Alicia said nothing, and Mark just snickered before turning to Shen. "Now, you, asshole. I am your future. I'll turn you into the influencer of influencers, the savior of saviors. Forget Jesus, Buddha, or whoever. People will adore you when I'm done." He made a dramatic pause. "If you apologize."

Shen looked Mark straight in the eyes. "Your ignorance made you offend me in the past, and I shall let that go. But you sneak attacked me. I have returned the favor. I'm not interested in whatever you're selling. Leave."

Mark rolled his eyes. So Shen would be one of the difficult ones, huh?

Then he widened his eyes in realization: this was the hero's journey template! Shen was refusing the call to adventure! The guy just couldn't see how Mark was both the mentor figure, best friend, and best support character.

"Just listen," Mark insisted. "You're an okay fighter, alright, but you'll need more to become a celebrity and rule the world. I'll give you what you're missing. Politics? I'd eat Aristotle for breakfast and shit Machiavelli at dinner. Economics? Hell, I'll let you choose if you want to be a Mises or a Keynes man. Not Marx though, fuck the commies. Public policy? Just pick a color of the spectrum, and I'll manipulate the world into believing that's the right one. Of course, if they disagree, we can show them the error of their ways in more physical means. I'll give you whatever you want and all you need. Follow my lead, and you'll become the greatest leader ever! The greatest hero!"

Shen frowned for a moment, then shook his head. "I am in search of trustworthy allies, and I would've taken you on your offer if you hadn't attacked me. I cannot trust you."

Mark was getting exasperated. "Dude, why won't you listen? I did that for you. I saw how you were acting like a jerk, so I wanted to unite other people against you, to then deliver them to you. I did that already. I told a fuckton of people how much of a greedy asshole you are, that you only helped everyone in the first stage for the AP—I heard the stories, by the way. Good job! Now we can work on your image. In a couple months, they'll love you. They'll pray for you before bed. The women will throw themselves at you—dude, it'll be hard to walk the streets without impregnating anyone."

Shen frowned harder. "That's the reason I cannot trust you," he said calmly. "You said so yourself when discussing that Ken figure." Alicia tensed at the mention of the rapist fuck. Fuck that guy. "You said I am yours. I am not. You've been lying about me for your plans, and you want to control me, make me a figurehead for your agenda. Despite your discourse, you don't care about what I want, only about what you want." Mark opened his mouth to interject, but Shen raised his hand and continued, "Even if you had my best interest at heart, which I don't believe you do, your plans sit wrong with me. I understand politics and ploys are needed at some times. However, I abhor lying to my subjects. That's not how leadership is supposed to happen. A leader who believes the end justifies the means is but a puppeteer. I have no intention of becoming that kind of person, ever."

Dafuq? The asshole was acting all high and mighty with Mark after pimp slapping him? Not on his watch.

"Listen to yourself," Mark said. "Naïve, naïve, naïve. And self-aggrandizing. I'll give you some time to think. Watch the people in this stage, and for everyone you see, think of them as prospective subjects. Think of them obeying your every word. Think of any of them throwing themselves at you if you just profess such desire. Think of you owning everything you see. That's the kind of power I'll give you, Feng Shen. Think about it." He winked, then decided to leave right away so he could have the last word. "Teleport back to the bedroom."

Light enveloped Mark, and he found himself back in his place. He sat on the bed and started planning.

How could he show Shen he needed Mark?

"I..." Alicia started. "He's right; I kind of betrayed him." Her face flushed so much Shen thought it might explode. "But he's such a jerk! And Ken was always agreeing with me, manipulating me. Death isn't final anyway; I just wanted to teach him to be a better person."

"You should apologize," Shen said. There wasn't much more he could say. He would keep trusting her because she had never given him any reason not to. In fact, she had died for him.

He might, however, be extra careful about any strange signs he detected.

"I guess," she replied noncommittally.

"The Alliance gives out food," he changed the subject. "Do you think they would also provide a smartphone?" He really wanted to check that tech.

"Let's try!" she immediately said, too excited. She was clearly glad for the change of subject. "Teleport to smartphone store!" Nothing happened. "Dammit."

"I want to take some classes and check the AP Arena," Shen said. "You should also take the chance to learn something. I don't know about the Alliance, but in the Eternal Empire, some knowledge was hoarded. Any opportunity to learn useful abilities should be taken."

"Arena first?" Alicia suggested.

He nodded, and they were soon teleported to the building's rooftop. The floor was made of dark crystal, and an enormous empty area could be seen close to them, surrounded by round spectators' seats. There were only three rows of seats, but the circumference was so large that it could easily fit a few thousand.

When they appeared there, they got a message.

Tutorial - AP Arena

In the Multiverse Alliance, it's almost impossible to give AP to anyone. AP must be earned in heavily regulated opportunities. Any and all attempts to bypass such rules are put down swiftly.

The AP Arena is one of the few regulated opportunities where AP changes hands directly. The third stage is the only place in this tutorial where you'll find it. It's likely also the only such place you'll ever find, as they are rare and hard to access.

You can participate by simply entering the central area of the Arena.

Once in the central area, any participant can battle any other by pointing at them. A duel will be initiated if they are not in a battle. No participant can refuse a fight.

When a duel is established, each participant has ten seconds to state how many AP they want to bet. Betting is obligatory. The largest amount stated is the one that'll be used, according to these rules:

1. Under any circumstance, except when stated otherwise:

- The minimum bet is 10 AP. If no one bets anything or a lower value is stated, the bet will default to 10 AP.

2. Before a participant has taken 100 AP from the same opponent:

- Participants can bet up to 100 AP each time.

- The bet can never be such that one participant might take more than 100 AP total from the other.

- For instance, if you won a bet of 99 AP against a person once, you can only bet 1 AP in the next duel against the same person.

3. When one participant has taken between 100 to 200 AP from the same opponent:

- Participants can bet up to 20 AP each time.

- The bet can never be such that one participant might take more than 200 AP total from the other.

4. After one participant has taken 200 AP from the same opponent:

- They cannot fight each other any longer.

Participants can fight the same person as many times as they want until one party has taken 200 AP from the other.

After each battle, both participants will be fully healed, their energy pools will be refilled, and they'll have 1 minute to leave the Arena if they want. They cannot receive challenges during that time, but they can pick an opponent.

All battles are individual.

Any equipment or ability is allowed.

All fights are to the death or forfeit. Dying will not disqualify anyone from this tutorial.

All fights can last no longer than ten minutes. If they go past that, the duel will end in a draw.

Win traders will be summarily expelled from this tutorial.

Win trading refers to any actions that a trainee or group of trainees may take to fix the outcome of a duel.

To prevent win trading in the Arena, participants cannot talk while in there, and all forms of communication in this stage will be monitored.

The total AP each participant has won or lost will be displayed above their heads while in the Arena.

At the end of this stage, all participants will be called to come to the Arena for one hour. Only those who accept will be eligible for going to the next stage without a team. If anyone leaves during that time, they'll forfeit their chance and get expelled from the tutorial.

The top 10% AP winners at the end of the final hour will go to the next stage.

Good luck!

"What a fucking wall of text," Alicia complained.

Shen got quite excited at what he read. He lacked 1,616 AP to get to the E rank, and that might just be the way to get that.

Unfortunately, his AP exchange record would be shown above his head. That might make it tricky to get a fight, but he guessed he could just set up camp in there and challenge anyone who entered.

Even if that didn't work, he only needed to wait for the final hour. He bet there would be more than eight people in there, and he should be able to win 200 AP from each if he was fast enough. Though winning 100 AP from sixteen people was undoubtedly faster.

Either way, there was no one in the Arena at the moment. Shen stepped in—there was a clear white line letting him know where the central area started—and took quotes for the things he wanted to learn.

"How much does it cost for a class that explains how the Multiverse Alliance works?" he asked.

| Classes about the Multiverse Alliance are not available.

He sighed. That did fit the idea of fighting blind from the two first stages. It still sucked.

"How much for a class on improving my usage of my cultivation method, of my footwork, and of my spear art?"

| Cultivation method: 2,500 AP | 3 hours

| Footwork: 100 AP | 1 hour

| Spear art: 5,000 AP | 27 hours

A lot was being said in between the lines right there. He already had a skill for his footwork, so it was easier for them to teach him about it. Also, he clearly was doing better in his cultivation method than his spear art. There was a lot of improvement for the latter, and it would cost him both money and time.

"How much for a class on improving my qi usage? Or general knowledge about mana and magic?"

| Intermediate Qi Usage: 10,000 AP | 1 hour

| Magic: 500 AP | 1 hour

It also didn't surprise Shen that learning about qi usage was much more expensive than information about mana. The Alliance clearly didn't want people using qi for whatever reason.

That didn't have to be a bad thing. If everyone was using mana and magic, so would his opponents. Therefore, he had an opportunity to learn about their capabilities for cheap.

"Wait!" Alicia said. "I want to learn magic too! We can split the cost!"

That's when he realized the classes were actually a way to incentivize networking. "I bet a lot of people want to learn about it. If we ask around, we should get ten people to split the cost quickly."

As if on cue, someone teleported right outside the Arena. He quickly stepped out of the central area.

It was time for a social battle rather than a physical one. After all, the more time passed, the more likely it was for people to have already taken that class.

When a bearded brunet wearing a dark robe finally materialized, Shen nodded at him. "Join our class," he said.