Alji was never satisfied with controlling the markets.
He believed that money alone was not enough.
Money could be stolen.
Power could be taken away.
But information...
Was the only thing that made everyone need you.
That was why...
He began building a network unlike any the continent had ever known.
He did not recruit the strongest men.
But the most forgettable ones.
Servants.
Clerks.
Mail couriers.
Cooks.
Doctors.
Gate guards.
People whom everyone saw every day...
Yet no one ever remembered.
Each of them passed along a small piece of information.
The date of a meeting.
A shipment of gold.
A dispute between two nobles.
An illness that had struck a military commander.
On their own...
They seemed like worthless pieces of information.
But when they all reached Alji...
They became a complete picture.
That was why...
He knew what was going to happen...
Before it happened.
One evening...
One of his assistants entered carrying a letter.
He said:
"My lord, the Lord of Karan Province refuses to cooperate with us."
Alji took the letter.
Read it.
Then placed it on the table.
"How old is his daughter?"
The man was confused.
"What?"
Alji repeated the question.
"How old is she?"
"Eighteen."
"Does she like horses?"
The assistant's eyes widened.
"Yes... but how did you know?"
He did not answer.
Instead, he opened the drawer of his desk.
And took out a file bearing the duke's name.
Inside...
Everything.
The number of servants.
The names of the guards.
The illnesses that had affected members of the family.
Even the type of tea he preferred.
Alji said:
"Three days from now..."
"His daughter will fall from her horse."
The assistant trembled.
"Are... are we going to kill her?"
Alji raised his head.
"No."
"We'll save her."
Three days later...
The accident happened exactly as predicted.
The horse's saddle broke during the race.
And the duke's daughter was thrown violently to the ground.
But before she could crash into the rocks...
Men from the Dawn of Life Foundation appeared.
They saved her.
Treated her injuries.
And refused to accept any payment.
A week later...
The Lord of the Province visited the foundation personally.
And announced a generous donation.
A month later...
He signed a trade agreement with the Nobles of the Lions.
Alji smiled when the news reached him.
He had not threatened the man.
Nor had he blackmailed him.
Instead...
He made him feel...
Grateful.
That night...
One of Winter's leaders was reviewing the reports.
Then said:
"If I were you..."
"I would've used assassination."
Alji replied as he turned the pages of a book:
"Murder..."
"Ends the problem."
He raised his eyes.
"Gratitude..."
"Creates a follower."
Alji's influence expanded rapidly.
The nobles needed him.
The merchants needed him.
The gangs needed him.
Even some government officials...
Began secretly borrowing money from him.
And he lent it to them.
Then kept the contracts.
He did not want gold.
He wanted debts.
Because when a person becomes indebted...
They begin selling their dignity...
Piece by piece.
As time passed...
Even the Winter Mafia began relying on him to make their major decisions.
During one of the meetings...
One of the leaders said:
"We have a problem."
Alji looked up.
"A new organization is competing with us."
"How many are there?"
"About a thousand men."
He calmly asked:
"Who's funding them?"
"We don't know."
He remained silent for a few moments.
Then said:
"Don't kill them."
Everyone looked at him in surprise.
"Buy their debts."
Silence filled the room.
"Their debts?"
He nodded.
"Every organization has suppliers."
"Their suppliers have loans."
"And every loan has a price."
He smiled coldly.
"If you own a man's debts..."
"You own the man."
Two months later...
The rival organization no longer existed.
No war had taken place.
No blood had been spilled.
One morning...
Its leader walked into Winter's headquarters himself.
Placed his weapon on the table.
And said:
"From today..."
"We work for you."
His men never understood why.
But Alji...
Knew.
He had bought their future...
Before they had bought their weapons.
Meanwhile...
The Dawn of Life Foundation continued to grow in fame.
In every city...
Children memorized its name.
The elderly prayed for it.
The newspapers praised it.
But beneath the ground...
Hell continued to expand.
Alji began bringing in doctors.
Chemists.
And mages.
He did not want to torture people merely for the sake of torture.
He wanted...
To understand humanity.
To what extent could pain change a person?
At what point would someone betray their principles?
When would they sell the person dearest to them?
To him...
They were experiments.
As for the victims...
They were nothing more than numbers.
One day...
One of the scientists entered and said:
"The prisoner has died."
Alji asked:
"After how many hours?"
"Eleven hours."
He nodded.
"Then it failed."
The scientist looked at him in confusion.
"But he endured for a long time."
Alji said coldly:
"If he died..."
"He'll never tell us when he would have broken."
Then he closed the file.
And added:
"Bring another one."
The scientist left...
Feeling a chill run through his body.
He was not afraid of the torture.
He was afraid of the man who spoke about it...
As though it were a mathematical equation.
At the end of that year...
Alji sat alone at the top of his tower.
Outside his window, the city was illuminated.
People laughed.
Children celebrated.
Everyone thanked the Dawn of Life Foundation.
As for him...
He felt no pride.
Only boredom.
He said to himself:
"Money..."
"Influence..."
"Fear..."
"They've all become too easy."
Then he closed his eyes.
And for the first time in years...
He felt that he had stopped progressing.
And Alji...
Hated standing still more than anything else.
At that very moment...
Without him knowing...
Someone else, somewhere far away...
Was thinking about him as well.
A man named...
Jimmy Froth.
Jimmy Froth was not the kind of man who asked to meet someone.
He was the kind of man who made others ask to meet him.
That was why...
When the letter arrived at Alji's office, it bore no signature, no seal, and no name.
It contained only a single question.
"Have you reached the limits of your strength?"
Alji stared at the sentence for several seconds.
Then folded the letter.
And calmly said:
"Finally..."
Three days later...
He arrived at an abandoned ancient castle located between three provinces.
The castle was empty of soldiers.
No banners surrounded it.
But the moment his foot crossed the gate...
He felt dozens of eyes watching him.
He entered the main hall.
It was vast, with a long table at its center.
At the far end...
Sat a man wearing a simple black suit.
He did not look like a noble.
Nor a warrior.
Nor a leader.
Yet his presence alone...
Was enough to make the room feel smaller.
The man raised his head.
And smiled.
"Alji."
He replied calmly:
"Jimmy Froth."
Jimmy laughed.
"So you know me."
Alji replied:
"Who doesn't know the man who sells wars more than he sells weapons?"
They did not begin by talking about trade.
Nor politics.
Nor power.
They talked about people.
Jimmy said as he slowly turned a teacup between his fingers:
"What do you think of human beings?"
Alji answered without hesitation:
"A creature that can be predicted."
"And goodness?"
"A transaction."
"And evil?"
"A means."
Jimmy smiled.
Then said:
"I like your answers."
He took out a black file and placed it on the table.
Then pushed it toward Alji.
"I want funding."
Alji opened the file.
Inside were maps.
Names.
Rules.
And the details of a massive project.
The Competition.
He read the first page.
Then the second.
Then the third.
With every page...
His eyebrows rose slightly.
It was not a tournament.
Nor was it an ordinary trial.
It was a series of organized massacres.
Hundreds would enter...
And only a few would leave.
Alji said:
"A tremendous number of people will die."
Jimmy replied:
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because the world has no need for the weak."
Silence followed.
Then Alji closed the file.
Jimmy said:
"You have the money."
"I have the idea."
"Fund the project."
"And together we'll create the greatest experiment the continent has ever witnessed."
Alji remained silent.
He was not thinking about profits.
Nor losses.
But something else.
After several minutes, he said:
"And who guarantees that the survivors will be strong?"
Jimmy smiled.
"Death."
Alji raised his eyes.
"Explain."
Jimmy said:
"When a person is pushed to the brink of death over and over again..."
"They either break..."
"Or become a monster."
Alji remained silent.
He looked at the maps.
At the stages.
At the trials.
Then...
He smiled.
A small smile.
But Jimmy noticed it.
"It seems you like the idea."
Alji said:
"No."
"It has awakened my curiosity."
He stood up.
And walked toward the window.
The sky was covered with dark clouds.
Without turning around, he said:
"I thought I had seen everything."
"But..."
"This project is different."
Jimmy asked:
"So you'll agree to fund it?"
Alji turned around.
And said:
"I'll fund it."
Then paused.
And continued:
"But I have one condition."
Jimmy smiled.
"What is it?"
Alji looked directly at him.
And said:
"I'll participate in it."
Silence filled the room.
For several seconds...
No one spoke.
Even Jimmy himself...
His expression changed for the first time.
"You?"
Alji nodded.
"Yes."
"Why?"
He answered in a calm voice...
Yet it carried something resembling hunger.
"I'm tired of fighting the weak."
"I want to know..."
"Where my true limit lies."
Jimmy said:
"If you enter..."
"You may die."
Alji smiled.
"Everyone dies."
"But only a few..."
"Die while drawing closer to the summit."
Jimmy stepped toward him.
And extended his hand.
This time...
It was not a handshake between two men.
But an agreement that would change the future of the continent.
He said:
"Then..."
"Welcome to the Competition."
Alji shook his hand.
Then left the castle.
On his way back...
He stopped on top of a high hill.
He looked at the distant cities.
At the farms.
At the roads he had brought under his control.
At the wealth.
At the influence.
Then whispered:
"All of this..."
"Will be useless to me if I remain weak."
He closed his eyes.
And remembered his father's words.
"Beyond these walls... there are real monsters."
Then he remembered the man he had met years earlier during one of his missions.
The man who had slain a monster with a single strike.
From that day onward...
That scene had never left his memory.
He smiled.
And said:
"I'll reach that level..."
"No matter the cost."
One week later...
Alji disappeared.
He left the management of the Nobles of the Lions to a temporary council.
And gave Winter his final instructions.
As for the Dawn of Life Foundation...
It continued distributing food to the poor.
And in its depths...
The torture chambers continued operating without pause.
While its founder...
Walked toward a place from which most who entered never returned.
A place...
That would gather the strongest and most dangerous people on the continent.
The Competition.
And there...
He would not be a leader.
Nor a ruler.
Nor "The Shadow."
He would be nothing more than a participant...
Searching for strength.