<h4>Chapter 16: Consequences.</h4>


    Reven and his fleet reached the harbor safely.


    By this time, most of the people of Japan had already been sent to ISC. Thest batch of people were also boarding the ships.


    The soldiers were also packing their stuff to get boarded.


    Reven allowed the rescued survivors to join the people boarding the ships.


    After that, he went to meet Dave.


    "Did everything go well?" Reven questioned.


    "Yes, everything turned out good. There was no second batch of monsters, which made it easier than anticipated.


    We secured as many people as we could. Also, we have taken as many resources as possible." Dave replied.


    "What is the number of casualties? Any reports from the HQ about the statistics from around the World?" Reven further asked.


    Dave''s face turned serious as he looked at Reven and stated,


    "The total poption of ISC, including the Japan survivors, hase down to just 467 million, and for the world, it hase down to just 1.6 billion from 4 billion. Also, the number is expected to go down if nothing happens for good.


    The moment the second wavees, which I am pretty sure will definitelye, the world will be screwed."


    "We are already screwed. Think about it. How will we survive after these many deaths? Demand and supply will disrupt each other, and markets will go down.


    People will die of poverty if nothing changes. The possibility of which is down to nil.


    I think it would be better if the monsters killed us all rather than just torturing us." Reven spoke bitterly.


    "Who would have thought those 21st century webnovels woulde to life in such a manner? Hell, it doesn''t look anything like what is described in those novels at all.


    We don''t have any special powers or anything. How are we supposed to fight these monsters?" Daveined with frustration.


    "I wonder… Have you noticed that the World Energy is no longer foreign to our bodies?" Reven suddenly asked.


    "No, I don''t feel anything. I felt something when the portals opened, but I thought that was just a reaction of my body towards something so absurd like this. You know, like goosebumps." Dave answered.


    His answer left Reven in great thought.


    "Let''s go home already. I really want to see my family now. I don''t know when I may die." Dave stated, pulling Reven out of his reverie.


    "Hmm, let''s go."


    Reven and Dave walked out and checked everything onest time.


    Finally, they also boarded the ship and left for ISC.


    -----


    A weekter.


    The Presidential House, ISC.


    Reven was standing in front of a middle aged man who was sitting on a chair behind the table. The person in front of Reven was none other than the President of ISC, Mr. Atal nck.


    Reven could be seen discussing something major with the President.


    "So, I had meetings with Sir Rawanth about it. He expressed that if what the scientists are saying bes true, then democracy won''t survive in its current form. What are your thoughts on that?" The President asked.


    "To be very frank, sir, he is correct. If human beings are able to manipte World Energy, or, I should say, ''Ardor'', as named by the scientists, then it is bound to happen.


    There are bound to be people who are more capable than others. People with more talent will definitely use this to their advantage.


    So practically, there is no way we can stop it. We humans have a tendency to oppress the weak.


    We were already doing that when all humans had the same level of strength.


    Now, with Ardoring into y, it will only increase in the future." Reven sternly replied.


    "I know that, Lt. Greh. What I want is a way to ensure at least some level of security for the weak and a system to regte the strong.


    We need to maintain bnce and order in society to some degree.


    Or else, I am afraid that no matter how strong we be, we will not be able to fight these monsters." The President sighed.


    "Sir, I think we should first ask the other nations or alliances toe together to form a united front.


    Introducing something like a ''Guild'' policy can help regte the ones with abilities. This can also act as public appeasement.


    We need to make sure that these Guilds don''t betray us. For that, we need to sponsor the Elite Guilds. Also, we need to sponsor and nurture individuals possessing strong abilities.


    If we can do that, then everyone will simply be agitated about each other and will want the government to act as the mediator, or, as you can say, themon ground.


    Whether they want it or not, they will need the government to ensure that they are not randomly attacked.


    Also, I do believe that with new changes, there will be new kinds of resources. We just need to make sure that the government has some jurisdiction over whateveres.


    This will act as a deterrent against anyone with harmful intentions.


    There are many problems with this proposition too, but it''s the best that I cane up with right now.


    We can''t have the government be too weak, or else we run the risk of a coup."


    With that, Reven ended his speech.


    "I understand. I will think about it. We still have a bit of time.


    Also, regarding forming an alliance, I think this should be done as soon as possible. I will talk to Sir Rawanth about it. You are dismissed."


    "For ISC!"


    Reven saluted and left the room.


    -----


    It had been about 10 days since the incident known as ''The Advent'' happened.


    This incident changed many things.


    The scientists at ISC were working on this matter and had made very frightening discoveries.


    They still didn''t have any idea how these portals had opened. They analysed the corpses of the monsters and even the humans after this incident and found out many interesting things.


    These monsters had something called ''Innate abilities'', which were engrained in their bloodline. It''s just that they were too weak to activate it.


    This led the scientists to believe that they were only the first batch of monsters.


    Next, about humans, they discovered that Ardor was fundamentally enhancing the gic structure of humans, and at an extremely fast pace at that.


    The thing that shocked them most was that the body was also epting it, as if it were a part of the body.


    They decided to name this phenomenon as ''Ardor Assimtion'', and the people who were Ardor assimted were named as ''High-Human''.


    They had also deduced that some people among the High-Humans would also be able to obtain some kind of ''Ability'' through the changes in gic code, just like the monsters!


    They named this phenomenon as ''Awakening'' and the individuals as ''Awakened''.


    Ardor Assimtion was universal to all the people, while Awakening was not; it only happened to certain individuals depending on how their genes had mutated!


    Awakening gave supernatural abilities to the people, while all the Ardor-Assimted people, or the High-Humans would be able to ess cultivation to improve their physical and mental capabilities.


    The High-Humans could use Ardor as a tool by manipting it, for which they must deepen their understanding of Ardor.


    In contrast, Awakened Abilities were gifts from Ardor that could be used without doing anything. The deeper the understanding someone had of Ardor, the better his or her Abilities became.


    This had not been made public yet.


    The scientists said that it will take at least 3 months for people to get fully assimted into Ardor.


    -----


    Aftering out of the President''s office, Reven called Aimee, "Hey, Aimee. Are you alright? Sorry to call you thiste, but I was damn busy because of the shifting of the capital to the West Coast.


    I know I don''t deserve it, but I am sorry. I forgot to call you; even when the old man reminded me, I still forgot.


    I know I won''t get any answers, but I want you to know that you need to be careful and stay safe. Sorry and bye."


    Reven cut the call, as he knew she would not answer right now. She would call him back when she cooled down.


    He then proceeded to oversee his work.


    That night, Reven went to meet Geena and Aleena, who were busy discussing something with Sir Rawanth.


    "Good evening, sir." Reven greeted.


    "Good evening. We were just discussing how to proceed with the proposition about the alliance. What do you think?"


    "Sir, we need to have a clear objective to form the alliance. We can''t go the way the United Nations was formed, or else it will be a useless alliance."


    "Aleena also suggested the same. Geena says that the Guilds should be the ones forming the alliance, instead of the government."


    "Certainly, sir, we can give ess to them too. But we need the alliance right now, and Guilds will note before the mutations.


    We don''t have any choice right now, as we don''t know who will Awaken strong abilities.


    I think the other nations also know that. So, they will most likely propose the addition of Guilds too, after the mutations areplete, that is." Reven replied.


    Aleena then continued, "The real question is, who will be the one to propose the idea first? Shall we do it?"


    "No, let''s wait for now. We have the most number of people alive; if we go there first, then they will raise more demands, which may be disadvantageous to us." Sir Rawanth expressed.


    "Okay! Then, let''s focus on shifting the capital to the West Coast. The ones from Japan are already there. We need toplete the transfer by the end of the month.


    Who knows when the next wave maye? We need to make sure that we arepletely stabilised before that." Reven said.


    "Yes, let''s move; we don''t have much time."


    Everyone agreed with what Reven said.


    Hence, they busied themselves with their respective works.


    …..


    Author''s Note:


    >> I am sure many readers have read novels where the portal phenomenon is mentioned, but most of these novels have their stories start 10 or more years after such events, leaving so many plot holes.


    Also, such stories aremon in webnovels. Meanwhile, this is entirely new and original.


    So do not miss this chance to witness something really new.


    *****