The week of insane amounts of people scrambling to get results in the Emu war simulation created a fervor for that week. However, once the day of the simulation came, many of the participants felt some form of dread. Anyone who even tried out the Emu war simulation could attest how hard it was to fight a bunch of fast, flightless, meaty birds that could utilise basic evasion techniques. Such as running away really, really fast and splitting up into smaller clumps while making their escape.

Some of the more traditional, i.e swords and spears type of generals, had to seriously evaluate their game plan because swords and spears against Emus were akin to trying to kill an ant colony with toothpicks. Mighty, mighty inefficient. No matter how many people you had under you. In the end, two groups emerged from these traditional generals. One group decided to pay a premium for some of the higher-end methods of killing the Emus while the other group decided to not pay such an extravagant price and just did the best that they could with what they had, regardless of their result.

Just a little while before the simulation began, Sun Tzu was to make a small little announcement. Across the numerous war rooms in the Chinese community, there were specific ones dedicated to this tournament. Since the Chinese strategists had the home advantage, they could use a war room in their own faction if they wanted to. Or, they could go to one of the other public rooms and mingle with the other strategists. Baron, Roxi, and Jaxon decided that they wanted to converse with others so they went public.

All of this was set up beforehand so the trio knew who would be in the room with them. These individuals included Toyotomi Hideyoshi and his group from the Japanese community, William Joseph Slim as well as his team from the British community, and finally, a relatively young group from the United States community that Baron did not recognize. It was likely that these men came during or after Baron’s own death on planet Earth. The leaders of each of the groups decided to speak privately before Sun Tzu’s announcement.

“Hello all, my name is Joseph Slim. I hail from the great British community and am one of the top strategists there. My comrades that will fight with me are talents that my community would like to see nurtured. So I am here to show them guide them.”

“Ah, yes, I have heard of you, Joseph Slim. One of the most sound strategists of the modern era. Humble, patient, plus your ability to create small miracles are quite impressive. I am glad to have met you. I am Baron Magellan by the way. I daresay that while I am the overall leader of my group, my two teammates are just as impressive as I am in their own fields.”

“Damn bro, how do you expect to lead them if they are just as good as you are? Don’t you think that there should be a clear hierarchy between all of you?” The young American strategist pointed out.

“Talent should be encouraged, not suppressed. How about you start with your name before lecturing me?” Baron returned.

“Fair point, my name is Nicholas Adam, from the great USA. The best community out there.”

“Even better than the Jordsand community?” Baron said, raising an eyebrow, trying to gauge Nicholas’ reactions.

“In due time, everything has their time. Jordsand will one day fall to another country, and that is a fact.”

“I am of the same mind, though, I think it will take more than just one community to best them. They have been indomitable for the past ten thousand years, it will not be an easy task.”

“I like you, Baron. You are perceptive. Let’s see if you can back up your wisdom with some results. I can confidently say that I will beat all of you in this Emu war. My strategy is simple, yet devastatingly efficient.”

“We’ll see about that, Nicholas,” Baron said, trying to sound like he could beat Nicholas’ score. However, Baron was not so sure about this. The strategy that they were able to come up with was only a ten percent increase than the best the outsourced strategists could come up with. There was no doubt in Baron’s mind that Nicholas had a right to be so confident in his plan.

“If you two young ones are done, I’d like to introduce myself now. I am Toyotomi Hideyoshi of the Great Unifiers from the Japanese community. My partners are 2 of the most trusted allies that have been with me since the days I was roaming the Japanese lands trying to conquer everything.”

“Could they be part of your Seven Spears of Shizugatake?” Baron asked Toyotomi, which the latter was not expecting.

“Umm...yes. How did you know?”

“I have done my research on a bunch of the participants in this tournament. Unfortunately, I haven’t heard about Nicholas before, so he is a bit of a wild card to me.”

“Haha, I get that a lot,” Nicholas said almost as if it was an automatic response.

“Well, young one, that is mighty impressive of you, your intelligence network must be quite remarkable to be able to sniff out my Seven Spears. I don’t think they have really made a name for themselves in the last few centuries or so.”

“You could say that-” Just as Baron was about to say more, the speakers in the war room suddenly came to life with the voice of none other than Sun Tzu.

“Participants of the Sun Tournament, this is Sun Tzu speaking. As most of you should be aware, the determining factor of who you will be facing off in the upcoming battles will be solely on this upcoming Emu War simulation. To shake things up a bit, I will provide you all with a bit of advice on how you will be able to do better. Kill smarter, not harder. That is all I will say. Gear up, everyone, and enter the simulation within the next hour. Best of luck to everyone.”

The four leaders of the different groups gave each other a look of understanding, then proceeded back to their own teams. Nicholas Adams and his group were the first ones to go into the simulation, followed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, then Joseph Slim. Baron, however, decided to stay back for a bit.

“Is something the matter, Baron. Why don’t we just go into the simulation?” Roxi asked with concern.

“Sun Tzu’s last few words really bugged me. It seems as if his advice was vague enough to confuse everyone but simple enough that quite a few people could decipher.”

“Really? Because I brushed off that advice the moment he said it. It just doesn't seem like advice at all,” Jaxon admitted.

“No, no. I am fairly certain that there is more to it than just that. But what could it be?”

“Maybe it's nothing, Baron. I mean, everyone should know that by now, but what could it really mean? It might just be something to shake our confidence right before the simulation.”

Baron thought about what Sun Tzu said for a few more minutes, but could not get anywhere. Just what could Sun Tzu mean by those incredibly obvious words? What was the hidden meaning behind them? The trio eventually went into the simulation, however, the words of Sun Tzu never left Baron’s mind. He was sure that there was something that he was missing, just something slightly out of reach. Always on the tip of the tongue, but never quite within reach.

If Baron and the team continued with their strategy that they thought up, then they would be guaranteed at least 25,000 kills. The most that someone who bought a guide on this would only be able to net a maximum of 20 thousand give or take a thousand. Deep down, the three of them knew that if they wanted to get the highest chance of winning the upcoming group matches, then they had to get an even higher score. Much, much higher.

While Roxi and Jaxon were busy setting up the simulation as they had in their experiments, Baron was busy thinking of Sun Tzu’s words. He promised his two partners that if he could not come up with anything else by the end of the second day, then they would commence with their previous strategy. Baron ran through Sun Tzu’s words over a thousand times an hour, but he was not any closer to a solution. Could the advice be nothing after all?

It took a lot of effort, but Baron was able to think of one thing that could be their chance to raise or decrease their score an indeterminable amount. This was to outsource the killing of the Emus to the locals. Baron concluded that this was the answer that he was looking for. Kill smarter not harder, meaning that the three of them shouldn’t do as much of the killing as they had thought, but outsourcing the work to others. Just as in the case of the week before this simulation was to occur.

The massive spike in activity for those looking to make a quick buck in the midst of those with money, looking for something to buy. They could apply this process to the Emu war by hiring the locals who were being terrorized by these birds. However, Roxi and Jaxon were not so convinced. They tried to talk Baron out of it since this was nothing more than an idea that Baron just came up with. If it did not pan out the way that Baron expected, they could jeopardize their standing on the rank and potentially have to face some of the more capable strategists in the first round of the matches.

All three of them continued to argue for a bit, but in the end, they decided that Baron was the best strategist in the group and that this was a risk that they had to take. After all, it wasn’t clear to them just how well the other groups would fare in this simulation. They could already be in the bottom half and not know it. This new idea that Baron just formulated could bring them much higher in the rankings.

From here on out, they would have to tread with extreme caution as they only had one chance to do this right. If they messed up, then they would have seriously shot themselves in the foot. They halted what operations that they had going on, and switched to the new plan immediately. It was true that they had spent the better of two days for nothing. Which was a huge waste in terms of time, but there was no helping it.

One of the first things to do in this situation was to speak to the government officials that were overseeing this activity and convince them to go about killing the Emus in a different way. Since there were no instant communications during this time, Baron, Roxi, and Jaxon had to ride all the way to the local government center to pitch their idea but were told that they could not do it without the express consent of the official Australian government in Canberra.

So that’s where the three of them headed. All the while, Baron was drawing up plans on how to get such a project up and running. Bureaucracy was not Baron nor Roxi’s strong suit, but Jaxon had experience in it so he was the only one who was to speak to the government officials. Even though Australia, and the rest of the world for that matter, was in the midst of the Great Depression, several of the points that Jaxon spoke of were able to convince the lawmakers to act upon it.

With enough rushing, they were able to get everything in order in under two weeks. With Baron put in charge of this operation, he did everything he could to set his plan into motion. After one month in the simulation, the trio had not managed to kill a single Emu, but with the bounty that they put on each head of Emu now in place, they hoped that they would be able to make up for some lost time. The fruits of their labor began showing some promising results.