“I didn’t expect to talk to you of this so soon, so wait a moment. I’ll come here with my real body.” As Shu said that, the Energy Projection itself disappeared. Jack was still quite bewildered and pissed off. Why in the world would he have to go and take part in a fight where every single footsoldier can kill him with a snort?

Jack then decided that all the questions would be answered after Shu arrived, so he was going to make sure that no “unexpected surprises” wait for him again. Jack went to the little courtyard where Nalser was still running around and seeing the little Poro run around without a care in a world was quite relaxing.

As he picked up Nalser, he told the servant that was watching over Nalser to bring two cups of tea to the study. The servant immediately went to carry out the order as Jack picked Nalser up and headed towards the study.

When he reached the study, Shu hadn’t arrived yet, so Jack summoned Shadya and Veyer. The two of them didn’t have a nice face either as it seemed like they knew why Jack summoned them. Before Jack could ask anything, Shadya sighed, “For this thing, you can thank Master Raelag. His contributions in the previous Wars secured a victory to our Plane without a big threat.”

Hearing this, Jack’s brows perked up as he asked, “Didn’t Veyer say that you guys didn’t take part in the War before?” Shadya shook her head as she said, “We have taken part of it before but we strictly followed Master’s orders and never left the base. We do not know how the War is exactly as we never fought on the front lines.”

Hearing this, Jack sighed deeply. Just as he was about to ask Shadya more specifically about what Raelag had done to earn such respect, there was a knock on the door and Shu entered a moment later. When Shu entered, his eyes fell on Veyer and Shadya. Shu’s eyes grew wide as he asked, “You have gained full control of the Mask?”

Jack, realizing his mistake, could only put on a bitter smile as he said, “Yes, I have. However, there is still a limit on how many Troops I can summon and for how long.” Hearing this Shu nodded his head as it would be too unfair if he could summon armies that rival any major Clan or Sect while only being an Acolyte. Jack waved his hand and Shadya and Veyer disappeared into the Mask again. Nalser was the most carefree of the bunch as he had curled himself up on the table and was currently taking a nap.

Jack gestured Shu to take a cup of tea as he asked seriously, “So, tell me now.” Shu took a sip as he rearranged his thoughts for a moment. He then slowly opened his mouth and said, “You were asked to participate in the war as a ArchMage for one simple reason: Your Master is, or rather was, Raelag.”

Jack wasn’t surprised to hear this as Shadya had said the same thing only moment before. Shu then continued, “Raelag was a genius in military planning and in strategic troop deployment. That skill only paled in comparison to his skill with Magic Formations.”

Jack raised his brow as he asked, “Just because he was a genius in those two doesn’t mean that I am as well.” Shu slowly shook his head and said, “I do not know what Raelag has told you but besides obtaining the approval of Dark Elves and Demons, you had to obtain his own approval as well. Knowing him, he would rather let his Legacy perish into the forgotten annals of history rather than pass it down to a mediocre person.”

Jack stayed quiet as he kept looking at Shu with a serious gaze. He didn’t doubt Shu’s words but rather, he knew that Raelag treasured his troops more than his pride. Jack being able to inherit his Legacy might have been due to a fluke for all he knew. He had no idea how long Raelag’s Memory Fragment had left or much he had lowered his original bar by the time that Jack came to the horizon.

Every powerful Expert had their own certain standards that were needed to be fulfilled for a person to be accepted as their disciple. The bar was even higher for people that were looking for Legacy Disciples. He had no idea whether he was up to Raelags original standards or whether he had lowered the bar by a bit or a lot. Jack looked at Shu seriously and asked, “So, we agree that he was a genius in the Path of Magic but let me ask you this, what does that have to do with me? I am just an Acolyte that only has Raelags memoires not his direct teachings.”

Shu looked at Jack seriously and then waved his hand to set up a barrier to block out every pair of sharp ears or prying eyes. Although it was unnecessary because Jack had completely isolated this room, the whole mansion to be exact, however, better safe than sorry.

Shu looked at Jack seriously and said, “The next War will take place in exactly 221 years. During that time, with your talent and the resources/help you possess, it is easy for you to reach the ArchMage level. It was the Heavenly Patriarch’s personal request that we do everything in our power to help you reach that level in the next two hundred years.”

Jack furrowed his brows as he asked, “Heavenly Patriarch?” Shu nodded his head and took a sip of tea as he said, “You inheriting Raelag’s Legacy is known to all the Heavenly Emperors and the strongest powers in Major Cosmoses. Because of the need for a strong and good Chief-in-Command, everyone agreed to give you resources and also send a few people to guard you. They are also in charge of giving you guidance if you need it.”

Jack’s brows furrowed even more as he said coldly, “You still haven’t told me about the Heavenly Patriarch.” Shu looked at Jack with a serious gaze because he could feel that he was becoming more and more impatient. He couldn’t blame him either because the pressure that would be on his shoulders during the War was immense, so all he could do was try to prepare him as best as he could and have him accept this responsibility.

Shu then said, “The Heavenly Patriarch is the Representative of our Plane. He was the first person to become the Heavenly Emperor and even until now, his personal strength is something that the other Heavenly Emperors can’t stand up to even if they band together. In our Plane, his word is Law no matter which Cosmos it is.” Saying it like that, Jack’s face fell as he realized that the Patriarch isn’t someone that he can just tell to piss off.

Although Jack was quite fearless, he wasn’t a suicidal idiot that didn’t know when to take a step back and come to an agreement. Even though the Heavenly Patriarch basically ordered him to become an ArchMage in two hundred years and take command of the Planar War, he also made sure that Jack had enough resources to do so. Also, although the guidance of others wouldn’t be as useful to him, another person’s opinion was always something that may trigger an insight. Jack calmed down a bit and looked at it objectively, he was someone they needed but why him?

Jack asked Shu, “I understand that the War is important and Raelag was the Chief-In-Command during the Wars because of his talent at troop deployment and magic formations but isn’t it a bit too ludicrous to expect me to be on Raelag’s level in only two hundred years? Raelag got his personal experiences over countless years he roamed the Plane with his Troops.”

Shu let out a sigh as he said, “We do not expect you to be on Raelag’s level because that would be completely impossible to accomplish in such a short time frame. To be honest, several Cosmoses have tried to groom people that could take Raelag’s position but they all failed.” He shook his head as he slightly raised his hands in helplessness.

Jack looked at Shu in confusion as he asked, “How is it possible to fail?” Shu sighed again as he said, “They aren’t able to adapt to the situation good enough and even though they have good plans, they focus on success rather than survival. Textbook formations and deployments, yes they are good but they are too predictable. If your plans are too predictable, the enemy can easily capitalize on this and counter every single thing you do.”

Jack nodded his head as he understood the problem. The most important thing on the battlefield was to maximise the chance of success with also minimizing casualties on your side. No one wants to follow a general that prioritizes success over minimizing casualties. There were times when you had no other choice but to have great casualties in order to succeed but for it to happen always….

Also, the battlefield was ever changing and a good method of discerning a good general from a bad one was to see how well they cope with all the changes on the battlefield. A general has to always think three steps ahead with every move he makes. Should something unpredictable happen that may turn the tide in the enemies favour, you need to be able to quickly counter that and prevent your forces from collapsing. However, with the battlefield changing every second, it was very hard to do and every mistake will only worsen your situation.

Jack thought about it and murmured, “Elite troops will lose to farmer troops if their commander is incompetent.”

Shu nodded his head and said, “Raelag was the best of the best our Plane has ever had. He was able to counter every single move made by the enemy in the most efficient way. Our casualty rate was practically non existent if you think about the scale of the war. Hundreds of millions Origin Realm people take part of the War on our side but every time Raelag was in charge of troops, the casualty rate was only hundred or so Origin Realm people per War.”

Jack’s eyes opened wide as his mouth fell open. The casualty rate was only a hundred or so? That was truly non existent casualty rate if there were hundreds of millions of Origin Realm experts fighting there. Jack now understood why they had so high hopes for him, he had access to Raelags Legacy, the person that created this miracle.

They didn’t expect him to replicate this kind of a miracle performance but his chances of performing a better job was several times higher than the other groomed ones because he had access to Raelags records on the war and what was going through his mind. Jack had only glanced at those records back then because he thought that they were only some records on the battles he had done in the Ashan Cosmos.

Jack let out a deep breath as he said, “You do realize the amount of pressure you are putting on my shoulders with this, right?” Shu only gave an apologetic smile as he said, “I do understand. That is also why you will get near unlimited resources and from what I heard, some Heaven Cosmoses will even send a Heaven Profound expert to guard you. You only need to focus on improving your own strength and also absorbing all of Raelag’s knowledge that he left behind for you.”

Jack nodded his head as he asked, “Why did Island Master not tell me about this before?” Shu understood that Jack was wondering why he wasn’t told of this before, when all of the higher ups were present.

Shu thought about it for a second and then just helplessly sighed, “We were planning on letting you settle in and sort out your future path for the next few years before we told you about all of this but you are a bit too hard working and have already reached the milestone we thought would take a year or two to reach.”