“So it seems that the competence of the Greyson Research Institution only amounts to this,” Monty blatantly stated to the representative that came to inform him of his test subjects’ escape. He slept so peacefully during the night yet just as the day began, the Institution sent a human message telling him they lost a drugged woman and kid. They certainly lived up to their reputation.

Despite the tricky situation, the representative showed no nervousness. He confidently slicked his styled hair back before meeting Monty’s agitated gaze. To him, dealing with a kid who wasn’t even twenty wouldn’t even make him break a sweat.

“There is no need for insults, Sir Thorne. Our institution is trying its hardest to locate the runaways, it is only a matter of time before they are caught. Escaping the plateau is simply impossible,” the man said with a smile. He did speak the truth; leaving a plateau without permission was an arduous task.

Monty visibly calmed down. The representative continued.

“However, Sir Thorne, the responsibility for loss of the goods doesn’t belong solely to the Institution. They were in your possession during the time of the escape, the Institution isn’t to be blamed for your loss. As such, we will require compensation in return for finding the escapees.”

“And what would that compensation be?” Monty asked politely.

The man smiled sincerely before saying, “For Sir Thorne, considering you are an honored customer, we don’t require much. Just twenty inkstones and the ability to purchase your research results, for a reasonable price of course.”

Hearing the offer, Monty stared mockingly at the representative. Inkstones were the universally accepted currency, as they could be used for improving the power of a mage’s runes. Although twenty wasn't a lot for Monty, such a quantity could easily feed a family for years. Asking for his research results, however, what gave them the confidence?

“The Institution certainly is bold,” Monty plainly stated, his eyes losing any trace of false anger. With the representative revealing the Institution’s goal, he had no reason to drag things out. Monty could play his cards.

The Institution has always been very, very wealthy, it would be a shame if he didn’t take advantage of their gift.

The representative’s eye twitched at the change of tone. Monty couldn’t blame the man though, as one moment he acted impatient and upset, the next he calmed down, then he declared the Institution was being “bold”. Monty was one of the most talented researchers within the kingdom, playing the "eccentric genius" formed an extremely believable facade. The representative never stood a chance.

“Sir Thorne has quite a way with words, but what makes mine bold? I believe this is a fair trade. After all, you wouldn’t be able to carry out any research without your test subjects,” The representative spoke confidently, believing Monty stubbornly didn’t want to share any research results. He countered Monty’s dissension with the fact that he wouldn’t have any to results share in the first place if Durk and Emma Rott were allowed to escape.

“Of course, this would be the truth, if not for a small detail,” Monty said to the man, his smile not quite reaching his eyes. Such an argument was well within his expectations, but no matter how the man argued, it was pointless. “The subjects were supposed to be untampered with and random, only meeting the mana capacity requirement that I stated, yet there was a tracking glyph hidden within Emma's first rune. Quite strange, isn’t it?”

The representative paled, he nearly shouted out loud as a bolt of lightning struck his mind. How did Monty know? Numerous theories were shot down as he thought about what to do, what course of action to take. Never did he think that Monty was putting up false pretenses or lying, to suddenly say information of that caliber and accuracy required discovery of the tracking glyph.

The question was how Monty did it. Was it with his own ability? No, the representative instantly denied it, it was implausible that he was so skilled. But how did he know of the rune? … Could it be that this information was provided to him by an insider? The Greyson Clan was by no means united, obtaining the support of the House of Thorne would undoubtedly be beneficial.

The more he thought, the more his face contorted. He was relatively new to this representative job and unaware of the internal mechanisms of the Greyson Clan. At first, he was ecstatic, landing a negotiation with a kid, not to mention one that paid so well. Perhaps he had been naïve. A job this important was out of his league, he was only being used. A kid, no, a beneficiary of the clan, one who was involved with the Clan’s internal conflict was not someone he could afford to draw the ire of.

The representative rubbed his clammy hands together, he nervously pursed his lips as he pondered his next course of action.

“I see, Lord Thorne,” he spoke, before collecting his thoughts and continuing. “It is extremely unfortunate that you were sent tampered goods. I will recommend a full refund of your inkstones to my superiors. As for the goods themselves, we will conduct a full sweep of the plateau and return them to you.”

The man wiped the sweat from his brow. Monty figured he would take this path. This was the safest choice, simply promising compensation according to the rules and leaving everything else to his superiors. Monty had removed the tracking device after his “discovery” of it, but the man believed that finding the Rott’s wouldn’t pose a problem.

“I appreciate it. It is good to see that the Institution has not deviated from its founding principles. You did a good job.” Monty kindly spoke.

The man visibly exhaled, his tense shoulders drooping in relief. Monty’s reassurance came like the mandate of an angel.

“Now he should cause a decent ruckus when he reports to the Greyson's,” Monty thought to himself. There naturally was a reason he reassured the man. The representative appeared to have gone through hell and back, his back was soaked and lips dry. Monty knew he would cause a commotion when he found out.

He then brought out two prepared contracts, standard sheets of white with black print. Monty passed them to the representative, his name was already signed at the bottom of both. The man read the full contract before signing his name below Monty's. He then handed one back to Monty, keeping the remaining one for himself.

The representative stood up and stretched out his right hand. Monty met it before bidding farewell. The negotiation ended with both parties satisfied, one more so than the other.

The courtyard fountain shimmered like falling stars as the representative skipped by it. Every step he took carried motivation and visions of how to spend the money he made. He felt grateful, lucky, and carefree; he had been thrown into despair and pulled right back out. The man nodded to a guard as he exited the gate, permanently leaving the House of Thorne.

Monty didn’t pity the fool. Watching him exit in such a way truly gave meaning to the expression “ignorance is bliss.” The man wouldn’t live to see the sunrise tomorrow.

The contract seemed to have no problems when the man read it, but in reality, it was heavily skewed in favor of Monty. There were three primary clauses within the contract.

The first stated that the Institution must fully refund Monty’s inkstones along with an additional twenty as a consolation fee. The second stated that the Institution must find and return Monty’s test subjects within two weeks. The final stated that if the Institution was unable to complete the second clause within the given time limit, they must provide Monty with three test subjects of equal value to the missing ones.

Monty nearly laughed in exultation when he saw the representative sign it. The first two clauses were expected, but the third is where Monty would reap the greatest benefit. They couldn't return what they couldn't find, and Monty would make sure the Rotts disappeared.

Last night, he had been quite surprised at the discovery of the tracking glyph. It truly was well hidden; if it were anyone except for him, they wouldn’t have found it. Luckily, he had his first rune, the rune of “Duality”.

Using it, he could form orbs of mana, either white or black. By placing an orb into a person, it allowed Monty to have a clear view of said person’s body, including runes. He could also view the person’s nearby surroundings. This was how he spied on Iris and Mira, as he has an orb placed within Iris.

But Duality was by no means omnipotent. Even though it could be classified as unique, runes with a rarer classification weren’t always better than lower-class runes. A famous case of this was the “Glutton’s Feast” rune.

First possessed by a child by the name of Gallory Etson, he was vied for by major powers after the awakening of his first rune. This was due to the result of his rune appraisal; it turned out Gallory awakened with a once-in-a-blue-moon fabled rune. Being from a poor family, he was shocked and elated. Gallory felt it finally was his chance to rise up. Wanting to show off his capabilities, he called over various powers to hold a self-auction, selling his allegiance to the highest bidder. He would activate his rune for the first time and amaze the audience. With everything set up, Gallory channeled his mana into his rune, activating it, and to his, and the spectating powers’ surprise, produced a loaf of bread.

Since then, the accordingly-named Glutton’s Feast became infamous as the only rune in the world capable of producing food.

Duality was the opposite of Glutton’s Feast in this case. Glutton’s Feast, while having a near-useless ability for anyone who wasn’t a chef, didn’t have any drawbacks besides the moderate mana cost. Duality, on the other hand, had major drawbacks to combat its otherwise invincible abilities.

There were two, specifically, that harshly reduced Monty’s ability to use the rune. The subjacent restriction impacted his maximum mana capacity. Due to Duality's orbs being passively stored within his body, a large portion of Monty’s mana is continuously siphoned to sustain them. This decreased the amount of mana he had at any given time, including the time he took the kingdom’s talent test.

Although this restriction was bothersome, it was the other drawback that greatly undermined Duality’s usefulness. To put it simply, Duality could only be used on people who were morally extreme. The white orb couldn’t enter a person who was morally “black” or “grey”, while the black orb was the other way around.

Monty had spent many days of experimentation finding out the limits. For example, the black orb couldn’t be used on a thief who stole for his family but could be used on one who stole for the sake of it. Using the same example, the white orb could only be used on a thief who only stole from wealthy criminals and performed acts of philanthropy using the stolen goods.

This severely limited the number of people who Monty could use Duality on, as the vast majority were somewhere in between the two extremes. However, he couldn't complain, as that was the balance of the world. There was no best rune, only most applicable.

Monty naturally knew his weaknesses so he had taken precautions. Last night he placed a sub-orb into Emma Rott to investigate her rune, leading to him finding the tracking glyph. This surprised him and caused him to leave the sub-orb in Emma. After heading to the library and reading about the Flesh Tree rune, Monty immediately figured out the Institution’s scam.

By sending him a product that would be able to escape due to her resistance to anesthesia and herculean physical prowess, the Institution would be able to obtain Monty’s invaluable research through blackmail.

“Greedy old bastards.” Monty said with a grin. It wasn’t the first time the Greysons have tried to scam him, yet they never succeeded. It seemed they still hadn't learned their lesson.

Though he had to give credit where it was due. They really went out of their way on this attempt. From finding the right rune to waiting until he put in a request that the Rott’s fulfilled, they must have been waiting for months, even years. It seems they were getting desperate.

Twenty minutes later.

Monty sat at his desk, pen in hand and head hunched over. Birds chirped just outside the large window as the afternoon sunlight filtered in. A thin layer of golden dust coated the grand bookshelves that lined the study’s walls. The scene was peaceful. It was hard to believe that such a studious young man wouldn’t even blink at signing away a man’s life.

Scratching his black hair, Monty pondered his next course of action. Although his plans were extraordinarily detailed, things such as the Institution’s scam required careful preparation. He was dealing with a massive organization, after all. Pinching him out of existence would be all too simple.

He spent half an hour thinking, adjusting, and revising. Then he decided.

Monty took a plain, white sheet of paper from his desk drawer before placing his pen on it. In an elegant, loopy script he slowly wrote,

Dear Civilian Rights and Protection Union,

The House of Thorne would like to propose a trade.