After signing the contract, the council's atmosphere drastically changed. The president showed his willingness to compromise and ensure things proceeded smoothly, so these arrogant people were more willing to cooperate and compromise.
"Our next course of action is to set up the departments that govern the council, starting with Law Enforcement."
Edward did not believe these people would follow the rules if they did not have to. Furthermore, he also knew the contract did not completely restrain them, so there needed to be a department that reinforced the rules.
"The leader of the Law Enforcement Department needs to have enough strength, so let's use the previous system to choose the leaders and other members."
Using Virtual Reality, the interested variants started fighting to choose their Department Leader, along with other members of the department. In the end, C-137 was the final winner, becoming the department head, allowing Edward to have more control over the council.
"Now, let's deal with the basic rules and regulations of the council."
The variants discussed for the next hours create basic rules and guides everybody needs to follow. There were few rules; the general idea was to be respectful, not create trouble or chaos, and a few others. Most of the rules were protocols for people who chose to keep a lab in the citadel.
Edward created these rules and was adamant that everyone followed them. He knew how crazy these variants were, so if something went wrong with their experiment, it wouldn't be long before the citadel was destroyed. Luckily, there were many variants who shared his paranoia and cautious nature, so they supported his stringent rules regarding experiment protocols.
"Next on our list is establishing a Fair Exchange Program," continued Edward. "The main use of the council is to exchange knowledge, information, and research. However, it's possible to disagree on the value of certain objects or trades. So, we need an AI that will act as a tiebreaker in this kind of situation. Let's develop it together to ensure fairness."
For the next ten hours, the variants argued while creating and fine-tuning a new artificial intelligence that would facilitate fair trade between each other. In the end, after countless hours, efforts, and Edward having to forcefully intervene a few times, the final product was created.
"What's the name of this AI?" asked variant I-312.
"I think we should just call it Siri and get it over with."
"I prefer Alexa."
"Everyone knows Cortana is the best."
"What stupid name are you guys using when Jarvis is there."
"No, the Red Queen is the name to go; it's a classic."
"I actually like Griot from Black Panther."
"Karen from Spider-Man is also a good name."
"Jesus Christ," said Edward, not hiding the embarrassment he felt hearing these people arguing, and he was not the only one. "Let's put it to a vote."
In the end, Red Queen was the final winner, followed by Jarvis and Cortana, who tied for second place.
The next step of setting up the council was the tedious work of ensuring other systems of the citadel were functioning properly. Departments like IT, Engineering, Communication, and even Data Keeping needed to be established.
Edward took care of everything perfectly and smoothly, astonishing many people. Most variants came to the council to win the position of president as a way to show off to their other self and because of their ego to be known as the Primed Edward Bones. As such, few of them prepare in such detail for the establishment of the council.
Seeing how Edward worked made these people realize that G-003 came prepared, knowing he would be the president. Furthermore, he seemed to take his job seriously and prepared everything.
[Is G–003 the Primed?] was a question that many people asked themselves. In the end, they denied it or refused to accept such a thing. They all believe their current weakness and lack of knowledge was only temporary; it's only a matter of time before they caught up and surpassed G–003.
The meeting took three days before everything was settled. Then, before dismissing everybody, Edward said one last thing: "Now that I've done such a great job, it should not be a problem to use this opportunity for my personal gain."
Everyone rolled their eyes, cursing how shameless their president was.
"I'm looking for knowledge, technology, or even the slight news or rumors about two races: the Savant and Magus Race. As long as you have anything related to them, you can contact me to trade.
"You should know my ability. As long as there is something you want to know or a piece of technology you want, there is a 95% chance that I have it. So, don't hesitate to contact me."
Everyone looked at the president, wondering what he was scheming. Based on his tone, information about these two races seems extremely valuable. So, everyone decided to pay more attention while traveling the Multiverse.
G-003's magical knowledge and technology seemed very advanced, so they might get something extraordinary from him.
After the meeting ended, Edward had another brief meeting with the other Council Members. The variants wanted to decentralize his power, so they established the rules that the governing department of the citadel was composed of nine members, including the president. They chose the eight Tier 8 Variants that C-137 once chose.
According to the rules, the Council Members' terms are only 50 years, then there will be re-election, and the president's term limit is 100 years. However, most people rejected the idea of a specific number of re-elections, meaning everybody can run as many times as needed during their infinite lifespan.
The idea of these variants is that whoever is the best should be the leader, and a true prime would be the one who can suppress everyone, sitting in the president position for the longest.
Edward sneered at these people's psychology. Anyway, he only needs to stay president until he reaches Tier 11. Then, this council will become useless.
After discussing it with someone, he waited to see if someone would bring him any news from his last announcement, especially knowledge about the Savant Race. Edward did not have much hope until Morgana contacted him that someone wanted to make a deal with him.
Soon, a hologram appeared before Edward.
"President," said a variant who looked exactly like Edward, dressed in a purple robe similar to Dumbledore; however, he had countless white on the side of his black hair, and his eyes looked tired.
"Hello, you are?"
"I'm variant G-334."
"G? Then, it seems we are fated."
Maybe," muttered G-334. "President, can you remove curses?"
"It depends on the curse, but I'm indeed accomplished in this field."
"I need you to remove a potent curse from a soul for me. In return, I will give you this," said G-334 as he took out a black cube with red markings. "I got this from a ruin; it's an inheritance from the Magus Race and should be high-level since I haven't been able to open it so far."
"Deal," replied Edward. "Where do you want to meet for the exchange?"
"Let's meet at the Exchange Department." G-334 worried something would happen, so he chose to use the official route for this exchange. If something goes wrong, the credibility the president established would be ruined, making his terms extremely difficult to proceed.
Edward soon arrived at the destination.
"Let me see the item."
G-334 showed him the cube, and Edward nodded in satisfaction after inspecting it. Then, G-334 gave him an orb containing a black soul.
"It's indeed a cursed soul," said Edward as he analyzed things. With G-334's Tier 6 Level, removing this unique curse is difficult. Even after reaching Tier 8, it might not be easy. Edward also understood why he was willing to exchange with him–the soul in the orb won't last long. If not dealt with swiftly, the curse will annihilate it.
"Can you deal with it?" asked G-334, trying to hide the trembling in his voice.
"No problem, just give me a few hours."
