https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-931-The-Skrull-Top-Level-Meeting/12827278/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-933-The-Final-Battle-Ground-Mount-Fuji-/12827280/
Chapter 932: A Troubled Manina
Chapter 932: A Troubled Manina
Plant looked at Manina and Kusman, his expression unreadable. "Since you two have different opinions, let's solve this with a vote. We have exactly nine people here, so there won't be a tie."
"Agreed," the various gods chimed in.
Voting was the best way to resolve disputes, ensuring that the majority ruled. Otherwise, the meeting would degenerate into endless, fruitless arguments, with neither side convincing the other. Given their busy schedules, they couldn't afford to waste time, so voting was the most efficient method.
Seeing everyone's agreement, Plant continued, "However, to prevent any influence on each other, Sylan, please turn off the video conference for three minutes starting now. Reconnect after three minutes. During this time, everyone should think carefully about their vote and not discuss with each other. We'll vote directly after the three minutes."
"Understood, sir!" the AI Sylan responded promptly.
"Alright," the other gods and Kusman agreed.
Soon, the video feeds in the conference room went dark, and a red message appeared on Manina's virtual screen: "Disconnected from the video conference."
Staring at the red message, Manina leaned back in his chair, sighing heavily. Despite Plant's lack of direct stance, Manina could tell from his subtle expressions that Plant did not approve of his strategy. Plant could have outright rejected it, but he likely decided to vote to save face for Manina.
"Still, I can't deny that a direct confrontation with the Blue Star humans is more appealing," Manina muttered, gazing at the ceiling of his study, his eyes vacant. "But is it really wise to lose our strategic depth? If our first wave fails, we'll be at a disadvantage for the rest of the conflict. Given the current development level of Blue Star, there's at least a forty percent chance that our first wave will fail."
His eyes traced the gold-embossed patterns on the ceiling, and suddenly, Manina thought of the first spring they had lost—the Yunlu Mountain Spring.
Yunlu Mountain was the largest spring on Blue Star, deep within the heart of China. Before the war, Manina had envisioned using this spring as the center of a network that would cover the entire Blue Star. After the war began, the army would surge from Yunlu Mountain, swiftly conquering China, the country with the most ancient cultivators.
Moreover, the Yunlu Mountain Spring could have worked in tandem with the Fuji Mountain Spring in Japan, providing a much greater operational space for the final battle. But who knew that just a few days after entering Blue Star, the Lankters would lose this crucial spring! What a bunch of incompetents!
If not for their incompetence, Manina wouldn't have considered a prolonged war with the Blue Star humans. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He almost wanted to call in the Minister of the Palace, Pell, and beat him to vent his frustration.
...
Before Manina could dwell on his thoughts further, the three minutes passed quickly.
As soon as the countdown ended, Sylan reconnected the video conference, and the various Skrull gods and the two councilors reconvened.
The moment the video feed reopened, Plant said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I won't say much. Let's start the voting. Sylan, you'll tally the votes."
"Understood," Sylan replied.
As soon as he finished speaking, a touchable option appeared in front of each participant. One option was "Support Manina's Strategy," and the other was "Support Kusman's Strategy."
Manina, of course, supported himself. He tapped the option to support his own strategy with a blank expression.
The other gods and Kusman quickly made their choices.
Once everyone had voted, the results were in. According to Sylan's tally, Manina received a total of three votes, while Kusman received a resounding six votes!
Of the three votes for Manina, Manina III voted for his own kin, and Hiber, considering that the Sun Empire still held the upper hand in the war, voted for him. The remaining six votes, including Plant's, all went to Kusman.
It seemed that "quick and decisive" was the majority's preference, and Kusman had won by a landslide!
...
Manina's expression remained unchanged as he looked at the voting results. He had anticipated this outcome before the vote, and it was exactly as he expected.
If he were in their shoes, without any knowledge of the Blue Star cultivators' rapid growth, he would have also chosen a "quick and decisive" approach.
Kusman won the vote, but he didn’t show any signs of satisfaction or provoke Manina. He was very emotionally intelligent, knowing that taunting Manina after a victory would only invite trouble. So, he sat there expressionless, not uttering a word.
The atmosphere in the meeting room grew heavy and tense. After a few seconds of silence, Manina finally spoke, “Since everyone agrees with Kusman’s strategy, I have nothing to say...”
There was no point in arguing now. The votes had been cast, and there was nothing left to do. They would have to wait for the Blue Star Military Report from the Expeditionary Army Headquarters to come out, and then consider the materials to persuade the gods.
Manina shifted gears, “As for the ‘Anti-Gravity Crystal Drill,’ should we discuss...”
Before he could finish his sentence, Plange interjected, cutting him off, “No way, stop it! No more internal disputes, Manina!”
With that, he cut off the video call and left the meeting room.
Seeing the blacked-out screen of Plange, Manina was left speechless, unsure of what to say next.
...
Plange didn’t give Manina any face, but there were reasons. The ‘Anti-Gravity Crystal Drill’ had caused significant issues long before:
Before attacking Blue Star, the governments of the Skrull nations had already begun discussing how to divide Blue Star’s land and sea. The 3,732 spirit springs spread across Blue Star were the main targets for division. These springs were the golden hens that could lay eggs worth centuries of accumulated spirit energy, a treasure that all nations coveted!
Therefore, each government aimed to divide as many springs as possible, considering the land and sea secondary.
However, things took a massive turn.
Manina’s ‘Blast Mining’ plan caused 2,300 out of the 3,732 springs to dry up, leaving another 500 in a semi-depleted state. This drastically reduced the value of occupying Blue Star, and the Skrull nations and major powers were filled with resentment.
It was as if everyone wanted a golden hen that could lay eggs for centuries, but Manina had killed the hen, bringing back only one golden egg. Though the egg was divided among the group, the collective resentment was heavy.
The ‘Anti-Gravity Crystal Drill’ was an instrument long banned, having been prohibited for hundreds of years.
Thus, everyone was deeply dissatisfied, but they kept it to themselves for the sake of unity. But now, Manina was about to use the Anti-Gravity Crystal Drill again! This time, he aimed to destroy the giant springs, each capable of topping a hundred smaller springs!
If this was approved, wouldn’t the outside world start a commotion?
So, without thinking, Plange vetoed Manina and left the video meeting room, showing his stance.
...
With Plange’s departure, the meeting naturally couldn’t continue. The gods all bid their farewells and left the video meeting room.
Though the meeting ended on a sour note, the vote that had just passed was still in effect. Manina still had to follow the resolution and deploy the main force of the Skrull Expeditionary Army to the Fuji Spring on Rainbow Nation.
The gods and Kusman gradually left, and in the end, the video meeting room was left with only Manina and Lanchi. Lanchi hadn’t spoken a word throughout the meeting and hadn’t cast a vote.
Though he was the commander of the Skrull Expeditionary Army, in front of these top leaders, he had no right to speak.
Now, looking at the somber face of Manina, Lanchi still didn’t dare to speak, sitting there like a wooden dummy, his face expressionless.
Manina, of course, noticed Lanchi hadn’t left.
After a while, he sighed and said to Lanchi, “Lanchi, I suddenly feel like this meeting was a failure.
If I had known it would turn out like this, I might as well have made the decision myself.”
Manina had thought the gods would all support his strategy, but he hadn’t expected that Kusman’s interruption would directly nullify his entire plan.
“Your Majesty, you can think a bit more broadly,” Lanchi cautiously replied, “Directly battling the Blue Star people isn’t necessarily bad. Although Fuji Spring lacks strategic depth, a quick and decisive battle might prevent problems from arising.”
Lanchi thought for a moment and added, “And it was a unanimous vote by the gods. We can only proceed as decided.”
"Let's hope everything goes smoothly." Manina sighed again.
...
...
The scene shifts back to the North Pole of Blue Star.
An hour after the Blue Star cultivators and players had occupied the giant spring, Su Yu's realm had stabilized, allowing him to finally leave the layers of pale purple protective barriers.
Upon exiting the barriers, he felt an endless surge of power coursing through his body! It was as if he could leap into the cosmos and play around on the sun with a single bound! The immense strength of a God-tier powerhouse made him feel as though the entire world was within his grasp!
Seeing Su Yu emerge from the barriers, the cultivators and players all ascended to congratulate him.
"President Ke, congratulations on your successful breakthrough!"
"You are the role model for all Blue Star players!"
"President Ke, when are you planning to hold a breakthrough enlightenment session?"
Everyone laughed and cheered.
Su Yu warmly acknowledged their greetings.
"Thank you all, thank you very much."
"As for the enlightenment session, we can discuss it once we're back in the game!"
He then turned to Zhong Feng, who stood among the crowd. "Zhong Feng, now that the Skrull base is under control, should we head back to our country?"
"We can return now," Zhong Feng nodded.
"Alright, let's head back then." Su Yu agreed.
He had no interest in entering the Skrull base and preferred to return directly to the capital with everyone.
As Su Yu spoke, a pale blue portal opened a few dozen meters to his side.
The portal, about five meters tall, had a bright white glow along its edges.
Su Yu smiled at everyone. "We'll go through the portal directly. The other side of the portal is the headquarters in the capital, saving us the trouble of traveling."
If it were the old Su Yu, still at the peak of the Seventh Rank, he wouldn't have been able to open a portal to transport everyone like this. The mana required to teleport three God-tier individuals was too massive for him to handle.
But now, things were different.
He had ascended to the God-tier, and the mana within him was vast beyond imagination!
Not only could he use the portal to transport Prime Minister Cao and the other two God-tier individuals, but he could also easily teleport all the Blue Star powerhouses from the base!
The Blue Star players and cultivators were also delighted.
Traveling by supersonic jet would have taken several hours, but using the portal saved them a lot of time.
Under Zhong Feng's urging, one by one, the Great Cultivators and players crossed through the portal, successfully returning to the headquarters in the capital.
...
Half an hour later, in a large conference room at the headquarters in Yan Mountain, an important pre-battle meeting began.
The number of participants was considerable.
From the ancient cultivators, there were the First Emperor, Prime Minister Cao, Elder Yang Jian, Emperor Taizong of Tang, and Elder Wang Mang—five in total.
The players were more numerous. In addition to Su Yu, there were Zhong Feng, Old Li, Old Meng, Yun Zhongmu Di, and eight others.
Notably, the Prime Minister of Nihon and the strongest player, Fujiwara Chika, was also present.
Thanks to the resources poured in by the entire nation of Nihon, Fujiwara Chika had successfully ascended to the Seventh Rank.
She was the fifth Blue Star player to achieve the Seventh Rank, following Su Yu, Xia Tian, Zhong Feng, and Old Meng.
However, the issue was that Fujiwara Chika was the only one not from Huaxia, so Su Yu couldn't help but give her a few extra glances.
Fujiwara Chika was also looking at Su Yu, but her gaze soon lost focus as if she was deep in thought.
...
Everyone gathered around the conference table.
Hu Jing, seeing that everyone who needed to be there had arrived, announced the start of the meeting.
He spoke clearly, "Everyone, we've called this meeting because there is a very important matter to discuss.
However, before we get to that, I would like to congratulate Comrade Su Yu!
Su Yu, congratulations on your successful ascension to the Eighth Rank!"
Su Yu smiled in response. "I couldn't have achieved this without the support of the masses.
If it weren't for the active efforts of the people in the various leveling zones to gather materials for me, I might not even be at the Sixth Rank, let alone achieve today's success."
"Yes, thank the masses," Hu Jing agreed. "Without the support and sacrifices of the people, we would be nothing, and we must fight for them!"
Hu Jing stood up and looked at everyone present. "Everyone, we have only 89 days left until the final battle. We need to formulate a new plan to face the Skrull challenge!"
(End of Chapter)
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