Adam had to drive southwest of St. Louis, deep into where Missouri had been, to get to the edge of the Juungii territory. According to Lucas it was a vast territory, though not as large as what the Sentinel Army controlled.

The Juungii had taken over plenty of bases and used them to expand, but not all of those bases had come from conquest. According to the information they had gleaned in the Rift communication channels, the Juungii were willing to accept "lesser races" that pledged themselves to the [System].

Since the Juungii were one of the most dominant races in the universe, it wasn't unusual for weaker races to submit to them. Unlike with other top races, such as the Scyrric and Drathan, different races were treated the same as their own people. If they accepted the [System] based beliefs of the Juungii religion. As long as the invaders in a base accepted the terms of the Juungii, which did include an XP tithe and handing over their Rifts, then they were given more autonomy than the humans in their territory currently had. Intellectually that seemed reasonable to Adam, since the humans were new to the [System] entirely. In his soul, the voice and river wanted Adam to crush them all.

Adam had listened to the report delivered by Davian, Lashtam, and Lucas, and it had him sighing in annoyance. Religions were always a touchy topic, but this one seemed like it would be more difficult to navigate with his inherent dislike of what the [System] had allowed on his planet. The world's collapse and the human deaths wouldn't have happened without the allowance of the [System].

Due to that, Adam was confident he'd never be able to tolerate the Juungii's rhetoric. Especially since his soul would push him to kill invaders on site unless they found some way around it, like with the Leputi. This could go wrong in so many ways, and with Adam already worn down internally from fighting the Drathan, he would have to step softly.

Jackson's leadership had gone over their priorities with Adam. The meeting had been a tense affair, with Davian intentionally bringing in both Adam's parents and Elouise to keep him calmer and to have voices that could talk back to Adam. Carmichael had spent much of the meeting snickering at this.

Adam knew this was important. There had been no need to repeatedly harp on him to keep his temper and not say his opinions. It wasn't as if Adam liked being angry or wanting to kill other races. It was because of the soul corruption, which was also the [System]'s fault. Even thinking about it made Adam fume.

Anyway, the priorities were:

Make a non-aggression pact with the Juungii, or possibly an alliance, though everyone knew Adam wouldn't be the one to negotiate that.

Find out information about how to handle the Drathan.

Secure the humans.

They had wanted to bring Mr. Rhodes to help with the negotiations. Unfortunately, because the Juungii required people to be high levels to be important, they had to settle on someone else. Someone of a high enough level that was good at understanding nuances and how to talk their way around issues when forming an agreement. Someone that no one thought was a good idea for Adam to bring.

Which was how Adam ended up driving slower down Route 67 than his preferred speed with Tom on a matching motorcycle behind him, further trailed by 50 General's Guards in trucks.

Adam sighed deeply and then turned around. As soon as Tom saw Adam looking, he smiled widely and waved, followed by cheers and chanting from the General's Guards. Shaking his head, Adam returned his focus to the road.

When Adam finally arrived outside of Piedmont, Missouri, a group was waiting for him. Lucas, Abbey, Brittney, and Brandon were there along with someone from Jackson's former mayor's office and several military negotiators and intelligence officers.

"How was the drive?" asked Lucas.

"A bit creepy," said Adam and he stood from his motorcycle. He jerked his head in the direction of the arriving Tom and everyone nodded in understanding.

Adam began arranging the items on his bike. He unfastened his war hammer's harness, then loosened the place where his large triangular great sword was secured. He pulled out a long sword and broadsword to check the edges for sharpness and possible nicks. Then he pulled out a long spear and sighting along the length to make sure it was still straight. His throwing spears were each hefted and then he counted his throwing knives, shuriken, and small hatchets. Last, he picked up a bow and checked the quiver of arrows to make sure all the shafts and heads weren't broken. They looked fine, but Adam wasn't good with the bow, so he slid it back into its duffle.

"Um, general," said one of the negotiators hesitantly. Adam's head turned and he stared at the man. "This is a peaceful discussion."

"I know that," said Adam, seemingly confused why the man felt the need to say it. "Of course I know. Why did you think I didn't?"

Then Adam reached for a back harness that would allow him to carry both the great sword and his hammer. Behind Adam, the General's Guards were checking their own weapons.

"Which do I need to bring?" he asked while looking over the weapons in his bike.

Brittney had her hand over her mouth and was trying to contain her laughter. Lucas sighed. Abbey reached out her hand and gently put it on Adam's arm before he could put on the weapon harness.

"Peaceful," she said. "No weapons."

"But they're invaders," stated Adam as his eyes drifted back to the large sword.

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"No," she said firmly, increasing the pressure on his arm. "Peaceful."

A conflicted look showed on Adam as he went back and forth between looking at Abbey and his weapons. Abbey smiled at him and Adam sighed in concession.

"Fine."

Abbey nodded and then turned away. Adam used that moment to grab three shuriken and slip them into a pouch at his waist. Brittney laughed even harder at that, but Abbey just ignored it.

"What do we have?" asked Adam, addressing Lucas.

"Little gray men. All identical based on tier and class. They don't have expressions or emotion in their voices, so we have no idea how to take anything they say."

"And they asked for me?" asked Adam.

A negotiator answered. "Not by name. They wanted to discuss things with our strongest. We suspect it is to verify that we're able to protect ourselves."

"A typical 'take me to your leader' approach, eh?" said Tom as he walked up.

"It's not quite that simple," said another man.

"It doesn't matter," smiled Tom. "The boss will take care of it with no problems."

"Anyway," continued Lucas, "they have a large territory. You can see the trees on the other side of Piedmont, but most of the national park over there has been reformed. They've only allowed us at the border but were willing to get one of their leaders to speak with us. There's a rather large city in the distance."

"Large and boring looking," added Brittney. "All gray buildings and roads. It's like a kid using a mold while playing with playdough."

"That hardly matters for the discussions," sniffed Abbey, though it seemed like she agreed with Brittney's opinion.

"We should only have to wait a few minutes for one of their leaders once we get to the meeting spot," concluded Lucas.

"Alright. Show us the way."

The group moved casually. Lucas mentioned that the area was safe, since most races avoided the Juungii. The General's Guards were ordered to stay at the other end of Piedmont, and Adam was surprised they listened.

When they reached the area that Lucas indicated, there were little gray invaders, each wearing a pure white robe. They had huge black eyes that took up most of their faces. They stood with perfect posture and had their arms crossed in front of them with their hands tucked into the opposing sleeve. The tags above all three were "Adherent" with levels of 11, 12, and 14.

When Adam saw the three invaders, he felt the heat pulse in his heart. He stood rigid, closing his eyes and breathed deeply.

CONQUER! The voice cried.

With a grunt, Adam activated [Soul and Body Shaping]. He could already feel the heat pulses drawing in and magnifying his anger. The river inside began flowing and picking up speed, so Adam used his skill to lower the amount of power that came from it into his body. He could also feel a lot of strength flowing out from the soul wounds, bringing him pain.

Adam knew this would be challenging. Like when he met the Leputi, he crossed his arms and tried controlling his breathing. For a moment he was glad he hadn't brought any weapons. A glance at the invaders made him crave his weapons more.

Upon Lucas arriving directly in front of the border, the three Adherents slightly nodded their heads.

"You have returned. Glory to the [System]," intoned all three with a near identical pitch.

"Yeah, glory to the [System]," said Lucas without much inflection. "Anyway, we brought our leader. Is your head priest available now?"

"Not a priest," said one of the Juungii. "He is an Archbishop."

"Right. Sorry. Archbishop," corrected Lucas. "Is that guy ready?"

"We have contacted him," said another.

Adam looked in askance to Lucas, who just shrugged at him. They waited awkwardly, but after only five minutes a portal opened and out stepped a larger Juungii. His robe was practically whiter than the Adherents. If anything, the "Proselytizing Archbishop [3]" looked like someone had taken a model of the Adherents and just scaled him upwards.

"Thank you for coming," said one of the negotiators politely. The Archbishop didn't say anything or even acknowledge that someone had spoken. The negotiator coughed pointedly and Lucas once more sighed.

"Thank you for coming, Archbishop," repeated Lucas.

The larger Juungii slightly bowed his head.

"We welcome all who seek to deepen their servitude towards the [System]."

Tom was about to laugh, but Brittney stopped him with a punch to his hip. Adam glared at them.

"As you requested," said Lucas, ignoring their shenanigans, "we brought our leader."

"As the [System] wills," intoned the Archbishop. Then he turned his head to take in the group before settling on the person who hadn't been here last time they met. "It is amazing that natives have reached as high a level as this. I have heard from these ones that it is all thanks to your strength. Truly you must have an unfathomable connection to the [System] to have done what no newly introduced race has achieved before. The blessings of the [System] are upon you."

The Archbishop bowed his head at Tom as he spoke. Tom looked around, from Adam to Lucas to the army guys, then pointed to himself in surprise.

"Oh no, Archie," Tom said, causing Lucas to facepalm. Then he pointed at Adam. "I'm not the leader. The boss is this guy."

The Archbishop's expression didn't change at all, but Adam would have sworn he seemed confused. The Juungii looked around again. His eyes passed over everyone there and then he turned back to Lucas.

"I do not understand. There is no one else worthy here."

His head turned to watch Lucas as he walked and stood next to Adam.

"This is our leader. This guy here."

"Pardon my brashness. I do not see his class or level, so I was unaware he was blessed. We have never encountered someone who could hide their [System] blessing. How is this accomplished?" questioned the Archbishop.

"No offense taken, Archie," cut in Tom. "The boss isn't hiding his tag. He doesn't have a class."

"Shut up, Tom!" whispered Lucas too late.

"WHAT?!" shouted the Archbishop. For the first time emotion seeped into his voice, and it was clearly anger. "This-this-this, how is this possible?"

"The boss is so amazing he doesn't need a [System] class."

"Shut up, TOM!" hissed Brittney.

"He has turned down the blessing of the [System]?!" gasped the Adherents.

"Of course not," said Tom proudly. "The [System] didn't give him a class in the first place."

"Shut UP, Tom!" snapped Abbey.

"But it's true!" Tom whined. "The boss is so awesome he didn't even need it!"

"Tom!" growled Adam, rethinking his belief in Tom's ability to understand nuances. "Stop! Talking!"

"Not given a class by the [System]?! That is unheard of from the generous [System]. The [System] blesses all," said the Archbishop, sounding furious. He rounded on Adam and pulled his hands from the sleeves. "Not only are you not blessed, even the glorious [System] has turned away from you!"

Adam's anger was growing. He glared at the invader before him. The creature that came to his world and stole the land belonging to his people. [Soul and Body Shaping] failed to hold back his power and anger. They flooded into Adam's entire being in a torrent.

"How dare you judge me!" snarled Adam. "You are in my world and holding my people! You will return them now or I'll wipe out your whole damned race!"

The Archbishop pointed at Adam.

"You are an abomination of the highest order! We will remove your evil from this world that the [System] cared enough to baptize, to protect those blessed by the [System]."

As Adam began to move towards the Juungii, fury and heat radiating from him, the Archbishop pointed. Then his hand flashed red.

"[System's Judgement]!"

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