Syberius stood in the middle of his camp, angrily staring at the flood of dominion monsters slowly surrounding it. Whoever thought to set off explosives here was going to be punished mercilessly. The blasts lured thousands of monsters to their location.

All his plans turned to dust.

They had been stealthy moving forward, keeping the attention of the monsters to the minimum until this failure occured. Syberius’s eyes glanced around, searching for his son. He’d had to be the one to approve the explosives without Syberius’s knowledge.

Marakus was nowhere to be seen though. Why? Where was that wastrel of a son?

Soon the monsters hit the camp simultaneously, hinting at intelligence behind the attack. They were aware that some dominion monsters controlled their lesser brethren.

Syberius had brought with him two hundred people varying from Level 1 to 5. He’d managed to keep them alive as they had a good mix of damage dealers, healers and supports. Even with all the debuffs they had performed well. Last night was challenging. He lost a few capable ascenders but nothing he hadn’t expected.

This was a disaster.

Like one living organism, the monsters began shredding defenders. Even with killing twenty monsters per one dead ascender, they would not win this battle.

“Where’s my son?!” Syberius snapped, losing patience.

Those that stayed with Syberius in the command tent shook their heads. They didn’t know where Marakus was.

Then it hit him…

This wasn’t some failure. It was betrayal. Marakus had planned it. The realisation put a smile on Syberius’s face. His son finally showed some spine.

The spine Syberius was going to break once he got out of here.

If he had to sacrifice everyone here, he would do so without hesitation.

Syberius bared his teeth and jumped into the sky. Keeping [Flight] a secret from everyone had been the right choice.

Without looking back, he flew toward the centre of the dominion.

***

Hideko regretted coming here. It was a death sentence. The unrelenting stream of monsters was too much for a single person to deal with. No matter how many despicable creatures she cut down, more replaced them. She wanted out of here.

Then why am I going forward? She asked herself. What drives me toward the centre of the dominion?

It had to be another debuff. She guessed as she didn’t see them all.

Cutting yet another creature, she moved with fluidity bestowed upon her by [Sword Mastery]. With each step she made she got closer to the steep rocky wall. Because there seemed to be no flying monsters, she planned to climb the wall, escaping the relentless horde.

Then she heard the explosions. They were distant, more than ten kilometres or more away but monsters froze then as if called by some unheard command turned as one and left Hideko alone and nearly dead.

She slumped against a lone tree, not more than twenty metres from the rock she had planned to climb and realised that she wouldn’t be able to do so. She was completely spent.

“Someone’s here!” a shout rang in the distance but she no longer cared. Her mind went blank from exhaustion. She collapsed.

***

Eventually, Keynes narrowed the area to a patch one metre in diameter. Infuriatingly, there was nothing but homogeneous grass.

Keynes went to one knee, scanning the small area with his spiritual aura. Something had pricked his spiritual senses on his way above this field. Was it simply the trap and nothing else? He refused to believe so.

Are you sensing anything, Alice?

I told you, master, this whole field has some sort of passive ability that hides everything inside it from my senses.

Keynes sighed, continuing to look for the source of the spiritual signature. He’d thought he’d sensed a rift but he’d clearly been wrong. Whatever it was, it came from the grass itself.

Then a faint spiritual energy touched him. It was so gentle he initially discarded it. He pushed hand into the grass, browsing it with his finger. The source of the spiritual energy touched him and he picked a single blade of grass.

The moment he picked it up, it transformed into an intricate and exotic-looking blade of grass.

Sensual Bladegrass (Rare)

“I wish to see everything, do you?”

-

Increases the strength of Spirit.

The same types of improvements do not stack.

-

One use

[Consumable]

Level 3

Any ideas? Keynes asked.

Looks like a precious find or some kind of reward for overcoming the ordeal, she said.

It doesn’t have dominion affinity, Keynes said. But I suspect it appears only in monster dominions, perhaps only in sub-boss tiers and higher only.

Yes. I can confirm as much.

Can you now? Keynes added with a smirk, hoping to rile Alice up a little.

Unfortunately, she didn’t take the bait and stayed silent. Keynes rubbed the rich texture of the bladegrass between his fingers wondering what he should do with it. A gardener’s part of him wanted to take it back to Wagner and Pucci and see if they could grow it. Having a reliable source of spiritual power-up could be very important for making their employees stronger. On the other hand, there was no telling when the grass would reach Wagner and if it was possible to grow more of it.

Considering his options, Keynes decided to use it. But…

How do I use it?

By eating, Alice replied.

Without thinking twice, he ate it.

You have consumed Sensual Bladegrass.

Your Spirit Core is being improved…

That’s--

Pain attacked him without a warning. The world vanished only leaving his spiritual sense untouched. The bladegrass was dissolving and its energy was entering Keynes’s Spirit core … reshaping it. Not all of it but some parts to be precise. If Keynes wasn’t in agony, he would wonder why only some parts of his core were affected while others were left untouched.

Luckily, the process was short. Keynes woke up with a start.

How long was I out?

Alice didn’t answer and he suspected why. He felt different. Then the wall of system messages poured in. Mostly regarding debuffs. Their strength decreased from 10% to 25%. But that wasn't all.

Congratulations!

Your Spirit Core has been improved.

*

Spiritual Aura Upgraded.

*

Spiritual Companion Upgraded.

*

Spiritual Resistance Increased.

Unfortunately, the messages didn’t explain details of the upgrades. Alice seemed to be also knocked out by the upgrade. After all, the bladegrass improved a spiritual companion as well. He was going to question her afterwards, for now Keynes focused on the changes in his core and found it smoother and less … irritating and more pleasing to his senses. Strange. As if there was a right way to shape the core. Did it have … a design preference? Keynes pushed his sense deeper into himself and discovered more interconnectedness. He was aware of this thanks to the Orb of Grand Insight but since then he hadn’t been able to sense it even in the Superior stage. Until now. It wasn’t super clear but enough for a start. What got Keynes attention was the connection to a small core.

A Mind attribute core.

Keynes realised upon touching it. The connection was a little bit more robust than others. It was annoying he couldn’t tell if it was the result of the Bladegrass or it had been the case already.

Happy with the improvement, Keynes withdrew his senses and then spread them around, blanketing a far greater area than before. A quick calculation told him that his spiritual aura should be stronger by around 30%. That was a massive upgrade.

If Pucci could find a way to cultivate the Bladegrass… This would be a huge boon to their company but given the strength of the upgrade, it was rather unlikely to be possible and if it was possible then the strength of upgrade was likely to be far weaker.

Before Keynes cut off his spiritual aura, he focused it on the field of grass and noticed a very faint spiritual residue. An influence of the dominion. The dominion was transforming this entire place.

Master! Alice eventually said. Their bond felt much stronger. I feel amazing, and strong.

What has changed? Keynes asked, hoping to get some answer from her.

A part of your Spirit core was reshaped and improved. It has changed the output of your spiritual energy, sensitivity of your aura, strengthened our bond and … slightly improved the connection Mind attribute, she replied, noting the same thing Keynes had found.

What does it mean?

She was thoughtful before she answered, also Keynes felt her attention through the bond, she was intently scanning him.

It means that, at some point in the future, you will be able to start cultivating the Mind attribute, she replied then added quickly. It is similar to using the Orb of Perfection.

Oh. That was interesting. Having limited Orbs of Perfection was a pain. He couldn’t wait for the moment he’d start doing it. Unfortunately, his progress would be affected because it was going to cost essence.

Can you tell me more about upgrading attribute cores?

She shook her head. Expected. Keynes noted that she was still hand-sized.

But I can tell you more about the Bladegrass.

Keynes nodded, giving her go-ahead.

It is some kind of very rare consumable power up. There are many types but there seem to be limitations. The same types cannot stack but I do not know what ‘type’ means. Another limitation is its exclusivity. The Bladegrass cannot be found outside of a dominion event. She kind of had confirmed it already, however, this meant that different sorts of events should have different types of upgrades.

Alright. It kind of makes sense. Like the night essence. Any clue if there are more of these things in this dominion?

No idea.

Useless, Keynes said with a big smile plastered to his face. This time Alice took a bait and launched a tirade at him.

Let’s go back to the camp, he interrupted her, pushing her over. Her spiritual attacks were ticklingly and he couldn’t stop laughing.

***

Serrata turned to Esopp Earl after Keynes Kid had flown away. He had a highly coveted and insanely expensive [Flight] skill. At this point, she was no longer surprised by that boy. Her boss’s hunch about him was right. There was something deeply disturbing about Keynes Kid. He was too powerful for his age. She’d need to dig deeper.

“What if he goes to the sub-boss by himself?” Serrata asked Esopp Earl, choosing not to mention [Flight].

“Have some faith in Keynes,” Esopp said flippantly. Too flippantly for her taste. Was there something up? Their companies were allied but she couldn’t rule out deception. Especially seeing how many dominion points their journey into the dominion was racking up. She had strong suspicions that whoever dealt the killing blow to the sub-boss would be rewarded far better than others.

Serrata didn’t have illusions that she could take on the sub-boss on her own. Being Level 6 inside a sub-boss dominion didn’t seem to amount to much. Even Esopp Earl looked negatively affected by the insane debuffs and he was Level 7.

“After the stunt with the stamina potions…” She let the words hang there.

Esopp Earl carefully looked her over. She couldn’t decide what kind of look it was though. He seemed much different from what her intelligence had gathered. He was the head of the Earl family and used to be Windsor Freeman’s top dog. But somehow he’d given her a mixed vibe right now.

“The potions weren’t even considered to be the part of this mission,” he replied eventually, looking over the beautiful vista below them. “Wagner sent them as an extra with a warning that if we decide to use them, we should do so only against the sub-boss. However, the difficulty of the dominion surprised us and I made a call. There is nothing else to this.”

She mulled his words over. They had some merit. Still, she couldn’t banish an impression that a company that had a true monopoly on the potions hadn’t equipped their party with any was odd. She shared her thoughts with Esopp Earl hoping he would also be forthcoming with her. He was too smart to be tricked like Keynes Kid. Politicians were a nightmare to work with.

“Why has your boss sent you here?” he asked instead, surprising her. She cursed, noticing the bluff, but she was too late. He already saw the confirmation on her face.

When Serrata stayed silent, Esopp Earl added, “I don’t expect the answer. It’s none of my business but I want you to understand one thing. While we’re allies, there are also boundaries and pushing against them is ill-advised.”