Reincarnated as an Energy with a System

Chapter 1934: Something Big

Ning decided to leave the rest of the investigation to Larissa.

She had finally found the direction her father had been pursuing before his death, and with Mira helping her search through public records, political connections, and everything they could find about Grace Wyndham’s husband, Ning doubted she needed him standing behind her and giving answers before she had the opportunity to discover them herself.

He had already done enough, so whatever came next belonged to Larissa.

Ning had his own matters to deal with.

The following months passed quickly.

During the day, he continued working as Blackfang, flying across New Limaro and helping whenever he found someone in danger.

He stopped crimes, rescued people from accidents, assisted during fires, and occasionally helped the police when a criminal possessed an ability that ordinary officers could not safely deal with.

Most of the incidents were small.

To most people, however, they couldn’t tell what was big and what wasn’t. To them, Blackfang was the hero who appeared whenever something went wrong, solved the problem, and stayed just long enough to answer a question or two before leaving.

At other times, Ning secretly continued his work for the government.

He traveled between New Limaro and the Aullazire mines, protecting shipments as they were moved to secure research facilities throughout Conjora.

The government changed the routes frequently, sometimes moving the material by road and sometimes transporting it by air, while decoy convoys left in entirely different directions to confuse anyone watching.

Ning accompanied whichever shipment carried the actual Aullazire.

He worked with soldiers, researchers, and rotating groups of heroes, none of whom knew the full details of the operation.

Even Ning was told only what he needed to know, although it wouldn’t have been too difficult for him to find out if he had wanted to.

President Helen Morstell wanted the operation kept secret, and Ning saw no reason to make her work more difficult.

There were several attempts to interfere with the shipments during those months.

None succeeded.

Most of the attackers were ordinary criminals who believed the convoys carried money, weapons, or valuable minerals.

A few seemed to know what was truly being transported, but Ning never discovered whether they worked for Tritus, the Numbers, or some foreign government attempting to obtain Conjora’s research.

Those people were captured before they could reach the vehicles.

Ning’s rankings improved as his work continued.

His position in New Limaro climbed every month, moving upward several places at a time until he finally reached Rank 15.

After that, making any progress became much harder.

His national ranking continued to improve as the government quietly added his contributions to whatever secret system they used, but even that progress slowed once his name approached heroes who had protected Conjora for years.

Ning stared at the rankings displayed on Blake’s tablet.

"Still fifteen," he said.

Blake sat across from him inside the Star Hero Agency, eating a sandwich while three of his clones worked at nearby desks.

Since awakening his ability, Blake had divided his work among the clones instead of doing it all himself. One handled the legal stuff, another handled media and public relations, and the third worked alongside sponsors.

There were more Blakes out there somewhere, so Ning couldn’t be sure what those ones were doing. But he had no doubt that just like these ones, they were working too.

"You say that as though being the fifteenth-ranked hero in New Limaro is disappointing," Blake said. "You’ve only been here for months, while heroes have been here for decades without reaching the top fifty."

"I wasn’t exactly complaining," Ning said as he raised his hands. "It was just an observation. Am I doing something wrong by any chance?"

Blake sighed.

"It’s not your fault entirely. People are comfortable with the heroes they already like," he said. "They don’t change their votes so easily even if the new hero is big. In fact, they are more likely to hate you because you are threatening their favorite hero’s ranking."

"It’s also more than just the votes that determine the ranking, after all. Public surveys, fan memberships, news coverage, rescue statistics, criminal captures, and a dozen other things are taken into account."

Blake pointed toward the names above Ning.

"Most of those heroes have spent years building loyal followers. Some people have voted for the same hero every month since the system began. They aren’t going to suddenly choose Blackfang just because you stopped a few robberies."

Blake took another bite from his sandwich.

"If you want to change their mind, you need to do something big with a massive impact. You need to do something so large that everyone in the country hears your name at the same time," he said. "Not just something that becomes local news for a few days. It needs to be an event that people remember."

"Okay, something big," Ning said, nodding to himself. "But what? My actions are always a reaction at best. Someone has to do something before I can do something big."

Blake looked down at something before him. "Fortunately, there just might be such an opportunity coming soon. We’ve been asked to report back on whether you will be joining or not."

Ning’s eyes narrowed for a moment as he realized what the man was talking about. "The summit?"

"The summit," Blake confirmed.

"Hell yeah!" Ning said. "Tell me everything I need to know."

Blake checked the information. "Well, it was known from the start that it would be taking place in Veronoth this year, but it is now confirmed that it will be held in Cape Mistam."

"The coastal city?" Ning asked. He had enough information through Valen’s memories alone.

"All 5 of the big nations will be there, along with several of the smaller ones. Your job will be mostly protection of merchandise that will be brought along to the summit. You are okay with that, aren’t you?" Blake asked.

"Absolutely. Whatever they need," Ning said.

Blake nodded and continued.

Ning listened closely, taking in everything. He was happy to learn that the global summit was finally approaching.