After contacting Abelino, I had planned on getting several dozen different things done. Checking up on the mine, checking in with Uman, and Ryker, and Freedom City—the city I still owned in Pennsylvania. I had called Uman and Ryker to make sure that there were some people there to make sure it wasn’t overrun, but I still needed to figure out what I wanted to do with that city.

I wasn’t at all mentally prepared for the welcome that Petra had set up for me.

She led me to the City Lord’s Mansion, and then down a spiraling flight of stairs into an underground prison that was eerily similar to the one that she herself had been kept in.

“I’m starting to regret giving you admin control of this City,” I said, wondering why the hell the first thing Petra had done with the city was build a prison.

Fortunately, at least, all the cells were empty. Although, come to think of it, that just made me even more nervous.

“Unequip all your items, and step into the cell. Pour all your mana into Physical Resistance, make sure your mana pool is completely empty.” Petra gave the orders calmly, but in a tone that brooked no disagreement.

I glanced at Justin, who was standing beside, but slightly behind, Petra.

“Is this really necessary?” I asked, standing in the doorway.

If Petra or Jarek were being mind-controlled, this would be an easy way for the Mentalist Cooperative to off me.

“You almost killed me yesterday,” Petra said. “So yes, this is necessary. And you can tell Samantha that I will hold true to my promise. As long as she hasn’t messed with your mind, I won’t try to read her memories. If she has, then I will search her memories until I find something interesting, and then I will tell another person about her existence.”

I sighed. “Let’s get this over with.”

I unequipped everything, handing Justin my Interdimensional Pouch, and stepped into the prison cell.

“You’ll have to pass control of the city over to me,” Petra said. “As it stands, you could just deactivate the Mana Shield around the prison at will.”

The sinking feeling in my stomach got worse.

But if I were going to trust anyone, it would have to be my siblings. If they wanted to lock me in a cell indefinitely, then so be it.

After all the ways I had screwed people over in the last two weeks, it would almost be a relief if I was taken out of the picture because I trusted my family too much.

I put all my points towards Physical Defense, as Petra suggested, passing control of the City—and, consequently, the Region—to Petra.

“Now,” Petra said. “Tell me what happened, since last we talked, including everything Samantha said to you.”

“Alright,” Petra sighed, rubbing her temples slightly. I was still standing behind the bars of the prison in what used to be my own town.

“Now it’s time for phase two,” Petra said. “It’s obvious that Samantha is capable of controlling your body. Jarek, I want you to let Samantha take over, and then I will ask Samantha some questions. Samantha, I will only be looking to see if you are answering truthfully—but if you lie, then I will start rooting around your memories. Let me know when you’re ready.”

How do we do this?

Samantha said.

“I’m ready,” I heard and felt myself say.

“Alright. Samantha, we already had an agreement from earlier. No messing with Jarek’s mind, except for limiting the pain, when necessary to save Jarek’s life. And Jarek gets to be his idea of a hero. And another rule—no lying to Jarek or myself. So, Samantha. Have you messed with Jarek’s brain at all since the last I tried reading your memories?”

“No,” I heard myself say.

“Welp,” Petra said, popping the “p.” “We have ourselves a liar. And a particularly bad one, at that. Jarek, you already realized this evidence of tampering on your own, which is actually a good sign, that you’re finally being self-aware. Or, that Samantha is letting you be more self-aware. Basically, it is pretty obvious Samantha made you more daring when you followed Dawnbreaker. You never would have done that in the first place—heading underground into tunnels that could be collapsed any moment by a Gravity Leech, with reliable way out.

“Let’s try this again, Samantha. Did you make Jarek more willing to fight the Gravity Leech?”

“No,” I heard myself say again, somewhat sullenly.

“Another lie,” Petra said. “Besides what I already identified, are there any other ways you have modified Jarek’s brain since then?”

“No,” Samantha said.

“And, she’s telling the truth this time. That wasn’t too hard. So, looks like we have one more person to tell. I’m thinking Ryker.” Petra glanced at Justin, who just nodded.

Then I felt Petra’s eyes on me again, and I couldn’t help but tremble. “Just remember, Jarek. If Samantha can dull your pain completely, then it only stands to reason that she can cause it. Don’t let her blame me for your pain.”

Without even giving me a chance to prepare myself, Petra locked eyes with me, and then the pain came.

Pain.

It was so painful, I wished I could die. Was that why Petra had me put all my mana into Physical Defense?

No matter how much mana I put into Physical Defense, the pain wouldn’t go away. It was a pain that directly stimulated my nerves, setting fire to the very insides of my body.

As the pain escalated, I felt myself gradually slipping into welcome oblivion.

“Gaea,” Petra said, when I finally stirred in my cell.

“Huh?” I still had a pounding headache, and there was still a light tingling feeling on my every nerve, but I felt at least mostly recovered.

It was a testament to just how unnatural that pain was, that I had been feeling. The pain vanished as quickly as it came.

“Excelsian is the organization that created Samantha,” Petra said. “And Gaea is a place. High-leveled individuals in the Schema may try to escape the Schema, breaking free of its restrictions. Excelsian has ties to Gaea.”

“Alright. Whatever. Can you let me out, now?”

Petra nodded to Justin, who opened the prison.

“While you were out, you got a call on your Communication Amulet,” Justin said. “Dawnbreaker called. She said a teleportation circle to Asia just opened. There is an impromptu meeting of world powers that starts in five minutes.”

I had never been one to care much about fashion, and fortunately, this was one bright side to the Schema. Fashion didn’t matter, equipment did. For once, utility won out when compared to style. Of course, then there was Dawnbreaker, who managed to combine lethal utility and style with her unisuit, but that was the exception, not the rule.

I did take a moment to comb my hair, though, before appearing in Rebirth City’s Teleportation Circle with Petra in tow.

Abelino and Dawnbreaker were waiting for me.

“Good,” Dawnbreaker said, the moment she saw me. “It’ll just be the three of us going. Your sister will have to stay behind. Technically this is supposed to be a meeting for just Hell Mode Challengers. But since you’ve killed two Zone Lords, I figure you should be an honorary member. If anyone asks, just say you have a C-rank class and you fought a troll. Are we ready?”

“Petra comes,” I said, firmly. “She is a D-ranked Telepath. If there are any members of the Mentalist Cooperative, she can sniff them out.”

Dawnbreaker gave Petra an appraising glance. “What can you read from me?”

“Nothing,” Petra said. “Is it an item or a skill?”

“Try me,” Abelino said, next, not giving Dawnbreaker time to answer.

“You’re thinking about your wife and son at home,” Petra said.

Abelino nodded to Dawnbreaker.

“Alright. If they insist, then we’ll have to send Petra back. Are we ready?”

“Wait,” I said. I passed Dawnbreaker, Abelino, and Petra each a skill book. “Do you have these already?”

Polyglot (E-rank): Allows for proficient communication in most languages.

Dawnbreaker and Abelino thanked me, and both learned the skill. Petra learned the skill without bothering to thank me.

Then, we disappeared through the teleporter.

“Welcome to New World City,” a Chinese woman wearing a magician’s robe greeted us with a smile. “Please remember this meeting is for the truly powerful only.” She cast a glance at me and Petra. “Please do not take offense if you are asked to reveal your names and levels.”

The room we entered was well-defended. I could see several Level 30 guards watching us carefully. The guards were clearly extremely mixed in terms of their race and ethnicity. The implications were rather surprising. Even though only one Zone Capital had opened up, it certainly seemed that they had expanded to include Asia, Europe, and Africa.

We left the building that housed the Teleportation Circle, and I was immediately surprised by the sheer size of New World City.

I already knew that towns, cities, and capital cities could be modified in size to match the populations’ needs.

But nowhere had I seen a city with a population this dense.

Rather than the log cabins that I was accustomed to seeing in towns, most of the buildings around me, and in every direction, were four-story tall brick buildings. Judging from the mana density inside each building, they seemed to be apartment complexes, each building housing several dozen families.

I had thought that Daybreak City was well planned out in terms of city management, but New World City put that to shame.

At regular intervals interspersed in the city, my Mana Sensing skill could identify parks that took up a whole city block, and multiple plazas that were packed with people.

The city walls were so far away from where we stood that they were hidden behind a light haze of fog.

“Right this way,” our guide led us to down a few blocks towards a building that reminded me of more traditional Chinese architecture. The type of architecture I had seen before in pictures of Buddhist temples in China.

This building, it seemed, had been preserved from the Old World, but Rune Masters had formed inscriptions and protective rune patterns around the building, giving it a distinctive glow that created a warm presence and welcoming environment.

If I had to guess, I was sure the building was capable of forming a Mana Shield, but the Mana Shield was currently deactivated.

When we entered the temple, and passed through a few hallways, I found myself in an outdoor garden. Three people sat on the grass in front of us. They were gathered around a sole plant, a thin, wispy purple flower with a thick, black stem about a foot long. Our guide ushered us to take a seat in front of the plant.

A quick Identify showed the plant to be a Nimion Flower, D-rank.

Samantha said.

“Welcome,” a short woman with green eyes and long, brown hair, likely less than five feet tall, greeted us from her rug in English with a slight French accent. She looked to be just a few years older than me. “Please find a seat, and introduce yourselves. If you could share your Status Window as well—just your name and level. My name is Evangeline Caron, level 37.”

Evangeline sat with a white Mage’s staff laying across her lap. From the way everyone was seated in the circle, around a flower, it reminded me of summer camp. Let’s go around the circle: introduce yourself and say if you had a superpower, what would it be?

The other two members of the room introduced themselves as well. There was a Chinese man, probably around 30 years old, named Renshu. Renshu wore a pure black unisuit like Dawnbreaker’s, with no visible weapons. He introduced himself briefly and then immediately glanced away, seeming extremely pissed about something.

Next to Renshu was a black teenager with a longbow laying across his knees. The longbow took up even more space than his tiny frame. He wore a long, flowing cloak that hid most of his body in its folds.

“Bandile,” He said, smiling somewhat shyly at Dawnbreaker. “Level 30.” He puffed his chest slightly when he said it.

“Thank you for coming,” Evangeline said with a warm smile. “Unless there are more pressing issues at hand perhaps we can all share information. There is a lot to learn from each other.”