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”Just to tell you, Sultan has already gone and talked to the whale about the time it arrived,” she informed him.

”Sultan?” Jake said, remembering the shady merchant. He hadn’t talked to the guy since before the Ell’Hakan invasion. Shit, he had barely heard about what he was up to, which was a rarity as he usually didn’t keep a low profile.

”What did Sultan do during the invasion, by the way?” Jake asked Miranda. ”And what about afterward?”

Miranda got a smile of pure schadenfreude. ”Sultan stayed back in Haven after being contacted by members of the United City Alliance who had tried to convince him to switch sides. By the time we hid away due to the attack, he was already separated… and then Ell’Hakan got to him. From what I can gather, he never actually gave the nahoom anything, but he did help him by giving out information and willingly trading with him. After Ell’Hakan was gone and he began to realize how much he had fucked up, Sultan stayed away from you on purpose because he was afraid of what you would do, and he even tried to bribe me to put in a good word. I said yes to this request, by the way, which helped quite a bit as the city funds are doing well. On a serious note, I really don’t care what he did. He told me himself that Ell’Hakan made him think that he had to trade freely with both Chosen to make it a fair fight or something and that you would even be angry if he refused, as that would lessen the challenge. Something I honestly cannot fault him for as I could see you get mad over someone making life easier for you.”

”Huh,” Jake said. Well, that explained why the guy had avoided Jake altogether. ”So, you’re good with him?”

”He has been easier to work with since then. Though it has driven him to pursue more business ventures to try and make up for the losses he suffered by giving more back to Haven, and he is also actively leveraging the new position of Haven and the council,” Miranda answered. ”So, he is still the same slimy merchant as before, but one who feels like he owes us a major debt. And he does not strike me as the type to not honor debts.”

Jake shrugged. ”I never even knew he ”betrayed” me. Not even sure it was a betrayal? We just agreed that he could trade out of Haven, not that he would swear loyalty to me. So, yeah, I don’t care, either.”

Miranda nodded. ”He will probably be relieved to hear that. Ah, but don’t actually tell him; I like it when he squirms.”

”I am beginning to worry about the influence of those witches,” Jake muttered.

”Power brings out the worst in people,” Miranda smiled in response. ”Now be off. The whale has been waiting for over two weeks already. A patient monster, that one.”

Jake headed off a bit after that, wondering on the way why Villy hadn’t mentioned he had contacted that Karroch dude while Jake was in the time chamber. Then again, maybe the god didn’t really think it important?

Getting to the ocean was also a lot easier than it used to be. Teleportation gates were now properly established once more. In fact, the new ones were better, and with the elimination of most factions on Earth, there was less red tape and more cooperation to get the network up and running as fast and efficiently as possible.

All this led to Jake making it to an ocean town within only an hour of leaving Haven. Despite having been away for nearly two months, nothing special had happened back on his home planet besides more developments in cities. Beast tides had stopped, faction wars had died down, and while there was still some unhealthy competition here and there, it was nothing outrageous.

Another thing that had improved was also his mask. The cracks were pretty much gone by now, with only a few minor fractures left on it. This meant the King was likely also close to fully healed… which also meant the Unique Lifeform was probably sitting impatiently and annoyed, waiting for Jake to get on with his evolution.

Anyway, back in the ocean town, Jake instantly noticed the buzzing crowd and armies of people moving boxes from the harbor. People holding shareable spatial storages ran back and forth and teleported away, using the surprisingly big teleportation venue.

Walking through the city, Jake only stopped once because he saw a woman selling ice cream, but otherwise made his way down to the epicenter of activity at a good pace. From afar, he saw that a long floating pier had been constructed, stretching several kilometers into the vast ocean with several large sea creatures flocking around the end of it.

When he got closer, he finally saw someone familiar. Close to the shore, a floating ship was docked with a large tent placed in front of it. Sultan was within, along with a dozen other people Jake assumed to be merchants, clearly hard at work and discussing something.

Jake decided to just walk in on them, still carrying his ice cream that didn’t seem to be melting at all. Truly a marvel of magic, rivaling his newly created mythical skill.

Sultan turned and seemed ready to yell when Jake entered but instantly shut up as his eyes turned wide. ”Ah… Lord Thayne… you’re back.”

This was the most nervous Jake had seen him, and Jake had to admit: Miranda had a point. Watching him squirm was pretty satisfying.

”I am,” Jake said, menacingly taking a lick of his ice cream. ”I see you are doing well for yourself. Trading with the ocean creatures relying on their leader, the Sky Whale, I assume?”

”Ah, yes, the Chosen is indeed correct,” the merchant nodded. ”I entertained our guest while waiting for your arrival, and-”

”And made a lot of money doing it. I don’t doubt an entire faction filled with C-grade ocean-bound creatures is a good trading partner and can offer materials far better than nearly anyone else can get,” Jake pointed out.

”Naturally, the new world government and the Chosen shall benefit from all this,” Sultan answered, not at all disagreeing, though seeming a bit more reassured by Jake not caving his face in right away. ”I believe Lord Thayne has come for the Sky Whale? He is residing on a small island about a hundred kilometers off the shore, directly ahead of the pier.”

Jake looked at Sultan one final time. ”We will talk later then.”

He left with those words, Sultan looking a bit worried behind him. Jake didn’t actually know if he would talk to Sultan again anytime soon; he just wanted to spook the guy.

After getting his priorities straight and sitting on a bench while finishing his ice cream, Jake headed off toward the island. He summoned his wings and repeatedly used One Step as he teleported across the surface of the water, quickly seeing the island in question.

It was small, only about five hundred meters in diameter, and with only a few simplistic wooden structures on it. Jake felt the aura of the C-grade in question, along with several other C-grades, as he got closer. Soon, he turned his attention to a wooden pavilion close to the shore.

There, he saw the whale of the hour, though he didn’t currently look like a whale. He was a large, nearly two-and-a-half-meter-tall humanoid man-thing with blue skin and a bald head. There didn’t appear to be a single trace of hair anywhere on his body, and to only call him obese would be a compliment.

[Sky Whale - ???]

The humanoid form was not super refined, but it rarely was. Scarlett was the only C-grade Jake had seen truly care that much about the Polymorph skill, as most just went for a useable form, not caring that much about aesthetics and actually looking human.

Jake flew over and landed in front of the pavilion, having the attention of the humanoid figures sitting there turn to him. There were even a few actual humans among them. More merchants, from the looks of it.

”My Lord, you have made it,” the Sky Whale said as he stood up and nodded. Jake was glad he didn’t bow, as that would have looked very silly.

”I apologize for the delay; I was occupied elsewhere. I take it you have already been filled in about the council?” Jake asked to make sure.

”I have, and it would be an honor to join,” the Sky Whale smiled. ”We of the ocean also wish for a peaceful and mutually beneficial relationship between ourselves and humanity going forward, as conflict will benefit neither of us.”

Jake nodded and did his World Leader stuff. First, he allowed the Sky Whale to go where it pleased, also including the other C-grades in the pavilion after making sure they were all part of the whale’s faction, before finally giving the Sky Whale the official title of Minister.

”I will do my utmost to live up to expectations,” the whale said very politely. ”My Patron and I both thank you for the magnanimous attitude you have shown toward us.”

”Glad to have you aboard,” Jake answered with a smile. ”If there is nothing else, I shall leave you all to your matters.”

”Ah, there is one thing,” the Sky Whale said. ”I am certain the Chosen also knows of the approaching Prima Guardian, and I have a warning… I do not think we will be able to assist the Chosen in this matter. We who have grown from Unique treasures will be unable to fight the Primas but only have the choice between joining them or not engaging at all. An innate restriciton of sorts, that will apply until a victor has been decided between it and the enlightened of Earth.”

Jake was a bit surprised at hearing this but just shrugged. ”It shouldn’t matter either way. I think we got it handled.”

In fact, it was good news for Jake. Fewer people to share the fun with, leaving more for him. It also strengthened his belief in what the purpose of this Prima Guardian test was all about… it was to decide whether the planet would be controlled by the enlightened or monsters. It was common for an antagonistic relationship between these two groups, and Earth was a bit of an outlier in that area, with monsters and humans working together.

”I will be off then,” Jake said after a bit more chatter. He was a bit in a hurry, partly because he wanted that evolution and partly because he saw the gazes of the merchants all seemingly looking for an opening to take advantage of him.

The Sky Whale waved as Jake flew off back to the harbor town. A few teleports and a bit of flying later, Jake was back in Haven again. Without further delay, he headed into the forest, bow in hand. It was time for some good old hunting before he could finally evolve.

Running between the trees felt oddly nostalgic, reminding Jake of after he had just evolved to D-grade. When he thought about it further, he had barely bothered to explore this forest, the family of hawks having spent far more time in there.

Passing through the areas the monkeys had been living in didn’t take long; Jake honed in on where he felt the subtle C-grade auras from the get-go. The levels of the D-grades grew the deeper in he got, as the trees also grew in height and power. The area itself infused them with far more energy there, Jake getting the feeling he soon wouldn’t be able to easily break any of them.

Jake knew that while his forest had C-grades, it wasn’t a major hub. It was more like the Grand Mangrove River in that it had a limited number, perhaps no more than a hundred C-grades total. It was the kind of area where a single alpha would take over the area sooner or later – if it hadn’t happened already.

However, the forest was different from the Mangrove in that it didn’t connect to the ocean even if it bordered the shoreline, still allowing C-grades to come and go. The strongest creatures on Earth Jake had encountered were either air or water-based monsters, and while it was possible powerful land-based ones could exist on the other continents, Jake was confident there weren’t any here in his backyard.

Soon, Jake felt the environment shift, and he knew he had entered the domain of C-grades. Powerful D-grades were still in the area, most of them at or near the peak, and none of them of any interest to Jake. Making his way past all of them, Jake spread out his senses, searching for an enemy worth facing. One area gave off a stronger aura than anywhere else. In fact, Jake got the feeling there was something going on.

Activating Arcane Stealth, Jake got stealthy as he sneaked toward the center of the forest. On the way, he did see a few beasts that had barely reached C-grade, all of them, surprisingly enough, running away from where he was going. One of them did seem to spot Jake but ignored him and just kept running, making Jake all the more curious.

Flying upwards to get a good vantage point to see what was ahead, Jake soon found a good place. From there, he could barely see a clearing in between all the trees, nearly twenty kilometers away. Movement. Light. Something appeared to be on fire too.

He moved closer, realizing that whatever was going on meant they likely wouldn’t pay Jake much mind. So, a few minutes later, he finally got a good look at things and… damn. It looked like Jake had stumbled in on quite the ongoing fight. Or maybe this was something that happened regularly.

On one side – with the defenders – was a tree nearly a hundred meters tall. It gave off an odd white light and looked a bit strange with a thick trunk and barely any canopy, but it gave off a powerful aura. It was dwarfed by all the other trees around it, but it was the largest of the combatants. Because, yes, it was a combatant.

[Ethgleam Mothertree – lvl ???]

A soul tree of some kind. Jake moved his eyes off the thing, feeling that merely looking at it could cause some annoying soul magic stuff. As for its level? Less than 220, but it was a decent variant. Its name Mothertree also made sense when Jake looked at its helpers.

[Ethgleam Elderbark Treant – lvl ???]

[Ethgleam Elderbark Treant – lvl ???]

There were only two of them, but they were huge hulking treants that were both conjuring huge balls of wood before throwing them towards their attackers.

Bears.

Big fire bears.

[Fireheart Ursine Den Mother – lvl ???]

[Fireheart Ursine Den Protector – lvl ???]

[Fireheart Ursine – lvl ???]

[Fireheart Ursine – lvl ???]

[Fireheart Ursine – lvl ???]

[Fireheart Ursine – lvl ???]

All of them were large black bears, the Den Protector and Den Mother the largest, with the normal ones about a fifth smaller. All of them were still around ten meters tall when on all fours, with the Mother and Protector sitting at around a dozen meters.

These bears were all spewing fire toward the tree, a barrier of magic blocking most while letting the treants throw out their big root balls. The more Jake looked, the more sure he became that this was not some battle to end all battles but more just the two groups each testing each other. Perhaps a regular thing they had going on.

Jake shook his head as he looked. It would be a shame for a third party to decide to mess up this beautiful balance of power, wouldn’t it?

Then again, who doesn’t love a good threeway?