I Only Wanted A Class In The Apocalypse

Chapter 1913: The Grand Meeting

Yet Hye knew better. He had stood in the presence of the Systemʼs architects, and he had felt the searing, alien touch of the Gods.

He had dealt with both directly, and the difference was stark between the two. The Gods were separate entities entirely—primordial, volatile, and far more dangerous than any bureaucratic overseer.

Just as he was sinking deeper into the dilemma of his next move, the heavy reinforced doors of the palaceʼs main gate groaned open. A large delegation filed in, led by his inner circle of friends and the ladies who had helped him forge this empire from the ashes.

Hye had left them to manage the logistical nightmare his sudden retreat had created. Their grand plan to amass more population had been forced to a grinding halt, leaving them with the monumental task of organising the displaced races, stabilising overtaxed ecosystems, and ensuring the territory didnʼt collapse under its own weight.

He had also ordered constant patrols along the periphery, hunting for any sign of a Torank counter-offensive. While his acquisition of this territory had been technically outside their jurisdiction, the tension between his kingdom and the Torank Empire was now a powder keg. He refused to leave the safety of his people to luck.

Beyond the immediate defence, he had tasked Isac with a thorough audit of their resources—an assessment of their urgent needs that would serve as the final weight on the scales of his decision: would he stay to lead, or leave for the expedition?

To Lily, Sara, and Legend, he had given the duty of military expansion. With the recent spike in population, the potential for new, formidable legions was limitless, provided they could be trained and loyalized in time.

The group approached Hye, the exhaustion of the last few days etched into their faces.

”Iʼve sent you all the files related to the military assessment,” Lily began, skipping the pleasantries. Her voice was sharp, professional. ”Weʼve already run a preliminary scan of the newly gained populations. There are at least twelve races with high-tier combat compatibility. We can recruit heavily and expand the standing armies while you are away.”

”Good,” Hye said, nodding slowly. He turned his gaze toward Isac. ”And our new citizens? Are they settling in, or are there still many troublemakers?”

”At first, they were causing quite a bit of trouble,” Isac admitted with a weary sigh. She swiped a hand through the air, projecting a series of crime and riot reports onto the screen.

”But after your display of power against the Toranks—even with the retreat—most of the troublemakers were silenced by the sheer scale of what you showed. However, we still have several problematic factions that refuse to give up their old regime and accept us.”

”Just exterminate them,” Hye said. His voice was cold, devoid of any hesitation. ”I wonʼt tolerate hidden bombs in my homeland. If there are signs of insurrection, take care of them. You donʼt need to consult me.”

He paused, his eyes sweeping across the room, locking onto the faces of his friends and the faction leaders.

”After all,” he added, his voice dropping an octave, ”once I depart for this expedition, the task of ruling this kingdom falls entirely into your hands. You need to get used to making these kinds of executive decisions now.”

The silence that followed was heavy, pressing down on the shoulders of everyone in the room. Despite the fact that they all knew this day was coming, hearing it stated so bluntly made the reality of his absence feel like a physical weight.

Ruling a standard kingdom was an immense labour; ruling Hyeʼs kingdom—a rapidly evolving, multi-racial empire built on the edge of a cosmic warzone—was a task ten times more gruelling.

The growth curve of the territory was no longer a steady climb; it was a vertical spike. They had integrated hundreds of billions of people and thousands of distinct races in a matter of weeks.

Under normal circumstances, such growth would be celebrated as a golden age, but the speed of it made it a volatile, barely controllable beast.

”We have another problem,” Angelica said, stepping forward to break the tension. As a leader who understood the grit of planetary development, she looked troubled. ”Even using every terraforming unit and resource we have, building the new planets into fully inhabitable zones is becoming a bottleneck.”

”Why is that?” Hye asked, his brow arching in genuine surprise. He leaned forward, the shadows of his crown casting long lines across his sharp features. ”Didnʼt you ask for the new population specifically to help with the labour? We have hundreds of billions of hands now. Why is ground-breaking stalled?”

”They are working, Hye. Itʼs just...” Angelica hesitated, her gaze flickering toward the other leaders before landing back on him. She felt strange saying it out loud, as if admitting a failure or a mistake.

”The raw resources required to terraform and build on all these planets simultaneously... it simply isnʼt available to us in enough amounts right now. We have the manpower, but not the resources.”

”Oh,” Hye leaned back, the realisation dawning on him like a cold sunrise. ”We havenʼt made a bulk purchase of planetary construction materials since we seized this territory.” He paused, his eyes narrowing as he gave Angelica a heavy, meaningful gaze.

”Why didnʼt you inform me about this deficit while I was negotiating the terms of the deal with the Hescos? I could have squeezed them for whatever we needed as easily as I squeezed them for tons of stuff.”

”Well...” Angelica looked down at her system screen, knowing she carried a portion of the blame. ”To be honest, I never imagined we would ever need such a massive, staggering amount of material in such a short window. My projections were based on a much slower, more traditional rate of expansion.”

”I see.” Hye acknowledged her reasoning with a short, stiff nod. He wasnʼt one to scream over spilt milk, but he didnʼt miss the opportunity to sharpen his friends and subordinates.