Panicked voice of Alice reached Keynes a second after he accepted [Mind Illusion].

Master? Master! What happened?! Where have you been? Where have I been?

Keynes let her ramble for a time being. He needed to sort his thoughts out. Whatever he’d experienced inside the hidden room, shook him to the core. Back there he hadn’t felt it as strongly as now.

The Purifying Body buff failed to stop an unknown memory debuff.

Keynes frowned. What was that? Are you seeing this, Alice? He asked, a little worried.

But before she managed to reply, Esopp asked, “What just happened?”

“Did you get a reward?”

“Yes but I don’t remember anything. What about you?”

Despite the Purifying Body buff’s failure, Keynes’s memory was intact although a bit hazy. This had to be the work of his Photographic Memory buff or so he guessed.

“I remember a hooded apparition that showed me eight rewards to choose from. I’d picked one and then was ‘transported’ here.”

It wasn’t the full truth but Keynes wasn’t feeling well. That damned debuff was still trying to erase his memories.

Alice, can you do something about it?

I do not know, master. I feel strange too but I will try.

“How do you remember while I don’t?” Esopp asked. “Is that your spiritual stage thing at work?”

“Not sure,” Keynes replied and at the same time Alice informed him that the memory debuff started weakening on its own. It was good news so Keynes focused on Esopp.

Aside from what Keynes remembered, there wasn’t much to discuss. Esopp’s reward was impressive. A sword with a shapeshifting blade made out of ice with only one drawback. The sword required [Create Ice] to function and that meant mana expenditure. Would it be possible to overcharge the blade turning it into a bomb? Winter’s Punishment was a very interesting item, which made total sense for Esopp’s skillset.

“[Mind Illusion]? What’s that for?”

“An non-lethal way of dealing with enemies I’d rather not kill.” That was the gist of it.

By the way, master, I am not sure your Spirit will handle a skill like this. It is one of the rarest and is quite spirit-heavy.

Keynes sighed in response.

***

Their visit to the rift spurred a serious discussion the next day. Neither Esopp nor Keynes were comfortable with the Deadly Encounter. In consequence, Esopp called in a large meeting for the executives and the heads of departments.

Twenty-seven people sat in the conference room, expectantly staring at Esopp. Apart from Esopp, Keynes knew only two people there, Andrew and Haef. Keynes took a seat in the back, away from the table. Some of the gathered glanced at him, curious and speculative, but no one asked who he was, even though he wore casual clothes unlike anyone else in the room, including Haef.

Esopp stood at the other end of the long polished table, his eyes sweeping the room.

“As you’re aware I’m leaving Emerald City for a while and Andrew here will take the steers. However, a new issue has arised very recently and must be addressed before I leave.” Esopp nodded at Keynes. Everyone’s head turned too. Keynes didn’t like the attention but Esopp had talked him out of skipping this part. Keynes was one of the most important people in the company, if not the most important one and taking an active part would benefit everyone.

Without moving out of the chair, Keynes said, “The Level 3 epic rift.”

“What about it?” one of the men asked. His nonchalant pose with one arm rested on the table, eyes full of disregard and immaculate presentation told Keynes that this man was an alpha amongst the executives. Keynes didn’t know why Andrew was higher than him in the chain of command but Esopp and Wagner weren’t amateurs and knew what they were doing (for the most part). Alice supplied his Level, which was five, all of it was the rift essence. Interesting because most of the higher levelled people before the first outbreaks were soldiers, top-officials and the wealthy.

“You’re too weak to delve it without supervision.” It wasn’t exactly the truth. Rift Essence Level 5 ascender was as strong as the human essence Level 7 ascender. In this case, Esopp. But the latter man had access to wealth most of these people would not see for a while. So Keynes had thought about how he could motivate his employees. Because he had zero experience and knowledge he came with a silly provocation.

Esopp actually smiled.

***

Cyrano felt as his insides were set on fire. First, that welp Andrew had been chosen to take over Emerald City because he sucked on a tit of someone in the headquarters in Geneva and now this upstart thought he could just barge in here and spout bullshit without consequences? Not a chance. Cyrano was the current top three in Emerald City and was responsible for delving so he couldn't let the brat get away with this.

Despite the upheaval inside, Cyrano looked unmoved outwardly.

“I am in charge of rifts here,” Cyrano said. “And I will be deciding who is going inside.”

“Then you better pay attention, Cyrano,” Esopp Earl said, surprising Cyrano.

Cyrano blinked, noticing tension in the room. Only then it occurred to him that he hadn’t asked who this kid actually was…

“From now on, we’re going to train our delvers in a different way,” the boy said.

When the meeting ended, every executive and head of department looked pale. The new requirements were brutal and quite unheard of.

Extensive training for everyone, skillsets, specialisations, techniques, items. There were too many damn things for Cyrano’s taste but he knew when to shut up and didn’t interrupt the boy until he finished.

As the members of the meeting filtered out, Cyrano slowly raised from his chair.

“You stay,” said Esopp Earl. “And you two too.” He pointed at Andrew and one of the heads.

When the door closed behind the last person Esopp Earl said, “Cyrano will be responsible for this new program but I want you two to support him in this. Make sure that every delver has sufficiently crafted items for most rifts but the epic one is out of the limits for anyone who doesn’t have a minimum of thirty-five points into each attribute.”

That was insane. Cyrano had thirty-five points at base value but he was a rift essence Level 5 ascender and bringing him to this point had cost the company fortune. They couldn’t afford such expenditure. Andrew must have the same thoughts because he flagged the issue right away.

“Also, technically, I’m by myself. I have one disciple. Crafting a single, full set may take me a few weeks,” said the head of the crafting department.

“I will tell Wagner to send you more people,” the boy said, which stunned Cyrano. Somehow neither Andrew nor the head looked too shocked. Did they know who he was?

“I’d appreciate that, thank you.”

“As for the other thing,” Esopp Earl added. “Start with a team of four. Stick to the skill sets we mentioned earlier.”

They wanted each team to consist of a healer, crowd controller, damage dealer and tank. But the sheer cost of skills for a single team would be exorbitant! Cyrano and Andrew exchanged glances, had their boss gone mad?

***

Later that day, Keynes sat in his room. He’d taken a long, relaxing bath with Level 2 scents that made him go dizzy despite his buffs. It was something about the scents being unharmful, which didn’t trigger his defensive buff.

It was the only chance to enjoy himself before he and Esopp left Emerald City tomorrow and travelled to the first location with a Level 4 rift.

Keynes’s attribute training would resume then and that wouldn’t be all. He needed to train his skills now as well. Alice had told him to ignore techniques and the cultivation of his Spirit because being in the Superior stage at Level 3 was more than enough. Another thing he was going to do, despite Alice’s warning, was absorption of [Mind Illusion].

This was something he’d learned from the Grand Insight. The Spirit adapted and if strained it’d find a way to accommodate the additional weight. Alice simply erred on the side of caution which was appreciated but Keynes couldn’t stay on laurels. His future was entirely in his hands. If he failed to protect himself from the rest of the world, what awaited him except enslavement?

A soft knocking on the door interrupted his thoughts. Keynes opened the door with [Telekinesis] and Esopp entered the room. Keynes pouted a little because Alice didn’t warn him. She wasn’t happy with his decision to absorb the skill and behaved childishly.

“I hope I don’t interrupt anything important?”

Keynes shook his head so Esopp took a seat.

“That was quite a meeting.”

“I told you I’d rather stay out of such matters.”

“If you want their loyalty, you must earn it, Keynes. Staying in the shadows won't cut it.”

“We have the ritual of secrecy. They don’t need my speeches. Anyway, I’m not made out to be a leader.”

“But you’re one now and loyalty is critical. Believe me, I know what I am talking about,” Esopp said and then unexpectedly added. “The World Government collapsed from inside out. I was fiercely loyal to Windsor and his vision. It was a good vision, Keynes. One that took care of all stakeholders. Unlike our political rivals, the Old Blood which cared only about themselves and their secrets. But then Windsor changed, became obsessed with keeping all the power of rifts to himself. My loyalty to him lasted as long as it could but in the face of distrust, growing hostility toward his own cabinet, it couldn’t survive.”

“Shouldn’t you have stayed by his side despite anything?” Keynes asked, a little confused about the importance of loyalty in this example.

“Blind loyalty is nothing else but fanaticism. Loyalty binds followers to their leader but this isn’t happening in the vacuum. There has to be an ideal that brings the two together in the first place and likewise, when the ideal goes missing, the loyalty must be questioned and even dissolved.

“Nonetheless, without loyalty, Windsor would have never clung to power for so long. Obviously, there were many who followed Windsor out of fear or greed, but they were also the first to switch sides at the first sight of trouble and were never kept anywhere near vulnerable and vital positions within the government.

It was a strange perspective on a behemoth like the World Government. Keynes had been convinced that it worked smoothly because of the laws and respect, not something esoteric like loyalty. Even hearing it from one of the one most prominent ex-members of the World Government didn’t make it any easier to comprehend.

And that was a problem because Keynes didn’t understand the whole idea of loyalty. He didn’t have friends in the school. His only peer had been his brother and even him, Keynes believed he’d lost.

“Don’t sweat it, Kid. Leading can be learned and you’re good at learning aren’t you?”

That was a fact. The Rapid Learning buff guaranteed him this much. Keynes breathed out, a little more relaxed. If it was possible to learn, he’d learn it.

“What now?”

Esopp pulled out a phone and typed something. A few seconds later, the door opened and Cyrano walked inside.

The blonde looked every bit arrogant but disdain was gone from his stare.

“I haven’t introduced you two to each other. It’s because we didn’t want the whole Emerald City to know that Keynes Kid was here.”

If Cyrano was surprised, it didn’t reach his eyes.

“My apologies for my behaviour in the meeting. I didn’t know who you were but I also dislike people who are too small for their shoes.”

Keynes raised from the chair and extended his hand, Cyrano accepted it without a shadow of hesitation.

“Cyrano.”

“Keynes Kid.”

“Now, with the formalities behind us. Let’s talk about the important issues. What Level alcohol can you handle?”