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Despite signing a contract, there was no way she would give up until she was absolutely certain that the kids were by her side, under her watch.

Otto\'s eyes narrowed slightly.

His mind returned to the deal he\'d made with Clatenis back at Dille\'s.

It was a long conversation, full of twists and turns.

"Toto, the four of you could become major players in this upcoming war."

Otto raised his eyebrows.

"War? You\'re certain?"

"As certain as I can be. Tensions between factions have been rising for years. It\'s hard to know where anyone stands."

"This war may well determine the future of Area 1."

Clatenis whispered something into the ears of one of the bodyguards standing behind him.

The man left with a curt nod.

Minutes later, the entire restaurant was completely clear of people.

Clatenis nodded at the man, then pressed a button on a small rectangular object that resembled a remote.

Suddenly a screen popped up in front of them.

It contained a map of the entirety of Area 1.

Otto could see clusters of dozens of planets surrounding one or two stars, scattered all over a vast empty space.

The map was so big that he was utterly unable to make out individual planets.

Clatenis pressed a few buttons and zoomed in.

"This is Satslik, home to the [Challenger\'s Pantheon]."

He pointed to a large planet close to the center of the map.

"Most of the large factions have headquarters here, but their home planets could be across the area from each other."

He looked at Otto.

"As you may know, Satslik is important not because of its size, or even its location, though we do rest in the center of the Area."

Otto nodded and answered for him.

"The teleportation circles."

"Exactly."

Clatenis shot him a small smirk.

"Our teleportation circles are by far the largest and most comprehensive of any other planet. Satslik is a rare planet that is both enormous, with many planetary zones, and filled with dense ambient mana and energy."

"In other words, it is both inhabitable by creatures of all species and races, and can support teleportation circles that allow for enormous distances. Without this planet, it might well be impossible for creatures to ever reach planets in the far reaches of Area 1."

"Satslik also remains one of the few planets that extends safe zone coverage to almost every area of the planet. It boasts a full 93% coverage; the next highest planet being somewhere around 58%."

Otto\'s eyes widened slightly.

93%?

Incredible.

"It is both literally and metaphorically the center of Area 1\'s universe."

Clatenis\'s eyes darkened slightly as he thought back to recent events.

"However, my spies have noticed some alarming movement of late."

"Kinetice activity surrounding this planet spiked two years ago and has continued to increase."

Clatenis\'s eyes were sharp.

"An increase of this level has never happened before, in all my many years of living here."

"Normally, a Kinetice spike would cause challenger immigration to Satslik to decrease slightly, as the large part of migration still happens via space ships rather than teleportation."

"When the airways are unsafe, people don\'t want to travel."

Otto nodded slightly.

"So immigration hasn\'t decreased?"

He felt he had an inkling as to where this was going.

"Not only has it not decreased, but there\'s even been a rise. For six months in a row, Satslik brought in a record number of challengers. Almost 750 million challengers migrated here last month."

"Most of them 9th floor challengers from factions who had abandoned their old headquarters."

"Are you starting to see the big picture yet?"

Otto sat back in his seat.

His mind turned.

"In other words, you\'re telling me that these factions are preparing a military force on this planet."

Of course, Otto had foreknowledge of what was about to happen.

That after a few months, the safe zones would fall.

Given this knowledge, if Otto was the head of a faction, he would be doing exactly the same thing.

The more challengers he had available to fight the Kinetice on this planet, the more rewards his faction would receive, and the better the defense of Satslik.

No matter how stupid they were, no faction leader wanted to lose Satslik, a major source of income.

Even if they were secretly luring Kinetice to the area, they would never go overboard before their people were in place.

The problem was…other faction leaders shouldn\'t have this information!

Otto\'s eyes narrowed.

"How are you so sure it\'s a war between groups of factions and not a war against the Kinetice, then? Couldn\'t they just be wanting to gain more merit by fighting the Kinetice out in the open?"

He had never heard of a faction war in his past life. That didn\'t mean it hadn\'t happened, though.

More likely it was decided secretly, away from the eyes of the public.

"That\'s their cover story in case they are questioned by the Federation. In fact, I believe they intend to take down the Federation entirely, for reasons unknown to me."

"I can\'t tell you any more than that, though. Other than that last bit, what I\'ve told you so far is all knowledge that can be found through usual means."

Otto nodded, his eyes amused,

"It\'s just…few would bother digging, trying to put the pieces together."

"Exactly."

Otto raised a brow,

"So what do you want from me and mine? Joining a faction…I find it hard to believe that the four of us could make such a difference against such a powerful force of many millions."

But Clatenis immediately shook his head.

"First of all, you underestimate your own power. Challengers who have cleared the [Extreme] difficulty on floors are in entirely different leagues from other challengers."

"I wouldn\'t be surprised if you four could handle hundreds of thousands of challengers on your own."

Clatenis\'s eyes twinkled as they met Otto\'s indifferent gaze. Of course, Otto would not confirm nor deny.

"But…that\'s not what I want from you."

Clatenis looked amusedly at Otto\'s stoic mien.

"I get the feeling that you were intending to be neutral, dear boy."

Otto nodded.

For the most part, he actually preferred to stand firmly on one side or another in any war.

Wobbling back and forth between two factions might initially net him bigger benefits, but if he was a big enough \'fish\', the pressure he endured was also correspondingly greater.

And at a certain point, he would be forced to make a decision anyway.

The problem was…as far as Otto knew, this was not one of those scenarios.

There was too much grey area here, too much uncertainty. Otto imagined that it would be rather easy to maintain his neutrality here until right before the apocalypse.

But perhaps he had misjudged his team\'s value.

He narrowed his eyes and repeated his question.

"Speak. What exactly would you ask of me?"

Clatenis took a deep breath.

"I want you all to \'join\' an enemy faction. I\'m sure many would be happy to have you."

Otto ever so slightly raised a brow. His voice was neutral.

"You want us to spy for you?"

"Well, when the time comes, I\'d like you to report back to me, detailing exactly what the faction asks you to do."

He spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness.

"Of course, I have many other spies, but what I need is precisely this sort of high-level information."

"They wouldn\'t bother sending the kids to a typical battlefield after all. Since they would hopefully by then have already become strategic weapons."

"Regardless, your information could be crucial in winning this war."

Clatenis stared at him seriously.

"We need to find out what they\'re planning. My intuition and our best Diviner intimated that this thing, whatever it is, is both huge in scale and could be very, very bad for Area 1."

His voice deepened as he declared,

"Satslik must NOT fall."

"Please help me."

Otto\'s gaze landed on Clatenis. He impassively scrutinized the man for several seconds.

"And in return?"

Caltenis returned to his previous semi-casual demeanor.

He took a sip of his drink,

"I would offer you the fullest extent of my resources and connections. Moreover, you could sign a contract with the faction you enter, and they would provide for the other three."

Otto was unmoved.

"Define the fullest extent."

Clatenis shifted in his seat,

"Anything below mid level at 30% discount. Including many herbs, and monster ingredients for potions, standard equipment sets used by many of our challengers, a…"

Otto didn\'t bother to listen further. He stood up from his seat.

"It was nice to meet you."

He leisurely walked away from the table.

While it was certainly a negotiation tactic, Otto also knew his team\'s value the best.

This deal…was simply insulting.

"Fine, fine. Come back, I get it. You\'re not an easy target."

Otto simply turned around.

"Your offer?"

"…"

After another grueling hour of negotiation, both parties signed a binding contract.

Otto even specifically procured an additional [Validation Scanner] from Clatenis to ensure he couldn\'t use an [Oathbreaker] on this.

Then, they pretended to have a falling out…

The results were spectacular, as evidenced by their contract with Drennel.

But Drennel would definitely not stop until she made sure her three new [Extreme] challengers were totally dependent on her faction.

It would also allow her to ensure they were growing in the best possible way with the more effective resources.

He wondered how much she actually knew about the upcoming \'war.\'

Did Drennel set herself against the Federation?

Did she know who she was about to fight?

Was she aware of the plan in the making? If so, how much? What was she planning in return?

It was questions like these that would help Otto get to the bottom of the apocalypse.

Who had what role, how much did they know, and why were they doing this?

Otto narrowed his eyes in thought.

Perhaps he needed to have a conversation with Drennel in the near future…

The five team members traveled quickly back to the rented house.

"No way! Are you serious!? Brutal! Hahaha. I actually almost died in the [Tutorial] you know."

"Well isn\'t that normal? Jason…" Jeremy shook his head in mock sorrow,

"You just don\'t have my skills."

Jason shot Jeremy a side eye,

"You mean I didn\'t have my brother telling me exactly what to do every step of the way…"

"OI, I killed those monsters on my own!"

"Yeah, with Otto covering your back, feeding you potions, healing you, and making sure you had stamina…"

"And didn\'t you pass out at the end?"

Jeremy ignored Jason\'s loud laughter while working to resist the flush that threatened to color his face.

Then, he snorted,

"You try killing monsters for twenty four hours straight, let\'s see how you do."

"Ohhh you poor baby. Life was really tough for you, huh. Boohoo. I was surrounded by a thousand wolves on steroids and even the wolf KING was nipping at my heels…"

Jeremy glared at Jason then vanished.

Suddenly, a note appeared on Jason\'s back, causing Julia to burst out laughing…

The two continued to bicker loudly all the way home.