âConsider it seed investment.â JulâTaras said sagely. âThere are others who are richer than you-â
ElâTaras scoffed loudly.
âThere are others who ARE richer than you who donât have the privilege nor the honor of throwing all of their wealth into the new Empire even though they would have definitely desperately wanted to do so if they knew about it.â JulâTaras looked at her uncle levelly.
âThe more you put in, the more youâll get. You know that better than me, uncle.â JulâTaras said patiently.
At that, however, ElâTaras burst into a wide, wide smile.
âIâve been waiting for you to say that. Of course I know that. But itâll mean nothing if you and your little âEmperorâ donât hold to the same principle as I do.â ElâTaras patted JulâTaras shoulder affectionately and passed her a token.
JulâTarasâ eyes widened slightly as she too burst into a very wide smile.
It was ElâTarasâ personal token.
All of his wealth can be accessed from it. Each day, all of the Commissionâs net profits flowed into various banks and holdings all over the universe, and all of it were linked by one single token.
The token to rule them all!
JulâTaras received it with slightly trembling hands. It was light and cool to the touch.
âLet me grant you access.â ElâTaras pointed at JulâTaras, and immediately, the token warmed up in her hand.
âFinally, I get to verify if my investigations are correct. It was really hard tracing your money you know.â JulâTaras grumbled to her uncle lightly as she eagerly delved into the token with her mind. âLetâs see, cash and cash equi⦠â¦â
⦠⦠â¦
⦠⦠â¦
⦠⦠â¦
⦠⦠â¦
For a full minute, JulâTaras remained completely frozen while ElâTarasâ lips curled slightly into a small smile.
It was the very first time he actually revealed his full wealth to anyone, and it was exactly the reaction he expected anyone, even JulâTaras, to have.
In fact, if it was anybody else apart from JulâTaras, they would probably have went huh?
The number was just too big to make sense!
Not for JulâTaras, of course.
She knew exactly how much the number was. Her brain could process the number, after all, numbers are just numbers.
It was just thatâ¦
Her brain tried to understand just what sort of impact the numbers could have in real life, and it was finding difficulty doing that.
She blinked a few times.
Her mind thought of the most expensive endeavor and the most expensive variant of that endeavor, and then tripled it a couple of times in a row, and then tripled it again just to be safe, and she realized that she would have barely used a tiny fraction of that number!
ElâTarasâ smile grew wider as he guessed what JulâTaras was doing in her mind.
He chose that very moment to drop his next bombshell.
âThat number⦠is last yearâs figure. The cumulative number is this.â ElâTaras pointed at JulâTaras once more.
She was a person who rarely gave up. In fact, if she puts her mind to it, she was the stubbornest person she knew, and she knew a lot of people.
However, at that moment, she chose to give up.
Why bother? She already knew that she could put into motion all of her wildest and craziest plans, and she still would have barely scratched the surface of the mountain that was ElâTaras wealth.
She didnât need to know anything more than that.
Not yet, anyway.
âI assume you want the new Empire to be the head of the coalition that would dominate the entire known universe then? But even with such a lofty goal, this war chest is just too extravagant.â JulâTaras sighed.
âHahahaha. My dear Jules. Youâre thinking far too small.â ElâTaras laughed happily and rather half-excitedly like a little boy at the opportunity of finally being able to voice out his deepest and darkest ambition.
He glanced at Harold Sands, and said very grandly.
âTell her, Director Sands. No, not Director. Commander in Chief Sands.â
All of them present there breathed in sharply.
Commander in Chief Sands?
âEhm. I canât believe we are divulging such top secret information to you guys. Youâve truly risen up in the ranks of the Universeâ¦â Harold Sands sighed.
âThe truth of the matter is, the Gaming Commission is gearing up for war. Has been, for many, many years.
For almost a hundred years now, weâve discovered various clues about the existence of a part of the universe which we, as of now, have no access to.
And in that new universe, as we like to call it, the life forms control a different and more powerful type of energy, and they manipulate their energy in a far more advanced way than we do.
The energy that you see Elliot wielding is but a very unique combination of two energy types present in that new universe.
We believe that they are what passes for life and death energy over there.
We donât know for certain how powerful Elliot actually is in comparison to the best fighters in that universe, but we believe that he should be somewhere in the middle.
And of course, the Ascendant Runes Jessica is working on is the unique and wonderful way these people from the new universe wield and manipulate their energies.
Together, Elliot and Jessica now are in possession of the only working samples we have of the complete power structure of the new universe.
And if we have samples⦠we can replicate them.â
At those words, JulâTaras, Monkey King and Aunt Hills were completely stunned speechless!
But Harold Sands was not done.
âFor the longest time, weâve been gearing up for a defensive war. Weâve built up our forces slowly, and gave all we have to research and to look for those unique energy types and runes.
For the longest time⦠we were content. Worried, yes. But content to do all we can to defend ourselves.â
Harold Sands looked at JulâTaras in the eye.
He knew that JulâTaras didnât need to hear the rest of his words.
But he said it anyway.
âWe are not content anymore.â He said softly.