Hearing what the new arrival said made Nalser’s face fall. Everyone in the room took in a deep breath and only a moment later, there was a loud thud on the table. Jack looked towards the sound and saw a huge figure that was half bull and half man. “A minotaur….” Jack muttered in a low voice.

“Those fuckers! Just as the Summoner came, they immediately challenge. Do they have no shame?!” As the low and anger filled voice echoed out in the dining hall, everyone seemed to agree with him as they gnashed their teeth at it. Jack looked towards Nalser and asked, “Can you only initiate the Siege War when a Summoner is here?”

Nalser nodded his head and explained, “A Siege War can only be issued and accepted by a Summoner. Since the old Summoner of Earth died, they couldn’t issue a Siege War Challenge to us. However, what I am more curious about is how they know that you are here.”

Jack frowned as Nalser continued, “You have been here for only a few hours and haven’t formally been introduced as the new Summoner, so I am wondering how they got the information.”

Hearing this, Jack nodded and asked, “Do we have to accept? What are the penalties for refusing the Challenge?” After Jack asked that, everyone turned towards Jack and Nalser.

Nalser said grimly, “To refuse a Challenge, we have to give them an Island. However….” Even if Nalser didn’t finish his sentence, Jack knew why they could not do that.

“But we only have one island left, so that option is out of the window.” Jack finished his sentence. Nalser nodded grimly. As silence set into the dining hall that was now shrouded in a gloomy atmosphere, Jack suddenly asked, “How do these Challenge things work?”

Nalser coughed lightly and explained, “After paying a fee, a Summoner will be able to issue a Challenge towards any Realm that is within Ranking or higher. Higher ranked Realms can not Challenge those lower than them.” “Jack thought for a moment before saying, “This is to prevent the stronger ones from Challenging the weaker ones and collecting islands and Realms that way….”

Then he turned towards Nalser and asked, “If a lower ranked Summoner Challenges a higher ranked one and loses, what happens then?”

Nalser answered almost immediately, “They still lose an island.” Jack sighed after hearing that, “So basically, the higher ranked ones can still farm islands they want. They just need to pay off the lower ranked ones.”

Hearing that, Nalser frowned and asked, “What do you mean?”

Jack shrugged his shoulders and said, “It is a common tactic in games and novels to bypass these rules. When a higher ranked one can not directly Challenge a lower ranked one, they pay off another lower ranked one to do the dirty work and then to Challenge them and lose on purpose.”

Jack then took a breath and said gloomily, “The end result is the same, just more steps are needed to accomplish it.” Jack then turned his gaze towards the door and said, “You said that only someone from either the same ranking or lower can Challenge right? So, since we are at the bottom of the barrel already, it is certain that some higher ranked one is after us because like you said, it should be impossible for a similar or lower ranked Summoner to get the information about me being here already so fast.”

Nalser’s face turned stunned the more Jack went on and when Jack saw that, he asked in disbelief, “How can you not have thought of that? It should be quite obvious from the way things are set up. I don’t know how things work here but Earth’s history is filled with such petty schemes and plots.” Nalser gave Jack a wry smile hearing that.

Jack then asked, “Since we have to accept the Challenge because we have nothing to lose any more, how long is the preparation period?” Nalser thought for a moment and said, “Since the Challenger has the right to Challenge and gets the benefits even if we refuse, we have the right to choose the time.”

Jack thought for a moment and asked nonchalantly, “Is there a limit on how long we can push it back?”

Nalser fell into thought for a while and then said, “There isn’t. Usually, these Challenges take place within a month but by the rules and laws, there is actually no set time that the Challenge must be completed in.”

Jack then gave Nalser a grin and asked, “How do I accept the Challenge?” Hearing this and seeing the smile, Nalser felt a chill down his back.

It was the same kind of malicious smile he had seen many years ago. ‘No good ever came from that smile….’ As Nalser thought that to himself, he explained the procedure needed to follow for accepting Challenges.

**

Not even an hour later, Jack, Nalser and two Minotaur’ slowly walked up to a giant multi storied building. Nalser had explained to Jack that all Siege War related actions go through the Administration.

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When Jack and Nalser entered the building, the two Minotaur stayed outside. Only the Summoner and the Aide could enter the Administration. This rule was set forth so no one could intimidate another inside or force someone inside. Jack took in his surroundings and followed behind Nalser as he was familiar with the building.

They walked up to the counter where a young lady with a permanent smile was waiting. Nalser simply said, “We are here to accept the Siege War Challenge.” As he said that, he put a token on the counter. The young lady took the token with a smile and put it on a little magic circle and a screen appeared in front of her.

She nodded and clarified, “You are from the Earth Realm and are here to accept the Challenge from the Firong Realm, right?” Nalser nodded his head. The young lady smiled and started tapping on the screen. She turned towards Nalser and asked, “At what time will the War start?” Nalser looked towards the Jack that was nonchalantly looking around the building and coughed. Jack looked at Nalser’s odd face and nodded with a smile.

Nalser then sighed and said, “We would like to schedule the start of the War to 66 years from now.” Hearing this, the young lady tilted her head for a moment and a soft, “Huh?” escaped her lips.

She looked towards Jack and Jack nodded with a smile, “You heard my Aide, we would like to start the War 66 years from now, to the day.” The smile disappeared from the young lady’s face as she said, “I need to inform my superior as such a thing has not happened before.”

Jack said with the same smile, “Go ahead, there is no rule we can’t do that.” Hearing this, the young lady faltered. However, a moment later, she disappeared into the back room.

When the two were alone in the room, Nalser asked, “Will this really be okay?”

Jack looked out the window and said, “There is no rule against this so they can’t pressure us with this. If they do, then we can start pressuring them with it. Then the hand behind the curtain will show itself. Either way we win.”

Nalser could understand his logic and reasoning but it seemed a bit extreme and unconventional. He looked and Jack and said, “The Recruiter said that you had an extremely timid personality and you did not do anything that you didn’t know ended good for you. Seeing you like this, I feel as though he was just blowing smoke in my ears.”

Jack turned towards Nalser and looked at him in the eyes, “Well, for now, I am going with the theory that I am lucid dreaming, so I am doing what ever the hell I want.”

He gave Nalser a big smile. Nalser tilted his head and asked, “Lucid dreaming? What is that?”

Jack turned his head away and scanned the building again as he explained, “Lucid dreaming is active dreaming. You are in control of the dream and you know you are dreaming. Something like that.” Before Nalser could ask or say anything, the back door opened and a familiar figure to Jack appeared alongside the young lady.

It was the Recruiter. Jack smiled towards the Recruiter and asked, “Is there a problem?” With each blink the recruiter morphed into a new appearance and each of them seemed to have a defeated expression on their faces.

The Recruiter said, “According to the Rules, there is no problem.” He then looked at Jack and said, “However, this has never happened before, that the start of a War is postponed for 66 years.”

Jack shrugged and said, “I wanted to make it 666 years but I wouldn’t be alive to see it then, so I had to go with 66 years instead. As for it never happening before….” Jack trailed off as he looked towards the young lady and then back towards the Recruiter and said, “There is always a first time for everything isn’t there?”

The Recruiter sighed and then asked, “Are you planning on postponing every War Challenge you receive in a similar manner?”

Jack thought for a moment and then said, “Not every one, simply for the next year or so for certain. There is someone out there specifically targeting Earth and it is quite a high ranked fellow as well, so I need to make preparations to make sure I survive until that time.”

The Recruiter frowned as he asked, “What do you mean there is someone targeting you?”

Jack shrugged his shoulders and said, “Seems way too coincidental that is all. In 50 years, Earth declined so heavily despite the high standing for over half a million years. Now, only mere hours after me arriving here, someone immediately Challenges us to a Siege War. No low ranked Realm would be able to find out this fast, only a higher ranked Realm will be able to pull enough strings to do this.”

Jack then looked at the Recruiter with cold eyes and continued, “Whether this is a dream or not, whether I am willing or not, this is my mess to deal with at the moment. I don’t like being a soft bone to chew but rather an annoying chicken bone stuck in the throat.”

After hearing that, the Recruiter looked at Jack deeply and then he bowed his head, “I will conduct a thorough investigation into how that information was leaked that fast.” He then stood up and said, “As for the War Challenge, it will be set to 66 years from now and we will also advice all the other Challengers that at least for the first year the result will be similar to this.”

Jack nodded towards him and asked, “When you were playing God in my Time and Space, how much did you look at?” The Recruiter was silent for a while and the other two who hadn’t said a word were looking also looking at him but in puzzlement.

After a few moment, the Recruiter said slowly, “I saw what happened when you were 10 years old.” Hearing this, Jack, took a deep breath but suddenly the room temperature started to slowly raise. Both Nalser and the Recruiter looked towards Jack and then nodded towards each other. As the Recruiter appeared in front of Jack, Nalser appeared behind him with a blue Magic Circle on his palm. Just as Jack was about to strike out at the Recruiter, Nalser hit the back of his head with the Magic Circle and Jack immediately lost consciousness and fell into the Recruiters arms.

Nalser looked deeply at the Recruiter and said coldly, “I don’t know what happened when he was ten but the rage he felt towards you knowing makes one wonder what happened. He even managed to awaken his Ancient Bloodline Talent thanks to that.”

The Recruiter looked at Jack with a complicated and a sorrow filled gaze as he said, “Let’s just say that, when he manages to learn how to harness his Talent, I am the first person he is going to kill. That time made him into who he is.”