Apocalypse Redux

Chapter 124: Speech

If it hadn’t been for the ludicrous level of enchantments on the Dungeon Guild HQ, the noise from outside would have been deafening. Not because people were yelling, mind you, but because the sheer number of human beings talking, the volume swelling to ludicrous heights.

Isaac glanced over at the clock on the wall, confirming that the time was just right. He looked himself over with his [Aura] one last time and headed outside.

His head was bald, courtesy of having lost most of hair to hellfire and then shaving off the rest to avoid looking utterly ridiculous. The still slightly scorched bracers he’d worn during the fight were back on his wrists, cleaned but not repaired to empathize what they’d been through. His own ever-present ‘formal’ outfit of a heavily reinforced polo shirt and pants completed the ensemble, though instead of his K-Bar, a beautiful sword, adorned with gold, hung from his belt, courtesy of his new [Class].

[Armory of Ancient Times] was one of the two core [Skills] belonging to [Hildebrand’s Heir], and he’d bought it primarily to show of this blade, right here and now.

Armory of Ancient Times (legendary)

They had some good stuff back in the time of legends, didn’t they? Legendary swords, cloaks of invisibility, rings and belts that granted the strength of ten men … all that good stuff. But we don’t have that stuff anymore, they were either lost to history or they never existed in the first place. But with this Skill, it doesn’t really matter which of those is true, because Hildebrand’s Heir is able to summon anything he wants, so long as Hildebrand once held it, such as his sword Balmung, once wielded by Siegfried.

You may only summon one weapon (or object) at a time, and doing so will reserve 100 points of your mana to maintain it unless you can find alternative ways of sustaining it.

As you learn more about Hildebrand’s legend, you’ll learn more about what you can summon.

Currently available gear: Balmung, Nagelring, Eckesachs, Mimung, assorted mundane gear, Laurin’s Ring, Hildegrim …

That list had been far shorter in the beginning, offering only the blade Balmung, which Hildebrand had taken after avenging Siegfried during the massacre at king Etzel’s court, but it had expanded as Isaac went through the legends that involved Hildebrand in his head. He’d already been somewhat aware of those stories, but once he’d gotten the [Class], he’d read up on everything properly.

Hildebrand had only held most of those blades briefly, given that they hadn’t been his, but apparently, that still counted.

So now Isaac would be wearing the beautiful, master-crafted blade on his first proper public appearance after reaching his third Evolution.

Balmung

A legendary blade, forged from the broken halves of a legendary weapon. Upon being reforged, it brought low the dragon Fafnir, and eventually won its wielder a kingdom.

When Siegfried was eventually slain by the treasonous Hagen, the traitor continued to wield the weapon until he too died in the battle at the court of king Etzel, captured by Dietrich and subsequently executed by Kriemhild. When she too died, the blade passed on to Hildebrand.

And from the hands of that warrior of ancient myth, this peerless blade passed onto Isaac Thoma, the Auric Sage, the man who fought a monster that killed an army to a standstill for five minutes.

No armor without comparable pedigree can withstand Balmung’s blows, no foe can survive its bite so long as its wielder is capable of wielding it properly.

(this is a summoned weapon)

Eventually, someone would ask about the blade. If not now, then afterwards as people poured over the footage of the interview to analyze it as fully as they could. And then, Isaac would be in the perfect position to talk about his new [Class], and what he had to offer, all the while subtly implying that he’d had a whole series of inheritance [Classes] to explain any oddities about him that might have tripped up people in the past. It wasn’t something he’d planned on from the start, but now that he had an inheritance [Class], it would have practically been criminal to waste it.

As Isaac stepped out of the building, the noise abruptly fell. There were still people chattering here or there, but the front rows, the journalists, were silent.

The ‘stage’ itself was nothing but a marble lectern that had been erected out here overnight and enchanted to function like a microphone. The enchantment was crap and would fail soon enough, but like the mobile rock lectern, it had been chosen over something more practical to impress the onlookers. The same went for the “guards” that stood to the right and left of the doors. They were a pair of S-Rankers, people that should and did have far better things to do than play bouncer, but Yoo-jin had gotten them to take the job anyway and their mere presence lent the whole affair a degree of gravitas that even Isaac could not have achieved on his own.

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.” Isaac announced as he stepped up to the stone plinth “Thank you for coming.”

The last bits of conversation petered off as his gaze racked across the crowd, allowing him to give his speech without any disturbances.

“Five days ago, a monster was summoned, both in the figurative and literal sense. A Demon Lord that ignored all mundane strength of arms and slaughtered some of the best and brightest of this nation’s Hunters.

“But sadly that has been a mere ripple in the pond compared to everything else that has occurred this year. Be it through divine intervention, the interference of alien races, or the natural laws of the world reasserting themselves, humanity has been given the [System]. Gifted, some might say, while others might refer to it as a curse.

“I stand before you not as a warrior, but as a researcher and as such, I tell you this: like so many things before it, the [System] is both. A blessing that can turn into the worst bane humanity has ever suffered if mishandled, just like every world-shaking event before it.”

Isaac paused for a moment, once again looking out across the crowd, giving it a moment to sink in.

“The ‘Haber-Bosch-Verfahren is the only reason the human race isn’t currently starving. It is a process that allows for the binding of atmospheric nitrogen for the production of fertilizer, and in doing so, it is allowing all of this you see before you to exist.

“Yet that process wasn’t created to feed hungry children, but as a weapon of war. There was an embargo upon the sale of Salpeter, a component of gunpowder, to Germany during the first World War. This might have proved crippling, if it hadn’t been for the brilliant invention of two scientists whose invention allowed for the continuation of the most devastating conflict to date.

“And more so, one of the men who created it, Fritz Haber, is also known as the father of modern chemical warfare. The man who brought untold suffering to the fields of battle by unleashing chlorine gas upon unsuspecting soldiers.

“Now tell me, doesn’t that invalidate the existence of the process which allows our civilization to exist? Does the fact that its history is linked to bloodshed mean we shouldn’t use it? I, for one, believe the answer to be rather obvious.

“I also consider the [System] to be more of the same. It has brought vast advancements in medicine, people get sick less often and I’m told that a few police officers who plowed ahead in Levels cleared up most of my home city’s unsolved cases.

“Yes, it has brought with it great calamity, yet we can directly link much of that to the [System] being misused. No one can deny that what happened just north of this city was a tragedy, and a war crime even if the use of [System] monsters is yet to classified as such. But likewise, no one can claim that that was how the [System] was meant to be used.

“So I stand before you today, humbly beseeching not just you, but all of humanity: be mindful when using the [System]. This is a power gifted upon each and every one of us, and each and every one of us can use it for good or ill. This is not a battle of politicians, or one of legality, it is one of common sense struggling against recklessness and ignorance.

“There already exists a list of banned summons, as well as monsters that may only be legally summoned with certain precautions. The Tatzelwyrm, for example, is merely a Tier 3 monster yet it is so incredibly toxic that the legends of knights and their steeds dying merely from the blood that travels up the lance thrust into the beast’s breast seem credible. And I’m certain that soon enough, [Raid Bosses] will go on that list as well.

“This is what it means to survive in this new world. Picking your battles, summoning only what you can handle, rather than assuming that anyone telling you not to summon something is out to pull one over on you.”

Isaac paused once more and, moving faster than most people’s eyes could follow, leaped up onto the lectern.

“It won’t be recklessly charging ahead that brings greatness. To paraphrase the old saying ‘being cautious is staying alive, staying alive lets you progress’, all the way to the top!”

The last six words were practically shouted, and met with an overwhelming shout of approval. Even many of the journalists, who’d only come to ask questions and record him, joined in.

As the crowd quieted down again, Isaac leaped off the lectern and walked a couple of steps closer to the people listening.

“Questions?”

For a mere moment, only silence answered him, but then, a whole bunch of reporters began shouting over each other.

Two hours later, Isaac was seriously regretting ever offering to answer anything, but then again, given that he was able to reply to most questions in a way that further pointed out the usefulness of advancing with caution, he wasn’t too unhappy with the end result. Besides, he might not have realized it in the beginning, but his new [Class] had also given him a whole lot of patience, even with stupid people or questions.

In the end, he was just glad that not only had be arranged for Bailey to relocate his family to his home in the forest until all of this blew over somewhat, he’d also had things set up receive normal people ahead of time. A couple of log cabins, a storage for foodstuffs and consumables that wasn’t a spatial pocket, a satellite dish, etc. He’d also used his mental connection to his extradimensional apartment to open it and set it to stay that way. Sure, that robbed him of any control over who went in, but it wasn’t like there was anything vital in there.

Also, Raul and Amy had agreed to stay over in case anyone decided to trespass. All in all, things should be safe until he returned after the medal awarding scheduled to take place in four days.