Chapter 407: Civilized animals

Blake watched the mind-altering substance slowly transform the crowd with extreme curiosity. He summoned Navi and tried to identify it, but his familiar frowned and shook her head.

“Sorry, Master, but it’s protected by powerful magic. My powers are useless.”

Blake thanked the construct and dismissed it again, hoping he could collect a sample to study it later.

“Annie, use your void power please,” he said. “I don’t want you to feel a loss of control.”

The young warrior nodded as her eyes glazed, and Blake turned to problem number two.

“Seul-ki, I don’t suppose you have some...”

The Korean put a hand on Annie’s shoulder, and a moment later her eyes glazed in almost exactly the same way before she blinked and seemed herself again.

“I will be fine,” she said, and Blake nodded with a smile.

He could feel the mind altering effect probing at his senses, but between his affinity, his partition, and probably just his mental stats, his brain was mostly protected. He could almost see it trying to infiltrate, like he was watching tetris blocks fall, and could somehow move the pieces and cancel them out with arcane chemistry below.

"You girls are alright if I leave you here a minute?" he said, then looked at the expressionless, disinterested stares. "Right. Well. I'll be right back."

Blake had always been a people watcher. And the roof raining inhibition-prohibitor mixed with God knew what else proved a bit too overwhelming for his curiosity. He walked amongst the growing crowd, standing near their tables, watching pupils enlarge and skin flush, mouths opening in excited smiles.

But it didn't take long before he was attracting feminine attention, and he decided to try his very neglected, though once life-saving, Adaptive Veil.

With a gender ratio like this, he knew being male at all might make him a source of interest. But some kind of ‘averaged’ look would still probably help a man like him.

As usual, activating the power didn’t actually seem to do anything from his point of view. He felt the same, and saw no difference. But it didn’t take long before women only glanced at him and moved on. He still had to shake his head and decline the occasional dance offer, but it definitely improved things.

With his new disguise in place, he walked towards the eastern leadership, curious to see what he'd find. They seemed as effected as anyone else, their player leadership leaving their tables one by one to go join the growing mob.

Everyone, that is, except their leader.

The emperor stood alone watching the others, expression a kind of impatient boredom. Blake got a little closer, and with no warning the man suddenly turned, his eyes locking with Blake's from across several tables.

They both stared until Jeong finally turned away, as if only curious, and maybe disgusted by the scene around him. It was a bad sign.

It meant the emperor likely had mental defences that could resist whatever this was, or else some other kind of protection. He would be a difficult target for Blake's mind powers. It also meant he was disciplined enough not to indulge himself.

Unlike Mason, Blake couldn’t help but think.

He did his best to shut it out. But the reality was, Mason seemed more inflamed by his passions since entering the great game. Whether it was the growing power, the constant flirting with life and death, or the influence of the various 'gods' that seemed interested in him, the result was the same.

Blake wasn’t the same person he was a few months before. And neither was his brother. Close, certainly, but not the same.

Of course Blake had made his own mistakes as patron of Nassau. He had used his powers when he should have been building real trust. He had treated the others like pawns and problems more than allies and solutions.

He'd had his reasons, but ultimately his own fear had blinded him to a growing inclination towards tyranny—a personality trait or maybe flaw that blinded him to other possibilities.

Mason was not immune. He turned out to be an inspiring leader in a dangerous world, able to make decisions and take the consequences, able to earn the trust and love of others.

But he was impulsive. Too emotional, too quick to judge. Unwilling to bend or consider sometimes there was only flawed solutions to complex problems. And he was building a harem like an ancient king.

Blake wasn't sure how to help, and couldn’t decide if this was a serious problem. But every weakness was exploitable, and soon enough every one of Mason’s flaws might be tested. Might even be fatal.

As Blake watched the civilian women surrounding and groping most of the men in sight, he supposed the harem might ultimately be fine. Except it was like Mason was indulging in his favorite drink. He was getting drunk on women with no one to hit the brake.

"Who are you?"

Blake blinked and turned to find Emperor Jeong a few steps away, his dark eyes drifting around the room.

"No one important," Blake said, heart racing, not wanting to give away one of his abilities.

"I can see your magic, but not through it," Jeong said casually. "I know every important player on my continent. And to resist...whatever is happening, makes you an unusual man. Why aren't you with the others?" He gestured at a gathering of Nassau's players near the dance floor.

Blake shrugged, mostly thrilled his disguise was working so well even if detected. He was reminded it was his version of Mason's incredible 'Apex Predator'—a kind of unique ability 'gifted' by the system early in the game.

It made him wonder if he hadn't been paying enough attention to it—if it had some kind of upgradeable, or at least expanded uses he hadn't exploited.

"I'm usually alone," he said, because it was how he'd felt all his life, whether he was with other people or not. He felt strangely compelled to tell the truth, maybe because he was in disguise. Mason was the only exception to his usual solitude. Though not always.

Jeong nodded as if he understood. He met Blake's eyes for a long time before looking away.

"I grew up hungry," said the emperor. "I didn't know what a full stomach was until I was twenty. All my sister and I did was search for food, almost every day. It was all we talked about. All we thought about. Do you know what that does to a person?"

Blake shook his head, strangely compelled to hear more. Jeong sighed.

"It makes us animals. That's what it is to be every other living thing in our world. Everything except us. At least some of us."

Blake said nothing, and Jeong took a breath as he pointed out at the crowd of partying people.

"When I look at them, do you know what I see? I see civilized animals six meals from beastial chaos. But they did none of the civilizing themselves. It was gifted to them by great men. They are the spoiled children of titans. The ungrateful offspring of a line of survivors unbroken since time immemorial."

Blake turned to see Jeong's lips curling.

"The gods should have culled more. That's what the tutorials were. The unfairness, the destruction, it wasn’t an accident. They wanted us harder. To know what this universe is. And even after everything, all we've been through, the people left are still weak. Just look at them. Soon they'll rut like animals."

Blake looked in the man's eyes, and shivered.

"If you hate them, why lead them? Why make yourself emperor?"

Jeong blinked and seemed to remember he was talking to someone. He quirked his head and reached out to touch Blake's arm before seeming to change his mind.

"Forgive me, I'd forgotten where I was. I may hate these wretches, but I love mankind. His potential. What he could be, with the right direction. I will improve him, Blake Nimitz. I will perfect him. Even if it takes me a thousand years."

Blake winced and turned, wondering how long exactly Jeong had been observing him. No doubt there would be spies, other players constantly using their own powers to watch him and probably every other player.

He sighed, dropping his disguise. Jeong smiled.

"You are loyal, and clever, I think. You have many gifts, Mr. Nimitz. I wonder: will you squander them like these fools, or will you one day join me in the sun? Perhaps you will look to the future, as I do. And not..." he waved a dismissive hand at the crowd. "Watch your brother breed with the pigs, toiling beneath his shadow. Good evening."

Blake found himself uncharacteristically speechless as Jeong wandered away, looking serene now as he held his hands behind his back.

It was clear already this was a dangerous man. But for the first time since he'd been locked in a tower with an orc king, Blake felt a stab of true fear.

This emperor was no Sebastian. Jeong wasn't some simple brute who intended to dominate mankind with pure force and have his wicked way. He had a plan. Probably a lot of them.

He was subtle and cunning and what he did or said was probably all considered and designed. In the realm of politics and manipulation, Mason was no match for this man. Not by himself. His only chance was on the battlefield.

And what if he wasn't a match for him there, either?

Blake squashed the thought. If Mason couldn't beat this emperor in a fair fight, it was hard to see any outcome except surrender.

Nassau was horribly outnumbered, both in players and far worse in civilians. Blake could handle changing teams. He could do what he had to, say whatever words were required, survive and bide his time.

But Mason? Mason would die. When it came to his simple philosophies about life he had never bent and never would. It made him admirable, it made him inspiring, it made him the kind of leader most of humanity would rather follow.

But as far Blake was concerned, it also sometimes made him stupid. And it was up to Blake to protect him from that stupidity. To be the malleable reed in the wind while Mason's oak held firm.

Blake was definitely going to destroy this ‘emperor’, and anyone who stood with him. He didn't know when, and he didn't yet know how. But he was going to become whatever was required—to join these easterners in every way they wanted. He would take his time, see the lay of the land, planting himself in their midst.

Then he would rip their leadership out by its roots.

For now he grit his teeth and pretended to be confused, to be torn. To be thinking deeply about what Jeong had said, warring with his conscience.

He put on a good show for whatever spy was watching, putting away the reminder to behave from now on as if he was being observed every moment of the day. He eventually sat back down with Annie and Seul-ki, waiting for Seul-ki to ask him what was wrong.

"I've met the enemy," he said, face suitably grave, hoping someone was listening. "And I'm not sure I'm on the winning side."