[Your stats can be permanently altered with Blood Points.]
An hour passed with Cherry, Jim, and Anya having finalized their fighting exercises against Ace’s Blood Warriors. Though Cherry fought and barely won against Enoris, Jim and Anya did fairly well against the Elite Blood Warriors, both having managed to reduce a significant amount of Ace’s blood Mana.
Currently resting, the Blood Mutants, along with Skyler, engaged in conversation concerning the ongoing War. Cherry and Ace had been among those in the frontline, with Skyler joining them once in a while. Jim and Anya were usually among those tasked with retrieving lost smaller colonies solely due to their "weakness". Thankfully, they too had grown in terms of strength, Blood Skills, and other things to the point that both were granted high positions among their ranks.
While they conversed, Ace leaned on his dead Emberwyrm’s neck while going through his rewards. Ten Blood Points for killing the conjured Emberwyrm was quite the handsome reward. Shame he wouldn’t be able to use them to move from the Blood Bishop to Blood King class.
’What does it mean to have subjects?’ he wondered, still on the topic of moving to the next class. ’Does that imply that I should enslave people? Or could it be due to my small number of Blood Warriors? Is one thousand too little to be considered a number worthy of having a King?’
The Blood Bishop opted not to rely on his system anymore when it came to such matters. The recent half-baked responses, confusing explanations, and withheld information drew Ace to seek help from another source who turned out to be of no help either.
’Guess I’ll have to figure this one out for myself.’
[You have 15.5 Blood Points]
"Show me my health and Energy Stats."
[Each Point will increase the stat by One Hundred Points]
’I could use ten and turn Cherry into a Blood Bishop but also...I could increase all of my stats to their highest levels for now.’
[Two Blood Points have been allocated to Energy]
[Three Blood Points have been allocated to Health]
’I’ll wait till I get to thirty points. Afterward, I’ll turn all three of them at once and...’
"Humans," a large group of about thirty Granians, each armed with armor and blasters, approached the Humans with Blood Mutant collars in their hands. None of the higher-ups escorted said Granians, so the Humans were surprised, and a little skeptical at first. "On order of Lord Grania, you have been invited to the Great Gathering. Please, come with us peacefully. There are many waiting who wish to view you."
"What for?" Jim questioned. At first, the Granians weren’t willing to give a response. The unresponsiveness from the Humans, however, forced them to do otherwise.
"Your presence has been requested," one pushed through the crowd with a response, "the Granian people wish to see what you look like. Most have only heard rumors and seen drawings but they wish to see you with their eyes."
"Most?" Cherry wondered and Skyler asked, "I thought everyone on Planet Grania knew and so us. What do you mean Granian People?"
"The portion who have seen you is only one-eighth of the Granian population. Please, come with us. All of your questions will be answered."
[Location: Granian Castle Main Grounds]
As the Humans approached the Castle, their eyes witnessed hundreds of fleets of ships arriving and taking off from the Castle Grounds and surrounding barracks. Just as the Granian had said before, the Humans had only been seen by one-eighth of the Granians. It was strange for them to accept and yet it all started to make sense.
These Humans had only seen two-twelfths of the Granian City, Granian Castle, and Granian landscape in the area they were in. They were yet to fully discover said areas, let alone the entire Planet itself. Planet Grania was eight times Earth’s size which left enough room for the seven-eighths of the Granian race to live separately from each other.
With the Great Gathering taking place, the leaders of the rest of the Granian race wished to see the Humans, more particularly the Blood Mutants. On account of Lord Grania’s and Lord Grim’s testimony, the Humans were in high demand to be seen before any more plans for the War were made.
"So many Granians..."
"They all look different..."
"But we’re all of the same race," escorting the Humans inside were Chris and Lily, though neither seemed willing to be around the Humans. The bruises poorly covered with cheap paint were indicators of "forceful persuasion" from whoever put them up to the task. "We Granians are an extremely large race with over three trillion individuals in both the Planet and outside colonies." The source of thɪs content is 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭·𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦·𝘯𝘦𝘵
"We’re also a diverse people," Chris spoke under his breath, his voice resonating with weakness, "the way you humans are humans but have different hair types, skin colors, eye colors, body shapes, cultures, tribes, and people is also the same thing we have. The problem is that we do not mix too well for very long periods of time."
"The longest our people last together is the equivalent of a decade. After that, we disperse."
"Is intermarriage allowed?" Jim, fascinated by the multicolored multitude of Granians all around him engaged in conversation, wishing to learn more about the Granians and their weird ways of life.
"Of course, that’s how some other tribes are created. Products of mixed breeding. However, when a community with two or more tribes becomes too large, they are encouraged to separate. Occasional meetings and get-togethers are granted afterward."
"So this Great Gathering’s just all of you coming together to fight the Ethisians?"
"Yes, and no," Lily replied before escorting the Humans to Lord Grania’s Throne room, "if it was just a simple fight between us and the Ethisians, we would have handled it ourselves since our tribe is more superior in terms of technology and battle strength...."
"...however, the Ethisians have made a threat on our existence," Chris interrupted. "Our spies and allies have reported multiple accounts of Ethisians plotting to end all Granians. It would have been possible if only their Mutants had complied and..."
"The Ethisian Blood Mutants are too strong to be controlled by the Ethisians so the Ethisians are handling this by themselves. My only hope is that their Blood Mutants stay that way until the four of you are strong enough to kill them."
Letting out one more sigh, Lily opened the doors of the Throne room. With Chris by her side, they announced the arrival of the Humans to the Granian rulers and leaders who, upon witnessing the Humans, went silent. At a loss for words, the lizard-looking aliens and Humans glared at each other, neither showing any expressions.
"My People," Lord Grania spoke once again while raising his hand as a sign to begin what everyone present had come to do, "witness before you the very beings that will bathe in the blood of our enemies and usher us to our victory. I present, the Blood Mutants."