Everyone was silent after Wild Potion’s answer. They all heard what Sweet Fist did to those three young villains who broke the truce. Technically, Sweet Fist did not do anything wrong but many heroes and villains, especially those from the younger generation, felt that Sweet Fist overreacted.

And that was for a simple mistake. There was little doubt in anyone’s mind what Sweet Fist would do to someone who knowingly betrays him.

“We can only hope for the best. Offer him protection and sweeten the deal with a place in his city’s premier group. I believe the name is Velocity Tower?”

Wild Potion shook his head at Moon Protection’s suggestion. “That will just make it easier for Sweet Fist to get to him. I’ll offer him to swipe his record clean, a full makeover, and a position in another Named City. Let’s see where that’ll get us.”

No one in the group objected and they went on to next item on their agenda. Madam Quasar pressed a button on her bracelet and the image on the display screen changed. “Now, regarding the Gaps. Are we certain this Incursion is over?”

The cosmic hero oversaw the defence of Nexus from interstellar threats, and there was nothing she hates more than Gaps appearing on Nexus while she was defending the planet in space. As the leader of the State of Magic, Lady Cauldron was the one who stepped up to answer Madam Quasar.

“Yes, I can confirm that the Incursion is over. The two dimensions are no longer in contact and there is little chance of them intersecting naturally. Whichever entity that did this in the first place seems to have no interest in doing it again.”

“So, this Incursion is not natural? Do you have any idea why any entity would want to do this in the first place?” Moon Protector asked. He was no expert in Gaps and dimensional magic, but he had read the reports and could not understand why anyone would want to do this.

“A new god testing his powers, collateral damage from a fight between two interdimensional beings, some Chaos titan having a bit of fun; the list is endless.” Lady Cauldron answered with a shake of her head. An action followed by several of the heroes present. The things they need to protect Nexus from was just exhausting.

Moon Protector decided to give everyone a morale boost.

“On a brighter note, a cordon has been declared over the valley in Glowing Falls and we have over a thousand men in place to enforce it. Thus far, most of the monsters do not seem to be interested in moving away from the area and have settled in the valley. The scientific research team organized by the Fraternity of Heroes has moved into Glowing Falls and scientists throughout Nexus are already working on creating a list of the monsters that came through the Gaps during this Incursion. All the information will be transmitted to the research team at Glowing Falls and the hope is that the team at Glowing Falls will be the leading authority on the monsters going forward.”

The heroes looked at Waveman and Wild Potion, neither of whom raised a word. It fell to Lady Cauldron to raise the question.

“This is a very complex subject. We know little about the monsters, but we do know what they are capable of. Is the town of Glowing Falls capable of handling this matter?”

“Glowing Falls is currently only capable of providing basic necessities, but we are rapidly expanding the town. The Fraternity is moving machines, manpower and material into the town, and new installations are being built as we speak. We believe we would have all the relevant logistic and supportive services in place within three months. More importantly, Glowing Falls has become the face of this Incursion, and we need to show the world that the town will not only recovered from this crisis, but will thrive!”

Everyone nodded their agreement on that. As heroes, they know that optics are important.

“Please keep us posted.” Lady Cauldron said.

“That’s not a problem.” Moon Protector nodded before going on to the next part of the meeting. “Now, we have also initiated a program to collect these ‘monster cores’. We know Sweet Fist used one of them to make Bradley Brown a mystic, and that some of the monsters that came over during this Incursion have them. It is an open question if all the monsters that came through have them, but scientists and researchers are already working on that. They are also checking the records if other monsters which had came through in previous Incursions have these monster cores.”

“There is another thing.” Wild Potion said. “The Alliance checked the medical records of Sweet Fist, and he has a core similar to these monsters. From what we saw from the video, we believe it is the source of his mystic powers. That could explain why Sweet Fist asked the Old Man if he felt something in Glowing Falls.”

“The Old Man said ‘No’ though. Does that mean the Old Man and Sweet Fist used different methods to become mystics?” Lady Cauldron asked.

“It’s possible. If everyone used a different method, it could explain why it is so hard to get new mystics,” Brother Day said as he smiled, “but we now have a surefire way to make new ones.”

“We don’t know that.” Wild Potion cautioned. “We know Sweet Fist used one of the monster cores to make Bradley Brown a mystic but Sweet Fist has been saying he could make new mystics from the beginning. Well before this Incursion occurred. Also, we believe he had these monster cores for days but he never created a mystic till Bradley Brown was dying in front of him. Why?”

“What are you implying, Wild Potion?” Madam Quasar asked.

“I don’t think it escaped anyone’s attention that Sweet Fist did not do this by choice. He only did it to save his man’s life. There must be a reason for that.”

“So, you think this procedure is dangerous?”

Wild Potion answered Madam Quasar’s question with a firm nod. “And there must be some criteria Brown met that allows this procedure to work. We need to know what this criteria is. The last thing we want is for every mad scientist and martial artist on Nexus doing self-experimentation.”

“Good luck with that,” Moon Protector thought.

The Fraternity of Heroes already have reports of people placing large bounties on these monster cores. That was one of the reasons why he ordered the valley at Glowing Falls to be cordoned off. The last thing Moon Protector want is for bounty hunters to kill off all the monsters and cut the supply of monster cores. Ironically, Nexus needs the monsters to survive and reproduce to have new monster cores.

An emergency report came as the group began a discussion on the management and control over public opinion. Propaganda was important, but Moon Protector was never a fan of that aspect of hero work. He silently activated a command in his mask and read the emergency report. The report was short, but the contents caused his eyes widened in shock.

“-should steer the public opinion towards a better, positive angle. If this method works, we will get more mystics and we need the public on our side.”

“Not if the new mystics are all villains. Only Sweet Fist can make them, and villains are-”

“He is not the only one who can make them.”

All eyes went to Moon Protector as he interrupted the blossoming argument between Lady Cauldron and Brother Day. He sent the emergency record to everyone in the room.

“Nexus just got its fourth mystic.”