Sirian Sael watched the Kid family drive away. They spent an evening together after they’d agreed on the details of the deal. They didn’t need to mingle with them. This deal didn’t require such commitments and Lorelai wasn’t pleased about it as she had other plans. Sirian was adamant though. He had very little contact with the middle class and was curious about them.

“They almost refused the deal,” he said, watching the garden with a glass of wine. They ran out of bourbon somehow. Sirian suspected his wife who could manipulate the potency of poisons and alcohol was just that, a poison.

“I couldn’t stand that woman and we didn’t need the deal. It’s already charity with what we’re offering them.”

“We are doing this for Vivena. She likes that boy.”

“I know. But still, did you see how she looked at you?”

“No. Her husband did more staring than her,” Sirian smiled then asked in a cordial tone. “Aren’t we getting worse with each level?”

“You should’ve seen Freeman. He still can’t adjust to being Level 10.”

“It’s been 3 years since he levelled up. I’m surprised he still hasn’t gotten a grip on it.”

“Perhaps you should tell him that.”

“No. I don’t enjoy the highlight.”

“I know, Mr Foxglove.”

“Don’t tease me, woman. Foxglove is a good, fake name.”

They chuckled for a better part of five minutes. A Level 5 body didn’t require the same amount of sleep as the lower levels or ordinary humans. And Sirian wasn’t in the mood for sleep. While his wife didn’t care much about the deal with the Kid family, Sirian saw the potential his daughter noticed. But they needed to tread carefully. If the military got a whiff of this, his father would not be pleased. Usually, the military didn’t pose a problem, the true issue was the World Government. Freeman was a cunning bastard who prefered to pull strings but Sirian’s father had warned Sirian, if provoked or thoroughly encouraged, Freeman would attack openly. Sirian didn’t want a Level 10 coming down on him. That would be a fight he couldn’t win.

“What’s the matter?” Lorelai asked from the side.

“We must succeed with that boy.”

***

The next three months passed in a blur. Keynes didn’t truly learn the method of shaping a Talent. They told him what to do, what to think, eat, say and so on, but never why. He noted everything down, hoping to find a pattern.

Nothing.

He hoped their method wasn’t based on some highly doubtful laws of attraction. Although, there were people, some famous, who had Talents-increasing odds in their favour. This couldn’t be it, could it? Keynes spent the entire three months wondering what was their secret. Runes? Glyphs? Someone with a Talent-shaping Talent? While questions piled up, he received no answers. He visited the Foxgloves’ ranch twice a week where he went through an extensive questionnaire and mind games. Was it that simple? Doing mind exercises in order to get a mind-related Talent? It felt too simple, too straightforward to be true. Scientists all over the world would have figured this out by now and the World Government wouldn’t be able to stop them from leaking it to the public. So there had to be more.

Webster Frog asked Keynes to visit the military base again to re-do the deep analysis but the Foxgloves advised him to turn it down. The NDA agreements Keynes’s family had signed warned them about revealing the truth even to their lawyer.

Vivena was super helpful. She still had those sad eyes even when her face smiled. Keynes didn’t find the courage to ask about it. If she was anyone else, he’d do it. She offered him tips as she was undergoing the same Talent-shaping regime.

Late August finally came and with it, an official invitation letter arrived. According to the newest World Government’s directive, all Talent Unlocking ceremonies would be held in the military compounds. It didn’t make much sense at first. Usually, a military representative was present anyway. But there was one significant change, the ceremony became compulsory. It caused unrest and riots in many countries. Some cultures and religions called it artificial and didn’t agree with those practices.

“Are you nervous?” Keynes’s father asked. “I can ask your mother to do some soothing.”

“I don’t think she has any mana left.”

Every 16 year old who was born before August had their ceremony now. Otherwise, they would have to wait until late December or early January. It seemed the legislation wasn’t set in stone yet and there were changes introduced on a monthly basis.

His mother received hundreds of calls from parents whose sons and daughters were having the Talent Unlocking ceremonies this week. She did as much as she could but her soothing Talent needed mana to work and with mana regeneration, even enhanced by the mana regeneration glyph she could do only ten to twenty people a day. Still, she pushed herself beyond that, scraping the bottom of her mana pool. She was barely functioning and his father wanted to ask her for more. No chance. His father’s focus was impressive but he lacked a larger scope. Sometimes he forgot that his personal life wasn’t his job.

“Ah, yes. You’re right. I’ve forgotten she cannot take mana regeneration pills anymore.”

An unfortunate consequence of unique Talents, it was difficult to recreate things done only by people with Talents that were no longer around. Jorge Herban had been a great herbalist who had come up with many amazing herbal combinations but then he died and very few people had the right Talents to pursue his legacy. Even less had a resolve to continue the research. Jorge Herban left unfinished products like mana or life regeneration pills, which initially had made a big entrance only to reveal their nasty side effects.

His mother used the mana regeneration pills until her doctor had ordered her to stop.

“Dad, perhaps, you should be more up to date with the current situation.”

“I have no time for any of this, son. There’s too much work. It seems like every year more and more people become glyphmakers but glyphtuners like me are in decline.”

“You should charge them more or work on high-profile projects.”

“Money isn’t everything.”

“Really?” Keynes knew his father was fooling himself. They weren’t poor but conversations about a better car, larger house, another holiday always converged at the same spot, “Can we afford it?” Their visit to the Foxgloves only highlighted the issue. The mysterious family didn’t display their wealth but the simple fact that both Vivena’s parents were Level 5s told Keynes everything he needed to know. He asked his uncle about levelling up outside the military and was met with a stunning silence followed by a tear-inducing laugh. Levelling outside of the military and the World Government was extremely expensive. While he didn’t explain to his uncle where the question came from, his brother Harter decided to join the military so he could level up.

“Of course we need money to pay bills and live a comfortable life. But if I start demanding more for my work or find a high-paying job, I’d lose a part of me that loves doing this. Pressure like this can reduce anyone to ash.”

It was a good argument, Keynes noticed. He didn’t have the right to demand from his father to put extra pressure on himself just so they could get a better holiday destination or drive a newer car.

“You’re right, dad.”

Harter entered the room with his latest girlfriend. She was one of the mean ones, at least to Keynes. Her name was Rebecca and she gave Keynes a weird look. What’s the matter with her?

“Mr Kid,” she smiled to Keynes’s father. “Can I go with you to the ceremony? My mom says it will be a good experience.”

“I’m sorry but the military only allows the close family. We couldn’t even invite my brother,” Keynes’s father replied.

Rebecca pouted while Keynes smiled. He didn’t want Rebecca there. Gaining the first Level and Talent was a personal affair to him.

“Isn’t there anything you can do?” Harter asked hopefully. He had a conflicted expression. Keynes suspected why. On one hand, tradition demanded Harter to go with them, on the other, Harter would rather go with Rebecca. It seemed he didn’t mind her rotten character.

This made Keynes think about Vivena. He wondered if she was going to be there too. They didn’t see each other in a week and Keynes received the invitation letter only a couple of days ago. Vivena wasn’t his girlfriend, heavens, he wasn’t sure she could be considered his friend either. She didn’t invite him to another lunch. Perhaps, she waited for his move.

“If they didn’t let Ricky go with us and he’s one of them, then go figure.”

“Shit,” Harter swore, earning a glare from their father. “We need to give Rebecca a lift.”

“We don’t have time for that.”

Keynes went to check on his mother. She had a mana-deficiency headache. She emptied her mana pool as soon as she could afford to soothe a person or two, bringing her mana to zero once again. This—apparently—wasn’t dangerous but always induced a painful headache.

“How do you feel, mom?”

She weakly smiled and her warm hand beckoned him closer. He sat down next to her.

“How do you feel?”

“Fine.”

He could see slight disbelief in her eyes. He wouldn’t tell her the truth because she’d use her Talent to soothe his nerves. Keynes didn’t want his mother to suffer more.

“We should be going, shouldn’t we?” she asked after a couple of minutes of silence.

“Yeah,” Keynes sighed, quietly. He didn’t want to alert his mother. She shouldn’t have pushed herself that much. “I want to have this behind me.”

***

Webster Frog sat behind his desk, preparing paperwork for the afternoon’s ceremony. It was a good call to move the ceremonies into military bases. Here, they possessed better analytical tools, powered by mana instead of electricity. Mana-powered AI showed true promise. Once they figured out the way to shape Talents, they’d be able to create the specialists they needed.

Unfortunately, the results weren’t promising. Without a tightly controlled environment, it was impossible to shape Talents correctly. Students didn’t stick to what Webster Frog had asked of them or lied about the things they did, sometimes inadvertently. Nonetheless, it introduced too much false data into the research. If he only could bring those students here to the compound and watch them do what they were meant to do. He could’ve worked with that. But given the current political mood, it was highly unlikely.

As he leafed through the stack of papers, containing the next batch of students, he noticed Keynes Kid’s name. It was a shame he had refused to cooperate with Webster. He was very interested in how his perfect memory would influence his Talent. Webster had a good feeling about this. If he managed to crack it, he’d take another step toward joining the World Government’s prestigious science division, the best-funded science organization in the solar system. With their resources, he’d not only be able to level up but gain deeper insight into the mysteries of spiritual DNA, Talent-shaping and rumoured advanced spiritual interfaces.

The last document had Vivena Foxglove’s name on it. Webster didn’t expect it. From the conversations with the principal and the girl, he had figured it out she was only there to understand better the process of Talent-shaping. Whoever her parents were, they certainly could afford a private unlocking ceremony, which wasn’t covered by the legislation.

“What is she doing here?” he asked himself quietly.

As if invoked by his question, someone knocked on the door and then a beautiful red-haired woman in a green dress entered Webster’s office. One look at her was enough to tell her social status. Then Webster felt it. The weight of her spirit was far above Webster’s Level 2. Who was she?

“Are you Mr Frog?”

“Specialist Frog, yes, it’s me. How can I help you? And how did you get in here? This is a staff-only area.”

She was a beautiful woman, but her Level made it harder to tell her age. Not that it was important. Webster’s thoughts just wandered off for some reason. She smiled warmly, although her eyes remained cold.

“My name is Lorelai Foxglove. My daughter has a ceremony today.”

“Mrs Foxglove, it’s nice to meet you but I’d appreciate it if you answered my questions.”

“You can take it up with Luke later on.”

“As in, commander Luke Winters?”

“I didn’t know he was a commander but yes, the same man.”

Webster picked up his phone and called his commander. A moment later, he put the phone down with a concerned expression. The commander confirmed Mrs Foxglove’s words.

“How can I help you, Mrs Foxglove?” His question left a sour aftertaste in his mouth but he decided to give her the benefit of doubt. Maybe she didn’t have ill intentions.

“I’d like you to not add my daughter to the military Talent database.”

“That’s impossible. The process is automatic. We no longer manually add Talents.” This was the whole idea of moving ceremonies to the military bases. From now on, the military’s system would be recording almost all the new Talents from the solar system. A lot of precious data would be obtained this way.

“In that case, I need you to withdraw my daughter from today’s ceremony. We will hold a private one.”

“Of course.” Webster noticed how quickly her tone shifted.

“And one more thing, I need another withdrawal. Keynes Kid.”

Webster’s eyebrows climbed up. Keynes Kid had a perfect memory and his Talent… suffice to say, it could be extremely valuable to the future research of Talent-shaping. Webster couldn’t give up on him. He’s too important.

“I’m afraid his name’s already added to today’s ceremony through the system. The way the system is designed doesn’t allow us to remove participants.” It was a fat and dangerous lie. Webster’s heart was hammering in his chest and he prayed that the high-Level visitor didn’t sense it.

High-Level people possessed sharper senses than the rest. It was said that some of them could detect a lie with ease. If Mrs Foxglove was one of them, Webster’s career would end right here.

“Who is authorized to make the withdrawal?”

This was the biggest hurdle. Webster felt that no matter how high he’d point, the woman would reach there and bring it down. He couldn’t stop now. He had dipped his toe in this deception and it now called for his foot.

“Unfortunately, this iteration of the system doesn’t have the withdrawal function. It has been reported to the science and technology departments but it isn’t a simple matter of rewriting the code. So the next version won’t be here before the end of the year.” When Webster stopped speaking, he felt like his insides trembled. He’d never lied blatantly like this before. Am I succumbing to the insanity that often finds researchers? He asked himself as he was watching his visitor with fear.

“This is a joke. Who approved of a system like this?” Her question sounded rhetorical and Webster didn’t answer it. After a few seconds, she spun on the heel and dropped a bomb on Webster then left. “I will have a word with Burygold Finn about this.”

Webster paled. Was he finished?

What he didn’t know was how their lives would soon change forever.

***

Keynes wasn’t in the mood to share Harter’s excitement. There was no sign of the distress Harter had shown at home that his girlfriend couldn’t go with them. Harter was quick to move on. Something Keynes found impressive. Keynes wasn’t an emotionless robot as everyone in the school called him, he was good at hiding emotions. That was all.

The two brothers were very different. Sometimes, Keynes wondered if they had the same father but it was a kind of discussion Keynes didn’t want to start, fearing it could tear apart their family. What the hell am I thinking about? He knew he was trying to distract himself. He was nervous and if his mother offered him a soothing he wouldn’t refuse it this time.

The military bases were dull. That was the best description of what Keynes had seen on his first visit here to undergo tests and now wasn’t any different.

Everything was made of bare concrete. Some people enjoyed the industrial design. Keynes wasn’t one of them. It dulled senses and dialled down creativeness. Perhaps, that was the aim of the designers and they wished to keep the stimuli of the army personnel at the lowest. Keynes didn’t know if it worked neither did he care.

They walked into the newly opened reception. Other families gathered in the room. Keynes found posters on the wall here, explaining the reasoning behind moving the ceremonies from the communal spaces to the military bases.

Everything always boiled down to security reasons. Such a universal excuse. Everyone in the room looked anxious and some eyed Keynes’s mother with longing eyes, hoping she’d offer them soothing. She didn’t. She was exhausted and in truth, she needed soothing as much as everyone else in the room.

“Nina,” an ash-haired Mrs Brown walked over, smiling sadly at them. “How are you? I’ve heard you had a few busy days.”

“Hi, Maria.” Nina Carter-Kid and Maria Brown hugged each other. They were of the same age and were best friends since school. Maria was unfortunate to receive in inactive Talent that destroyed her chances to pursue any professional career. She worked as a low-paid admin in a warehouse. Keynes’s mother often cursed the Talent system for being cruel and unfair. Talents could make or destroy people just like that. “Why didn’t you answer my call?”

Mrs Brown waved her hand. Keynes knew the truth as his parents had discussed it between themselves several times. Mrs Brown couldn’t afford his mother’s soothing even with all the family and friends discounts she was giving. This time, his mother was going to give her soothing for free.

“Work,” she replied.

Keynes would call her out on the lie but his parents knew better than him.

“Tell me about it,” Nina said, nodding at her husband. “I barely see the man.”

Ewan Kid was about to explain himself when Mark, Maria’s husband approached. Their son Joe, a bully from Keynes’s class, trailed him silently. Joe’s face was pure fear. A part of Keynes understood him. He was afraid of receiving an inactive Talent like his mother.

“Hi,” Mark muttered. He was Level 2, courtesy of being in the police force. He shook Keynes’s father’s hand but other than that he stayed outside of the conversation. Ewan Kid wasn’t the most interesting man under the sun. He’d rather stay silent, locked in his mind wondering about glyphs, than talk about glyph unrelated topics. Unsurprisingly, Mark Brown wasn’t any different. Keynes once heard his father talk with Mr Brown. Boy, it was a cringe-worthy experience. It was like a tug-of-war, crime this, glyphs that, cases this, glyphs that.

They were smarter now and didn’t engage in a conversation this time.

Joe kept away from the Kid family, perhaps afraid that Keynes would point at him and tell everyone how Joe treated him. Keynes wouldn’t do that.

Harter left them as he spotted his own friends. Keynes looked for Vivena. He longed to see her even though she unsettled him.

The receptionist eventually called everyone’s attention. Keynes and Harter returned to their parents, while the Browns left.

“Specialist Webster Frog will conduct the ceremony now. Please follow me and do not stray away from the path. This part of the base is repurposed for the public but there are still restricted areas within it and it is a crime to trespass such areas.”

The middle-aged receptionist walked around the desk, weaved between the gathered and entered one of three corridors. Like a liquid from an uncorked bottle, people flowed after her.

***

They came to a spacious room with rows of folding chairs, set in a semi-circle around the largest glyph Keynes had seen. His father whistled, “That’s some exquisite work. I can’t spot a single flaw in it from here and that tells me a lot.”

The structure and shape of the glyph were difficult to describe without having some knowledge about them. Despite having a father who was an expert, Keynes’s knowledge was poor on this front. He knew the basics though. Glyphs were physical objects possessing magical power. Their range of powers was vast and they were used in all fields. Creating a glyph wasn’t difficult and didn’t require related Talent but creating a powerful or efficient glyph was a different story. His father could elaborate on the topic for hours if asked.

The glyph was far taller than Webster Frog who stood next to it, checking on the cables connected to a metal ring at the base of the glyph.

“What’s it made of?” Keynes asked despite himself. “It looks like black obsidian.”

“It’s a composite. Black obsidian properties would be incompatible with the purpose of this glyph. Raw materials are rarely used in high-end projects as they have very narrow specialisation and higher volatility than composites. Also, this glyph is too large to be a single piece and you don’t want your glyphs to come in modules. It fractures its effectiveness, sometimes alters properties and makes a glyph dangerous to use.”

“Okay.”

Harter smirked at him cheekily. His younger brother wouldn’t even attempt a conversation with his father about glyphs. For Harter, anything that wasn't girls or sport wasn’t worth his attention.

As everyone took their seats, Keynes’s father picked the first row for them because of his obsession with the glyphs, Keynes’s eyes searched the room for Vivena and her parents. The room held a hundred and twenty-seven seats. He had already counted them in his mind and seven of them were unoccupied. There still was hope.

Without Vivena, Keynes looked back at Mr Frog. The specialist looked like a nazi scientist from a Wolfstein series but instead of having a swastika he had a symbol of the World Government – a dragon coiling around the Earth, Mars and Venus. The lone seat next to the glyph reminded him of the scene from the first book of Harry Potter – the sorting ceremony. The room of course looked a lot more sinister, with rows of computers and machinery with colourful panels on each side of the glyph. Some whispers from people around reached Keynes, people were frightened by this.

They should’ve kept this hidden from the public eye, Keynes said to himself.

“Are they going to tell us what Talent you get?” Harter asked.

“No,” their mother replied. “It is the discretion of a person whose Talent is unlocked to share it with others. During the public Talent Unlocking ceremony, the room would swarm with representatives of various companies hoping to attract people with strong Talents so naturally many people decided to reveal it right away hoping for a good job. But things are different now.”

Webster Frog cleared his throat.

“Welcome, everyone, my name is Webster Frog, a specialist of the fourth military rank. I will supervise today’s ceremony. I’d like to say as a scientist that this means a lot to me. You’re not only one of the first batches in our newly modified system of Talent Unlocking, but also the true pioneers.” Keynes felt like facepalming himself now. They shouldn’t let Mr Frog speak. He was a scientist, not a spokesperson. Parents murmured angrily. Except for the people who operated the computers, the room didn’t have soldiers. Yeah, having soldiers in the room during the ceremony would give the wrong message, that they had no choice in this. Actually, we don’t have. A private ceremony isn’t cheap. And Keynes didn’t know anyone who had had one. “This will allow us to push our understanding of Talents further than ever. Maybe one day we will have tools to mould the Talents of the future generations.” Definitely, the worst thing to say to the room full of anxious parents. But who am I kidding? I wouldn’t fare much better than him.

“Are you telling me that my son’s a lab rat?”

“This must be a joke,” added another parent.

One man stood up.

“I didn’t agree to that,” he said, his face red. “All this equipment… what is it for?”

“What are you planning to do to our children?”

Clearly, parents were losing their patience with Mr Frog. The specialist raised his hands surprised by the heated response. Why did he look confused? Everyone in the room, including Keynes, was a bundle of nerves. Out of forty-one students here, some would walk away with a useless, inactive Talent. Some lives would be destroyed forever. So it was understandable that parents felt extremely anxious and reacted poorly to Mr Frog’s ill-selected words.

“I assure you that our unlocking process is harmless and the only significant difference between this and the previous iteration is the wealth of information. We do not interfere with the process at all.”

“Why can’t you do it in Tobin Hill Talent centre?”

No, just don’t tell the truth, man. Whatever the truth is.

“It’s classified…”

A door opened and a stately man walked in. Two soldiers accompanied him. The man’s insignia put him at the rank of a commander. His presence was certainly imposing but not nearly as much as Vivena’s parents.

He walked over to Mr Frog, then turned to the gathered parents and their children.

“I am commander Luke Winters, the man in charge of this base. I’d like to repeat what specialist Webster Frog said. This process is harmless. If any of you have a complaint, please lodge it with our newly created customer service,” the last words came out of his mouth weakly and had a sour undertone. He didn’t like the change it seemed. “However, if any of you decide to disturb the process or will turn to violence, I’ll be forced to arrest you. Please, have respect for our staff and other parents and their children. Thank you.” He nodded to Mr Frog and walked away without waiting for the parents’ response.

Mr Frog cleared his throat, “Let’s begin.”