Wagner’s face was replaced with an aerial view of a building complex resembling a military compound. In the inner yard an open rift spawned monsters, which were quickly killed by a humanoid creature.

It had long arms, almost reaching to the ground, sickly pale and completely hairless skin. Despite its hideous appearance, it moved with grace and precision.

Then—like a bolt of lightning—came another creature. It smashed the first one with brutal impetus. A shockwave destroyed the surroundings in the radius of ten metres, rift monsters were pulverised. The airborne creature had some resemblance to the monster from the Emerald Lake’s hunting ground but it wasn’t the same. Its leathery wings were larger, its body smaller and leaner, and had a humanoid shape to it. Its brown fur was thick but not equally distributed. It had a bald leathery head in a slightly elongated shape.

Their strength is beyond Level 10 human essence ascender’s baseline, Alice made an observation.

There’s more to that though, Keynes said. The pressure of their attacks impacts the surroundings more than a physical force should.

Indeed, this is abnormal.

They clashed several times and the outcome of their fight was becoming quite clear. The airborne creature had an advantage in every aspect. Keynes waited for the finale, wondering why Columbus was so vivid about this and why they’d thought it should be added to their meeting itinerary. But then came the unexpected—Windsor Freeman in the presence of a slightly deformed woman.

With a sinking feeling came understanding. Keynes knew what he was watching. This was the base Esopp had spoken about.

“Why?” Keynes muttered, growing angry.

“This fight happened while you and Esopp were still inside the dominion. I was in South America and Wagner in Geneva. Neither of us could do anything.”

With the arrival of Windsor Freeman and the deformed woman, the tides of the fight shifted. The yard changed into an inferno. Keynes recognised [Fire Aura] but Freeman wielded it with precision that meant only one thing—a higher spiritual stage.

He is at least in the Medium stage to be able to control it so well.

Freeman’s fire had no mercy, it consumed the rift monsters at a faster pace than Keynes’s [Chaos Aura]. The flying creature weathered the first few seconds then a horrible screeching buffeted [Fire Aura] away for a moment. Amid destruction, Keynes saw the first creature, it was badly burned, its eyes stared at Freeman with hate. Whatever it wished to say, would ever remain unsaid as the deformed woman impaled a sword through its eye, killing it.

The airborne monster turned its head to her then shot forward with unimaginable speed. Freeman’s [Fire Aura] resumed and from his raised hands [Fireball]’s spilled without restrain.

He killed her own ally, Keynes wondered bewildered.

The monster reached the deformed woman, one of its wings acted like a spear, punching through her. Only her insane reaction time saved her from a certain death as the furthermost part of the wing punctured her shoulder instead of her chest.

The deformed woman didn’t seem to care for the wound and grabbed the exposed wing, immobilising it. The winged creature understood its predicament and its other wing blurred, stabbing the woman’s second shoulder. At the same time, [Fireball]s hit them both. Then came [Fire Aura] concentrated only on the winged creature’s back.

But Freeman wasn’t content with only using his spells. A large sword came out of his dimensional space. He covered the distance between him and now the burning creature and slashed. Shockingly, the blade shattered, leaving no wound.

The creature exploited the brief moment of confusion and sprung away from the deformed woman who was burned in several places. Freeman’s fires had weakened her and her grip lost its strength.

“What are you?” Freeman asked, his voice came distant, distorted by the raging inferno and groan of pain from the deformed woman.

The creature regarded him with cold calculation and undisputed intelligence. Even though its body was aflame, it kept the grimace of pain hidden. It was going to lose against Freeman. Fortunately for the creature, the helicopters were coming their way.

It snickered then jumped into the air but Freeman wasn’t going to let it escape.

It hit the creature with a spiritual aura so powerful that even the person who was recording it almost dropped to the ground.

The creature stumbled then tumbled toward the rift, pulverising the monsters that got in their way, Freeman materialised on top of the creature the next moment, his hand outstretched and aimed at the creature. Whatever spell he used, it shone brighter than the sun. When afterimages vanished, the body under Freeman’s hand was a burned husk, the soil around turned to glass or molten stone.

The people in the helicopters weren’t stupid and quickly turned around. One of the helicopters wasn’t fortunate though and one of Freeman’s [Fireball]s caught it, sending the machine down.

The video ended and Wagner reappeared.

Keynes was speechless. On one hand, he wanted to go there right now and save Daiyu Fen and Tulli, but on the other hand, he’d just witnessed true strength of Level 10, even if he was only a human essence ascender, his power was undeniable.

Oblivious to Keynes’s clamouring thoughts, Wagner launched into a further explanation.

“As you know, this was Windsor Freeman’s secret base. He’s no longer there though. He realised that its secrecy was compromised and escaped, leaving no trace.”

“Daiyu Fen and Tulli.”

“We got our team to enter the base as soon as possible. While Windsor Freeman was thorough in his destruction. He either forgot and wasn’t aware of a few rooms designed to withstand the very thing he wrought upon the base. We were able to retrieve important data but the built-in safety protocols prevented us from erasing any files. So the council will have access to it as well.” Wagner said. “We are in the process of analysing the data.”

Wagner was keeping something from him and Keynes wasn’t in a mood to play games.

“Tell me,” Keynes said dryly.

“Both of your friends have turned to Windsor Freeman’s side.”

A gaggle of emotions abruptly made a knot in Keynes’s throat but he washed it away with a cold indifference.

Master…

“But they are alive,” Keynes said flatly.

“They are.”

“That adds to the issue of having all knowledge in one basket,” Columbus said, unbothered by Keynes’s state. “The thing Freeman worked on in the base was called the Human Project and its goal was to turn an ascender into a super ascender. The monsters you have seen were the outcome. The deformed woman was Marg Moonbane and the one killed by her was Nitisha Romanov.”

“I don’t see how this is relevant to the Knowledge Department?” Keynes asked coldly.

“Control is the word here,” Esopp said without looking up. “If you let dangerous knowledge fall into the wrong hands, things will get ugly.”

“That isn’t the only issue,” Columbus cut in. “If we keep all our knowledge in one place, whoever has access to it, will see the bigger picture and will be able to understand the extent of our plans. Your department will be a liability.”

“And such vulnerability can be exploited by our enemies,” Wagner added. “If they gain access to it…”

He left the words hanging in the air. No explanation was required. For a brief second, they nearly had Keynes convinced. But they missed the point.

“I understand,” Keynes replied.

“Doesn’t sound like it,” Columbus said, sounding resigned.

“Because you’re missing the point by looking at the wrong thing. You cannot progress when you’re only focused on a danger associated with moving forward.”

Esopp laughed, but neither Wanger nor Columbus seemed amused.

“You cannot deny the truth of his words,” Esopp said, when he calmed down.

“And you’re the one talking,” Columbus said. “Should we remind you about the fight with the sub-boss?”

Esopp said nothing, suddenly falling quiet. It confirmed Keynes’s suspicions. Getting close to dying left a mark on the other man. But one thing didn’t seem right here. Esopp was in possession of Tears of Gyra, a rare consumable item that would pull him out of the worst, non-lethal situation. Keynes thought that having such a cushion to fall on would have a stronger positive effect on Esopp’s mental state. Apparently it didn’t.

“It doesn’t change the fact that we can only grow when we step out of our comfort zones,” Esopp eventually said, although he sounded unusually subdued. “There is little pleasure in being weak or feeling like you not gonna make it. It makes you wonder, you know. It made me wonder. Why did a Level 7 feel powerless in front of a Level 5 monster? Yeah, we’ve used human essence to gain Levels but this isn’t an excuse for why I should feel weak again, it’s a reason why I must get stronger.”

Esopp took out something out of his dimensional pouch and placed it on the table. It resembled a withered plum.

Withered Regrets (Rare)

“In the face of power, even regrets lose their meaning.”

-

Replaces lesser essence into a rift essence for a single Level.

-

Has no effect on pure rift essence ascenders.

[Consumable]

Level 4

Woah, Alice whistled. This is worth a lot.

Wagner and Columbus didn’t need a spiritual companion to understand the worth of the item. It was the thing Esopp had asked about before they left for the dominion. How did he get it?

“I’ve decided to push myself to the limits to get stronger. It involves a great deal of pain and danger. But this is the only path to follow if you hope to stay ahead of the world. What you see here is the reward for challenging myself. This came from the second Deadly Encounter I faced.” Esopp pointed at Wagner. “I don’t disagree with your approach. It is smart, efficient and profitable. But one day an ascender stronger than Windsor Freeman would find us, what would you do then? Throw spreadsheets at them?”

“We’ll fight,” Columbus replied, sounding less sure. After watching the video, even Keynes realised the total futility of going after Freeman. He alone would wipe the floor with them. They were too weak to face someone so strong.

And it is only the beginning, Alice added. Sooner or later, outliers will start to rise above everyone else. You should watch out for the moment when the first of our enemies break through to Level 11.

Why is that? Keynes asked curiously.

Because it seems like neither Columbus Curt and Wagner Zimmermann are convinced that personal strength is more important than organisational might.

And they’re wrong?

Only in that it is infinitely more expensive and time-consuming keeping a whole institution on par with powerful individuals. But there are caveats to my point of view, of course. It will always be biassed. The System leans toward the individuals.

After a lengthy discussion of pros and cons with the other three men, the consensus was reached. The Department of Knowledge received the green light but Columbus would be involved in assessing risk and taking countermeasures. Esopp and Wagner would review the project but they weren’t going to take any active roles in it. Because of the way they’d acquired most of their intelligence, Keynes would have to schedule regular meetings with the master spy to discuss finds.

By the time they finished this part, Keynes questioned the impulse to create his department in the first place.

As the discussion ended, the suppressed emotions started to gain momentum.

“Let’s take a break,” Keynes said. They still had to go over the dominion rewards and their future plans.. Much more exciting topics than what had been discussed already but if Keynes wished to be more hands-on, this was the price to pay.

He left the meeting room in a rush, feeling pressure in his head. With a tablet in his hand, Alice was able to navigate him to an empty, secure room. There, he fell to his knees, emotions breaking the dam inside him.

There was guilt, shame, betrayal.

He shouted into the emptiness.

But the betrayal was his. He hadn’t done anything to help his friends. Could he even call them friends anymore? Because he’d prioritised other things, Daiyu Fen and Tulli were forced to join Freeman.

As the emotions washed over him, Keynes noticed even something more shameful and dark.

A tiny part of him was glad this was out of his hands now…

No! I won't be that kind of person! Even if I am unable to do anything now, I’ll save them … eventually.