“I hate him,” Pandora spat. “Elevated stage and Perfect State?! How?!”

She was barely standing on her feet as she was venting her frustration. She and Haruka had spent over two months in the Level 3 rift and she was still far away from maxing out her attributes. The only attribute she’d maxed out so far was Mind, and it’d been done thanks to the mind mushrooms. But it’d been over four months ago and if she kept the current pace of maxing out the other attributes, she’d finish with barely a month or two to level up. It was a very narrow window.

Pandora’s legs finally gave up and she dropped to her knee. Haruka stood nearby ready to step in and kill the champion.

The lion was larger than the Earth’s variety and its mane had a blue tint. Its passive skill made its bite stronger for every percent of stamina expended by its prey. One word and Haruka would end the beast. But his sister wanted to clear the entire rift by herself and she’d been pushing herself beyond her limits.

“Keynes is something else,” Haruka said. He’d promised Keynes to not reveal his secret and was going to honour the promise, so Haruka couldn’t tell his sister that Keynes could open rifts. It must be the factor that propelled his astronomical growth.

A messenger arrived yesterday with shocking news. Keynes had maxed out all of his attributes. Upon hearing it, Pandora went truly berserk. She’d always been the strongest one in their village, her future already set by their parents.

And then Haruka hit Level 4. If he wanted to, he could push to hit Level 5 which he was tempted to. He’d maxed out two attributes twice between Level 1 and Level 3 but there was no need for more. He also needed all the essence to cultivate his core. The Crown of Insight was an amazing tool, guiding his intuition toward acquiring a better cultivation technique which was a must if he wanted to break through this spiritual stage.

“That is bullshit,” Pandora said, rising to her feet again. Haruka probed her with his aura which she noticed and sneered at him. She was out of stamina. One bite of the champion could kill her.

She raised her rungu, another relic which she refused to leave behind, and charged the monster. She was too slow, her body had enough.

Pandora collapsed a few metres from the lion. Haruka shot forward, a rare mace appeared in his hand, he swung it, hitting the lion’s head before it finished its lunge toward Pandora.

“Why?” she groaned from the grassy ground.

“Why did I save you?”

She shook her head but she didn’t explain. Haruka lifted her from the ground and walked out of the rift. Outside, a team waited for the orders. Haruka told them to clear the rift and took his sister to a medic’s hut.

A camp around the rift grew larger, hosting over a hundred people now. Most of them transported the resources from the rift back to their village. Others trained here so they occasionally could join Haruka and Pandora in their delves.

The medic’s hunt was built near Keynes’s garden. They managed to perfect his kale turning it into an excellent ingredient of a health potion.

The potion boosted health regeneration by 400% for 10 minutes. Unfortunately, the potion was poisonous in large quantities. No more than ten vials per day.

After that, Haruka returned to his meditation and attempts at learning the cultivation technique, he was close. He knew it. There was no rivalry between him and Keynes but Haruka wanted to be first one there.

***

Christopher Wolf kicked the door the fourth time. They heard the satisfying crunch of the metal inside. It was Level 0 material but it was insanely tough.

Three more kicks and the lock finally gave up and Christopher pushed the door open.

Inside he and Ren found a raw concrete chamber with thick chains mounted in several places on the walls, floor and ceiling, chaining a man.

He was bare, skinny and with long messy blond hair on his head. As they carefully descended metal stairs, he lifted his head. His eyes had a look that made Christopher stop. This man stood there, chained and clearly the object of torture, as evident by an excess of dried blood beneath him, but his eyes stared undefeated.

“What took you so long?”

“We weren’t sure if Windsor Freeman was in his mansion,” Ren replied. “And you meant to defeat Esopp Earl.”

Tom Ventura snorted.

“Never in my life got a beating like that.”

Ren approached Ventura.

“Chris, the key,”

Christopher came over with the key. They freed the ex-captain but had to carry him out of the cell. It had no windows and the only source of light was pretty dim.

“How’s Keynes doing?” Ventura asked as they lowered him outside the cell. The corridor was empty. They hadn’t needed to use force to get in. Freeman’s mansion was obscenely large but there was barely any staff left here. They’d spent the last three months watching it, learning as much as they could before breaking Ventura out.

“That’s what you worry about?” Christopher asked.

“Yes. That boy is the key to everything. If Freeman has him. We are done for.”

“No. Freeman doesn’t have him. Keynes has his own powerful friends now.”

They handed Ventura water with vitamins and some military rations designed for occasions such as this. Ventura drank and ate slowly. When he finished he asked.

“What powerful friends?”

Ren snorted gently then sighed.

“You won’t believe me.”

“Try me.”

“Columbus Curt, Wagner Zimmermann and Esopp Earl.”

“Okay, you win.” Ventura shook his head. “It’s too much and maybe you aren’t even here. Maybe my brain plays tricks on me…”

Neither Christopher nor Ren said anything, waiting for Ventura to realise that they weren’t a figment of his imagination. Ventura’s eyes became lucid once more, his stare hard.

“How?”

Ren told him everything that had happened since they’d parted their ways in Scotland. He also admitted that he’d been the one to report him, not giving Ventura enough time to escape.

He’d done it for Keynes, so they would have allowed Ren to stay with the boy. By betraying Ventura, Ren gained the trust of Esopp Earl.

Ventura listened to it without interruptions and when Ren finished Ventura nodded, seemingly unsurprised.

“I knew this. Freeman was kind enough to remind me about your betrayal each time he’s visited me here.” There was no resentment in Ventura’s voice.

“I am sorry,” Ren said.

“It’s fine. I don’t hold it against you,” Ventura got to his feet. As he touched the mane of his blonde overgrown hair, he sighed. “Anyway, what now? I don’t think you freed me out of the goodness of your heart, Kaito. What is it?”

“That’s not fair,” Christopher interjected. “Ren…” He trailed off seeing Ren’s expression.

“It’s true that I need your help but I’d have still broken you out if I wasn’t in the position I am.”

“Hit me.”

“A former trainee of mine decided to find and free her friend from the government base in China. She isn’t going to succeed. Everything about this base seems off.”

“Hm.” Ventura wondered. “A base in China? I heard rumours about some top-secret projects done there but if you hear a rumour about ‘a top-secret’ you don’t take it seriously, I didn’t. Top secrets remain top secret.”

“Will you help us?”

Ventura narrowed his eyes, his frivolous expression vanished.

“I want to see Keynes first. And I need more than ‘a former trainee of mine’.”

***

Wagner stood in his underground garden lab. Pucci assisted him as Wagner tested the [Growth] skill he’d received from Persephone. Keynes had been right, she bought them over.

[Growth] was an active skill that increased plants’ speed of growth. Wagner could even control the rate of growth or push it beyond the spell’s optimal rate which consumed a buttload of mana. Mana wasn’t the biggest issue to Wagner as his regeneration was at 20 points per hour and he could boost it with glyphs and potions made from his plants.

Wagner kept his hand above a tiny plant with translucent leaves and a black stalk. It was their newest Level 1 plant. They called it a Shimmering Void. The plant’s properties were void related and at this point they changed with each plant. Even though the conditions remained exactly the same. It wasn’t unheard of but extremely rare. What was unheard of was the void stuff. Wagner had never heard about the void. Was this like outer space or something else? They didn’t know. And the plant was inedible.

Many of their new Level 1 and 2 plants were inedible and they’d had to recruit an alchemist which was a pain in the neck as there were only a handful of alchemists in the world. Or at least alchemists who had acquired a potion-making skill or technique. Without either, it was a guessing game not worth their time and money.

With an alchemist on board, Wagner started the production of potions to counterbalance their ever-growing expenditures.

“The little one is unusually hungry,” Pucci said. The other man approached gardening in his own unique way. To him, plants were like individual beings with their own characters. “And the more you spur its growth, the more demanding it becomes.”

This was another issue they’d discovered. [Growth] could mature a plant in a day, which normally would take up to a month. That was a massive boon. But it didn’t only cost mana. If they wanted to keep the properties, they had to feed the [Growth]-affected plant ingredients. It wasn’t the case with a natural rate of growth.

The required raw material once found on the market didn’t usually cost much but the Shimmering Void demanded some that were unavailable anywhere.

Every few minutes, a system window would appear and ask for the ingredients to be fed to the plant. Pucci and Wagner discovered that each stage of growth demanded an altered or completely different set of ingredients. When they didn’t feed anything by the third stage, the properties of the Shimmering Void vanished, leaving the plant propertyless.

They tried to feed it things other than what the system asked for but it didn’t accept them.

“We should tweak the conditions and see if we can change the demanded ingredients and how that corresponds to its properties.”

“That’s a good idea,” Wagner admitted. He checked his mana and grimaced. He was running very low. “Do it. We will return to this in a few days. Now, did you consider what I’d told you?”

“Fungi?” It was Pucci’s turn to grimace. “I did and while I am not against their cultivation I … don’t feel the same connection to them as I do to plants.”

Pucci’s Talent was a bizarre one. He could develop a spiritual connection with living things. What exactly this entailed was hard to tell as the other man couldn’t explain the connection other than as a vague feeling of mutual relationship. Plants Pucci looked after grew much stronger, gave better properties and he seemed always aware of their needs.

“So what’s your take on fungi then?”

“Hire a fungi expert or don’t try to cultivate them at all.”

Wagner snorted. Yeah. The solution to everything was to recruit more people.

“I have hired over a hundred thousand people in the last four months. We had hit the capacity for now. All my talent hunters are out there, busy scouting people we need.”

Pucci’s eyes bulged. Ah, yes, the other man wasn’t aware of the scale of the operations Wagner’s new company had begun. Very soon, the proper structure of their new company was going to be finalised and Wagner’s free time would suffer. Not that he had any free time.

“Just delegate a team to look into fungi.”

“I will do so, boss.”

“Good.”

Wagner left the garden lab and was on his way to his office when Sylv found him.

“Mr. Zimmermann.”

The new perception-altering plant smeared all over Sylv’s skin was strong enough to begin affecting Wagner. He grunted, feeling a pull at his Perception attribute.

“Sylv, you can’t use this thing here. Its effect is too great.” If this affected him and he was Level 7, what did it do to those at the lower spectrum of power?

“My apologies, sir, I wasn’t meant to be on duty today. Tyr was supposed to be here but he’s meeting Mr Highwaters about some emergency in the Red Moon Legion”

Wagner used his spiritual aura to fight off the effects of the Golden Star Tree. When he got it under control, he asked Sylv what she needed him for.

“Visitors.”

***

Tom Ventura braced himself as the Perception-bending power of a golden-skinned woman hit them. They grunted as the room started spinning, their hearing and smell started malfunctioning. Kaito Ren fared the worst, he was leaning against the wall, his eyes closed.

Wolf looked much better than Kaito but still worse than Tom.

Who the hell was this woman? Was this her Talent or what?

“Mr. Zimmermann will see you know,” her voice sounded distant, cold and unyielding.

And then the strange effects were gone. Tom straightened himself and found an open door. No sight of the woman. Good. Beyond it was an absurdly luxurious office with colourful marbles, trees and miniature waterfalls.

This was the highest stratum of wealth.

“That woman is insane,” Wolf grunted as he helped Kaito stand up.

“Is she always like this?”

“No.”

They slowly entered the massive office. Tom tried to not goggle but it wasn’t easy. This was an arrogant display of wealth.

“What is this about?” asked a tall, black-haired man, wearing oriental silks.

“Mr. Zimmermann, this is Tom Ventura. He wishes to see Keynes.”

Something changed in Zimmermann’s posture and attitude. His gaze became harder, his expression turned blank. He walked around his oversized desk and stopped a few metres from the trio.

“Everyone wants to see Keynes. I am afraid this is as far as you can go. State what you need and when I talk to Keynes the next time, I will mention it.”

Tom knew that Zimmermann was Level 7 so not a joke and judging but everything around them, he must have access to all the good stuff coming from the rifts. This man was powerful. It would be smart to stay on his good side. For now at least.

“Keynes hasn’t finished his training,” Tom said.

Zimmermann blinked, his expressionless mask cracked a little bit. Kaito and Wolf were glaring at Tom.

“I don’t have time for this.” Wagner turned to go. “I hope it’s the last time you did this, Kaito, Wolf.”

Zimmermann was on his way back to his desk. Judging by his stature, Ventura might not get another chance at speaking his mind.

“You may not know me, Mr. Zimmermann.” It wasn’t easy to be respectful but for Keynes, Tom was going to make an exception. “But my family was once… powerful. We belonged to the Old Blood. One of the oldests, if my father told me the truth.”

This stopped Zimmermann but he didn’t turn back.

“Ventura?”

“Yes.”

“And what is your point? Every single Old Blood family has asked me for the audience with Keynes Kid already and each of them received the same answer. Keynes is not available until he decides otherwise. Despite your understanding, I don’t control Keynes. And I am not intimidated by your Old Blood status.”

“I can help Keynes more than you think. Ask Kaito about my training methods.”

“It is true.”

Zimmermann sighed.

“Keynes isn’t here. His whereabouts are secret. When I hear from him. I will mention you. That is all I can do.”

They were dismissed and while Tom didn’t like being treated this way, he had no choice.

“Alright, I guess, we may as well rescue your trainee first, Kaito,” Tom murmured disappointed. “It may take time before that kid will show up.”