“Is it true?” a man in his fifties and wearing a suit asked.

  He sat a bit reclined, his legs crossed and both arms resting on the chair. The sun hit his gray hairs, making them appear white or blond depending on the angle.

  “Yes. The entire top floor of the pagoda belongs to them. Though the attendants refused to explain if it was because they brought the most contestants or because they had the most top rankers,” a young woman with black hair in a ponytail, also wearing a suit, answered as she entered the room.

  “Evolution status?” the man asked.

  “Peaking at the top brass was difficult. By the time we arrived they had already closed their doors and settled to wait until the tournament began,” the woman explained.

  “But after observing the others from Solace, I can say that about thirty to forty percent of the people that they brought have evolved. This suggests that the leadership have also evolved, and it is increasingly likely that they are the ones that carry the moniker ‘of Solace.’”

  “The Blade… do you know her,” the man asked, his gaze now focused on a person sitting near a window.

  “From what I know, there are three people in our family that should be strong enough to be at the top of the rankings,” a young man with a katana said. He also wore a black suit and had his long black hair tied up in a ponytail.

  “A Japanese, a Chinese and a Korean. I met the Japanese one recently—kinda of weird—he was getting ready to go off world. His branch of the family managed to send him to a fallen one.” He paused, whistling as he gestured a stack of cash, symbolizing how expensive that was.

  “From reports, I would wager that the Chinese is in the tower dungeon that appeared near the coast," the young man continued. "And I know nothing about the Korean. I know she is a girl, but her branch of the family was completely isolated from the rest of us, more than normal. The Old Blade killed anyone that tried to break the confines and rules of each child.”

  “If she is the Blade of Solace, how likely is that you’ll be able to defeat her?” the man asked.

  “She was said to be the weakest, but I wouldn’t put too much stock on those words,” the young man said, dismissively. “Each branch talked trash about the other. Trying to undermine the others and gain more favor from the head.”

  “That’s not what I asked.”

  “I was getting to something relevant,” the young man replied. “They each wanted favor from the Old Blade, no matter how small, so you really think that we only have to worry about one of them?”

  “Go on.”

  Tournament of the Strong: 8:24:50

  “There are still a couple hours before the tournament itself begins," the young man said. "I have zero doubt that the Japanese branch has had more than enough resources to carry their candidate through evolution, I also don’t doubt that he himself has been able to evolve before now. That means that they have literally waited until the last second to solidify his foundation.”

  “And the Chinese?”

  “Time can be warped within dungeons of sufficient level. Have our scouts returned from the tower dungeon?” the young man asked.

  The man turned to the woman who answered in a simple manner. “Not yet," she said.

  “Exactly. For all we know, eight hours might be months inside the dungeon. More than enough to solidify their foundation and grow stronger,” the young man said.

  “So, all of that was to say… what?” the man asked.

  “That it doesn’t matter if the Blade of Solace is the Korean or not. There’s a high chance that all three of them will be in the tournament.”

  The man nodded, acknowledging the young man’s words. Then, he sucked his teeth in. “You still haven’t answered my question,” he said. “Can you defeat the Blade of Solace?”

  “If even a fraction of the rumors about how she was coddled are true, then… yeah. No doubt,” the young man said with a grin.

  “Will you suffer no trouble? You not only abandoned your family, but you might even kill one of their chosen,” the man asked.

  The young man made an awkward expression of incredulity. “Problem?”

  The young man burst into laughter as he even considered the question. If the man before him knew the lengths that the Old Blade had gone to strengthen his family, he would be horrified.

  But that is the limitation of a simple mortal mind, the young man thought. Even if you are part of the greatest military power on Earth, that is nothing compared to the scale that you are now on. I might even be brought over and trained personally if I kill one of the candidates.

  The man nodded at the young man’s actions, taking them as a valid answer. Then he shifted his attention to two new arrivals.

  “What news do you bring regarding the Earth gods and the multiverse gods?”

  ----------

  “Thank you for the report, you may leave now,” Stella said, dismissing a small group of people who had come to share some information with her. “So, the American government is still alive and well. I didn’t doubt it, but it's somehow surprising.”

  “Are we just going to ignore their blatant attempts at spying?” Alex asked, his face stern. “If we do, they might take that as a sign of weakness. Something to exploit and they might attempt something against our people. I suggest that we make a clear and decisive—”

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  “Cool it!” Anna said, throwing a sofa cushion at Alex. “You’re no fun anymore. Everything you do or say now is somehow about security and sending a strong message. What happened to our friend?”

  Alex grabbed the cushion, staring at it for a moment. “I’m still here!” he answered, throwing it back, only for it to be cut in two a few feet from Anna. “How is that fair? That’s why no one plays along with you anymore.”

  “Fair?! You want to talk about fair? How about the fact that you can—”

  Stella cleared her throat loudly, making sure that she was heard and cutting Anna off.

  “We’re supposed to be talking strategy and important matters. None of what you’re doing seems like important matters,” she said firmly.

  “What's there to discuss?” Anna said dismissively. “We go in, we fight, and we win. Simple as that. Do you really think that there are people that are stronger than us? Because I don’t. We have months’ worth of advantage. While they raced to evolve, we were solidifying our path.”

  “Not like we had much choice,” Alex said with a scoff.

  “That’s true,” Anna agreed. “But the fact remains, we have all the advantages.”

  Stella’s eyes darted between the two. She had no choice but to agree, Anna was right, they had all the advantages.

  They all evolved within the first few months of the integration, while the rest of the world was still struggling to catch up as they spoke.

  It wasn’t because of any unfair advantage or even the dungeon. It was because of mental disposition.

  Unlike what the friends thought in the beginning, the truth was the System had done nothing to affect their perception or way of thinking.

  Their behavior, while not an anomaly in the grand scheme of things, was odd at how infectious it was.

  As the effects of Eric’s presence began to dim and new people arrived, joining Solace, they came to know what the average population was like outside of their own little piece of the world.

  They were scared and incapable of lifting a weapon, even for survival. That wasn’t to say they stayed that way forever, whether it was prolonged exposure to Eric’s lingering effects or the people of Solace, they did change with time.

  And that was the big difference that gave them an advantage over most of the world. With their mentality, leveled hub, dungeon and proximity to a dungeon city, they were able to leap over everyone else.

  But their mentality was the key to it all. Not everyone would try to clear an incursion on their own. Not everyone would clear a nest of vampiric insects just because they were looking for purpose.

  “Speaking of which,” Anna said, bringing Stella back from her contemplation. “Any news on the monster levels and evolutions?”

  “They’re definitely increasing in number, but they’re still not at a level where we can begin to hunt them. I want to wait until there are enough of them to have a nest,” Alex answered.

  “So, it’s almost exactly as what the book said,” Anna commented, a book appearing on her hand.

  It was a simple book, like any other one you would find in any bookstore or library. It had a hardcover, with the image of a random planet and a blue screen slightly above it. The title read, “Introduction to Integration.”

  It was a simple book that simply mentioned what commonly occurred during and shortly after integration. One of those things was monster evolution, the very reason their levels were still in the low twenties.

  The experience that unevolved monsters, even bosses, gave them was far too little for them to level up. Though the book didn’t phrase it that way, it said something along the lines of: “The qi of unevolved creatures is not potent enough for those that reach the adept stage. This is especially difficult for those that reach said stage during the first year.”

  They had tried to cultivate, but that also brought its own host of issues. The main one being that it took a long time to level up even once. They were still too busy with the running of Solace and all of its little intricacies.

  Anna tested it herself and they ultimately decided not to cultivate until they either had more time, or they had a way to hasten the process.

  “If that book is as accurate as it has been until now,” Stella began, “Then rank E monsters will be more prevalent next year and during the end, and the first rank D bosses should begin making an appearance.”

  “Don’t curse us!” Anna exclaimed, throwing a sofa cushion at Stella. “Let’s forget all of that, let’s get back on topic and strategize.”

  “Excuse me?!” Stella exclaimed, fixing the cushion beside her. “You’re the one that said that we had no reason to do so. What changed?”

  “I didn’t want to talk about monsters that will be capable of killing all of us with a simple flick. That’s what happened.”

  “The difference won’t be that big, will it?” Alex asked, his eyes darting between the two.

  “You tell me. Can you kill a normal human with a single flick?” Anna asked.

  “Oh shit. We’re fucked,” Alex said with a laugh.

  Stella shook her head with a smile. She was also weary of the upcoming challenges, but she didn’t needlessly worry herself about it.

  “This is all the more reason we have to win this tournament,” she said firmly. “Alex, I have no doubt that you can tank any attack, magic or otherwise. My concern with you is whether you can deliver enough damage before your defenses are overwhelmed.”

  Stella shifted her entire body to face Anna.

  “Anna, the problem with you isn’t you, it’s your family," Stella began. "We have no way of knowing if they will be here or not. We don’t know if your training is different, the same or not. If it was the same, then you’re at a disadvantage and we need to prepare for that. If it was different, than we still have to worry about their general skill level. And this is before we talk about the possibility of them having a concept as well.”

  “Yeah, those are fair concerns,” Alex agreed. “I’m more geared toward survival and not one on one battles. My stats are also more lopsided toward constitution than strength and I can’t use weapons since stone fists are the way I fight. Let’s hope that nobody has reached my level of mana reinforcement,” he said with a smile.

  “That’s not a solution for your problems, Alex,” Stella said sternly.

  “It’s not, but there isn’t much any of us can do,” Anna said. “Have you made up for your close combat weakness? You can fight but one punch from us can still take you down. Can you make up for it in the next…” She looked at a screen. “Seven hours? Because I sure can’t prepare for anything in that time.”

  “Have you even tried?” Stella asked. “My close combat weakness? I already began covering for it. In these seven hours I can practice some more and refresh some of what I already know.”

  “And what can I do!?” Anna shouted. “Tell me, what can I do in order to face off against a conceptual power. For that matter, what can you do, or Alex? Why do only I have to prepare for facing off against my family members?”

  “Calm down!” Alex exclaimed, stopping the situation from escalating any further. “Both of you make valid points. But I think the answer is somewhere in the middle. We need to prepare for what’s to come, but we also need to be fresh and rested. So—”

  “Do whatever the hell you want,” Stella said in a tired voice. “I’ll do what I have to do.”

  “Fine,” Anna agreed.

  They both moved to adjacent rooms, their faces full of anger.

  “Fuck…” Alex said with a sigh.

  These arguments while still few and far between were becoming more frequent as time went by. There were various reasons for this sudden rift between the friends and none of them could be solved in an easy manner.

  The weight of responsibility. The endlessly accumulating fatigue. The ever-growing worry for family and loved ones. The uncertainty of what the future held. There were so many reasons that only added to the pressure they were already feeling that it was difficult to find a reason to be happy or relaxed.

  While Alex was calm on this occasion, he also tended to argue just as frequently as the others.

  Hearing everything from outside their room, an attendant wrote something down. The note quickly disappearing into an unknown space.

  Tournament of the Strong: 6:58:33