Situation | Plans

In the living room, Avery and Yue could be seen sitting on a couch as Yue leans her head on Avery's shoulder. Their focus is on the television as they watch the newscaster explaining the current situation.

"Good Evening. We begin today with the disaster that occurred this morning at exactly 10 AM. A meteor shower of colorful crystals came crashing down all over the planet. Resulting in trillions of damages all over the world."

"Surprisingly, there appear to be zero injuries and fatalities though people in contact with the said crystals were suddenly put into a coma with some people waking up few hours after only to report that they were placed in a game-like virtual world."

"Scientist discovers strange energies inside the said crystals which might be responsible for the reduced impact. They hypothesized that this energy is connected as to how no life forms were targeted…"

"It's amazing how these crystals were able to avoid hurting anyone" Yue commented after hearing the news report.

"Well… they Ascended Universe would not want potential rulers and future habitants getting killed right?"

Yue chuckles and said. "But it did give those businessmen one big of a problem."

"Now that you mention it. I have to check on the investments I made later on." Avery said.

"Hmm… not that I am against it, but why do we need a big amount of money, big brother?"

"Is it bad for me to want my little sister to have a very comfortable life? I just want my Little Yue to enjoy anything she likes to do on this planet before it gets destroyed in the future."

"Big brother…" Yue's eyes were filled with love and warmth as he looked at Avery.

Avery turned his head as he looked at his little sister. Their face was very close since Yue was looking at Avery from his shoulder. Seeing how close they were, Avery smiled as he could feel his sister's warmth.

Noticing the close distance, Yue's face became beet red as she turned her face back to the television while continuing to lean on Avery's shoulder.

"A-Anyway... Is that the only reason Big brother?"

"Knowing you. There's got to be other reason besides that." Yue continued.

"Well… you are right but that is still the main reason why I want more money" Avery said as he returned his gaze to the television.

"I told you that we are not the only ones who are given the chance to start our empire in the Ascended Universe right?"

"Nn." Yue nodded.

"Even though I can't remember all the details. I still know of the major figures who were able to build empires that reigned hegemony in their locations."

"They are going to be quite the troublesome fellows, so I plan to sabotage some of them here on planet earth."

"Why not just eliminate them?" Yue asks in confusion.

"I want to take full advantage of them. Instead of destroying them and completely removing them and their village in the Ascended World, I want to slow down their development and give us time to strengthen ourselves. So when the time comes for us to fight, we could just take everything they have for ourselves using the disparity of strength."

"It's risky, but if we succeed then the rewards are going to be bountiful… but how are we going to sabotage them, big brother?"

"Hmm, there's not many ways. We could maybe take their focus away from the Ascended World and make them focus on the earth. However, this is not going to work for all, as I am sure some prestigious families who had a high rating in the test and attained a rarer starting village were given information on the world ending in the future."

"Knowing that the planet is ending, they are probably thinking of suppressing this info as much as possible so that they could take advantage of it. They would pour in all their resources to pay people to work for them inside the Ascended World. Not knowing anything while thinking that it is only a virtual world, those people would accept the offer and gladly use their own village to work for those families." Avery continued.

"Wait.. how are they going to work for them if they do not know where they are in the Ascended World?" Yue pointed out something.

"Here is a fun fact. the people who activated the Crystal of Ascension are actually not randomly scattered. The crystal actually based it on their current location. So all people in this city would be sent to the same region in the Ascended World while people in another city would be sent together to another region in the Ascended World. In the same sense, the region in the Ascended World where the people here in this city are sent is adjacent or near the region where the people of the closest city are sent."

"Ohh... so since they are all in the same region while the people in the nearby city are in the adjacent regions, then getting in touch is going to be easier. Those prestigious families are going to take advantage of it by buying them with money that is going to be useless in the future." Yue said.

"But… they still have little knowledge about the Ascended World and won't come to know of this information until later on, so they are probably still thinking of ways to take advantage of their resources,"

"Hmm… now that I think of it there is actually a Forum dedicated to the Ascended World where people discuss and share information." Avery continued.

"Really? Wait… Let me check." Yue then grabbed her phone and searched for the said Forum.

"I found it! It's called the 'The Ascended Forum'."

Yue scrolled through the forum and checked its contents.

"Hmm… nothing much useful… Oh, what this? Someone died and got revived?"

"Really? Who's stupid enough to die on the first day."

"Yes, look" Yue showed Avery her phone.

"Well… that guy is certainly stupid."

"But, how does death work in the Ascended World work, big brother?"

"Hmm, people don't really die in the Ascended World under normal circumstances. True death only happens after their real bodies merge with the body inside the Ascended World, and that would only happen halfway through the grace period of the Ascended World or when the earth is destroyed."

"Under normal circumstances?"

Avery smiled as she noticed it. "Yes, you could actually force a body to merge ahead of schedule using the Reality Fruit. This would remove their ability to respawn as their body already merged which means that if they die then that's it, they're dead."

"Unlimited respawn seems to be far-fetched. There has to be some drawbacks to this." Yue then pointed out another thing she noticed.

"Yes. It is better to not die and respawn since the drawback is quite bad. The person who died would find his or her level halved plus the respect or popular support rating would also take a significant hit. If they keep dying, not only would they become weaker, their citizens would also lose faith and start to rebel in order to replace them."

"That's quite a serious drawback…"

"Anyway, I'll go back to my room and check the state of the stock market," Avery said and prepared to stand up only to be prevented by Yue.

"Wait!" Yue said hurriedly as she tightly hugged his arm.

"Yes?"

Noticing what she is doing, she becomes embarrassed and quickly releases his arm "Uh-Uhm… C-Can you stay a little bit longer big brother?"

Noticing her state, Avery can't help but smile teasingly. "Hehe, does my cute little sister want to spend more time with her big brother?"

Yue becomes more embarrassed but nods weakly.

"Since my Little Yue says so. Then how can I, Avery, refuse such request?" Avery said.

He sits back down beside Yue and hugs her waist as he pulls her closer to him. Yue becomes more embarrassed but was very happy to feel his warmth again. They then continued to watch the news together and occasionally talked.