Chapter 374 -Big surprise (Patreon)

"Hello, everyone. I'm Becca Swan coming at you live from a room in the 15th layer called Azure Seas. We are inside the grand city that has yet to be named. This future metropolis was constructed in a joint effort between the guild, the elves, the dwarves, the beastmen, the orcs, the triton, the wildlings, and the children of the sky. A collaboration like that is unheard of since Cyrus gathered them all during the great invasion," while Becca was speaking, she gestured to the city, letting the camera pan to the side to show everyone the view.

The camera went back to Becca, who was now close to the edge of the building, "This is a city built with the best of each civilization and funded by each race with a significant donation from the New Dawn as a way to connect all of our people in one. I'm sure the guild chairman has more to say about the subject, but my opinion is that we are long overdue for this kind of change. We spend too long occupying ourselves with unnecessary conflict when we are all part of the same group. We are explorers, and we should always remember that."

"Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with the idea of union. Some say that this is not natural. Others claim that one race will always be taking advantage of another. Some of the most vocal protests have been asking that humanity be left out or return some of the resources we've been hogging for such a long time," Becca looked down, and the camera panned to the front of the hotel where the protesters were standing ground. Some of them noticed the camera and started one of the many chants they used during the last few days.

"You know me. I can never pretend that everything is OK when something is wrong, especially when they are right outside my window. Still, I want to say this again. I believe that this is the right path. Look at this beautiful place. When we put our mind on it, we, and I mean all of us, can make amazing things. Just stop for a moment and picture a world where no one would be afraid of someone just because they are different. Imagine how many amazing artists, scholars, actors, scientists, teachers, friends that we are missing out on just because of unbiased fear and prejudice. Not to mention,  no one drinks like the triton and the liquor made by the elves is something out of this world," Becca noticed her assistant pulling up a sign that read 'Showtime,' the reporter chuckled, "Well, it seems that I rambled for long enough. The ceremony is about to start. We will be going live to our opening number and then for a small speech from Romeo Ballester, the guild's chairman. After that, we will have the parade, and I'll see you all again then."

The broadcast changed, now showing the empty central square. For a moment, everyone watching thought that there was something wrong. Could they have messed up the time?

Suddenly, in a spark of light, a stage rose from the ground. It wasn't something made by mechanisms or anything like that, but no one could tell what was actually going on. Seemingly out of nowhere, a voice echoed, "Most of us are still too low level to do something like this."

"Well, to be fair, we still have much to learn, but give us a break. It's been less than a year since we changed our roles."

"C'mon, Night, it's not like we don't know what we are doing. After all, creating this stage would take a team before, and now," Dark Star appeared on the central square, being raised by the platform. She waved her hand up, and a set of lights appeared, already showing a pattern for their show, "Now the world is our stage."

"Oh? We are showing off, are we?" Bright Night chuckled and jumped on stage. When her feet touched the ground, a dark backdrop appeared behind the stage, and several small lights, almost like a starfield, appeared everywhere. The illumination against the dark background made the two singers pop on the screen. It was impossible to miss any of them as they walked around.

"Now, everyone. Let us show you all what a couple of high-level performers can do!"

All the lights that were moving around randomly focused on the duo as they started their show. On the sides of the stage, spectral instruments appeared already playing their songs. There was a short message at the bottom of the screen telling people to enter a website to learn about all the skills they were using during the show. Despite the scale of the setup, the singers only performed two songs, one of which was brand new. Despite that, the focus of the presentation was something else. What the cameras were trying to show was the stage and the skills that a performer could use. That was because performer was still a very new role, and most people who managed to get it after becoming explorers were barely level 20. Having two people around level 70 showing what others could accomplish was a big draw for the entire ceremony. When the second song finished, they stepped down from the stage and changed it to be a much smaller one for Romeo to deliver his speech.

The chairman walked and thanked both singers before carefully stepping up to the podium. Becca kept an eye out on social media to see what people were talking about. She wanted to know if there would be anything she had to address when the camera was back on her. However, for now, everyone was just talking about the show, and a few messages asked if performers could even make better defenses to protect cities against a rampage. Since everything seemed fine, Becca turned her attention to the broadcast.

Romeo had a small stack of paper with him. He fumbled a bit while trying to set everything up and cleared his throat before tapping on the microphone. Unfortunately, that caused feedback forcing everyone around to instinctively cover their ears.

"Sorry, sorry. I'm really sorry. I know I should be used to this kind of thing by now. However, I still get nervous when I have to make any big speeches,"  Romeo took a deep breath before continuing, "First of all, I would like to thank the elves, the dwarves, the beastmen, the orcs, the triton, the wildlings, the children of the sky, the members of the guild and the New Dawn for all the support and dedication in the construction of this city. When I first started as a chairman, this is what I set out to do. Help everyone to live together in harmony. During my earlier days as an explorer, I traveled with a very eclectic group. I was the only human of the bunch, and it broke my heart every time we had to cross a room too close to Earth where my companions had several restrictions imposed on them just because of where they came from. That's why I lifted the ban on information and removed the stats requirements for anyone to become an explorer. We shouldn't be trying to control that type of thing because, for starters, we take away other people's freedom when we do that. And, more to the point, this only makes us look like we are trying to hide something from everyone. If we didn't have that before, maybe I wouldn't have lost touch with some of my old friends."

Romeo lowered his eyes as he got lost in his memories for a moment, "Oh, right. Sorry, It's not the right time for me to reminisce about the past. As I was saying, the whole point of those changes and the construction of this city is to show that we are all the same. Some might be shorter, have more hair, blue or green skin, wings, pointy ears, or something different, but we are all people. We eat, we sleep, we laugh, and we love. In our cores, we are all the same, and this city will be a beacon to prove that. Now, I hope you all forgive the cheesy name, but I would like once more to thank everyone for all the efforts put into building this place and let me be  the first to welcome all to Union City."

Becca had to hold back her laughter. That naming sense was terrible. Union City seemed like something out of a comic book. As Romeo finished speaking, the camera changed, now giving a bird's eye view of the central square. A ring that surrounded the square glowed, and the words 'Union City where we stand together,' appeared

"Now, to complete the ceremony. Let us welcome the members of each race. Each group will be a part of a small parade showing off their culture as their leaders join me here on the stage," Romeo finished, and each race started their procession one by one.

They were all doing something to showcase their culture; the elves were riding large dogs showing some of the pastries, which were their specialty. There were also some large carts with illusions of their kingdom, showing how they lived in large cities. From the next street came the dwarves, all riding a large boat with wheels. It was an all-terrain vehicle that showed their engineering prowess. Then, the beastmen took a different approach and showed a large harvest of food from their crops, fruits and vegetables that were hard to grow and some flowers with very specific conditions were on display for everyone to see. With a large sound, the orcs appeared next with drums, tubas, electric guitars and keytars and several instruments that usually didn't go well played in harmony, but in this case, the music was beautiful. Making their entrance even more impressive, the music that was playing ever since Romeo stopped talking was very similar to what the orcs were doing, showing that aside from their own soundtrack, they were also in charge of everyone else's. Looking to the next road, one of the buildings seemed to be moving. When it got into view, the cameras captured what could only be described as a beach party led by the triton, people with blue skin and webbed hands and feet that used to live in the water. They were in the hospitality business, and this structure was part of the show. Unlike all the other races, the triton weren't by themselves in their parade. People of all cultures were there having fun and dancing in the moving hotel that included people from the races that weren't participating in the parades on their own. There were too many different races in the MAZE to have a parade for all of them. That's why the less populated ones had to group up with the triton.

Being the second to last to show up, the children of the sky came from the clouds while dancing in the air. As the newest race to join the guild, they were, in reality, harpies that developed enough of their intelligence to be considered people and not monsters. However, there were still monsters called 'Harpy' in the MAZE, which made their name somewhat of a problem. Because of that, they changed how they were called and became the pioneers in the textile industry, to everyone's surprise. The way they created clothing, blankets, and even dolls was so out of the box that no one would ever think about that, mostly because their lack of hands forced them to figure out other ways of creating fabric that didn't use threads. No one was quite sure how they did that, but the results spoke for themselves. With the way they set up their cloth, it was light enough to not hinder their movement while flying, but at the same time sturdy enough to withstand the high speed they could reach and even take a few hits without being damaged, and that was just their basic, everyday, clothing. When talking about armor, they also had some exciting ideas, but the need to keep their mobility made their equipment not that suitable for anyone who didn't have wings.

Lastly came the humans. Their parade was the least exciting of the bunch. The only unique aspect was the inflatable balloons representing a cartoon version of some personalities and people wearing clothes that were unique for each culture on Earth or in the MAZE. Every race did the same, and there were several styles and different cultures represented in each precession, but the cameras were focusing on the unique parts of them. That's why all networks barely stayed on the human parade and just continued the commentary over the others. People asked Becca to do that during her broadcast, but she refused. Instead of focusing on explaining to everyone what was going on, she wanted to take a look at what was happening during the parade. If the guild or anyone else were going to hide something big, this event would be a great distraction. That's why during the last week, she spread her magic cameras around most of the city. This was the reward she got in the tower, the ability to create what was effectively a security system over a wide area. As long as she was in range, she could see the feed of any of her constructs, and they could even be invisible to the naked eye. Becca was well aware that this could be a huge privacy issue, and that's why only very few people knew about that skill, and she also made sure not to be able to look inside any of the buildings. She didn't want to spy on anyone, just to look for any problems around the city. The only thing she noticed was a number of people coming in and out of a few buildings near the central square. They were all being sneaky, but not in a bad way. If Becca were a betting woman, she would bet that this had something to do with the big surprise that Romeo said.

Almost as if on cue, the chairman started speaking again. He introduced all the races leaders in the central square one by one, then turned back to the camera, "Also. There is a wrong that we have to make right. For too long, we praised the three heroes and ignored anyone who wasn't human. Well. Starting from this morning, the guilds all around the MAZE, and on Earth will stop pretending like we are the only who deserve such praise. Starting today, everyone will learn and know the value of all the heroes, human or not. And to prove that this is not just an empty promise. Here, in the center of Union City, we will have the statues of all nine heroes representing everything that we strive to be."

After speaking, the camera shifted to the warehouses where Becca had seen the people coming in and out from. A five-meter tall sculpture of one of the nine Heroes came from each structure. They were all there, Kahn the wall breaker, Cyrus the golden, Undine the Fire Bringer, Balcan the unlucky, Eruwan, the north star, Casper, the builder, Kroaan, the unbroken, Fakili the medic, and Dr'lyar the iron wall.

Everyone was clapping. Only some of the humans seemed confused about the situation since they didn't know the existence of the ones from other races. Little by little, the statues got close to the central square, making a circle around the people on the stage as Romeo started to speak about each hero and their position in the display. Just as Khan's statue took its place in the middle of the square, Becca noticed a person in one of her cameras. The person pressed something and dropped the object on the ground just as they started sprinting towards the city's south gate.

At the same time, a large explosion occurred in the central square, covering most of the city in smoke and ash.