During the five days Jack spent massacring the Volatile Firefly Ants, he didn't forget to check the Affair Overviews every night before they rested.
By the second day on the island, two new affairs popped up.
One was a case where a baron had been murdered in his manor during a get-together with his four friends. None of his friends saw the murder take place and everyone was blaming everybody. The authority was at a loss and so they chalked this up to the king to make a decision. Each of the standard multiple choices was accusing one of the four friends.
The second case was an argument between a mother-in-law and her son's wife about a broken antique vase. The antique vase was said to be extremely valuable and was a precious heirloom in the family. The mother-in-law demanded her son divorce his wife for this incident. Why this was brought up for the king to decide, Jack had absolutely no idea. All he knew was there was merit points reward and possible ruling point rewards at the end of this mess. So, he was not complaining.
He sent all the details and the case locations to Jeanny. She rallied her investigator troops and they headed to the locations with haste to start investigating.
On the fourth day, there were another three cases. Jack studied them all and passed them to Jeanny. He would wait for those investigator troops' findings before making any decision regarding the affairs.
On the fifth day, Jack teleported back to Wind Island, the headquarters of Cipher Flight. Four Winds had sent him a message a day earlier, reminding him to come to the guild hall.
The barrier at the guild hall's entrance didn't stop him. Inside the hall were Four Winds, Coca, and the four ladies Four Winds brought to the world tournament.
"Your level has increased again," Four Winds said after seeing Jack.
"How the hell do you get your level so high anyway?" Coca asked. "We all participated in the war, but we are nowhere near your level."
Most of them were level 61. Blizzard and Four Winds were level 62. Blizzard was level 61 when she fought Jack a few days ago. She had gone exp farming by herself after the loss. She wasn't happy that the difference between her level and Jack's remained the same.
"Considering you have three classes, it is impressive that your level manage to increase in these few days. Do your other two classes' levels increase as well?" Four Winds asked.
"Yes," Jack didn't try to deny.
"Which island did you drop him on? We should go there the next time," Water Lily asked Disco Rain.
"We have gone to that island before. There are only two types of monsters there. Sabretooth Walruses and Volatile Firefly Ants," Disco Rain answered.
"Volatile Firefly Ants? Aren't they those dangerous exploding insects?" Coca asked.
"Hehe. I level up so fast thanks to those ants," Jack told them.
"Really? How so?" They all asked.
Jack didn't keep his method of fighting the Volatile Firefly Ants a secret, he told them openly about what he did to deal with those ants.
"Hit them as they are exploding? F*ck! Even if we know, I think only you can pull that stunt off," Disco Rain said.
"Hm… It's worth a try," Four Winds muttered.
"No, it's not! Remember that we almost die the first time we found those ants? Don't try to imitate what this lunatic does!" Purple Mist chided.
"Anyway, pretty ballsy of you to let a member of a different guild enter your guild hall," Jack said to Four Winds.
"I doubt you are using the excuse of getting to the grand chief to snatch our guild hostage token," Four Winds said.
"No, I ain't," Jack replied.
"Then there is nothing to worry about. Now, let's stop speaking nonsense. Let's talk about our opponents before we head out to Mjiku Maba, the city of Verremor where the tourney takes place. Water Lily had gathered some intel about the tribes that were joining the tourney."
"There were eight participants that passed the selection process and were privileged to fight for one of the council seats," Water Lily started. "Five native tribes and three player guilds. The tourney will be done in a single-elimination tournament."
"Aside from us, the other two guilds are Warsong Rising and Liberty Fighters," Four Winds informed.
Jack was familiar with Warsong Rising since he had fought them before. He asked, "Phithion will be representing the Warsong Rising?"
"Yes, he has to. Each tribe or guild must send two combatants, and one of the combatants has to be the leader."
"Do we know who Phithion will be bringing?" Jack asked.
"Most likely Gerion. He is his trusted aide," Water Lily said.
Jack nodded. "What about Liberty Fighters? I never heard of them."
"They joined the invasion war as well," Four Winds said. "However, their guild was fighting with the second army, so it is not strange that you didn't meet them during the war."
"They did pretty well in the war," Water Lily added. "Their guild had overtaken Warsong Rising and become the second-ranked guild in Verremor."
"They are strong?" Jack asked.
"They are, but the ones we need to watch out for are their two leaders, who have the nickname the Dawning Twins."
"Fancy nickname," Jack remarked.
"It's most likely the two will be the ones representing their guild. Their main leader was a woman named Vivian. She is a level 61 Paladin. Her co-leader is called Ursa. He is a level 61 Assassin."
"Well, no matter what. I believe no players are our match. Especially if you go as my partner," Four Winds said to Jack. "What we need to watch out for are the natives. Some of the participating ones have levels much higher than us."
Water Lily nodded. "The one we have to watch out for the most is the Giantkiller tribe."
"Giantkiller?" Hearing the name, Jack thought back to an orc during the invasion war. "Holy shit! Are you saying that Umeza Giantkiller will be joining the tourney? We are f*cked then! That guy is too over-leveled for us!"
"Fortunately, he is considered a retired elder. The orc is a proud race. Umeza won't embarrass himself by joining, even for getting an important position for his tribe.," Water Lily said. "The one joining is his son, the current chief of the Giantkiller tribe, Mkulme Giantkiller. Still, he is considered very strong for the current players. He is a level 77 rare elite."
