Windsor Freeman’s mind was wrapped around three major things.

Aura intent was the first one. It was a recent discovery that came from absorbing a technique. Techniques, of which Windsor had absorbed three, were an interesting concept. They didn’t add any power but granted understanding. Unsurprisingly, these techniques weren’t without their own set of drawbacks. If the understanding they bestowed was without a context, there would be no benefit of having the technique other than an awareness that something else was possible.

Windsor was now aware of the aura intent but he had no means of learning it without other aura-related techniques. It felt like each technique had a rank and should be absorbed in a sequence. Because techniques appeared with the outbreaks and the current political climate didn’t foster the spread of knowledge, an emergence of technique charts was nowhere on the horizon. Another problem with techniques was their extreme rarity or randomness if they came from the scrolls.

Despite the disappointment, the sheer idea of aura intent spurred some questions in Windsor’s mind and led to a little bit of experimentation. Even though his ideas didn’t manifest physically, Windsor came to understand what hid behind the name of the aura intent and it was a ground-breaking concept.

So far, Windsor treated his [Fire Aura] like an AOE damage spell. But there were numerous issues associated with the usage of his aura, for one, he burned everything and everyone in its radius, rendering the spell useless among allies. Aura intent allowed for two major benefits; firstly, it made an aura neutral to allies, making it harmless to use among allies. But the second benefit was what Windsor truly liked. It made auras benefit allies. In [Fire Aura]’s case, Windsor speculated, his allies would be granted additional fire damage. Even with a single aura, the concept was scary because even if the buff to allies was small, the number of allies affected by it might make up for it. But the aura intent would shine when multiple aura were being stacked. How powerful an army could get if ten or twenty auras affected them at the same time?

It made sense why aura intent wasn’t a default function of auras and had to be learned.

Now, his spies were charged with two tasks. Buying or stealing any aura-related technique and destroying any shred of information that could lead to the aura intent discovery. It was inevitable that others would learn of it but postponing it was crucial especially now that Windsor was so close to finalising the Human Project.

With Nitisha’s successful conversion into the first Bloodline ascender, Windsor expected other test subjects to follow her steps. The early stages of the experiment were plagued by hundreds of dead as Windsor’s researchers had struggled to pinpoint the issue. When Nitisha had agreed to join the project Windsor had some reservation as she was his most loyal supporter. Losing her was not an option but it had turned out that she was pivotal to moving the experiment forward.

It was the spiritual energy or its deficiency that led to early deaths. Windsor didn’t understand the technicalities of the Human Project superstructure but knew it flooded the core with chaotic energy. To this day, Windsor’s researchers struggled to explain what the chaotic energy was other than it was the opposite force of the spiritual energy. Somehow, the superstructure was capable of creating this alien source of power. Like techniques, the Bloodline ascension wasn’t without its own drawbacks.

Windsor watched Nitisha tearing apart Level 3 rare monsters from the rift that had opened in their base’s backyard. Leaning on the metal rail on the roof, Windsor could almost feel the tremendous hate Nitisha radiated. The chaotic energy changed ascenders turning them into monsters. Nitisha’s mind was still human but her physical body was not. She stood now almost three metres tall, with her hands reaching the ground. Her clawed hands could wrap around a human’s head. Her skin turned grey and dark and spotted. Her sharp teeth bit into a rocky monster’s hide and ripped chunks of the meat seemingly without effort.

By Windsor’s best estimation, Nitisha was approaching his level of strength which in itself was promising and gave him hopes. Once they perfected the process, especially lessen the physical burden of the transformation, Windsor expected to double his power.

With such a boost, Windsor would be able to deal with Columbus Curt and others who approached the similar threat-level. But this prospect was still some time away as Windsor didn’t want to step into the untested waters.

Despite the success, the Bloodline ascension was a big mystery. Surprisingly, it was supported by the System as it granted them some information but that was all.

They knew the Bloodline system operated on a different basis, ascenders evolved instead of levelling up. The prerequisites for evolution were unknown. Since Nitisha’s conversion she wasn’t able to evolve. However, the people working on the project assured Windsor that it was only a matter of time.

Windsor didn’t believe in their assurances as there were too many issues to iron out. For one, how the Bloodline ascenders gained new abilities other than evolving? Nitisha lost the ability to absorb skill shards and wield items. Her Talent remained intact and the skills she had absorbed before the transformation were corrupted becoming something different. Even though she gained two new attributes: durability and endurance; the trade off wasn’t enough to convince Windsor to try it yet.

He had high hopes about Marg Moonbane’s transformation. Upon reaching Level 5, she had enough spiritual energy to counterbalance the chaotic energy, additionally, the whole process was much more sophisticated now. Windsor expected Marg to become as strong as Nitisha if not stronger and bear fewer physical changes. Once they figured out how to trigger an evolution, Windsor would consider becoming a subject of the transformation himself.

As his spiritual senses picked up an approaching newcomer, Windsor turned his eyes away from the slaughter in the backyard to the door. Since learning about spiritual stages and cultivation from Sandman--which had cost Windsor a few of his valuable assets--he managed to enter the Medium stage, expanding his spiritual senses dramatically. He’d to disable the spiritual companion though as it’d provided very little benefit for a significant chunk of Windsor’s spiritual energy.

One of the assistants entered the roof area and slowly approached Windsor.

“Mr.” The assistant shuddered when he glanced at the backyard behind Windsor. “President, the report has arrived.” Some people in the base still called him that even though Windsor had cut all ties with the World Government. His vision of building a better world failed when his subjects betrayed him. He could’ve led them to a true paradise but they had preferred Curt’s and Sael’s lies. Nonetheless, Windsor learned from his mistake of trusting others. He acted from the shadows now. Those outside of this base didn’t even know who they worked for. They were nestled inside many top organisations and even the Solar Council itself.

“I will be there in a minute,” Windsor replied.

The assistant hastily retreated back into the base. Windsor didn’t fault the Level 2 as hardly anyone wished to be outside when Nitisha did her bloody work. He followed the assistant a moment later. The report awaited in the specially-designed and protected room. If the base was discovered before Windsor was ready, his plans would be delayed by decades. Despite all the safety measures, they still failed. A girl from the Scottish cluster found them. She was easily handled even though her Talent made her very elusive. During the interrogation, they discovered a significant loophole where the tracking system could be accessed from the unauthorised terminals. It was fixed now but the damage had been done. While the location wasn’t connected with Windsor, Wagner Zimmermann might think about a rescue mission.

In fact, considering the recent development in the region, the location of the base was threatened, which was the third major thing on Windsor’s mind.

The global sub-boss dominion appeared about five hundred kilometres from the base. Out of the context it sounded like a large distance but the dominion itself had over two hundred kilometres diameter and was constantly growing. The dominion was what the report was about as well or more importantly about the people who were coming to defeat the sub-boss.

Windsor opened the report and read the information packet.

Things were worse than Windsor expected. Not only was the number of organisations and people interested in this dominion substantial, but the individuals coming here were a serious threat to Windsor’s project. Siberius Sael was the greatest of them.

Windsor was mildly disappointed that Esopp Earl wasn’t coming here. His spies confirmed that Tyr Truman was going to represent his organisation. Zimmermann stayed hidden in his stronghold in Geneva, Curt in his base in South America. Earl and Keynes Kid were missing although the boy had appeared in the ranking some time ago.

Could he use this convergence to his advantage? With so many leaders in one place, he could cut off many heads with one swing. He thought back to Nitisha. She was strong enough to kill the likes of Siberius Sael and in the unlikely event of her dying, he would be fine with the loss. Nitisha slowly outlived her usefulness. In her state, she couldn’t carry any administrative tasks. Many of the researchers feared her as she’d killed a few already in bursts of rage.

Yes, Windsor said to himself. This should work. One way or another, I’ll get rid of some issues.

***

Letchworth Truman circled the sky high above the base. His mind didn’t work like it’d used to but he still thought like a human even though he wasn’t one anymore.

Far below, a powerful ascender, who had to be Windsor Freeman himself, left the roof disappearing from Letchworth’s senses. But the president wasn’t why Letchworth was here. Nitisha Romanov was.

Somehow, she had undergone the same transformation Letchworth had and turned into something else, something more. He was glad to find her and though a small part of him felt sorry that she’d have to die so he could thrive, Letworth wasn’t going to hesitate. Killing another of his kind was necessary to evolve. He’d evolved once already when a flying monster came to his mansion in England and had tried to kill him. It’d been a difficult but rewarding fight. The evolution granted Letchworth an ability to fly, extending his senses substantially, which helped him locate Romanov.

But the timing was not right. Letchworth didn’t feel confident enough that he could handle both Romanov and Freeman at the same time. He needed to separate them. For that, he was going to alert the female and lure her away before Freeman got wind of Letchworth’s presence.

As he lowered the latitude, Nitisha’s bald head snapped, her eyes looking at him with hunger and hatred. Letchworth’s metre long tongue flicked, taunting the inferior creature then he started to fly away, keeping low enough to stay in the range of her senses.

She followed him in a heartbeat.

***

Keynes and Esopp joined the official group from Geneva. Apparently, they created a smokescreen for the spies, making them think that Tyr was coming here. Keynes didn’t question the decision, finding he didn’t care much. But soon after the meeting, Esopp took Keynes away for an important talk.

“Do you remember when you asked me to investigate the coordinates your friends had been taken to?”

“I remember everything,” Keynes said. “Did you learn anything?”

Esopp nodded, looking quite solemnly.

“It has taken some time because of the way Freeman ran things. Each of his projects was isolated and led by a different senior officer. I was in charge of Hidden Hand, and indirectly responsible for you as well. Caesar Stonewood was in charge of the Institute and another of Freeman’s secret projects -- the Helios project. But the most important to us is what Nitisha Romanov was involved in. And that was called the Human project. I don’t know the details but from what I managed to gather, this project was located somewhere in the Oriental League.”

“Do you think we’d find it at the coordinates?”

“More than that.”

“Freeman.”

“Yes. I believe he and Nitisha Romanov would be there too.”

“Daiyu Fen has gone there…” Realisation hit Keynes. If Freeman got her, she was as good as dead. “We must rescue her.”

“We’ll but we need a plan.”

“Plan? Get Wagner, Columbus and Tyr here and let’s attack the base.”

Esopp shook his head.

“Columbus will not move directly against Freeman. Whatever is between these two prevents Columbus from taking a direct action and without him, our chances against Freeman are very much zero. He is not only Level 10 but also has access to a vault worth of skills and items.”

Keynes clenched his fist, his chest was burning with rage. He couldn’t let Freeman get away with this. Something had to be done about it.

“I think we can defeat him.”

“Keynes…” Esopp started saying but Keynes would have none of that.

“I have [Mind Illusion] now. If I get to Level 4, attribute-wise I am going to be on your Level but my spiritual aura would be much stronger and it should be enough to disarm Freeman for long enough for others to deal the killing blow.”

“What about Romanov?”

“What about her?”

“Between the two, she’s the real monster. Her Talent is less flashy than Columbus’s but the longer she fights the stronger her attacks become. If she levelled up, you alone won’t be enough.”

A chill shot through Keynes’s spine as his mind cleared, becoming cold and focused.

“I am going to be enough.”