"Poor child."

"Noooo..."

"You're too hopeful. You trust your discernment too much. You believe in those eyes excessively."

"But are we wrong?"

"Being wrong or not doesn't matter. You might be right this time, but will you always be right? Once it fails, it'll be tragic. And all because your expectations about its usage are too high."

Ben sighed as he couldn't believe them.

"Godfather. That's new. Are you expecting?"

"No, but we're planning ahead."

"And you see no issue with an absent figure?"

"Depend on the figure."

"Very calculative manner. Maybe I shouldn't worry that much."

"So?"

Being asked again, Ben lost himself in his thoughts. He looked at one of the big trees surrounding him and then closed his eyes.

He stayed a couple of minutes like that while Eloise enjoyed her snacks.

"Alright."

"Today is our lucky day. Isn't it?"

"Maybe, or perhaps not. I don't know."

"I get it now why Ginn likes you so much."

"He's just excited about having someone not swayed by his way so easily. But maybe, I shouldn't say that given how things are going."

"We are getting a lot."

"Are you? Or are you just taking the little you can?"

"Good question. I don't know. But there is a lot of goodwill, so I don't mind."

"Well, I kind of do. But, hopefully, you'll not regret it."

"We trust ourselves, and we trust you."

Ben took the book out and ripped two pages from it.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cheesy princess, here."

"Something nice?"

"Not nice. Something not nice that might interest you."

As soon as she took the pages, Eloise started carefully reading them. While a bit messy, the writing was clear and precise.

"I encountered a shitty ritual. You might have heard about it by now. And I got my hands on a few crucial pieces."

"Wow, so that was you?"

"However, unfortunately, some stuff happened, and I had to leave them hidden on a ravine near the Latwel Lake. The area is dangerous. So I wouldn't advise confronting it. But someone with mastery in concealment skills should be able to retrieve it without any issues."

"We need to prepare for that since our hands are full, but we will surely get those. And it's going to be incredible. Dinna will pass out."

"Well, that note should be self-explanatory. You'll receive my judgment on the ritual later with the rest of the intel."

"That's way more than we ever hoped for."

"To be fair, I couldn't bring much. There wasn't much to take, either. It wasn't an unusual setup. So I just got whatever I thought might help paint a good big picture."

"A few of us are quite worried about Eclipse. What is your judgment about them?"

"I don't know them. But I found it weird that such a ritual went unnoticed, but I can't pinpoint why I'm bothered. The reason I tipped the Empire was to see how everyone reacted."

"Amazing. In hindsight, it seems to have been the right choice." Eloise said as her eye glimmered towards Ben.

"I don't have much else to say. But being clear, most of the accessible stuff was broken by me. So Eclipse couldn't take much even if they wanted. And by the time they could dig deeper, the Empire should have their eyes on them. So they wouldn't dare."

"This is great already. On a side note, we were hoping to get our hands on a few of those in 30 years. But that was our best estimate. It's quite difficult to study this subject."

"Reasonably so. It's dangerous."

"Ginn will be thrilled about this."

"Hopefully for the right reasons."

"Surely so. But, ah, the next few hundred years will be busy."

"Yeah, I get tired even by thinking about it. Good luck with that."

Their conversation was fruitful. But despite always being so direct, they kept talking for hours.

They discussed the book ["Insights"]. Then about the poison.

But they didn't stop there, as the topics ranged wildly.

It was already night when Eloise finally left.

However, before leaving, Eloise got one last piece of information.

"This is my actual name. So even if I change identity for something, you should still use that."

Turning around, Eloise was surprised.

"That's good to know. Thank you." Eloise left with the same big smile that she arrived.

---

"This is incredible."

"With this, we can begin our preparation for disruption. But more importantly, we don't need to ask my father for help on that."

"One less reason to drift from them. While inevitable, this should help us delay that."

"They'll sooner or later realize we aren't playing around."

"I can't believe he just accepted it, though."

"I didn't even need to convince him. But, to be fair, this change of heart does make sense since he came to give us intel unprompted."

"This is great news. I was afraid that Ben was going to act like a turtle. Even more, since we failed to protect him last time so horrendously."

"He doesn't seem to hold that against us, either."

"This sequence builds the impression that he's naive, but I don't think that is it."

"He's decisive. That's my judgment. Very decisive."

"We'll likely be unable to fully pay him anytime soon. Debts are stacking up."

"We only need to remember it, and I'm sure he'll stay around if we're fair in those exchanges."

"I didn't expect such a turn of events. Yet, I'm quite excited about it."

"Being busy is fine."

"Indeed."

---

Ben Higgs kept writing for weeks. His notes piled up as he stayed hyper-focused.

He only stopped to look at Syd and to eat sometimes.

And since he asked for it, no one else stopped his work.

A subordinate only came every few days to report to Ben how things were going outside. But even then, they merely left a written report and went back.

Once he was close to finishing the intel writing, Ben finally stopped to take a breath and slow down his mind.

"The war is going to happen faster than predicted. Is this the current's doing again? Maybe it wants my help, or perhaps it's simply showing off."

The report was short, so Ben didn't get many details. But that was enough to not leave him in the dark.

The situation with the Eclipse Sect was still vague, so there was no big news on that topic.

But at least Ben now knew that the Ghost Doctor entourage had finished their job on Grimhorn Plateau. And it was a failure, so that place was still on fire.

And while the Qhechan Empire pressured Eclipse Sect, the Dragons couldn't focus on that matter since the Creak Sect cornered them.

"They could sell it cheap, but they don't want to build a precedent."

'And it's likely the right choice. Those guys smell fishy. They would likely keep asking for more since nothing stops them from doing so. But it's weird how they dare to do this even when knowing a Volcano descendant is here. It looks like stupidity, but it's never that. Someone is likely behind them, and maybe Ginn knows who.'

However, Ben could only think so much about those matters as this was not his focus right now.

"I should be able to leave sooner rather than later. Hopefully, Syd is having fun. He has been quite daring lately."

The squirrel became friends with the subordinate that brought them food and decided to follow them around.

Later, Ben was notified that Syd ended up, somehow, with Mirana Liam. The Dragons' Head Alchemist.

'It makes sense since it's been too long, and I've been too focused.'

---

A few days later.

"Thank you. And yeah, I already informed him of the details. Just bring him to Mirana like last time since he liked it there."

After finishing the writing, Ben began preparing to remove the poison.

It took him a few days, but he was now ready.

However, since he would be dealing with dangerous techniques, Ben chose to send Syd back into someone else's care.

Fortunately, the squirrel had made friends with people already. So finding a good place for him to stay was easy.

"And hold on to the reports. I'll take a look after I finish." Ben added.

"Alright, Sir. Good luck."

"Thank you, and see you later."

As Ben closed the door, his surroundings were a mess.

The prior fancy-styled house was nowhere to be seen.

Arrays covered every window.

Pre-set projects filled the floor and tables.

Material piled around everywhere outside the spatial artifact.

'It's so good to have support. I'm getting spoiled.'

Ben worked a lot the last few weeks, but he felt proud. And his impulsive instinct was finally calming down.

He believed he had done enough to satiate his deep wishes.

'It's not everything I can do, but it's the most I can offer for now without putting myself at risk.'

But before fully immersing himself, Ben first finished the isolation of the room.

Once isolated, he took three Sunset Spirit Cores from his chest. Those were going to be the storage for the poison.

'I'm so excited. I'm finally freeing another chunk of my soul. That's always such a good feeling.'

With everything prepared, Ben began extracting the poison from himself.

The most significant difference from what he did before was that now Ben didn't want to destroy the poison.

That was what all the extra work was for. Ben wanted to completely isolate the substance since that would allow others to study it.

---

Another month passed by in the blink of an eye.

The conflict with the Creak Sect had already begun, but Ben was still in isolation.

Due to the ongoing battles, a portion of Dragons personnel was at the disputed plot.

But they weren't taking the attack with kindness. Ginn was right now planning the counterattack in his office.

However, while he talked with the strategist Louis, they heard a knock on the door.

"Come in."

After entering, the subordinate concisely reported.

"Ben Higgs completed his work. He mentioned it was a success and asked for Dinna Mortez to see him."

This guy was the same person who visited Ben every few days.

"She finished her work on the field a week ago, so she should be around the house right now."

"She's already on her way there."

"Was she waiting for this?" Louis asked.

"Indeed. I had to convince her not to bother Ben since he asked for it."

"She's too impatient."

"Sir..."

"Please, talk freely."

"The house became a mess. I couldn't believe the sight from outside. It's incredible. And I'm surprised that Ben Higgs doesn't seem to hold the intention to tear it down."

Despite working as a messenger, this guy was the most skilled person under Dinna.

"That's expected. You got to see the ember, didn't ya?"

"I did join before it exploded."

"My peer just has his way, so don't be too surprised. And now you should fully understand why Dinna asked you to fill that position."

"Sorry. I was close-minded."

"It's fine since you did the job well anyway. We trust you this much."

"Thank you."

"You can leave. Ben will find his way to me once he's ready. And Dinna will likely need your help."

"Thank you." The guy repeated and then left.

"Ginn, aren't you expecting too much?" Louis asked once they were alone again.

"Yeah, I know nothing can beat that enlightenment. But the more exchanges we have, the more I'm likely to pay back."

"I wonder if he'll come and go like a storm again."

"Can he be anything else?" Ginn laughed happily.