I finished clearing the floating island dungeon from the zone at coordinates (-2,4). I got my seventh upgrade for Acid Shot and went with size. The skills were nothing special or useful, Ice Lance, Summon: Battle Swordfish.

What was really interesting was if this zone was a level 3 zone, that meant there was a city to my West. I set off. It was probably this Free City of Hong Kong. They had been staying out of everything and were supposedly neutral. It would be interesting to chat with someone who had been around for a while to get their view on things.

I could let them have a single city. It gave people an option if they wanted to leave my Empire. Having an alternative to my super empire was important even if it was just one city. I could exile people there instead of killing them. Let someone else deal with the headaches.

That was when I saw a team approaching. They also saw me, but neither of us changed course. They were no threat to me. “Greetings, you have entered the sovereign territory of the Free City of Hong Kong. We ask you identify yourself and depart.” I kept advancing. They had about 10,000 stat points total, each of them.

They were Envoy level, which had no chance of beating me. “I am Champion Michael, and you stand in my sovereign territory,” I said. They didn’t react at that. I mean honestly, how many people do I need to kill to make people take me seriously. It was probably the laid-back outfit.

I kept walking forward towards them. “We ask that you turn back-“

“You do not ask me anything or demand anything of me. Are you the Divine Empress?” I asked and they froze at that. “I don’t see her around either. So unless she is hiding in your pocket, then I suggest you be a lot more polite,” I scolded them.

“My apologies, but we must insist you respect our sovereign territory.”

“If I don’t and decided to kill you all?” I asked.

“We can take-“

“Shut up. I handle the talking,” the leader told off one of his men.

“If you think you can take me. I will let you have the first move. I mean, you are level 3, maybe level 4 material at best. But I doubt that.” There was silence and the leader spoke.

“If you would be willing, we would be happy to escort you to the Protector to speak further,” the man said.

“That would be entertaining. Sure, let’s go,” I replied. They surrounded me as we set off towards the West. At least they had already cleared a path.

“So, what is your Protector like?” I asked.

“Brave, resolute, and caring. You will see,” the leader of the group told me, but they apparently were clamming up. Well, I didn’t really care. It would be interesting to meet the last power of this portion of the Systemic Lands.

I had met the Divine Empress, then the Avatar, then that Council of Shadows, and now the Protector. With this visit, I will have collected all the factions. I was hoping they would stay neutral, since they had people grinding level 3 zones. That meant their base combat strength was higher than my troops.

But they weren’t using consumption, so each one of these people was a much greater investment than my people. If I could get this faction to support us against the Divine Empress, that would be perfect. I needed allies and to cut the Avatar off and possibly the Astrologer as well in the future.

It was all about positioning. If this Protector didn’t bend the knee and get in line, then I could just wreck this place as well. Clearing the board would only help me and my faction long term. Now that I was thinking about it, I might wipe the city out just for the points it could eventually provide me.

It took the rest of the day, but we finally made it in sight of the walls of the Free City of Hong Kong. We entered the city, and I was brought to the plaza and asked to wait. A few minutes later, a middle-aged Asian man, that appeared very average approached me.

Black hair, clean shaven, but completely unremarkable, except the massive amount of stats I could tell he had. So this was the Protector.

“Yo, what’s up?” I asked and gave him a light wave. I was still stronger than him, slightly. It would be a serious fight if we went all out and might come down to skills. He was the strongest person I had seen after the Divine Empress.

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“Greetings Champion Michael. I am called the Protector, but you can call me Cai Fan if you wish. Welcome to the Free City of Hong Kong,” the Protector said.

“Cai Fan, huh. So, you are neutral or what? I heard you sent a group of people to Normandy?” I asked.

“Yes. The Avatar called in a favor I owed her. I could not refuse. The favor has since been repaid many times over. And yes, she is no longer welcome here.”

“She screw you over as well?” I asked.

“She screwed over the people I swore to protect and drew me out of the city when the Divine Empress showed up. You missed her by a couple of days.”

“I know. So would you help fight her?” I asked.

“I protect this city. I am called the Protector not the Attacker for a reason. I believe that defending and trying to find a path to peace is the way to inner harmony,” he said.

This guy was clearly smoking the tea leaves, but that was fine. “And if I said your city needed to pay tribute or taxes?” I asked him.

“Then I would defend my people from such a threat Champion Michael. You might defeat me, but it would be a hard fought battle.” I nodded at that.

“Fair enough. I am taking a more casual attitude lately so please forgive me if I come across as rude,” I said.

“There is nothing to forgive. Everyone is blessed in their own way and must seek their own path to enlightenment.”

“So, could you beat the Divine Empress?” I asked.

“You are asking how well you would stand up to her? Before, I would have said that I would win two times in ten against her. Now I would only win one time in twenty,” Cai Fan said.

“And if we fought?” I asked.

“I would win four times in ten. I do not know your skills, but you do not know mine. So, it would be a surprise to us both. But with your stats you would have a slight edge over me.” I considered the man in front of me. Even with my poking he had remained calm.

“Alright, let’s drink tea or something and no threats,” I said with a slight sigh. I had kind of been itching for a fight. I was feeling motivated lately to take on the Divine Empress for round two and this would have been a good indication how where I stood in the power rankings.

“I enjoy tea. It has been a pain to cultivate with out the proper plants, but there are ways to those with knowledge that seek the path of tea.” This man had a calming effect. He was just so…meh, it was hard to really get annoyed with him.

I considered if he was doing some kind of mental effect on my mind, but nothing was triggering my stats. That was just his personality. We made our way inside a building and to a table. Good, I didn’t like sitting on the floor.

Instead of tea I was offer juice, which I accepted gratefully. The man either knew me well or was reading me. “I take my time to observe Champion Michael. You said the word tea without care and as a slight against my culture. As an American you probably would prefer something sweet, that is why I had orange juice prepared for you.”

“Impressive.” I sipped the juice and looked right at him without fear. If he was going to poison me go right ahead. I was getting a restoration after this and there was no energy in the juice.

“Indeed. I work hard to cultivate all my less destructive talents. Observing and understanding people is a hobby of mine. It has been how I have survived this long and kept the Free City of Hong Kong, free.”

“Free. But that was when there was the Dragon Empire and the United City States. The later was wiped out by the calamity and the former is now ruined utterly,” I said.

“Indeed. I also do not know what the calamity was. Only a great wave of energy. As for the past, neither side wanted to fight. Now I grow slowly in strength, but the Divine Empress out paced me, but her Empire has fallen. In time I will overtake her,” he replied.

“You sound awfully confident,” I said.

“I have faith in my people, myself, and hard work. There is not shortcut to true strength.” This man was scary how well he could see into my mind. I suspected a mind reading skill, but nothing was pinging off my Mind stat.

“We could team up against her. Me and you. Double team that old lady and beat her ass into the ground,” I suggested. He sipped his tea, and I sipped my juice. He was clearly thinking about such a team up and I didn’t rush him.

While he was right below my level his calm attitude, high stats, and clear headed nature while not being bullied by me made me like him. Cai Fan the Protector had some backbone. Also the Divine Empress had wrecked his city, so even if he claimed not be an attacker, he knew she was as much of a threat to him as she was to me.

I had no idea about his skills, but he wasn’t stupid. If he had a one in twenty chance, with me let’s call it three in twenty or fifteen percent. I liked those odds. We stock up on bombs and then take her down. No muss, no fuss.

“It is intriguing idea, and I am seriously considering it.”

“I would be willing to throw in a city, or a permanent non-interference treaty for your city as well. Ratified in public and by my Chief Administrator. You can have your corner of the world, and I won’t bother it.”

“But you did wipe out Normandy?” he asked me.

“Yes. Since the Astrologer and the Avatar are a threat still. Also, those women were crazy. Did the Astrologer do some brainwashing there?” I asked.

“Yes, unfortunately. I turned him away when he tried to visit my city in the name of research. I could not stand the man. He was just as bad as the Divine Empress, just in a different way. You may be crass, but you are not a pig in clothing or a crazed butcher.”

“Thanks, I think,” I replied.

“I do not like to deceive and if we work together then there must be some trust. Such a fight would require perfect teamwork for us to have a chance against the Divine Empress.”

“It would. The real danger is her having two meta-points. Any idea what those are? I have an idea about her skills,” I said and then explained what I knew about her skills. Spreading out her weaknesses was a sign of trust on my part and I hated the Divine Empress. Let everyone know what skills she was packing.