Rue surged with mana, and two elegant blades appeared in her hands.

"They’re not as fancy as what the Dana Mage got, but they’re good enough to be called Epic."

Nerissa held up the blade, examining the stats, then bowed politely and put it away.

"That will do wonderfully. I will be in a much better position next duel with that in my hand."

Then, Rue made a direct copy of the Villa Stone, but with a Supreme Ranked barrier around it, so the stone was bumped up a Rank without actually getting any better, except at keeping strangers out.

Nobody would ever know the difference anyhow.

"You can have that as the grand prize. Nobody will show you up this year, that is for certain. Do you know who is going to get the top contenders?"

"Almeixei, with a ninety percent likelihood. If not them, we’re the most likely second choice. It just comes down to who wins in the end. If it’s one of the druids, then we’ve got a pretty solid chance. But if it’s a Blademaster or a mage, they’re likely going to go for the resources."

"Well, it’s a shame to lose such a good item, but it will show the others in the competition that we’re serious about being able to provide resources.

That should keep at least a few from being poached," Karl agreed.

"Of course, everyone and their dog has already been to see you about obtaining the bribes to steal the recruits with. I don’t even know if that counts as a win or a loss. An Epic Grade item is a lot of profit, but if we lose too many of the recruits, we’re going to be in a tight spot this year.

The members have been working hard to get apartments ready for the next wave."

The Lycan Pack Leader shrugged. "If they sit empty for one year, it’s not the end of the world. Everyone knows that your compound took damage in the battle, so they’re not going to hold it against the New Home if you take in fewer members than usual."

Nerissa nodded. "It’s more a matter of pride. We host the regional recruiting event. Almeixei shows up to steal the top seed, but they only hold their own event every five years, so they’re just filling themselves with geniuses at our expense."

Karl laughed, and the Supremes all turned to look at him.

"Did you forget? We’ve got the Class Change Obelisk now. I don’t know if the visitors have noticed yet, but there are going to be a lot of recruits looking like geniuses if they stay in the New Home."

Nerissa winked at him. "Oh, they’ve noticed. However, we’ve marked it off limits unless you’re a Sect Leader, or on particularly good terms with an Elder.

Everyone else has to wait until after the event to come back and try to buy a turn at the stone.

It’s made us quite popular.

But we don’t want them all advancing and making themselves look better before the recruitment. Maybe next year, but not so soon after we have received it ourselves. There are still Clan members working on skills to try for better classes, we can’t have outsiders getting ahead of them."

Karl couldn’t argue with that.

The World Dragon didn’t care who used it, you would get the class that you had earned. But from a practical standpoint, letting others use it to get ahead of the local members months after they had been attacked would just make the New Home look like suckers.

With all the considerations, Karl understood why Clan Leader Nerissa was such a high-stress person.

It seemed unavoidable once you reached a certain point of power, though. Unless you could tuck yourself in under the protection of another Supreme who was willing to do the public relations work and put on the friendly face for the Clan, you simply had to live in the world of Supreme Ranked Politics.

It hadn’t worked out well for the Blackwoods Pack, and it hadn’t worked out well for Rue either.

Hopefully, that would turn around now that they were all together under the umbrella of the Darklight Host and the New Home Merchant Clan. At the very least, the appearance of new items made by their members should make others reconsider the hidden strength of the Clan.

Once they saw that Villa Stone, clearly marked as being made by the Darklight Host, they would have to wonder if Karl had received it from the Supremes who came to assist in the last battle, and if one of them might have remained here in the region.

Mind games might be Rae and Cara’s specialty, and Opal’s entire livelihood, but Karl was at least capable of thinking that far ahead.

Dana, on the other hand, was still staring at her new sword with a level of reverence that Karl wasn’t certain he had ever seen from her before.

It really was a good sword.

Finally, she put the weapon away, and focused on the other things that hadn’t been addressed.

"You said that there was another weapon for someone? Was it Tessa? The Red Dragon Clerics that just advanced?"

Rue shook her head. "No, I will make her an advancement gift later. Tian asked me to make one for Ophelia. We had a custom order that was perfect for her."

Tian nodded and held up the one that they had made for the customer.

"A rapier with stacking agility? I see where you got the inspiration for my weapon now."

"Yeah, only we made hers as a big axe. It’s going to be spectacular when she finally gets to use it," Tian agreed.

His expression was so innocent that Dana couldn’t help but laugh. Clearly, Tian had no idea of just how immensely broken and overpowered that weapon buff was. He just thought that it would be funny to see an incredibly fast giant bear.

"You know, being exposed to high rank items in your inventory is one way to help push someone up through the Ranks. The aura of the weapons, especially Holy weapons, is like a growth charm that continually fills the body with energy." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

[Sounds like the Blade of Champions and the Haint Claw.] Hawk noted, listening in on the conversation.

It did. It really did.