Back from the Treasure Hunt, Jake was reminded by his brother Caleb that he is a kind of shitty son for never visiting his parents since the integration. Having no real argument against that – besides not wanting to make the long trip, but seriously, that’s a weak excuse to not visit your parents for such a long period – he finally gets his shit together and goes on a road trip.Arriving in Skyggen, where his parents and brother had settled down, Jake spent two weeks of quality time with his family before it was time to participate in the Auction event that would directly follow the Treasure Hunt. An event that would once more gather all the influential individuals of Earth.The auction turns out to be very much a mixed bag, with more disappointments than pleasant surprises. At least initially. That is how auctions tend to work, after all. The bad stuff comes first, with the best saved for last, and even if Jake did buy a few of the lower-rarity items, he primarily sold the things he

Jake had done something he had never thought he would do. In fact, he was pretty sure no one would have ever thought the current situation playing out was possible.He stood in a dressing room as an elf wearing a fancy robe scrutinized his appearance and talked to an attendant about getting a new type of cloth Jake had never heard of. The attendant quickly ran for it as the tailor spoke."No, no, you need something to truly bring forth that ferocious look of yours,” the elf said with much fervor. “One that can emphasize those wonderful eyes and mask properly!""I did like the first set quite a bit, and to truly show his personality and interests, how about embroidering the cloak with mushroom symbols?" a fourth person said. It was a scalekin with dark green scales and a cheeky smile that looked on as Jake was getting outfitted."Yeah, that is never going to happen," Jake said instantly."I must agree; it would not at all go with his style!" the tailor said, fully backing up Jake. A sm

Ah, politics. Jake hated doing it with a passion, which was why he always outsourced it whenever possible. He hadn’t liked it before the system either. He wasn’t talking about the large political things like elections and such, but the small political maneuvering everyone did in their daily lives.One example was making friends with certain other employees for their positions and then leveraging that friendship whenever needed. Jake knew it was almost expected that managers made friends with certain people in the HR department so they had an ally to back them up on most issues.People also did this with their bosses. In fact, the best example was how everyone was always way nicer to their boss than any other "equal" employee. How if the boss didn’t like anyone, everyone else also ostracized that employee to stay in the good graces of their glorious leader. Anyone who chose to show sympathy would naturally fall into the same camp as the pariah and be shunned themselves.Jake had always

Jake returned to his mansion half an hour before the World Congress to do some last-second preparations. He’d already had a talk with Miranda using her communication skill and agreed on a few minor things.Contrary to the first time, where Jake had barely made it, he didn’t rush this time. He took a shower after the party and sobered up, smiling at remembering it. Draskil and he had been drinking until Jake had to leave, at which point Draskil also couldn’t be arsed to stay any longer.Meira was at a lesson still, so Jake just sat in the living room in meditation until the system notification appeared. He accepted it instantly. His vision went black, and he was teleported to who-knows-where—the location of the World Congress.Jake opened his eyes and found himself in a familiar room. Somewhat familiar, at least, as it had now expanded significantly. People teleported in all around him, and in only a few seconds, it was clear that far more than the hundred or so cities would be present

Results: No individual obtained at least 60% of the total votes. No World Leader will be elected during this World Congress. Note that a World Leader must be elected within the first 3 World Congresses.The vote had ended as everyone expected. Jake had decided to just vote for Neil for fun, getting a weird look from the guy afterward. It had actually gone about as Miranda had theorized before they entered the World Congress, with, of course, the small change of the King being present.Miranda had not believed any World Leader would be elected due to how many dissenting opinions still existed. The Noboru Clan and Holy Church alone opposed the other gaining power, the Risen wanted neither but preferred the Noboru Clan, the independents wanted neither of them, and Valhal wanted who-knows-what.The Court of Shadows and Haven didn’t really matter much anymore, voting-wise, as they were beaten out by sheer numbers. However, their opinions could still sway some, and not having their support