At the beginning of their plan to outsource the killing of the Emus, even Baron wasn’t 100% sure that this was the correct decision. Despite that, the trio was glad that they had chosen this path. Only 3 months passed before they had accumulated a total of 35,000 confirmed kills. If they had gone with their previous strategy, they would only be able to get around 20,000 in the same amount of time.

Such a crazy and instantaneous idea that Baron thought up had been a success. Of course, Baron, Roxi, and Jaxon did not sit idle during this time either. The three of them also took up arms to get as many kills as they could. Roxi excelled the most in this aspect as she had the best shot out of all of them.

However, killing the most flightless birds was only one half of the determining factor of the rankings. The time it took to achieve those skills was the other factor that would be taken into consideration. Therefore, Baron had to decide at what point it would be more beneficial for them to leave the simulation rather than continuing to wait.

In the end, Baron’s judgment decided that stopping at the 5 month mark after the simulation began would be the best time to disengage. This was partially because they had already netted 55,000 kills. It took a bit more convincing to the Australian government to up the reward after an initial plateau in kills. Another reason was the uncertainty in how soon the other competitors would leave the simulation. Also, they had started to run out of Emus to kill and the number killed every day began to seriously dip.

Since the results no longer justified the extended stay, they left the simulation. They then proceeded to check their scores compared to the others who have completed the simulation. As it turned out, they were among the first 100 groups to make it out of a total of 396 groups. Their ID, the small disc-like object given to them by Xerxes, was able to rank everyone according to the predetermined criteria almost as soon as they stepped out. A major step up from having to do everything by hand which could take a few days.

Currently, out of the 86 groups that had already finished, Baron, Roxi, and Jaxon sat at an impressive ranking of 32. As the trio was looking through the rankings, another team from their war room came back. It was the group led by Joseph Slim. A man that Baron admired greatly. The two decided to have a chat and dismissed their teammates to do whatever they wanted. It didn’t look like the other two groups in their war room was going to finish anytime soon anyway.

Joseph Slim and Baron then made their way to a little restaurant that was booming with business. Baron had been to this place a couple of times over the years, but it was usually only at quarter capacity. Now, business was considerably better. Since Baron had made quite a name for himself, as well as many influential connections, he was given a private room almost immediately upon entering.

As the two were making their way to their private room, someone approached Baron. It was none other than Mehmed II. One of the most fearsome strategists in the Ottoman Community. Baron also respected this individual so he decided that Mehmed should join them as well. Which he gladly accepted. The entire time they walked to the private room, Mehmed was seemingly very anxious. Soon enough, as soon as they were seated, Mehmed could no longer hold himself back and began to ask Baron many questions.

“Baron, I don’t believe we’ve met, but I was just wondering how you managed to get such a high ranking in the Emu simulation?” Mehmed asked as if his life depended upon Baron’s answer.

“Ah yes, you also participated in this simulation war, didn’t you? Do you mind if I ask how many you managed to kill?” Baron countered.

Mehmed gritted his teeth and played with his lips a bit before finally sighing, “to be honest with you, my team and I have not done too well. We’ve only managed to get around 15,000 kills,” Mehmed admitted.

“Isn’t that relatively worse than some of the guides that were on the market?” Joseph Slim asked.

“Now, now, while that is true, I’d like to hear how you managed to get to that number,” Baron said.

“Well, admittedly, I got caught up by Sun Tzu’s words and decided upon a strategy that I thought was a surefire way to get my ranking higher. Little did I know that while I did see some initial success, it all came crashing down three months into the simulation. From there, my team and I had to pick up the slack and continue with our old plan, which we had purchased. By the middle of the fourth month, we could see that it was useless and decided to just leave it at that. Currently, we are ranked near dead last.”

“Well, Mehmed, that right there is your problem, you should have just gone with your previous strategy. Taking such a huge risk is not the smartest thing to do.” Joseph Slim said, which was totally in character for him as the risks he took were calculated and small. That was how he managed to create small miracles.

“You forget Joseph, that not everyone thinks the way you do. Personally, my team and I also took a huge gamble in this simulation and decided to go with a different strategy that we had not tested out yet. Huge risk, but the reward we received was well worth it. The difference between results for Mehmed and I can only really be attributed to one thing,” Baron started.

“And what would that be?” Mehmed asked.

“How we interpreted Sun Tzu’s words. But enough about that. Mehmed, you need to know that while this seems like a setback, in the end, this simulation isn’t the most important thing. Heck, it’s not even worth any points. The thing that matters are the matches that follow. Someone with your level of achievements should have no problem dealing with a few of those groups out there.”

“Fill me in, Baron, what are his achievements?”

“He ended the Byzantine Empire when he was 21 years old, and while there are many more examples, that one should be more than enough to give you a clue as to how influential a man he is.”

“Oh, I see, yeah, that is pretty impressive. Did you have any achievements at that age, Baron?”

“Uh, no. I died when I was 20.”

Mehmed and Joseph Slim made faces to match the surprise that they had felt. For many of the powerful people on this planet, they had been kings, generals, and caused the deaths of an innumerable amount of people over decades. Yet, Baron was so much younger than they thought.

“How are you so well-versed in strategy if you haven’t even lived to 21 years of age? Were you a child soldier?” Joseph Slim asked, quite concerned.

“No, no. Well, maybe not on the battlefield. However, I began my military education when I was 8 years old. By choice of course. My father, as well as his mother, were both quite connected in the military world and I was able to enroll at a fairly young age to a military school. I showed a natural knack for it and I just kept going on from there. I died while on my first deployment. Which. Is. Unfortunate.”

“To have someone like you in their grasp, the Chinese community must be quite happy with themselves. I wish I had your talents.” Mehmed said, with a hint of jealousy in his voice.

“Don’t be like that, Mehmed. Previous generations will always be taken over by future generations. It is the natural law of the world, just like gravity. It is likely that all of us here on this planet will be surpassed soon enough. It might take another ten thousand years, but it will happen.”

“Dang, Baron. That is a very pessimistic view you have.” Joseph Slim said.

“I’m a realist, that’s all there is to it.”

After that, Baron treated the other two to a nice small feast. They all talked about their communities and its many visible flaws, but in the end, they all decided that they loved their community. Baron and Joseph split up to complete a few tasks that they each had to do. Then, after a few more days, they saw that nearly everyone had completed their simulations, so they made their way back to the war room.

It only took a couple more hours after that for the final results to come in. Baron and his team ended up with a ranking of 58 out of 396. Well above the cut off for the 50th percentile. The first 4 teams came from the USA. These names were not something that Baron had heard of before so he concluded that these must be newer strategists, just like Nicholas Adams.

One of the trends that Baron could see just from a quick glance was the obvious American advantage. Only one of their teams was under the 50th percentile. Whereas that number was the highest for the Japanese, Ottoman, Mongolian, and especially the Greco-Roman community.

As for Nicholas Adams, his team ranked 60, just below Baron’s team. Apparently, their strategy was to just nuke the ever-loving stuff out of the Australian outback. This team managed to get more kills than Baron, but they took so long that Baron’s score was just a little bit higher.

Joseph Slim ended up in the 116th spot. The strategy that this team used was like Baron’s, outsourcing to the locals. However, they decided not to put too many eggs in this basket and employed their other strategy. They found moderate success in both and managed to kill about 40,000 during the same time it took Baron to kill 55,000.

Finally, Toyotomi Hideyoshi ranked 298, the only one in Baron’s war room that was under the 50th percentile. Naturally, he was not so pleased with his results. However, what was done was done. Now, they had to wait for the first round of matches to begin in a day or two.

Baron’s first match up would be against a team from the German community, sort of. A team composed of Prussian strategists. This would be a match between Baron, Roxi, and Jaxon against Modu Chanyu, Laoshang Chanyu, and Touman Chanyu of the Mongolian community. The setting of this match would be randomized and announced right before the two sides entered into the simulation, so there wouldn’t be any advantages to either side.

In the upcoming matches, one of the most important determining factors was the use of blueprints. This would also be random for every match. Those who were not as well equipped with blueprints loved to have an open playing field without the use of blueprints. While those with many powerful blueprints loved to show them off. The trio of Chanyu’s sincerely hoped for the former option, and they got what they wished for.