The journey to Amara was uneventful. The next day we awoke and set out. Now that we were in the main city we could take advantage of the roads. In my impatience, I released some of my aura in short controlled bursts. It wasn't enough to threaten my people nor was it very comfortable but it worked. The few monsters in our way practically tripped over themselves in their haste to get out of my way. I couldn't help but feel like even more of a badass. It was around midday when we started encountering Amaran guards. With their new armor, they looked much more like a serious army. To the point that my heart swelled with pride. With reinforcements including having some of the guards carry the people who couldn't walk anymore we arrived at Amara before the sun had fully gone down.

"Alright, let's start getting people settled in. Same rules as last time." I started giving out instructions nearly as soon as we stopped moving. The glares I received in response made me chuckle silently. "Rest up first but the sooner everyone has a room the sooner everyone can get some sleep."

It took nearly two more hours to get everyone settled in including time spent arranging rooms for Keshaun. While they were doing that I gathered everyone for the new council. Which brought me, Keshaun, Desbera, Azariah, Aaliyah, Christopher, and Saanite into the boardroom.

"So now that there are world standings do we want to change up who you bring to the auction?" Azariah asked. "My rank is high enough but we don't have anyone else in the one hundred."

I shook my head. "No, As far as power goes I am enough what we need are you all. People who are better at organizational skills. If we are going to recruit anyone then we need to be able to leverage what we have. The academy and the emporium are two of our biggest benefits."

"If I may young Master as the strongest man in the world what image do you want to project?" Desbera asked and when I didn't answer she shook her head. "If I may speak freely you do not strike me as the bloodthirsty type. Do you want the people here to fear you? Love you? Hate you? All emotions can be useful tools but you have to create the appropriate image."

I slowly nodded. "Honestly I hadn't thought about that. I intend to stand proud at the forefront but I would prefer if people were happy to see me."

"Hope?" Azariah added. "The world is in chaos and you have probably killed more monsters than anyone else. You could represent hope and safety."

"His recent stunt with the Commonwealth will make that more difficult," Christopher grumbled.

"You don't need the approval or permission. Forgive me for being blunt but it sounds like your old world was relatively soft. With no real powerhouses, your countries relied on democracy and consent. The multiverse does not follow such notions."

"So what? Do you think I should start killing whenever and wherever?" I asked.

"Young Master that is up to you. I can not nor would I tell you what you should do. As an instructor, it is my role to ensure you have the knowledge you need."

"I got to admit I don't like the idea of murdering people for just not liking you but I can see her point," Azariah spoke up. "I think we should start with the honey so to speak. Most people will join up if you can show them safety which you can. Others who want power will want to join if you can show them the academy."

"As much as I appreciate your naivety." Keshaun began. "The choice won't be up to you. It sounds like you shook the hornet nest when you hurt the Commonwealth. The powers that used to be might be able to ignore. Spin it as unruly people fighting. Now that the rankings are out you have become something much more dangerous."

"What is that exactly?"

"A threat. You have the power along with the other top ten and perhaps the entire top one hundred. You all represent potential. I guess they will start infiltrating the other groups. Assuming they haven't already. I wouldn't be surprised if people start to die after or during the auction."

"So you agree that the auction is likely a trap?" Christopher asked.

"Yes and no. I assume they will offer you all a spot as soldiers. Probably talk about how unity is important or some other nonsense. If you accept you will probably be safe for the time being. If you don't that's where the problems will start. They might make their moves in the middle of the night or during the auction. They might look for leverage. Family members and other hostages would be excellent for that."

I nodded. "So what don't drink or eat anything? Or should I be expecting guns?"

He paused as if thinking about something before shaking his head. "Without more information, it's hard to know for sure but your strength should be unknown to them. Do you know at which point you become immune to guns?" When no one responded he continued. "Alright, they should assume that guns will work or at least high caliber rounds. The people you should be more worried about are the other members of the group."

"There is no need to worry about either me or Desbera. The System will protect us just know that we can't help you with anything. We are only able to perform our jobs or the System will take away that protection." Azariah added and Desbera confirmed.

"So the first thing we should do is try to get rooms in the same area. It wouldn't do us any good if you all were too far away from me."

"Should we reduce the number of guards? If they will just be a burden they could hurt you more than help." Christopher asked.

I shook my head. "No, if we did that they might assume we know something. On top of that, I can't be everywhere and do everything."

"So if shit gets real we all just run to you?" Azariah asked. Her irritation at the idea practically dripped from her words.

"I wouldn't be too worried. The government should want to maintain plausible deniability. Poison or an attack while you sleep is most likely."

"So at night we should either leave early or I find you all. They shouldn't be able to stop me from opening a portal."

"That sounds like our best bet though I admit I don't like relying on you," Azariah added begrudgingly.

Stolen story; please report.

"We agree there but it certainly beats death. Are there any items we can buy that could help us?" Christopher asked and turned his gaze to the half-dragon.

"On short notice no. I could put my interest out there but it would take longer. It would also cost more if I appeared desperate to attain the items."

I steepled my fingers and leaned back in my seat. "Well, it doesn't sound like we can do anything more about this. We will just have to roll with the punches. Azariah, Desbera would either of you be able to identify this?" I pulled out the box containing the odd acorn. I placed it on the table and gently opened it. Both women opened their eyes wide in surprise.

"It is called Forest's Gift. They are upper first realm tao treasures that help with nature-based tao. They are quite rare." Desbera said while gently lifting both it and the box. "Its spirituality is a bit lacking and it appears to have been picked a bit too early."

"Even in its present state I should be able to get a heft price for it. If you would allow me to sell it?" Azariah added with clear avarice in her eyes.

"Would it help someone gain a tao seed in fire, water, or ice?" I asked my mind immediately going toward Trey.

"Uh, the categories of the tao are a bit fluid so it might. It is certainly not as good as one designed for one of those elements." Desbera replied.

"If you would prefer I could inquire about treasures for those elements. They are fairly simple to get and are on the more common side." Azariah added.

"Do that. I would like to set Trey up to take a huge leap forward the moment he can cultivate."

"Young Master, if you do not mind but what is the boy to you? Are they your disciple? I would like to make sure he is receiving the appropriate amount of attention."

I cocked my head and considered that question. I wasn't sure. "He is my disciple?" I wasn't even sure that was true when I heard it. I shook my head and stared again. "Yeah, consider him my first disciple. Or apprentice or whatever word would be best. He is a person that's important to me."

"Alright, if I find items that would benefit him do I have your permission to purchase them?" Azariah asked.

"Yes, I will start putting aside a fund for him just until he can cultivate and earn things himself."

"Of course, I will put this away. It might be possible to restore some of its spirituality as well." Desbera said as she closed the box.

I nodded. "Also Azariah if possible can you look into more of these dimensional bags? They are pretty useful even if we can only get cheap variants."

"Oh, I can do that easily enough. The simple bag versions are quite common in the multiverse."

"Great, now that's done there is something else I would like done. There is a cave that has a weird pool of liquid inside. The liquid reminds me of spirit stones just in concentrated transparent liquid form. Does anyone know anything about that?"

"It sounds a bit like you are describing spirit water. It is a potent alchemical and array formation ingredient. In rare situations, a person could ingest the stuff whole but it is not recommended. It would increase your resistance to spirit stones and could blight your channels." Azariah replied.

I perked up at that. "Blight them?"

"Yes, uh blighting is a process where you effectively burn your channels completely. If the blighting is bad enough you would lose the ability to channel spiritual energy. If that happened you would slowly die of energy starvation."

"Wait why would that kill me?"

"Uh, surely you have realized that your body needs spiritual energy now? If you were to go for prolonged periods without it you would die. As you are still at a low enough realm you can survive in energy-barren areas but eventually, that won't be the case. Even your food will need a certain amount of it to sustain you." Desbera said almost as if she were speaking to a child.

"Oh oh oh that's not great so is that why the planet has an energy ranking? I would die if I was on old world's earth now?"

"I don't know the energy rating of your old planet but if it was sub-first realm then yes. You would slowly die of energy starvation."

"Well, that isn't fun. Well, let's leave that particular line of thought to another time. I would like to get the cave under our control. I should have dealt with the monsters there already though I wouldn't be surprised if something new has moved in."

"Would you be able to lead us back there? I am not sure if we have enough buckets for that kind of thing."

"It's not so much that I want you to grab the whole thing and bring it here. It's more that I want the System to consider it 'Mine' so I don't know if I need to put up a fence or a teleporter or something there?" I gazed at the educator and then the merchant as I spoke.

"In that case, a teleporter placed would work. As long as there are no competing controllers in the area it would be yours. The System would likely create a quest to force you and the other person into conflict. I would also suggest a simple illusion array to hide the entrance."

"Perfect," I replied. "I will purchase a teleporter, the array, and take it over there myself tomorrow." I took a moment and let my "If there is nothing else anyone wants to bring up? We can consider this meeting at its end."

I waited until everyone had left before I made my way into my cultivation chamber. I took a seat and removed a pair of my 2nd realm spirit stones. The energy flowed into me like a calming river. I decided to spend a little more time and circulate the energy through my entire body before letting it flow into my dantian. I let my mind wander to everything that had happened over the last few days. There were so many people living in Amara that it was almost worrisome. The weight of responsibility fell onto my shoulders like a weighted blanket. I took another deep breath and imagined the weight fading. There was only one choice for me. I had to keep moving forward. One foot in front of the other. After that, the cards would fall wherever. After all, I was officially the highest-level person on earth. I was the strongest.

I smiled to myself as I focused my full attention on cultivation. I lost myself in the flow of energy, the surges of power, and the calm reassurance that came with it. When the hum passed through the room and woke me up it was like I was in a trance. It me nearly a minute to process where I was and what happened. I passed my mind over the contents of my bag and grimaced. I used four stones instead of the intended two. The grimace turned into a dry chuckle once I opened my status screen and saw I had gained two levels. The hum passed through the room again before I could decide how to spend my free points. I slung the bag back over my shoulder and exited the room.

"There you are. Azariah has the illusion array and wants to know if she should have delivered it here or will you go to her and get it?" Christopher asked.

"Right, I will take care of it and head out in a little bit."

"Also mind explaining how you gained two levels while the rest of us were sleeping?"

I grinned and shook my head. "What can I say? Being this great is a twenty-four job."Christopher stared at me blankly for several seconds, then he turned around and left. "You just got to accept it." I called after him. Once he was gone I took a quick bath and gathered the array from Azariah. Unfortunately, this one was of a much lower quality it had literal flags that I had to bury into the dirt and stone. It would only fool weaker people and monsters which should be good enough. No one stronger should be there and if they were then I had bigger problems. Since I was alone and already knew where to go the journey only took a few hours. I left the flags in the right spot and then collected a bit more of the water. We didn't have a lot of use for it right now but I could try to sell it at the auction. Once I collected a few bottles I made my way back to Amara.

The few days before the auction passed in a blur of training and hunting. I managed to top my credits off at a bit over 15 and a half million. Between the hunting and the System counting the spirit water, I had moved into the fifth spot of the financial leader board. Despite that nothing I did could move me higher. I even had a few people transfer their wealth to me just to see but I gave up on that. I didn't like asking people for money and even reaching 20 million didn't move the needle. With everything decided the day of the auction arrived and our party was formed. The auction was scheduled for an hour after sunset which meant that we had to set off three hours before that. I was pleasantly surprised to see that both Azariah and Desbera had little difficulty keeping up with me. I still couldn't go all out but we were able to keep a strong pace for the entire journey.