At the end of the party, just about everyone had gotten the chance to try the new device out. There were a few who decided to return it, but the vast majority of people kept it. Baron met up with Roxi and Jaxon just as the party was winding down and recounted their wild encounters with some of the other characters. All of a sudden, Biao Gong came out of nowhere. After a brief introduction to Roxi and Jaxon, the group decided that going back to Under 1 Banners’ headquarters would be a better place to chat.

The atmosphere in Baron’s faction had never been better. They were getting a decent amount of people into their ranks every year, their new talents were showing promise, and everyone seemed to get along with each other better than Baron could have ever imagined. All the higher-ups of the faction seemed to be much happier and more satisfied than they had ever been in the past. All in all, a success story. However, the issue with funds was becoming more and more apparent.

When the four of them returned, they all had a grand time telling stories about their different adventures so far. The thing was, Baron could tell by Biao Gong’s demeanor that he wanted the two of them to have a little chat alone, without Roxi and Jaxon. So, Baron invited Biao Gong to his room. That’s when things got interesting. Upon entering, Biao Gong noticed a book lying on top of a small corner table. It was the naval book that Zi Bo had given to Baron, and it was open to one of the pages that contained the Nordic-looking runic symbols.

“Baron, where did you get this book?” Biao Gong was now looking staring at the writing in the book quite intently.

“Um, it was from a friend a while ago. Who committed a crime and left the Chinese community before he could be punished. Why do you ask?” Baron was confused as to what Biao Gong was getting at.

“These runes are the writing of the Jordsand community. All of us have had to learn how to decipher this text in our training period to becoming part of the Jordsand community.”

“Does that mean that Zi Bo has something to do with the Jordsand community?”

“Zi Bo? Yes, I think I have heard of him among our recruits.”

“Say, can you decipher what this text says?”

“Of course, but I don’t think I should tell you.”

“Is it a state secret? If so, then I understand-“ Baron started but was cut off.

“No, it is directly addressed to you. That is what I am worried about.”

“How can it be directly addressed to me? I was the one who asked Zi Bo for a few tips on naval warfare.”

“This must have been done by Jordsands’ head of state, Luca.”

“Luca? I have never heard of a strategist by that name. Just who is this Luca?”

“I have no idea, but this Luca fellow is the one who created the Jordsand community all those countless years ago. So secretive that not even Xerxes knows all that much about him. Trust me, I asked.”

“Alright, what does it say?” The anticipation that Baron felt now was insane. The answer to such a mystery was standing right in front of him.

“It says…that…you are…cordially…invited to…participate in…Luca’s Challenge.” Biao Gong had trouble getting the words out as he recounted what Xerxes had said about Luca’s Challenge.

“What is Luca’s Challenge?”

“Baron, I know that you are a capable strategist, but I must beg of you to not ever take up this challenge. It is horrifying to an extreme degree.”

“How can I if you don’t tell me more?”

“Let me tell you about what happened to a few others who have taken this challenge, as told to me by Xerxes, Luca’s right-hand man.”

“Once upon a time, a few thousand years ago, where Luca’s Challenge was issued to every important figure in every community. About 15,000 invitations were sent. It was made abundantly clear that those who failed the challenge would not be able to return to their previous lives. However, if they successfully cleared it, then they would be able to wish for anything. Sound familiar?”

“Isn’t that the prize for winning the Death Match Tournament?”

“Correct. The invitation did not have an expiry date. So far, 1,000 individuals have taken up the challenge. From what I hear, only a handful managed to not fail the challenge, but they did not win either. Those few could leave, but the others, well, not even Xerxes knows where all of them went. It was just like they disappeared. The last challengers were a group of 45 from the Chinese and Mongolian communities.”

“What happened to them?”

“Only Zhu Ge Liang from that group managed to not fail, but he didn’t win. He just about went to the brink of insanity. We have no idea where he is now. However, I imagine he is not the man he used to be, and likely never will be again. So, I beg of you not to participate in this challenge. It could be the end of your journey here on Planet 4.”

“As much as I appreciate your information, I don’t think I can keep myself from this challenge. It just sounds too interesting.”

“I know we may not be the most acquainted of allies, but I hope you can take into consideration one of my suggestions.”

“We’ll have to see what it is first.”

“Win the Death Match Tournament first, then pursue this challenge. If nothing else, you should have a much higher chance of completing the challenge, please Baron.”

“Very well. Although, I might have to ask Sun Tzu about this. He should have been invited as well, according to what you have told me.”

“Thank you. Now, let us get down to business on what I originally came here to talk to you about. The Emu War simulation, I have come to give you a few tips on this.”

“Why are you helping me? I know we are allies, but what is your reason?”

“You are one of the most interesting individuals here on Planet 4, Baron. Now that you are invited to participate in Luca’s Challenge, you will need to make more of a name for yourself so that more people are willing to rally behind you. Even without that I still would have helped you. Let’s get started.”

The following few days consisted of Baron learning from Biao Gong about his experience with this simulation. Once Biao Gong had told Baron all he knew, he left to go meet up with his community members. Baron, Roxi, and Jaxon all decided to go a few rounds by themselves to see whether they could implement their own strategies.

Only a few days remained until everyone was given one shot to do the simulation for real. Baron racked his brain for ways to be more effective in killing Emus. With everything they had learned, they were able to kill about 13,000 Emus in a timely manner. Since there were tens of thousands of Emus in total, this would not suffice. They thought up many ways that they could kill the Emus faster. Through poisoning the food/water that they ate, to gunning them down with military aircraft, but it was a difficult task to accomplish. With each passing day, they were able to slowly get the number of Emus killed up.

This was the case all over the community as everyone was making last-minute attempts to increase their score. Before this Sun Tournament, most people had never heard of such an obscure setting for a simulation, but now it was the talk of the planet, basically. Quite a few strategists with deep pockets from every community outsourced this task of finding new ways to kill Emus to the residents of the Chinese community and the others visiting the community.

A quick market for this information soon grew and there were many who profited. Even though this lasted for only a week, a hefty sum of money was exchanged between all parties involved. An amount that even the Sun Coalition could not easily come up with. As such, every time information about how to kill more Emus faster became available, some would go out of their way to either sell it to whoever wanted it, auction it off to a few people, or outright sell it once to the highest bidder. This was a quick way to make a buck for those who had some ability.

In fact, it was so profitable that many Chinese factions gave the order for most of their members to participate in this extravaganza. Some factions chose to keep the results all to themselves and the team that they were putting into the Sun Tournament, but the others would just sell theirs off. Even the Sun Coalition, the Yellow Wang Faction, and Under 1 Banner was doing this as well. In fact, some of the information was bundled with the blueprints of the weapons used to make even more money.

Every community mainly kept to themselves, but through it all, one matter became extremely troubling for a few groups that would be participating in the group part of the tournament, it was that they were indeed becoming obsolete. Mainly, these were the majority of the Japanese community, the Ottoman community, the Mongolian community, and the Greco-Roman community. They themselves could only manage to kill off a few hundred to maybe a thousand in a few weeks. However, some of the information going around was stating that they would be able to accomplish 10,000 kills in just a week. Quite a few of them were only able to swallow their pride and buy these bundles as they did not even have the basic blueprints required for all of this.

At the start of the simulation, they were given just two light machine guns and a truck to pursue the Emus. Everything else would have to be done by themselves. They had the support of the Australian government, but seeing as this was set in 1932 during the Great Depression, it would be difficult to ask too much of them. This war was not something that Baron was familiar with as it was not a war between humans.