My Soul card is a Reaper

"The Moon Clan, The Elves, and the Minamoto Clan worked to preserve nature, but could only slow down the destruction of the environment, not stop it entirely. The greed of man is so high to the point that we, hidden clans, are not enough to protect the planet. Atleast, not enough in the modern times."

Silence.

"Elves vowed to prevent deforestation, but there wasn't any real effort to restore dead forests," he said. "No action when rivers are choked. No concern for plastic wastes from skill cards, abandoned material portals, or overmining of essence minerals. You can see the rise of Arcana masters during the past few decades.

But, due to environmental destruction, the natural energy reserves are decreasing. With the reduction of natural energy on the planet, the elemental crystal ore reserves were also reduced, and the monsters became the source of raising one's soul energy reserves.

However, due to the fact that the Arcana world is rich in natural energy, the monsters were only becoming stronger, but our Arcana spirit quality had reduced quite a bit. Now, more and more Arcana masters are running off to the Arcana world for their studies.

The academies in Gaia were being shut down one after another over the years. And due to that, Arcana masters are adopting scientific weapons rather than training their Arcana spirits. Man-made weapons are the arms that are necessary but only act as an assistance to help us.

You can't either ignore them or put them in the spot of the brain or the heart, and let yourself be controlled by them. So, we have to do something before the balance will tilt."

Francis frowned. "What are you suggesting?"

"I'm proposing we fix that," Azzy replied. "Together."

He stepped toward the center of the glowing table. A shimmering blue hologram of Earth replaced the tournament projection, slowly spinning, pockmarked by light pollution and resource hotspots.

"I want the Hidden Clans to lead the world in sustainability," he said. "Circular economy. Full recyclability. Especially skill cards should only be made with biodegradable materials. The waste of them is too much."

Azzy wasn't done.

"I'm proposing we push forward sustainable energy, solar, wind, geothermal, and hydropower. We should influence the world leaders to push toward the usage of synthetic wood to eliminate deforestation. Lab-grown meat instead of animals. Clean desalination and purification. Advanced water management in rural areas."

Estella raised a brow. "That's not an easy ask."

"I know," Azzy said. "But it's necessary. And it's possible. We can start small, like experimenting in the new nation we build. Then if we scale it further, surely, many countries would try to adopt."

Fjor leaned back in his chair, stroking his chin. "And who pays for this?"

"The Death Clan will alone take care of funding," Azzy said. "You just need to approve the plan and put your logistics teams on board to work with us and make it a reality."

"Ugh… I don't know. This is a huge task." Fjor rubbed his forehead, grunting in complaint. "It's not our job to make this happen. We were only the guardians of the planet, watching them in the shadows and protecting the balance of the world."

"Yeah, I think too much involvement is not good," Ayush added a comment.

Azzy's eyes wandered over the table. "Do all others feel the same way?"

Nemeryn replied. "I'm sorry, but I didn't understand half of the words you just spouted earlier. But the Elves are ready to help in restoring forests."

Fujiwara Shuichi sighed, "There's so much to do. Lord Garcia, you plan on building a three-state country with us. You also planned on building a second nation in the real world and developing it. We have to prepare for the incoming alien invasion that Saint Ravens has told us about. And now, Queen Ingrid also told us that there might be a catastrophe might occur. Do you think we have time to deal with this, too? How about leaving this topic to the next session?"

Even as his so-called close ally spoke like this, Azzy couldn't help but inwardly sigh. "Alright. I will first prove the results to you, and then we can talk about scaling it to a world scale in the next meeting."

"Phew… I thought he would still push it…" Estella sighed in relief, thinking to herself.

Azzy's gaze swept across the council chamber once more as he said. "And this is my final proposal. None of you has to lift a finger, for this. I can do this all by myself. I just need permission."

"What is it?"

Everyone turned curious. Based on all proposals Azzy put forth so far, whether it is in the previous one or this one, they have to agree that he atleast had vision and his ideas were something they never bothered to think about.

Azzy tapped the surface of the table. The Earth hologram twisted and zoomed in, revealing churning blue oceans, tight knots of landmasses. "As you all know, 71 percent of Gaia's surface is water. It has been more or less the same for hundreds of millions of years, except that roughly 2 million years, during the age of apocalypse, Gaia wasn't used to being like this…"

Azzy spun the hologram, the planet spun and spun as if it was going into the past, but showed two continents instead of one.

The rise of monsters and the age of apocalypse not only saw humanity's galactic exodus, but also the event of the landmasses clumping together, and then shaped forcefully by the guardian god to push the water surface to one side and the super continent in one side. Back then, it was the perfect choice as it was tough to gather all the mutated marine beasts from the oceans while protecting humanity."

He paused for a second.

"But now? Now that same layout is killing us. Some nations have more rain than they can handle," Azzy continued, "while others are dying under parched skies. Crops fail. Water disputes grow. And with every passing year, the storms worsen."

"What are you proposing?" Estella asked warily, leaning forward.

"I want to terraform the Earth," Azzy said.

The words fell like thunder.

Before anyone could interrupt, he raised his voice, calm but firm. "A radical restructure. A planetary-scale realignment. We form a global pattern, concentric land and oceanic rings. Alternate bands of earth and sea."

The hologram was followed by his thoughts, transforming the globe into a series of expanding rings, elegant and symmetrical.

"This way, land will be evenly distributed. Water will be properly circulated. There will be Stable ocean currents. There will be predictable weather patterns and balanced ecosystems. A way for all regions, not just the blessed few, to grow, flourish, and survive."

Fjor blinked. "You… you can actually do that?"

Azzy nodded once. "I can. With the current power I have, I can move tectonic plates, create new river systems, raise islands, and sink uninhabitable wastelands. However, I'm not sure whether humanity will accept it. This isn't something I can do overnight without consent. People have homes. Borders. Cultures. Wars. Before I terraform the world, I need cooperation. I need a resolution passed here… and permission from the World Council."

A stunned silence.

Even Shuichi and Fjor, the most vocal so far, sat in their thrones in silence, pondering seriously on the matter.

No one spoke for several heartbeats.

Then, slowly, Ayush spoke. "Changing the landscape is against nature."