The timeline gave Keynes a week in the base while Esopp transferred over his administrative responsibilities to his second in command.

Handed with an extra week, Keynes decided to use it to experiment and train with his skills. One of the biggest negligences pointed out by Alice after Keynes had entered the Superior stage was his skill training. So far he was only training his attributes not really considering his skills. Granted, he hadn’t had enough offensive skills to do so, but this changed.

His two most important skills were [Telekinesis] and [Chaos Aura]. Keynes’s plan was to get rid of the shortswords and transition into a rogue mage of sorts. At the moment, he could only dream about this. His [Telekinesis] lacked a punch and [Chaos Aura] drained his stamina at an unbelievably fast rate, also posing danger to his surroundings. Alice wanted him to use the aura only as the last resort and focus on [Telekinesis] for now.

But before he started his training he wanted to see the base for himself.

***

It was as Esopp had said, the base was halfway finished but what Keynes found took his breath away. The lower levels held rifts. Each rift had its own storage space, training room, lounge and information centre.

Rifts were divided by their Levels. The higher Levels were located deeper.

Keynes ventured to the main lobby which wasn’t finished yet but their idea of splendour was insane. The lobby was going to be a gigantic pit with a large aquarium in the middle, casting emerald light on each level of the lobby. They already found the appropriate water in a Level 2 rift, though the toughened glass tank wasn’t ready. Keynes ventured to the very bottom of the pit where the tip of the overhead tank’s frame ended a metre above his head. Once the tank was placed, the frame was going to be removed to enhance the effect.

The lowest floor was round and many times larger in size than any other floor above. Its purpose wasn’t explicit but various exits scattered around hinted at something resembling a common room. Strange but Keynes didn’t take a part in planning and didn’t know the full picture. He asked a few workers about the exits. They led to various sections like inhouse crafting or gardening departments. Even though the walls and floors were still unfinished, some of the sections seemed to be operating.

Intrigued, Keynes decided to check on them.

First, he approached the gardening section. A guard asked him about the clearance card and Keynes showed it to him.

“Sir,” the guard saluted. Yeah, Keynes had the highest clearance in the company. “How can I be of service?”

He’s a Level 3 rift ascender, Alice noted. Keynes sensed as much as well. His Superior stage allowed him to see ascenders’ screens as long as their spiritual defences were lower than his spiritual offences, which was almost always. Even Esopp’s spirit was much weaker than Keynes’s.

“What’s happening here?”

“It’s the gardening department, sir. There is a lobby, although it’s not in use yet. At the moment the department is only used for farming food for the workers.”

It made sense. The base had to be self-sufficient to keep its location from leaking out, which Keynes believed was a matter of time. Maybe not in the next few months but sooner or later, ascenders with powerful enough Talents would be able to pinpoint the exact location of Emerald City. It bothered Keynes more with every passing day but he didn’t have a solution ready.

“I’ll take a look.”

“Of course, sir.”

Keynes entered the gardening department, following the signs, he found bright rooms behind the glass. The whole section very much resembled the garden-laboratories under Wagner’s house. Keynes watched them grow fruits and vegetables mostly with high protein content.

Why not use the rift meat? Most Level 3 rift ascenders should handle Level 1 rift meat without purification ritual. The world was aware that rift meat was edible now. Could it be that there was another department that handled it? Keynes inquired about it the first person he met in this department and his worries were dispelled. The rift meat was on the menu although it was in the early phase of introduction. The rift meat wasn’t without risks. Eating too much rift meat or having a weak spirit had a negative impact on ascenders’ bodies. Keynes had seen it with wild game in the hunting ground. They mutated after eating rift meat.

After satiating his curiosity, he left the gardening department and returned to ‘the common room’ and picked another exit. It led to the crafting department. That, kind of, contradicted what Wagner had told Keynes in Geneva. Did he even know that there was a crafting department here? He had to…

A little confused, Keynes went inside after showing his card to the guard. Inside, he found another unfinished lobby. He moved past it to a wide corridor with many doors. Some had green lights above them.

Keynes opened the closest door.

The room was quite spacious and bright. Various machines and tools lay on the racks on the opposite wall. Two rectangular tables stood in the middle. The right wall was full of advanced equipment resembling ovens. All in all, the room seemed quite well-stocked.

“...like this,” a voice said. “You don’t want to deviate from the blueprints. You’d only waste good materials and we receive a scant amount of them. So pay attention.”

Keynes remained by the door watching the two men wearing heavy aprons. The younger one tinkered with an amulet while the older one supervised him.

Can you sense the item? Keynes asked.

Sure. It is a Level 1 amulet with a single modifier: 1 point to all attributes. They are in the process of adding a second modifier. Something to do with speed but I do not understand the specifics.

Oh. A non-attribute modifier. That was new. Hadr from the First Tribe hadn’t been able to achieve it. If they can do it, Keynes thought about possibilities. They had his attention. He grunted.

The older man spun, his blue eyes pierced Keynes with suspicion.

“Who are you and what do you want?”

“My name’s Keynes and I came to see how the crafting department fares.”

The older man snorted but quickly his demeanour shifted and his suspicion deepened. What was wrong with that man? The younger one stayed behind him.

“Depends on wh0’s asking?”

So the crafter didn’t know who Keynes was, which wasn’t surprising. Most workers in the base didn’t seem to recognise Keynes. Glad with his anonymity, Keynes approached the crafters.

“Someone who believes in crafting.”

“Is that so?” the older one asked, he wasn’t convinced. “You wish to become a crafter then?”

“No.” Keynes shook his head. “Crafting isn’t for me.”

“Then what is this belief about?”

“I’m interested in the kind of items you can come up with.”

“Unless you can change Gunnar’s mind about the resource allocation, your interest would hardly be satiated. We have all the tools and space but very little material or personnel. It’s not pretty.”

Gunnar? Who was Gunnar? Esopp didn’t mention him.

“Who’s this Gunnar?”

Keynes heard a sharp inhale coming from the young crafter, while the older one shook his head.

“Andrew Gunnar. He's one of the top executives in Emerald City and is responsible for resource allocation.”

“Why would they deny you rift materials if they have endless supply from the rifts?”

The older crafter sighed then extended a hand.

“Haef Hasting, the head of the crafting department. And that’s my apprentice, Wigam. He’s a decent crafter when it comes to single modifier items. I’m trying to teach him how to make a two-modifiers item. As for your question, well, this is something you’d have to ask Mr Gunnar himself.”

Oh I will.

“You’re trying to add a non-attribute modifier,” Keynes said, watching with a smile a shock on the crafters’ faces. A quick check told Keynes that Haef was Level 4 while Wigam only Level 1. Both men were in the weakest spiritual stage. They didn’t have any skills or techniques. He couldn’t see their Talents though.

Keynes waited until Haef found words.

“How did you know? Have you seen the blueprint?”

Keynes shook his head. “What blueprint?”

“ They found…” Haef trailed off, his attitude shifted again. “Wait a minute. How are you exactly? And I’m not asking about the name. Are you a head of some other department or something? Because I’m not at liberty to discuss such matters with anyone.”

“Understandable.” Keynes agreed, then placed his card on the table next to the amulet.

The crafters’ eyes widened to an alarming extent.

“The highest clearance.”

“What does it mean?” Wigam asked. Haef didn’t answer right away, he needed to collect his thoughts.

“I know of only one person with that sort of clearance in Emerald City. Lord Esopp Earl but you aren’t him.”

“Nope, I’m not Esopp and I don’t think he’s a Lord anymore.”

Even though Keynes kept his attitude and words casual, the crafters were shocked into silence again. Yeah, anonymity was much better. He didn’t want people to revere him or anything.

“Snap out of it, you two. And tell me what I can do for you.”

***

With a long list of required materials, Haef and Keynes went to Andrew Gunnar’s office. Keynes wondered if the other man knew about his presence in the base. Esopp seemed to keep it quiet from everyone.

The office area was several floors above the pit but still at least fifty metres underground. This section had heavy security, several heavily armed guards of Level 3, but Keynes’s card got them through without issues. Like everything else, the floor wasn’t finished yet but the higher quality and attention to details was clear to a naked eye. Haef led Keynes to one of the few doors that were in use.

“Who are these offices for?” Keynes asked.

“No idea.” Haef shrugged.

They pushed a large, unmarked mahogany door. On the other side was a waiting area with a secretary sitting behind a desk. She looked up and shook her head.

“Mr Gunnar is busy right now. You’d have to wait.”

Keynes considered going inside anyway but he decided not to. Even though he was one of the most important people in the company, he didn’t need to behave like an arrogant prick. He took a seat while Haef went through the formalities with the secretary.

Ten minutes later the secretary ushered them through another door. This one led to a spacious office with a fish tank, comfortable sofa and a few glyphs displayed like art on stands. Behind a wide desk loaded with paperwork sat a man dressed in a sharp suit. He looked to be in his early thirties but he was Level 6. A mix of human and rift essence there. He had short black hair and brown eyes that observed everything with formidable intelligence.

“Head of Crafting, Haef Hasting,” Andrew Gunnar said. He looked at Keynes but failed to recognise him. So, Esopp hadn’t informed him either. Keynes didn’t know where in the chain of command exactly was this man but at this point Keynes suspected that not a single person had been told about his arrival. “One of your apprentices?”

“No.” Keynes shook his head. “But I like crafting so I decided to tag along.”

“And your name is?”

“Keynes.”

“Like Keynes Kid.”

“The same,” Keynes said, keeping a surprise out of his face. He didn’t expect the man to come to the right conclusion so quickly. And to Andrew Gunnar’s credit, he seemed unfazed by Keynes’s presence here.

“I’m not going to waste your time inquiring as to why or how a person of your stature got here without me being informed. I’ll take that matter with Esopp. Now, I guess you came here for a reason. Please, take a seat. I am all ears.”

Haef placed the list of materials on his desk. Neither man sat down.

“Keynes here suggested to deliver the list of required materials,” Haef replied.

Andrew Gunnar skimmed through the list then his eyes returned to Keynes and Haef. There were conflicting emotions in the man’s eyes. Could he say ‘no’ to Keynes? Keynes didn’t know.

Eventually, he sighed, placing the list on the pile on his right. Keynes couldn’t help but ask.

“What’s the problem? You have rifts that endlessly resupply these materials.” Keynes decided to be straightforward with the other man.

Andrew Gunnar offered them the chairs again. After they sat down, he said, “Some of these materials are highly demanded elsewhere, others come in scant amounts. It is a shame that so many departments compete for the same scarce resources and while I am an arbiter here, I, too, have to follow the allocation matrix handed down from the higher ups.”

Damned Wagner. It was his and his advisors doing. They didn’t believe in crafting so it had very little priority. While Wagner promised Keynes to look into the matter, there was no telling when Wagner’s decisions would be made and reach Emerald City. Keynes wanted the crafting department to be hard at work, experimenting not worrying about wasting materials. He had but one choice.

“Whatever the matrix tells you in regard to the crafting, ignore it. I want Haef to receive anything he requests.”

Adrew Gunnar nodded.

“It will be done.”

Yeah, I wonder who will complain first, Esopp or Wagner?