Sometimes, his genius, it scared him.

Who else could look so far ahead into the future and lay such nasty traps using nothing but words?

Anyway, he'll have all the time to marvel at his own genius later; right now, he has to deal with the people in front of him.

Jennifer was under the impression that the Elixir was shown to them in order to control them.

She obviously couldn't be more wrong; if Samur really wanted to control them, he would have created an incurable disease, afflicted them with it, and then controlled them with its antidote.

Even if he wanted to use the Elixir, he would have targeted the family members of everyone present here and left them in a condition which could only be healed by an Elixir.

Then he would have given them that Elixir in exchange for their undying loyalty.

Right now, the Elixir was nothing more than a potion which could save their lives in the FUTURE.

"You've got the order wrong," Samur shook his head.

"Have I?"

"We created the Elixir and saw how it could affect the fate of the world. We wanted to use it to do just that, but the Elixir cannot do anything on its own; it's a healing potion. That's its area of expertise; it would be nothing more than flavoured water if not utilised properly," he paused again and looked around, his gaze finally settling down at Azell.

"Tell me, Mr. Azell. What do you think makes the Elixir revolutionary?"

'Hmm?'

"You showed us yourself," Azell replied. "The Elixir can heal anything as long as the injured person is not dead."

"Yes. And how do you think it can change the future of the world?"

"It can… reduce the mortality rate?"

Azell knew the answer, but he didn't want to steal the spotlight from Samur.

"That would be true if we could mass produce it, but we cannot. How else do you think it can help us?"

'Does he want me to say it?' Azell wondered. 'Alright, then. If that's what he wants.'

"It can save those who have the power to shape the world from their untimely death. Namely, us."

"Bravo," Samur clapped. "I'd expect nothing else from the man who brought the Native and the Player factions together."

"You flatter me," Azell smiled.

"There you have it, Ms. Jennifer."

"Hmmm," she cupped her chin.

"The Elixir is pretty useless on its own, but it can save those who are pretty useful aka those who hold the world's fate on their shoulders aka you guys. We believe that with your abilities, you can help change the future if guided the right way. However, that would be useless if you are, you know, dead. The Elixir will prevent that."

That was a lot of akas.

"And the rules?"

"The rules are our first way to guide you. Our first step is to unify to increase our strength, and eliminate threats. There's no use in creating an impregnable castle if our enemies have planted a traitor to open the gates. Similarly, it'll be just as useless if the castle guards start fighting among themselves."

Imagine you are the Lord of the castle who spent his life's fortune to erect a fortress with the strongest defence. But when the enemy arrives at your doorstep, instead of guarding the ramparts, your guards start quarrelling among themselves.

While they're doing that, some piece of shit goes ahead and opens the gates, thus granting free entry to the enemies, thus sending all the effort you spent down the Mariana Trench.

That would be a bruh moment, and you'd probably want to jump out your window.

Yikes.

"So you mean to say…" Jennifer's eyes widened.

"The Elixir is nothing but the stepping stone."

Well, that's what Samur hoped that she was thinking.

Would be awkward if she said something like, 'Uh, yes, very good, but I was talking about something else'.

"Hah… unbelievable," Jennifer scoffed and looked up at the ceiling.

Pretty random thing to do right now, but one couldn't really fault her.

Well, they technically could, but for argument's sake let's assume that they wouldn't.

Anyway, until this afternoon, Jennifer had been fighting for the rights of Players, preparing to welcome the new Players, planning dungeon expeditions; pretty normal stuff for a Guild Master.

And now, she suddenly had been told that she was one of the most important people on this planet so the survival of the world depended on her.

Many others were feeling the same thing; it was like they had suddenly turned into VVIPs.

Of course, some were very excited. They were finally given the chance they had been so desperately waiting for.

And finally, there were those who were not happy about this.

Like, sure they had the potential to change the future, but what if they didn't want them to?

Had Samur thought about that?

Well, he actually had.

"I can see that some of the Players are not happy about this."

'Wait, am I that transparent?!' One of the Players in question snapped in his heart.

He actually wasn't; Samur was just acting on his assumptions.

"I can understand where you are coming from. To be told that you are important for this world's survival is, for a lack of better term, surprising."

No one had agreed to his words, but he didn't need them to voice out their approval.

As they say, eyes are the window to the soul.

"Some of you might even be wondering why you have to do so much for another world. Your home is Earth, after all."

Once again, silence followed his words.

"If you are one of them, then you are advised to leave. In 5 minutes, we will dim the lights to create absolute darkness. Please use that chance to make your escape. After all, I don't think it will bode well for your… social life to publicly admit that you have no intention of doing anything for this world."

'Is he serious?' Jennifer scoffed.

Well, he WAS right, in a sense. After all, she would have personally fired those people from the Player faction.

"But before you do, remember one thing."