------

”Before I say anything else, I want to make it clear that I appreciate all the work you went through to bring home a victory. Especially considering….” Wolfgang gestured towards Karna’s still missing and slowly regenerating hand. “So thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Karna nodded magnanimously. She had a small grin on her face as she could see the throbbing vein on Wolfgang’s forehead.

“Now then, do you have any understanding of how big of a clusterfuck this solution left?” Wolfgang asked while visibly struggling with his annoyance.

"Oh, I'm perfectly aware. Half of the factions that arrived here are refusing to leave, while the other half pretty much hates us because they think the whole thing was a sham. They could've respected a single winner, but a peaceful solution makes them think we winners are undeserving. Some of them even think we're weak and easily bullied since we didn't fight to the end. Also, despite me personally holding back a lot, not everyone was as gentle, meaning many bright young talents were lost, and in many factions' opinion it was all for nothing. That about the gist of it?" Karna grinned at the annoyed Wolfgang.

“That’s just half of it. Now we actually have to negotiate a six-way split of the world, and what great fun will that be.” Wolfgang shot back.

"A sixth of a world like this is still a lot better than nothing. Besides, you're overlooking a couple of important details. First of all, Lucian's order doesn't actually need a continent of their own. He already said that their order would prefer settling in a city of another group as long as they get a fair share of the resources. The elves we're already allied with, and this will only make that alliance stronger. The Vampire might be a bit of a problem, but I doubt they'll want to get too greedy. En...I mean Noriko's people are halfway to being refugees and will be happy to get away from their old masters, so as long as we treat them fairly, they should be relatively easy to deal with, although Noriko herself might be a bit of an issue. As for the witch…well, let's just say that there's still something you're not aware of. Face it, we're by far the most powerful of the factions involved and thus have an advantage, especially since I was the one who proposed this and most of the representatives are at least somewhat friendly with me." Karna listed off.

Wolfgang sniffed but had to concede the point. “What’s the second thing?”

"The second thing is that this isn't your problem. As in a problem you personally have to deal with. You're the muscle here. Send for a proper negotiator. You can go do muscle stuff, like shooing off all these uninvited guests. The Sentinels are supposed to be helping with that by the way. So have them help. First, be polite but firm. Then get less polite. We might not want to piss off everyone, but they know they're in the wrong. Remind them of that fact. Act like a man!" She instigated Wolfgang who actually growled a bit at the implication.

Suddenly his anger was replaced with a calm amusement. “Oh, by the way. There’s someone to see you. I was thinking of just turning them away, but suddenly I feel like I have to go do my job as a muscle while you deal with her.”

Karna was not surprised to see the Kensei enter the infirmary room she was currently using for recovery. She’d move to her tower as soon as she got the opportunity, and her tower was already moving towards where they were. The Kensei didn’t look very amused by the situation. “Birdy. Didn’t expect you to survive long enough to be one of the winners. Good work on that by the way.”

“Why are you here Swordy? I’m assuming you didn’t come here to finish our fight.” Karna looked at the Kensei with a tired expression.

“No. As much as I’d like to beat you, doing so in this kind of situation would serve no point. No, I got careless and lost focus on the fact that we were playing a game. That was my mistake and I can admit my loss. Next time I will fight you at your best so that there can be no excuses when I beat you. That time there won’t be any rules or a game you can hide behind to claim a technical victory. That said, for me to learn as much as possible, our playing field needs to be leveled. There’s no point if I can just kill you thanks to my Domain. We will meet again. Maybe not soon, but we will. I hope that by then you have also regained your Domain.” After having said her piece, the Kensei turned to leave.

Karna couldn’t help herself as a smile played on her lips. “What makes you think I haven’t already?”

The Kensei looked over her shoulder at her as she replied. "If you had, then it was the height of foolishness to not use it against me. Unless…unless you couldn't. Well, in that case, I hope our next meeting will be sooner than I feared." This time she didn't stop as she walked out.

"Fun girl," Karna commented to the empty air.

"She's a fool to pick a fight with master," Zuellni said coldly as her spirit form appeared out of the thin air. "You know, I could shoot her ship down as they leave. I doubt she'd survive if I catch her by surprise."

“No need. She made the oldest mistake in the book. She picked a fight and then gave her rival time to grow before dealing the killing blow. Not that she could’ve, but still. She’s not exactly a villain, but it’s such a cliché villain mistake that she might as well be.” She shook her head. As you lived enough lives, you noticed certain patterns repeat. Truly living through something you could recognize as a cliché was different from just reading about one.

“So is Gem back already?” Zuellni asked.

“Not yet. She’s still busy. She’ll be back soon enough.”

------

Chasing away those factions that lingered became surprisingly easy as soon as Karna's tower returned, though it might have something to do with the way they 'test fired' one of their main guns just for emphasis. The actual negotiations threatened to become longer while everyone waited for their negotiators, but things were pushed forward when Envy's tribe arrived in a hurry and just settled down on one of the nine continents.

When pressed for answers, Envy revealed that their former masters had been preparing to pressure them to relinquish their portion of the victory, so the relatively large tribe of beastmen had snuck aboard a group of airships before that could happen and had moved here en masse with nothing but what they could carry. As their tribe had landed one of the smaller and heavily forested continents, the others agreed on letting them keep that continent, and only that continent in exchange for protection against their old masters.

That put a rush on the rest of the negotiations. The vampires agreed to settle for two of the continents for as long as they got to keep the one that had the easily accessed spatial pathways that everyone had used to arrive on this world. Apparently, the vampires suffered from a chronic lack of spatial mages capable of such grand magic. Karna urged everyone else to agree to the offer, promising that she'd personally arrange for something better even if no other mage did. This was mostly because Zuellni’s scans revealed that those two continents were the poorest in resources, which in this world’s case meant that they were only fabulously rich in resources, instead of obscenely rich.

Valor’s knightly order decided to settle inside the continents controlled by the Magocracy as there they would find no religious issues as the Magocracy placed little to no emphasis on such things. That left six of the nine continents and the various islands to be shared three ways between the elves, the Magocracy, and whoever the witch represented. She was still insistent on representing her faction’s interest alone.

As the elves and the Magocracy were already allies, they were in no rush to split the remaining continents, which suited the witch just fine as well. The process of colonizing the areas was a long-term project anyway, which could easily take hundreds of years. Since the last Expansion had been such a long time ago, all of the large factions had a surplus of population and a lack of space, but both the elves and the Magocracy had gained control over the old holy kingdom not too long ago, so while there were plenty of willing people to come to this world to build fame and fortune for themselves, it would still take a lot of time and effort to build the necessary infrastructure, and likely thousands of years until the population increased to the point where there were any issues with available land. The places rich in resources would of course be taken first, but since this world was so rich and filled with power, there weren’t many places without said resources. The only question was, how quickly could you find and exploit them?

The six factions in question were not the only ones facing this issue. With the Expansion bringing so many new worlds, the pressure to initiate struggles over resources and space was greatly reduced, and the value of many rare resources was brought down as well, as new sources were found every week. There was competition for the best new worlds, but with the presence of the Sentinels, the six factions could focus on exploiting this world to the fullest instead of defending it, and they no longer needed to take part in the rest of the Expansion process. They already got what they wanted.

Forming an alliance between Valor's order, the Magocracy, and the elves was quite obvious thanks to their common interests, and though it would take time for the alliance to grow into something that could be truly relied upon, they could already see the obvious benefits for all three parties. "it's almost a shame neither of your groups is a monarchy or an empire. It would've been so easy to cement things with a diplomatic marriage." Amaranthine said wistfully to both Valor and Arjuna, who had ended up becoming the representative of their two respective groups. "And Karna already shot down my son, so even that won't work." Not that she would force any of her children into a diplomatic marriage anyway. She might suggest it, but not force it.

"Good for your son." Valor muttered, feeling sorry for anyone that married someone with the Name Wrath, not to mention someone as old and a reincarnator in the first place. Reincarnators were all a little crazy and didn't usually make for the best spouses.

“I’m sorry, did you just insult my daughter?” Arjuna asked, more surprised than insulted. With Karna’s appearance being what it was, it was rare to see someone not eager at the opportunity instead.

“Uh, of course not.” Valor hadn’t really meant to speak out loud, but it was a bad habit sometimes, and he was tired from all the negotiations. Even the constant smile on his face seemed a little strained. “I just have trouble imagining someone who wouldn’t be completely dominated by her.” He made a little white lie.

“That’s fair.” Amaranthine quickly agreed. “However, once you grow older, you’ll find out it’s better that way.” Her tone was a little smug.

“Whatever you say.” Valor didn’t bother arguing the point, as this body of his was quite young, proven by his participation in the event.

"Do any of you have an idea what's going on with the witch? Is she actually just representing herself?" Amaranthine decided to switch the subject, only to receive headshakes as a reply. “Right then. I suppose we should at least agree on the continents we can start with, so we can get Karna to do whatever she has planned for travel.”

-----

Karna felt quite a bit of satisfaction as she looked over the island she'd taken over on the coast of one of the continents that had not been assigned to any faction yet. The place had few usable resources, but that wasn't why she was here. She'd been tracking the ley lines crisscrossing the world, and the biggest ley-lines all came together under this volcanic island, making the place so suffused with power that you could almost cut it with a knife. You could even see mist-like clouds float around as the power had condensed into a visible form, while occasionally you could also spot floating bits of rock as just the sheer amount of power present seemed to mess with gravity.

She would need to set up some formations to help refine the power further, but the place was absolutely perfect for cultivation. Her current plan still included using a bloodline associated with water for her next Awakening, and this place had plenty of that as well. Her next Awakening wasn’t exactly close, but it was good to be prepared. Besides, the place had other benefits as well, something she could enjoy while cultivating, such as the beaches of clear white sand, and the volcanic hot springs. The water on and around the island was so clear that it was almost invisible, and the climate was perfect for catching some sun on a paradise island. The branches of the trees and bushes of the island were heavy with fruit and berries that tasted excellent, and there was an actual honest to divines spring that somehow produced some sort of sweet nectar, perfect for drinking or spicing up some foods. No, she had not made that, it had been there when she arrived. All she was missing now were some scantily clad servants plying her with drinks that had little umbrellas in them, and the place would’ve been perfect. Well, almost.

“Wow, I knew you would find the perfect place. I have no clue how you manage to sniff these things out. Some things never change.” Envy called out loudly while pulling out a lounging chair of some sort before placing it on the beach near Karna. Yes, the company could be better.

Mayumi was here because Karna had invited her. So was Anaire. Karna had extended an invitation to the elven princess as soon as she heard Amaranthine had brought her along. Tsumi might not have been invited exactly, but she had Karna’s approval to be here at least. She’d actually extended an invitation to Wolfgang and Sieg as well, the latter having arrived along with Tsumi not too long ago, but the two men had decided against it for some reason. Wolfgang had muttered something about his wife killing him, and Sieg wanted to explore the world first. Also, Karna got the feeling that he didn’t want to be the only guy present. They’d have to fix that at some point.

“Why are you here Noriko?” Karna asked Envy.

"I'm here to cultivate and relax of course, silly." Envy retorted as if it was obvious, while stretching out on her divan-like chair. Karna had to admit that the woman made for great eye candy. She always did, and Envy's current attire was just as skimpy as Karna's own, which meant very.

“And why exactly are you on my island? I seem to recall the continent your tribe plunked down on has several nice archipelagoes surrounding it.” Karna made one more attempt while allowing herself to sink into a bed-sized pillow that she was lounging on. It was specially designed to be waterproof and sand resistant while remaining fluffy.

“Because you always find the best places, just like I said before. I like beaches just as much as you do, and this place is so heavy with power that you won’t even notice my presence if we all cultivate here. I can even help you set up the necessary formations unlike the rest of them.” Envy whispered the last sentence leaning in close enough to not be overheard.

“This place is missing something, though I can’t quite put my finger on what.” Tsumi piped up while laying out a towel to lay on. Somehow the Alpyran woman still managed to out-skimp both Karna and Envy, with her attire being literally nothing but strings.

“I believe you’re missing something to drink. Preferably alcoholic.” Anaire provided. She and Mayumi were much more modestly attired.

"Here you go, master!" Zuellni suddenly appeared holding a tray with a brightly colored drink on it. She'd even added a little umbrella! As a good tower spirit, she of course knew exactly what her master wanted.

"Thanks, Zuellni." Karna gratefully received her drink before giving the spirit a small pat on the head. "You read my mind."

“Eeeh, still missing something," Tsumi commented. Not to mention she hadn't gotten a drink.

"Lacking some va-va-voom?” Envy helpfully supplied.

“Yes! That! Though knowing how she usually looks, I don’t think it would be appropriate to have Zuellni assume a form that has that.” Tsumi snapped her finger in realization.

Zuellni puffed her cheeks in indignation. “I can add va-va-voom just fine. I’m just not going to unless master wants it.”

"Don't mind them Zuellni. They're just lecherous old men in disguise." Karna failed to mention that she'd been thinking the same, though she wasn't going to have Zuellni provide the necessary eye candy.

“Yeah, don’t mind them squirt. It’s not your fault you’re lacking in certain areas.” Envy grinned behind her palm while riling up the tower spirit.

Zuellni couldn't take that of course. Even a hint that she might be doing anything but perfect job as the tower spirit was intolerable. In a huff, she assumed a much more mature form. "How about now? Enough va-va-voom for your tastes?” There was just one thing.

“That’s an exact copy of Karna, isn’t it?” Anaire whispered Mayumi. The two got along quite well.

“As far as I can see. Except with Zuellni’s head on top, which makes it a little…” The yuki-onna replied vaguely.

“Well, I might as well base it on the best. Hmmph!” Zuellni turned away her face in a huff.

“You know your master’s body well, don’t you? I wonder why…” Envy continued teasing the spirit.

Karna decided to tune the rest of it out in favor of planning out the formations she'd have to place on the island. With the formations in place, her speed of cultivation would increase greatly, almost matching what she could achieve on the Divine Plane, although not quite. She also needed to plan the gateways that would facilitate travel between the Magocracy, the elves, and this place. She had plenty of good ideas from other universes. Many of them had direct gateways connecting worlds. She'd even created many of them herself. The exact same system wouldn't work here, but maybe something similar to the tuning forks could be used? At least she'd be able to create gateways that formed stable spatial pathways between two points that would speed up the trip greatly.

She idly glanced at Zuellni that was currently threatening Envy with something. Now that she got a good look at a perfect copy of herself, she really did look quite stunning, didn’t she? It always hit differently to get to see yourself like that.