Whatever confusion or vulnerability the Grand Cartographer had experienced over the last day was no longer visible on her face, as she stood at the centre of the hall in her usual professional manner as she addressed the important figures present.
She stood like a pillar among the hall, not in any way looking inferior to the strong S tier projections surrounding her.
Alex instinctively straightened his posture as he joined her at the center of the chamber.
As soon as he did, the projections stirred and shifted, acknowledging him with subtle nods or unreadable gestures.
'These guys are definitely from one of those stronger civilisations at the centre of the universe.' Alex examined internally.
He'd only heard so snippets of the kinds of beings that occupy the centre of the universe from the Grand Cartographer, but from what he did know, he doubted that those present from the Conclave were even at the top of the food chain, despite being S tiers…
If anything, he would guess that they might even be middle managent level in the civilisation they were from.
Of course, they were still of the Solari race, that was without a doubt, but the civilisation they lived in was vastly different from say, the one Reluun lived in.
In the few hours of downti he had after all the ruckus was over, he managed to ask Reluun so questions regarding the Solari race, and found quite so interesting information out about them.
For starters, Reluun's civilisation were called 'The Lowers', and as it might be easy to guess, they were only made up of lower class life forms, and they were subordinated to 'The Highers' who lived closer to the centre of the universe, and as it might already be obvious, was where all the higher class lifeforms that erge in the Solari race move to when they ascend.
The way Alex saw it, the Solari race kind of operated like the ancient cultivation stories he used to read when he was younger. Once one outgrew their world, they would ascend – that kind of dynamic.
He found the whole thing rather fascinating, to say the least, since the Federation and probably most of the other civilisations situated in the Warring Sector did it differently, with higher life forms and lower life forms mingling and living together as one.
The opportunity to study each other was a great case study, for either side.
But that wasn't what today's eting was about – well, mostly…
"Alex of the Federation," one of the projections voice bood in a deep, neutral tone.
"You have requested a diplomatic eting between our two civilisations. Please make your intentions clear." The voice continued.
Alex stayed calm, hands clasped behind his back.
Despite the fact he was surrounded by 12 S tiers of a foreign race, he wasn't afraid at all.
For one, they were just projections and couldn't display any of their power there.
…Although, since they sohow had a thod of projecting themselves long distance in the Primordial Expanse, sowhere inside he doubted the validity of that.
But, even if they could sohow release all their power through a projection, he still had Brontes.
Brontes could probably steamroll all of those guys, unless so of them possessed power on par or even higher than soone like Principal Farnes.
Even then, he would be able to use that opportunity to escape.
However, while Alex was thinking of a way to structure his answer, it seed another one of the twelve wanted to chip in.
"The Grand Cartographer has already submitted a partial report. Enough to justify an audience with us. But not enough to satisfy our concern."
Of course, Alex's situation of being a self appointed diplomat from a civilisation in the Warring Sector did draw a lot of attention to this eting, but he still had to offer sothing that would make it worthwhile as a trade.
This eting was a two way street – Alex wanted sothing from them, while they would obviously want sothing in return.
The question was – how would Alex skew this into his favour?
"You already know my situation then, that makes things easy. All I'm simply asking for is technology and information. Your civilisations are much older and more developed than my own, so we are still lacking in technology and research compared to you. As for what I can offer in return… you accepted this eting, so that should an you already have sothing in mind." Alex answered plainly.
For a brief mont, silence took over the chamber. The projections of the twelve Solari from the Conclave didn't imdiately respond. So tilted their heads subtly, other remained completely still – probably just pausing their projection while they spoke to soone else with their physical body.
Eventually, the first projection that spoke with its booming voice, spoke up again.
"Your honesty is noted, Alex of the Federation. Rare, in tis like these."
Another projection, a new one this ti, added with a gaze like burning ice.
"You presu we desire sothing from the Warring Sector. You are not incorrect. But your assumption… oversimplifies matters."
The twelve of them paused before speaking any further.
"But before we go into that, what we would like to know is… what is your goal? What is it you'd like to achieve by arranging this eting with us?" Another new voice chid in.
Alex expected things to go like this, after all, existing as a peaceful race didn't co easy, especially with the way the universe worked thanks to the System.
Even though the Federation was situated in the middle of a place literally called the Warring Sector, that didn't an that conflicts were non-existent outside of such a place.
In fact, Alex suspected that the closer to the centre of the universe one got, the more conflict there was.
So the Solari acting skeptical or suspicious was rather normal.
"What are my goals…" Alex muttered to himself, falling into deep thought.
"I can't speak for long term goals, but for short or dium, my main goal would be to find a way for my civilisation to escape the bounds of the Warring Sector. The only reason we were able to survive up to this point was because of the grace period provided by the System, and outside intervention during tis of great crises. Our luck won't continue forever, if I don't do sothing now, we might not even make it past the coming years."
Alex spoke truthfully, not hiding one word of his goal.
Ever since he found out about the situation of the Sector the Federation presided in, Alex knew he had to do sothing about their situation before it was too late.
The signs were there the whole ti that the Federation was in trouble, but this just confird it for Alex.
In fact, with how long he had spent in the Primordial Expanse over the last few months, for all he knew things could have already gone from bad to worse…
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