Mike's life had developed into a schedule of sorts. He would spend a couple of hours on guard duty, and the rest of the time he spent within the mass of greenery and bushes at the center of the forest zone that they had named the living labyrinth, cultivating.

The living labyrinth was formed from countless trees and different vines weaved between them creating just over a two-meter wide path through the mass of vegetation, moving in organic paths, slowly getting closer to the center, running into other paths like one was inside a labyrinth that had grown out of the ground from multiple different trees, plants, and vines creating a mess of vegetation, somehow weaved together to form something that looked like walls.

It had taken only under a day of cultivation before someone noticed that it worked much better within the center of the living labyrinth if they used the nature-based core creation method instead of the neutral mana most people were using.

At first, many disapproved of this decision, as many guides said in passing that having an affinity in their core from the start, would make cultivation extremely difficult later on. However, after the person in question had created his core just a day after switching to this new cultivation method, it would be an understatement to say that many people bought the exact same guide right after that, wanting to get faster results.

After that, the living labyrinth had formed into the US's most important resource ridiculously quickly, as most of their personnel suddenly were cultivating the nature mana, tying their fast advancement to this single location. And soon enough, other factions were doing just the same, not willing to be left behind in the race for the governor position.

And Mike wasn't any different. He quickly did the same, wanting to get a core for himself as quickly as possible.

After that, he had created his core the very next day.

From then on, he would spend most of his time inside of the living labyrinth cultivating, advancing his core, and trying to awaken his mind. Following the steps from the guide, he had purchased with the credits he got for selling most of his cores. The nice thing about the training village was that as he purchased the core creation technique, the AI showed him a method that fit his situation perfectly.

The only cores he had left was one from the golem mountain that had been a particularly tough golem's core it had been made out of some sort of unyielding metal. And the other he had run into as they had cleared the living labyrinth for the first time. It was a core of a wooden bear that had tanked ridiculous amounts of attacks, most of them barely even leaving marks on it, as its body was extremely elastic, almost like it was made out of a rubber tree.

So, in other words, he had already collected the perfect candidates to use on his bones and muscles, in order to forge himself into an unkillable tank. Now, the only thing he needed was to awaken his mind, in order to start cultivating with true vigor.

And just three days after he had seen Tom last when they had divided their loot, and under day from when he created his core, his work was starting to pay off.

He had spent every moment after he had purchased the guide trying to awaken his mind, guiding the mana from his core to his head, slowly throwing it against the wall inside of his mind that was keeping him from accessing his willpower. He was slowly guiding the mana to a single point and letting it root there, allowing it to start to grow just as the guide he had purchased had recommended.

After there was a good clump of the mana against the wall sticking to it, Mike used all the little control he had over the mana as he yanked it backward, out of the wall, and at the same time, the roots that had slowly grown through the wall detached from the wall destroying it in the process. He had finally awakened his mind, but before he celebrated, he quickly left the game and drank a tier 0 nutrient fluid, not wanting to suffer from having too little mana for his mind to advance in the real world.

However, before he could truly celebrate his advancement, the very person in charge of the USA's faction's strategic development in Secverse came to see him, Asil Stein.

It was a person Mike didn't wish to ever cross. He was sure that Stein didn't have one bone in his body that wasn't planning how to best use him even at this very moment.

He was a person who had elected to tour the world, visiting the most hotspots of conflict, doing who knew what, but one thing was sure, where ever he went, something was always about to happen.

And now this person was standing right in front of him, personally inviting him into a "conflict" meeting.

He didn't dare to reject the offer, so he soon found himself right in the center of the living labyrinth, with all of the strongest people the US faction employed and the most influential ones.

He had to sign countless non-disclosure agreements before he was let in, as he didn't actually yet belong to the faction, but he was getting sweeter and sweeter deals each day. But then again, he was sure that absolutely everyone in this room had signed the same documents. Stein was a person that wouldn't make such a rookie mistake.

Soon enough, the meeting started, and the first thing that happened right after Stein introduced himself and declared the meeting started was that he asked innocently enough for Mike to explain what had happened after they had activated the teleporter on the obelisk. He did just that, telling how the mana had shot toward the obelisk, and how it took thirty minutes for the process to finish.

After he finished, Stein asked him one simple question "And what happened to the mana after that?" Mike soon realized where this was going, but still answered, knowing that he had already unwillingly done his part in this recruitment speech. " It disappeared and was permanently channeled straight into the obelisk to feed the teleportation."

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He could see how Stein's face twisted into a smile that a cat would have as it played with its food. "Yes, exactly, it stopped feeding mana to the surroundings. We wouldn't be able to hold either of the positions, but nothing is stopping us from stopping them from working!" The rest was history, all the pieces had already been put into their places. Stein had been sneaking around gathering allies by rationalizing why wouldn't they support them when there wouldn't soon be any competition for the governor position, and sweetening the deal with the fact that they could get some places into the living labyrinth.

And just like that, the very next day, the whole power structure of the main city 1, would get rearranged, yet to be seen how.

After the initial gathering of allies, it was a simple matter of sending some smaller factions to deliver a frontal assault on the plane and lake zones' central areas. Drawing their attention, as countless US-aligned elites they had hired and recruited approached from the other sides, they were split into two groups set to attack both positions at the same time. Mike along with them, after seeing the plan, he had reasoned to himself that it was never a bad idea to have a good relationship with the most likely new governor of the area.

The elites rushed toward the zones center under all the confusion, pretending to be part of each faction, taking advance of the fact that everyone was wearing different kinds of gear, their attires blending in as they rushed from the other side toward where the attack was happening. Until they were as close to the obelisk as they could get within the crowd, so they changed their course and headed for it, disposing of everyone who tried to question them.

And as soon as they reached the obelisk, it was short work to clean out the few guards that were still guarding and placing the blockages they had prepared at the entrances of the chamber. They placed knee-high metal plates in front of each of the entrances and vedging metal pipes into the floor to hold them still, creating a small but effective obstacle.

Now they only had to hold the position for thirty minutes. The entrances to the obelisk chamber stopped more than two people from attacking at once, and they had enough people to hold each of them, switchings to fresh hands whenever someone got tired.

At first, it was easy work, they only faced people who hadn't even awakened anything, no match for the wall of iron and flesh they had placed in front of each entrance, every single one of them had at least advanced their body's and was no amateur with weapons. They had also a literal mountain of health potions to burn through.

The first twenty minutes were easy, most of the stronger people who could challenge the elites holding the position were already fighting. So they only faced a couple of amateurs at once, fully taking advance of the tight entrance to the obelisk chamber, winning 2v2 one after another, forcing them to spend time dragging the corpses away so that they could even try their luck against them. They had only lost three people of the twenty they had come here with, demoralizing their enemies.

However, it seemed like someone who had actual authority had managed to detach themselves from the battle going on outside, and they were clearly willing to do anything to win.

They started operating like clockwork. A person would rush forwards, try to deliver a blow while completely abandoning their own defense, and most likely die trying before some people would drag the bodies out and another person would attempt the same.

Their leisure days were over. Mike's whole world turned into keeping his shiel up on top of their barrier as other people stabbed with their spears from behind him at his assailants. He could feel how, from time to time, some lucky strike would find its way behind his shield, but before he could even react, someone would pour some healing potion on the wound.

The intensity of the battle reached a new high, and Mike lost all sense of time. All that mattered was to keep the shield up and stop them from advancing. There was no longer leisure time between the attackers, it had turned into a constant stream of people, and they had to give up on their plans of switching out the front lines, as giving even the smallest opportunity could mean their failure.

However Mike before mike succumbed to his injuries and tiredness, he heard a cheer from behind him, they had done it!

Not long after, their front line collapsed as the people holding off the horde of people finally allowed their bodies to fall down from exhaustion.

After the elites executed their passed-out comrades, they started a brutal and swift melee. Every one of them then threw themselves at the enemy, making sure that they couldn't take them alive, forcing them to kill them or allow them to escape.

Sure every single one of the elite groups eventually died. However, the teleporters had long since activated.

Both of the assaults ended in successes, robin the factions of their cultivation spots, and to top it all off, Stein had gotten 200 merit points at once, pushing him over the limit of what he needed to be able to hold the election for the governor position. At the same time creating a big deterrence to stop others from doing the same to them, as who would possibly wish to challenge the person who was going to almost certainly become the next governor?

The next days were hectic. The election wasn't as farce as Mike had thought it would be. Stein still had to achieve over 50% of votes so people still could vote against him, but most normal people didn't care who would be the governor. The only thing they wanted was that there was a leader who could clear out more areas outside of the zone circle, opening up more cultivation locations, and allowing the original people the possibility to cultivate faster. And the only thing that demanded was strength, and they had just witnessed an impressive enough show of force to convince them.

And just like that, the election went through, and Asil Stein became the new governor just like that.

Mike didn't really care. He was only happy that he was in Stein's good books. Well, he couldn't actually tell, but maybe he wouldn't find himself excommunicated from the Main City 1 the very next day.

The situation was quite tense for a couple of days, but soon enough, the other factions realized that the governor's power within the city and the satellite cities on the edges of the zones were enough to make everyone desperate. As what one could do if they were suddenly stopped from using any of the services in the city, and nor could you go anywhere else as all you would do was die the moment you exited the zone circle. Most of the people's income came from trading with the traders, so it would be the same as them getting fired if they got evicted from the city, even if everyone had a nice nest egg, but cultivation was expensive.

The system was created so that anyone could claim the position for themselves, but after that, the situation was almost completely set in stone until the next election was held.

And you couldn't even murder the new governor as they would just respawn with a new vengeance against their assailants.

So after a couple of days of laying down the law, most people started acting nicely, following the development plans Stein was pumping out, in the hopes of getting even a small nugget of power, as at some point one had to realize when to cut their losses.

And finally, the visible power struggle in the Main City 1 had ended. And the focus turned toward the areas beyond it.