Everyone in the room, the representative of the four factions, looked at Tang Shaoyang in shock. All of them were not expecting that the Tang Empire would reject the proposal. The Polar Guild was one of the ten strongest factions after the Tang Empire. Accepting The Polar Guild would secure The Tang Empire’s dominance on Earth.

Of course, There was a reason why Tang Shaoyang suddenly came up with that decision even though he responded that he needed to discuss it with his people. It was for the third phase, he needed them to trigger the System Events. More than that, he needed a faction like The Polar Guild for a competition, a competition for his Tarriors. The Revolution Kingdoms, The Polar Guild, and The First Order Guild were needed for that reason, and it was preparation for the bigger battle when the truce was over.

People might think it was a silly idea to leave these factions as it was even though he had the chance to get rid of these potential threats. However, he needed that potential threat so his army was always ready for a war. An army without threat would weaken his army, and that was the last thing he wanted when the other worlds could challenge Earth to World Battle.

More than that, the motive. He did not know the actual Polar Guild’s motive. The Polar Guild might be afraid of The Tang Empire’s power, but he had mentioned that he would not take over The Earth or

Yury Semenov took a deep breath as the refusal hit his pride. It sounded like the Tang Empire did not need The Polar Guild because they were too weak, especially when the Tang Empire took in the other weaker factions, but not The Polar Guild.

“May I know the reason, Sir?” He kept his cool and asked the reason why the Tang Empire did not want to take The Polar Guild as a vassal.

“Is there a reason for me to take The Polar Guild as our vassal? As I told you earlier, we don’t intend to conquer the World,” Tang Shaoyang replied vaguely. He did not want to say what was in his mind, “However, if you intend to leave or disband your faction. You can join the Tang Empire instead of becoming a vassal.”

The vassal terms were so vague for the moment. Vassal meant the factions were affiliated with the Tang Empire, but it was not registered in the System. The other factions that joined him as a vassal still had their own factions. It was something they would discuss for the next meeting with the other vassals.

Yury Semenov stumped at the reply, but he could not say anything to refute that. There was nothing wrong with what Tang Shaoyang said. It was he who needed the Tang Empire, and the Tang Empire did not really need The Polar Guild.

“I see, unfortunately, I can’t just disband my faction because many people put their trust in me and The Polar Guild. Thank you for your time, Sir Tang.”

Li Shuang stood up from the seat and led the guests out of the room. As they got out of the room, Herman Bonivido turned toward Li Shuang, “Can we stay here for a few days, Miss Li?”

Victor Brent Whitney, Vaso Galliades, and Yury Semenov turned toward Li Shuang. The three had the same intentions. They wanted to see how much The Tang Empire had progressed. They got to know there was a special building as well after entering the Dimensional Tower. They wanted to know if the Tang Empire had one of those special buildings and any other secrets that made the Tang Empire stronger than them.

“Unfortunately, we are not open for visitors yet,” Li Shuang was quick with her rejection. Not because there was any secret to hide, but because everything was closed. There was nothing to see or visit because today they were relocating the people back to their homes. After the battle against the World Government, The Tarriors and the civilians were in a tense atmosphere. It was to avoid unnecessary clashes in case people dislike the foreigners, “But we are open to visit the day of the Public Execution. You can stay and have a stroll in our city.” She smiled and explained, in case the guests misunderstood her.

There was nothing Herman could do when the host rejected his intention to stay. He was not stupid enough to make a fuss about this.

*** ***

Zhang Mengyao handed a scroll to Tang Shaoyang, and he took it. That was the content for the next meeting, about the vassal. This meeting was held under Jasmine’s request because The Malecia Kingdom did not have its own faction. They joined The Tang Empire as a vassal, but in fact, they were under the Tang Empire’s banner. She might be Tang Shaoyang’s wife, but she still represented her people. She wanted the Malecia Kingdom to create its own faction and have its own territories just like the other vassals. Just like The Legion Guild, for example, had its own territory which was Korea. That was the reason for this meeting.

Zhang Mengyao, Li Shuang, and the others came up with two solutions. The first solution was to grant Jasmine’s wish which let them form their factions and bestowed The Malecia Kingdom territories to manage. The second solution would be a massive restructuring where the separate factions disbanded their factions and joined the Tang Empire.

Origin informed that once a faction fulfilled the requirement, a faction could form a subgroup or sub-faction. The sub-group would have a separate tab, but the members would be registered under the Tang Empire even though they formed a sub-group. The most important requirement was that a faction surpassed a million members, and Tang Shaoyang had more than one million members combining the people from the Ortis Continent, the three kingdoms, and also the natives of the Gigante Forests.

However, there was a concern about choosing the second option. The minimum factions needed to trigger the System’s event. Earth must have at least ten factions. Olympus, The Revolution Kingdom, and The Polar Guild might take over Europe, the remnant of the World Government. The First Order Guild might take over the whole American continent. That would make five factions including the Tang Empire, but there was still a remnant of the Shiva Federation and also the remnant of the Uprising Guild. That would make seven factions, they needed three more factions.

In the first year of the third phase, Earth might fulfill the requirement for the System’s event, but what about the following year? There was a high chance that there would be only seven factions by the second year, the seven biggest and strongest factions. That was why he hesitated to choose the second choice. If they did not have enough factions for the event, his vassal would fulfill the requirement if they had their own factions.

However, his concern for the first choice was that it might give him a chance for his vassal to betray him. If they were not closely under their control, his vassals might rebel against him. That was the last thing he wanted, the second rebellion. Tang Shaoyang shared his thoughts and concerns with Zhang Mengyao, wanting to know her opinion.

“What about if we wait for our vassals to talk about it? Isn’t it important to listen to their opinion first before we make the decision? Isn’t that why we held the meeting? If you already make the decision, then there’s no need to invite them to the meeting. We just need to announce our decision to them if that’s the case,” Zhang Mengyao could not answer the question of which option was better. Not because she did not want to give her thoughts but because she did not really know which option would bear the better outcome.

“Then let’s wait for them,” Tang Shaoyang did not force her to answer. He felt like such a decision could not be discussed with the vassals. Such a decision must come from him, an absolute order from him.

It did not take long for the representatives from each vassal to enter the room. The first one to come was Jasmine The Queen of the Malecia Kingdom and Alissa The newly crowned Queen of the Elven Kingdom.

This was the first time that Tang Shaoyang met Alissa after she took the throne of the Elven Kingdom. She wore a green dress with a wooden crown on her head. Both bowed slightly toward Tang Shaoyang as a greeting before they got into their seats. With all the situations that have happened to her family, it was quite awkward for Tang Shaoyang. Again, he could not escape from the blame, so he had a hard time facing her. He just responded with a nod before an awkward silence followed.

The Dwarven Confederation, The Moonlight Tribe, Gigante Coven, and the other factions sent their representatives to meet Tang Shaoyang for the meeting. As everyone arrived, Li Shuang handed the scroll, the same scroll that Tang Shaoyang read earlier. At the same time, Tang Shaoyang told everyone what he had in mind, including his concern about not being able to trigger the System’s event.

“The System’s event is actually not a big issue even in case you proceed with the second option. If there are really less than ten factions, we just need to create a new faction to fulfill the condition. For example, we can form an Alchemist Guild for our alchemists or Blacksmith Guild for our blacksmiths. The problem is, are they willing to disband their factions and become one with the Tang Empire?” Jasmine opened the conversation as she looked to the representatives of the factions from Australia, Southeast Asia, Japan, Mongolia, and Korea.