Formless Ascension: My Affinity Is Limitless

So, instead of forcing everyone to mass migrate to a single spot, the continent-wide announcement would call upon the top one hundred powerhouses among humans.

Those individuals, upon receiving Uhtred’s notice, would be urged to publicize and establish their own fortified camps along the barrier line and constantly push into the continent wherever they were.

It would allow scattered humans to travel short distances to the nearest powerhouse camp rather than forcing them to foolishly cut across hundreds of miles of open desert to reach Uhtred’s location.

”It lessens the travel distance, which means it drastically lowers the mortality rate,” Uhtred analyzed, tracing a finger along the stone table.

”If millions of low-level humans try to cross the entire continent to reach one spot, the ancient variants will easily spot the migration paths. They’ll just sit along the routes and slaughter them by the thousands while they travel.”

”Yes,” Mateo agreed. ”And by publicly acknowledging the authority of the other top rankers, we completely bypass the autonomy issue. We aren’t asking them to surrender their leadership to you. We are publicly validating their strength, showing them that we have zero desire to encroach on whatever factions they are trying to build, or the independence they have.”

Uhtred leaned back on his stool and nodded. The plan was structurally sound. Everyone with a brain would immediately recognize that this was the only way for the human race to survive this trial.

But there’s still a flaw... Uhtred sighed internally.

”The logic is sound, Mateo,” he said with a serious tone. ”But we are dealing with humans. No matter how lax the setup is, no matter how free the terms are, and no matter how obvious the threat to our survival is, there will always be a handful of crazy, short-minded people who will refuse to move along with the plan. They will try to sabotage the camps, terrorize the weaker ascenders for resources, or publicly disagree with the collective just to stand out, or for whatever other petty reason they might have.”

In truth, Uhtred already knew exactly how he intended to handle that variable, but he purposely asked the question just to further gauge Mateo’s personality and resolve.

Mateo stopped what he was doing and stared back at Uhtred flatly. His face was entirely deadpan, his voice dropping into an ice-cold tone.

”And that is the exact reason why your name needs to be at the front of this rally, Uhtred. You aren’t just the face of this campaign for the sake of inspiring the weak. You are the face because of specific situations like that...”

”Anyone who refuses to fall in line despite the freedom we are offering them, anyone who attempts to disrupt the collective front for their own petty greed... you simply kill them.”

Mateo said the words plainly, his voice showing that it was a very simple, obvious solution, one that he saw no problem with whatsoever.

”Of course, it may not even be instantly, because you can’t be everywhere at once. But whenever you cross paths with them out in the field, you execute them without a single shred of hesitation... Publicly.”

Uhtred maintained a completely blank expression as Mateo spoke, filing the information away deep inside his mind. The deadpan, utterly casual manner in which Mateo spoke of executing non-compliant humans told Uhtred more about the man’s worldview.

But at the same time, it wasn’t anything new or shocking to him either. Uhtred didn’t feel a single drop of moral aversion to the statement because that was the same conclusion he came to.

In this lawless world, cancer like those people had to be cut off before they affected the rest of the collective.

Mateo and Uhtred spent another half hour tying up the remaining loose ends of the plan, ensuring the structural details were locked in.

As the meeting finally concluded late into the night, Mateo stood up from his stone stool, rolling his shoulders. He stepped toward the entry flap to finalize the scout assignments with his outer guards, turning back briefly before he exited.

”I will have my men bring over some food for you,” he said curtly. ”Rest up. Tomorrow morning, we turn this continent upside down.”

The flap closed, leaving Uhtred alone in the quiet interior of the tent.

He let out a long, slow sigh, as if feeling the weight of the new responsibilities weigh on him. He sat there in the silence, wondering what was truly going to become of the human race after this brutal trial concluded, and more importantly, what would happen to his own personal independence, the very thing he had strived so fiercely to maintain since the first day of the integration.

He knew that, to a significant extent, his days of unbothered isolation were officially over.

His name was now completely out in the open. With the bounty placement and his current rank, virtually every powerhouse on the planet had successfully deciphered that Uhtred and Red were the exact same person.

Uhtred closed his eyes, consciously reorienting his mind to accept the new reality.

Of course, he would always stay true to himself. He would stay true to his personal goal of climbing up the path of ascension without letting any single person hold him back. That was non-negotiable.

But at the same time, the more power he gained, the more he recognized that with power came the inevitability of responsibility, even if he tried his hardest to avoid it.

As the highest-ranked human on the entire planet, there were always going to be things that he would have the most say in. Trying to constantly dodge those moments was entirely foolish. It was something he simply needed to adapt to and master.

Calming his breath, Uhtred slowly spread his perception out. He pushed the senses through the thick leather walls of the tent, expanding his perception as far as he could reach.

It wasn’t that he distrusted Mateo’s hospitality, but it was a deeply ingrained survival habit.