“So. How do we find Petra?”

I had been holding off on asking the question for a while. Ezma and Uman had finally reunited, and now it was my turn to stand awkwardly by as they exchanged stories and tears.

After I had caught Uman up with almost everything—glossing over the fact that I conquered another Region—I finally asked the million-dollar question.

We were seated in a private room in one of the nicest restaurants in Boston. The atmosphere outside of the restaurant was frantic—Boston was currently besieged by a monster horde—but the city was holding its own, and the building had soundproofed walls, so I could almost forget that there was a battle just outside of the city walls.

The meal resembled hotpot, but the ingredients and flavors were all purchased through the Merchant’s Faction—this was a traditional dish for humans somewhere else in the Schema, and it had flavors and textures that were literally out of this world.

Uman smiled at me. “I can tell this has been on your mind for a while,” he said. “Thank you for your patience. In anticipation of your question, I’ve invited a guest to join us, and I believe he will be very useful, but it looks like he is a few minutes late. For now, let’s enjoy the meal, and catch up with the loved ones we have with us.”

I bit my tongue. I was getting tired of waiting, but I didn’t want to blow up in front of Justin or Feng.

“So, Justin. How did you meet Feng?”

Justin put his spoon down and glanced up at me. “As part of the Student Leadership, I was in charge of welcoming transfer and international students. We met when I was giving a tour of the school.”

Feng smiled. “Your brother makes a perfect poster child.”

Justin beamed and blushed. “Feng helped me out a lot in Calculus,” he started.

“And Bio, and English,” Feng cut in, jokingly. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the apocalypse cares much about grades.”

It was something I hadn’t spent much time considering. Samantha had been so quick to emphasize what was important, that I hadn’t even considered all the skills and bits of knowledge that were no longer important. Imagine being a computer scientist, when all computers vanished. It was ironic. For so long, people had been saying technology was the future…and now it most decidedly wasn’t.

The conversation had paused with Feng’s last statement, and I suddenly noticed the awkwardness in the room. Justin and Feng were looking at me, as if I was supposed to guide the conversation. Uman was watching me with a bit of humor in his eye. As if he wanted to torture me by making me wait for news from Petra…

I forced my mind out of my own ruminating, and glanced at Feng again. “And Feng, do you have any family in America?”

Feng shook his head. “When China’s Zone opens, then I will return to Beijing and find my family.”

I nodded, at a loss for what to say. I hope they are ok?

I decided to change the topic. There was something I had been meaning to ask Uman for a while. “Uman, I wanted to ask before I forgot. Can you give me a rundown on how Mental Power works?”

“Of course, Jarek,” Uman said. “Mental Power works differently compared to the other stats. It has a defensive aspect, like Physical Defense. If someone tries to mind control you, or if they try to read your mind without your permission, then they would have to overpower your Mental Power. And it has an amplifying effect, making relevant skills more powerful.

“But Mental Power’s other role is to act as a currency that you must use to aquire or evolve Mental Power related skills. There are a number of skills that can only be learned by people with Mental Power related classes and affinities. But in addition to that restriction, you have to permanently sacrifice a certain number of Mental Power Stat Points in order to learn a Mental Power skill. For example, for a Truth-telling skill, you might need to sacrifice 10 Stat Points in Mental Power.”

Why didn’t you ever mention this to me?

“Why would Mental Power get different treatment than all the other stats?” Justin spoke up in the silence that followed Uman’s description.

“I have no idea,” Uman replied, shrugging his shoulders.

Samantha supplied in my head.

That was a troubling thought, but I was also worried that Samantha was trying to distract me from asking my next question.

“Alright,” I said, glancing at Uman again. “What benefits could there be for me to put stats into Mental Power?”

Uman looked surprised. “Permanently? Well, it would help prevent you from being mind-controlled again, or having your mind be read.”

“Anything else?”

Uman pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Mental Power by itself, besides the defensive bonus, isn’t that helpful. It’s not like it makes you smarter, if that’s what you’re asking. There are Mental Power skills that can do that, but you would need a Mental Power class, which I would hope is off the table for you. Of course, it’s always possible there are Mental Power skills that aren’t restricted to a specific class, but I haven’t seen any.”

“Thank you,” I said, returning to the bowl of soup in front of me. It seemed Samantha had been right, loathe as I was to admit it. There was no point in investing more points into Mental Power, since I already had the Don’t Mind Me skill. Now I had to decide where to put the 6 Stat Points I had in reserve. I was rather impressed by the Luck stat—essentially, it had gifted me with my own private Region that was a literal treasure trove of mineable resources.

I put four points into Luck, and then two points into Mana Regeneration.

Not long after, there was a sharp knock on the door, and a man with greying, shoulder-length hair walked through. He was stick-thin, and he wore a hat that looked like an upside-down metal sieve. Besides the hat and numerous rings on his hands, he wore an Old World suit.

“This better be good, Uman,” the man grumbled, grabbing a chair at the table. “I had to cancel my emergency staff meeting to come to this.”

“It certainly is,” Uman replied with his trademark smile. “Everyone, this is Henry Opal, founder and CEO of Hermes Whispers. Henry, this is my wife, Ezma, Justin and Feng, and the one and only Jarek Novak.”

Henry froze, staring at me the moment he heard my name. “Mr. Novak, My apologies,” he said, his tone completely different from when he entered the room earlier. “I wasn’t told you would be joining us today.” Henry gave a pointed glare at Uman. “And I didn’t expect to see you here. And you do have quite the aura suppression activated… How can I be of service?”

“I need to—” I started, but Uman cut me off.

“I’ve spent some time looking into Hermes Whispers,” Uman said. “An interesting organization. Branches in every City in North America, and eager to expand to Central and South America as well. It’s an impressive endeavor, but there are two things you are lacking—money, and power. Jarek can provide both of those things.”

I frowned, unsure about what Uman was playing at.

Henry caught on before I did. “You’re proposing a takeover,”

“Essentially,” Uman nodded. “You report to me, I report to Jarek. We infuse 50 million coins in capital over the next few weeks, and we expand from just information to also harvesting, creating, buying, and selling goods. We have a powerhouse to back us up. We’ll make sure you’re well paid, and all the costs of investments fall on us.”

“And what if I disagree?” Henry asked. “Is this an ‘offer I can’t refuse?’”

“I’m not forcing anyone to do anything,” I cut in. “In fact—"

“Of course not,” Uman said, smoothly, cutting me off for the second time. “You’re free to turn the offer down.”

“I’m interested,” Henry said. “I will want to retain partial ownership of the company. But I’m not sure this is the place to talk about the details.”

He glanced pointedly at the three people who were eating their meal in silence: Justin, Feng, and Ezma.

“Wonderful,” Uman said. “Now, we do have a very pressing concern. We are looking for Jarek’s sister, Petra Novak, 26, last seen with a man named Jamison, leader of the very same kidnapping ring that has been operating outside of Boston. They had a town in Quebec, that Jarek captured. One of Jamison’s henchmen said Jamison had contacts with the military, possibly Fayette City, which fits with my own hunches. We’ll pay you 100,000 coins up front, and a million coins when you give us her location.”

Henry nodded along. “Do you have anything that used to belong to her? We just took on an augur.”

Uman looked at me, and I looked to Justin. Justin fished out a house key. “We shared the key.”

Henry took the key and placed it in his Interdimensional Pouch. “I’ll put my best men on it, right away.”

Then he glanced at me. “If our business is done, allow me to offer you some free information. It seems you don’t know that Reed City is under attack, and your Region has lost at least five towns since the monster wave began. I think you have somewhere else you need to be.”