I mean, the planet’s destruction part shocked me, but everything that came after kind of makes sense.

Evan’s demands are also reasonable, as far as I’m concerned. The issue is whether he’s strong enough to stop others from forcing him to use the EXP Cache on them.’

Glancing at Eliza as she set the wine bottle down, she continued. ’They could also threaten him with the lives of his loved ones.’

Abigail looked up at Evan at that moment, and noticing her gaze, Evan looked back at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What’s up?"

"Nothing much. I was just curious if you intend to use the Cache on yourself first to reach Level 999."

Hearing her question, Evan looked at her in a way that seemed to ask why she was even questioning the obvious.

"Of course I’m gonna use it on myself first. In fact, the secure location the cache is stored in isn’t somewhere I can reach without being a Transcendent, so I’ve gotta surpass Level 900 first before I can get it and use it."

Once again, Evan spoke in a way that led the others to the wrong conclusion due to how vague his words were, and Abigail, unaware that she was misunderstanding something, simply nodded in response to his answer.

"You can take your time to think about this, Sir Zaos, and while you’re at it, how about we move on to the second reason I came here?" Evan said, reaching out for another cracker.

"I came to tell Lios not to take action when a certain event happens. But for you, Elven Emperor, and the Smith King, I want both of you to take action."

Zaos tilted his head slightly at Evan’s words before asking, "What action, and what event?"

"I want you to fight off a Peak Rank Demon. Nothing much."

"That’s NOT nothing much, Evan!" Laurene snapped immediately, and Evan just laughed as though her reaction amused him.

Seeing that exchange, Zaos silently nodded to himself as he recalled Kolvar’s words.

’I see why he said I might have a headache dealing with him.’

Exhaling softly, the man took a sip of the wine his daughter had poured for him, then turned back to Evan and asked,

"And so? Where is this Peak Rank Demon coming from? Another attempt by the Demonic Hand to create another dimensional rift?"

"Oh, no. Nothing like that," Evan replied, shaking his head. "This one’s already on Aidos. They’ve been here for a millennium now."

"The Second Finger’s contractor?" Eliza asked, and Evan raised a thumbs-up toward her, confirming her guess.

He tapped the table and used Hologram Generation again, forming a chart of the Demonic Hand’s Executives and the Eight Disasters as he continued.

"The Demonic Hand has multiple ’Disasters’ planned to enhance the World Formation and—"

"Hold up, Evan," Abigail interrupted.

When he looked at her with a confused expression, she continued, "Some of us here don’t know what this ’World Formation’ thing you’re talking about is, you know?"

"..."

Evan stayed silent for a moment, then facepalmed with a heavy sigh that echoed in the otherwise quiet room.

"Right. I’m in the Beta Continent now. I haven’t explained the World Formation..."

He was already worn down just thinking he’d have to go through that explanation again, but Laurene’s next words came like an oasis in a desert.

"I recorded your explanation the last time..." she muttered, rummaging through her purse, which was enchanted with spatial expansion magic, before bringing out a memory gem and placing it on the table.

With a touch of magic power, the gem began to glow, and Evan’s voice started to echo out.

Hearing it, Evan instantly teleported to Laurene’s seat and lifted her into a big hug, spinning her around as he shouted,

"Haha! You’re a lifesaver, Laurene!"

"Hu—wha?! Put me down!" Laurene shot back, smacking the top of his head as she struggled in his grip.

Abigail just laughed at the scene, while Zaos coughed loudly, his expression clearly asking Evan to be serious for a moment.

Evan, still smiling, set Laurene down and teleported back to his seat, the memory gem in his hand as he restarted the playback.

It was a recording of the time he had explained the World Formation to Emperor Lloris and some of Tarse’s higher-ups, along with his fellow Heroes in Tarse, while preparing for the ’Fall of the Desert Country’.

It began with him stating the Demonic Hand’s end goal, which was to open the Dark Continent’s Dimensional Rift, then moved into the existence of the World Formation as the means to achieve that goal.

As the recording played, Evan used his hologram generation skill to display a model of the planet, showing how its surface was covered by a massive Tier 10 Magic Formation, which in itself was comprised of several hundred Tier 10 Magic Circles.

The explanation covered everything from the World Formation going dormant after the Great Valmone War, to the First Finger discovering and activating part of its capabilities, especially its energy gathering functions.

It also covered how each of the Demonic Hand’s Executives functioned as a ’Node’ of that formation, and how their presence during each of the Demonic Hand’s Disasters amplified the energy being fed into the World Formation, as well as how the death of each Executive destabilised it, since it was damaged and only partially activated.