The conversation with Vivena left Keynes in a bad mood. Once he began thinking about their situation, doubts proliferated to the point where he asked Alice about the room’s defences and this time her answer surprised him.

Master, do you understand that I am a part of you? More precisely, I am a part of your Spirit, taken away and given intelligence.

I know that. You told me this already but what does it have to do with the room’s defences?

Since I have come into existence, I have faced failure after failure. Where there should be knowledge, I find emptiness or vague feelings. Where there should be nothing, I find emotions. I am very sure that a spiritual companion should not have emotions. It led me to think harder about my role in the world. And I managed to gain some insight.

Go on, Keynes said, hoping that Alice would be able to finally find her purpose.

In a world with the correctly working System, my role would be to guide you; offer you tips, directions and basic explanations of the world around you. But my insight would be only enough for you to get by. For example, the notes on cultivation in the assassin’s book go beyond the knowledge I am permitted to give you. Yes, permitted is the right word. In normal circumstances, I would say ‘I cannot tell you’ instead of ‘I do not know’. The spiritual laws govern the spiritual companions; what we can and what we cannot do and say. In the Medium Stage, my job is to make sure that you understand and possess the basics. Everything else is for you to discover, master. The System does not give anything for free. Everything is a challenge.

Keynes nodded even though it had to look weird to anyone who paid him any mind. He glanced around and saw his brother talking to Vivena. Daiyu Fen returned to pacing while his mother, Christopher Wolf and Kaito Ren found a way to engage his father in a conversation.

I understand. You are basically a tutorial. They are often used in games so players know what to do but everything else is left to them.

Games?

He explained to her the concept of a computer game and she actually grasped it. With all that out of the woods, Keynes saw why she couldn’t do anything about the defences. He needed to be the one to investigate it.

Wi—

The door opened, stopping his question in tracks.

Everyone’s head turned.

A stunning and odd-looking woman walked into the common room. Her entire body was painted in cherry red colour.

Harter was her first victim. His eyes widened, his jaw dropped and Keynes could understand why. There was something about this woman that affected their minds or perception.

A quick look around told Keynes that only Christopher Wolf was unaffected, though Daiyu Fen looked pissed off enough that it might not affect her too.

Is she using a skill or is it her red skin? Keynes asked Alice.

It can be a skill, but certainly, the effect comes from her skin.

The strange affection lasted around ten seconds. Keynes couldn’t fight it and he asked Alice to enter him and try to use his spiritual aura to neutralise this. It worked to a limited degree but it lasted too short for Alice to do much.

“My name is Sylv and I am Mr Zimmermann’s personal assistant. I am here to discuss your arrangements.”

“What was that feeling?” Keynes’s father asked, sounding groggy. Others didn’t look much better.

“My apologies,” Sylv said as she approached the table in the middle and placed seven envelopes on it with their names. “I am not accustomed to lowering my abilities on this floor. We rarely have visitors of your Level here.”

Wait.

One envelope was missing.

His.

“Take a look at them. You will do these activities in exchange for staying here, and attending other services.”

Other services?

“Wait, where is my envelope?” Keynes asked.

“Mr Zimmermann decided to personally discuss your circumstances with you. He expects you in his office.”

She turned to the door.

“Wait.” Daiyu Fen threw her envelope back on the table without reading the content. “I cannot stay.”

“Fen,” Kaito Ren said.

Sylv turned to Daiyu Fen, creasing her forehead with expectation.

“I have to save my friend from the government,” Daiyu Fen said, glaring at Keynes. “Someone promised me to help rescue her but I cannot wait years.”

Keynes sighed. He understood that his friend felt urgency but he’d explained to her that they were not ready to face the World Government. Keynes needed to max out his attributes and level up. Daiyu Fen and Kaito Ren needed to max out at least two attributes and also level up. It wouldn’t hurt Christopher Wolf to try to gain a level too, although that might take more time. His family was out of the question, and as for Vivena… He didn’t want her to be a part of their rescue mission or his group. She wasn’t here because she liked Keynes, the same way he liked her; she had an agenda.

Sylv stood motionlessly for a couple of seconds and in her case, it made her look like a statue – completely. Then she reached a decision in her head and beckoned Daiyu Fen to join them.

Wanger’s office was two floors beneath the common room and Keynes’s memory told him that the common room was already situated below the ground. The office was, as Keynes expected, luxurious and filled with marble, wood and exotic plants. One wall was turned into several small waterfalls that dropped on colourful pebbles and plants with leaves in many different shapes. All of this was behind glass.

Wagner sat behind the antique and solid-looking desk. As they entered, he raised his eyes from the papers and frowned.

In an instant, his confusion was gone and he stood up and greeted them.

“I understand there is some extra matter to discuss.”

Sylv didn’t know the details and Daiyu Fen wasn’t the best one to elaborate so it fell on Keynes’s shoulders to explain the situation to Wagner.

When Keynes finished, Wagner sagged a little then took a remote controller, turned on the TV on the wall and picked Geneva’s News.

A screen flickered to life.

“The World Government Chief of Public Relations confirmed rumours about the mobilisation of the government forces in Geneva. She didn’t reveal the reason for the mobilisation or its scale but the recently surfaced video shows one of the highly wanted criminals – Christopher Wolf – blocking the entrance to a small hotel. It is assumed that—”

Wagner turned the TV off.

“The World Government is coming to Geneva.”

“That’s another reason to not stay here.” Daiyu Fen was unimpressed by the news. “As I said, I will do it on my own.”

“Fen,” Keynes whispered. “You cannot go alone.”

“Why? Will you stop me?” Her words challenged him. Keynes felt his hackles rise but he willed himself to stillness.

“Wherever Freeman keeps her, the place is a massive trap.”

“So what? She’s my friend. I won’t leave her alone.”

Wagner and Sylv watched the standoff, the man looked weary while his assistant calculating, or simply cold.

Keynes tried all the arguments he could think of but Daiyu Fen wasn’t an easy person to reason with, or … maybe she was but he looked at this the wrong way. Alice’s words returned to him.

Everything in the System is a challenge. My desire to make it easier, sounds logical only if I assume that I will be given the time and resources to actually get stronger. What if Fen is right and by then Tulli is dead or worse?

He looked inside himself and he saw fear. He was afraid of stepping out of his safe zone and looking danger in the eyes. Truth be told, waiting for the right circumstances was never going to work. By the time Keynes and others got stronger, the government would as well.

Seeing that he didn’t have anything else to say, Daiyu Fen turned to go.

Sylv showed no emotions. Wagner, on the other hand, looked ready to stop Keynes’s friend.

Keynes beat him to that.

“I will help you.”

“You will?” Wagner asked, surprised.

“Yes. Tulli is a friend. I once asked a friend to save my family and he stood up to the government and did it. If he tried to get stronger first and all that, we wouldn’t have this conversation and my family wouldn't be free.”

Wagner exhaled, visibly traumatised by Keynes’s admission. His assistant didn’t hide her annoyance and asked for a private word with her boss.

***

“What about ‘getting stronger first’?” Daiyu Fen asked in the corridor while they waited for Wagner and Sylv to finish their talk.

Keynes shrugged, not wanting to go over his thoughts but he decided to tell her a bit more.

“When Vivena asked me if I hide anything else from you, I didn’t really answer because I do hide some things.”

“Keynes.” Daiyu Fen made a step toward him, standing almost face to face with him, even though he was a head taller than her. “What has that got to do with you changing your mind all of sudden?”

Keynes didn’t back off and stared into her tempestuous, violent eyes without hesitation.

“Everything.”

Before Daiyu Fen could open her mouth, they were interrupted by Sylv.

“Please, come in.”

Judging by her stony face, Keynes assumed that the discussion hadn’t gone her way.

Wagner met them halfway this time.

“We will lend you our hand,” he said to Daiyu Fen. “But we need two days to organise a team and gather information. Can you wait?”

Daiyu Fen squinted at Keynes, her glare murderous. He ignored her.

“I can.”

“Good.” Wagner nodded, pleased. “Sylv has a few items that may help.”

With that, both women were gone. It was time for Keynes to talk about his arrangement with Wagner. Their first conversation was mostly about the things Hugo had taught him and the rules of this place. But Wagner wasn’t very forthcoming about what kind of work he expected them to do.

And did the arrangements change now that Keynes decided to go rescue Tulli?

“I know everything, Keynes,” Wagner said, instantly making Keynes nervous. “Lockpicking Talent, rifts, Windsor Freeman and more.”

Keynes froze but his mind raced. This was Level 7. No matter how hard Keynes would fight, he couldn’t beat him.

“I can hear your heartbeat. Don’t worry, I won’t do any of the things that monster Freeman did to you.”

Wagner knowing what Freeman had done to Keynes didn’t make Keynes less wary, on the contrary, it filled him with growing suspicions… and then it clicked.

“Freeman spoke about someone and called him ‘he’. He seemed to believe that this ‘he’ has a Broken Talent. Then my family and friends were found and transported to where I stayed even though I cannot be tracked… Are you the man Freeman was referring to and the one who brought my family to me?”

When Wagner showed no surprise, Keynes was convinced that Wagner, indeed, was this mysterious person.

“I am not him. Let’s walk with me.”

Wagner walked to the door behind his desk, opened it and waited for Keynes to join him.

The initial resistance Keynes felt started to fade away and its place was taken by burning curiosity.

The door opened to a staircase that led down. Keynes started losing tension completely when he saw where Wagner was taking him.

They came to a large oval laboratory with over a hundred glass containers holding plants. The largest seven containers were placed inside the walls at the floor level. Smaller ones were all over the place. Not every container was a simple vivarium, not even close, some of the setups were complex enough to give Keynes a headache.

“What is this place?”

“One of our gardens.”

“Focused gardening,” Keynes murmured, mesmerised by the scale of operations. Hugo’s garden was tiny in comparison and not in size but splendour—

Wait.

“If you aren’t him then how do you know what Freeman did to me?”

“That’s the reason I brought you here.” He led Keynes to one of the largest vivariums with a two-metre high tree. Its bark was pure white but with a delicate iridescent effect. Its many branches produced only a few leaves and no fruits. The environment inside was harsh. White sand, white pebbles and white bright light. “This is the Tree of Insight. It grows fruits that give a chance to look behind the curtains and see the truths.”

“What?”

“The limitations are… severe,” Wagner explained.

Keynes stepped closer.

Are you hearing it, Alice?

Yes, master.

Is this possible? To look beyond the curtains? What does it even mean?

If it is possible and I do not see why it shouldn’t be then the fruit must have some dangerous downsides. As for what is behind the curtains, I am forbidden to say.

“This tree produced only two fruits in the last century.” Wagner continued. “The fruit gives you insight but it is very narrow, both in time and space.”

“Still… this thing is overpowered. I presume you ate one fruit. Do you have the second fruit?”

“No.” Wagner shook his head. “I sold the first fruit a long time ago. It brought me unimaginable wealth.”

Keynes turned to him, things didn’t add up here.

“Why not grow more of these?”

“Too expensive.”

It led to another question.

“Then how did you maintain this tree in the first place?”

Keynes’s second question made Wagner relax for some reason. He even smiled a little.

“Geneva has a long history. The city, like the Old Blood families, has its secrets. I don’t know where this tree really came from or who seeded it. When I asked my father about it, he told me to cultivate it instead of asking questions.”

The word ‘cultivation’ should have stood out to Keynes but he missed it at that moment. From there, their conversation turned to Wagner’s plan of defeating Freeman and Shaper.

“Shaper?”

“Most likely it is the person Freeman meant when he talked with you. Shaper is a mythological figure to most but the Old Blood families fear him for real and they aren’t very superstitious.”

“Why?”

“Apparently because of their secrets. I don’t know. My family isn’t considered one of them and the Old Blood don’t easily share their knowledge with outsiders.”

Keynes thought about the white agate in his—

He turned sharply to the tree.

“These white pebbles. That’s white agate.”

“Yes.”

There was so much going on through Keynes’s mind that he failed to ask who had bought the first fruit. In the face of all revelations, it should be obvious how important that was.

“Does Hugo know about this?”

“That I use focused gardening? Yes. About the Tree of Insight? No.”

“Why?” This made no sense. Why was he telling Keynes all of this? Once again, Keynes realised that Wagner had an agenda like Vivena. They belonged to the world where good deeds were nothing but spreadsheets of cost versus benefit.

***

Wagner stared at Keynes, seeing his growing suspicions. He couldn’t blame him. Even Wagner admitted that his plan sounded nuts. Challenging Freeman and Shaper? Although he omitted a part about luring them here. That would be too much and knowing what Keynes had gone through and what it had done to him, too little or too much information would destroy his plan.

He needed to guide the topic away from Keynes’s question.

“We can return to talk about our arrangements after the rescue mission. This lab isn’t the only place I wanted to show you. We have plants that increase attributes and general stats, heal or grant special temporary abilities. I’m sure you have noticed Sylv’s red skin. That’s the effect of two plants.”

Somehow, Wagner managed to make Keynes mollified although a spark of suspicion remained.

They left this lab and went to the one with attribute-enhancing plants. With the assistance of researcher Samon, they went over the plants and their properties. Currently, their biggest limitation was the fact that many of these plants were toxic when eaten together. So, they had to find the best combination of properties that wouldn’t kill Keynes in the process.

It wasn’t something Wagner enjoyed. He loved gardening but this wasn’t gardening anymore. Most of the labs swarmed with researchers and data analysts working on finding the next gem.

Obviously, not all plants in his labs produced edible matter. They also grew rare materials and one-time trigger abilities, like a seed-granate which was banned on Earth.

Their last stop was the armoury.

Soon after the first outbreak, Wagner made Tyr buy as many useful rift items as he could. It had been a mistake because when the second outbreak came, Level 1 items lost a lot of their value. They were still expensive but not like before. From the recording in the common room, Wagner knew that Keynes had his own items but he thought that offering extra help might alleviate his suspicions.