Chapter 98 - New leadership [2/3]

The confirmation of Kane's status as a lord caused a chaotic muttering to rise among the crowd. Some beastlings who were originally in the larger group, even quickly walked over to the smaller one, until only a handful of them were left, and the room became almost perfectly divided between humans and beastlings. 

Kane gave them a few moments to settle down, before he began talking. "My name is Kane Mercer," he told them sternly, and with a frown. His voice was deep, and reverberated around the room, as he amplified it with energy, and even infused it with a tiny part of his Echo of Terror. 

"I know we didn't get off to the best start," he continued while his gaze swept of those present. "But I'm glad to see you're all willing to forget the past and move on." 

Instantly, one of the less cowed, human outlaws raised a voice tinged with greed and desire, "Yeah, yeah! Get to the techniques you promised us!" 

Kane instantly zeroed in on the woman who spoke up and stared calmly into her eyes. At first, she stared back defiantly, but at some point, his eyes showed a feint sheen of red, and the situation changed. 

Suddenly, the troublemaker began sweating. Fear started rising inside her, and she inactively took a step back. "I— I— Uhm…" she stammered with wide eyes, under the scrutinous gazes of everyone else. Her clear capitulation, without even a word from Kane, was quickly making other doubters gulp slightly. 

But before things escalated any further, Kane suddenly smiled indulgently and nodded, "Sure. I realize that's probably why most of you are here, and I certainly won't renege on my promise. I want the best for all of you, because the more powerful you are, the more powerful I am. We are in this together now, and I take care of my people." 

A murmuring rose again, as many of them hadn't expected Kane to be this reasonable. Usually when someone subjugates you by force, you'd expect not only a more aggressive leader, but also a little more focus on how you don't have a choice but to obey. 

Yet, Kane was focusing on the benefits, which both confused and delighted them. 

Suddenly, Kane waved his hand, and four armbands appeared as if out of nowhere. Naturally, he pulled them from his storage ring, but since that concept was unknown to the crowd, they reacted in surprise and awe, increasing his mystique. 

The armbands were stylish, and coloured in a combination of black and green, which quickly identified them as being part of the technology from this base. 

With armbands in hand, he continued, "As you all know, Aelia, Anna, Mira, and Lyra have already accepted my mark, and to become a part of the all-female outlaw crew headed by Aelia, but ultimately serving me." He beckoned Aelia over to him and handed her one of the armbands. 

Unsurprisingly, she looked at him with confusion, but he quickly explained. "Ela found these for me in a storage space somewhere. They are linked to the base's mainframe and will be registered to a specific user. You can use them to communicate with each other, and store information." 

He smirked confidently when he noticed not only Aelia, but everyone else also became fascinated by the idea. "I will use these to share techniques and other information with you. In fact, you can choose the technique yourself. I've uploaded them all to the database, and everyone receiving a bracelet has the right to choose one." 

Of course, with Ella's connection to him, it was easy to share the techniques he'd been given by Mána, at which point she just needed to add her own, and upload everything. 

Ever the sceptic, Aelia looked at him suspiciously, but she still put the armband on, and then raised an eyebrow, "Now what?" 

Kane smiled slightly, "Now Ella will register this armband to your ID…" 

Suddenly, the device flashed, and Kane continued, "Now, only you can use it. To see the interface, just touch it." 

Still a little suspicious, yet also eager for the technique he promised, Aelia cautiously touched the armband. Instantly, a holographic display opened up before her, and she raised both her eyebrows in surprise. 

When Kane found these devices, he immediately drew some parallels between them and his CyberStrap. Only, these were far more compact and technologically advanced. Unfortunately, they couldn't scan or wirelessly interface with other devices, so they weren't a good alternative. 

Not that he was looking for one. The CyberStrap had sentimental value, and he preferred to upgrade it, rather than replace. 

Fortunately, holographic interfaces weren't uncommon for the people of Primaterra, who dealt with ancient technology on a daily basis, so Aelia wasn't too shocked. 

She, and most most of the others gathered there, looked at the interface with awe. Aelia mumbled softly, "We found these things, too. But we could never get them to work. We could have used them to communicate!" 

Kane grinned with amusement, "What, because that would have changed the outcome? Would you even want to have changed the outcome, considering you now get to lead an all-female crew, and everyone's getting a second stage technique?" 

Aelia scoffed and grumbled, "Yeah, lead it in service to you…" but she didn't actually sound all that convincing. It was more like a defiant reflex. 

Kane chuckled at her response, but then shrugged, "Well, you needed to activate these through the mainframe first, so that's why it didn't work. Although I'm sure Anna would have figured that out soon enough." 

A little behind Aelia, the embarrassed hareling smiled slightly. 

Aelia, however, wasn't listening anymore. Instead, she'd selected the blinking 'techniques' button in a corner of the interface, and was met with a long list, containing names, associated elements, and short descriptions. 

"Shit," Aelia cursed automatically, as her eyes nearly popped out from her head. She turned to Kane with burning disbelief, "You have this many second stage techniques?!" 

Kane smirked, before shrugging, "Go ahead and pick one out." 

Not needing more of a push than that, she quickly ignored him again, and started scrolling through the list. At the same time, Kane turned to Anna, Mira, and Lyra, before handing them a bracelet as well. 

Naturally, they wasted no time in putting them one and beginning to a search of their own. 

Then, Kane turned to the two groups that hadn't received his mark yet. All of them now looked at Kane with greed and desire. If they weren't so sure it wouldn't get them their techniques any faster, they might have jumped him already. 

Kane activated his rune, causing the room to be flooded with the energy of lust. Instantly the women began to squirm a little, while Kane grinned widely. "Now then, it's time to spread my mark. Who's first?"