As the three clan masters discussed their lofty ambitions of obtaining the kids, Maya, and even the treasures Sam held, time quickly passed and the next reveal happened.
This time, Sam didn’t make too many preparations. If his guess is right, the three clan leaders will get the required information from the Magman clan leader and they will be prepared for what’s to come.
He decided to take it one step at a time
It didn’t take long for him to confirm his guess.
The new reveal happened and just like what he speculated, the news was sent to one of the three allied forces. So, a total of seven clans came and knocked on the walls of the city.
As soon as the scouts of clan leader 1 learned of this information, he immediately made preparations. Like the Magman clan leader, he didn’t make them wait outside. Instead, he sent the envoys himself and received them properly.
He arranged some temporary residence for them within the clan grounds and later invited all of them for a meeting.
“I know why you people are here. All of us want the same things. The woman, the children, and the guardian. So, I will be straight with you.
I don’t know how accurate the information about the guardian being in our city is. But if the guardian and Maya are really here, I won’t object to you guys in any way, but I suggest that we all reach an agreement before we resort to anything drastic.”
Clan leader 1 is polite, firm, and resolute. He didn’t show any signs of weakness, nor did he show any signs of arrogance. But his intentions couldn’t be clearer. He wants to resolve this as peacefully as possible.
Even though everyone there knows that it is nothing more than a pipedream to resolve this peacefully, he is trying his best to reduce all the losses.
“I know it would be hard to swallow the bitter pill of compromise, but here is my suggestion. Until we confirm their location and presence in the city, as well as the capture, was smoothly processed, we will not be talking about who gets to keep the children.
So, before finding them and capturing them, we are all allies.
The important thing in this collaboration is that no one should be trying to dig any holes for others. I know it is hard to follow, but you have to comply. I and my friends are all on the same page, so we will be able to cooperate.
Our alliance is rock solid. I am sure we cannot say the same for you guys. If push comes to shove I will not hesitate to resort to a conversation of strength instead of words.
So, all of you have to follow the rules and if one doesn’t follow these two simple rules, they can get out now. If we find out that one of you violated them in the middle of our mission, don’t blame me for being ruthless.
We can proceed with the further discussion if you are okay with it. Otherwise, feel free to leave the city.”
He laid all the rules he wanted them to follow in front of them and now it is their decision.
A lot of them hesitated. Even though a few people put up a united front, they are driven by benefits. They have a lot of plots in their minds.
The only exception is another allied force of three clans.
They are the only ones who had an unwavering stance and if it really comes to blows, they are the only threat the clan leader felt like it could be hard to deal with.
“How do we believe that you are going to comply with the rules that you just laid out?”
“I don’t know what will convince you guys to trust me. But for starters, I think this will help…”
He revealed all the information he got from the Magman clan leader.
“Why are you telling us all of this? Why aren’t you resisting?”
One of the clan leaders asked in confusion. After all, nobody wants to share their benefits.
“If I really resisted, the best case scenario is that my resistance will work out and you will be fended off, I will find these people and manage to hold on to them.
But I don’t work with the best-case scenario in mind. I estimated the worst-case scenario and I am trying to make sure it doesn’t happen and in the process, I will minimize my losses and achieve the best that I can.
I am not blind nor am I arrogant enough to assume that I could get the best out of every situation.
You might want to keep that in mind if any one of you wants to double-cross me. As I said, I always assume the worst and prepare for it. That applies to this situation also.
We will leave you guys to your privacy. You can discuss among yourselves for a while and if you all agree, we can start our search directly from our clan grounds and proceed outwards. Meanwhile, I am locking the city and I am keeping all the security personnel outside the walls to seal off their escape routes.
I am also putting a spatial lock formation as well. So, don’t be alarmed if any of you used a transference scroll and it didn’t work.”
The three clan leaders left the room and the discussion continued.
Clan leader 1 ordered the other two clan leaders to lock the city down.
Sam who is in the inn didn’t know what happened within the city. But when he noticed that the clan leaders not only didn’t resist the other clan leaders and even invited them to the city, he knew that things are going to be very different.
Soon he noticed that the city is in lockdown. The spatial lock formation has also not gone unnoticed. But Sam isn’t worried about this. A dimensional drifter is not some everyday artifact. A spatial lock is nothing to it.
In fact, even without that, Sam would have been still able to get out of that spatial lock as long as he wished to do so.
But that would defeat his purpose. Escape should only be done at the last minute after he managed to utilize everything this scenario has to offer.
As he waited, soon all the soldiers of the three clans surrounded the city and also kept a close eye on every nook and cranny inside the city.
Sam thought for a moment and decided to take some action. He turned to Maya and said.
“You guys stay here. I laid down a formation in the room if anyone is coming towards the room, you would be able to see it and you can use this token to contact me.
As long as they are thirty feet away from the room, contact me instantly.”
Maya nodded, but she is still a bit nervous. Sam has been away multiple times, but he has never been away when they are in the middle of their enemy’s territory.
Sam set up the formation and left the room.
He reappeared in an empty street. There are some guards roaming here and there, but Sam hid from them and started drawing some inscriptions on buildings. This time, he is faster than when he did it on the scales as he has more space and he doesn’t have to compress and everything.
After he is done there, he moved to a different location and a different wall. He didn’t stay too long in the city streets making these preparations and went back.
He left and went back to the inn where Maya is waiting.
Sam then let out some of his puppets. He has to be careful with the surveillance of the city.
But he is not really satisfied with this and thought of something. He went back to the rules of the game that he obtained from Lucifer when he finally met Maya.
The rules came to him from the Black envelope.
He went through line by line carefully to see if he could find any loophole and when he came to one particular line, he slapped his forehead in exasperation.
That line is.
‘You can use all the means at your disposal to win.’
All this while, he has been following the same rules as he did before. He is so used to it that he didn’t bother to check when Lucifer specifically presented with a set of rules.
There was nothing like that in the competition before and Lucifer has also been sneaky with this.
He didn’t say it out loud and rather gave a written statement that too in a very fine print in a letter that most players wouldn’t even bother to read.
Sam smiled cheekily and tried something.
A crystal appeared in front of him.
He couldn’t help himself and looked at the ceiling as he burst into laughter.
Maya didn’t know what is happening.
“Sam?”
She looked at him with a concerned gaze.
“Don’t worry. I just realized that things have just become a lot more interesting.”
As he spoke, he activated the crystal table. With his cultivation level, he can see far beyond this city, but right now his city is enough and he saw all the clan leaders that belonged to this city, as well as the other cities, come out of the clan grounds.
