Zhi sized up Jack seriously as the silence enveloped the Hall. Jack held his breath because Dragon Cross had done a lot for him in the past half a year, so him coming like this was a bit rude. Zhi then looked at Jack’s eyes and sighed, “All right, I authorize you going out to gather experience but do you have a concrete plan?”

Jack let out a breath of relief as he said with a bitter smile, “I was thinking of going to the Ashan Cosmos for this gathering of experience.” Zhi’s eyes became like carriage wheels as he didn’t hesitate to say, “Refused!”

Jack let out a hollow laugh as he expected as much. Jack understood that there was an enormous importance put on him for this War. There is no way in Seven Hells that Zhi can let him go somewhere so far out of Dragon Cross’s sphere of influence.

The main reason Zhi allowed him to discard his City Lord position to go out travelling was because he thought that he would stay in their Cosmos, somewhere where no one truly dared to kill him.

Here they can make sure that no one harms him more than allowed but if he went off the radar to some Cosmos in the middle of nowhere, it would be very hard to keep an eye on him.

Jack then took a sip of tea that had been brought to them by someone and Jack started explaining his reasoning, “Well, it is not like I want to go to the Ashan Cosmos just for the heck of it. I have my own reasons for picking that Cosmos.”

Although Zhi did not want to let him go there, he could not chain him up either. If he truly wanted to go, then there was no one that could stop him, this made his importance to the War a double edged sword. If they were too overbearing with Jack, then he might just say “Fuck you guys!” when the War came and just not care even the slightest about the outcome.

Zhi let out even a deeper sigh and gestured with his hand for Jack to continue. Seeing this, Jack put on a serious expression as he started, “First of all, this Cosmos is a Cultivator Cosmos. I train in the Path of Magic, so it would be a smarter choice to choose the Ashan Cosmos to develop as a Magician.”

Zhi could only nod his head as he understood this reasoning. It was like studying a foreign language, it is far easier to learn it when going abroad to the country and living amongst the residents for a while. If Jack goes to the Ashan Cosmos, he may pick up some things just by seeing others use Magic. Like Jack had said, it was more beneficial to research Magic in a place that Magic rules supreme.

Seeing that Zhi did not refute him this far, Jack continued, “Secondly, you are all cultivating me as a Tactician for the War. Here there are no wars where I could command troops to accumulate experience in that regard either.” Zhi’s face darkened a little as he realized Jack’s words were right. They hoped that Jack would become the Chief-In-Command for the War, so the ability to lead troops was the most important. Here, there were currently no wars where he could hone his skills in commanding troops.

In the Ashan Cosmos, all he had to do was set up a base somewhere and he would inevitably attract some kind of an idiot that would want to go head to head with him. Also, the relations between the races of Ashan Cosmos had not improved by one with even now so it would not be hard for him to get first hand experience in commanding troops there.

Jack then concluded, “Lastly, the people that are on my level or a bit stronger avoid me like the plague while those that would dare to fight me are people that could kill me with a snort.” After saying so, Jack closed his eyes as he hoped that he had said enough to change Zhi’s mind on this regard.

Every thing he pointed out was something that hindered his progress by a lot. Zhi also understood why Jack had said that this place was a bit too safe for him. A tiger raised in a cage is akin to a paper tiger. Although Zhi did not want to admit it, Jack was completely right with every single point and he had very little reason to not let him go to the Ashan Cosmos to hone his skills and also improve all of them. Just as Zhi was caught between a rock and a hard place, an amused laugh echoed in the Hall, “What am I seeing? The exalted Berserker Dragon is hesitating over a Junior. If a word of this got out, you would have a hard time keeping your position as the Number 1 Dao Seeking Expert of the Plane.”

As the voice echoed out in the Hall, both Jack and Zhi immediately turned to the other end of the table where an old man in white robes as nonchalantly drinking tea. Zhi’s let out a hollow laugh as he immediately retorted the old man, “What would happen when a word got out that the almighty Heavenly Flame Devil became a babysitter to a Junior?” Jack’s face flickered as he heard the blatant ridicule in Zhi’s tone.

He had no idea whether these two were on good terms or not but from the current flow of things, it seemed as though they are not. The old man glared at Zhi for a moment before he laughed, “Well, then we two will be in the same boat, no? So lets take one for the road then.” As he said so, he raised his tea cup towards Zhi and downed it with a mischievous smile dancing on his lips. Zhi let out a little laugh as well as he raised his cup and also downed all the tea in it in one big gulp.

Zhi then turned to the old man and asked, “Xia Hao, what do you think?” The old man was the Heaven Profound expert sent by the Heaven Cosmoses. Xia Hao let out a breath as he glanced at Jack before saying, “You know as well as I do that what he said was all the truth. I have watched over him for the last half a year and I can confirm that his progress rate has slowed down dramatically in the past weeks.” Zhi nodded his head as he acknowledged the old man’s words. He hadn’t thought that Jack was lying but rather he had a hard time letting him go somewhere where he was out of his sphere of influence.

In his eyes, Jack had unlimited potential and even if he couldn’t perform spectacularly this War, there were more Wars to come and after gaining first hand experience in this one, he will without a doubt perform spectacularly in the next one. If something happened to Jack to cut his path short, then there was no one that is strong enough to take the responsibility for it.

So unconsciously Zhi, who was always fair and hated greenhouse flowers, started doing exactly that to Jack. He started raising him like a greenhouse flower and was very reluctant to let him near anything dangerous.

Xia Hao then said, “What are you so worried about, it is not like he would go alone. Not to mention those two overpowered existences in his Mask, I will also follow him.” Zhi nodded his head as he realized what the old man was hinting at. Even though he will be out of Dragon Cross’s sphere of influence it doesn’t mean that he will be all alone.

Besides the Troops in the Mask, there was also Xia Hao, the second strongest in the Plane looking after him. Couple that with all the other experts that are standing guard over him, there is a better chance of Zhi dying that Jack dying.

Zhi let out a hollow laugh as he shook his head in dejection saying, “Well, it seems like I overthought it. However, what are we going to do with Virbeth?” This question was directed at Jack, who was now quietly sitting at the sidelines. Jack thought about it for a moment before he suddenly touched his Mask and a Succubus appeared behind Jack. She didn’t look like before as this one was covered in yellow flames. She gave a saluted and said, “Ma ootan käsku Isand!”

Jack nodded his head and the two at the sides had their eyes narrowed as they were thinking about what Jack was up to now. Jack looked at the Succubus and then said, “Võta minu nägu.”

After receiving the order from Jack, the Succubus gave another salute as she suddenly started changing. Succubus’s had an innate talent of shape shifting and they could completely mimic a persons looks, aura and demeanour.

After a few moments passed, a person that was a one on one replica to Jack was standing at his side. Zhi and Xia Hao looked at each other in complete shock as even the two of them couldn’t find any fault in the Succubus’s transformation. If they hadn’t seen it happen under their own eyes, they would not be able to tell that the other person was indeed not Jack. They tried to find any fault with the Soul Aura or any little fault at all but all they could come up with was nothing.

Seeing their stupefied faces Jack let out a sigh, “A one-on-one replica isn’t it?” Xia Hao subconsciously nodded his head but Jack’s next words made him see the crux of the problem. Jack then sighed even deeper as he said, “Even though it is a transformation without any faults appearance wise, they can’t mimic my abilities.” Zhi and Xia Hao let out a deep breath as they felt a burden fall off their shoulders.

If the Succubus could even completely mimic his abilities as well, what stopped him from creating over a dozen of clones of himself and going from stir shit up everywhere. The Succubus then said in Jack’s voice, “When Master goes to the Ashan Cosmos, I will take his spot as the City Lord of Virbeth.” Jack nodded his head and added, “As long as no one comes to blows with her, they will not be able to realize the difference. Well, some special occasions not included.”

Zhi’s eyes narrowed as he asked, “What special occasions?” Jack looked at Zhi and said, “Well, if someone has an innate constitution that lets them see through all Illusions, there is a high probability of them seeing through the disguise. Also, there are special Artefacts that dispel Illusions and some special techniques to do so.” Xia Hao nodded his head as he said, “Well, there is nothing that is completely without weaknesses.”

Jack nodded his head as he asked, “So, am I allowed to go to the Ashan Cosmos?” Zhi and Xia Hao looked at each other and nodded. Xia Hao then said, “Make your preparations, I will personally take you there. However, remember this, you will not be able to come back here any time you want, so carefully pick out all the thing you want to take with you.” Jack nodded his head as he understood that the old man wasn’t very keen on playing taxi for him.

It may take a long time before he comes back here, so for now he headed towards the Merchant Hall to exchange all of his Contribution Points for the things he needed.