Axel woke up early in the morning the next day.

Well, at least that was the plan.

After sleeping "5 more minutes," he woke up at noon. He extended his arm to pick up his phone and saw how his friends had texted him earlier. Because of the conversation with his father yesterday, he hadn't texted his friends to tell them how the rift was, so now they were asking for details.

Axel wrote explaining everything about the rift, what happened with his father, and his plan to become as strong as possible this week.

"Wow, that sucks, but at least you have an opportunity. If you try as hard as possible and have some luck, you may win the fight." William wrote.

"Yeah, I will talk with Mark and try to get into some more rifts. If I shove enough loot into my world, I may have a chance to win." Axel replied.

"I believe in you completely. I know you can make it." William wrote.

"How can you allow that he treats you like that? Even if he is your father, you are an adult, capable of making his own decisions. If you want to spend your time in worldbuilding, you should spend it on it. And with more reason knowing that he is also a worldbuilder. How can someone be so hypocritical?" Adam wrote in a long message.

Reading that, Axel was surprised.

He had known Adam since they were kids, and he knew he was not the type to show his feelings much, and by the message, he could deduce that his friend was furious.

Seeing his friend in that mood, Axel realized that he was right.

"You are right. I can decide what I do with my life, and if I choose to waste it by building a world to manipulate its habitants to do what I want, then I will do it." Axel replied.

"And what do you plan to do then? Are you going to decline the fight?" William asked.

That was a great question.

Axel's father wanted a fight and could decline it, but he felt things should be different.

"No, I think I'm going to fight. Even if I can do whatever I want, I still want to show my dad what I'm capable of with my world. I will work the whole week, and when the time comes, I will use the full force of my troops to win the fight." he replied. "I'm going to talk with Mark about the rifts. I need to start as soon as possible."

"You could talk with him about other things," William said.

"What do you mean?" Axel asked.

"Well, you said that that guy Philip worked with your father and that he was part of "The Salary Fighters," so maybe your father is also a member. With Mark being one of the leaders of "The Weapons of the Gods," he may know something about your father's world that you can exploit by preparing against it." William suggested.

"That isn't like cheating?" Axel asked.

"I don't think so. Professional worldbuilders study their opponents and change their worlds before most fights. Even some people from the comic store use those tactics, so you don't have to be ashamed of it."Adam explained.

"Well, it would help me compensate for the power gap between our worlds. I will ask Mark and maybe Philip. With some luck, one of them can tell me something useful." Axel replied.

After that, he texted Mark, asking him if he could get him in a new rift soon.

"Hey, kid. You need to calm down. You can't constantly push resources into your world, hoping it will suddenly improve. You need to take your time and think about every change carefully. If not, you will end up with an amalgamation of things that don't work well together." Mark explained.

"I know, but this is more complex than it looks..." Axel said before explaining the current situation to Mark.

"I see. About the information, I don't know anything about your father's world, but I will ask some friends that may know something. And about the rifts, I don't promise anything, and if I get you something, it's probably going to be another midnight rift, but I will do my best." Mark replied.

"Nice. Thanks for everything. I promise you that I will sign autographs in your store for free when I become a world-famous worldbuilder." Axel wrote.

Afterward, he got up from bed and went directly to the bathroom.

Once there, he pulled down his pants and sat in the toilet.

'It is time to work.' Axel thought before closing his eyes.