Sol entered the Commander's office, where Zaman was sitting behind his desk as usual.

"Ah, Sol, come take a seat. I have some good news."

"Good news? Does this have to do with the orcs?"

There were very few reasons for Zaman to personally summon him. It could be about the progress of Lapis’ revival, his progress in comprehending a law technique, or the situation with the orcs. Sol guessed it was likely about the ceasefire with the orcs, as there should have been some discussions between the two sides by now.

Zaman nodded. "Yes. While the dragon gave us a grace period of ten years to find the dwarven city and recreate the life cluster ritual, there is a lot of planning and logistics that need to be considered beforehand. But I can finally say we have reached the end of those talks. However, they added a condition to this cooperation."

"Does it somehow involve me? Is that why you called me?"

He nodded again. "They want you to join the search. Their reasoning is that their savior, whom an orc named Kirgar referred to as 'you,' caught on like wildfire. They only really trust you because you made the deal with Orna."

Sol made a difficult expression. "Do I really have to go? I am making progress on my law technique, and it would take longer if I had to join the search. I also don’t think my inclusion would make the search go any faster."

He felt that the only possibly useful thing he could do in the search was use [True Sight] in case there were more illusions like the one that blocked the perception of the tunnel entrances. But he wasn’t the only one with such abilities, and many others could take his place.

The Commander agreed with his sentiment. "I know. That's why I told them you were busy with personal matters. They were understanding, but to prevent any mishap, the explorations will be carried out in mixed groups of humans and orcs. But when we do find the dwarven city, neither side can enter until you show up."

"But won’t it take half a month from getting the news and me traveling to the Orna Mountains? Will it be fine to wait that long?"

Zaman waved his hand. "You don’t have to worry about that. We are going to use the abandoned fort near Chilton as an exploration outpost and set up a long range communications crystal. When we receive word that they found the city, a space mage can teleport you and your squad over once they set up a spatial focus point."

Sol's worries were unfounded, and he felt a bit relieved that he could teleport over, saving himself a lot of time.

"How long do you think it will take to find the city then?"

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"Hard to say, but based on the exploration maps the orcs have shared, it should be under a month. There are a lot of passages that lead to dead ends or mines, but it shouldn’t take too long to map out the entirety of the underground labyrinth. By the way, how is your progress? Do you think you can comprehend a law technique in a month?"

Zaman asked because the time it took to comprehend a law technique varied widely between individuals, depending on the law technique and their personal understanding. It could take one day or it could take years.

Sol wasn’t too sure himself, but based on the discovery he made with Duncan, he felt it shouldn't be too long.

"I think I’ll have a law technique by the end of the month."

The Commander smiled. "That's reassuring to hear. The Princess gave me a similar answer as well."

"I’ve been meaning to ask something, Commander. I can tell you want more A-Rankers recently, but you only shared how to become one with me and the Princess. Why don’t we tell all the knights how to become one?"

Zaman sighed with a tinge of helplessness. "There are quite a few reasons for that, actually. Do you remember what you told me about the orc that chased you through the mountains?"

Sol nodded. "He could create anything out of snow and ice. He formed a snow giant and launched ice arrows and ice spears that could easily destroy mountains."

"The biggest reason is that the power of A-Rankers is too great. When strong A-Rankers fight, they leave a trail of pure destruction. In some cases, the place they fought in becomes a wasteland. If there were more of us, the battlefields you see today would pale in comparison, and wars would spiral out of control. Back then, this wouldn’t be such a big issue as the gods would intervene and repair most of the damage, but nowadays, the only way to recover the land would be with the assistance of a life or nature related A-Ranker."

Sol could see how that would be a problem. He remembered that the book on the third floor of the Royal Library also mentioned the gods became less active after the war, but it never elaborated why.

"But what about other nations or evil organizations like the black market? Won’t there be a huge imbalance of power if someone spreads the information and creates a large army of A-Rankers?"

Zaman confidently shook his head. "That won’t happen. Currently, all the nations agree not to have over 50 A-Rankers at any given time. If they are caught trying to do so—and trust me, there are ways to know—nations will mobilize to cull their numbers, restrict the information, and punish them for doing so. For criminal organizations, it's a bit messier and varies from case to case. Sometimes they regulate themselves, and other times we make a deal where they don’t spread the information for certain privileges, which they usually accept. In cases where they do so anyway, we bring many of our A-Rankers to suppress them and call upon help from other nations if needed. Depending on the means available, there are many methods to restrict the uncontrolled growth of A-Rankers, which depend on the situation."

Sol was a bit shocked that the world’s leaders had such contingencies in place, but it made sense. Even as some nations waged war on each other, they refrained from increasing their A-Ranker count as the outcome would only lead to mutually assured destruction. In the cases where they did so anyway, the other nations would intervene for their own self preservation.

Knowing this now, Sol realized he made a small mistake a while ago. "Ah… I told Duncan I was going to tell him about law techniques later."

"You were?" Zaman said, surprised but not angry. "Hmm, now that I think of it, Duncan has a barrier talent skill, correct?"

Sol nodded.

The Commander pondered it further and came to a decision.

"Including you and the Princess, we still have two more A-Ranker slots. You can tell him. But only him, and warn him not to spread that information. We could use someone with a barrier law technique."