"Anyone else?" I ask the remaining members of Parthenon Avantgard, making extra sure to make eye contact with Zeus-wannabe, Poseidon-wannabe, and Hera-wannabe, who I can intuit to be much more hostile towards me. Though maybe still not as hostile as the blacksmith; who is charging at me–right now, with fury in his eyes. Fortunately for him, I do feel bad for the table, which is why I'll spare him. Smash-Stab. Triggering the skill with a punch using about 15% of my strength, I target his jaws, which in turn jarred his brain and rendered him unconscious. "I mean, besides him..."

Of course they kept silent, like weak prey before their natural predator. "Ah, how about rather than take the life of one of you, all three share the burden instead?"

Invaseviction. Three minds and three identical Spell at once this time; each aiming for a different target; parts of Paco-Zeus's left ears, Regina-Hera's left hand ring finger, and Cabot-Poseidon's right eye. They may be personifying the concept of two powerful gods and one slightly less powerful goddess, but their growth rate is above average at best and spatial magic is still something beyond their current means. All three targeted appendages are teleported to the space above my outstretched left hand, where they hover; held by an invisible sphere of mana. At the same time, all three yell in surprised agony.

Conjure Flames. The ear and the finger were burnt to dust very easily, leaving behind the eye—water attuned, apparently—and pieces of bones who refuse to ignite… Ignite! Sparks cover the three non-easily flammable objects… to no avail. Though I'm not one to give up so easily! Restarting an electronic device usually fixes basic software error, and investing more mana into the Spell usually fixes a Spell's lack of power. Thus, at 10 times the base mana cost, all sparks Ignite produce changes from a dull darkish red to blindingly bluish white. And anything the sparks touch is instantly charred to dust rather than merely light up in flames, and I'm perfectly fine with that. Within a few seconds, nothing but ashes is left… I also applied Lesser Heal on their person to leave each with a visible scar.

"What the hell man!?" Paco yelled at me.

"You dare!" Regina hissed even as her eyes glowers at me. Cabot on the other hand, is simply staring at me in silence, one hand over his missing eye.

"My friends back home, the elders especially, kept subtly reminding me to be kind… and I kinda tried, I guess. But seeing you guys, I figured why can't one be both kind and not depending on who they are dealing with. The world is not all black and white after all, right? So be somewhere in the middle." Sometimes referred to as the gray zone. Yes, be kind until they give you a reason not too, doesn't even have to be a good reason.

"Please stop! This has escalated too far." Sonya says, raising her hand in a calming gesture. "Nobody else will attack you now, so please calm down… Vica?"

Very slowly, Vica's partially charged aura dissipates and she steps out of her horse stance, "of course…"

"My finger! My ring finger!!" Regina exclaimed. Paco is feeling out his torn ear with a look of horror on his face.

"You handle this. Just, give me the territory now." I say calmly to Sonya while gesturing at her colleagues. Planning to first purchase a tower and call in political reinforcements.

Zen: Hen, you busy?

Henry: No, why?

Zen: About that…

While one part of my mind informs Henry of the escalated event, then gets heavily berated for thinking something as major as betting a few countries' worth of Territory would end with a simple transfer of ownership, another is listening to Sonya's reply. "Apologies, but I am not the sole owner of Parthenon Avantgard, and our Territories are divided among the 13 of us…"

Oh, I am increasingly feeling tempted to take the easy way out of this mess!

"... but," she continues. "For now, I am willing to transfer over what I own to you, perhaps so do a few more of us. While the rest we shall do so as soon as possible."

"Eh," I shrug, why is she making things so complicated? "That's a good idea. You're all here, so each of you can transfer what you own over. Why the delay?"

They dare make a bet and are now acting as if I'm the villain, at least this is a very valuable lesson for me; use System enforced contracts! Soon, most besides Paco, Regina and the unconscious Eabroni, have accomplished the deed. Cabot has probably wizened up and accepted the fact that they have lost, even while the two have not and Sonya, along with Emery are attempting to convince them otherwise. We are also waiting for the blacksmith to wake, so I took the chance while we wait and snack—the coffee and side dishes had just been delivered—to grill Vica about how things got this far.

In simple terms, they simply wanted more worshipers. Not that they are as of currently being worshiped, but plans were in place and they were simply preparing for the far future, one mortal step at a time. Preparations for when they will eventually be ready to walk the path of gods and embrace their divinity. Why followers are important is still up in the air, and the only known fact being they will be of great assistance. Everything they know thus far about all this was gained from some kinda legacy left behind by one or more mysterious entities. Either way, whatever it was has been passed on and I have no way of seeing it for myself, hence their words are all I got.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

So all of them had been entertaining the idea of expanding their influence, Rumah we happened to be easily within reach. As I do remember exploring the supercontinent to unveil our map and at the same time, come into contact with as many people as possible. Thus, Vica who had always been a martial arts enthusiast and is easily the strongest among them got delegated the role of fighting to win them the grand prize. That brings us to the text she sent me and now, the present… Oh, it is also important to know that not a single one of the 13, besides Vica herself, agreed to give up their Territory. Some due to greed, a few others from being afraid that the change will greatly affect them, example being; two people fear losing their freedom to continue their craft for example, and one fears that their relatively peaceful days will come to an end.

Eabroni had woken up earlier, who, after a quick debrief and finding out that he is free to continue his craft, quietly transferred over his part of the Territory before leaving in haste to retrieve his table—something similar happened to Yehor regarding his barrels of wine. Paco-Zeus eventually succumbed under the pressure of several convincing women, and now only Regina-Hera refuses to relent… I wonder how many fingers will need to be taken before she gives up? Invase—

"So, what's the situation?" Henry said from the door. I had had the chance to purchase a Rank 2 Mana Tower and Gate for 5,140,000—twas as quick as two Blinks and a few System interfaces. Left with the choice, I allowed him to take over the situation while I decompress. Better him try than me spatially teleporting Regina's fingers off of her hands one at a time. We'll determine what to do with the Territory itself later.

---

"So how goes the tunnel exploration?" I ask Henry, It's getting late and we are currently sitting on the new Tower's roof. This one is located on a slightly elevated patch of empty land in Paris, and extended to its maximum height of 15 meters. As it turned out, Mana Towers are not limited to their base height of 5 meters, but are conjured at such height for reasons related with efficient storage; instead each rank has their own limit–do note that whatever height they are set to do not affect their interiors in any way.

"Nothing much has changed, you just left this morning!" He replies. It felt to me like I've been here for ages. "So what are your plans for this Territory?"

"Can you handle more?" I ask him before I can decide on an answer.

"Sure, but not this instant."

"Honestly, you've got a large enough responsibility as it goes. Maybe we should give the job to some of the original owners, have them work under us as upper management or something. Come up with some yearly System bound contract, after we make sure of what they have in plan that is." I suggested and he was quick to agree.

The gist of it is, they plan to create an impenetrable fortress full of people who will worship them as their savior and god. In addition to the 13, a special army will also be acquired one way or another; perhaps devoted followers armed with weapons of mass destruction, or an army of cyborgs armed with similarly destructive weapons. In that way, whatever it is they need from followers may be achieved. Of course nobody truly knows if that course of action would actually work, but that's what plans are, right?

I can't be bothered to come up with a better plan for now, not for some Territory I barely care about, and Henry is busy with his own things at Rumah and Quadholm. So, we gathered several select people into a meeting and offered them the choice to continue their previous work, the only difference being they are no longer their own boss… Eabroni easily agreed to continue managing the production of tools and gears, while Yehor continues to manage plants and entertainment—mostly in the form of bars and willing escorts-plus-plus—partly in-collab with Adahlia or Fleur on their related subjects. Ludovica readily agreed to continue being in charge of security, Cabot for all things sea. And everything will be under the leadership of Sonya's wisdom, especially for things pertaining to combat. Lastly, Emery will take care of their home as she always does.

Paco and Regina refused to take charge of their previous responsibilities; one being the leader who is simply replaced by Sonya, the second runs a support group and hospital for married women and organizes all weddings; I think we can make do without that for the foreseeable future. Everyone should support everyone when possible, no need for special groupings. Pacho-Hermes was nowhere to be found.

All done here, I decided to return to Quadpeak as it's about time I explore the tunnels. Solo adventure of course! The missing messenger god wannabe appeared a few minutes before I left and agreed to continue working on transport, some form of organized crime like a blackmarket and well, delivering messages… We signed the contract like everyone else and I took my leave.

Combat summary

Enemies slain:

Human lv 35 x 1

Human lv 36 x 1

71 syscred and 348 exp awarded

Skill level up, SYMPHONY 31 > 32

Skill level up, Spatial Intuition 4 > 5

Skill level up, Intimidate 52 > 53

Spell mastery rank up, Ignite Basic > Intermediate

'Assign 11 free AP to Wisdom, thank you.'

The first thing I did upon returning to Quadpeak is to trigger my System Notifications—2 are passive skill levels… Such tiny improvement after all that's happened only proves to shows that those guys from Parthenon Avantgard were weaklings—and to extend the height of all 11 Mana Towers. One Rank 5 and 10 Rank 3s; the 10 latter Towers extend to be 25 meters tall while the other one becomes 35 meters tall. I do think they look much better this way! Carrying on, I first registered a mark of returning right here on the roof; 18,450 mana out of 18,498 spent for 184x my MAtk range, which provides an effective Returning range of a little more than 1000 kilometers. Blink.

Now standing exactly at the mysterious tunnel entrance in our killzone, I give the guards in charge a friendly salute before making my way in. The cubes along our Rumah made tunnels are exactly as I left them, the greater weals within, comfortable and passively emitting light. Soon enough, I find myself at the end of our smooth man-made tunnel. Past this point, the terrain becomes slightly uneven; rough enough that it can be easily identified as a natural cave, but even enough not to be identified as difficult terrain. I place my first step on the rough uneven cave grounds.