Corvus looked over the wax seal of the letter, before pulling it open once more. His eyes skimmed over it for the tenth time since he had received it. At this point he could probably recite it from memory.

The only thing that had changed about it was the time written until this so called meeting began. When he had first opened it, it had read one month. Now, it read one week.

It was rather convenient to have it literally counting down, and also a little ominous that the ink was actively changing on the letter he had received to do so. But he should have expected that nothing would be simple when it came to matters of the system and its creator.

This was the same dragon, after all, who plunged their entire planet into chaos just to create someone like him, who could manipulate souls, and then sent another dragon through some space portal from god knows where to give him mysterious instructions.

People had always said that gods work in mysterious ways, but Corvus was starting to think that maybe, just like him, they had little idea of what they were doing and just kind of making it up as they went along. Then when it succeeded, they just took credit for it and claimed it was all a part of their plan.

It was a tactic that worked great in the gods favour, but was absolutely irritating when you were trying to find out what the hell was going on. Letting out a deep sigh, Corvus folded up the letter and placed it back into his pocket.

Just like the last few times he had read it, only the date had changed. He still had no idea what he was getting himself in for, which meant he had to try planning for as much as possible.

The tournament of talents idea was something he had been playing around with for a while, since back when he was only one person instead of three. Ideally he would have left it until things were more stable, like Damien suggested.

But he had to push it up to now because of this event. Hopefully it would act as a good distraction from everything that no one would notice him slipping away. He just didn't know how long this meeting would go on.

After all, it was arranged by a being who thought a few hundred thousand years was just a short power nap. The thought that it might take days, weeks or perhaps even longer had definitely crossed his mind. He could always leave a puppet behind to rule in his place for a while, but it was better to make up additional plans in case he got cut off again.

Sure... If that happened then he could put the burden of his task on the other two. The weird one that liked to act all dramatic and emo, or the one who mistakenly thought that just because he had one arm that made him the original.

But no, as the obviously true and only original, Corvus had to keep his role under his control. It wouldn't be good to give those clones a big head and let them forget what they are. This was clearly a job for the original, and so he would take care of it himself.

Besides, he still also had to decide who else he would be bringing with him. Astra filled one of his tag along slots, but who else to take.

Corvus slouched on the throne, tapping his fingers against the arm of the chair in his habitual rhythm, as he went over every possibility he could imagine and the people who would be best for them.

***

Over the next week, Corvus dedicated his mind to setting up the distraction tournament. The entire island was a buzz with excitement and curiosity as word quickly spread about the tournament that was going to be hosted. It spread so quickly not just because of communication gifts, but also thanks to Lee.

Although he had been helping out with the war efforts, acting as the Omen and transporting troops where they needed to go, Lee had also spent the last year working on his delivery business.

With the assistance of his gained reputation, as well as some investment from his good friend the Lord, Lee took over the delivery company he had mearly been working for previously and turned it from a company that only supplied one city, to a nationwide business.

It was wildly successful, after all who didn't love the option of literally instant delivery of anything they wanted, even themselves. With the addition of transportation gifts, he could theoretically transport entire shop inventories across the country in a snap.

Not that he did such a thing. Although that hadn't stopped others from taking up the role, spawning a whole host of travelling merchants who helped create important road infrastructure.

Naturally the existence of these merchants also spawned some protection services, created by veterans of the wars. They even purchased some Ushabti Golems from Rania and got their hands on some of the Lord's puppets that they would hire out for premium prices, especially those who wanted long distance protection.

It usually ended up cheaper to pay for them than buy all the food for the long term protection, as well as the other entertainment they would possibly desire or trouble they would get themselves into.

With the expansion of the kingdom, new businesses were sprouting up like bamboo and old businesses were completely thriving. New markets were being created as new demands were discovered. It was all very economical and wonderful for the kingdom, or so he was told by the people who actually knew what they were talking about.

Anyways, Lee's delivery business now had three teleporters, including himself. He had discovered the other two after some conquests, and taken them on as apprentices. Although neither of them were nearly as powerful as him, that didn't mean they were not useful.

One could only operate within line of sight, meaning if he wanted to jump across the country it would take him hundreds of individual jumps.

It would be exhausting, but was still faster than most conventional methods of transport depending on the distance. However, if he operated in a single city, he became one of the fastest door to door postmen in the world.

The other could only transport objects, not people, and could only do it to and from places she had previously marked. However, this made national post and delivery a breeze, as they set up delivery zones all across the country as well as a distribution centre in the middle of Ravenkeep.

These were not the only delivery people he had. He had also employed people with enhanced speed, flight, tunnelling, etc. As well as many employees who either didn't have a suitable mutation or simply had none at all.

After all, there were still beasts who could do the running for them and there were some that were easier to use the 'Beast Taming Bracelet' on than others. Which meant beasts you didn't have to fight in the arena to tame.

It also helped that they had started to become domesticated and a few beast farms sprouted up, both for food and for labour. Spider-sheep cheese was a local delicacy. It literally came out of them as string cheese.

It was both disgusting, and wonderful, just like the creatures themselves.

Thanks to this wonderful delivery service, and not the string cheese, the surveys for the tournament were rapidly sent across the country. Word spread like wild fire, and by the end of the day they already knew what the people wanted to compete in.

Which was good, because it was a lot.

Eventually it was sorted out by the amount of desire in each subject, giving them a list of ten major competitions and many more minor competitions. Some desired subjects had to be cut, as unfortunately there wasn't enough people interested in watching, or wanting to participate in, events such as "Who can grew the longest toe-nails" or "Who can make the wettest fart."

Ultimately, the ten major events ended up as; Archery, Strength, Beast Taming, Medicine Crafting, Hunting, Singing, Dancing, Jousting, Forging and surprisingly Wood Carving. With the final one being more popular than Corvus expected.

There had also been interest in painting, poetry, speed races and many others. It was simply these were the top ten of all that they had gathered.

Once the Major and Minor events were announced, that left them with six days to complete construction of the event location. The Colosseum wasn't going to be nearly big enough for what they had planned, nor did it feel right to use it for such a grand new event.

Of course, you may think that six days wasn't nearly enough time to create such a grand arena for such a wondrous event, and you would be right. That is, if this was still the old world.

But with sleepless, tireless work from puppets and Ushabti Golems as well as the assistance of hundreds of powered individuals, each of whom could match the work effort of a hundred of the old worlds men. The six day limit started to seem all the more reasonable.